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Society

City Personals
Mary Clay Brooks

Caroline Tolsdorf christened

Congratulations to Marie and Ryan Holder on the birth of their second daughter, Katherine Wakefield Holder. What a gift for the couple, Alex, Doris Cochran and Ree and Rook Moore for Christmas!

Caroline Slayden Tolsdorf, infant of Bea and Drew Tolsdorf of Jackson, was christened Sunday morning at the First Presbyterian Church with Rev. Dr. Milton Winter performing the service. Alex McCrosky and Ann Yager Hamlin, along with her parents Robert and Mary, of Danville, Ky., were here for the blessed event. Ann and Chuckie Pringle of Gulfport, Dr. Charles Pringle and Rosemary and Steve Procunier, all of Jackson, also attended.

The couple hosted a small gathering of friends and family after the celebration. Guests were treated to an abundance of brunch food. The cake was designed especially for this event by Burk’s Bakery in Danville. Other sweets were provided by Twisted Sifters, which is also in Danville.

Sweet Caroline joined the ranks of her mom, uncle and grandparents by being christened in the First Presbyterian Church. She has a long list of those who love her and will look forward to seeing her again soon!

Becky Cupp travelled to Knoxville, Tenn., over the weekend to attend graduation at the University of Tennessee, where her grandson, Trey Fitch, received his diploma.

The rush is on with a little over a week left until Christmas! Be a Holly Shopper and support your local businesses for those special items you need on your list! Check with stores around the square and beyond for those unique gifts. “The Perfect Block” is right in our midst!

(To put your news in City Personals, please e-mail maryclayb@yahoo.com; mail to City Personals, The South Reporter, P.O. Box 278, Holly Springs, MS 38635 or call 662-252-4261. You may also e-mail your City Personal news to south@dixie-net.com).

Museuming
Lois Swaney Shipp
Museum Curator

Remembering Christmases past

Christmas greetings to those who love Holly Springs and to those who don’t!

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. Everybody puts on their best side everyday everywhere they go. I remember when I was a child and the Baptist church was a major part of my life. We had parties in the church - family dinners, G.A. parties, BYPU parties and invited all of our friends with denominations having nothing to do with it. We all believed in Jesus. When I was in the seventh grade, the Presbyterians, Egbert and Blanton Jones, John E. Anderson, Doc Cochran and others invited us over to their Christmas party in the historic basement of the church (where Grant had a stable). I had never been there before and it was a memorable occasion. From that time on, the Presbyterian church entertained the town’s young people. We didn’t miss the Christmas parade as we had never had one. Santa Claus we never saw. He was the elusive magic man at the North Pole.

I remember it was always cold (I loved it), but Mary Walker said in 1934 that Christmas Day was hot and they wore short sleeves. At home the heat was from wood-burning fireplaces. The wood-burning, big fat stove in the kitchen burned stovewood too. I ate breakfast later than some of my family so I had toast and hot chocolate, using the open oven door as my table. However, many times we had huge breakfasts on the dining room table.

Daddy hunted quail, which was (and still is) my favorite food and it was a staple we had all the time. Every Sunday we had beef roast. Then on each Monday morning we had absolutely delicious roast beef and gravy with biscuits.

The town was bowled over by the gorgeous tree of Mrs. Knott’s. It appeared one night on the hillside of Mrs. Knot’s house, behind Mr. Knott’s little store (the building is still there at the corner of Van Dorn and Chesterman.) The tree was a huge cedar and she had covered it with big white light bulbs and it was gorgeous. I still can’t imagine how she decorated that huge tree.

Mrs. Knott was the daughter of Albert Herr. Mr. Herr was the eighth son of the king of Germany and realized he would never be king, so he migrated to Holly Springs.

He was so brilliant he became the town mayor and he had the “Jug Factory” which gave employment for decades to the people of the town. The jug factory had been started by Mr. Herr’s cousins, the Knables. The Knables weren’t popular as they were so happy to be new American citizens, they wouldn’t side with the Confederates against the United States. After the war they moved. They may have been the family that began the Knable Piano Company and manufactured pianos then.

Mr. Herr’s two brothers also migrated to Holly Springs. In the German language “herr” stands for the word mister. Mrs. Knott told me the story of one cold winter day, Mr. Herr was deathly ill and was lying in the bed across from the fireplace. He told her to send for his banker, Harris Gholson, and have him bring the papers out of his safety deposit box.

The banker came and when he left, Mr. Herr gathered up his papers which were stamped with the Royal Seal of Germany, he staggered out of bed across the room to the roaring fireplace and threw his papers into the fire.

Mrs. Knott, screamed, “Papa, why did you do that?! Mr. Herr replied, “ I want no one to try to capitalize on the papers as I gave all that up!”

Mr. and Mrs. Knott had only one daughter, Cecelia, who taught dancing here in town. She married one of the Woodward boys and they had one brilliant son. Nobody can keep up with him. Today he would be about 62 and was teaching in China, when I last heard.

Remember Frances Gatewood, Mary Walker’s sister? They always wrote letters to Santa Claus. Frances wrote hers and put it up the chimney so Santa wouldn’t miss it. Her parents said, “Whatever did you say to Santa?” Her reply was, “It will be a surprise!” Mary Virginia Foley was born in 1888 and was the Methodist preacher’s daughter.

In her book “Memories of Us” she said that they hung stockings by the fireplace to be filled by Santa. He filled the stocking with oranges, nuts, sometimes raisins on stems. Oranges were not to be had at all seasons of the year but were now really a treat. Mary Foley said that Christmas was “calling day.” The parlor fires were lit, the entire house was bright and cheery with goodies about; particularly beaten biscuits, chicken salad and fruit cake. Everybody wore their Sunday clothes. Mary Foley tells about the custom of lighting fire crackers, Roman candles, and sparklers. When I was small we did that too. Firecrackers were also a part of Christmas.

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