Fox Hunting
in Ohio County
Oral History Stories
James
Thomas Smith (1856-1926)
John Henry
Stewart (1861-1931
Including
his son,
Roy Thompson Stewart (1892-1971)
and Ohio
County Recollections of Billy Morris
Submitted by Janice Cox Brown
In
years gone by in Ohio County fox hunting was a pastime for most small farmers,
who kept a pack of hounds for their favorite sport. When they weren’t working and had time, fox
hunting was their entertainment and was something they could look forward to
and enjoy. Several times a week men and
boys got together and sat around a big fire from sunset to dawn listening to
their hounds bark, after they were released to chase the fox. That's all there
was to their fox hunting -- listening.
There was no kill. A pack of hounds
simply chased a fox around in circles through the woods, over the ridges, down
creeks and gullies, until the dogs got tired, or they lost the scent, or the hounds
ran Brother Fox into a hole.
The
roving fox started his forage by sunset, traveling many miles in a night, and
he never holed up, even in dropping temperatures overnight snow falls, or when
Kentucky winter weather brought a bitter freeze.
Mostly,
the fox hunters had trained their hounds themselves and just wanted to see how
long and how hard their dogs could run the fox through the rolling hills of
hardwood country – great oaks, hickory and pine. When the hounds were turned loose, and when a
scent was picked up, the hounds cried more loudly, and took off along the
trail. A dog that could run long and
hard was worth a lot, and if they could keep up a steady bay on the trail, it
was even better. Many fox hunters
believed that some foxes enjoyed the chase, too – the matching of wits.
The
prime fox hunting season was from when crops were harvested in the fall until
spring when fields had to be planted again.
Often, several men and boys would get together on some cool October
evening, and each would bring their fox hounds. Usually, they built
a big fire and made a big pot of coffee, or at times, whiskey or some other
fermented beverage might make an appearance. A few hunters took a snack with them and maybe
even roasted some corn over the open fire.
There was nothing like sitting on a ridge at night, with a harvest moon
hanging low in the west, as they swapped stories and listened for their dogs
barking as loud as they could. It was
music to their ears. Nothing was more
exciting or satisfying than watching and listening to their hounds. It meant that the fox was giving their hounds
a good run. Each man knew the voice of each of his hounds and could tell from
their bark how close his dogs were to the fox. The hunters enjoyed rooting for
their favorite dog, reminiscing, and telling stories about hounds of old.
At
times, the hunters just sat quietly around the camp fire and absorbed "the
music of the chase”. With all the dogs
together, it was kind of like a chorus, always changing. And every hunter listened for his own dogs,
to know how they were doing. Each man
tried to visualize where each dog was in the pack, and could usually tell
whether his dog was carrying the lead by the change of his bark, (called
“change in his mouth”). In other words,
each hunter tried to visualize in his mind the drama of the chase by what he was
hearing. If the hound was aggressive and
going ahead, his bark was more eager, more excited.
A
successful hunt ended when the fox was accounted for because he entered a hole
in the ground or slipped into his den under a rock ledge before the dogs got
him, only to be chased again on another day.
As
one old farmer put it, “fox hunting would
make an old man young, and a young man forget his wife.”
~.~
~ FOX HUNTING ~
Oral History Story
James Thomas Smith
1856-1926
G.O. Cox - (my
dad):
“Grandpa Smith was a fox hunter. My grandmother, (Sarah Sanders Smith) would make a great big pan of bread…that big a
square (measuring) for them
dogs. Every evening. And if he told her not to feed the dogs, I
knew we were going to go hunting that night.
So they would run real good. And
he would put me up in front of him in the saddle and away we would go. And we would meet four or five other fellows
and they would all have their dogs and boy, I’m telling you, the fox chase took
place. And we would stop and listen to
those dogs, and they could tell which dog was in the lead…and where the fox was
going to cross. And we would get on
those horses, and race to get there in the moonlight and watch the dogs cross
with that fox. It was thrilling…to a
little boy!
“Yes, it was a pastime to them. He had the best dog there was in that
country…my grand-father. His name was Pullman. I don’t know where he got that name for him,
but I never will forget it.
“Pullman”…like the Pullman car on the back of a passenger train. And he
had the best nose, and was one of the fastest dogs.
“I know one night, we had started across a bridge over there
at the Chancellor Creek over a foot log when he was just a puppy, when my
grandfather was training him, and it was a coon he was after instead of a fox,
and when we got up there, that coon had a hold of that puppy on that log and
pulled him off in that water. And it was
icy, mind you. And Grandpa went right in
that icy water and grabbed that pup by the leg and that coon was still holding
on to him, setting right on top of his head.
And he would have drowned him, too, if Grandpa hadn’t of got him
out. They will do that, a coon will.”
Eva (Smith) Cox
– (my grandmother) telling about her dad, James Thomas Smith, the fox
hunter:
“My daddy was a great fox hunter. He had fox dogs, and he went with all of
them. All of them hunted. But daddy liked to go with Roy Stewart’s
daddy. John Henry Stewart. Those two really loved to hunt together. Yes…they went fox hunting all the
time! And then got up early of a morning
and go to the field and work hard all day, and then his health give away. And Roy Stewart would come by to go fox
hunting, and he would help him finish his work so he could go fox hunting at
night with them.” Roy Stewart’s daddy
was a farmer too. And him and my daddy
was as close as brothers. They sure
was. (laughing) “He was a fine
man.”
“Some of the fox hunter’s families would come and spend the
night and they rode in the wagon, and they would spend the night because it was
too far to go back home at night. I
don’t know - (she was trying to remember…)
some of them that fox-hunted came in wagons, and some had their dogs tied all
around it…and the family would come along and spend the night.”
~ Contributed by Janice Cox Brown
~.~
(Roy Thompson Stewart married Aunt Ella Smith, my
grandmother’s younger sister next to her in age. Roy Stewart’s father was John Henry Stewart
who married Susannah Miranda Cox (daughter of James William Cox and Mary
Elizabeth Mitchell – my grandfather’s parents).
From
my Family TreeMaker Notes Section:
Roy Thompson Stewart was born November 26,
1892 at Select, Ohio County, KY. He was
the son of John Henry Stewart and Susannah Miranda Cox.
Roy
Stewart married Ella Jennie Smith, the sister of Eva Caroline (Smith) Cox, my
grand-mother. They had two sons: Velno Kenneth Stewart, born April 16, 1917 at
McHenry, and Theron M. Stewart, born February 20, 1923; died July 17, 2006 at
his residence in Indiana.
Roy
was a well-respected member of his community and among his family
relations. He was a member of Select
Church of Christ, the Cromwell Lodge No. 692 F&AM and the Cromwell OES No.
294. A long-time rural mail carrier, he
retired in 1958.
He
had Masonic graveside rites and was buried in Sunnyside Cemetery.
Roy
helped me with my initial genealogical research on the Thomas Smith family, and
I still have his letter written to me in 1964.
An
obituary from The Ohio County News,
dated Thursday, Dec 2, 1971, page 8, reads:
"Roy
T. Stewart"
"Cromwell” -- Roy T. Stewart, 78,
died at 12:15 p.m., Tuesday, November 23, at the Ohio County Hospital.
Mr. Stewart was born November 26, 1892 in
Ohio County. He was a member of the
Select Church of Christ, the Cromwell Lodge No. 692 F&AM and Cromwell OES
No. 294. He was a retired mail carrier,
retiring in 1958.
Survivors include his widow, Mrs. Ella
Smith Stewart; two sons, Kenneth Stewart and Theron Stewart, both of Hammond,
Indiana; three grandchildren.
Funeral services were conducted at 2 p.m.
Friday, November 27, at the William L. Danks Funeral Home by the Rev. Gary Embry,
pastor of the United Methodist Church, assisted by the Rev. Arnett Williams,
pastor of Concord Baptist Church. Burial
was in Sunnyside Cemetery."
~.~
Roy T.
Stewart, Master
Cromwell
Lodge No. 692
(photo, but not shown here)
Cromwell Lodge No. 692, Cromwell,
met on St.
John’s Day,
December 27, 1939, and
elected and installed
officers for the
ensuing year. Those so chosen were:
Roy T. Stewart, master; R. C. Burgess,
senior warden, Hudnall
LeMasters, junior
warden; Otha West, treasurer. The new secretary,
Bro. Past
Master Elmer Embry, acted as installing officer.
Bro. Past Master R. C. Burgess then installed
Bro. Embry as
secretary and the following appointed
officers: H. N. Phelps,
senior deacon; D. Nelson, junior deacon; Owen T.
Wallace,
senior steward;
J. W. Martin, junior steward; Clarence James,
chaplain, and Hilley Kessinger, tiler.
Our new
worshipful master, Bro. Roy T. Stewart, is an ardent
Mason, is taking the duties of his office
seriously and members
of the lodge confidently look forward to a year
of progress under
his capable guidance. He will have the support of a loyal corps
of officers, eager to assist in helping the
lodge to prosper. An
increased attendance of our members will be
highly pleasing to
officers of the lodge and spur them on to
greater achievements .
Stated
meetings of Cromwell Lodge are held on the 4th Monday
each month, and we welcome visiting. Craftsmen.-E Embry, secretary.
From
my Family TreeMaker Notes Section:
John Henry Stewart -- 1861-1930
Susannah Miranda Cox -- 1863-1910
Susannah Miranda, born July 18, 1863 was
the second child of James William and Mary Elizabeth Cox. She was named after her two grandmothers –
Susannah Miranda Cox and Susannah C. Acton.
When she was eighteen, Susannah, called “Susie,” married John Henry Stewart, twenty, September
13, 1881. He was born October 1861, the
son of John F. Stewart and Catherine R. Douglas. Susie’s name is written in her
father’s Bible as “Susanah M. Cox.”
During
the next twenty-five years, this couple had eight children of whom only five
lived to maturity.
1) Oscar Newton, born July 1882; died age
60, 1943
2) Minnie, born Oct. 1885; died age 33,
1919
3) Azro B., born 1883 and died the same
day.
4) Elza Wayne, born 1887; died 1899, age
11 years
5) Estill L., born 1890; lived two days.
6) Roy Thompson Stewart, born Nov. 1892, (who grew up and married my
grandmother’s sister,
Ella Jennie Smith); died 1971, age 78
7) Warren C. Stewart, born Sep. 1894; died
1916, age 22,
8) Ethel Catherine Stewart, born Jan.
1897; died 1946, age 49
When
the census taker visited the Cromwell community in 1900, he stopped at the home
of John Henry Stewart and his wife, Susie M.
John was thirty-eight and Susie was thirty-six, and they said they had
been married eighteen years. Susie had
borne eight children, five of whom were living at the time. Children listed in the home were Oscar N.,
17; Minnie F., 14; Roy T., 7; Warren C., 5; and Ethel C., 3. John Henry’s occupation was farming.
By
the time of the 1910 census, the family was living at Rosine, and Oscar and
Minnie no longer lived in their parent’s home.
More than likely they had married and started families of their
own. Three children, Roy T., 17; Warren
C., 15, and Ethel C., 13, were still living at home.
The
census of 1910 was taken in April, and at that time, Susie had been ill for
several years. Four months later her
condition worsened and she died August 26, 1910. She was only forty-seven at her death, and
she and John Henry had been married almost twenty-nine years. She was buried in Fairview East Cemetery,
Ohio County. It was a very sad occasion
for the entire family.
Her
obituary was found in the Hartford
Republican, dated Friday, September 2, 1910 on page five and another
mention under the community of Select, dated September 4:
~ SELECT ~
“Sept. 4 – Mrs. Susie Stewart, wife of J. H. Stewart, died at her
residence this place
Thursday night, August 25th of consumption.
She was a member of
the Christian church and was a good
Christian woman.
She leaves a husband
and five children, and a host of friends to
mourn her loss.”
John
Henry Stewart later remarried Ida Luck on December 23, 1919, who helped
make a home for his three children who were still in their teens. According to his death certificate he died
April 15, 1930, was still married to Ida, and was buried at Fairview Cemetery
in Ohio Co. Kentucky. Son O. N. Stewart
was the informant and listed his father’s name as John Henry Stewart (and not
John McHenry Stewart as some researchers have recorded).
~.~
(Email Note to Janice Brown
from Billy Morris, a distant cousin, re his Uncle Clida Morris, another fox hunter. Also, notes for John Henry Stewart, Ohio
County trains, and mining.):
Recollections
by Billy Morris
Billy remembered that
his Uncle Clida Morris was a fox hunter, and he related this story:
“I remember my uncle Clida Morris
was a big fox hunter. In rural Ohio
County back in the 1930s, early 1940s, when it got dark, it was really dark.
Also,
sounds carried very far. No airplanes or
automobiles rumbling all hours of the night.
You could hear the dogs running and barking for miles.” (Clida
Morris (1897-1986) was son of Granville Morris (1872-1954) and Viola Frances
Daughtery (1877-1919)
Continued email:
“Janice,
I got both your messages this morning. My
grandfather Henry Stewart was the son of Charles W. Stewart and Susan C. Rains.
Charles’ father was Henry Stewart and
this Henry was the son of Archibald Stewart.
“John
McHenry Stewart who married Susan Miranda Cox was the son of John Franklin
Stewart, who was the son of Cornelius Stewart; he was the son of Archibald
Stewart.
“Most
all the Stewarts around Mt. Pleasant, Select, Cromwell and Rosine area are from
Archibald Stewart.”
Thanks to Billy for this
information below on trains and mining in Ohio County:
Billy
Morris: Recollections about Ohio County Trains
“You could hear the trains on the
Illinois Central track when they went by. The Rosine hill was a real problem
for the old steam engines. It was a long hill with the maximum incline allowed,
at the top was a tunnel. When an engine started to spin its wheels going up the
hill they would uncouple the last half of the train, take the front half to
Horse Branch where they had a big siding. The engine would go back and get the
remainder of the train and put it back together and go.
“If this happened at night you
could hear the train running back and forth. During that time, trains were the way of
hauling most everything. At Horse
Branch there
was a “Y” so the trains could change directions. This “Y” was also connected to
tracks running to Owensboro.
“The
railroad was the Illinois Central. It
ran from Fulton, KY to Louisville. There was
a
spur at Horse Branch that ran to Owensboro, KY. Trains
were the main form of transportation then. My mother used to catch the train in the
morning at Rosine and go to the High School at Horse Branch and back to Rosine
in the afternoon.
Billy
Morris: Recollections about Mining
“My grandfather worked in
the mines at McHenry. They lived in the housing you mentioned and shopped at
the company store. My mother was born there as were all the children. My
grandmother Sadie Crowder died in 1918 with the flu that killed so many people.
My grandfather quit the mines then and moved back to Rosine.
“I
don't know much about the mines. I know
he had two scars on his head from slate falls. I grew up at Renfrow and there were several
what was called truck mines around.
Farmers would find a small vein of coal and would work it during the winter to
make extra money. Most of the people in the area got their winter coal from
them. I went back in one when I was about 10 years old. Had to crawl back as it wasn't over 24 to 30
inches high. Once was enough for me.
~.~
“I
wish I could have taped some of the conversations with my grandfathers. But
when I was a kid they did not exist, and if they did, we would not have had
one. Didn't get a radio until about 1939.
It belonged to my grandfather Morris and we were not allowed to listen
to anything but 1/2 hour news at night.”
I
hope you enjoy retirement as much as I have.
Billy
