People, Places & Events

Kaufman County hay show winners named
By Barbara Gartman
Monitor Staff Writer
KAUFMAN–About 150 of the county’s best hay producers met to hear who ranks the “cream of the crop” in the annual Kaufman County Hay Show.
The winners received trophies at the show’s dinner Tuesday.

Monitor Photo/Barbara Gartman
Kaufman County Hay Show first place winners accepted trophies at a recent dinner. Pictured are (from left, front row) Clyde Whittemore of Forney and Janis Poor (accepting for Frank Green of Kemp); (back row) Bobby Jack Talbot of Scurry, Daryl Hawkins of Kaufman, Harvey Chitty of Terrell and Floyd Archer of Scurry.

First place winners of each of seven categories are:
• Archer Farms of Scurry for coastal Bermudagrass,
• Harvey Chitty of Terrell, for other Bermudagrass.
• Green Quarter Horses of Kemp for other perennials,
• Daryl Hawkins of Kaufman for mixed grasses,
• Gerald Jedlicka of Kemp for summer annuals,
• Bobby Jack Talbot of Scurry for winter annuals, and
• Clyde Whittemore of Forney for legumes.
Sponsored by the Texas Cooperative Extension and the Livestock-Forage Committee, the event includes in a lively auction, which raises money for next year’s show.
About 50 bidders competed for the single bales of hay entered by contestants, sometimes paying up to $300 for one small square bale.
Among the biders were: Taliaferro Auction, KC Sheriff David Byrnes, District Attorney Rick Harrison, Clemmo Feed and Tack, Judge Wayne Gent, Rep. Betty Brown, Texas Bank & Trust and Legacy Ag Credit.
About 100 entries (including out-of-county producers) submitted entries that were sent to the A&M Extension services for analysis.
It was their analysis of crude protein and other specifics that determined the winners.
Hay – a $15M business
Hay is a thriving business in north Texas in general and in Kaufman County in particular, forming a $15 million industry.
However, the agriculture industry reported drought losses estimated at 80 percent in 2006, which listed only $3 million in production, Extension Service agent Ralph Davis said.
The heavy spring rains this year lasting into July was a boon to hay producers, though final figures for 2007 are yet to be gathered.
Davis introduced the speaker for the evening. He credited Dr. Barron Rector, Associate Professor & Extension Range Specialist with A&M, for explaining things in terms the average producer can understand.
Growing a better hay crop
Rector’s talk and slide show explored the things landowners often do wrong.
A somewhat frightening example concerned the mesquite tree, which he said should not be bulldozed down or brush hogged out.
“In the beginning you had one stem (small trunk) and now you have made it mad. You now have 18 stems coming at you,” he said, describing the thriving bush that comes up from the cut out stem,” he said.
Rector talked about the seeds of common weeds being stored in the ground for 100 years and how to control them.
He also spoke of the settlers coming into Texas and plowing up the fertile ground.
“It was what they knew at the time,” Rector said, as he explained the loss of topsoil all across the state.
The inability of rivers and streams to recover from droughts is a result of the removal of topsoil (almost 24 inches down).
Other action included:
• a cake auction, which raised $450 for the Texas Cooperative Extension Leadership Advisory Board.
The money earned helps pay for the “Thank You” lunch for county commissioners and officials in the spring.
• hay judging contest so attendees could see how close they came to the official results.
Winners in the adult category were first place Sharlie Davis, second Clifton McLean and third David Crawford.
In the junior division, first place winner was Kayliegh Page, second was Chelsea Page and third, Jeff Baum.
For info, call the Extension Office at (972) 932-9069.

Bockstruck speaks to Rootseekers
Special to The Monitor
MABANK–The Rootseekers Genealogy Society’s workshop was a big success. All who came seemed to have a good time and learned a lot. Those who could not make it really missed some fun.
Rootseekers vice president Grace Donovan worked hard to make the workshop run smoothly.
She is also a member of the Sarah Maples Daughters of the American Revolution and Colonial Dames.
Other members who were on the workshop committee were Geneice Morris, Betty Foster, Helen Preston, Nell Walker and Nina Hendricks.
Lloyd Bockstruck is currently head of the genealogy section at the Dallas Public Library.
He is a walking dictionary of knowledge pertaining to researching your ancestors. He is the person we go to when we hit that brick wall.
When Bockstruck put Onomatology on his agenda, most of us had never heard the word before.
Now we know it is foreign versions of English names or foreign equivalents.
It makes sense when our ancestors arrived here 400 years ago, depending on where you came from, your name would be written in the records by whatever language was being used in the town you moved to.
He spoke about a man from Ireland who sold himself to the ship captain for passage to America.
The captain sold him to a German for seven years bondage as an apprentice.
The German took him to upstate New York where the language was mostly German, so his name was changed to the German version.
Then he moved to Pennsylvania, where the British had a version, then he moved to New Orleans where the Spanish and the French changed it yet again.
Another topic of Bockstruck’s was legal terminology.
Old documents are really hard to translate. If you know what some of the terminology means, it makes it easier. For example, quit rent means an annual tax to keep you out of the King’s army.
Tithable is a tax for the church and a capitation tax is a tax per head of males 16 years and older.
Relic is your spouse. An infant was anyone under 21 years of age.
Rootseekers wishes to express our sincere thanks to sponsors who donated gifts for our door prizes.
They make the icing on our cake, so to speak, and everyone loves the door prizes.
Donations were provided by Wal-Mart, Ole West Bean and Burger, McClain’s Restaurant, Chili’s, Bluebonnet Emporium, Video 7 Production Co., Chuck Wagon, Autozone, Rootseekers and Woodforest National Bank.