PART ONE
In early 2021 - what seems like an eternity ago - I paid tribute to the legacy of Dr. T. C. W. Magee (1902 -1979), renowned local dentist and large landowner.
A prodigious tree farmer, he notably planted over one million trees in the Florida Parishes between 1939 and 1978. The son of Joel Newton "Joe N." Magee and Lula Jenkins Magee, Thomas Charles William Magee was born on March 6, 1902, in a settlement known as Babington, Louisiana, eight miles northeast of Franklinton. Also known as Willie, he was the brother of Velma Magee (Fousse), Clyde Jared Magee, Dr. Doyle Conan Magee, and Lula Mae Magee (Stringfield). And their father Joe N. Magee (1876 - 1925), the son of Zachariah and Artemesia "Timmie" Morris Magee, served as Sheriff of Washington Parish from 1904 to 1912.
Dr. T. C. W. married Mary Wortley Gilmer (1901 - 1995), also known as "Sister Mary," of Stonewall, a town in North Louisiana. The couple had two daughters - Mary Elizabeth (Macias) (1930 - 1990) and Margaret (Joffrion), born in 1941. And it was Cousin Margaret who generously shared with me her father's memoir, the "Recollections of T.C.W. Magee, D.D.S. Tulane University Dental School 1922-27" which written in his own hand from 1968 - 1973 had been transcribed by his daughter Mary Elizabeth Magee Macias in the 1970s. The material was a gold mine. Kinship brought me into the picture - Dr. T. C. W. and my mother were first cousins. His mother Lula Jenkins Magee (1879 - 1964) was my grandmother Emma Jenkins Brumfield's (1895 - 1988) sister. They were the daughters of Charles Abner Jenkins and wife Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wascom Jenkins.
Upon graduation from Tulane Dental School in 1926, Dr. T. C. W. returned to Franklinton where he set up practice. In my earlier series of columns, I focused on his dentistry, civic leadership, and tree farming. But today's feature is the Fair. As folks in these parts like to say right about now, "It's Fair time." Dr. T. C. W.'s chronicle of Fair time in the early years - part of his memoir - was mesmerizing. He sagely set the stage for each installment with an interesting report. His unvarnished memory of the Fair, taken in part from his writing on October 15, 1972, is best left in his own words:
"A beautiful warm fall afternoon. An exceptionally dry summer and fall. I have done some tree farm road work and gravelling on three places during the dry weather. E. Ray Jones has done most of the gravel spreading and we still have some to complete. I have completed the Springhill roads to where they can be traveled in all weather. I have opened up roads through the Yates Lease acreage and graveling is almost complete. I helped haul some of the aggregate out there as I have on all the other places with my pickup truck and that gives me more pride and interest in them.
The fair is scheduled for next week and plans are for the biggest one yet, beginning Wednesday, October 18th. This is the sixtieth anniversary. It was held first in the Tom Simmons Livery Stable, where they hired out horses, hacks, buggies, surreys, and teams for transportation and travel. This was before the day of the automobile. Buggies with shafts were drawn by a single horse, while one with a tongue and double tree was pulled by two called a span of animals. There were single seated vehicles and two seaters called surreys. We lived near the exhibit and carried an entry which was a Tamworth Sow with 14 fine pigs that won a prize.
I have participated in fair activities over the years, serving on various committees; the board of directors, and as vice president - greeting and welcoming the guests one year. As one of the organizers and first president of the Washington Parish Historical Society, we made the first entry in this field, and the manifested interest has resulted in continual annual exhibits and displays of relics.
Mrs. Lionel (Leo) Ott and I were two of the earliest refreshment operators with location on the western side of the grounds just north of the Tylertown highway. This was about 1917 or 1918. She was a vivacious beautiful lady and full of fun and life; the first and earliest memory I have of a truly stately and pretty woman. She was a Miss Helen Merritt before marrying, a sister to Elizabeth (Bett) who worked as a secretary in Franklinton earlier. I don't think I have seen her since that time. Both Bett and the Otts moved to New Orleans where Leo became interested in politics and became a councilman, but he and his wife became estranged, while the latter married a Mr. Weiblen. He was a member of a wealthy family, owning a marble works and monument firm. Later he passed on."
Stay tuned for next week's continuation of Dr. T. C. W. Magee's remembrance of the Washington Parish Fair, in his own words.
