The Chase Magazine
February, 1976
Page Two
Foxhunters of Note
Background of My Heritage
Hinkle Schillings
My father Isaiah Schillings was born in 1861 in Washington Parish, La., near Osyka,
Miss. He moved his family to Texas in 1875 and settled on the John Sinclair place near
Neuville.
My mother Sallie Jackson Schillings was born in 1866 where the Jackson Church now
stands. Her Father Silas Jackson moved there from Louisiana, settled this place and
that is where Jackson Church got its name. He was the first justice of the peace at
Joaquin.
My parents raised nine boys to be grown and have families. There were two girls and
two boys who died at a young age. The boys from this marriage from the oldest down
were Monroe, Lum, Walter, A.E. (Eck), Jewel, hardy, Hinkle, Johnie and Bill. The only
survivors are Lum, myself and Bill.
I was born in 1902 one mile east of the Leon Schillings home on the east side of Bone
Hill. My mother could tell you where Bone Hill got its name. She said that in the early
days when the forest was full of cattle that the cattle would gather on Bone Hill during
the winter. There were many Holly trees and people went there and cut down the trees
and during the long winter months the cattle would bog down in the deep soil and die.
Therefore, it was called Bone Hill.
My older brother Hardy was the hardest fox hunter I ever knew. Johnie did a lot of
judging and his fox hound Carrie Nation was one of our great fox hounds. Johnie knew
hounds and was a fine handler in the show ring. Bill judged at the U.S.O. in Tennessee
and at the Texas State Hunt.
My father loved good horses and my mother liked to tell about his stallion named
Robbin that was grey in color. She said that she could hear Robbin three miles away
nickering.
Later my dad got a horse by old Midnight Star that was owned by A.C. Cooper in Center.
Another horse that he owned was a black stallion named Gano that I rode while
courting.
My father loved race horses and in the early 1900's he owned Kansas Ada that was
outstanding and in the 1940's he owned another good horse named Texana.
My mother fed many hoboes in those days and my parents would not turn one away and
the hoboes soon learned this. The older I get the more I can look back and appreciate
my parents.
I was a born hunter and I also love fishing and hunting of all kinds. Uncle Jim Schillings
owned Blue Hounds and he was a neighbor to Bill Lawson, the father of Hobson
Lawson who also owned hounds. About 1905 Bill Lawson ordered a pair of hounds from
T.B. Hudspeth of Silsbee, Missouri. They were called English hounds and were white
with just a few spots. He named them Polk and Queen.
Along about this time Enos Huges, my wife's grandfather had hounds and he bred his
Fly Matron to Bill Lawson's Polk. And from this mating came a good litter of hounds.
I remember that Bob Hughes, son of Enos Hughes had sixty hounds. Cricket and
Thomas Hughes who now live near Paxton had a pair of litter mates that were better
than the average hounds in these parts. Those hounds were the first hounds that I
every heard run fox and fox were scarce in those days.
In those days, the hunters delighted in bringing in a fox tied to their saddle, I
remember the many wild hogs and long horn cattle that roamed the woods. Also, I
remember the good neighbors we had at Sardis.
On December 6, 1911 we moved to Good Hope, three miles from Center where Bill
McNeece now lives. Soon after we moved that same day about noon, Dr. John Rushing
passed by driving a one seated Ford car. This was the last car that passed 'til up in the
next spring as the roads were almost impassable.
I remember the long lines of cattle driven up the road to Center. Some of the ones in
this business included Ney Runnels and his two sons, Leon and Little Ney. Then there
were George Brittain and his two sons, Clifton and Zack, Rob McWilliams, Tine Carroll,
Norman Ross and Mize Ross. I recall Jeff Owens and how he could round up cattle.
Also, they would drive wild hogs up the road to Center and they had good dogs to do
this with.
During this time I was coon hunting and fishing every chance I could get.
For several years my father gave two day log rollings and we boys would go into the
swamps with our dad to get the right sticks, poles and shape them and season them for
the lifting of the logs.
The last log rolling I was at was at the home of Calvin Enmons in 1919. My brother Hardy
teamed up with George Rather and I teamed up with his brother Everett. The
competition was keen and we formed a lasting friendship.
In the summer of 1915 after we layed by our cropes, my father sent me to help my
brother Monroe saw tie lumber at his place in he Short Community on the Jim Holt
place.
Monroe loved to hunt and fish and he told me on Tuesday night that Pearl Walker and
his friends would turn loose their hounds at the old Kelly Field one mile north of his
place and run fox all night.
This was my first fox race to hear. I was up all night listening to the pack of hounds The
race ended next morning in a field on Mill Creek.
In the fall of this same year a hunt was planned at Big Ditch, near Crockett and Kelly Old
Field. The group that hunted at this race included Norman Ross with his hounds Buck
and Jack; Jesse Harris with his hound Red Queen; Bryan McCallum with his hound Joe;
and Joe Howard with his hound Ben that he got from Henry Cannon. That was the one
of the best coon and fox hounds that I ever saw and Joe Howard was a good rider and
judge of fox hounds.
The hunters who met us at Crockett were Pearl Walker, Elmer Ellington and his father,
John Crocker and Faro Wright. They all had a lot of good hounds. We arrived about
dark and I remember that Pearl Walker could holler loud and clear and he was yelling
for his hound to get onto that fox.
The trail was cold, the fox scarce and wild and they trailed all over the country and
after midnight they give up near the Mt. Pleasant Church. We unsaddled our horses
and made pallets with blankets and got a nap, then went on home.
From that time til now I have not missed many weeks that I didn't go fox hunting. A pack
of hounds consists of three or more and I will try to mention just the hunters who I
knew before 1940 and I am sorry if I fail to mention everyone.
Frist we will start from Center to Huxley Bay. The late Johnie T. Howard who was a
neighbor in the Good Hope Community, my father-in-law Lake Hughes, Charlie Squyres,
Hider Collins, and Jud Hughes and myself. All had good packs of hounds and we were
the closest of friends.
At shelbyville there were Rob McWilliams, Henry Cannon, Sid Ellington, Bob Arnold, B.
Sharp, Frank Morrison, Munson Williams, Vessie Green and Lawrence Greer.
Vessie's hound Raymond was a tough hound. Other hunters in that area included Fred
Kay, Garland Bailey, who owned a hound named Sally that won second in 56 Texas
Open Hunts.
At Joaquin there were Joe Iris, Fonzo Swan, Tom Strong who owned Comet that won
the 1929 East Texas Hunt at Boles Field, Jud Oates who owned Troup; Ellis Watson who
owned Topsy;and Clim Grant who owned an outstanding dog named Pearl.
Clim and I arranged a contest race between Pearl and my Hub Dawson to be run in
daylight on Hill top near Ashton. There were lots of spectators and the race was good.
It was called a tie.
Now on to Campti. Here we found Bobbie Hughes who owned Josh that was by
Pathfinder, owned by Brother B.B. Crim, Josh was a very fine hound. Other hunters
included Matt Hughes, John Broadway, Jesse Jackson, Dock Willoughby, Riley Clark,
Frank Wilburn, Norman Ross, Jesse Harris, Ona Samford and Neugin Samford.
Now we go to Tenaha where there were and still are lots of good hunters and good
hounds.
The hunters included Bill and Hunter Parker, Will Hooker, Claude Fallin, Dock
Willoughby, Riley Clark, Frank Wilburn, Norman Ross, Jesse Harris, Ona Samford and
Neugin Samford.
Now we go to Tenaha where there were and still are lots of good hunters and good
hounds.
The hunters included Bill and Hunter Parker, Will Hooker, Claude Fallin, Dock
Hendricks, Howard Jolley, Luther Perkins, Joe and Eric Christian who owned old Night
Rowdy that was a noted stud hound. At the hunts you would almost always see Dr.
Deberry and Richard Johnson out on the field with the other Tenaha hunters. Then
there were Fletcher and Claude Goolsby, Benny Bowlin, Charlie Lane, who owned
Belcher that he had bought from Pearl Walker.
Also, Tom Todd who lived north of Timpson who raised thousands of fighting cocks and
many noted hounds that he brought to this county from Kentucky. Then there were C.C.
Askins, Allen Smith, Carlos Hancock, Riley Johnson, and George Goodwin.
On to Stockman to find the Crump Brothers, Joe Forrest, Neutie and Heber Williams,
who recently won the Texas Open with his Flying Red; Perkin Wilson, Carl Neal, Claude
Nicks, J.P. Ramsey, Furman and Tom Franks, Elmer Hancock, Will, Shade and V.V. Pate.
At New Hope there wer Roger and Joe McCary, Jack and John Crocker, Jack Mathews,
Otis and Walker Samford, Will Ramsey, the Ruddell brothers near Pleasant Grove, Jim
Tindol, Obie Doster, Bruen Harrison, Terrell Smith, Ira and Bill Carriker, Elroy Irish, Bibb
Samford, whose old Pat of Bobb won Texas State Field in 1925. Also T. A. Harris who
owned a large pack of hounds and contributed a lot for better hounds in this area.
Shue and Joe Munnerly. Shue sold his Stride Dawson for $200 and Shue's father B.H.
Munnerly Sr. told me that a man was crazy to pay that much for a hound.
There were Little Ney Runnels, George Davis, Jewel Jetton, Dick Middleton who was a
good promoter and did a lot for hunting in East Texas. Calhoun Perkins who owned old
One Eye Bob that took so much punishement. Others included Jud Hughes, Jim Tindol
Binson Martin, Charles Barbee, Compton Bailey and Pete Dellinger who owned the
tough John Dillinger hound.
Then there were Bob Jones, the Hagler brothers, Bib Oliver, Roy Dry, Ben Lout, W.I.
(Will) Monroe, O.L. Parker, Jimro and Criso Risinger and their sons, Willie, Johnie, Ross
and Buren who are hunters. Otis Parker, Reese and Buck Wilburn, Bunk Wilburn,
Wayne and Lenard Armstreet, Lige Parker, and Bill Shull who owned old Jack. Frank
Wallace was a great hunter.
I would like to say this for those mentioned hunters, with just a few of them left. All
were my friends and I love the memory of them. I knew most of their hounds. I knew
their blood lines and I knew them by name.
My life has been blessed with good hunting and I knew those hunters back in horse
and buggy days when there was little danger of loosing your hound and everyone was
your neighbor, I could call all of those hounds by name and I remember so well the
hunts we had together.
I forgot to mention my wife Modie who has been a great help to me and it can be said
that she has fed more pups than anyone. We have had visitors from foreign countries
in our home and it is said that there have been more good hounds bred in Shelby
County than any other place in the United States.
The Hall of Fame Cemetery for noted fox hounds at Boles Field is the only of its kind in
the nation. People from all over the universe come to Boles Field and this has meant a
lot to our country.
I have learned a lot out under the stars while hunting, listening to a favorite hound
drive a red fox and the hounds go out of hearing, then you hear a house dog and you
know that the hounds are coming back.
I can hear Dawson Stride coming from Boles Field toward the Sample Grave yard
leading the pack for the kill. Then I hear the lady calling old jersey, then the man calling
the hogs. The cow bells ring and then daylight comes and the race is over, I am so
thrilled that I almost burst my good horn blowing the hounds in. Then home I go tired
but happy and Modie asks, "Did you get all the hounds?" And I say "yes". It's time to get
a good breakfast and go to work.
I know what I want to find in Heaven and far be it from me telling my Master how to run
His business but if He wouldn't mind I would like to make a suggestion.
I would like to wake up in Heaven with all my friends and hear Dawson Stride leading
the pack running a red fox at Boles Field.
Happy Hunt dear friends forever! Signed, Hinkle.