Buzz words for July in Alto – hot – dry – watermelon – and of course “Holcomb Reunion”.
The July 24 1958 Herald gives a detailed history of the gathering:
In 1897, George and Thomas Holcomb (brothers) who lived in Houston County arranged with their niece, Maggie Holcomb Singletary of Cherokee County to spread the word about a big family reunion to be held in the Cold Springs community. Cold Springs was chosen because it was a central location and the springs provided water for the horses and oxen.
The Houston County contingent set out in ox wagons, buggies or surreys and met at the Gum Springs crossing of the Neches River for a picnic lunch before going on to Cold Springs to meet the Cherokee County families.
They camped out in the schoolyard as there was no church building there at that time. The Holcombs, looking to the future, offered to help raise funds for a church building with the stipulation that they could use it for their reunions in the future. The church was finished in 1902.
At this first meeting a permanent date was set for future reunions – the Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday after the second Sunday of July. The officers asked that the time and place never be changed.
The 1908 Herald, the first available, gives a small mention to the Reunion, as does the 1909 issue. In 1910, because of late crops, the gathering was postponed. It was probably held later in the year, but if so, it didn’t make the news.
For the next 15 years or so, the Holcomb Reunion did not merit newspaper mention, but in 1927, it was reported that 400 people had registered and “happiness reigned”. Attendance from the 30’s to the 60’s ranged from 250 to over 400.
Many families continued to camp out during the Reunion even after automobiles and good roads made returning home possible. Every year there was a memorial service for those who had died during the past year and recognition for the oldest, youngest and farthest traveler. An important part of the program was to honor those who had attended every reunion. As late as 1966 ( our last on-line Herald) Maudess Long and Albert Holcomb reported that they had never missed one. Lena Singletary Fisher had missed only one. Maudess was especially proud that she had spent the night on the grounds every year.
There was lots of group singing and always some kind of program. Children were encouraged to show off their talents. The clan was fortunate to have the late Zula Holcomb Pearson, drama teacher at Lon Morris, available to entertain.
Many people who had no Holcomb connections were eager to be invited as guests. Ministers were always welcomed. In 1936 there were three ministers present – Rev. Nichols from Jacksonville, and Rev. Woodward and Rev. Treadwell from Alto. In 1955, Rev. Ben Roper, Alto Methodist minister commended the group for meeting during the week instead of depleting his congregation on Sunday.
For a long time primary elections were held in late July, and in election years most of the candidates were able to scrape up a distant Holcomb relative so they could plow this fertile campaign ground.
During the 30’s the Holcombs had to share front-page honors with the Singletarys. In 1923, George E Singletary went about his usual job of preparing barbecue for the Holcomb reunion. When it was decided that his wife, Maggie Holcomb Singletary was too sick to attend, their 8 sons and daughters and families just set up tables in the back yard and held their own mini-reunion. They had such fun that they decided they would come early the next year and do it again. They gathered on Sunday for a pre-Holcomb Reunion get-together every year until George Singletary died in 1942. It soon grew from just family to include other relatives, friends and neighbors. The Herald faithfully reported each one including the last in 1942.
World War II put the Holcomb reunion on hold for a few years, but it came back strong and in 1960 the family decided it really needed to be on a week-end, so it was changed to the Saturday and Sunday after the second Sunday in July.
Times have changed, and so has the Holcomb Reunion. It is held only on Sunday now. But children still have fun roaming the grounds and going down to the spring. The family still sings together and eats together and some still spend Saturday night.
If you have lived in Alto for a couple of generations, you probably have a Holcomb somewhere on your family tree. Come out to Cold Springs on Sunday, July 14. Bring your lunch and meet your cousins. This year the visiting speaker will be the “Quilt Lady”, Deborah Burkett and there will be a display of antique quilts.
Originally published in the July 3, 2017 issue of the Cherokeean
Since these columns were written, we have been fortunate enough to add additional years to the Herald online archive after 1966. I went through these and read about how the Holcomb Reunion progressed in the 1970s and 1980s. The length of the coverage varied depending on who was reporting and what else was going on that week, but for most of that period you could count on:
- 200-300 people showing up!
- Rayford Holcomb doing the invocation, and
- Harvey Holcomb getting recognized as the oldest
There is a plethora of pictures on the Stella Hill Library historical photo site. I have just picked out a few. If you want to see more, or higher resolution versions of these, just go here
Here’s a great one from back in the 1940s, before the pavilion was built. Wouldn’t you love to know what (or who) they were talking about?
This was the dedication of the 100 year historical marker in 1997. It’s not the greatest photo, but if you have good eyes maybe you can pick out some familiar faces. I see a much younger version of our county judge proclaiming something or other.
This is one of the most famous group pictures, from 1926.
And this one is from 1957.
Finally, because the column mentions the competing Singletary reunion (and because I am a Singletary) here are three generations of that branch of the Holcomb tree at the 2005 reunion.
