[Granville-Hough] CalvaryTornadoes - 4 Feb 2009

[Trustees and Executors for Granville W. Hough]

With regard to local tornados, Nephew Jack Neville who spent many years 
as a professional diver, has seen tornadoes at land and sea, with the 
funnels on land and the waterspouts at sea. They are always an awesome 
display of the power of natural forces. Fortunately, most of us can stop 
what we are doing and seek cover and wait out the danger. Sometimes we 
cannot. I believe I remember a story of Uncle Tom Richardson driving 
through a storm on the Gulf Coast and winding up with four flat tires. 
Either it was his car or that of someone else he saw when he stopped at 
a service station. Strange things happen.

Calvary Community Tornado. Several of Lazy Fed Sullivan’s family are 
buried in Calvary Presbyterian Church Cemetery, which reminds me of a 
very local tornado which struck the McNair/Burris homes across the 
railroad and up McNair Hill from the church. My brother, Dueward Hough, 
heard about the tornado; and we walked down to Calvary to see if we 
could help. Or, it may have been morbid curiosity. Anyway we got there a 
few hours after the event and saw the damage. I believe it was one of 
the Burris homes where I saw one of those things which can never be 
explained. The front porch had been sheared off, then pitched over the 
house into the back yard. I have wondered all my life how the wind 
forces could do such a thing, but there it was. There had been no loss 
of life, but I am sure church attendance was up at Calvary for several 
weeks. People who had no storm pits probably began to look for a 
suitable place to build one.
My brother, Clifford Hough, had a different solution to the storm pit 
problem. He built his home with a cellar, equipped with sump pumps to 
take care of any water seepage. He used the longleaf pine logs from the 
Frank Ware home as the pillars to support the house and its floor. In 
case of a violent storm, he simply went down into his cellar. It remains 
a very functional home, and the basement has probably been used many 
times as a storm refuge. The storm cellar did not however protect from 
lightning strikes which frequently came with local storms. At least once 
the home was struck by lightning and the force of the bolt hit the 
ground next to the house and tore up the ground. I saw this damage 
later, and I think the house was protected by lightning rods with a 
cable connecting to the rods to the ground.
My brother Dueward was living in the original Hough home, which we had 
rebuilt. There was a functional barn nearby which was hit by lightning 
during a local storm, and this bolt knocked off a whole side of the corn 
storage crib. There was a big oak tree, which was a wonderful shade in 
front of the house, and we always joked that it was to catch the 
lightning so it would not hit the house. It failed to do its job when 
the lightning bolt hit the barn.
The entire community had a working rule, "never draw water when a 
thunderstorm is in sight." The wells were drilled down 100 feet to the 
underground aquifer and you drew water in a bucket and windlass. The 
well of course had curbs which went down to the water and made a perfect 
conduit for lightning seeking an electrical ground. One of our Sharon 
Community neighbors was killed while drawing water, and we read about 
similar deaths in other places. If you needed water during a storm, just 
put a washtub under the eave of your house and get all you wanted. It 
tasted better, too, as it had no minerals. I always enjoyed sharing a 
drink from a washtub with our collie dog /Sharp./

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I got a nice reply on the Calvary Tornado which I will include.

    Simpson County Disasters.  One of the tornados mentioned by Harold 
Hopkins must have been the one which hit the Pine Grove Community, which 
was the first Baptist community west of Shady Grove.  Like Concord, it 
was a county line community but with the church in Simpson County.  Some 
children went to Old Hickory and Magee schools and some went to Shady 
Grove and Mize schools.  As I recall it, this tornado hit the community 
and destroyed one home, killing the lady of the house, I believe, a Mrs. 
Hughes.  It also did extensive damage to other homes and farms.  
Somehow, we got to drive through the area and see the damage. 
    I may be wrong, but I believe there was another storm between Pine 
Grove and Magee, which destroyed several homes, one being that of Mr. 
Willis Purvis.  Mr. Purvis was hit by debris and knocked unconscious.  
He was said to have come to in his barnyard with a cow lying on his 
legs.  Anyway, I visited Mr. Purvis with a mare when he had a breeding 
jack, but I never asked him about the storm.  He did have a new house.
    With regard to lightning, my brother Clifford Hough bought a farm on 
the Mize-Magee highway which had come into the possession of Bob 
Everett, merchant of Magee.  The land joined Clifford's land for some 
distance, so he just made it all into a big pasture.  It had a big shade 
tree in an open area, and his cattle often rested there.  In a 
thunderstorm, they all gathered under this favorite shade tree.  It is 
my understanding that lightning struck the tree and killed the whole 
herd.  This was in Smith County, about a quarter mile from the county 
line.  It was a real disaster for Clifford, as he lost his cattle, then 
had to dispose of all those carcasses in short order.  I believe he had 
to hire backhoes  to dig pits for burying them. 
    I do have Harold Hopkins' account on storm pits, which I will 
include in the next two days.

From: harold hopkins <hhopkins3 at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: CalvaryTornadoes - 4 Feb 2009
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 21:22:55 -0800

Great story,  Granville!

I remember one thunderstorm or tornado in the 1930s that "tore up the =20=

pea-patch" -- so to speak --  between Mize and Magee, and I think also =20=

to the northwest of there, and seeing some of the downed trees, =20
damages to buildings, fences, etc.   Where I grew up at Mize, in a =20
house on a white chalk hill just north and across the street from the =20=

elementary school, we had a storm pit dug fairly deep into the chalk =20
and covered at ground level by heavy timbers almost like railroad =20
crossties.  It had a low, sloping roof to keep it dry in the pit.  It =20=

was fair sized and when the wind got high it became a place for very =20
crowded social gatherings. I don't recall that any of our near =20
neighbors  had a pit, so  they just came to ours.  I believe there =20
were kerosene lamps or lanterns so the refugees could identify each =20
other and carry on conversations.  This might be during the daytime or =20=

nighttime, and these storms were usually accompanied by sometimes =20
blinding  lightning and thunder, making a terrific sound and a =20
sometimes livid sky.  One of the neighboring kids was frightened by =20
the lightning and he'd sit there and complain to his mother, "Mama, =20
that lightning was keen!!"  Somehow,  nobody ever was killed or hurt =20
by these storms, but they commanded respect from everyone.  I remember =20=

lots of times being awakened by my parents and running to the storm =20
pit, which was only a few feet from the house.  It was always a  =20
little disappointing that,  with all the foofuraw,  things became =20
perfectly normal when  the storm had passed -- and left no lasting =20
horrid remembrances.  I think I recall having written something about =20=

storms and storm pits for the Smith County Reformer or the Clarion-=20
Ledger.  I don't remember but one other storm pit and that one was at =20=

the Cohay  logging community.  I was visiting a boy there named Ezra  =20=

Rogers and a storm came up and we went into the storm pit.  There must =20=

have been a hundred people in that  storm pit!  It was obviously built =20=

for many people  -- well timbered and lit -- almost like a church in a =20=

way -- and one must  presume that it was the scene of many prayers.  I =20=

was made  aware that some things seemed to  "draw" lightning and it =20
was standard precaution for any person  outdoors  during an electric =20
storm never to take shelter under a tree. On the rooftops of some =20
houses were "lightning rods," as they were called, that were supposed =20=

to carry the electric charge to earth and perhaps save the house.

One  thunderstorm event in the news four or five years ago had lifted =20=

the roof off all or part of the Mize High School building (I believe =20
it was --  I never saw the damage) and there was an account in the =20
Smith County Reformer, which was on-line at the time, that carried =20
news about the tornado's work and the rebuilding and so on. Then the =20
Reformer went off-line and the relict website carried the same story =20
for at least several weeks about plans for starting school in the =20
newly rebuilt school -- even for some time after school had restarted.

Harold