'History of Boiling Springs' offers fascinating look into life in early Wilcox County, Alabama

1911 Hupmobile

Newspaper reader David Weir sent me an interesting, 11-page document the other day called “History of Boiling Springs in the Early Days – 1820.” The original author of this old document is apparently unknown, but it was transcribed by William L. Fluker of Winona, Miss. in 1998. It offers readers a fascinating look into the life of early Wilcox County.

Many readers will know that Boiling Springs is a small community located in the extreme northwest corner of the county, not far from the Marengo and Dallas County lines. However, this short history of the area not only describes the early history of Boiling Springs, but it also provides historical information about Gastonburg, Prairie Bluff, Rehobeth and other small communities in that area. Space doesn’t allow a full description of everything discussed in this 11-page history, but here are a few of the highlights:

·         No Indian mounds are to be found in the vicinity of Boiling Springs, but a few arrowheads were found near supposed Indian camps.

·         Chilatchee Creek is the largest creek in the area named by the Indians.

·         Prairie Bluff was a large shipping center before the Civil War and had 27 stores, a hotel, drug stores and doctor’s offices. Large stores all had lounge rooms where decanters of whiskey, wine, water and plenty of sugar, glasses and spoons were free to the customers of the store.

·         On April 20, 1892 a tornado passed south of Gastonburg and hail fell in such quantities that fish froze and great schools of them floated out of the creek and onto the banks. People flocked to the creek to carry these fish home and “a feast was had by all.”

·         Some of the county’s early French immigrants planted mulberry trees for the purpose of raising silk worms, but the venture proved unsuccessful.

·         A Frenchman named Shadrick built the area’s first windmill to grind corn. It served until a tornado blew it to pieces. The first sawmill operated by steam as built by a man named Atwood in 1840.

·         After the Civil War, carpetbaggers flooded into Wilcox County, including DeForest Richards, Marsh Candee, A.L. Morgan, William Henderson, J.D. Frazier, F.N.R. Beck and George Lewis. Wilcox County officials appointed by the Abraham Lincoln Administration included Tax Collector A.L. Morgan, Legislator William Henderson, Sheriff Marsh Candee, Justice of the Peace J.D. Frazier and Justice of the Peace English Robbins.

·         Textbooks used by early Wilcox County teachers included McGuffey’s Reader, The Blue Back Speller, Webster’s School Diction, Davies’ Arithmetic and Smith’s Grammar. Students used goose quills for pens, and these were cut by the teacher or older pupils.

·         The author also outlined the harsh punishments used in early Wilcox County schools. If a pupil misspelled a word, the teacher would take the child by the ear and hold the book so close to the child’s eyes that he could not see the print and squall, “Do you see it!?!” Another type of punishment was to catch a boy by the seat of his pants and lift him so that his toes would barely touch the floor and make him tiptoe across the room several times. When the child was released, he was usually hit in the head with a book before he was permitted to return to his seat.

·         Gastonburg was named after David F. Gaston, but the town was also called Gaston, Sandy Pit, Paris and Birmile.

·         The first automobile in the Boiling Springs area was a Hup owned by R.J. Goode Sr.

In the end, this is just a sample of the interesting information contained in this document on Boiling Springs history. If anyone in the reading audience knows who wrote it, please let me know. Also, let me hear from you if you know any additional historical tidbits about the northwest corner of Wilcox County.