Asa M. BOLES

The following bio was taken from page 118 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Gloria Riley

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Asa Monroe Boles was born October 16, 1893. He was the second child of Angelo Alonzo and Mattie Asa (Irwin) Boles. He was born in Concord (five miles east of Mt. Enterprise, Texas), where he was a life-long resident. He had one brother, William, and one sister, Annie. After finishing high school, he attended the Tyler Commercial College where he finished his course of study in record time. On November 4, 1915, Asa married Della Mae Dennard. She was the daughter of Gus Edward and Essie Beatrice (Sears) Dennard. Asa and Della Mae had five daughters. Vera Jeanette, born January 5, 1917 and died November 19, 1919; Joy Evelyn, born November 29, 1920; Vivian Louise, born August 12, 1922; an infant daughter stillborn April 4, 1927; and Winifred Cecile, born January 17, 1929. They had eleven grandchildren. Joy married Thomas Earl Williams and they have three children: Patricia Joy, Thomas Asa, and Randee Gayle. Vivian married Charles Franklin Brooks, Jr., and they have four children: Adella Carol, Perry Boles, Mark Franklin, and Nancy Louise. Cecile married Travis Kyle Threadgill and they have four children: Sharon Camille, Phillip Kyle, Gregory Boles, and Brian. (See Threadgill Family) Asa had the rare quality of diplomacy. He was a gentle man as well as a gentleman, and well loved by those who knew him. He was a prominent merchant, rancher, and oilman. He was a deacon in the Concord Baptist Church, where his melodious bass voice could be heard every Sunday. In the early 1930’s, when Sabine Royalty Company first began, Asa was on the board of directors. Sabine Royalty is now Sabine Corporation. He was a director of the Eastex Telephone Coop., and was instrumental in forming the Arlam-Concord Water System. Asa was also a land man with Pure Oil Company, but would not move to the Ft. Worth office. He preferred his home in the Concord Community and did much land work and leasing for many different companies. He was working with Southern Production Company in Carthage when the Carthage Gas Field was discovered. An interesting thing happened in the checking of a title to a tract of land that Asa and his partner, Frank Markey, owned in the Shiloh area. A vacancy was discovered in the tract, and eventually a Letter of Patent was issued by the State of Texas designating this as the A. M. Boles Survey, Rusk County, Texas. Asa had a country store for many years in the community and sold many items on credit. These debts were paid in the fall of the year after the cotton was ginned. The front yard of his home had many bales of cotton, from the debtors, and was a fun place to play for his children, as well as for many other children in the community. Asa and Della Mae had been married sixty-one years when he died on November 20, 1976. Della Mae died a year and a half later on August 17, 1978. A friend remarked at Asa’s funeral that he had never heard any one say anything bad about Asa, and Asa’s sister, Annie Boles Busby, said that the reason was that there was nothing bad to say about Asa. What better memorial than this to a great man? Written by Joy Boles Williams