Mt. Pleasant & Titus County History Featuring Melvin Bridges

Special to the Journal

Synopsis by Donna K. White from an interview with Melvin Francis Bridges in 1979

I visited with Mr. Melvin Bridges at the Geras Home in Mt. Pleasant. Mr. Bridges has lived here since February 26, 1972 and has never been happier. He loves the home, the people are wonderful, the nurses and aides are wonderful, the food is good. He is very happy here and is enjoying life so much.

Mr. Bridges was born October 16, 1900 in the Forest Grove – Damascus Community. He went to church at Damascus all of his life. He had a very Christian father and mother and if it hadn’t been for them, Mr. Bridges said that he’d probably be in the penitentiary. But through their prayers, his parents led him to the Lord. On August 15, 1917 on a Sunday night after a week of Revival at Damascus there were about 20 some-odd people who were saved. They had the Baptism on Sunday afternoon. They had a great big large “tank”. It would be called a lake today. It covered around 3/4 of an acre. Everyone went down to the water. They all came back to church for services that night. Mr. Bridges gave his life to Christ.

The Evangelist was Bro. “Buch” Riddle, a native of Titus County born not far from Damascus. He was born December 2, 1856 and was ordained into Gospel Ministry in 1882 at the age of 26. (I did some research on this in the Riddle family book compiled by Fred Plum. He remembered “Uncle Buch” once only when he held a Revival and a Revival it was and dedicated a new church building (the third) at Damascus Church in August of 1917. He baptized 25 converts that August Sunday in Lee Narramore’s big pool.) I am almost sure that Mr. Bridges was one of the twenty-five.

“Buch’s” father was Rev. Doctor Isaac Roger Riddle. In his life he was a farmer, carpenter, surveyor, Lawyer, Doctor and Missionary Baptist Minister. He preached at Damascus. He was ordained to the Gospel Ministry by the “Idumea” Baptist Church (now Damascus) on October 11, 1868. From then on and 29 years later he preached until his death March 9, 1903. Two of his boys made preachers. “Buch” and Edd Riddle.

Edd Riddle was born December 24, 1861. He was ordained into Gospel Ministry at an early age and was a Missionary Baptist Minister all of his adult life. He was also a teacher. He died August 29, 1939 and is buried in Damascus.

Dr. Riddle’s baby boy was the first grave in Damascus Cemetery. Cyrus Mann “Bud” Riddle was born December 23, 1853 and died at the age of 14 April 4, 1868 of pneumonia. His father Dr. “Ike” buried him on what he thought to be his own land by a little square hewn log Church called “Idumea Baptist Church”. At that time, “Ike” thought the land where the church stood belonged to him. But a survey showed that the land belonged to Mr. Josh Stephens one of his neighbors. August 8, 1869 Mr. Stephens deeded to Damascus Church 2 acres of land where the church and the cemetery was making Cyrus Mann Riddle’s grave the first one put in the cemetery April 5, 1868. “Ike” was ordained to preach that year and they changed the name to Damascus Baptist Church. It was said that Dr. “Ike” preached many sermons in a log church at Damascus with a “6-shooter” laying by the Bible in case “toughs” tried to break up the services (which they sometimes did). It could have been that he used that pistol to keep all of those hungry people there to listen to him preach for 2 hours at a time on Sundays!

Mr. Bridges attended Forest Grove School through 9 grades. That was the highest grade. It was a 3-room school with 3 teachers. He had many teachers and remembered many of them. His first teacher was Sam Wyman, next was Alma Duncan and her brother Bobby Duncan was Principal of the school. Lela Barton was the third. Mr. Add Rogers was one of his teachers and his father Peter Rogers was

pastor at Damascus and also taught at Forest Grove. Another brother Don also taught. Teague Ward was also a teacher. He taught the last grade that Mr. Bridges ever attended as did Miss Mergie Allen, Eula Riddle and Bessie Johnson.

The old school burnt one Saturday night in August. School was fixin’ to start in September. So Mr. Bridges’ daddy, Mr. John Colley, George Johnson and Mr. Arch Sloan, Charley Riddle and Mr. Tom Horn taken their wagons and went to Scroggins and hauled the lumber to build a school house, they were a month late starting school in October. The biggest part of the work was donated, very little was hired.

One thing that they had every morning was the Devotional. They took time for this. Mr. Bridges is sad to see they have taken this out of schools today. There were about 60-90 students in school and everyone got along very well.

After school he went to farmin’ with his dad. He lived single at home with mom and dad. He stayed single for so long because he just hadn’t found the right girl. He went to a party one night and met his soon-to-be wife. He fell in love with her that night. It was the first time he had seen her and she had seen him. He asked her for a date to carry her home that night and she said she couldn’t, she’d have to go back with the one she came with. So he then asked her if she had company for the next night and she said that she guessed so and so Mr. Bridges just stopped there. Well, she went home that night thinking that Mr. Bridges had made a date with her. So she stayed home all the next day on Sunday waiting and he didn’t show up!

Dennison Bragg was a barber in town. Mr. Bridges was working for a wholesale company in town at the time. Mr. Bragg lived close to Mr. Bridges’ new “girl” and just happened to visit with her family that Sunday afternoon. So he came to work Monday morning by where Mr. Bridges worked and asked him why he “stood that girl up?” Mr. Bridges was quite surprised and knew that there was a mix-up. So

Mr. Bridges wrote her a letter of apology that night and asked her for a date the next Sunday. So she wrote him back a letter forgiving him and they got married the 28th day of December, 1924 which was the same year they met. They lived with his folks for 9 months then built a home on his dad’s place and lived there for 8 years. They then moved to town where Mr. Bridges got a job in a grocery store owned by Mr. Evans and worked from September 1st to February 1st and then business wasn’t too good. The store was located on the West Side of the square. Mr. Evans got a chance to sell out in February to Mr. Bob Cargile and his brother. But he wouldn’t sell out until Mr. Bridges had another job. So they sold the store and made a deal where Mr. Bridges kept his job. (That’s the only way Mr. Evans would sell.) So he worked for Mr. Cargile for $85 a month for a year and a half, then went back to the farm and farmed a couple of more years and then got a job at the Paris Milling Company.

The Paris Milling Company milled flour, meal and all kinds of feeds. Mr. Bridges worked for 31 years for them until one morning in 1954 when he fell out of the back of a truck. The driver didn’t know that Mr. Bridges was in the truck and he took off. Mr. Bridges injured his back and hip. Two years later arthritis set in and Mr. Bridges got him a walking cane and stayed on the road for two years after that.

Mr. Bridges remembered coming to town in a wagon on Saturdays. His daddy always gave him a dime to go to Mr. Arch Black’s grocery store to buy long peppermint sticks. A sack full of 25-30 for a dime! Mr. Bridges still loves peppermint and eats it daily but Mr. Arch Black’s was the best!

The first automobile that Mr. Bridges ever saw was at night. All he could see was lights. It was coming from Paris to Mt. Pleasant. The cows and horses just went to runnin’ wild! A year or two after that, all the cars started coming in.

Farm life – They raised cotton and corn and all they ate except for sugar and flour. In earlier days his folks raised their own flour. There was a flour mill at Leesburg and they, hauled the wheat there and it was ground. They made enough for a years supply. It was put up in big barrels.

There was a cotton gin on every spring branch. Two in Mt. Pleasant, 1 in Nevill’s Chapel, 1 in Forest Grove, 1 in Sundown, 1 at Gouldsboro (now Talco). Mr. Bridges took his cotton’ to Mr. Ed McBride’s gin in Forest Grove. After he quit ginning, Mr.Barney Mason ran the next closest one.

I asked Mr. Bridges what had changed the most. Farming – everybody used to have such nice big gardens and now there aren’t any in Titus County except for small ones. It’s all grass and all cattle now. The West used to have all the cattle and they’ve got the cotton now. The eastern part of the state used to grow cotton and corn and now it’s all cattle. They’ve switched roles!