My ancestors, they hail from . . .
the redlands of Texas . . . and the marshes of Maine . . .
the plantations of Georgia . . . and the courts of Spain . . .
and from a hodgepodge of places . . . betwixt and between . . .
The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 20, 1935
Cole Springs, June. 17. -- Mr. and Mrs. B. Hickman and children, of Austin, spent the week end with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Moore, the occasion being the natal day of Mrs. Emma Muston. Her daughters entertained in her honor Sunday, June 16, at the Muston home.
The date falling upon Father's Day seemed fitting as Mrs. Muston has been both father and mother to her family. She was left a widow by the death of her husband with seven little girls, the youngest a tiny infant. By frugality and perseverance she has reared this family, giving them both school and social advantages. She is one of the fortunate mothers who enjoy the complete devotion of her children as they are constantly planning to make life fuller and sweeter for her. A beautiful cake decorated with fifty three candles, adorned the festal board, which contained an abundance of choice viands.
The children attending were:
- Mrs. Emma Rodgers and children, Audrey, Charlie and Eleane, and
- Mr. and Mrs. Jake Pounder and children,
- Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Jones and baby, of Pleasant Hill,
- Mr. and Mrs. Dean Quinney and children,
- Mr. and Mrs. Bernice Taylor and family, of Lexington, and
- Miss Gladys Muston.
Mr. and Mrs. Ben Beynolds of Houston were unable to attend.
Mrs. Muston's mother, Mrs. M.A. Nettles, a brother, J.A. Nettles, wife and daughter, Carrie Belle of Lexington, and Mr. John Taylor were the other guests who attended.
Tanglewood. Oct. 31. . . . Our community was saddened Friday by the news of the death of Chas. Mustin, a former resident of this community, and at the time of his death was living near Bay City. Frank Mustin, his brother, left Friday to be at the funeral. The sorrowing ones have the depest sympathy of this entire community.
As Emma made a final check through the rural Lee County cabin, Charlie was busy hitching up the team (Jack the mule and Bill the horse) for the trip south. Emma had been born in Lee County in 1882, and was not quite eight years old when her Father died there in 1890. This attempt at a new life was probably the first time Emma had traveled this far from her widowed Mother. Charlie was hoping to find gainful employment in the road construction business to help support his ever-expanding family.
Family friends who had already made the trip, and were living and working in Wharton County, included Jim and Polly Hooper, Charlie and Carrie Jensen, and Delbert and Allie Rodgers and their daughter.
Emma and her girls set up housekeeping in a wood-frame house in the community of Taiton (on State Highway 71 eighteen miles northwest of Wharton in northwestern Wharton County). On the first day of September in 1915, Emma gave birth to her seventh baby girl.
Less than two months later, on the 28th day of October, Charlie died unexpectedly -- of "pernicious malaria, comatose form" (as per his death certificate). Charlie was buried in the Nada community (on State Highway 71 in southern Colorado County, just north of Taiton). Charlie's final resting place was an unmarked grave just outside the grounds of a local church cemetery. Because he was not a member of said church, his burial was not allowed inside the "consecrated" grounds, hence, he was buried (in a pauper's grave?) somewhere in the perimeter outside the official cemetery grounds.
This was originally published in August of 2009 . . . for another one of those nights of genealogy fun with Randy . . . I thought it appropriate to recycle it for use on a Sentimental Sunday . . . in memory of my grandparents . . .
On this date in our family history . . . the 1st day of November . . . in the year 1946 . . . William Allec Hilton and his seven crewmates boarded a B-17 Flying Fortress at Capodichino AirField in Naples, Italy, and flew out, heading for Bovington, England . . . they never arrived . . . the following areas were diligently searched . . . Isle of Corsica, Ligurian Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Swiss Alps, Frech Alps, Rhone Valley to Paris (over an area 75 miles wide), an area 75 miles wide from Paris to Bovington . . . all available American aircraft in Italy, France, and some aircraft in Germany conducted this search . . . aircraft from RAF also aided in the search from Bovington to Paris . . . French aircraft also aided in the search in Southern France . . . these searches continued for 18 days . . . they were futile . . . more than nine months later . . . on the 25th day of July 1947 . . . a patrol of the 99th Infantry Battalion Alpine discovers the remains of the aircraft on the mountain Aiguille Glacier, a glacier at 3750 meters, 15 miles southwest of the summit of Mont Blanc . . . some aircraft debris and human remains identify the device . . . the causes of the accident appear to be related to bad weather . . . at the scene of the accident, a propeller blade stuck in the rock where the plane crashed serves to climbers as a place to hang their ropes . . . this William is a son of Isaac Cleveland Hilton (1888-1947) and Louisa Hooper Hilton Roberts nee MUSTON (1893-1973) . . . and he is a 1st cousin twice removed to the Keeper of this geneablog . . . visit William's findagrave page to view the monument at Arlington National Cemetery listing the names of the members of this crew . . . the recovered remains were buried here on 10 October 1947 . . . FYI . . . some of this information was translated by Google from a French internet page . . .
MUSTON, Lt. Col. Claudie (Retired) of Georgetown. Age 63. Died 20th February 1981 (Friday). Services held (Sunday) in the Davis Funeral Home in Georgetown. Burial in Oakhill Cemetery in Lampasas. He was born 2nd June 1917 and retired from the U.S. Air Force. Survivors: Wife, Mrs. Ima Muston of Georgetown; foster son, James S. Choung of Houston; two daughters, Mrs. I.J. Wilkerson of Georgetown, Mrs. Gwenn Allen of Richardson; five brothers, F.O. Muston, L.D., I.G., F.A. and Ammon Muston, all of Rockdale; seven grandchildren.
Special thanks to footnoteMaven for the delightful COG poster.
- Mollie marries and becomes the mother of nine children, including a daughter by the name of Emma Patience Nettles (1882-1964). Emma's face is framed in the group photo -- she is on the left.
- Emma has a daughter given the name Ima Lois Muston (1906-1999). Ima is the little girl with the big white bow in her hair -- her face is also framed.
- Ima has two sons, including the father of the Keeper of this geneablog -- Forrest Lee Pounders (1927-1996).
Her birthplace was a one-room log house with one window and one door, and a stick and mud chimney. We were quite poor, I guess, said Grandma, but I never remember being hungry.
Here they lived until the Civil War broke out in 1861. Because the men folk were soon away from their homes fighting or training, the women and children often gathered in the homes of relatives who had houses large enough to accommodate them.
Sarah Mildred's sister, Mary, who had married Wm. VALENTINE, lived in a home of six rooms, a long wide hall, two large porches and a portico in front of Mary's room. The VALENTINE children were Dave, John, Lou and Margaret, and their WEST cousins were Mary Ann (Mollie), Billy and Dave. So for the four long years of war the VALENTINE residence was often home to the WESTS.
- Back row: Jim Hooper holding Pauline Muston, Mrs. Jim (Polly) Hooper, Joe Nettles, Mrs. Emma Muston, Mrs. Frank (Nona) Moore, Guy Burroughs, Mrs. M. A. (Mollie) Nettles, Will Nettles, Cy Cook, Mrs. Cy (Blanche) Cook, and Tom Bryant.
Log house ... two big rooms ... kitchen ... shed built on side ... fireplace built out of big rocks ... stuffed newspapers between logs ... Polly & Jim Hooper ... no kids ... friends in Wharton of Emma & Charlie ... moved back to Tanglewood with Emma & girls after Charlie's death ... lived near ... helped out where they could ... buried in Tanglewood ... gave Ima lilac pickle dish upon marriage to Jake ... Ima used to clean for Grandma Nettles ... swept yard ... cleaned ... baked cookies ... got 25 cents ... spent at variety store in Rockdale ... Donna (Emma Muston) did sewing ... Ima did field work ... hauled water ... milked cows before school ... moved cows to pasture ... walked thru pastures mile or so to one-room schoolhouse ... had merry-go-round ... teacher boarded at Aunt Nona's and Uncle Frank's ... Miss Norene drove from Tanglewood to teach ... school Christmas programs ... Christmas at home ... made paper decorations ... cut wrapping paper in strips and twisted ... had Victrola ... dance on Christmas Day ... chickens laid eggs on bed between pillows ... Uncle Will had cows ... cream separator ... sold cream ... took T-Model to Rockdale ... Uncle Will used house for barn after built new house ... vegie garden by barn ... no flowers ... after marriage to Jake, Ima made syrup from sugar cain ... strip ... cook ... make juice to make syrup ... shared with neighborhood ... Donna gave cow and calf to Ima upon marriage to Jake ... made butter ...
Funeral services for Mrs. Emma Patience Muston, 82, were held Tuesday [08 Sept 1964] at the Phillips & Luckey chapel in Rockdale. Burial was in the Tanglewood cemetery, with Rev. James M. Frazier, of the Methodist Church, Lexington, officiating. Mrs. Muston died Monday [07 Sept 1964] at the Richards hospital in Rockdale. For the past two and one-half years she had been in a Rockdale rest home. Most of her life was spent in the Cole Springs / Tanglewood community and in Lexington. She was born June 18, 1882, in Lee County, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Nettles. She was married to Charlie G. Muston, who preceded her in death when the children were young.
Surviving are seven daughters, Mrs. Joe Tomkins, Mrs. Alvin Jones, Mrs. Ben Reynolds, and Mrs. B. R. Taylor, all of Houston; Mrs. Dean Quinney of Lexington, Mrs. John Taylor of Lexington, and Mrs. J. E. Pounders of Rockdale; and one sister, Mrs. Oscar Peebles of Houston; also 18 grandchildren and 38 great grandchildren. Pall bearers were [grandsons] F.L. Pounders, K.D. Quinney, E.P. Lerche, A.D. Quinney, A.D. Pounders, and S.D. Quinney. Rockdale Reporter, September 1964
Marion Franklin (Frank) Muston (1886/8 - 1955) is a brother of my great-grandpa, Charlie Muston (1882-1915). Frank married Rosa Elizabeth Morrison (1887-1977) in 1907. Their graves are in the Hugh Wilson Cemetery in Tanglewood, Lee County, Texas.
Their home was on Doak Lane, the old Giddings road south of now old-town Lexington, and just across the lane lived Dr. Doak and family. In 1929 this writer had to have emergency surgery for an almost ruptured appendix, and the surgery was done in Taylor, Texas by Dr. Edmund Doak. Later, when my grandmother was told who my surgeon was, she laughed and told me this story.
When my grandmother's Nona was a baby, Mrs. Doak had a baby boy named Edmund. One day Dr. Doak was called out on a case in which he needed the help of his wife. She hurriedly nursed her infant then took him across the lane to my grandmother to tend until they returned. The case took longer than had been anticipated, and baby Edmund began to have hunger pangs. Finally, Grandma could stand his crying no longer and sat down and nursed him as though he were her own. 'I had plenty for both babies,' she laughed.
Other children born to Mollie and Joseph were -- Mary T. (1873-1874); William E. (1874-1947); Beulah A. (1876-1947); Wallace Lee (1880-1881); Emma Patience (1882-1964); Minnie (b/d 1884); Velma I. (1885-1974); and Joseph Alfred (1889-1944).
Mollie also reared a granddaughter, Grace, who married Guy Burroughs and they had children Guy, Jr., Cecil, Vincent, Don and Joanne.
- Nona married Frank Moore and they had children, Blanche, Earl, Carl, Elva, Maude, Bernice, and Corinne.
- Will did not marry.
- Beulah married Tom Bryant, a widower with children Jim, Ola, Betty, Tommy, and Edna; and they had children Inez, Luther, Dorothy and Claudia.
- Emma married Charlie Muston and their children were Erma, Ima, Gertrude, Stella, Nona, Gladys and Pauline.
- Velma married Oscar Peebles and had children Aubrey, Frank and Shirley.
- Joe married Carrie B. Yeager and their children were Ruby (aka Miss Ruby), Frank, McLarty, Wallace and Carrie Belle.
A deed for 100 acres of land in the Daniel Walker League, bought from J. C. Coker, was filed by J. H. Nettles in Giddings on 12 Oct 1882. Later adjoining land was bought and here the family grew up. This was in the Cole Springs community west of Tanglewood.
"J. H. Nettles was not a well man due to hardships and exposure during the Civil War, and 01 May 1890, he succumbed to his illness. He was 58 years of age" and was buried in the Hugh Wilson Cemetery near Tanglewood.
Gene, Grandma's half-brother, had not married so he came to live with the family and help make a crop. To baby Joe he was more like a father than an uncle. He often took the child with him as he rode horseback over the community or to Tanglewood for supplies. The girls began leaving home as they married and established homes of their own. Gene also married, but Will remained at home with his mother.
I remember exactly on the log wall where that switchboard hung. I also remember the menfolk getting together sometimes to fix the lines when a windstorm or something caused a break in them. . . .
And it was here that my grandmother became ill in 1938 and finally went to Lott, Texas, to live with her youngest child, Joe, and his wife, Carrie. She passed away 01 May 1939, having lived a widow exactly forty-nine years. She was buried beside her husband in the Hugh Wilson Cemetery near Tanglewood.According to Mollie's obituary, she was known as ". . . one of earth's dearest and sweetest little mothers" and that "from the wisdom of her years she gave counsel, advice and help to all who sought it, and truly will she be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her." Miss Ruby said that . . .
My Grandmother never knew what it was to have an "easy" life, but she knew how to make the best of what she had. She told this writer one time, "You take the good and the bad as they come. But if you look at things the right way, the good always comes out ahead."
*The original version of this family story was compiled by Ruby Lee (Nettles) Vance (1910-2003), and was published in the 19th April 1979 edition of The Giddings Times & News in Giddings, Lee County, Texas. The occasion was the 14th annual Lexington Homecoming. . . .
