Category Archives: Tales from Hallowed Ground

Tales From Hallowed Ground: Evelyn Keyes

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This month, Tales from SETX’s Hallowed Ground takes us to Port Arthur for a look at one of our early daughters who achieved fame and fortune but never forgot her roots.

Evelyn Louise Keyes was born in Port Arthur, Texas, on November 20, 1916. The daughter of Methodist minister Omar Dow Keyes and Maude Olive Keyes, her life in SETX was brief to say the least. At age three, her father died, so she and her mother moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where her grandparents resided. In her biography, Scarlett O’Hara’s Younger Sister: My Lively Life In and Out Of Hollywood, she tells of her impoverished youth and the hardships that she would overcome. In her teen years, she took dancing lessons, which signaled the start of her journey out of poverty and into what would become stardom.Evelyn in Port Arthur

Discovered by Cecil B. DeMille, Keyes was cast in a few lesser known pictures until she landed the role of Suellen, Scarlet O’Hara’s sister, in the movie Gone with the Wind (1939). She then went on to star in other motion pictures, including The Jolson Story (1946), The Prowler (1951), and A Thousand and One Nights (1945), and played Helen Sherman in the classic The Seven Year Itch (1955). She officially retired from acting in 1956 but did take on a few roles in her later years.

Sueellen 1939Keyes’ private life appeared similar to that of a Hollywood script. Her first husband committed suicide in 1940. After divorcing her second husband with the help of director Charles Vidor, after two years, she married director John Huston. After the couple adopted a boy that Huston had discovered in Mexico while filming The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Unfortunately that marriage failed as well, and they were divorced in 1950. After her retirement from film, she married bandleader Artie Shaw in 1957. That marriage would last 28 years.

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In her later years, on occasion, Keyes traveled back to her birth city and donated memorabilia from her career to the Museum of the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer, and at the ripe old age of 91, succumbed to the retched disease at her home in Montecito, California. She died on July 4, 2008. She now rests in her birth city of Port Arthur, but when scanning the old stones from Greenlawn or the Calvary cemeteries, I found no mention of her. This is because, “it was her last wish that, upon her death, her ashes be placed in a lamp, similar to the one she emerged from when she played a genie in the 1945 film  A Thousand and One Nights.”IMG_1181

When you visit the Museum of the Gulf Coast, you will find that there is a lot to see. But remember when you are strolling through the Evelyn Keyes exhibit that you are, for all intensive purposes, walking through hallowed ground.

The Mysterious Little Stone

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At the very back of the southeast corner of Magnolia Cemetery stands a small headstone shaped almost like a Japanese or Chinese temple. Indeed, the characters adorning the front of the stone support the view that it is oriental. Unfortunately, Asian alphabets are not my forte so I will have to leave it to the experts to figure out the translation of this interesting piece of our SETX history. 9533144901_a89dd1a926_c

The stone is from the turn of the 20th century, give or take a decade. Regrettably, there are no records for this stone since it is so old. However, looking back at SETX history we did have a few wealthy Japanese farmers who lived and tended their rice fields around this period, but at the time of writing, I only know of one buried at Magnolia Cemetery: the infant son of Yoshio Mayumi.

IMG_3559One evening in early December Mayumi rode horseback up to the Bailey Wingate home. For days it had been raining a cold drizzle, and the roads were under water. Apologizing for what he said was an intrusion, Mayumi explained that his first child, a son. Had been born, but after only one day of life, the baby was dead. Mayumi needed help.*

As the story goes, Mr. Wingate’s widowed mother aided Mayumi’s young bride and helped prepare the baby for burial. Two days later, on December 13, 1917, the baby was buried in Magnolia Cemetery. Why the baby was buried in Magnolia Cemetery and not in a cemetery closer to the Mayumi farm in Fannett is not clear.

On reading the story of the Mayumi family, I was convinced that this old headstone at Magnolia Cemetery was that of the infant Mayumi, but Jimmy Sparks, Magnolia Cemetery, pointed out where the actual headstone of the child is.IMG_0080

With the child’s true whereabouts now known, Mr. Sparks brought another interesting story to my attention.

In a lone paragraph in a San Francisco newspaper dated December 30, 1902, there is an alluring bit of information that could possibly account for the origin of the stone.

Fatma & Smaun 122902DEATH COMES QUICKLY TO A LITTLE WOMAN

BEAUMONT, Texas, Dec. 29.— Fatma Sing Hpoo, reputedly the smallest person in the world, died very suddenly here this afternoon. She and her brother, Smaun Sins Hpoo, were on exhibition, and after the afternoon performance Fatma became ill and died at the Crosby House before the doctor could reach her. She was 22 years old, weighed 15 pounds and stood 28 inches high. **Fatma and Smaun Hpoo

I have come across a few photos of Fatma and her brother Smaun, but there is little, if any, other information about the life and times of the Hpoos. I did find an ad in the Beaumont Enterprise from the day before Fatma’s death, as well as an article in the Beaumont Journal dated January 3, 1903, stating that this would be the last day to see Smaun perform. That short article speaks of a reality that is more mysterious than an unidentified headstone.

Smaun010303Sadly, the show must go on. We may never find out who is buried under that headstone near the tree line in Magnolia Cemetery, but now that we know of it, there is a small chance that its owner’s identity might one day be revealed. Nevertheless, we will continue to search for further Tales from SETX’s Hallowed Grounds.

 

Sources: * – Southeast Texas Rice Beckoned Japanese by Gwendolyn Wingate Beaumont Enterprise

               ** – San Francisco Call newspaper

              Jimmy Sparks Magnolia Cemetery, Beaumont Enterprise, and Beaumont Journal

Tales from Hallowed Ground: Tom The Tramp

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Still inspired by the Liberty County Historical Commission’s “Whispers of the Past,” I find myself wanting to bring a few stories from my own county’s cemeteries to light. This is why I want to start a new topic about the inhabitants of cemeteries, which will hopefully feature on this blog once a month. There are many stories out there, hidden away in our hallowed grounds, and I for one am interested in bringing these stories, legends, and tales to the fore. I would also love your input, so please leave your suggestions, stories, and comments on the Rediscovering SETX Facebook page or email me at rediscoveringsetx@gmail.com.

Roaming through the hilly terrain of one of Beaumont’s oldest cemeteries, I passed many obelisks, mausoleums, and other monuments dedicated to the “who was who” of Beaumont’s 175-year existence—each edifice undoubtedly clutching a story that’s waiting to be told. However, let us sidestep our SETX citizens at this time in favor of a hero who became a permanent resident of the Magnolia Cemetery too soon.

Because the Great Storm of 1900 took many lives and devastated Galveston’s shore, most forget that the residents of Bolivar Peninsula also shared the same fate, and this is where our story begins.

Alice and Frank Keith were two prominent names in old Beaumont, not least because Frank owned the Keith Lumber Company. On September 8th of 1900, Alice and Frank were in New York while their two daughters, Alice and Olga, stayed with relatives at a hotel in Patton Beach (now named Crystal Beach). As the storm worsened, Mrs. Irwin, the hotel manager, and an employee, Tom, nicknamed “Tom the Tramp,” thought it would be safer for the Keith’s daughters to ride the storm out in another house near the hotel.

Unfortunately the severity of the storm proved too much for the structure, and the house began to break up. Mrs. Irwin picked up Alice, and taking Olga’s hand to hers, headed for another house. As they departed, a large wave knocked Alice out. Mrs. Irwin managed to hold onto the girl, but Olga was separated from her. As if by fate, Tom swiftly retrieved Olga from the water and gave her back to Mrs. Irwin. He then took Alice and began to roll her back and forth over his shoulder, which revived her. As the storm raged on, the four again sought shelter in the house. Luckily, they all survived.

Both Frank and Alice were unaware of their daughters’ struggle for survival, but I’m sure they were devastated when they read a story in a New York newspaper that reported that their daughters had perished. However, as we already know, the newspaper was fortunately wrong, and the Keith’s were able to hold their daughters once again and hear the tale of heroism of the girls’ two saviors. Indeed, the Keith’s were so grateful to the two that they offered them each a house, which Tom accepted.

This would have made for a happy ending to a great story, but sadly in 1909, Tom kicked over an oil lamp while having a seizure and burned to death in his house. Ever grateful for his heroism, Frank and Alice laid him to rest in their family plot at Magnolia Cemetery with the name they knew him by and a tribute befitting of their hero:

Tom

The Tramp

Died December 5, 1909

“He alone is great, who by an act heroic, renders a real service.”

 

Source: Judy Linsley

Elisha O. Brewer Cemetery

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Not many people know about the grave off Amoco Road just south of Beaumont. I never knew of it until it was pointed out to me while I was working at Oiltanking Beaumont (formerly Amoco). After looking over the cracked stone, I knew there was a story there, but what story, I did not know.

That night I did an internet search for Elisha Brewer, the name on the headstone, and found an article written by W. T. Block, which was first published in the Beaumont Enterprise on November 13, 1999. It told the story of Elisha O. Brewer, who, after visiting the deathly ill mayor of Beaumont, Columbus Caswell, had been un-harnessing his wagon when his horse had kicked him in the groin. Elisha died a short time later. He was 31.

Elisha Brewer was the grandson of Christian Hillebrandt, a cattle baron, who was the namesake of Hillebrandt Bayou. His wife Mary was the granddaughter of John Sparks, the first settler and founder of the Sparks settlement (Aurora), which was the precursor to the city of Port Arthur.

It is unclear why Elisha O. Brewer had been buried in what would have been his backyard 129 years ago. Possibly it was out of haste or necessity, but whatever the reason, we can assume from the words on his gravestone that he was deeply missed.

“Since thou canst no longer stay

To cheer me thy love

I hope to meet with thee again

In yon bright world above.”

Elisha O. Brewer

February 2, 1852 – August 5, 1883

The grave is located less than a hundred yards from Amoco Road, and the small fence surrounding the hallowed site can be seen from Highway 347. Although it is technically on Oiltanking Beaumont’s property, it is not located in a fenced or restricted area. With that said, I do make a point of driving past the grave and up to the guard shack and explaining to security why I’m there and what I am doing.