Rev. Millage Short Groom(1872-1973)
?? m. Callie Parker (1887-1912)


I. ANCESTORS:

Elijah Groom I (1757-1804). m. Catherine "Catey" Herring (abt.1760 - 1814)
Charles Groom (1787-1851) m. Mary ??? (d. aft 1842)
Elijah Groom II (1818-1859) m. . Elizabeth Bryan (1820- 1878)
Needham York Groom (1847-1915) m Margaret Gryder (1844-1878)
2nd. Wife: Adline (Wages) Dean (1850-1913)

II. DESCENDANTS:

l. Lorena Susan Groom(1904-1987) m. Floyd Charles Spence (1901-1975)
2. Loma Irelia Groom (1906- ) m. Joe Mason Harrison (1910-1981)
..2nd, husband- Joe Emanuel Pressey ( 1905-1977)
3. Geneva Alice Groom (1909-1994) m. George Wilson (1903-1958)
…..2nd. husband -Bernard Barnes
4. James Needham Groom ( 1911- ) m Wilma Mira Moore (1907-1997)

Descendants and their Children Listed


A MESSAGE TO MY CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN
Written by Reverend M. S. Groom - June 3, 1973-101 years old

When I look back on the bygone years
I can see more joy than I do tears.
When I look forward to the afterwhiles
I think I can see ten thousand smiles.

This note shall bear with you my prayers
That good success attend you.
God save each one through Christ His Son,
And from all evil defend you.


III. NOTES

Written by his daughter, Loma (Groom) Harrison, in loving tribute to my dad.

My father, Rev. Millage Short Groom was born August 25, 1872 in Webster Parish, Lousiana and died in Borger, Texas, October 17, 1973 at the age of 101 years. He is buried in Highland Park Cemetery, Borger, Texas. He married Callie Parker, Nov. 19, 1903 in Somervell County, Texas. She was born January 28, 1887 in Somervell County, Texas and died in Bailey, Texas, October 10, 1912. She is buried in White Rock Cemetery between Bailey and Gober, Texas. Rev. M.S. Groom was married a second time to Celeste (Green) Johnson, November 1913. She died January 1915 and is buried in Kaufman, Texas.

The parents of Rev. M. S. Groom, Rev. Needham York Groom and Margaret (Gryder) Groom, with their 8 children moved by ox cart from Serepta, Louisiana to Van Zandt County, Texas in 1876. In February 1877, Lou Young, a ninth child was born. Margaret died soon after Lou's birth. My father was was five years old at the time.

In December of 1880, the family moved from Van Zandt County, Texas to Hood County, Texas where dad continued to go to little country schools and to help his dad on the farm.

Dad was licensed to be a Southern Baptist minister in 1899, by the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Hood County. He continued to study the Bible and preach, went one summer to Baylor University, Waco, Texas, and taught school near Granbury, Texas. Here he met and married my mother, Callie Parker; she was 16 years of age and he was 32. They had four Children: Lorena Susan (1904-1985), Loma Irelia (1906--), Geneva Alice (1909-1994), and James Needham (1911--).

In order for him to be the kind of minister that my dad felt that God wanted him to be, he knew he must have a good education. It took him almost a lifetime of studying and going to school, but he did it ! He got all the education he could get in the country schools where he lived, studied continuously, went to Baylor University in Waco, Texas and Simmon University in Abilene, Texas, and finally, in 1925, he received his Bachelor of Theology Degree from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. He became a Greek scholar and read the New Testament only in the Greek, the original language in which it was written. He never read any translations and his Greek New Testament remained almost a part of him, till his death. He was a Baptist minister for 74 years, preaching in small communities either as pastor or missionary, teaching the fundamental truths of the Bible, as he saw it. The last years of his life, he wrote books on the Bible and sold them for less than it cost him to have them published, so that anyone who wanted to study the Bible could buy them. His last book came off the press when he was 97 years of age.

The going was always difficult for dad. He lost his mother when he was five years old. He lost the love of his life, the mother of his four children, when the oldest child was seven years of age and the youngest one was a babe in arms. His brothers and their wives helped him take care of the children, till he married again in about a year. The second wife lived for only one year and was sick with pellagra a great part of that time. When she was dying, (she was with her parents in Kaufman, Texas) our house burned with everything we had in it, plus the buggy which was at the side of the house. At the same time, his father Rev. Needham York Groom, whom he loved very dearly, also died. A lesser man would have been defeated.

Dad kept us all together and did the best he could, refusing to put us in an orphan's home or to let us be adopted by anyone. There was no domestic help in those days where we lived and certainly there was no money for it if it had been avaliable. He worked at odd jobs to make a living and preached as often as he could till we were able to take care of ourselves.

We were always expected to make good grades, which we did, and we were encouraged to get a good education. Both by precept and example, we were taught integrety, dependability, hard work, and to respect the rights of others. I have always been thankful that I was reared in a Christian home. My deep religious faith has been a comfort to me and has been the source of strength for my life. We were always taught that our lives should be an example of "The Fruit of the Spirit: love, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control". None of us fully achieved this ideal, but we all tried.

How can I describe what kind of person dad really was! He was a mental giant, a dedicated servant of God and of mankind, a man of iron will and determination, and a man who never swerved from his "Calling" - his purpose in life. The key to dad's life was one of complete dedication to his Divine Call to learn, as completely as was humanly possible, the Truths of the Bible and to teach them to everyone who would listen to him or read his interpretation of God's Holy Word as he expressed it in his books on the Bible. Dad would have died proclaiming the Truths of the Scripture, as he saw it, if that had been the price he would have had to pay.

The road was always rough and dad"s whole life was a battle, but with Paul, he could say, "I have fought a good fight; I have kept the faith; I have finished the course. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness". I know that dad's reward was, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joys of your Lord".

IV. RESEARCH DONE BY:

Loma (Groom) Harrison, daughter of Rev. Millage Short Groom and Callie Parker) Groom. Practically all of this research is first hand information.


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