with Carolyn Goff
Greetings from Deanburg!
As promised last week, here is a little bit of Deanburg history. I came across this excerpt about Deanburg in “Chester County, 1882-1995; History and Families,” Chester County Historical Society, Turner Publishing. According to the excerpt, Deanburg, or Pultite as it was called, was settled in the 1830s or 1840s in Hardeman County by a grant to Mr. Dean. The article lists the various owners of the property and the dates it passed to them. It also talks about Chickasaw State Park’s role in Deanburg’s history: “This park, or Lake Placid and park headquarters, is located on the former site of a water mill used to grind corn, and at one time, gin cotton. The mill was owned by a man named Pair, perhaps a descendant of the Dean family, as the last known relative of the Deans was Mr. Aussie Dean Pair, who lived just out of Henderson until his death a few years ago….Later the mill was purchased by Flavaa Owens, whose son, Nubern, according to the legend, invented and built the only mill whistle ever known to utilize water power to create sound….Sometime around 1935 the land was purchased by the government, opened to the public as a recreational area in 1937….” The article goes on to mention the various businesses established in Deanburg, including the first store owned by a Mr. Jordan and the grist mill, sawmill and cotton gin operated by Lige Owens in the early 1900s. The first school building was built on a one-half acre of land and shared a building with the Woodmen of The World. When the county applied for state aid to rebuild the school after it was destroyed by a tornado in 1923, J.W. Stewart, then superintendent of the schools, gave the county additional land to meet the requirement that the county have at least two acres of land. The G.M. & N. Railroad Company operated a railroad through Deanburg beginning in 1918 or 1919 with a depot being built the following year. This article really made for an interesting read.
Please continue to pray for our neighbors and friends in our community and other communities: Kristen Carlton Jones, Tim Landers, Brianna Landers, Gary Hyatt, Carolyn Brasfield, Jim Ruth, Eloise Murley, Samantha Mosier, Woodie Deming, Betty Quarles, Ms. June Davis, my cousin Barbara Sue Mitchell, and friend Johnny Roach.
Times are crazy right now. I pray that everyone is safety and continues to be cautious with the virus. I truly love my community and this county and wish the best for each and every one!
