AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF Z.T. BLANTON Dictated in 1936 Transcribed by Betty Crabtree I was born in
Rutherford County, North Carolina on
Mountain Creek March
22, 1849. My grandparents were and Jeremiah
BlantonHowell
Westbrook.
My
grandmother Blanton's maiden name was Sarah Womack and my grandmother
Westbrook's maiden name was Rebecca Stroud. Both grandmothers were
Irish
ladies. Grandfather
Blanton was Saxon and grandfather Westbrook
was Highland Scotsman. So you see I am of mixed blood.
There was born to the union of Josiah Blanton and Lucy Westbrook, my father and mother, eleven children, seven boys and four girls. I am the seventh and last son. Two of the seven boys became ministers. In my grandfather Blanton's house stood a pulpit in which preaching was held regularly for some time. My grandfather and his sons built a church house near his own home. This church house was named Blanton's Chapel, which name was retained so far as known to the present time. His grandson, the Methodist minister, has the honor of a Blanton's Chapel on land in Fannin County, Texas and his great-grandson has the same honor of a Blanton's Chapel in Uvalde County, Texas. My father immigrated to Tennessee in 1851 where he remained four years. Then on to Missouri, stopping in Polk County in 1855; thence to Texas in the autumn of 1855 and on the 9th day of December 1856 he arrived in Fannin County, Texas where I was raised until I was 28 years old. Miss Margaret Hill and I were married on the third day of September 1874. We lived happily together fifty three years, five months and six days, she passing away February the ninth day 1928, being seventy-four years and one month old. Of this union nine children were born. Four of these passed away in infancy, and five are still living and have homes of their own. They are taking care of me while I await the summons home. I am eighty-five years old. MY EDUCATION The advantages of an education
worth
while were few. My first schooling in Texas was in a blacksmith shop
which
had the forge moved out. The seats were made of split logs with pegs
driven
into the logs upon which they stood. The teacher had limited knowledge
himself. The books used were Webster's Blue Back speller, McGuffey's
Reader
and Ray's Practical Arithmetic. The teacher, himself, perhaps knew
nothing
beyond common fractions. Indeed one teacher met his Waterloo when he
undertook
to work an example for one of my brothers in complex fractions. He
broke
a cog in the machine of his brain and the school stopped. He could not
make his brain
function so that he might know what the extreme terms and the terms
of a
complex fraction were, so he threw up his hands and the pupils were
without
a teacher. This happened near the close of the Civil War.
In the year of 1866 there came into our neighborhood a Confederate soldier. He was dressed in Confederate grey as worn by the soldiers. His pants were adorned with a conspicuous patch of brown jeans on the posterior part. He walked upright among the people for he was a gentleman and a scholar. His name was Henry Luck, and it was luck for us that he came. Mathematics were no terror for him. His school was taken for 15 months, and how well he handled it. There I began to drink at the fountain of knowledge, and my soul thirsted for more. There I learned that if opportunities did not fall around me, that I could make them myself. My father was a poor, hard working man. His word was law. Sometimes he sent me out of the field to my books. Days when it was chilly weather and I could not work, I went into the woods, took my books and built a fire to keep me warm, and there I studied. During these troubles I gained sufficient knowledge to teach. I would teach a while, then I would attend school until my means ran out. I continued this for several years. Then I placed myself under one of the finest scholars of the South and studied and taught under him. I studied Latin, Greek and higher mathematics, thus preparing for the ministry. There were many Mexicans in the country. In the year of 1898 I became interested in the Spanish language, and took it up as a study. My purpose for studying it was for the retention of my memory, because it became necessary that I should register every word, phrase, or idiom of that language in my mind. I took every opportunity to converse with Mexicans so far as I was able. This was done to secure that peculiar softness of flow of speech. I have so mastered that language that I can read any Spanish book that comes in to my hands with ease, and can converse with a Mexican or Spaniard on any subject. In my Bible studies while my sight was good, I studied the scriptures in four languages, Latin, Greek, Spanish and English. I am a mediocre, and yet I am convinced that any one can, by studious work, master any language or science with the aid of good books, with or without a teacher. I take no honor to myself, but I thank the Lord that I am possessed with a good common mind, and that I have not accomplished anything any more than it was my duty to accomplish. The fact is that what I have done is due to my wife and my mother; two of the greatest women I ever met. MY CHURCH RELATIONS I was
regenerated in July 1865
and joined the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church. I placed myself under the care of
the White
Rock Presbytery in 1870. Then my studies were directed to the
accomplishment
of as high a standard as possible. My first effort in the pulpit
was in
February 22, 1874 in the same house where I first studied and taught
for
several terms. My old pastor gave me one of his appointments named
Little
Jordan. I held that appointment for a period of five years until
I moved
from that county. I was licensed to preach in October 1874 at Canaan
Church
where I studied and taught under this scholar above mentioned. I
was ordained in October 1876.
In 1878 I moved to Brown County, Texas, arriving the fourteenth of September. I obtained a school within eight days where I taught and preached when opportunity offered, for fifty-six years. I am a charter member of the Brownwood Presbyteria of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. When the question of union came up, I held myself ready to obey the best of my church, and without any equivocation, reservation or of mind, I became a Presbyterian minister on May 24, 1906. This change, if it can be called such, is one that I have never regretted. I am the only living man that was at the Constitution of the Brownwood Presbyteria. I was appointed the Moderator by the Colorado Synod. It was constituted in Brownwood, Texas in a box school building. At that time, there was no church house as far as known west of Fort Worth, Texas. Perhaps no one can fully understand the trials through which a minister had to pass except one has experienced them. The support of a minister was very meager, and he could not depend upon a fixed salary. The meetings were conducted under brush arbors rudely built or in school houses when the weather was cold, but the people were usually eager to hear. The old time cowboys ranged the country, and in the spring, general roundups were frequent, but to their honor it can be said that when they attended those meetings, they deported themselves like gentlemen. If a minister visited a ranch and visited with them naturally, he was treated with all the respect that was due to his office, but he was expected to eat what they ate, had to sleep out on the ground as they did, indeed, to be one of them while he remained with them. Research note by Ruth Hasten
Walsh - the church founded
by Rev. Z.T.
Blanton's
grandfather, Jeremiah
Blanton, is located in Ellensboro,
Rutherford Co.,
North Carolina It is known as the Oak Grove
Methodist
Church.
In October 2003 I visited the church where much to my
surprise I
learned
that the modern day church building was built in the 1940s.
It is
red
brick and much larger than I expected. The church has
membership of
about
200 with an active participation of about 80-100. That's a
sizable
membership, considering
the fact that the church is several
miles out of
Ellensboro.
Ellensboro is a small town of only a few thousand
people, not as
large as Bonham. Around Memorial Day each year
Oak Grove
Methodist
Church hosts a reunion to celebrate the 1792 founding
of the
church
by Rev. Jeremiah
Blanton and his wife Sarah Rebecca Womack
Blanton.
I'm told that the reunion
attracts large numbers of Jeremiah
and
Sarah
Rebecca's
descendants. Rev.
Jeremiah Blanton and his wife Sarah
Rebecca
Womack Blanton
are buried in the Oak Grove Methodist Church Cemetery; they were
cousins.
NEWSPAPER CLIPPING Rev
Z. T. Blanton, pioneer citizen and minister of
the blanket
community, celebrated his 91st birthday last Friday, in the home
of his son
A.Y. Blanton
and wife surrounded by all of his children, who are J.A.
and A.Y.
Blanton and families; Mms. C.P. McMurray,
T.F.
Stewart and Earl
Falls,
daughters, and families; nine grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren,
and Mr. and
Mrs. J.H. Trigg.
A sumptuous dinner was prepared and the venerable Rev. Blanton sat at the head of the table and enjoyed the meal as much as any of them. The bugle force join his host of friends in extending felicities and wishing him many more happy birthdays. OBITUARY Rev.
Z.T. Blanton, who was nearing his 94th birthday,
a Presbyterian minister over 68 years and a citizen of the Blanket
community
for over half a century died at his home at Blanket yesterday
afternoon.
He moved to Blanket in September 1878, and was one of the early day school teachers there. He taught at Blanket 8 years, beginning in 1888. He taught at the old Moro school in 1882 or 1883 and at the old Eureka school in 1878. Mr. Blanton was a charter member of Masonic lodge at Blanket and was honored by the lodge in special services on its 50th anniversary a few years ago. He was born in Rutherford county, North Carolina, on March 22, 1849. He had been a minister in the Presbyterian church since February 22, 1874. Children surviving him are: Mrs. C.P. Murry (sic .- Mrs C.P. McMurry), Blanket; Jesse Blanton, Blanket; Alpha Blanton, Blanket; Mrs. Tom Stewart, Florence; Mrs. Earl Falls, Blanket. He is also survived by 18 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. Funeral services were to be held at the Presbyterian church in Blanket at 3 p.m. today, with Rev. R.R. Rives of Brownwood officiating and the Masonic lodge having charge of the services at the grave. Pallbearers were to be selected from the Blanket Masonic lodge. London & Burton Funeral Home was in charge of funeral arrangements. In the days of his active ministry Rev. Blanton was known for his deep, thoughtful and inspiring sermons, and there are people in this county who yet recall and comment upon some of his sermons of 40-50 years ago. Research note: Rev. Zachary Thomas Blanton was the son of Fannin Co., TX pioneers Josiah Blanton and Lucy Westbrook. He was a sibling of Rev. Benjamin Franklin Blanton who founded Blanton's Chapel in Fannin Co., Texas  Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |
