Black Jack Cemetery
Nacogdoches County, Texas

Compiled by:
Reba Jernigan Powers, Miriam Adams Jernigan, Liberty Powers,
Harry Powers, Lucas Powers, Lydia Powers
© 1998, 1999, 2000
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE AUTHORS
Music: Arkansas Traveler
Revised 11 Feb 2000

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Visitors since 2/25/00

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Black Jack  Hall of Fame Captain Billy J. Blankenship (Dentist, Physician, Decorated War Hero) Colonel Troy Hargis, USAF Bob Luman ( Country Music Hall of Fame) This table  was designed by Lydia Elaine Powers, age 10.

      Black Jack Cemetery is located east of Nacogdoches. From the junction of Loop 224 and Hwy 21-east, continue 17.3 miles. Take a left on #95. Continue 3 miles, and turn left on CR #350 at Fuller's Grocery. You will see the new Antioch Missionary Baptist Church on the left. On your right, you will see the old church building, with the cemetery directly behind it.

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               Scarcely three miles from the historic Stagecoach Inn on the Old San Antonio Road stands a memorial to my ancestors of long ago. The epitaph of John Henry Luman declares boldly "In God we trust" and provides a benchmark to scores of Luman descendants, including a dozen preachers, several teachers, and a couple of physicians, who share the legacy endowed by Grandpa Luman. A century ago, the Lumans followed in the footsteps of pioneers who had preceded them sixty years before when the only travel was by packhorse, as there was no road for any kind of wheeled conveyance. My father, born the year before his Grandpa Luman died, would another sixty years later play a major role in the developments of both interstate and intrastate commercial traffic and travel to the state capital petitioning for contemporary issues critical to transportation. His efforts would result in a loop being built around Center, Texas to relieve the internal corridors of traffic from congestion and the threat posed by the transportation of hazardous materials.
              The beauty of the black oak (known locally as "black jack") trees, was a source of inspiration to the early settlers. Theirs was a time when justice was served without delay. The murderer who one hundred years ago violently took the lives of a family here in Black Jack was hung before the sun went down that same day. Situated in a corner near a point where the counties of Nacogdoches, Shelby, and San Augustine intersect, and halfway between Martinsville and Chireno,  this plot of soil was originally designated for the Antioch Baptist/Methodist Churches, which met on alternate Sundays and shared facilities for sixty four years. It was an eclectic community which called its church Antioch, its post office Attoyac, and its school Black Jack. When the Methodist group phased out, they donated their share of the property to the Baptists. After occupying for many years the original building which had been constructed by the pioneer families, the Baptists have built a beautiful new building across the road and continue to be faithful in their ministry to the community.
               The first interrment at Black Jack was that of eight-month-old F. E. Hargis in 1878. In April of 1879, a daughter was born to G. B. and Nancy Woods Layton.  In July of 1879, Nancy laid her fifty-three-year-old husband to rest, returned in October to bury their twelve-year-old son and again in January to bury their little eight-month-old daughter. Of some six hundred individuals buried at Black Jack, twenty-seven are babies who were either stillborn or died within hours of their birth, twelve more who died before their first birthday, and fourteen who didn't live to be six years old. Still four more did not survive until their tenth birthday.
               In 1884, Marion W. Layton lost a two-year-old daughter in July and a five-month-old son in August. The following August of 1885, he lost a one-year-old daughter. Then in August of 1887, he again lost a daughter, this one two years old. In August of 1889, he lost a one-month-old baby. In 1894, he lost an eight-month-old son. In 1904, he lost his beloved wife Annie, who was forty-two years old. Mr. Layton remarried and had another son who died at age three in 1915. His daughter, who will be 84 in December, married the son of Dr. Tom G. Fuller and is the proprietor of Fuller Grocery, a landmark in this community for many years.
               Although the infant mortality rate for the comprehensive history of Black Jack Cemetery is a staggering 9 1/2%, seventy nine hardy souls did survive to become octogenarians. There were even fourteen who lived past ninety, and Lillie M. Green lived to be 103.
                One octogenarian interred at Black Jack is my great grandfather, John Henry Luman. Grandpa and Grandma (nee Mary Jane Weatherford) Luman were married near Fort Smith, Arkansas, on the Arkansas River, where he had been postmaster at Creole and Spieierville in the 1870's. Twelve children were born to the couple. They had a neighbor family by the name of Oliver, which produced husbands for two of the Luman girls (Liza and Ellen), and another neighbor family by the name of Gray, which produced brides for Luman brothers George and Wes.
                  In the fall of 1891, the Lumans packed up and headed to Texas. Little eight-year-old Lillie Bell would remember the 30-day trip and later retell the story many times to her children and grandchildren. Hezekiah and Mary Ellen remorsefully left the grave of their infant son behind in Arkansas and went to Texas. William Henry Lee and Eliza Alice joined the others. John Wesley Oliver, father of Lee and Hez, also accompanied them.
                    Enroute to Texas, the Arkansas travelers stopped at a place where there was a spot in front of the fireplace. Everything had been tried to bring the stain up. Damp weather made it show up even worse. The stain was from the blood of a person who had been murdered there. Folks traveling through would not stay there, because they thought the place was haunted.
                    The Lumans, Olivers, and Grays passed time on the wagon trail by singing ballads which had been passed along from generation to generation. One such example is:
    "When they go courtin', I'll tell you what they ride:
    their old saddles all covered with hide,
    old hair, guts, and them in a ring
    all tied with a rawhide string..."
The three families were clannish, and generations later would continue to gather together, enjoying the fellowship of one another, and singing "up a storm." This tradition continues as each fall Luman descendants gather for a week-long encampment at "Yellow Dog." They come from far and near the first week of October to celebrate the opening of squirrel season and enjoy each other's company as they sing, make music, and eat "high on the hog."
                    The Lumans are so fair-skinned they have to be very careful, or they'll blister in the moonlight. One time, an old Indian came through and put some salve on a cancer on Grandpa Luman's face. It cured it right up, but they never knew what was in the salve. Grandpa Luman later got a "receet" for curing skin cancer. Lillie Bell used the remedy with success for many years. "It would slick a cancer right off, smooth as a button." In later years, the ingredients were no longer available over the counter, and Lillie Bell had skin cancers surgically removed on a number of occasions.
                                                   CANCER TONIC
                                                   1 pint fluid ext. of Stillinger
                                                   1/2 oz iodide potash
                                                   3 oz alcohol
                                                   3 oz water
                                                   Dose: 1 teaspoonful 3 times a day
                     Grandma Luman passed away in 1901. Lillie Bell, at fifteen, stayed home with her Pa and took care of her younger brothers, Jarret and Dave. She rocked six year old Dave to sleep "many a night" and made him his first little pair of breeches which buttoned onto a shirt. Jarret grew up and went off to the war. Even with the household responsiblities thrust upon young Lillie Bell, she always counted on the support she got from her Pa. Whatever her need or care, her father was there to make it better for her. He often went to her bedside to comfort her when she had bad dreams. One day, Lillie Bell went to the store with her Pa and saw a tall, good-looking man whom she informed her father was the man she was going to marry. Sure enough, Fern Jernigan came calling on the Lumans. On one of their Sunday afternoon buggy rides, Fern proposed marriage to Lillie Bell, and the rest, as they say, is history. They rode up to preacher T. R. Baker's house in a horse-drawn buggy and were married by Bro. Baker as they sat there in the buggy in front of his house on November 6, 1910.
                   Grandpa Luman later moved across the county line to make his home with Lillie Bell and her new husband. Apparently, he kept the household well entertained. He explained to his granddaughters that his mother was a Campbell, and "that's why we're all hump-backed." He once told his friend, Dr. Lafayette Bailey, "You know what, Doc? If fur hadn't been so scace, you'd a- been a rat!"  On the only known occasion of Grandpa Luman having been photographed, he held a newspaper in front of his face.
                    The little family enjoyed prosperity in the early years. Fern built a spacious, modern house with a porch all the way around it. Lillie Bell banked the gallery with her plants. Their household was blessed with the addition of four children. Then another baby came, and the precious little boy cried. And he cried and he cried and he cried. They had the doctor out to see what was wrong, but it was never determined why the infant only survived for one day.
                    Fern, Lillie Bell, and Grandpa Luman rode the train to Commerce, Texas to see Aunt Martha Dearing. When they arrived at the station, the conductor asked for their tickets. Grandpa did not know what he had done with his. But Fern and the conductor were both Masons, and Grandpa was allowed to disembark.
                     Fern and Lillie Bell lost their home in Jericho community to a fire. They, their four children, and Grandpa Luman moved into an adjacent crib, and Fern purchased two chairs, one for Lillie Bell, who was with child, and another for "Mr. Luman." Grandpa Luman said, "If I have a chair, Fern will, also." He bought his son-in-law a chair, and that was that. My dad, Paul Jernigan, was born in the barn on the 8th day of April in 1930.
                    Countless memories for many individuals are tied to people and events at Black Jack. John Henry Luman was too young to fight in the Civil War, but he drove a team. His son served in World War I. His granddaughter, Carrie Luman Davis, gave up her two sons in World War II. His great grandson Johnnie Fern Hughes served in the Vietnam Conflict. His great great grandson Darrell Lane Williford served in Desert Storm. There are thirty-four veterans buried there, as well as two physicians and the eighteen-year-old son of another physician. Carlos David Luman died at age seven from lock jaw after getting a stick stuck in his leg. A family of three which was murdered in the fall of 1902 is buried at Black Jack, as well as a family of three which perished in a house fire in January of 1939. Lamar Langford, Ann Norris, and Bernice Hardy each died on their birthday. Four people were born on Christmas Day; two people died on Christmas Day.
                         If you happen to be in neighboring Shelby County and attend a service at the Center Missionary Baptist Church, it's likely you will find John Woodie Jernigan and his family lined up on a pew down close to the front. And in Woodie's pocket will be the watch which great grandfather Luman once dangled over the crib to entertain our father, Paul. The watch still keeps perfect time, and the legacy of Christian faith handed down by Grandpa Luman endures in our family.
                      The cemetery association is under the capable and visionary leadership of native son Troy Hargis, who is a retired colonel of the United States Air Force. The grounds are immaculately kept, and a substantial fund has been established to provide perpetual care. Homecoming is always held on the fourth Sunday in May, when descendants of Black Jack families gather to celebrate Armistice Day and to pay tribute to their lost loved ones.

        A few hours before the death of Mrs. Lillian Parkman Langford, 64, on Wednesday morning of last week at her home in the Attoyac community, she called her family, one by one, to her bedside, told them goodbye and for them to meet her in heaven. She also called the neighbors (who were in the house at the time) to her in the same manner. She also sang two or three songs softly and then gave directions for her burial, asking that Rev. T. H. Honea officiate.
        Burial was Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 in the Black Jack Cemetery with Rev. Honea in charge. The pallbearers were: P.B. Hardy, D. Stringer, C.T. Powers, G.W. Wyatt and Harvey Holbert.
         Mrs. Langford was born in Mississippi on February 19, 1874. She married C. A. Langford who survives her as well as three sons, E. L., A. H., and H. A. and two daughters, Agnes and Mrs. Gussie Pleasant, all of Attoyac. Her mother, Mrs. B. D. Parkman; eight brothers, A. R. Atley, A. B., James, Walter and Virgle of Mississippi, Will Parkman of Ohio and Taylor Parkman of Texas, and four sisters, Mrs. Vick Miller, Mrs. Laura Phipps and Mrs. Mary Gardener of Mississippi and Mrs. Susie Hughes of Oklahoma City.

---

 Ma's Chickenless Dressing
also known as "cush"

(photo courtesy of Carolyn Anthony)

Boe Anthony served in the US Army in WWII, an experience which his widow, Carolyn Martin Anthony, says turned him against eating rice, as that was the main staple of his diet while on tour of duty in the Far East.             Carolyn, one of three children born to Thomas Luther Martin and Lois Lucille Pleasant, was sixteen when she married Boe. She and Boe lived and raised their two sons in Black Jack Community, where she was born and raised. Carolyn attended Black Jack School through the tenth grade and Chireno High School beginning in the eleventh grade. She still resides on #95, about a mile and a half from the cemetery. Carolyn is an active member of Antioch Baptist Church and helps Mrs. Fuller at the well-trafficked Fuller's Store located  in the hub of the friendly little community. Try her recipes below. Both of these dishes are in great demand at local gatherings!

1.    Place one whole hen in a crock pot.
2.    Cover the hen with water, add salt, and cook until it is tender.
3.    Remove the hen, save the broth, and debone the meat.
4.    Add two teaspoons of baking powder to two commercially-prepared cornkits; bake
       the bread according to the directions on the package.
5.    Pour all of the broth over the cornbread and mix until the mixture has an even consistency. Add
       the meat, raw eggs, salt, pepper, and onions to taste. Mix and pour into a baking dish.
6.    Bake at 350 degrees until the top is brown.

1.    In an iron skillet, place 1 cup of sugar and cook on a low flame until it melts and turns brown
       (not dark brown, just caramel-colored.) Stir while you cook.
2.    Add 1 cup of milk, and stir until it is cooked out.
3.    In a bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of corn starch, 1 cup of sugar, 2 eggs (separated),
       1 1/2 cups of milk, and vanilla flavoring.
4.    Pour mixture into brown sugar. Cook slowly, stirring constantly, until the filling thickens.
       Pour into a baked pie shell.
5.    Beat egg whites until stiff. Add sugar, vanilla flavoring, and a pinch of salt. Spread meringue
       and bake the pie at 350 degrees.

*The following markers are located between those of M. E. Brittain and Mary S. Husband;
neither dates nor any additional information is inscribed thereon:
                                                                     Grace
                                                                      Elsie
                                                                      Richard
                                                                      T. C.
                                                                      Ernie

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