Recipes from Mrs. Boone Lipscomb, Grapevine, Texas  (She recorded many cake recipes in a small financial journal book with the date inside of August 1910.)
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Fudge Cake by Fannie Wiggers
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
¼ cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda in ½ cup sour milk
1 ½ cups flour
¼ cup boiling water

Filling:  (think this is the frosting)
1 cup hot water
1 tablespoon cocoa
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon corn starch mixed with ½ cup cold water
add a little vanilla

Makes two layers or a loaf.
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Devil Food (like mamma used to make)
Part One:
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup butter
1 cup sweet milk
2 ½ cups flour
1 scant tsp. Soda sifted in flour
1 scant tsp. Baking powder
yolks of three eggs  
(fold in whites after adding Part Two)

Part Two:
1 cup sugar
½ cup grated chocolate
½ cup sweet milk
Set on store until dissolved.  Do not boil.

Stir Part Two into Part One

Filling:
2 cups brown sugar
½ cup sweet milk
½ cup butter
Boil about 15 minutes.  Beat until cold.
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Mama’s Cocoa Cake
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
½ cup butter
2 eggs beaten separately
1 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Soda dissolved in 1 cup sour milk
2 ½ cups flour
½ cup boiling water
Makes three layers

"John Elhanon Brock, seventh child of Charles and Gabriella Brock, was born Nov. 21,1847, at their farm home near Aberdeen, Mississippi. At the age of 17, he volunteered for service in the Confederate Army with Ferguson's Brigade of Cavalry. He surrendered at Citronella, Alabama, under Lt. Gen. R. Taylor, CSA, to Major General E.R.S. Conby, USA, May 4,1865. He was paroled at Meridian, Mississippi, May 13, 1865. Three older brothers also served in the Confederate Army. One, Idellas W. Brock, was killed in battle near Chattanooga, Tennessee, July 21,1863.

Leatha Sue Mullins recalls that he often told his grandchildren war stories and entertained them with songs such as "Oh Susannah" and "Dixie" while one of them sat on his knee until they were good sized "lap children." She has the record book he kept for the Stonewall Jackson Company of United Confederate Veterans #1253 organized in Grapevine in 1901. He served as Adjutant of the Chapter.

In 1867, John came to the little town of Grapevine by horseback. From "A History of the First Baptist Church of Grapevine," we learn that on July 17,1872, 44 candidates were baptized in Denton Creek. Among that number were John E. Brock, George E. Bushong (father of Bessie Bushong), Zeb Jenkins (brother of Bessie's mother), and J. L. Morehead (brother-in-law of Bessie's mother).

In 1873, he went back to Aberdeen and married a childhood friend, Leatha Word. Leatha was born Jan. 26, 1849. Leatha was child 11 of the 13 children of Thomas and Leatha Lewis Word. Before the Civil War her father had owned 32 slaves who farmed the plantation. John had Leatha's wedding band made from a $10 gold piece ($10 bought more gold then than now!). Leatha Sue Mullins, the granddaughter named for her, now has the ring and wears it. Coincidentally, she also married a man named John.

John Brock came back to Texas in March 1876 bringing Leatha and their year old son, John Word Brock. They traveled by train to Dallas and by wagon to Grapevine where they spent the rest of their lives. Six more children were born to John and Leatha. For some time they lived on the Zeb Jenkins farm across the road (Dooley) east of the cemetery. As long as they lived, they had strong ties to Mississippi. A spinster sister, Maria Word, who taught school many years, kept them posted on happenings in Mississippi through long letters.

Leatha was afraid of storms, so John dug a cellar for her and she spent many stormy nights in it. He told her, "Don't you know if the Lord wants you bad enough he will go down there and get you?" One day as he sat near a window reading his Bible, lightning struck a tree outside the window. He got a shock but survived.

John was well respected, and his word was better than a banknote, but some people took advantage of this trait. He and a friend (?) bought a cotton gin at Pleasant Run west of Grapevine on credit. He gave his partner the money to pay his part of the debt, but the man put the money into his own pocket and John had to pay twice. He was a member of the Grapevine Masonic Lodge #288-AF&AM. After he retired from farming and moved to town, he was elected Justice of the Peace year after year. He died Nov. 9, 1924. Leatha died Jan. 3, 1929."

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In August of 1850, the first County election was held in a log cabin at Birdville, county seat at that time. This cabin belonged to Ed Terrell, first settler of this part of the county.

The following County Officials were elected: Seabourne Gilmore, Chief Justice; Frank Jordan, Sheriff (Jack York, accredited by most historians as first sheriff was elected in 1852 - he was the second sheriff); Archibald Franklin Leonard, County Clerk; Sanders Elliot, District Clerk; Vincent J. Hutton, Assistant Collector; Henry Suggs, Treasurer; Hamilton Bennett, Daniel Bancroft; James Hartford and Mr. Wilson, County Commissioners.

Archibald Franklin Leonard was one of the group who came from Missouri in the train of 12 ox-drawn wagons. Also his wife Mary Ann and three daughters, Seleste Caroline, Margaret and Mary Melissa. They lived in a 12-foot square log house with a log slab floor. This property was on the south end of the A. F. Leonard Survey; he had preempted 640 acres of land between Grapevine and Denton Creek.

The nearest doctor was at Camp Worth and Mary Ann Leonard was very good to help with the sick.

In 1849, Archibald Leonard and Henry Daggett opened up the first civilian store in Tarrant County. However, in 1843, two young men, John Preston Lusk and Ed Terrell, set up a trading post in a live oak grove and after cutting logs for a cabin they went east about 30 miles to secure help from two other traders to lift the logs. Here they were captured and held for a while by the Indians. After their release their enthusiasm had cooled and the first Tarrant County business died. These men were with the Peters Colony and each preempted 320 acres of land.

The Leonard and Daggett Store mentioned above was in the live oak grove at the foot of the present Samuels Avenue in Fort Worth, one mile from the Fort. Here in 1850 was held the first election in the newly- organized Tarrant County with Birdville being chosen as county seat.

Five years later a second election was held with Fort Worth as a winner. (Some men from outside the county were brought in and voted; a barrel of whisky with dippers hanging on the side was handy for everyone who cared to drink.)

Daggett and Leonard moved their store in 1853 to the abandoned military post and this was the center of business in Fort Worth during the first decade of its life.

The early settlers built their homes in the timber near the springs so that wood and water would be handy. Also they thought that the prairie soil was too poor to grow trees, so they were not very keen about it.

The first school and church here were across the road from the present Grapevine Cemetery in a grove of oak trees. One of the earliest stores was located across the road from the Coble* house, and as far from the road as that one. There was a large oak tree in front of it, and the owner had a bear which he had trained. He grew tired of this and had a bar-b-cue. The bear was the meat. This was about 1860."
(*The Coble house was at 305 Wildwood.)

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"And there was hog killing -- during the coldest weather of winter -- and usually on short notice. At supper some night Dad (Mr. Charlie Millican - Grapevine Blacksmith) would announce, "If it gets as cold tonight as the weather man says it will get, I'm going to kill hogs tomorrow morning, so let's get ready." (With no deep freezers in those days, the meat had to be completely processed within about 24 hours to make sure it didn't spoil.)

Early the next morning Dad made his call to have a hog or two picked up for slaughter. Some two or three hours later the hogs, still whole but bare skinned and ready, were delivered back to us. Dad would hang them in the smoke house shed where he had already assembled newly sharpened knives and other necessary equipment and had already strung up supplementary lighting so we could work on into the night.

The next several hours brought a flurry of activity -- cutting the hogs into proper pieces; applying the sugar cure to the shoulders and hams and packing them into barrels; cooking, in the wash pot, the fat pieces to extract the grease for making lard and soap; and retrieving the cracklings for later use in corn bread; grinding and seasoning the sausage meat; and so on ad infinitum. Even with all the hard work, the night sometimes took on sort of a picnic aura. Nobody stopped to cook a real supper, but Mama might go inside and fry some of the fresh ribs, or we might drop slivers of the fresh liver into the pot of boiling fat, fishing it out in a few minutes for instant nibbling.

The next few days were occupied with making souse meat, sometimes pickling the pigs' feet, eating fresh pork, and cleaning up all the greasy mess inside and out. Needless to say, the daily and weekly household chores and even some of the blacksmith work were put on hold when it was hog killing time. (There were other versions of other hog killing occasions which I missed, but the above is my composite memory of hog killing.)"

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This feature was written for the March 2001 newsletter by our own mayor (and member), Bill Tate! He shares some of his memories about two of the Black citizens on the Grape Vine Prairie.

Rev. Robert Lee Redmon Sr. was the grandson of Sim Wright and Doshie Wright who purchased the homestead at 417 West Wall, Grapevine, Texas, for $150 by deed from B. C. Callaway dated Nov. 6, 1917. They had four children, Molly, Tommy, Will and Jack Wright. Molly was the mother of Robert. He had one sister, Martha Louise, who died at the age of 14. Robert was born Dec. 26, 1918. He was married to Katherine Roberts who was born Sept. 26, 1918. Both were born in Grapevine.

There were five children born to Robert (whose nickname was "Pete") and Katherine Redmon. They were Robert Jr., Willie Lenora McCrumb, Patricia Ann Preciphs, Carolyn Aldridge and Joe Lee Redmon.

Robert was a tall man, a handsome man, a family man, a God fearing man. He worked for many years at the B&D Mill. I remember his tired, dusty, lonely figure walking home from work along Church Street at dusk on summer evenings. On Sunday mornings he was as dapper as a mobster, his dark suit, flashy tie and white handkerchief, which he used constantly to wipe the sweat from his brow, made him an unforgettable figure. He was filled with spirit and emotion as he preached or sang old gospel hymns. He placed fear in the minds and drew sin from the hearts of the members of Love's Chapel where he served as its minister.

Robert lived a good life. He overcame many disappointments and deaths in the family. His spirit and faith never faltered. Robert Lee Redmon Sr., died on Nov. 12, 1993, at the age of 74. He still resided at the time of his death on the family homestead founded by his Grandfather, Sim Wright. His life ran its full circle in Grapevine, Texas.

Bill Jordan was born in the Oklahoma Territory in 1874, less than nine years after the death of Lincoln, a member of the first generation of Black freedmen born in America. He was short in stature and probably hit the scales at no more than 120 pounds. He wore tall cowboy boots with high heels that ran over as the result of the bow in his legs. He always had a good pair of Levi's and an old belt with the word "Bill" on the back that was too long in front. His hat was an old, crimped, black Stetson that he had partnered with for a long time. His hands were knotted from hard work and his eyes reflected his years. He smoked Bull Durham cigarettes he rolled himself. He was a genuine looking character carved from the cloth of the Old West.

He was a good man. He could sign his name and endorse his Social Security checks. He took his cash and did his shopping on Main Street. He began working for the Crabtree family in 1891 and was on the payroll at the time of his death in 1972 at the age of 98.

They lived on the Woodall Place where Classic Chevrolet is located, then moved to the Crabtree property on Highway 26, which was purchased in 1939. It was a picturesque ranch with a lake and white wooden fence along the highway. Besides being a ranch hand, he trained the Crabtree hunting and cattle dogs.

As long as Baldy was alive, Ole Bill rode his horse to town every day from the ranch on Highway 26, past the mill to Church Street, then turned right on Franklin and tied him to the mulberry tree behind Tate Stores. Baldy was a huge horse, a light strawberry roan, with a bald face, a big pink nose, and blind in the right eye. Baldy lived to be 36 years old, unusual for a horse, so he must have received the best of care. I don't know how he mounted his horse at the barn, but at the store Bill led old Baldy up to the double back door that stood about a foot off the ground, then stepped off the doorway so he could reach the stirrup.

On Saturday nights Bill would to go the "Hill" and sometimes would stay overnight. His wife, Rose, preceded him in death in 1949. They had seven children, one of which was a minister. He lived his last few years with a son in Joliet, Illinois. In Grapevine, he will be remembered as the last cowboy to ride his horse to town.
                William D. Tate
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“No country, state or county can survive unless it finds something to be proud of in its past, something worthy to preserve in its present, and some grounds of hope to cherish for its future, so it is profitable for us to turn back the pages of history from time to time and catch a glimpse of the pioneer men and women of Texas who, by their own wits and the labor of their own hands, established a civilization in the wilderness and the little village known as Grapevine.

The railroad was laid into Fort Worth in 1877, and later a spur was built to Grapevine connecting this line to Mt. Pleasant, the Division Headquarters of the Cotton Belt Railroad. It was a number of years later that the Frisco established a route through Grapevine.

Mr. W. H. Chambers was the station agent in 1896, Mr. Morris followed Mr. Chambers, Mr. Frank Wiegers followed Mr. Morris and was the first station agent that I remember. At that time, Main Street was unpaved and muddy in wet weather, and there were board sidewalks along the stores.

The depot consisted of the waiting room, a baggage and freight rooms, and a long platform on the south side of the freight rooms to load and unload freight.

The building was painted a deep yellow, with a dark red burnt sienna trim. On the inside of the waiting room of the building were benches and seats all around three sides with iron arms, and spittoons placed at convenient intervals by the seats. The floor was bare and a big pot bellied stove was in the center of the room. Coal was burned, and sometimes some live coals would fall out, leaving burned spots on the floor. A big old lantern-type coal oil lamp hung from the ceiling (electricity came in 1910 or 1911). The little ticket agent’s office was east of the main room. In there was a safe, a cabinet that held the railroad supplies, and the telegraph table and the telegraph, and to hear the tap-tapping of the keys was real exciting. Mr. Wiegers was a very quiet, kindly man and very helpful to everyone.

On the northwest side of the depot was a row of heavy posts, and it was there the vehicles stopped. Cotton was the chief export, and there were big iron dollies to load the bales of cotton on the freight trains, and the incoming freight and baggage for Grapevine. “

PART II:

The following is Part II of an excerpt from the Oct. 11, 1973, issue of The Grapevine Sun. The article is by Ms. Cluck and is presented in honor of our Depot’s 100th Birthday. Thanks to Sandra Tate for sharing her mother’s original copy of the newspaper with us!

Martha Cluck Recalls: History of the Depot “Two of my uncles ran a livery stable in the center of town, and Bart Starr would drive the dray, a big flat-bottomed wagon, drawn by two big old Percheron horses, to gather up the freight and baggage from the depot, consigned to the merchants in town.

Mr. Z. T. Wall established a drug store here in 1870, and in the first shipment of freight that the railroad brought to Grapevine were four little square glass-topped ice cream tables that the seats folded under the tables. In the years that followed, Mr. Cliff Wall and Mr. John Spinks also owned the drug store, and now Mrs. Mamie Spinks still has one of those little tables.

Most of the tracks were on the south side of the building, as well as the section house located on father east of the depot. There was a spur on the north side. Mr. Charlie and Mr. Frank Estill had a lumberyard on the north side of the tracks, and the freight trains would unload lumber there.

Mr. Charlie Estill had an old horse named Barney which he drove to work every day and if Barney wasn’t securely tied when he heard the train, Barney would meet all incoming or outgoing trains. There were few people who came to Grapevine on the train except the drummers and the new schoolteachers. Most of the drummers stayed at the old Wiley Hotel, just north of the lumberyard. The fare to Fort Worth was $1.50 round trip. You could go to Smithfield for 25 cents and to Coppell for 15 cents. The Cotton Belt and Frisco came through Grapevine on two runs a day. Nobody went anywhere much. Mr. Earl Yates would go in the spring and fall to an eastern market to buy goods for Yates Dry Goods Store.

There was a confectionery store here, run by Frank and Charlie Rainwater, located where City Drug Store is now, and all the young people of the village would assemble at the “Olympia” for refreshments and then all go down en masse to the depot on Saturday and Sunday evenings to see the trains come in. That was choice entertainment. Mrs. Mamie Spinks had a little Shetland pony and she, too, would meet the train very often so she could wave at the conductor and brakeman.

I think perhaps one of the most poignant memories that I have about the depot was in 1918--1919. Camp Bowie at that time was a training center of infantry and motor transport soldiers. And the troops left by train to Newport News, Va., for overseas duty. The troop trains would come through here with soldiers waving at every window, and they would throw out postcards as they passed the depot. There was an old colored man named Uncle Bill King who would gather all these letters and cards up and carry them to the post office to be mailed to the relatives of the soldiers. Here too some of the soldiers came home from the war - Clinton Bushong, Joe Estill, Priest Lipscomb, Elmer Jordan, Jim Hamilton, and Leonard Kendrick, and others.

Automobiles soon became more prevalent and soon the jitney became a popular mode of transportation to and from Fort Worth, and gradually the trains were unable to make a profit, and transportation by train went into a decline and finally demised.