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Friday, October 29, 2010

1917 :: Resolution on Bowdry Passed by Veterans



Dallas Morning News. October 29, 1917. Page 3. Special to the News. R.E. Lee Camp Expresses Regret on death of Comrade. Deceased Took Part in Important Battles of War and Was first Postmaster at Fort Worth.

Fort Worth, Texas. October 28. -- The weekly meeting of Robert E. Lee Camp, United Confederate Veterans, was attended this afternoon by a number of veterans who had just returned from the National Reunion and Peace Jubilee held last week at Vicksburg. The veterans praised very highly the cordial reception given them by the citizens of Vicksburg. Many of those who spoke were veterans of the historic Vicksburg campaign of the summer of 1863 and in their addresses they again lived over the stirring days of the war between the States. Special tribute was paid the soldiers now stationed at the training camp at Vicksburg by the returning veterans for the kind treatment the soldiers accorded them.

Captain George B. Holland, historian of the camp, announced that the Confederate Grays, an auxilliary of Lee camp, had subscribed for a Liberty bond. The purchase was made yesterday. Captain Holland also announced that he had bought three individual bonds which he had given to his grandchildren.

Resolution on Comrade.

The following resolution on the death of P.J. Bowdry was unanimously adopted:




Commander and comrades of R.E. Lee Camp, Fort Worth, Texas, Oct. 28, 1917:

It becomes the painful duty of your undersigned committee to record the death of our late comrade, P.J. Bowdry, which occurred at his residence in this city on Oct. 23, 1917, after a lingering illness of long duration.

He was born in Missouri [sic, i.e., Kentucky] and was a prominent actor on the southern side of the Kansas border troubles before the war broke over us in 1861. Early in that year he enlisted at Albuquerque, N.M. in Company I, under Colonel Joe Shelby and followed the lead of that gallant Southerner who was soon promoted to the commande first of a brigade of Missouri cavalry, then to the command of a division under General Sterling Price in the Trans-Mississippi department. He was in all the prominent battles under General Shelby till the surrender at Shreveport, La., in the spring of 1865, among which were those at Lone Jack, Mo.; on Cowskin Prairie, and at Mark's Mills, Neosho, Mo. After which he was transferred to Gordon's regiment of cavalry, Jackson's brigade, when Shelby was promoted to the command of a division.

On the Fourth of July, 1863, his command, under General Holmes, made an unsuccessful attack on the Federals in their fort at Helena, Ark., in which he was severely wounded and was brought off the field by his comrade, Ed Bower, long time a resident of Dallas, until his death years ago.

Comrade Bowdry took up his abode in Fort Worth shortly after the war, when it was a mere hamlet, and shared in its growth to its present dimensions, and was for a time the first postmaster, after its incorporation in 1873. He was for many years an employee in one of the city departments, even to his death, and was ever an active and efficient servitor therein. He was one of the charter members of this camp and a constant attendant until the end.
Therefore, Be it resolved that in the death of our comrade we have lost a true comrade and deeply sympathize with his surviving relatives and friends in their affliction.

C.C. Cummings, Geo. R. Clarke, W.T. Shar, Committee.




FYI . . . this Paschal Jefferson Bowdry is a 1st cousin to my 2nd great-grandpa, William Paschal Henry (1836-1912) . . . their mothers were sisters . . . and both boys were apparently named after their maternal uncle, Paschal Jefferson Kirtley, who took care of his younger sisters following the death of their parents while the girls were still quite young . . .



Sunday, October 24, 2010

SNGF :: born on the 10th of November



Did y'all see Randy's challenge to us for last night . . .

  • Is there a person in your genealogy database that has the same birth date that you do? If so, tell us about him or her - what do you know, and how is s/he related to you?
  • For bonus points, how did you determine this? What feature or process did you use in your software to work this problem out? I think the Calendar feature probably does it, but perhaps you have a trick to make this work outside of the calendar function.


ALL of the people in the following list were born on the 10th day of November . . . as was I . . . the ones with just an initial for a first name (at the end of the list) are currently known or assumed to be still living . . . and those weird relationships shown to explain their connections to me are exactly as generated by FTM 2010 . . . my FTM 16 kept telling me I had errors in my database, and nothing I tried would make it go away, so I started using the FTM 2010 that I have had sitting here for almost a year, and now it apparently is not able to export back to FTM 16 . . .


o Henry DE PERCY, Earl , born in 1341 [husband of my 20th great-grand-aunt]
o Hannah JAMES , born in 1745 in Fauquier County, Virginia [1st cousin of husband of 1st cousin of husband of my 1st cousin 5 times removed]
o Abel TRUE , born in 1764 in Essex County, Massachusetts [my 4th cousin 7 times removed]
o Nancy KIRTLEY , born in 1790 [my 2nd cousin 5 times removed]
o Mary Polly Woods nee LEE , born in 1798 in Virginia [my 4th cousin 6 times removed]
o John R. BUFORD , born in 1803 in Lincoln County, Kentucky [my 2nd cousin 5 times removed]
o Polly THURSTON , born in 1807 [my 1st cousin 5 times removed]
o Catherine Ann Carter nee FUQUA , born in 1810 in Bedford County, Virginia [wife of my 3rd great-grand-uncle]
o Phillip YANTZ , born in 1811 [maternal grandpa of wife of my 2nd great-grand-uncle]
o Rachel Caroline Roberts nee HERRIMAN , born in 1845 in Cannon County, Tennessee [wife of 1st cousin 4 times removed of my late husband]
o Nancy Elizabeth BRYAN , born in 1853 in Coffee County, Tennessee [2nd great-grand-aunt of my brother-in-law]
o Berta Mary Henry nee SHARP , born in 1873 in Houston County, Texas [my maternal great-grandma]
o Ida Bell Shuffield nee WILLIAMS , born in 1877 in Marshall County, Alabama [mother-in-law of my 3rd cousin once removed]
o Archie Lafayette ADAMS , born in 1878 in Limestone County, Texas [my 3rd cousin twice removed]
o John Francis HOWARD , born in 1897 in Lynn, Massachusetts [brother of my maternal step-grandma]
o Ruth JARBOE, born in 1898 in Oklahoma [my 4th cousin twice removed]
o John Beckman KIRTLEY 1899 [my 3rd cousin 3 times removed]
o Bertha Annie Aigner nee RIEHS , born in 1904 [wife of uncle of husband of my half-aunt]
o Hilmer Walter MENN, born in 1911 in Bexar County, Texas [maternal grandpa of husband of niece of husband of my half-aunt]
o E. DUSSETSCHLEGER, born in 1929 [my 2nd cousin once removed]
o Nora Faye Roberson nee PARTEE , born in 1931 in Cameron, Texas [sister-in-law of 1st cousin of wife of my 1st cousin once removed]
o D. BLAIR, born in 1937 [my 2nd cousin once removed]
o J. SHARP, born in 1942 [my 2nd cousin once removed]
o S. Sharp nee FERGUSON, born in 1943 [wife of my 2nd cousin once removed]
o N. Urbanosky nee DUEWALL, born in 1944 [my 2nd cousin]
o B. MIKULEC, born in 1948 [1st cousin of my brother-in-law]
o L. DUSSETSCHLEGER, born in 1950 [my 3rd cousin]
o Vickie Lynne Everhart nee POUNDERS, born in 1951 [ME]
o P. PARTEE, born in 1956 [1st cousin once removed of wife of my 1st cousin once removed]
o E. MUSTON, born in 1964 [my 3rd cousin]
o J. FRETWELL, born in 1971 [my 2nd cousin once removed]
o M. SPEER, born in 1978 [nephew of wife of nephew of husband of aunt of wife of my 2nd cousin]


  

The above list . . . as well as the daily lists I post > HERE < . . . are quickly generated by a program on my computer called Geneweb . . . I do not do ANY updates or add information to the tree in Geneweb . . . I use it solely for the purpose of generating these lists, and for figuring degrees of consanguinity . . . near the end of every month I export a fresh GEDCOM from my FTM 2010 . . . and import that new GEDCOM into Geneweb . . . the page just above is the homepage of my Geneweb as I opened it today . . . towards the bottom of that page are clickable links for . . . birthdays . . . anniversaries of dead people . . . anniversaries of marriage . . . the birthdays link generates a list of people with no death dates indicated and feasibly still alive . . . the link for anniversaries of dead people generates a list such as the one below showing todays births and deaths . . . I simply copied and pasted the list for the 10th of November . . . and deleted the death dates . . . and typed in the relationship info after looking up each individual in FTM 2010 . . . 




FYI . . . this program is a little tricky to figure out . . . or at least it was (and still is) for me . . . e.g., I am right now sitting here trying to figure out how I previously used this program for displaying the percentages of consanguinity . . .



Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Wordless Wednesday :: Morrill Hobbs d. 1826

On this date in our family history ... the 20th day of October ... in the year 1826 ... Morrill Hobbs died in Maine.

Wedding Wednesday :: Pounders and Muston




On this date in our family history . . . the 20th day of October . . . in the year 1926 . . . Mr. Jake Pounders and Miss Ima Muston are married in Lee County, Texas . . . performing the ceremony is Rev. J.F. Everett . . . the groom is the 7th of twelve children born to James Madison Pounders (1867-1942) and Mary Susan (Cain?) Pounders (1873-1950) . . . the bride is the 2nd of the seven daughters of Emma Patience (Nettles) Muston (1882-1964) and the late Charlie Muston (1882-1915) . . . and these newlyweds? . . . they are the paternal grandparents to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . my father was their first-born child, born on the 10th of October 1927 in Cameron County, Texas . . .

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

2002 Reunion :: Here timelessness lived



On this date in our family history . . . the 19th day of October . . . in the year 2002 . . . assorted kith 'n kin of William Paschal and Josephine Wingfield (Davis) Henry gathered in Rockdale, Texas for a family reunion . . .



The Rockdale Reporter. Rockdale, Texas. November 14, 2002. In the 1992 bestseller Colony, the granddaughter, Darcy, says that . . .


. . . there should be, in every life, a place
. . . where you could come and visit your past,
and the past of your people,
and know that whatever happened outside,
here timelessness lived.

A cozy room on a rainy Saturday in Rockdale was just that sort of gathering spot for assorted kith 'n kin of some early 19th century Milam Co. residents. As the family members arrived they were beckoned into the past of their people by a large display of their family history spread out on quilt-covered tables.

Here they read about how 17-year-old Josephine Wingfield Davis migrated c. 1859 with her family from Morgan Co., GA to Brazoria Co., TX (where she would marry William Paschal Henry in 1864). This time of change was the beginning of a new season for Josephine and her family -- for they left behind a way of life in a time and a place that has often been described as gone with the wind country.

An article about a Henry family reunion at the old Hamilton homeplace was published in The Rockdale Reporter in the autumn of 1931. It recorded the following about the arrival of Josephine and her family in the then-new town of Rockdale . . .

On Oct. 3, 1876, the Henrys arrived in Rockdale to visit a sister and family of Mrs. Henry's [Josephine], it being Dr. and Mrs. M. F. Anthony, who at that time had the post office and drug store combined on the corner where the Wolf Hotel now (1931) stands.

Of that time period The Galveston Weekly News reported that . . .

Every day or two some very interesting scenes occur in the pettifoggeries of Rockdale . . . there are street fights occurring almost every day . . . where a population of eighteen hundred now thrive, was ten months ago the home of the deer, and the pleasure ground of the black bear.

Twenty-three years later -- on Oct. 28, 1899 -- Josephine died a tragic death in an accident that was graphically described in 1899 issues of The Rockdale Reporter as well as The Rockdale Messenger. The Messenger article specifically mentions the grey mare that was pulling her buggy on that autumn afternoon when it collided with "a light spring wagon" as she drove "over the hill at the home of George Banzhaf."

Josephine apparently fell from her buggy "with her head between the left fore wheel of the buggy and shafts and was so held that her hair was wound around the buggy hub and spindle. . . . some young man met the buggy at the gate near the old Ferguson place, more than a half-mile this side of where the accident occurred. She was dead when found as her neck was broken."

The article concluded with the following -- "Brother [Wm. P.] Henry does not blame the drivers of the wagon for the accident but thinks they should have ascertained the results before driving home."

103 years after her death, Josephine and Wm. P. were well-represented in the most recent gathering that included descendants of three of their five children --

  • Wm. P. & Annie (Calvert) Henry, Jr.
  • Edgar & Berta (Sharp) Henry
  • Ella (Henry) & J. D. Hamilton

Descendants of Jerome & Sudie (Criswell) Henry and Emma (Henry) & Sam Sharp were not able to attend.

New to the reunion in 2002 were Esther (Hall) & John Biggers of Lake Jackson TX, and Susie (Deen) Hagler of Wills Point TX -- who were kin to the majority of those attending through their connection to Josephine's daughter-in-law, Berta (Sharp) Henry, as well as her son-in-law, Sam Houston Sharp, Jr. Berta and Sam were siblings from Houston Co. TX, and they married the Henry twins, Edgar and Emma.

Berta and Sam were grandchildren of Mahala (Roberts) Sharp Hall, who was a daughter of early Texas alcalde, Elisha Roberts. As alcalde, Roberts held court on the broad front gallery of his house; Sam Houston, James Bowie, David Crockett, William B. Travis, and Stephen F. Austin all boarded there. In 1833 Roberts was elected delegate to the convention in San Felipe.

One of Mahala's sisters was Matilda Connell Allen, whose first husband, John Connell, died in 1834 at Viesca, Milam Co. Matilda's second husband was Samuel Tabor Allen, who was a delegate from Milam (Viesca) to the Consultation of 1835, and also represented Milam in the House of Representatives of the 1st Congress, 1836-1837. Samuel was killed by Kickapoo Indians in 1838 in the Battle Creek Massacre. In 1850 Matilda donated 120 acres of the family estate to Bell County (created & organized from Milam in 1850) as the site for the new county seat -- now known as Belton.

More than 150 years later, kith & kin of these strong early Texas women -- this Mahala and Matilda and Josephine -- shared a noon meal that was "spread in picnic style." Afternoon activities including taking photos, concluding the silent auction, and giving prizes for --

  • Oldest . . . Iola (Christian) Avrett
  • Youngest . . . Trey Hill
  • Longest road-trip . . . Charlotte (Christian) Walraven of San Angelo
The guessing games for the children were won by Madison Smith (candy) and Josh Landi (pennies).

Proceeds from the fund-raising efforts more than covered the expenses for the 2002 reunion. Top selling items included:

  • the "Henry" teddy bear donated by Carla (Henry) Schomburg
  • an assortment of items brought by Susie (Deen) Hagler from Eddie Deen & Co.
  • a large print of a photo of Wm. P. and Josephine donated by Peggy (Ferguson) Skeeters (the original of which hung in the hallway of the Hamilton home in Rockdale for many years)
  • two reproductions of a photo of Mahala (Roberts) Sharp Hall donated by Esther (Hall) Biggers
  • a family history notebook from the files of Vickie (Pounders) Everhart
  • a ribbon-bound copy of a 19th-century autograph album that belonged to Berta (Sharp) Henry donated by Roberta (Henry) Pounders

The 2002 gathering was organized by Susan (Henry) Aigner, youngest daughter of Robert E. & Ann ( Howard) Henry. In the autumn of 2003 this gathering will take place at the home of J. D. and Susan (Henry) Aigner in Sinton TX.


The Rockdale Reporter
November 14, 2002
Written & submitted for publication
by
Vickie (Pounders) Everhart


Sunday, October 17, 2010

Our Mahala in the 1850 Census



On this date in our family history . . . the 17th day of October . . . in the year 1850 . . . 33-year-old Mahala L. Sharp is enumerated in San Augustine, Texas . . . this Mahala is my 3rd great-grandma . . . also in her household are 11-year-old Samuel Sharp (my 2nd great-grandpa) and 9-year-old Margaret Sharp (future wife of James Madison Hall, the Keeper of The Journal) . . . and right next door is the home of Matthew Cartwright (shown in above collage) . . . in January of 1869, Cartwright's daughter, Anna, will become the bride of Mahala's nephew, Benjamin Thomas Roberts . . . their names also appear on the census record shown in the image . . . 



Saturday, October 16, 2010

1999 Reunion :: Putting down roots


On this date in our family history . . . the 16th day of October . . . in the year 1999 . . . descendants of the children of William Paschal Henry and his wife, Josephine Wingfield Henry nee Davis, gathered in Milam County, Texas for a family reunion . . .





The Rockdale Reporter. Rockdale, Texas. October 21, 1999. In these pre-dawn hours of "the new millennium," approximately seventy descendants of William Paschal and Josephine Wingfield (Davis) Henry gathered in the Minerva Community Center in Milam County, Texas for a family reunion. This event, held 16 October 1999, was coordinated by granddaughters of Milford and Dorris Henry — Monica (Sheppard) Landi, Carla (Henry) Schomburg and Heather (Henry) Williams. The family gathering took place a short distance north of the site of a parcel of land where Wm. P. and Josephine had set up housekeeping c. 1878.


SHE CAME FROM GEORGIA, HE FROM KENTUCKY — It was a winter's Tuesday in Civil War Texas when Josephine became the bride of Wm. P., then a young Confederate soldier. The date of the ceremony was 1st March 1864, and the location was Brazoria County on the Texas Gulf Coast. At that time, the counties of Brazoria and Matagorda were threatened with the possibility of invasion by Federal blockading forces intent on stopping the delivery of any supplies into Confederate ports.


A little over a decade later, in October of 1876, this couple and their five surviving children arrived in Milam County for a visit with Dr. Milton G. Antony, and his family. Dr. Antony, a practicing physician in Rockdale and Cameron, was Rockdale's postmaster at the time, and was married to Josephine's older sister, Margaret. The Antony's newly-married son, Edwin LeRoy Antony (1852-1913), was then prosecuting attorney for Milam County, and would go on to be elected as a Democrat to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1892. Margaret (1833-1912) and Milton (c. 1824-1885) are buried in Rockdale's Old City Cemetery.


The Wm. P. Henry family soon moved to Milam County, where they lived for a while near Dr. Thomas Riddle just south of Rockdale. In 1878, Wm. P. bought 100 acres of land north of town in an area then known as the Bethlehem Community. At this location he and Josephine would at last put down roots, settling in to work the land and to raise their children --




Wm. P. was said to be "...one of our most substantial and upright farmers," and he would live out the remainder of his days in this rural community.

The circumstances surrounding Josephine's death were reported in detail in a November 1899 issue of The Rockdale Reporter.



When (the body of Josephine) was found between her home and that of George Banzhaf, near the gate that leads to Dr. Isaac's home, she was lying across the axle dead, with her hair and clothing wound around the spindle of the buggy.

The story went on to say that "Her neck was doubtless broken by the fall..." as she was thrown from the buggy following a collision with a wagon driven by two young men. As her horse bolted, her long hair came undone and was caught up in the buggy wheel, dragging her body for some distance. Josephine (1842-1899) and Wm. P. (1836-1912) were laid to rest in the Murray Cemetery.


BACK TO 1999 — In addition to time spent visiting with each other at the recent Fall gathering, entertainment for young and old alike included an assortment of games and good food. Family members also enjoyed browsing through a family history display set up by Vickie (Pounders) Everhart. Those participating in the day's activities included the following family members who came together from across the State of Texas —


  • Christie Adkins, Cedar Park
  • Nellie (Christian) & Jack Adkins, Sonora
  • Susan (Henry), J. D. & LaRhea Aigner, Sinton
  • Elaine (Henry) & Gale Clee, Magnolia
  • Mary (Peebles) & Buz Cockrell, Livingston
  • Vickie Everhart, Red Oak
  • Ewin & Virginia Fergeson, Canyon Lake
  • Sonya (Skeeters), Kirk & Travis Fleener, Spring
  • Bert & Arlene Henry, Richardson
  • Dale Henry, Belton
  • Vaun & Carla Henry, Kilgore
  • Monica, Paul & Josh Landi, Gonzales
  • Lou McMains & Alicia Wyatt, Lexington
  • Monty Northern, College Station
  • Fred & LaDonna Peebles, Austin
  • Carole (Henry) & Billy Sanders, Sinton
  • Carla & Doug Schomburg, Jonathan & Caitlynne Wise, Stafford
  • Peggy (Fergeson) Skeeters, Houston
  • June Stewart, Spring
  • Lucille (Kyle) Towery, Thorndale
  • Rhonda (Henry) & Michael Wade, Spring
  • Charlotte (Christian), Staci & Jimmy Don Walraven, San Angelo
  • Heather, Glenn & Morgan Williams, Sugar Land.
Those attending from Rockdale included --


  • Iola (Christian) Avrett
  • Milford & Dorris Henry Dorris (McMillan) & Emily Hill
  • Darla (Henry) & John McMillan, Laura & Hannah
  • Rebecca (Pounders) & Jacob Nink
  • Jaime & Emily Northern
  • Robert Pounders
  • Roberta (Henry) Pounders
  • Donna (Christian) & Joe B. Rogers.

A number of family members found it necessary to cancel at the last minute, including Georgia (Henry) Kaseberg, formerly of Rockdale, who is now living in Leander with her son, Bert. Georgia has been a Keeper of the family history for much of her life, and her efforts will be appreciated for many generations to come.


The first Henry-Davis reunion of the next century will be held at Rockdale Christian Church on Saturday 21 October 2000. Reunion planners will once again be Monica Landi, Carla Schomburg and Heather Williams, assisted by other descendants of Milford and Dorris Henry.



The Rockdale Reporter
October 21, 1999
Written & submitted for publication
by
Vickie (Pounders) Everhart

1675 :: Bottes and Hodsdon


On this date in our family history . . . the 16th day of October . . . in the year 1675 . . . two of my 9th great-grandpas are mentioned in a letter written from Salmon Falls, Maine . . . one is the slain Isaac Bottes . . . and the other is Benoni Hodsdan whose house was burned . . . go to the part of the following embedded book that talks about Moses Spencer (pages 82-111) to read about this chapter in our family history . . . P.S. . . . if there is a problem with the following embedded version, it can be found > HERE < in various formats (for free) . . .







Thursday, October 07, 2010

Treasure Chest Thursday :: Precious Memories


As I travel on life's pathway . . . know not what the years may hold . . . as I ponder, hope grows fonder . . . precious memories flood my soul . . .

Most of the images in this collage arrived in my rural mailbox on this date . . . the 7th day of October 2010 . . . my favorite Longfellow verse on the front of a greeting card . . . the two heartfelt handwritten messages on the inside of the card . . . and the photo of my dear Hubbie and his Riley-dog . . .

The sender of this treasure? . . . my precious Mom . . . she always knows just the right thing to say and do . . . she picks the best greeting cards . . . and the photo . . . it is cropped from a larger image showing an assortment of my kith 'n kin at a family gathering at my sister's place in the Hill Country of Texas . . . it was Thanksgiving two years ago . . . that's when I met my first-born grand-nephew for the very first time . . . one of my other nieces was pregnant at the time . . . that grand-nephew would arrive the following January . . . we had all been at the Idle Spur just a little over a year before . . . in October of 2007 . . . for the wedding of the now pregnant niece . . .


Precious mem'ries, how they linger
How they ever flood my soul
In the stillness of the midnight
Precious, sacred scenes unfold.



Bennie Everhart
20 March 1948 ~ 07 April 2010
I sure miss you . . .
life will never be the same with you not here . . .



Precious mem'ries, unseen angels
Sent from somewhere to my soul
How they linger, ever near me
And the sacred past unfold.

J.B.F. Wright (1923)


P.S. . . . FYI . . . the lined notepaper on the scrapbook page is from a ca. 19th century journal containing a collection of lyrics and poems, apparently thought worthy of recording by my great-grandpa . . . mayhaps I inherited that fondness for collecting my favorite word arrangements from him . . .



Friday, October 01, 2010

CoG :: Honoring Our Family Historians


Click to enlarge in a new windowWith much love and appreciation to Aunt Ida and cousin Stuart . . . and to cousin Esther in Lake Jackson . . .


The woman I knew as Aunt Ida was an older sister of my great-grandma, Berta Mary Henry nee Sharp (1873-1955) . . . so she is actually a great-grand-aunt. (Both Ida and Berta Mary are pictured in the collage on the left.) I do seem to remember going to East Texas to visit Aunt Ida when we were kids, but unfortunately I do not have any concrete memories of her.


It is said that it was someone in the Hall family who took the time and made the effort to arrange to record a 90-year-old Aunt Ida's memories of growing up on the Hall Plantation in Houston County, Texas. I am not sure why, but as far as I have been able to determine, not one of Berta Mary's descendants knew anything about this document, or about the stories of the Hall Plantation. I know my first knowledge of most of this information was through this 1962 deposition, which I first laid eyes on twelve years ago [1998]. Whoever did it, and for whatever reason, I am eternally grateful to my 2nd cousin once removed . . . Stuart Arlington Leaverton (1908-2001) . . . for sharing that document with me back in October of 1998 . . . exactly one month after his own 90th birthday.


Earlier this year [2010] I posted a tribute to our Mahala in which I talked extensively about that small packet of information shared by cousin Stuart. That small envelope contained the four pieces of paper referred to above, and shown in the collage. Each of the four is available for viewing as an individual page by clicking on the links below. Shortly after that post about our Mahala, I wrote of my very first hands-on encounter with the 150-year-old original of the 1860-1866 Journal of James Madison Hall (1819-1866). My very awareness of the existence of this Journal was also the result of receiving these four pages of typewritten paper. The notes in italics and [brackets] were added by me . . . the Keeper of this blog . . .




Page 1 of 4 pages :: most of the information on the following page was familiar to me . . . no big surprises here . . .




Click to enlarge in a new window
BEFORE ME, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared, Mrs. Ida Mae Sharp Halyard, known to me to be a credible person, who being by me duly sworn, deposes and says as follows:

My name is Ida Mae Halyard and I am 90 years of age. I was born November 3rd., 1871, on the old J. J. Hall Plantation, which is situated about twelve miles Northwest from the town of Crockett in Houston County, Texas, on Elkhart creek.


My father was Samuel H. Sharp and my mother was Mary Alexandrien Lamar [Lemaire] Sharp [my 2nd great-grandparents]. They were married but the one time and then on July 11th., 1861, and there were only six (6) children born to this union, namely:


    1. James Hall 'Major' Sharp, a boy, born in the year 1863, and died in the year 1936, and he is buried with his wife, Emma Brightman Sharp, in Glenwood Cemetery in Crockett, Texas.
    2. Sam H. Sharp, Jr., born in the year 1867, and died in the year 1921 and he is buried with his wife, Emma Henry Sharp in Lovelady Cemetery at Lovelady, Texas.

    3. Maggie Sharp, born November 3rd., 1869, and died in the year 1935. She was married twice; first to John McCann, who was killed by being thrown from his buggy when his horse bolted and ran away, and secondly, to Frank Ward. She is buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Crockett, Texas. There is no marker on her grave, but she is buried next to, and to the left of her son, Earl McCann, whose grave is marked.




Page 2 of 4 pages :: I was not aware of the little girl named Willie before I saw the following page . . . and this is the very first time I heard of our Mahala [my 3rd great-grandma] . . . investigating who Mahala was led me to her father, Elisha Roberts [my 4th great-grandpa] . . . who is mentioned in the pages of Texas history . . . according to the history records on her father, Mahala grew up with the likes of Sam Houston, James Bowie, David Crockett, William B. Travis, and Stephen F. Austin sitting around the dinner table . . . and further investigation into Mahala led me to the lady / cousin in Lake Jackson, Texas who introduced me to a photo of our Mahala as well as to James Madison Hall and his 1860-1866 Journal which makes frequent mention of an assortment of my kith 'n kin in its pages . . .




Click to enlarge in a new window
    4. Ida Mae Sharp Halyard, this affiant, born November 3rd., 1871 as stated above. I married George W. Halyard, and he is buried in Glenwood [sic] Cemetery, Crockett, Texas.
    5. Berta Sharp, a girl, was born November 10th., 1873, and died in Rockdale, Texas. She was married to Edgar Henry who is also deceased. [my great-grandparents . . . I was born on her 78th birthday]
    6. Willie Sharp, a girl, was born in the year 1875, and died about the year 1885. She is buried in the Hall Cemetery on the Ramon de la Garza grant in Houston County, Texas, near Elkhart creek.

My father, Samuel H. Sharp (Sr.), was the son of Mahala Lee Roberts Sharp Hall. I do not know my Grandfather Sharp's given name. My paternal grandparents had one other child, Margaret 'Sis' Sharp, and if there were any more children born of this union, I never heard of them.


My mother, Mary Alexandren [sic] Lamar [Lemaire] Sharp, was born in France [sic] and was of French extraction, but I know nothing about her family history, except that she owned land on the Robeson Survey, Liberty County, Texas, and I still own my inherited interest in this land.


My mother died when I was four years old, and is buried in the Hall Cemetery on the old Hall Plantation on Elkhart Creek, where I was born. There is a marker at her grave. My father never married again again after my mother's death, and died when I was above fourteen years old. He is buried next to and on the right side of my mother, but there is no marker at his grave. My sister, Willie is also buried beside my mother.




Page 3 of 4 pages :: all of the information on the following page 3 was new to me . . . this was the first mention of James Madison Hall . . . I am now in the first year of what will be a seven-year journey with this man and his kith 'n kin . . . transcribing on a daily basis the entries from his now 150-year-old Journal . . .




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My Grandmother [Mahala] and my step Grandfather [J.J. Hall] are also buried in the Hall Cemetery, but I do not know where their graves are located.


My Grandmother [Mahala] came from San Augustine to Houston County, and I believe that my father [Sam] and aunt were born there before she came to this County. I do not know anything about her family, except that she had a sister named Margaret, who married a McDonald and lived in Houston County, Texas.


My Grandmother, Mahala Lee Roberts Sharp, married Col. J. J. Hall about the year 1850, and there were only two children born to this union; Roberta Hall, a girl and Horace O. Hall, a boy. J. J. Hall had been married before and had a son named James Madison Hall. If he had any children except these three, I never heard of them.


Horace O. Hall married Florene Kirkpatrick when I was about eight years old, and brought her to the Hall Plantation to live. They are both now dead and are buried in Glenwood Cemetery.


Berta Hall, who was one and the same person as Roberta Hall, married John Downes about the same time her brother married, but she and Downes did not live together very long. She then married Marcus M. Halyard, my husband's uncle, and moved away from Houston County in about the year 1902.


James Madison Hall married my Aunt Margaret Sharp about the year 1860, but he died before I can remember [1866] and left Aunt Margaret with one child, named Florence.




Page 4 of 4 pages :: I had heard of Lou Stewart but did not know how he connected . . . the following page explained who he was . . . the rest of the information on this page was new to me as well . . .




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Margaret Sharp Hall, the widow of James Madison Hall, married Frank Stewart and they had two children named Ed Stewart and Lou Stewart. She died about the year 1878, but I do not know where she was buried.


Florence Hall married James Christian who was killed by a man whose name I do not recall. She later married again and moved to a place near Dallas and I never heard of her again.


I have been personally acquainted with the facts set forth in this affidavit both from personal knowledge and from family history. At one time I lived in the old Col. J. J Hall home on Elkhart Creek. This was a story and half house and had two large fire-places."


(Signed by Ida Mae Halyard)


Sworn to and subscribed before me, this the 13 day of September, A.D. 1962.


(Signed by Dennis C. Frazier) Notary Public, in and for Houston County, Texas.


THE STATE OF TEXAS
COUNTY OF HOUSTON


BEFORE ME, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared, Ida Mae Halyard, known to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to the foregoing instrument, and acknowledged to me that she executed the same for the purposes and consideration therein expressed. GIVEN under my hand and seal of office, this the 13 day of September, A.D. 1962.


(Signed by Dennis C. Frazier) Notary Public, in and for Houston County, Texas."






This blogpost was prepared for the 98th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy . . . hosted by Jasia at Creative Gene . . . who asked us to discuss a document that helped us break down a brick wall on your family tree . . . and to discuss the information that appears on the document and how it contributes to your family history . . . poster courtesy of footnoteMaven . . .

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