Ghosts resurrect town's history
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer

PHOTO BY GABE WOLF A powdered face gives Vanita Craft a ghostly hue as she prepares to play Margaret Taylor, the wife of Lampasas County's first chief justice, during the Lampasas County Historical Commission's "Ghosts of Lampasas County" show. Along with the story of the Taylor family's role in Kempner's founding, cast members presented tales from numerous communities and early settlers in Lampasas County.

Fiddle tunes, broad-brimmed hats and Western garb brought the Lampasas County Courthouse to life last Tuesday night as the "Ghosts of Lampasas County" presented family and community histories through tales from the late 1800s.

Emerging with powdered faces -- and in Moses Hughes' case, a hoary beard, as well -- characters displayed the attire of their day. From cattleman Reuben Senterfitt's pressed white shirt to Julia McCrea McAnelly's lacefringed blouse to the suspenders and sturdy fabrics of other pioneers, actors in the Lampasas County Historical Commission production represented the varying styles of the county's early settlers.

Students peer down from an upstairs landing in the county courthouse into the district courtroom, where the "Ghosts of Lampasas County" revived the personalities and stories of Lampasas County settlers from the 1800s. The courtroom filled to capacity well before the Lampasas County Historical Commission production's 7 p.m. start.

Characters told of Lampasas' occasionally wild atmosphere in the mid- and late-1800s, when the blasts of gunfights pierced the downtown air, and hotels and saloons bustled.

"Shooting, hunting, horse racing -- wonderful place to live," said John Burleson, played by Roland Schaub.

Phyllis Poehlmann's character Georgia Millican, wife of evangelist and School Creek Baptist Church founder Leander Millican, sounded a much more sober note.

"Isn't it interesting how many towns managed to build a saloon before they built a church?" she asked.

Church or not, Henry Childs Fields of Adamsville always insisted his family observe a day of rest on Sundays, the rancher's ghost reminded the audience.

The other six days of the week, however, left Lampasas County's settlers little respite from labor and worry. Cotton farmers' trips from Moline to Lampasas could take all day, ranchers protected vast herds from rustlers on open ranges, and Indian raids persisted until the late 19th century.

PHOTO BY GABE WOLF Jack and Gladys Dickison play the roles of Moses Hughes and his wife Hannah during the Lampasas County Historical Commission's production "The Ghosts of Lampasas County."

Despite their struggles, the "ghosts" recalled the joys of frontier life. James Milam Chadwick's (Shad Hill) and his dance partner's (Shawna Hill) eyes sparkled as they turned and waltzed into the courtroom, as dancers used to at gatherings at Chadwick's Mill. Chadwick's grin widened as he spoke of fishing with a pitchfork, a technique he used to spear as many as two or three fish per thrust.

The purported curative powers of Lampasas' springs also held the dual promise of healing and settlement, the characters recalled. Moses Hughes (Jack Dickison) moved his family to Lampasas County, hoping the sulphur water would treat his wife Hannah (Gladys Dickison), and Burleson advertised the county's springs to attract pioneers to the area.

The ghosts brimmed with pride as they described land holdings and family -- both large in the 1800s -- as defining elements in their lives. Several characters came from families of more than 10, and in some cases the properties they developed have retained family or historical ties even into the 21st century.

Hundreds of acres endure under the Field name, the Adamsville ghost said, and the ruins of Senterfitt -- named for Robert Oliver's character -- still stand on the Oliver ranch. Worship remains vibrant at School Creek Baptist Church, Mrs. Millican's ghost said, and although the Moline school district has closed, visitors to Moline can see the schoolhouse on the south edge of town.

With the pale, evanescent figure of "Tempus Fugit" fluttering around them, the ghosts noted changes the fleeting of time has brought to Lampasas County towns.

When railroad tracks bypassed Senterfitt, the former boom town's wool, cotton and hide trade dwindled. Residents hoisted most of Senterfitt's buildings on posts and carted them by wagon to Lometa, leaving only a hotel and livery stable behind.

Seeing Kempner's growth, on the other hand, would have fulfilled Daniel Webster Taylor's greatest wishes, his second wife Margaret Taylor's ghost (Vanita Craft) told the audience. Lampasas County's first chief justice, Taylor later left to work cattle, but he appeared to his wife in a dream, reassuring her he would be proud to see Kempner become a thriving city, even if growth en- croached on the family's property.

Burleson's ghost also emphasized Lampasans' historical connections to their forebears. The founder, who with his son-in-law laid out Lampasas' first roads, reminded the audience many of the streets they travel today -- Western, Live Oak, Elm, Pecan, Hackberry and First through Fifth streets -- have stood since the city's founding.

"Some of you people are still driving these streets," Burleson said. "As a matter of fact, Judge (addressing County Judge Wayne Boultinghouse, master of ceremonies at the event), I don't know where you live, but some of them are driving a little fast. We ghosts are watching."

The apparitions couldn't stay all night, though. As the ghost of fleeting time reappeared to conclude the production, she encouraged audience members to consider their own roles in Lampasas County's distinctive history.

"Just remember," she said, "time is fleeting, and you some day will be an ancestor."