By Dale Welch
The fourth of nine children and the second son born to Isaac and Martha Jane Ray Romines, his parents decided to give him a presidential name. They had already named their firstborn after President Thomas Jefferson. This baby boy would be named after a Tennessean who became president. They named this one James Knox Polk Romines.
His parents were raising their family on a farm in Thorn Gap, right at the Overton-Putnam County line. With the baby boy being born in 1868, it had just been a few short years since his daddy had returned from war and being held in a Yankee prison camp.
After completing as far as he could go in the local school, young J.P. “Polk” Romines headed off to a teacher’s normal school in Western Arkansas. While going to school, he also studied law and worked in the Arkansas State Attorney General’s office.
He began his teaching career in 1890, in Western Arkansas. Romines’ charismatic personality won him a term in the Arkansas State House of Representatives, in 1895, representing Little River County, which was in the Texarkana region of that state. On Apr. 8, 1896, Romines married Effie L. Owen in Pulaski County, AR. When she died, he moved back to Tennessee.
Back home, in 1900, Romines started taking teaching jobs where he could find them. Two years later, on April 7, 1902, he married Minnie Bell Trawick, in Smith County, TN. They raised three children; Rina (1904-1971; James Knox Polk, Jr. (1907-1975); and Martha Ray Romines (1913-1965).
Throughout his career, Romines was known by his students to be able to “bring history alive” and instill the love of learning into them. Because the Arkansas teaching school he had graduated from lost all their records, he was paid $15 to $20 less per month than oter educators, but that didn’t stop him. Teaching was his calling. He kept up with his civic duties as well. At every primary and general election, Romines was either a judge or officer on election day.
Mrs. Romines was an accomplished piano player. Professor Romines bought her a huge grand piano. They couldn’t get in the house. Instead, they put it on their front porch. Descendants said that people would come on Sunday afternoons and listen to her play. They said that she could hit every key on the keyboard.
Professor Romines spent his last few years teaching at the Woodcliff school, putting in a total of 50 years educating mountain children. He died in 1947, outliving Minnie Bell by four years. They are buried in Whittaker Cemetery, in Monterey.
If he was living today, Professor Romines wouldn’t like that his house, barn, and outbuildings are all gone. However, he would be tickled pink that his farm is being used to promote his life’s passion. You see, in place of all that was torn down is a new building that has educated thousands of children since Sept. 11, 2001. Burks Elementary, in Monterey, is that school.
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