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The only mention of a family member in this issue was Joseph Oscar Noah. Joe, from Erath County, was a teacher at the Levelview School in Baylor County during the 1917-1918 school year. In addition, he did some teaching at the Plainview school. In newspaper articles, he is referred to as Professor J. O. Noah. These photos are some of the Baylor County photos from his album. He is pictured on the right.
For Family: Joe was the son of Oscar Edward Noah, the son of Permelia Hairston and Joseph Sydney Noah. Permelia was the sister to my great-grandfather Phillip A. Hairston. Phillip and his wife, as well as their daughter, Myrtie, and her husband, Redic Bryan, were living in Baylor County when Joe arrived in August 1917. Phillip must have been pretty sick as both his sister, Permelia, and his sister, Mattie Thompson (both living in Erath County), visited in the next few months. Phillip died on 9 November 1917. Joe had photos in his album that I believe were taken on the day of Phillip Hairston's funeral. |
When I first posted this on my website 20 years ago, I had only a few articles from the Banner recorded for most of 1919—my family was rarely mentioned that year. However, with the war over and soldiers returning home, I knew articles about them would be of interest. While revisiting the June 5th issue, two lengthy articles caught my attention, so I experimented with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transcribe them.
AI proved to be a somewhat useful tool. I uploaded photos of the microfilmed articles, and within minutes, they were transcribed. Only about half of the text was accurate—I noticed that both the quality of the original microfilm and my photos affected the results. I had to carefully compare the AI-generated transcriptions with the originals because the applications I used—ChatGPT and Claude—didn't simply indicate when they couldn't read the text. Instead, they filled in gaps with content that seemed to match the articles, even if it wasn't accurate.
The articles below come from the June 5, 1919, issue of the Baylor County Banner. Some are briefly summarized, while others are presented in full.
Mr. Simon Bush who has been attending Simmons College is spending a few days with his friend, Mr. Riley Henson.
An article - Canning Beans and Beets by Bess Edwards, Home Demonstration
Agent
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| Contents of the pack Joe Noah carried to Europe. |
Mr. and Mrs. B. K. Rhea of the Levelview community are very happy over the arrival of a fine girl at their home on Monday night. They already have a boy and now they have a pair.
A fine boy was born to Mrs. Tom Riebeson June the third. Mother and baby getting along fine.
The stork visited the home of M. and Mrs. Elmer Roe on the 23rd of May and left in their care a big boy. Mother and baby are doing fine (found in Ogden community news).
The young people are overjoyed to see their former school teacher, Professor J. O. Noah, among them again. (found in Levelview community news).
Church Reception for Soldiers
The Christian church will entertain all of her soldier boys Friday evening at nine o'clock at the Christian church. Let's all show our love and appreciation of the boys by having every member of the church present.
WITH THE SOLDIERS.
Mr. Clarence E. Copeland, who returned recently from France, left this week with his family to visit his people in Louisiana. He will doubtless be received with a great deal of honor, all of which will be well deserved.
Mr. Copeland landed in France in February, '18. He was in the draft age and refused to claim exemption on account of his family, as he figured they would be able to get along without him. Indeed, his wife was a party to the deal, saying she and the children could make a living while the husband and father fought the battle for liberty.
However, the soldier came near losing his life before the foreign shores were reached. He was on the ill-fated Tuscania, which was blown up near the English coast by a German torpedo, causing the death of more than 400 American lads. As it happened, this was the only American transport to be torpedoed among all those that carried 2,000,000 men to the shores of France. Mr. Copeland got away on a raft and was picked up by a destroyer.
Being placed in the reserve corps, Mr. Copeland was not in the fighting until April, and not until May 24 did he go over the top for the first time. After that he was quite a veteran, spending a total of 66 days on the front line trench. He was in some very tight places and received several slight wounds. He was on the Alsace-Lorraine front, at Chateau-Thierry, Verdun, the Argonne and the Meuse. He was in the 125th regiment, 32nd division. He has had enough experiences to last him the rest of his life and says they need not get up any more wars for his special benefit.
Rowe Shawver in the Fight.
Mr. Rowe Shawver was here long enough to shake hands with everybody and has gone to Wichita, probably to get in the oil game.
Rowe was in the 141st Reg. of the 36th Division. He went over in the first days of August and landed in the front line trench on Oct 8 being in the Champagne battle. He was in that fight until Oct 26th when he was sent to the hospital on account of illness. Two days later his division was relieved and was in the fighting no more. However, when the armistice was signed they were on their way to the Argonne north of which a knockout blow was being planned by Marshal Foch. Rowe was in the hospital in Paris.
A rumor had it here at one time that Mr. Shawver was badly wounded. This might easily have happened, but all are glad the searching bullets failed of the mark. As Mr. Shawver lay in his shell hole, eight bullets passed through various parts of his equipment. Only one of them did him any harm. That was only a slight wound on the forearm which healed quickly and the sear of which is now nearly gone. This happened on the first time up and must have been slightly disconcerting to a raw recruit.
Mr. Shawver can tell plenty of experiences to prove that war is no cheerful game. And he doesn't especially care to partake of any more of it. On the night of October 10 the Germans sent over a lot of gas. Our troops were in a low place and Rowe says they had to wear their gas masks all night. It meant no sleep for most of the bunch. Shelling got to be such a usual thing that not much was thought of it, but when one hit within 10 feet of you and scattered dirt all over you - well a fellow naturally doesn't care to have his clothes gotten dirty in that manner.
"Eph" Goss Back.
Mr. E. T. Goss will not soon finish shaking hands with all his friends since getting back from the land of France. He has been gone a good long time, and Old Texas looks mighty fine to him. Mr. Goss landed in France March 26th, 1918, and played an important part in the licking of Heine. He did not carry a gun, but helped General Pershing a lot. He was located at Chamount (Haute-Marne), which was general headquarters and he frequently saw the great American commander.
This camp was located about 125 miles southeast of Paris and Mr. Goss was up to the big city a time or two. He says the French reverence the place very much and they are very well satisfied to live most any old way if only [tear in paper] go to the Capitol city once or twice a year.
But the prettiest place visited by our friend was Venice. The famed city of Italy, with its canal streets. It is as pretty as it is famous. He also was in Rome and Florence. He has a lot to tell about those people. He says it is of small purpose to compare the fighting qualities of the allies. They all fought with superhuman courage and skill and all should share alike in the glory.
We are happy to state that Mr. Goss thinks he will continue this as his home, engaging probably in his former line, the abstract business.
Ward Back Arrives.
Mr. A. W. Beck came in the other day from France. However, he had some people living up at Vera and cleared out for home before the Banner had an opportunity to talk with him much. He got through in good shape and, from his splendid looks he seems little the worse for his experience in France. We will get hold of him sometime and find out some of his experiences.
Mr. Hershell High has accepted his old position at the Goostree barber shop. He has made it on around after a long and more or less exciting trip.
Mr. Carter Howard was here this week from Wichita. He is now in the oil game, but says he intends going back to school this fall and keeping up his cartoon work.
Mr. Frank Coufal came in Saturday from France, being accompanied from Wichita Falls by his sister, Mis Valasta. He was behind on farm work and has not been seen in the town since he came in. The Banner will get hold of him some of these days.
BOMARTON NEWS
Mr. Frazier Parks came in on a furlough and brought his new bride. His visit and also his bride was a surprise for all, for we were not looking for him at this time. But, we must say the surprise was agreeable to his many friends here. His wife was a Miss Dodd whom he married on his way home at Ryan, Oklahoma. She once lived at Cache Creek at which place Frazier formally knew her.
FROM GERMANY
Raubach, Germany
Dear Mr. Harrison:
I am dropping you a few lines to let you know that the Banner is read from top to bottom, over here on the Rhine, by a lad who doesn't live so very far from Seymour. Just received a copy today. It was sorter like sitting down and having a long chat with a Buddie from my home town. Even if it is a little stale sometimes before I get it, it's good news to me just the same. I didn’t realize how strong I was for it and the people who read it until I got over here. And a person does not know how much he loves the good old U. S. A. until he gets over here. My outfit is made up of boys from all over the Union and of course every man is of the opinion that his state is the best. I stick for the Lone Star, and especially for that little spot where the best of good people live. It's good enough for me.
Well, Mr. Harrison, I will tell you a little about “Over the line and across the Rhine.” After the armistice was signed all were curious to know what divisions would be in the army of occupation. On Nov. 14 we were informed that only the best trained divisions would represent the United States on the Rhine. We started out with sore feet to begin with, on account of chasing the Hun across the Meuse and out of the Argonne. The Belgians greeted us with great acclaim when we crossed that country. You could just see the joy in their eyes. In some of this country the people had suffered the dominion of the Boche for more than four years. In the marching the children carried the allied flag.
Next we passed through Luxemburg. There the Huns were only a short distance ahead and we had to rest up a week and allow them to get out of our way. This they were trying mighty hard to do, for there was no town large enough for those birds and the U. S. army.
On Dec. 1 we crossed the German line, with Old Glory waving in the breeze. We were all tired from the long march, but as the band played and the flags waved in the land that did not think the Yanks could fight, it was an inspiration to arouse patriotism to the highest pitch.
As we passed down the Moselle Valley, the roads were awful, and it was still raining everyday. We crossed the Rhine on the 3rd of December and came up the river to Bendorf where the old Ninth stayed until a short time ago. We are now occupying the place of the 32nd Division up in the mountains they having left for home. And from the news that is flying around here, I will soon be back shaking hands with you people once more.
We were about a month on our hike and made a total of 245 miles. This is to say nothing of the mountains we climbed which made it seem twice that far.
Well, good luck or something, it must have been mother's prayers led me through those fronts without getting a single scratch, excepting a little gas, which did not cause me to go to the hospital. I did not win the war, understand, but am proud to say I was with a bunch that did their bit. If there was ever anyone who has seen hell on earth it was the men of the old 2nd Division. They captured more prisoners and more guns than any other division in the A. E. F. That's saying a lot but it's true. We didn't have big writers with us like some of the outfits had, but our history is in Washington, D.C.
Well, Mr. Editor, I will close before this becomes tiresome, if it has not already done so. Just continue to send the home town news and leave the rest to us.
"A Buck" Private Robert Worth Buck, O. M. 9th Inf.
Diana
Baylor County Photos and WWI Pack, photographs, about 1918; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of Carla Noah Stutsman, TX, 2014.
Baylor County Banner Graphic, The Baylor County Banner (Seymour, Texas), 27 September 1923, Vol. 28, No. 1, print; Texas State Library and Archives, Austin, Texas, 2025.
The Baylor County Banner issues from 1919, microfilm images, The Baylor County Banner (Seymour, Texas), 1916. Microfilm titled "Baylor County Banner Jan 2, 1919, thru Dec 30, 1920," accessed from the privately held collection of D.B. Quinn.
