[Granville-Hough] 25 Aug 2009 - Strangers

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:12:11 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Strangers -25 Aug 2009


Treatment of Certain Types of Strangers, and some Relatives in 
SullivanÆs Hollow.

Wild Bill and Neese Sullivan were noted for capturing strangers, 
especially Mormon missionaries, peach-tree salesmen, grave-stone 
salesmen, and relatives who spoke out against them in Church, putting 
them in harness and making them pull a plow till noon, then feeding them 
corn in a locked stable. There may have imitators of this caper, but I 
never heard any identified. After their Uncle Loughton Sullivan spoke 
out in church against them, they captured him and subjected him to these 
indignities. Bill and Neese boasted of the great fun they had of plowing 
their upstart uncle. Loughton went to county court in Collins and filed 
charges against the two; but it seems the Covington County authorities 
were reluctant to get involved in any Sullivan family quarrel.
Then Loughton was attacked by persons unknown and was badly cut up. He 
was expected to die. Wild Bill and Neese appeared and insisted that 
Loughton make a sworn statement that they were not involved. Loughton 
had no choice. He did recover somewhat and moved further away into what 
later became Jeff Davis County and taught school. He actually died 
fairly young for a Sullivan, probably because of the wounds he had 
received. In effect, Wild Bill and Neese ran off their uncle Loughton 
and took over SullivanÆs Hollow and led those who wished to follow in 
the direction of drunkenness, mayhem, and murder.
Loughton married a daughter of Reverend Wilson West, so his children 
were our cousins. Somehow we had obtained a picture of one of Loughton's 
daughters or granddaughters dressed in the typical attire of the 
mid-1920s, so we called her the "Flapper-girl."
It was during this period that many of our cousin Miller and Cole 
families moved away, mostly into Covington County. My grandparents, 
Frank and Nora Hough, moved to Fellowship Community in Smith County and 
helped establish Fellowship Baptist Church. Great-grandmother Charlotte 
(Watts) Hough was living with them and was also a founding member of 
Fellowship. The Owens and Walker cousins also moved toward Taylorsville, 
and some were founding members of Fellowship. The only family groups who 
stayed put were the Clark cousins, who were strong in the Oak Grove 
Baptist community and just across the Covington County line. Many 
Sullivan families joined the Shiloh community in Covington County, a few 
miles across the County line..

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under 
heaven...A time to weep, and a time to laugh, A time to mourn, and a 
time to dance." Eccclesiastes 3:1,4.
When is the Southern Baptist time to dance? Did they all delete the 
"time to dance" phrase from their bibles? Or, do you save up your 
dancing until you get to heaven? It's one of the quandaries of my life. 
Grandpa.