Etcetera Winter 2024
Kilgore’s people, places — and the rest
COVER STORY
FINDING HIS ROOTS Kilgore historian helps keep his ancestors’ stories alive
VOLUNTEERS keep London School memories alive MOVIE FILMED IN KILGORE set for Christmas 2024 release
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FROM THE EDITOR
History and storytelling are intrinsically intertwined
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his issue of Etcetera focuses a lot on our area’s history, from a local historian’s journey to a look back at the oil boom’s beginnings. It’s not hard to see why: Our history is full of interesting stories, and we are storytellers at heart. Greg Muckelroy’s story is one of my favorites. His searches for his family’s lineage began in the ‘90s at the Gregg County courthouse. Muckelroy, who is Black, could tell you himself how difficult it can sometimes be to find genealogical information on Black ancestors thanks to the legacies of slavery. “I was just researching through the records and in the census records, we just made the connection,” he told reporter Lucas Strough. “At the time, it was just the basic information that I was able to find at the courthouse. Back then you had to go down to the courthouse and pull the old census records and I found my great-grandparents in the census records there and then through the deed searches I found where they actually bought the property. It was kind of a hodge-podge of this and that.” Muckelroy discovered information confirming John Martin Thompson, following the abolition of slavery after the Civil War, had deeded 200 acres to Greg’s great-grandfather just outside of Kilgore near what is now Highway 31. Muckelroy’s family still owns that property to this day. Muckelroy described his years-long search for information regarding the history of his own family, from enslavement to freedom at the recent East Texas History Summit, hosted by the East Texas Oil Museum. His presentation, "The Story of My Family: Coming to Texas as Enslaved People," described his efforts to research and catalog historical evidence which outlined the journeys of his ancestors and how his family came to be located in Kilgore. The history event itself aimed to showcase the unique and often overlooked facets of history which can be found in the stories of how Kilgore and other local cities came to be. “The summit embodies a concerted effort to commemorate and understand the rich tapestry of East Texas history, inviting us 4 Etcetera | Winter 2024
to reflect on the stories that have shaped our communities," said ETOM Director Olivia Moore. Lucas also wrote our story on the volunteers keeping the history of the New London school disaster alive. The 1937 event still shapes us today: That rotten egg smell of gas? Implemented after more than 300 students and teachers were killed in New London when a gas leak caused an explosion. James and Christene Tramel are two of those volunteers, keeping the museum and cafe running along with other volunteers and students from the local school. “We had been coming here for years,” James, a museum docent, told Lucas. “Each year I learn something else. It’s been a learning process leading the tours,” he said. Speaking of New London, I’d be remiss not to mention that the West Rusk Alumni Association will host its Day of Remembrance on Saturday, March 16 at the West Rusk school auditorium at 1:30 p.m. A reception will be held at the London Museum & Cafe following the memorial service. What other stories should we be telling? Please let us know. As we wrap up each issue of the magazine, we continue to think about our coming issues and how best we can feature the people and places of Kilgore.
MEREDITH SHAMBURGER, Editor
ON THE COVER Greg Muckelroy Photo by Les Hassell
CONTENTS Winter 2024
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COVER STORY
FINDING HIS ROOTS Kilgore historian helps keep his ancestors’ stories alive
FEATURE STORY Volunteers keep London School memories alive
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FEATURE STORY Movie filmed in Kilgore set for Christmas 2024 release
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HOUR GLASS
The story of the East Texas Oil Field
Etcetera
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1397 FM 1252 E. • Kilgore, TX Winter 2024 | Etcetera 5
COVER STORY
FINDING his
Roots
Kilgore historian helps keep his ancestors’ stories alive BY LUCAS STROUGH | lstrough@kilgorenewsherald.com PHOTOS BY LUCAS STROUGH AND CONTRIBUTED
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any people can look back a generation or two into their own family history, maybe as far back as their great-grandparents. But Kilgore native Greg Muckelroy can trace his lineage back over hundreds of years and thousands of miles. With years of research and effort, Muckelroy has discovered the names, faces and identities of his ancestors, which may have otherwise been forgotten to time. “I’m from Kilgore,” he said, noting he and his family members had long been aware of their “direct connection” to Kilgore history. “I’m a Kilgoreite and was born here in the ‘50s and grew up here. My family, we were all out on Highway 31, out towards Tyler. We always knew that we were connected to Lou Della Crim and her dad. The property that we owned came from her and her dad.” On Oct. 3, 1930, an oilman from Alabama called Columbus Marion “Dad” Joiner struck oil with the Daisy Bradford No. 3 oil well near Kilgore, ushering in the discovery of the East Texas Oil Field. Shortly afterwards, many other wells were drilled in Rusk County, one of them by a man named Malcolm Crim, who named one of his wells after his mother, the Lou Della Crim No. 1.
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Lou Della’s father, John Martin Thompson, had owned the land that would one day belong to Greg Muckelroy’s ancestors. It was with this parcel of land that the search into his family history began. “We had been doing some research years ago, back in the ‘90s,” he said, noting his earliest searches into his lineage began at the Gregg County courthouse. “I had discovered the deed records where John Martin Thompson had deeded the land to my great-grandfather. He had given him a life deed and about 10 years after that, Lou Della had made it a permanent deed rather than a life deed. I was just researching through the records and in the census records, we just made the connection. At the time, it was just the basic information that I was able to find at the courthouse. Back then you had to go down to the courthouse and pull the old census records and I found my great-grandparents in the census records there and then through the deed searches I found where they actually bought the property. It was kind of a hodge-podge of this and that.” At the Longview library’s genealogy department, the search continued through a store of microfiche which contained newspaper records, and the search also led to records kept at the
that William Sheffield had come to Rusk County sometime around 1855 from Oklahoma. Russ Muckelroy and his mother Charlotte Sample were slaves of Benjamin Franklin Thompson. When his search began, Greg was poring over hundreds of paper documents. As time went on, things got a bit easier thanks to new technology. “As times have modernized, the county has digitized all their records from 200 years ago. When they digitized them, I was able to dig up some history there.” The search continued, with one name leading to another, cross-checking census Left- A scan of a page from the 1860 Rusk County slave rolls showing Greg's (at the time) 8-year-old records and slave rolls. great-great-grandmother America Wiley being owned by William Sheffield. “From various articles and through Right - A scan of a photograph of Greg's great-great-grandmother America Wiley Muckelroy and his that history, I was able to track John Martin great-great-grandfather Russ Muckelroy, taken sometime around the year 1900. Thompson back to Georgia. When his dad, Benjamin Franklin Thompson, came to Gregg County Clerk’s office. Kilgore he brought 31 slaves with him. My great-great-grandfather In these records, Greg discovered information confirming John was one of the slaves he brought with him. Then my great-greatMartin Thompson, following the abolition of slavery after the grandmother came over with a slave owner from Georgia named Civil War, had deeded 200 acres to Greg’s great-grandfather just William Sheffield, when he came to Kilgore he brought 11 slaves outside of Kilgore near what is now Highway 31. Greg’s family still with him, she was one of the slaves that he brought with him. By owns that property to this day. coincidence, Benjamin Franklin Thompson bought 10,000 acres An important milestone in the search came from an unexpected and that was most of Kilgore. William Sheffield bought 400 acres source: a website run by the Mount Tabor Indian Community based in the plantation that was adjacent to the Thompson plantation in Rusk County. The website contained an image made from a and that was how my great-great-grandmother and great-greatscan of an article which had been printed in the early 1900s in the grandfather met.” American Lumberman, a trade publication concerning the lumber “I call it just across the fence,” Greg said. industry in Texas. “On one side of the fence there was the Thompson plantation “I found a newspaper that was published back in the early 1900s and on the other side of the fence was the Sheffield plantation.” and there was this big, huge article about John Martin Thompson Greg said the story of his ancestors is similar in some regards and his family and how he had gotten into the timber industry and, by a strange coincidence, there was a picture of my great- to the story of many families who were brought to Texas as slaves and then later freed when slavery is abolished. The modern-day grandfather in that article! For some reason, some time between 1890 and 1900, my great-grandparents took a set of pictures and descendants of these families can use similar methods to what those eventually got moved onto the internet and we found those.” Greg used to learn about his own family history. “After the Civil War ended, they freed the slaves and many of It was from this article that Greg was able to begin to trace the freed slaves just stayed on or near the plantations where they back the lineage of his great-great-grandmother and his greatgreat-grandfather. They were America Wiley Muckelroy and Russ were originally slaves at. Our family was one of those families,” he said. Muckelroy. They were born slaves. “That’s a very common story in Texas, people just don’t know America had been owned by a slave owner named William Sheffield. Greg found a record listed in the 1870 census for Sheffield how to research it. The research is not as hard as it was 20 years ago which also had an entry for the then-18-year-old America. Prior to because the records are digitized now.” Having learned so much about his family and their lives in a the 1870 census, Black Americans were not counted in the census bygone era, Greg reflected on their journey from enslavement to rolls and were counted in separate documents known as slave rolls. land ownership. Greg also found records of Sheffield purchasing two tracts of “Our land is on the plantation where we were slaves and land in Rusk County in the Chisum survey. He knew he was on that’s just an amazing thing to learn. I look forward to doing more the right track when he confirmed that these parcels of land are where his family lives to this day. He was also able to determine research in the future to see what else I can learn about our family.” Winter 2024 | Etcetera 7
FEATURE STORY
Volunteers keep
LONDON SCHOOL MEMORIES ALIVE STORY AND PHOTOS BY LUCAS STROUGH | lstrough@kilgorenewsherald.com
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ighty-six years ago, on March 18, 1937, a natural gas leak at the London School led to an explosion which destroyed the school and killed more than 300 students and teachers. This upcoming March, many will gather at the cenotaph in New London to commemorate the tragedy and remember victims, the majority of whom were young children. At the London Museum & Cafe, just next to the memorial, volunteers work tirelessly to ensure the memory of the victims is never forgotten. James and Christene Tramel are two of those volunteers, keeping the museum and cafe running along with other volunteers and students from the local school. “We had been coming here for years,” James, a museum docent, said. A former schoolteacher who taught at Spring Hill for 16 years and worked another 12 years in the maintenance department, he has personal experience with education and school safety. “Each year I learn something else. It’s been a learning process leading the tours,” he said. Those tours, led by volunteer docents, take visitors on a journey into the past, back to that fateful day nearly a century ago when the East Texas Oil Boom created a rapidly growing tax base and a need for a local school for children of the increased population. At the time, the London School was state-of-the-art and entirely
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modern, heated with natural gas which the local oil industry created in excess as a byproduct. It was that gas which leaked in March 1937, slowly and silently filling an area beneath the school and which triggered a massive explosion when a belt sander in the school’s wood shop was plugged in and caused a spark. Tramel is also an artist and displays his carvings at the museum at certain times in the year. Currently, he is hand-sketching portraits of each of the 294 student victims of the tragedy. So far, he’s completed 166 of them. “Each time I finish a drawing, I say a prayer that the student will be remembered,” he said, noting this is an especially important task now, as all those who survived the 1937 disaster are now dead from natural causes and old age. There is plenty to do at the London Museum & Cafe, which also houses an authentic, working soda fountain and serves soft drinks and ice cream treats. James and Christene, along with other volunteers and student workers, clean and maintain the fountain and dining area, make and serve drinks and treats, lead tours and, above all, ensure the victims of the New London tragedy are never forgotten. To learn more about the museum and cafe, visit in person at 10690 Main St, Overton, call (903) 895-4602 or visit their website at www.nlsd.net/Museum.htm. Winter 2024 | Etcetera
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FEATURE STORY
PORCH
S E T A R PI
BY LUCAS STROUGH | lstrough@kilgorenewsherald.com PHOTOS BY LUCAS STROUGH AND LES HASSELL
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Movie filmed in Kilgore set for Christmas 2024 release
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new movie with a Christmas theme is set in and being filmed in the Kilgore area and is scheduled for release next December. “Porch Pirates” is described as an entertaining adventure which follows three police detectives working to catch a gang of porch pirates stealing packages in East Texas. Directed by Jeff Hamm and written by Hamm, Justin Chaffee and Jay Dee Walters, “Porch Pirates” is a production of Icthys Films, which also released another Christmas movie set in East Texas earlier this year with “Grumpy Old Santa.” In December, the cast and crew of “Porch Pirates” could be spotted filming scenes for the movie in various East Texas locations, including The Real McCoys Pizza Pub in Lakeport and Judd’s Downtown in Longview. Additionally, some of Kilgore Police Department’s officers were on set to help film police scenes. The IMDB description of the film is as follows: “In this rollicking adventure, follow the escapades of three dedicated detectives: Jack Tyler, Marcos Fernandez and Sally Jones, as they embark on a mission to apprehend a mischievous gang of Porch Pirates. These detectives are not only on a quest to protect the holiday spirit but also navigate the challenges of their own lives... ‘Porch Pirates’ is a heartwarming tale that reminds us all that the true spirit of Christmas lies in the joy of togetherness, laughter, and the pursuit of the perfect present — even if it’s a little unconventional.” Learn more about “Porch Pirates” at www.facebook.com/Porch PiratesMovie and www.imdb.com/title/tt30292761/?ref_=sr_t_2. Check out www.ichthysfilms.com for information on other productions by Icthys Films. Watch for the film’s release Christmas 2024. Winter 2024 | Etcetera
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HOUR GLASS
The Story of
The East Texas Oil Field BY MEREDITH SHAMBURGER | mshamburger@kilgorenewsherald.com
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he following excerpt was taken from a story published in the News Herald on July 14, 1974: East Texas in 1930: the biggest boom of them all. All who were there nurse memories of the year in which the wild, frantic times began/ all who were not there can, by reading histories of that incredible era, get some sense of the emotions, gambles, grand failures and unbelievable success that surrounded the early exploration of America’s greatest oil field. But whether you were there or not, East Texas – with thousands of its wells still serving up oil even after 40 years – today stands as the pinnacle of oil country romance, the boom that almost built – by almost destroying – a great industry. HERE, sprawling across five counties, is where the independent actually began to breathe; previously, he had known a perilous half-life that gasped from one boomlet to another in a recurring cycle of feast and famine that left the ranks thinned and everchanging. But here in the Woodbine sands of East Texas, the footholds were gained and the “stakes” made that were to finance tens of thousands of wildcats drilled by independents all over the globe in the subsequent four decades. East Texas in short fostered a whole new way of life. IT BEGAN, of course, on an indifferent September day when an old man who had already lived out his three score and ten in comparative poverty, finally was able to test his disaster-plagued Rusk County wildcat that had been three years in the making. The importance to the nation and to the oil industry of Dad Joiner’s fabulous strike is a story that has been recounted many times since that day 40 years ago when the old wildcatter’s gusher first darkened the sky over the piney woods. But the discovery’s far reaching 14 Etcetera | Winter 2024
meaning to the independent oilman is a story that has yet to be fully related. FOR EAST TEXAS was more than just the biggest of booms – it was a boom in wideopen unleashed country with first-come, first-served success beckoning any wildcatter with foresight, staying power and a gambler’s instinct. In the early days, success or apparent success came to those with the foresight and good fortune to get leases on trend; as the stakes got higher in the struggle for control of the field’s prize, staying power, – otherwise defined as a certain fleetness of food when creditors appeared – became one of the more beneficial traits. And throughout the whole brash era, that necessary handmaiden of individualism – luck – proved to be the most worthy asset of all. Before the furor had run its course, even legal acumen stood operators in good stead as martial law, injunctions, federal inspectors, National guardsmen and Texas Rangers came to the piney woods. …. Much of the significance of East Texas is obscured by the very vibrance of the drama played there – the field added, for instance, a whole new lexicon of terms to oil industry slang: the left-handed valve, the “shallow find,” salt water injection well, night hauling and “three barrels for a quarter” crude. But these phrases – colorful though they were – were but the surface manifestations of a much deeper and more meaningful drama that played out its scene backstage and out of the limelight of the daily newspapers of that era. For the uniqueness of East Texas was that finding the oil was not hard – the trick came in marketing it fast enough and at a price reasonable enough to pay off the financial commitments incurred in drilling up lease obligations.
Family Owned and Family Friendly Mexican Restaurant OUT OF THIS circumstance grew the fantastic production totals and the fights over hot oil and proration enforcement that kept East Texas in its own peculiar brand of turmoil – and which ultimately produced the industry’s first comprehensive effort to cope with such volatile topics as ratable take, correlative rights and conservation. The gigantic size of the field and the scope of the rivalries it would touch off were not, of course, apparent from the moment Dad Joiner’s No. 3 Daisy Bradford bedazzled the assembled farmers on that Friday in September, 1930. Oil at the time was $1.10 a barrel and Joiner’s strike, though brought in before a carnival-like crowd complete with hamburger vendors and soda pop peddlers, seemed like just another good local discovery. FOR JOINER, of course, the well was the culmination of three years of unrelenting efforts, maintained against incredibly bad luck that resulted in the abandonment of Daisy Bradford No. 1 and Daisy Bradford No. 2, long before their drilling bits approached the 3,600 ft. Woodbine sand level. Joiner’s new lease on life extended, naturally, to the local farmers who saw the black gold as a heaven-sent answer to their depression woes. A flurry of lease activity swirled around the pleasant East Texas town of Henderson, near Joiner’s discovery, but otherwise the world did not take undue notice of the No. 3 Daisy Bradford. … THE NO. 1 Lou Della Crim changed all that. Drilled by Ed Bateman of Fort Worth, the test on the Crim lease was considered almost as much of a rank wildcat as Joiner’s… On Sunday, Dec. 27, 1930 – almost four months after Joiner’s Strike – the No. 1 Lou Della Crim blasted in at a fantastic 10,000 barrels a day rate, and the boom blew wide open. … THE NEXT DAY, Kilgore’s streets began filling up with strangers, scouts, landmen and promoters. A visitor called Kilgore “the most seething, wildly excited and booming oil boom town. This beats them all,” he said. “I should judge there are between 1,500 and 2,000 carpenters at work in this little Gregg County town. Shacks are springing up everywhere like mushrooms… The sidewalks are filled up with unloaded freight cars, the roads are choked with traffic and there is literally standing room only in the town itself.”
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