Dothan Guano and Sacred Harp

 It’s Not a Question of What Can Be Done

TAYLOR, ALA., November [9], 1908 Mr. E. R. MALONE, President, Dothan Guano Co., Dothan, Ala.             Dear Sir:--In reply to your request for a statement of the amount of lint cotton raised by me on my farm in Geneva County, Ala., this year I will say [that I raised] Four Thousand Two Hundred and Thirty- Seven [pounds of] lint cotton off of Five Acres. I carefully measured the land and weight the 8 bales of cotton.  I planted it in rows six feet wide and it looked like it ought to have been wider.  I am a believer   in big [?? ?fertilize? ??] and the [????????????????????] ought to convince any farmer that it pays. I used GRANGE MIXTURE [G??????????????????] by Dothan Guano Company and bought from [G?? & Co.,] Malvern, Alabama [?????????????????????????????????????] the [?rade M??????leires Green Fields”)] as being a strictly High Grade Fertilizer [??????????????????????] to be obtained. It contains a large per-  centage of Potash and seems to [m???????????? ????ly] suited to the soils of my section. Yours truly,            JOHN W. McLENDON

 

But What We are DOING

Above is an attempt to copy the advertisement on the back of the 1909 edition of The Sacred Harp by W. M. Cooper, a book which belonged to my maternal grandparents. The cover is highly worn, and the material in brackets is what I can't read. I tried to make this look kind of like it did on the book, but the formatting didn't "keep" when I transferred it to blogger. John W. McLendon -- the author of the letter -- was born in Randolph Co. Georgia in 1852. His parents were John A. McLendon and Mary Collins. They moved to Alabama after 1852 and moved to Holmes Co. Florida before the 1860 Holmes County census. John W. McLendon married Caroline Nall circa 1874. They were living in Geneva, Co. Alabama in 1880. He is buried at the Big Creek Methodist Church Cemetery in Houston County, Alabama. I have not been able to determine what relation he was to Elder John F. McLendon, whose name appears in the 1907 Preface to the Cooper Sacred Harp book. Elder McLendon was born in south Alabama, but was living in Cushing, Texas at the time his name was affixed to the Preface. [Guano is bat manure.]

I believe that E. R. Malone is Edgar Robert Malone (1867-1951), buried at Dothan City Cemetery.