The Atchisons

During the course of his lifetime, Henry Atchison accomplished the remarkable feat of working in his own store for sixty-eight years. Consequently, the Atchison name is well known in all of Sulphur Township.

According to Ben Atchison, the son of Henry, the Atchisons came to this country at a very early time in its history. Being of Irish-English lineage, the family arrived in New York City around 1746. They later moved on to New Jersey, and then by 1776 they had migrated to Fairfield County, North Carolina. Around 1784, they again moved southward to Roanoke, Alabama.

Ben further relates that during the Civil War there were four Atchison brothers in Roanoke who owned a race track. Concerning this ownership, he says The Atchisons of Roanoke were considered wealthy because they owned their own race track where they raced Irish thoroughbred horses. You can still see the track today even though huge pine trees have grown up in the track area.

Henry Atchison, himself, has told (as recorded by Hazel Trammell Field) that his grandfather, John Henry, Sr. owned a blacksmith shop in addition to having an interest in the race track. Henry added that his great grandfather (the father of the four brothers) owned a saloon in partnership with his brother.

The following narrative is based on facts given by Ben and his father, Henry.

During the Civil War, the four brothers became severely divided over the slavery question and consequently decided to separate. Two of the brothers, John Allen and John Henry, Sr., decided to go to southern Arkansas. They had learned from friends about the desirable land there which was easily available. The two brothers with their families set forth on the long journey by first going to Mobile, Alabama, where they boarded a boat for New Orleans. From New Orleans they traveled by steamboat up the Mississippi River to the mouth of Red River, and thence up Red River to Shreveport. From Shreveport they continued by smaller steamboat through Cross Lake, then through Caddo Lake to Jefferson, Texas, arriving there in September of 1863. From Jefferson they traveled by wagon to Ravanna, Arkansas, and thence to a location nearby known as “the Brown place.”

The Browns evidently were people already known by the Atchisons and who had advised them about the land of that area. According to Henry, “The Atchisons were served bear meat for breakfast their first day there.”

At a later time, John Allen moved with his family to Oak Grove, a community near what is now called Capp City. John Henry, Sr., who was Henry’s grandfather, bought a place from Og Mercer which was located two and a half miles west of Doddridge and one and a half miles south of the Doddridge- Bright Star road.

It appears likely that Allen B. Atchison, the son of John Henry, Sr., was the heir to this place. He married an Elizabeth Manly, and through this union were born the following: Jane, Lola, Theodore, William (Buddy), Fannie, Allen, D. A. (Doc), and Henry.

Around 1900-1902, Allen, Doc, and Henry went to La Crosse, Kansas, where they had an uncle named David Manly. Manly was in the mercantile business, and he also bought and sold wheat. With his assistance the boys worked in the wheat harvest and managed to earn sufficient money to come back to Doddridge and begin a business of their own.

In the summer of 1903 Henry, Doc and Allen opened a general merchandise store in Doddridge. March 3, 1904, (the following year), Allen passed away. Four years later, in 1908, Doc moved to Texarkana and opened a grocery store on State Line Avenue. According to Brooks, Henry’s son. Doc also had a saloon for a brief time before becoming associated with Burhman- Pharr Hardware Company, where he spent the rest of his working career. Henry was left the sole owner of the store in Doddridge, and it is where he remained for rest of his life.

Did you need to buy a cast iron wood-burning cook stove for your kitchen? Henry was your man. A butter churn? Same place. Ped Goose Shoes were here. So were rakes, hoes, and old lace. Also to be found here were well rope, plow line, nails, horse collars, peanut patties, garden seed, barbed wire and “coal oil.” It was the J. H. Atchison mostly hardware store.

Toward the back of the store there was an old cast iron wood burning heater which set in the middle of a large sand box. Presumably, the sand was for the purpose of catching tobacco drippings from the old timers who sat around in the wintertime swapping tall tales about their escapades of both the past and present. Had taping been feasible, secret recordings of such conversations of that time would in this day be priceless.

In 1918, Henry married Beatrice Pool, the daughter of Zeak and Rosabella Cochran Pool. Beatrice, who was affectionately known by everybody as “Bea,” was the pianist for the Mt. Zion Baptist Church for over forty years. The Atchisons had always been strong supporters of this church, Henry’s grandfather, John Henry, Sr., having helped to build it in 1872.

The original Atchison store, built of wood, was destroyed in the 1916 Doddridge fire. A brick structure was built immediately afterward along with two others, all standing together. It still stands today seemingly as sturdy as ever, and is one of the points of interest during the annual Doddridge Festival held each June.

Henry Atchison passed away on February 21, 1973. He had lived through practically all of the history of Doddridge, the good times and the bad, the colorful and the sad. He is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery at Doddridge.