Family tradition says name for ‘Tekoa’ community comes from Bible

Old school house at Tekoa, Alabama.

A couple of weeks ago in this space, I wrote about a trip that I took to the old Tekoa community, about seven miles from downtown Monroeville. In that column, I talked about the somewhat murky origins of that community’s name. Not long after that week’s paper hit the streets, I heard from several readers who were able to supply more details about how Tekoa got its name.

The day after the newspaper came out, I was walking out of the post office on the square and encountered local attorney Milton Coxwell. Those of you who know Mr. Coxwell will know that he is impressively well versed in local history. We chatted for a few minutes on the sidewalk, and he told me that he’d always heard that Tekoa was named by early settler Amos Stacey, who’d been told that the Old Testament prophet Amos was from the Biblical town of Tekoa, located in the hill country of Judah, near Bethlehem.

I recognized the name of Amos Stacey immediately because he is my fourth great-grandfather, but I had no clue about his connection with the Tekoa community. It should be noted that numerous other readers in the audience are also descended from Amos Stacey. Off the top of my head, I know that Trae Stacey, Derek Stacey and Wes Nall, who are all around my age, are all direct descendants of this Monroe County pioneer.

When it comes to all things related to the Stacey family, I defer to local historian Steve Stacey, who is also a direct descendant of Amos Stacey. Steve, who has studied the Stacey family for decades, said that the story of the Tekoa name coming from the Bible is a story that’s repeated in all three lines of the Amos Stacey family. Amos was born in South Carolina in 1803 and lived to be 96 years old. He’s buried in the Polar Bridge Cemetery at Manistee, like so many other Stacey kin.

Not long after the first Tekoa story came out a couple of weeks ago, I also heard from Excel’s Aaron White, the dean of Monroe County photographers. Aaron sent me a picture of the old school at Tekoa, which I’ve included with this week’s story. The old school at Tekoa harkens back to the days when just about every community of any size had its own little school.

Steve noted that the old school his grandfather attended still stands today and is known as the Stinson House. His grandfather’s house was in a place called “Pordu.” Steve jokingly said that this word comes from being “too poor to do.”

In the end, I’d like to hear from anyone in the reading audience with more information about the old Tekoa community. I’m especially interested in any old ghost stories, local legends or Indian lore from this part of the county. If you know of anything along these lines, please let me know.