John Ruffin Bishop

John Ruffin Bishop was the third child of eight children born to John William Bishop and Texanna Stroud. He was born on 11MAR1886 in Hoiuston County.His siblings were; Margie Bishop, Elizabeth Bishop, Ruth Ester Bishop, Annie Bishop, Pearlie, Bishop, Buddy Bishop, and Rosie Bishop..

On 27NOV1921, he married Alice West. Together, they had seven children; Thelma Bishop, William Alfred Bishop, Baby Bishop, James Adam Bishop, Dorothy Mae Bishop, Cecil Ray Bishop, and David Wayne Bishop.

He had worked for the railroad when he and Alice were first married. After leaving that job, he farmed for other people for a while, before buying ten acres of land in Newton county. Later, they bought ten acres in Jasper county, and the two tracts of land were seperated only by the county line.

The old homeplace was in Newton county, but when a new house was built in 1949, it was in Jasper county, so they would not have to go all the way to Watsons Chapel to vote. It was about ten miles there, and only half a mile to Kirbyville. He never did have a car, so a neighbor would pick them up to carry them to vote.

He did all of his farming with a horse and plow, and they had a wagon in which they would go to church, and to town. He raised watermelons, cantelope, peas, tomatoes, beans and other things that he would peddle in town, going slowly down first one street then another, ringing a little bell as he was near his regular customers home.

He also had some pear trees, and at times, he and his children would pick at least a hundred bushels of pears, and Mr. Harry Hinson would take them to the Port Arthur area to sell them. They were what was known as the Biscamp pears, and were introduced to the area by Lyle Biscamp, the first husband of John Ruffin's sister, Ruth Ester Bishop.

John Ruffin was an ordained deacon of the Free Will Baptist Church. He stayed active in the church for as long as his health would permit, for he had suffered from a heart attact many years before his death on 28NOV1957.

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