09/11/2025
My column in the Adair Progress this week:
LOOKING BACK
Michael C. Watson, Columbia, KY
You Can Go Home Again—
You can go home again... All things change with time and our perception of them. Someone once wrote that Kentuckians, second only to Texans, love their state more than any other people. This may or may not be true, but once a Kentuckian, always a Kentuckian. And look at all the folk from other states who choose to come to Kentucky to live. There is no denying that home is home. Adair County has been no different. A century ago or last Thursday, we love to come home again. The following are short items from 1900, gleaned from the pages of the Adair County News.
Mr. W.M. Overton, who left Adair County in the fall of 1856 for Illinois, is back on a visit. Mr. [Overton] was born on the farm where “Uncle” Billy Waggener now lives, February 23, 1844. Wm. Overton, the father of W.M. Overton, was well known in Adair when he left the county. The subject of this notice resides at Wi******er, Ill., and has been in the gunsmith business for the past twenty-five years. Mr. Overton has a number of relatives in Adair county. 23 May 1900
Miss Ethel Walford, of Pensacola, Fla., a young lady well known in this community, will arrive in Columbia tonight on a visit. 30 May 1900
Mr. Weeden M. Starks and wife, who reside at Indian Springs, Ind., were visiting in Columbia last Friday. Mr. Starks' wife was Miss Rosa Duvall, a popular young lady of Cane Valley. 30 May 1900
Mr. Creed Watson, who was born and reared in Adair County, but who has been in Colorado for the past 38 years, returned to the county of his nativity last week. He is now seventy-odd years old, somewhat broken in health, and will not again return to the far west. In thirty-eight years there have been many changes in Adair County. Old buildings have passed away and new ones taken their place. Many familiar figures in the earlier days of Mr. Watson have gone to meet their reward, yet strange to say, he readily recognized some of his old school mates and in return was recognized by them. 30 May 1900
Capt. J.W. Prowell, who was born and reared on the farm now belonging to J.R. Montgomery, four miles from Columbia, is now in this locality visiting friends and to view his old home. Capt. Prowell served in the Mexican War and when the Civil War broke out, he made a good soldier in the Confederate ranks. His home is in Cedar County, Mo., and this is his first visit to this section since 1852. He is now 73, but active and vigorous for a man of that age. He attended the reunion in Louisville and came out here to spend a week or so. 6 June 1900
Mr. Cary Elliott, a native of Adair County, who has been living in Missouri for many years, is visiting his old friends in the county of his nativity. Mr. Elliott was reared a Whig, but when that party went to the wall he became identified with the Democratic party, and at every election since that time he has either cast his vote accordingly or has not voted at all. 6 June 1900
Mrs. S.D. Dohoney, of McKinney, Texas, is visiting relatives here [Cane Valley]. Mr. Jo Smith, of Honey Grove, Texas, is visiting his brother, Wm. Smith, of this place [Cane Valley]. Mrs. Annie Smith, a former resident of Columbia, a most excellent Christian lady, now making her home in Fort Worth, Texas, is visiting relatives in this community and vicinity. Mr. C.M. Breeding and wife left for Ardmore, I.T. [Indian Territory, later Oklahoma], yesterday morning. Rev. Geo. H. Burton, of Longmirers, South Carolina, is visiting in Columbia [Rev. George Hector Burton]. Mrs. E.L. Hamilton, nee Miss Lula McLean, of McCrory, Ark., is visiting relatives here. Miss Bettie Gilmer, Honey Grove, Texas, is visiting relatives in Columbia, stopping at the residence of Mr. J.W. Coy. 6 June 1900
Mrs. Mattie Baker, of Alvarado, Texas, is visiting relatives in Columbia. Mr. J.H. Mercer and his two sons, of Mesquite, Texas, are visiting relatives in Adair County. 13 June 1900
And a band of gypsies...A band of people, usually styled as Gypsies, are now camped at the ford, near Wilson's Mill. Their business is trading horses, and during the summer months they roam from place to place, never staying in any one locality longer than two or three weeks. The women sell lace and pretend to tell fortunes. The lace is generally bought at our local stores for fifteen or twenty cents per yard, and shoved off on the unsuspecting as their own work at the low price of fifty cents per yard. 23 May 1900
The Gypsies have swapped a great many fortunes for “old clothes” since they have been in the vicinity of Columbia, and if everything takes place hereabouts that they have predicted, there are going to be some wonderful changes. If they have told the truth there will be eighty-three weddings in Columbia in the next few weeks. 30 May 1900
