Cotton Weighers and Buyers

The Cotton Weigher was an elected official.  The elected cotton weighers for Honey Grove are listed below.  (information from One Hundred Years)

• H. P. Jones                      1892-94

• G. F. Shaw                      1894-98

• M. L. Bird                       1898-1902

• Edgar Thomas                 1904-08

• G. F. Newberry               1908-14

• J. L. Witcher                    1914-18

• Henry McGaughey           1918-22

• Russ Ward                       1922-24

• Henry Hawkins                 1924-28

• Leonard Whitlock             1928-32

• John J. Smith                    1932-36

• Roy H. Doyle                   1936-40

• Henry Grey                      1940-44

• H. A. Simmons                 1944-50

• Lloyd Hopkins (did not serve)

• Leonard Whitlock (appointed)  1950-54

• H. A. Simmons (last elected cotton weigher for Honey Grove)  1054-56 

Cotton Buyers. The cotton buyers on the square linked the cotton farmer to the commercial world, to the market economy of Galveston, Liverpool, England, Tokyo and St. Louis. The buyers were important because the profit of a whole year's work was determined, in some cases, by a single transaction. In the fall the farmers ginned their cotton, brought it in to town and sold it. The price depended upon the time of year, the quality of cotton and the going price. (Text and photos below from John Black's Pictorial History of Honey Grove, Texas)

The two photos above ran as one photo in the July 6, 1973 Honey Grove Signal-Citizen (see below). It gave the names of the individuals pictured as follows: Ray McCurdy, Virge P. Shirley, W. H. Skinner, Claude Lovell, Vaden L. Cooper, a Mr. Patterson, Ray Chapman, Claude Elliott, Jeff Gunn, an English cotton buyer for E. E. Blocker whose name is not known, Fulton W. Ware, A. M. Ware and A. M. Livingston. However, there are more individuals in the photo than there are names, so we cannot be certain who is who.