HARRIS HOUSE ON BAYLOR CAMPUS NAMED FOR NAT HARRIS, HUSBAND OF MAGGIE GREER

MAGGIE GREER WANTED TO GO TO COLLEGE AWAY FROM HOME SO SELECTED BAYLOR COLLEGE IN WACO, TEXAS. THERE, SHE MET NATHANIEL HARRIS AND MARRIED HIM.

Here are some related photos.

Nat Harris was born 25 August 1875 in Raymond, Mississippi and came to Texas as a youth. He attended Baylor University for a Bachelors and Masters, Yale University for another Masters, and George Washington University for his law Degree. He taught at Baylor University Law School beginning in1922 and described lawyers as "unbonded agents of humanity" He later described his terminal illness and soon to come death as " For me it is a great adventure".

Obituary of Nat Harris.....

Judge Nat Harris, 73, prominent Waco attorney for many years died Sunday at the home of his daughter, Mrs. E. G. Marion of 3128 Parrott Avenue following along illness.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday at 2:30 pm at the Austin Avenue Methodist Church, Dr. A. Norman Evans, officiating, burial in Oakwood Cemetery.

Born near Raymond in Hines County, Mississippi, Judge Harris moved to Waco in 1892. He graduated from Baylor in 1900, took his MA degree form Yale in 1902 and his LLM degree from George Washigton Univeristy in 1905.

He returned in 1905 to Waco to become assistaant to Pat M. Neff, who at that time was prosecuting attorney of this county. He was elected Justice of the peace in 1906.

He taught Constitional Law at the Baylor Law School from 1923 until his retirement in 1943.

Surviving are four children, Mrs. Marion, Mrs. Sam H. Amsler, Jr. of Waco, Nat Harris, Jr. and Thomas Greer Harris both of Austin, one brother Martin Harris of San Antonio; two sisters Mrs. Edgar McLendeon of Junction and Mrs. Roberta Jones of Mineral Wells; and six grandchildren.

Taken from the Waco News Tribune 20 Dec 1948.

In Memoriam..... Nat Harris

Judge Nat Harris was born in Raymond, Mississippi, on August 25, 1875. His early youth was spent there. Always and everywhere he reflected the State of his origin, in that he was the embodiment of traditional Southern virtues --- fastidious in dress --- courtly in manner -----chilalrous in disposition --- a generour host----- a boon companion ----teller of good stories-----quick of temper--- family man ----patriot----friend of God.In youth, he came to Texas. His early interest vocationwise was in carpentry.
Baylor men, here and yonder, have heard him say, with a twinkle in eye, how he ruined a good carpenter when he decided to abandon that calling for the law. The change was a fortunate one for bench and bar, as the law became the beneficiary of his talents. In a larger sense, he never ceased to be a carpenter. He spent his life as an active practitioner, always adding a principle of law whenever possible to the jurisprudence of Texas. As a teacher he was always the architect of human souls. As such, he lives "again and far away in the stuff of other men's lives.

He was educated in Baylor Preparatory, Baylor University (A.B. 1900, M.A. 1901), Yale University (M.A. 1902), George Washington University (LL.B. 1904, LL.M. 1905) His undergraduate and graduate records as a student and as a leader were enviable. Throughout life he maintained an active interest in secondary and university education. He appreciated the force and the power of a trained intellect. He had respect and admiration for a mind that could select from the maze of legal decisions a consistent line of authority. He did not tolerate loose thinking by others or himself. He once paid a judgment against a client because he felt that if he had handled the case differently the verdict would have been favorable.

Baylor became one of the absorbing interests of his life. He began teaching law in Baylor Law School with its reorganization in 1822. He taughter withour interruption until the law school was closed on account of the war in 1943. He taught a great variety of subjects, such as Constitutional Law, Equity, Corporations Personal Property, and Legal Biobliography. He had unbending ideas as to the importantance of the lawyer and his obligations to the social order. Who could forget his description of the lawyer as the "unbounded agent of humanity"? Through his teaching was laid the foundation of that detailed familiarity with the law so potently reflected in his arguments in the trial and appellate courts, in his matchlees briefs, and in the solidity of his judgments on points of law to his inquiring and troubled clients. He had an unquenchable love for the teaching of the law, which requires in evenly mixed proportions the learning of the scholar and th eunderstanding necessary to lead the student.

In the field of Constitutional Law he found the path, above all other legal footways, upon which he delighted to walk. I must confess some difficulty in cataloguing his attitude toward the more recent interpretations of the Constitution of the United States by the Supreme Court. You will vividly recollect his admiration for Chief Justice Marshall. It was Marshall who viewed the Constitution as a broad charter of government, "intended to endure for ages to come, and, consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs". Nevertheless, he was a rugged individualist. Indeed, his ruggedness was his chief characteristic. His face reflected the granite of which he was made. As an individualist, he believed in the individual and his rights. As a Mississippian and as a Texan, he believed in the reserved power of the States. He resented some of the interpretations of the Supreme Court sustainingthe invasion by the Federal Government of fields formerly thought to have been reserved to the States. Accordingly, he spoke warmly of Roger B. Taney. In any event, he had an abiding faith in the power of reason and he was skeptical of generalizations contained in opinions, unanchored to the facts of the particular case. His views were matters of vital moral conviction. In their defense, he dedicated the full resources of his ever-expanding intellect. Complete conformity of opinion is reserved to robots. Out of the clash of opposing views do we approach truth. And so there was room in the thinking of this sincere, independent, and forthright man for the concept that he might be wrong.

He began his practice at Waco in 1906. After assuming his teaching duties at Baylor he carried on concurrently a heavy teaching load with an active private practice. He reoresented large financial interests, corporate and individual. He also represented with equal zeal those of small means.He served as Justice of the Peace, member of the Board of Commissioners of the city of Waco, and as special judge of the 54th Judicial District of McLennan County. City politics in Waco have always been highly controversial. As a candidate for City Commissioner, Judge Harris declred well in advance of the election and without any hedging, the beliefs that were his with respect to the highly controversial issues of the campaign.
And the people, contrary to the usual political concept, elected him by an overwhelming vote.

No verbalizing on the career of Judge Harris can reflect the esteem in which he was held by his brethern of the Methodist Church, his brethern in the Waco

Bar, the "young gentlemen" whom he taught through the swiftly succeeding years, or by his family. He had a serenity which reflected the happy family life he shared with his wife, their two sons, two daughters, and the grandchildren.

In a visit with him near the end he spoke of the fact that he must soon make the long journey. I asked him if he was frightened by that prospect. With a quiet and almost casual negative, he added "For me, it is a great adventure. The judge went "on his great adventure" on Decemebr 19, 1948. Baylor men have been enriched by his touch. Baylor men will draw upon his strength in all of their tomorrows.

This was written by Sam Darden who was an attorney at law, Waco, Texas;


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1000 Templin Avenue, Bardstown, Kentucky

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A Farm Story

by

Anne Greer Denner

It was December in the year 1940 and it was cold. It was moving time for Nellie and Ike Greer and their two sons, "Junior" and Donald. They were moving from Botland (Nelson County), Kentucky to a mile just outside of Bardstown, also in Nelson County, Kentucky. Their new home would be close to good schools. That was what was important to Nellie. The boys could walk to school or their Daddy could take them. There were no school buses then.

Their new farm had only 80 acres and all their relatives said they could never make it on that little land. His brother had a farm with over 400 acres. They bought the farm and moved there anyway.

The house wasn’t much, my Mother said. It wasn’t nearly as nice as the two homes they had lived in prior to this one. But, it was going to be home, their home. On moving days, they did not hire movers but moved themselves. I do not know if they had help but suspect they did. First, they moved the furniture and the children. Then came the animals. They had chickens for the hen houses and cows for the barns and pasture. They had hogs for the front lot and also a pair of mules named Queen and Jewel who had their own stall in the new barn that was to be built. All in all, they had to make several trips from Botland to Bardstown, a trip of about seven miles one way. They hadn’t even moved the tractor or the drill or the plows yet. All of Daddy’s tools needed to be moved too. They finished the job before New Years 1941. They were never to move again.

Ike, Jr. (Junior in his younger years) who was eight was able to start school early the next year. He would go to a "real school" and not the one room school he had been used to. Donald would not begin school until the fall of the next year and would never miss a day of school in his twelve years at the Bardstown City Schools. He would also graduate first in his class (Valedictorian) in 1954.

Daddy grew barley, oats, rye, wheat and corn. The wheat he took to the Bardstown Mill to have it ground into flour. I always wondered why that was so important to him but later learned the mill was owned by his grandfather when he was a little boy. During the 1940's, it was run by his first cousins. This was one way he could visit with them and Daddy loved to visit. He had spent a lot of time at the mill because his Mother had died when he was five. He remembered his grandparents well. Daddy also grew tobacco but always less than an acre. That was the main "cash crop". Sending hogs and cows to the stock yards was another good source of income for the farm.

On the farm, where I was born in June 1942 (the end room on the right hand side), we had our own cows so we had our own milk and Mother made butter and ice cream. However, we drank "separated milk" or skim milk and sold the cream to the local creamery. We grew all our own vegetables and fruits. At one time, we had 10 peach trees in a row in the garden and an apple orchard. We also had a big pear tree by the chicken house and two large cherry trees in the back yard. There was another cherry tree in the chicken lot and still two more in the orchard below the hen house. My Mother and I did most of the canning in the "wash house". That is where we kept the jars and canner. We canned mostly in quart jars. The canner was old but allowed us to preserve most of our vegetables. The fruits could be preserved by cold-packing. The wash house also was built over a great cellar. That was where we kept our canned goods, potatoes, and onions. Canning there was a hot job but it kept the heat out of the main house.

That was important in the summer since we did not have air conditioning. We kept cool by darkening the house in the day time and by sitting outside under the shade trees in the afternoon and evening. We could also swing on the front porch. Nor did we have a furnace. We had two stoves in the house. In the kitchen, we had the combination wood/gas stove. It was great "to warm one side at a time" when we got up in the morning. We used wood we had cut up on the farm or that we had bought. This wood was kept in the woodshed, a small building attached to the meat house. The meat house was where my Mother cured the country hams and sausages. Mother was also able to burn some of the trash in the stove that we accumulated.
However, we accumulated a very small amount of it. My Mother recycled almost everything. She re-used egg cartons many times; she washed and re-used plastic bags; she washed and re-used aluminum foil; she reused cottage cheese containers for freezing and mayonnaise jars for canning. Even the plastic jars which came later in our lives she used for scraps of material for her quilting. She even took the paper off cans we purchased and burned that. We collected what little trash we accumulated in a barrel and took that to a sink hole on the farm and occasionally to the city dump.

Our other source of heat was the coal stove. It was placed in the living room and provided heat for the entire house... in a manner of speaking. The only heat for the upstairs bedrooms where we kids slept was an opening in the ceiling above the stove. It was called the "register". It was nice to stand on when we were getting dressed. Otherwise, it was not a great source of heat. However, my brothers had no stove under their register. It was very cold in that room.

We did have two fireplaces in the house but we used those only rarely. They were not efficient enough.

Daddy went to the mountains (Manchester, KY) every year to get a load of coal for the winter time. He brought it back on his old black truck and put it in the coal shed. It was our job to carry in the coal on a daily basis. We also carried out the ashes. I will have to admit; it was mostly my brothers who did those jobs.

Our chickens laid eggs and were the chief source of meat for the family. We did kill two hogs every year. My mother sugar cured the hams for the best hams you ever ate. After adding the salt and sugar mixture, the hams were hung to "cure" in the meat house. She also canned part of the pork. That was also the best thing you ever ate. I canned it for my husband and children when they were at home. I even brought some home to my mother who loved it.

The only time we had oranges, tangerines, and nuts in the winter was at Christmas time at my Mother’s Father’s (my grandfather’s) home.

As the years passed, we children grew up and none of us wanted to farm so Daddy retired and rented the farm out to one of my cousins. My cousin helped take care of the farm and my Mother after Daddy died in 1983. In 1987, lightening struck the home and it almost burned. The old tin roof was holding the fire in the house and causing it to spread. There was much damage but it was rebuilt. My Mother lived until 1999 and loved every moment of her life at that farm. They were not necessarily easy but she loved them anyway. In May 1999, when my Mother died, it was time to consider selling the rest of the farm. My older brother had died and Donald and I both lived outside of Bardstown. In 2001, the last portion of the farm was sold eventually to the Bardstown School Corporation who built a Primary School there. Later, they also built a school for early childhood education on the hill by the water tower.

The home that held so many memories for many of us had to be destroyed. The Bardstown Fire Department requested to use the home as a training area for their fireman. They needed to learn new ways to put out fires and save people from burning houses. By then, the beloved home was no longer useable. The barns and other outbuildings were also bulldozed and taken away.
And so the home that was over one hundred years old was no more... However, a beautiful new school with its wonderful playground has taken its place....... *This story was originally written for the library at the Bardstown Primary School. It was written to tell the story of the home, the land, and the lady (Nellie Catherine Marks GREER) for whom their playground at the Bardstown Primary School was named.

Please note that Isaac GREER Circle was named both for my father and my deceased brother, Ike (Isac Earl GREER, Jr. was born 26 July 1932 and died 09 November 1993) . Since the death of our mother and before the dedication of the playground, my other brother, Donald Leelan GREER (17 January 1936 - 31 March 2003) died.

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Memories of a Kentucky Country Church Camp Ground (Beech Fork) Methodist Church

Memories of a Kentucky Country Church Camp Ground (Beech Fork) Methodist Church
A Hidden Kentucky Icon
by Anne Greer Denner

Map for Camp Ground (Beech Fork) Methodist Church.

If you look at the internet for Camp Ground Church, you find many nationwide and even several in Kentucky. My Camp Ground is located about five miles south of Bloomfield near Maud (Nelson County), Kentucky. It and its associated cemetery are nestled in the woods off a back country road. I would never go there by myself because I would never get out! I can barely make it in and out with competent help. However, I have never been there that the grounds of the cemetery were not beautifully mowed and the areas around the stones carefully trimmed.

The steps of the church lead to two front doors. One door was for the men and the other for the women and children. The single back door was the "fast escape" route for the minister just in case his sermon had stomped too many toes! I remember going there many times as a child.

Once, about 1955, we took my grandfather and two of my aunts. I have pictures of that trip. I am not sure why they went unless it was to find the grave of a Jury aunt who died at a young age. Of course, it was probably really because my Daddy was driving and that is where he wanted to go on this particular Sunday afternoon ride.

This cemetery holds just about as many memories as Poplar Flat does for me. I don’t think we have quite as many relatives buried here though as in Poplar Flat. At rest here are many of my distant Shehan relatives as well as Milton and Adahline Greer (my great grandparents), and two of their children..... little Harriet Elizabeth who died of the croup at about age 3 years and also Francis Foster Greer who died from complications of the measles and pneumonia at age 20 years. They were their oldest daughter and son, respectively.... how sad....

The walls of Camp Ground Church are brick and since the church has been restored, oil stoves have replaced the pot bellied ones and electric lights have replaced the old chandeliers which held kerosene lanterns.. The original church was log and was used as a camping facility for those who wished to come, stay and pray for several days. I suspect this must be the origin of the poplar nickname of the church and, maybe, of all Camp Grounds.

Sunday mornings in the mid 1880's meant that the Bodines, the Briggs, the Browns, the Greers, the Humphries, the Shehans, the Wakefields and many others came by foot, buggy or horse back to attend the services at the Old Camp Ground Church. They sang songs from books which held verses but no music and listened to ministers preach "fire and brimstone" sermons. I often wonder if baskets of food weren’t spread after church on those beautiful grounds. It would have made for a perfect Sunday afternoon. (Information similar to this as well as a picture of Camp Ground Church can be found in Sarah Smith’s Historic Nelson County written in 1971).

According to Miss Parrish and Mrs Crume, one member of the church was Mr. Sanford Bishop. He always occupied "his" seat and carried a whale bone umbrella whether it was hot or cold, dry and wet. Mr. William Humphrey, another member of the church, was Superintendent of the Sunday school. I am not sure what all the responsibilities of this job are but Isaac Greer, Jr. held this position at the Bardstown United Methodist Church for many years. I know he went from room to room to take attendance for Sunday School (an easy job at Camp Ground), counted Sunday School collections, and made reports for the church but what else I don’t know. Country churches all over our land were known for their "Amen Corners". and Camp Ground was no different. The "corner" was formed by six or seven old men who nodded their agreement with the minister. Long after their deaths, the walls retained the greasy spots where they rested their heads. (The church history portion of this narrative about Camp Ground Church was originally written by Miss Verlie Parrish and Mrs. Thelma Crume, Camp Ground Church historians. There is no date on my document but I obtained it about 1996.)

I often wondered why my Mother and Daddy didn’t know very much about the history of their families. It wasn’t that they weren’t interested but .....If you had as many brothers and sisters as they did and first cousins as I do, you probably wouldn’t worry about second cousins or other more distantly related persons either. And, in later years, my mother thoroughly enjoyed discussing her family history and exchanging letters with a fellow from Illinois who was interested in Marks genealogy. Mother, thankfully, spent many hours with me identifying many of her old pictures. Therefore, the love was there; but, like so many of us, she just needed the time to express it.

Cemeteries

You can see photos of the Maple Grove cemetery here.

And more of Campground Beech Fork Cemetery here.