J.M. PRICE

 The following bio was taken from page 351 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

 Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

    On January 6, 1885, Joseph Marcus Price was born in Rusk County near where the Price Post Office now stands.  He never moved more than a mile from his birth site.  His father, Thomas Wesley Price, moved to Texas from Virginia.  His mother was Malinda Amanda Brown, born in Polk County.  Joseph Marcus Price had two sisters, Sue and Annie Lou.  On December 16, 1912, Joseph Marcus Price, known as “J.M.”, married Sudie Fay Crim, daughter of James Polk Crim and Julia Ann Mims from Alabama.  Sudie was one of twelve children.    J.M. and Sudie had four children: Elwyn Price, who married D.E. Bunting; Bessie Lou Price, who married G.T. Mason; Sterling Joseph Price, who married Hazel Whitmarsh, and was killed in World War II in June, 1945; and Luna Fay Price, who married H.C. Berry.

J.M.’s children remember his stories of how his grandfather, Joseph Henry Price, visiting from Halifax, Virginia, preached the first Methodist sermons back in 1852 in Carlisle, now Price, Texas.  The Reverend Price and his wife were responsible for the first Sunday school established in that community about 1850, which is now the Carlisle United Methodist Church, built in 1934.

 J.M. was a hard-working farmer-rancher.  He believed in “spending less than you make” and “owing no man a debt.”  Sudie was known by black farm help as a good cotton chopper and picker and one who cooked a good country dinner for all workers before she joined the field crew herself.  On Sunday she taught Sunday school.  Those were hard times for the Price family.  The girls’ homemade dresses were as pretty as those of their friends.

 Despite the bank’s going broke, droughts, and hardships of farm life, J.M. decided he would try a general merchandise store during the oil field boom days.  The experience was successful enough to furnish college educations for his children.  His children, all born in Price at the homesite, were grateful that J.M.’s life was spared through robbery attempts, poor creditors, and long hours.  His sense of humor saw the family through many trying times.  He always said, “Everyone has a right to be peculiar if he chooses” and “To be a good farmer you just need to know more than the mule.” Price, Texas, was named for J.M. because he gave the land for the post office site, and the school sits where his old home place once stood.

 Sudie died in 1948.  Later J.M. married Gwen Paine.  He lived a long ninety-five years, seeing a change from buggies to airplanes.  He died December 29, 1979, leaving a grandson, Sterling Marcus Price, and great-grandson to carry on the family name.

 Submitted by Bessie Lou Price Mason