JAMES ALTON LIVSEY

 The following bio was taken from page 288 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

 Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Texas

 Education should fit the man not only to make a living but also to know how to live.  With this philosophy, an early-day Elderville schoolman carved a career in education and ministry.

 James Alton Livsey was born in Rusk County in 1861 and was married in 1884 to Betty Major, daughter of E. F. Major.  He believed in exposing his students to a wide range of fields in order that they find where their own interest were.  Music, mathematics, conservation, surveying – all held Livsey’s own attention.  Without a laboratory, and encumbered with the task of teaching all ages, Livsey introduced his pupils to the basic laws of physics.  He taught them the effects of multiple pulleys and longer rope by experimenting at a water well.  In cutting the trees, he taught the value of levers; by observing the puff of smoke from a gun fired a distance away and later hearing the sound of the shot, he demonstrated the speeds of light and sound.  Free speech and music were taught, with private piano lessons for those who wanted them.

 A man of calm disposition, Livsey always talked to students about their trespasses before disciplining them.  Always he tried to promote full understanding of lessons rather than the right solutions to problems.  He also preached at the Christian Church in Peatown when Sunday services were held there.  The community had alternated in holding services there and at Elderville Presbyterian Church.  For thirty or more consecutive years he instilled within his students his ideals that one should live nobly and that character is eternal.  Teaching as well as preaching in the same community, he took his place among the leaders of his profession as an educator, and it was in the schoolroom that he was the most influential in impressing upon young boys and girls the real responsibilities of life.  His enthusiasm for the enrichment of lives was extended to the Negro schools of the community, and he was instrumental at one time bringing George Washington Carver to the Elderville and Greenville schools for a two-day conference with the teachers and students.

 A scholarship fund for advanced education for needy and worthy persons was established at Texas Christian University by his former students and friends.  Some of his children and grandchildren followed in his footsteps and became teachers.  His children were:  Chalmers M., Lonnie, Edward, Annie D. Livsey Maloney, Pearl Livsey Mathis, and Reneva Livsey Walker.

 Submitted by Reneva Livsey Walker