Times Past
This week’s Times Past photos show two Ozark County natives who proudly displayed their fishing success for the camera. Both were descendants of Ozark County pioneer families. Curt Luna (1888-1949), left, “taught 15 terms of school and served as a justice of the peace for four years,” according to his Ozark County Times obituary. Five years before his death, he and his wife, Cora Huffman Luna, “retired from their farm and moved to West Plains.” He is buried in the Smith Chapel Cemetery near Zanoni. Caleb Dean (1891-1951), lived in Ozark County all his life, sharing a farm near Tecumseh with his wife, Zina McCleary Dean. He is buried in the Hog Danger (now Mount Pleasant) Cemetery near Elijah. The photos are undated, and their source is unknown.
Ozark County News
Aug. 7, 1890
On last Wednesday, Martin Smith, son of W. A. Smith, was struck by lightning and killed while in a school room teaching in Brixey, in the north part of this county. The school was in session at the time and some fifty pupils were in the school house. A thunder shower...
The following article was reprinted from the Aug. 6, 1964, edition of the Ozark County Times.
Herman Pierce for sheriff, Randolph Hutchison for judge of the eastern district and Mark Deatherage for judge of the western district won the Republican nominations in Ozark County, while Garner Moody...
The following article was reprinted from the Aug. 8, 1984, edition of the Ozark County Times.
A total of 2,795 votes were cast in both the [1984] Republican and Democratic primaries for candidates for sheriff. This is less than half of the county’s 6,514 registered voters.
In this year’s four-...
The following article was reprinted from the Aug. 3, 1994, edition of the Ozark County Times.
In the Aug. 2, 1994, Primary Election, 2,809 Ozark County voters turned out (45.4 percent of the 6,237 registered voters) to cast their ballots for national, state and county officials, as well as vote...
This photo of the employees of the Bank of Gainesville, now Century Bank of the Ozarks, is thought to have been taken in 1977 or 1978. Front row, from left: Lovice Wallace (in dark shirt, white skirt), unknown, Mary Ann Reynolds, Carol King, Dot Luna, Mary Lee Adamson, Diana Premer, Roy Jones. Back: Marsha Evans, Carma Rose, Treva Warrick, Linda Fast, Gwenda Driscoll, Judy Allen VanGillder, H. T. Harlin, Billye Harlin, Nancy Collins, Pat Funk, John Harlin and Mike Evans.
Ozark County News
Aug. 2, 1883
A. L. VanTrump wishes to inform the public that he is prepared to do all kinds of wagon work at his shop in Gainesville. All kinds of repairing a specialty. Charges reasonable. Will take farm produce or stock of any kind in exchange for work; satisfaction guaranteed...
Photo above: It's thought that the eight Harlin brothers, sons of John W. and Mary Conkin Harlin, posed for this photograph in 1930 during the Bank of Gainesville's dedication of its second building, which was built in late 1929. From left: Jarrett, Charles, Frank, Johnny, Tan, Dewey, Jim and Joe Harlin. Jim Harlin was one of seven stockholders who started the bank in 1894, and Tan was the bank's first cashier. Johnny served as bank president from 1908 until his death in 1955. Below: The photo below, thought to have been taken in 1929, shows the old Gainesville post office building where Clara Harlin, standing, right, was postmaster from 1929 to 1933. (The name of the Harlin relative standing next to her is unknown.) The building served as the original home of the Bank of Gainesville from 1894 until 1929, when the bank moved into a new, nearby building next to what is now The Hair Shop on the west side of the Gainesville square. After the bank vacated this building, it was moved a few feet north, to a vacant lot next to the Central Hotel, and was used as the post office until 1945.
Ozark County News
July 26, 1894
The Bank of Gainesville opened for business Tuesday morning at 9 o'clock, and during the day received, as deposits, something over $6,000.
Last Friday morning, Charley Blood, the well-known traveling man, had quite a startling experience. While crossing a stream...
In this photo, thought to have been taken in 1919 or 1920, superintendent of Schools James B. Huffman and his son James Banker Huffman (1918-1993) stand in front of the old building on the northwest corner of the Gainesville square that housed the Bank of Gainesville (now Century Bank of the Ozarks). The photo is from the collection of the late John Harlin, former bank president and chairman of the board, who says the photo was given to him by the late W. G. Baker. The bank will celebrate its 130th anniversary July 24.
Ozark County News
July 9, 1903
T. J. Luna, prosecuting attorney, filed information against Robert McCulley Monday for carrying a pistol and firing it in the street. McCulley was arraigned before Justice H. Walker.
Phillip Decker, our old reliable lumber dealer of near Rockbridge, was in town Monday...
Although it can't be verified, it's thought that this photo, from the collection of Mary Louise Brown, is related to an item in the June 26, 1914 issue of the Times, below, that reported "quite a bit of excitement" over the arrival of three automobiles from West Plains.
Ozark County News
June 28, 1883
We learn that a few days ago Wm. Pumphrey, of North Fork, was feeding a sow which had young pigs. For some reason, Mr. Pumphrey took hold of one of the pigs when it squealed, and the old sow immediately "made for him." Mr. Pumphrey made a step backward, caught his...
Mrs. Maud Ford began crocheting afghans for her family around 1970. The one covering her lap is the first one she ever made. The one on the extreme left is one she is making for herself. The middle one is one she is making for a great grandson.
By Mary Ruth Luna
Reprinted from in the June 20, 1974, edition of the Ozark County Times.
Mrs. Maud Ford will celebrate her 89th birthday Sunday in much the same way she has spent most Sundays in her life - with a family dinner in her home in Gainesville.
As long as Mrs. Ford can remember,...
For more than 100 years, this grand house stood on what is now County Road 902 northwest of Theodosia. It was built by Joseph Everett Peacock sometime before his death in 1901 at age 39. Joseph had shared the home with his wife, Florence Emeline Maritt Peacock, and their four children. In 1903, the widowed Florence married her widowed brother-in-law, Henry Kelly Derrick, whose first wife was Joseph’s twin sister, Eliza Ann Peacock Derrick. Eliza had died six days before her 30th birthday in 1892, after giving birth to twins, who survived only seven months. Kelly brought his three surviving children to the second marriage, making the combined family of seven children both first cousins and step-siblings. Together, Kelly and Florence had four more daughters: Jessie, Glessie, Leah and Flossie. Those pictured are, front row, from left: Florence and Kelly Derrick and his three children, Lou, Joseph and Millie Derrick. Back row: Florence’s four children: Edith, Leroy, Arthur and Kelley Peacock. Later, Kelly Derrick had the second floor of the house removed, perhaps fearing a fire. On Oct. 21, 2019, a large tree fell on the house during a storm, damaging it beyond repair. This photo is from the collection of Sally Lyons McAlear, who suspects it may have been taken on Kelly and Florence’s March 7, 1903, wedding day, because Kelly’s daughters are holding bouquets of flowers. The little girl in the white dress, Edith Peacock Edmonds (1891-1948), was Sally’s maternal grandmother.
Ozark County News
June 21, 1883
The number of sportsmen increase daily at the pigeon roost.
Ozark county farmers are finding that corn and small grain are more profitable than cotton. . . . We are glad to note that no farmer in this county, so far as we know, is raising cotton as a crop this year....