Dock Douphrate, Bob Barnwell, and Berry Futrell had new Buick cars at this time, and they gave the Corn Club Boys a free ride out to the end of Montgomery Street. This was the first automobile ride for those boys and they enjoyed it very much. But during these trips, teams of horses and mules that they met, became so frightened that they climbed the steep banks along the road, carrying wagons and drivers with them, while barrels of flour rolled out of the back of the wagons. Someone, too, ran an old Model-T Ford out to the circus stand for ten cents a round trip. Many of the older people got their first automobile ride during the first Upshur County Fair. The cars caused so many runaway scrapes of the farmers’ teams that they became very resentful against them. County Fairs and automobiles hit Upshur county about the same time, and the car added a big attraction to the Fair.

The County Fair was kept up in Gilmer for a few years, but soon interest began to lag, and now the County Fair exists only in memory. The old time County Agent who began the Farm Demonstration, passed with the County Fair, and now that work is on a more business-like basis, and the agents are no longer looked upon as spies or secret revenue agents, the farmers no longer seem to fear that the County Agent is trying to pry too deeply into his affairs.

Upshur county has had a number of County Agents since 1908, and among them were, W. M. Dunagan, of West Mountain, and A. W. Kinnard, who was the first A&M graduate to serve as county agent. He was sent from Brazos county. Many others have followed them, and all have done a noble work for the county.

The East Texas Yamboree

For a number of years prior to 1935, farmers of Upshur county and the adjoining counties, had turned their attention to the cultivation and improvement of the sweet potato. The yam, so extensively grown and so popular in East Texas, was found to be of superior quality. To further encourage the cultivation of this excellent product, and to further advertise and popularize the modest East Texas yam, the “East Texas Yamboree” was inaugurated. It was not to represent Gilmer and Upshur county only, but all East Texas, hence—“The East Texas Yamboree.”

It seems that the idea of the Yamboree originated with J. A. Brogoitti, who was acting manager of the Gilmer Chamber of Commerce at that time, and J. L. Sowell, vocational teacher in the Gilmer high school. They were assisted by W. D. Seals, who was serving as county agent for Upshur county at that time, and Miss Lorene Stephens, then county Home Demonstration agent. The idea was very popular and every public official and individual citizen assisted when they could. W. C. Barnwell and J. R. Penn, two outstanding potato raisers of the county, gave their moral and financial support to the new enterprise.

The East Texas Yamboree was organized in the fall of 1935, with W. C. Barnwell president, and J. A. Brogoitti, manager. It was a modest beginning, but it continued to grow until it became quite an extensive Fair, with a number of other exhibits than the yam. About forty counties of East Texas took part in the exhibits, and it continued to grow in interest and popularity, until it became one of the outstanding events of East Texas. It was also a great social event. The schools and other enterprises of the county, and of the surrounding towns and counties, took part in the parades with their brass bands and decorated floats. Traveling shows and carnivals added their attractions to the occasions. Fiddlers’ contests, and the old-time square dance, with its called sets were held on the paved street adjoining the courthouse square, in the evenings. Crowds gathered from all over the state, until it seemed that Gilmer could not hold all the people.

Because of the war conditions, the East Texas Yamboree was discontinued in 1941. It is scheduled to be opened up again, however, in the Fall of 1946, in a celebration of unusual importance, to be known as “The East Texas Victory Yamboree.”

Transcriber’s Notes