[Granville-Hough] 15 May 2009 - Clear Creek

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 07:47:46 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: ClearCreek-15 May 2009

Clear Creek (Oka Bogue) Notes:

Number of Cemeteries. Remarks have been made about the number of 
cemeteries in SullivanÆs Hollow. This probably relates more to the lack 
of roads in the piney woods than to any other factor. Before there were 
any churches, people tended to establish cemeteries for their own 
families rather than hauling bodies by oxcart to some cemetery miles 
away. This was the case of Frank Ware, who set aside a space on his farm 
as the Ware Cemetery. It is still there, though the last burial was 
about 1945. All the people are relatives of the Ware family, and many 
are also Sullivan relatives, except for two Hough graves. The land is 
still privately owned by the Hough family, as it was bought from heirs 
of Frank and Jasper Ware. I feel sure that anyone who asked would be 
given permission to be buried there. It has always been a very quiet 
place, and it has never been vandalized.
How did Jasper Ware meet Louisa Ann Sullivan? They simply attended the 
same Zion Hill Church with their parents from 26 Jul 1861 until JasperÆs 
mother Martha died in Nov 1865. When the Wares arrived from GA, they 
established the County Line church now known as Concord in 1854. It is 
possible that the Wares lived for a few years nearer to Bunker Hill, but 
there is no recollection of that. The old Indian trails led down Clear 
Creek to Cohay Creek on down to Bunker Hill, where Zion Hill Church was 
located. I never learned where the Concord Church met before the meeting 
house I attended was built about 1890. The Frank and Jasper Ware 
families returned to Concord church, wherever it met, then attended the 
newly built meeting house which was about one-half mile from JasperÆs 
home. I do know there was an old Ware homestead at the church spring, 
and it was marked by a crepe myrtle growing amidst the rubble of an old 
chimney.
I was born on land draining down into little branches of Clear Creek 
oozing out from under the hills. The Choctaws had a village down stream 
near where Calvary Presbyterian Church was later built. They called the 
stream Oka Bogue, which translated as Clear Creek. It has been said of 
the early days that the sand of the stream went down to a depth of ten 
feet, and the water was of a pure crystal clearness. By my time, it was 
muddy and reddish from the eroding hills where rows of cotton had 
replaced tall and stately longleaf pines. When the Laurel Branch 
railroad was built to remove the longleaf pine, it followed Clear Creek 
basin to Simpson County line. There it had to climb over the hill, or 
little pass, into the Merry Hell/Okatomy creek basin. This cut through 
the hill was called Ware cut, as it was all Ware land. Oka Bogue, or 
Clear Creek, had railroad stops at Low, Milton, Able, and Mize, then 
crossed Oka Hay, or Cohay Creek, then on to Taylorsville. On the Simpson 
County part of the line, it went through Coat before it reached the 
junction at Saratoga with the Jackson to Hattiesburg railroad called 
Illinois Central.
 From WPA stories, remnant Choctaw families lived on Clear Creek, where 
they hunted and fished and grew corn and beans. Their leader was 
recalled as ôDeer Joeö and these Choctaws helped the McCallum and Kelly 
families establish homes. The McNairs also moved north into the new 
community from Covington County where they had originally settled. These 
Scotch families formed the core of the Calvary Presbyterian Church. It 
is said that Mrs. Mary Page bought the Choctaw lands and hired the 
Choctaws as herdsmen. This does not seem logical to me, as Mrs. Page 
lived over towards St. Ela Creek, north of Mize, whereas Oka Bogue is 
entirely west of Mize.
One story of considerable interest to me is that the Oka Bogue Choctaws 
ground their corn in a pine stump in which a rounded area had been 
burned and chisled or hacked. They had no native stone, and the stump 
mortar and lighterwood knot pestle worked very well. They did this in 
their village near Milton where Mr. Wallace had our community watermill 
for making our corn meal. We also had our community swimming hole a few 
yards upstream from the mill pond.
It was on this little stream that older brother Rudolph caught a mudcat, 
a lamper (Congo) eel, and found fresh water muscles. It was also on this 
stream where I had two great incidents of my life. One happened when I 
was about five years old. Harold took us all to the swimming hole, and I 
of course, was first there to take off my clothes, throw them under the 
nearest tree, and jump into the swimming hole. After we had a good time 
splashing about, we climbed out and I put on my clothes. I began to get 
a horrible itch. I had thrown my clothes on some poison ivy when I had 
first arrived. By the time we got home in our T-model truch, I was 
aflame with itch. We had to take off and wash the clothes and cover my 
body with lard and flour until the poison ivy had taken its toll.
The second incident was more serious. It was another trip to the 
swimming hole, and a guest of the trip was Farrell McAlpin. Farrell 
offered to catch me if I would jump into the water, which was over my 
head. We did this several times successfully, and it was great fun. The 
next time Farrell did not catch me and I went down to the bottom. I 
choked and I thought I would drown. They got me out, but I have had 
water phobia for the rest of my life, which makes for several stories in 
itself. Grampa.