WOODVILLE – A Bible given to a worker at the Blox sawmill in Jasper from 1926 was donated to the Allan Shivers Library and Museum last Wednesday. The copy of the holy book would be historically significant if just for its age and its documenting of a family, but it also happens to contain the signature of a famous East Texan – that of John Henry Kirby.
Blox was a town in north central Jasper County, named for Charles or E.D. Bloxsom, who were officers with the Kirby Lumber Company, and established a logging camp at the site around 1919. A post office followed, at the height of operation of the mill, Blox had a population of about 1,200.
As locally available timber resources were depleted, operations moved to the town of New Blox, and the town of Blox was abolished in 1926. In 1931 the post office was shuttered, and the town was completely torn down at that point in time.
The late Henry Payton Brown, of Colmesneil worked for Kirby at the Jasper mill, and in October 1926, Kirby gave all his workers a Bible, which he signed. The Bible was used by Brown and his wife as a family Bible, and includes marriage, birth, death and vaccination records of their three sons.
Jackie Brown, who is the late Henry Brown’s daughter-in-law, has had the Bible in her possession for about 25 years, and recently decided to donate it to the museum, after realizing its significance in the history of Tyler County.
Brown presented the Bible to the Allan Shivers Library and Museum’s director, Kay Timme, and Roschelle Springfield, the museum director last Wednesday morning. Eleanor Holderman was also in attendance for the occasion.
Brown, in her remarks, included a note, in which she said, “In October 1926, John Henry Kirby gave his employees who worked at the Blox sawmill Bibles with his signature. The family of Henry Payton Brown of Colmesneil, whose sons were James Harold Brown, Kenneth Brown and Travis Brown are donating his Bible to the Allan Shivers Museum to be displayed and preserved for Tyler County. Brown’s relatives, who live in Colmesneil, are daughters-in-law Joyce Brown and Jackie Brown, several grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.”
Brown also said “thank you for accepting this, keeping it for the county, and preserving it as well as you can, it does need attention, but it will age gracefully. This is on behalf of the family, there’s only one daughter-in-law besides me. I hope a lot of people get to enjoy it, or at least the stories about it.” Springfield replied, “we appreciate you entrusting it to us.”
