On this date in our extended family history . . . the 15th day of September . . . in the year 1921 . . . the Dallas Morning News published a lengthy obituary for Capt. D.H. Snyder . . . this Capt. Snyder is kin by marriage to Eunice Margaret Amelia Vontress Coffee nee Allen . . . who is a 1st cousin four times removed (on Mom's side) to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . and one of his daughters, Mamie, was married to Edward Jefferson Olive, who is my 4th cousin three times removed (on Dad's side) . . .
Dallas Morning News
September 15, 1921
Capt.
D.H. Snyder Early Day Cowman. Children Gather from Various Towns to
Attend Father's Funeral. Special to The News.
Fort Worth, Texas. Sept.
13.
Sons and daughters of Capt. Dudley H. Snyder, Nestor of Texas
cowmen who died yesterday at his home in Georgetown, gathered here today
from their West Texas homes to make the pilgrimage to their father's
funeral. The party includes Mrs. C.C. Kirkpatrick of San Angelo and Mrs.
C.M. Armstrong of Lubbock, Fred Snyder of Lubbock, D.H. Snyder Jr. and
Marcus Snyder of Colorado City. All the sons are prominent cattle men.
D.H. Snyder Jr. is a member of the executive committee of the Texas and
Southwestern Cattle Raisers' Association.
Captain Snyder was born
in Mississippi Sept. 5, 1833. Early in 1854 Captain Snyder came to
Texas by way of Ozark, Ark., and Mansfield, La., and made his first stop
at Round Rock in Williamson County, where he visited with his
grandfather, Dr. Thomas Hale. Following his farming experience he
engaged in cedar hauling from Bastrop County to Williamson and Travis
Counties.
Early Trading Days. -- In 1855 and 1856 he made
several trips to Missouri, where he purchased wagons and loaded them
with apples and other delicacies, which he brought to Texas and sold.
After making a few trips to Missouri Captain Snyder walked to San
Antonio, where he invested his earnings in a small herd of Spanish
ponies. These he drove to Missouri, where he traded them for draft
horses which he brought back to Texas. His reputation as a safe man
gained him a proposition from Terrell Jackson for the delivery of beef
cattle to the Confederate Army and during 1865 and 1866 he drove
thousands of cattle across the Southern States for provisioning
Confederate soldiers.
Cattle Stolen by Indians. -- One of
the interesting experiences of Captain Snyder in cattle driving was in
1869 with a herd of 140 head en route to Abilene, Kan., which was
captured by the Indians. The loss eventually was paid by the Government.
During the panic of 1873 a herd of his cattle were wintered in
Cheyenne, Wyo., where he obtained money at 36 per cent per annum.
Captain Snyder was a Methodist and one of the staunch supporters [of] Georgetown. On Sept. 20, 1905, Captain Snyder lost his sight and since that time has resided quietly at his home.
On this date in our extended family history . . . the 12th day of September . . . in the year 1892 . . . the news is reporting that Sheriff John T. Olive has been shot while waiting to catch a train at the Echo depot in Bell County, Texas . . . this Sheriff Olive is a 3rd cousin four times removed to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . one of the news reports about that shooting is as follows . . .
The Galveston Daily News.
Galveston, Texas.
Vol. 51, No. 172, Ed. 1.
Monday, September 12, 1892
GEORGETOWN, TEX., Sept. 11. -- A gloom has been cast over the city since early this morning when the news first reached here that Sheriff John T. Olive had been dangerously and probably fatally wounded at Echo in Bell county last night by receiving the contents of a shotgun in the body while waiting on the platform for the southbound train. Great crowds of people have stood around the telephone, all talking to parties at Taylor, where Mr. Olive now lies in a dying condition. His family has gone to his bedside. John T. Olive is about 40 years of age, and has lived in this county since boyhood. He was elected sheriff of this county in 1884 and re-elected in 1886. In 1888 he refused to make the race; was again elected in 1890 and is now the nominee of the democratic party for re-election. Perhaps he has caused more criminals to be brought to justice than any man of his age in the state.
On this date in our extended family history . . . the 10th day of August . . . in the year 1876 . . . the pending death of Jay Olive is reported in the Weekly Democratic Statesman (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 5, No. 52, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 10, 1876 . . . this Jay Olive is a 3rd cousin four times removed to the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
Austin, Texas. A letter received in this city Thursday from Post Oak Island says that on the night of August 1, a party of fifteen or twenty men attacked the Olive brothers on their ranch. Besides the three brothers there were three white men and two negroes. Jay Olive was shot in the body in twenty-two places, and it is thought he will die. Prince [sic] Olive was shot in the hip; and a man named Butler several times in the leg and hip. Bill Wells, one of the negroes, was shot twice in the head. The raiders got $750 from the house, and then forced one of the negroes to burn it. The trouble is said to have grown out of the Crow and Turner tragedy, which occurred in that neighborhood some six months since.
The Olives are engaged largely in the raising of stock, and have suffered severely for a long time at the hands of horse and cattle thieves. Several months ago they gave out that they would kill any one they found skinning their cattle or riding their horses, and not long after that old man Crow and a suspicious character named Turner were killed in the woods near McDade while skinning a beef with the Olive brand. Crow had a son who had served one or more terms in the penitentiary, and he accused the Olives of killing his father, and threatened to revenge his death. Since that time it is said he has been at the head of a band of roughs and desperadoes, and this crowd is suspected of committing the horrible tragedy perpetrated on the Olive brothers and their employees on the night of August 1. The Olive brothers are said to be upright men, and they have many warm friends in the vicinity of where they live, and that further trouble and bloodshed will follow is quite probable. What action the Governor and the authorities will take, we cannot say, but certainly the affair calls for hearty and rigid work. Life and property is not safe in Texas, and there is no use of any one asserting it is.
On this date in our family history . . . the 20th day of July . . . in the year 1869 . . . Wm. N. Valentine sits down in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi to pen a few words to his Dear and well beloved Children now in Texas . . . in said letter he makes note of the fact that . . . Now the matter is not Exactly fixt up by us yet as I really have not as yet solde out but that will only operate in this way if anything should happen that I do not sell John will Remane one year longer and make a crop and during the year prepare and winde up my affairs that we may leave un dun and next winter he and his wife for this will take place if we under stand by him go on stay but if the Land is solde or not land Meary your mother Jo Thomas and Molly West will cum as soon as my Bisnez is wound up Wm and John and Jo Thomas will starte as Early as they can git of theri crop I will stay and close out all of the unsetled Bisnez and then well will go by steam . . . this Molly West, aka Mary Annie Nettles nee West, is a great-grandma of the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
On this date in our extended family history . . . the 15th day of September . . . in the year 1871 . . . Miss Della Vick of Lexington, Texas sat down to pen a letter to her Aunt Amanda back home in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi . . . and makes mention of the fact that . . .
I went to the barbecue in Lexington last Saturday was two weeks ago. There was a good many people there but we came home and went to Prospect to preaching that night. It is four miles. There was five joined that night and among them was Mollie Nettles used to be Mollie West.
FYI, this Mollie just happens to be my 2nd great-grandma! . . . and this is just one in a series of letters to Aunt Amanda by kith 'n kin who left a war-ravaged Mississippi following the years of the war between the states . . . hoping for a better life in Texas . . .
On this date in our extended family history . . . the 17th day of February . . . in the year 1870 . . . Joseph Vick of Lexington, Texas sat down to pen a letter to his Aunt Amanda back home in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi . . . and one year later . . . on the 17th day of February . . . in the year 1871 . . . L.B.F. Vick of Lexington, Texas wrote a letter to this same Amanda . . . these are just two in a series of letters to Aunt Amanda by kith 'n kin who left a war-ravaged Mississippi following the years of the war between the states . . . hoping for a better life in Texas . . .
One hundred years ago today . . . on this date in our extended family history . . . the 23rd day of January . . . in the year 1911 . . . the 5th of seven daughters is born to Charlie and Emma Patience (Nettles) Muston . . . Nona Amy is the youngest in the photo shown here . . . the next daughter after Nona was born in 1913, and then one in 1915 . . . which was the same year Charlie died, leaving Emma to raise seven daughters on her own . . . the sister standing behind and to the left of little Nona is my paternal grandma, Ima Lois Pounders nee Muston (1906-1999) . . .
FYI . . . the quilty-looking background for this collage was created from my photo-of-the-day for today . . . I used techniques from both Picasa and IrvanView for this project . . .
There's One in Every Family . . . somewhere in the family tree, every family has at least one . . . that extra-special aunt or uncle . . . the childless aunt who raised her sister's fatherless child . . . the uncle who made the merry-go-round that is still a favorite part of childhood memories . . . the unmarried aunt who stayed home to care for her widowed mother . . . the newly married uncle who assumed guardianship for his orphaned younger sisters . . .
And 150 years ago in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi . . . as this country teetered on the edge of a deep chasm that would someday be referred to as the Civil War . . . 8-year-old Mary Annie "Mollie" West was on the verge of becoming dependent on a very special aunt and uncle for her very safety and well-being . . .
On the 27th day of November in the year 1860 . . . Mollie's Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill were observing the 26th anniversary of the date when a then 20-year-old Mary became the bride of a 33-year-old widower by the name of William Noel Valentine (aka Uncle Bill) . . .
Aunt Mary . . . aka Mary F. Valentine nee Carter . . . was an older sister to little Mollie's (widowed?) Mother, Sarah West nee Carter . . . and and on the 1860 census for Starkville, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, Mollie (i.e., Mary) and her family are near-neighbors to this Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill . . .
During the years of the war between the states, Mollie's immediate family members often sought shelter with this Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill, who lived in a home of six rooms, a long wide hall, two large porches and a portico in front of Mary's room. Mollie said she spent many pleasant hours in their well-stocked library, where losing herself in books allowed her to briefly escape from the harsh realities of those years.
In later years, Mollie would say of this safe-haven that, "There was also a large cellar under the house with two huge boxes in it that held apples from the orchard across the road from the house. I can see and smell those blossoms yet when Spring comes each year! The house was surrounded by a picket fence that enclosed a large yard. The walk from the front yard gate to the house was lined with jonquils, daffodils and snowdrops. The house itself was white, set on brick pillars. So it was a pleasure to be there out of our little cramped home."
The following links will take you to more information on these and other families in and around Oktibbeha County, Mississippi during the years of the war between the states :-
This blogpost was prepared in honor of all of those special aunts and uncles in the family tree . . . and in celebration the 100th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy over at Creative Gene . . . where the geneablogger known as Jasia just recently celebrated her 5th Anniversary as the Keeper of that blog. Thanks for being a part of our geneablogging world, Jasia!
This is a little country cemetery in Lee County, Texas . . . it is the one I feel the most connected to . . . I can walk through this cemetery and tell stories about many of the residents . . . the family members . . . as well as the people who were their friends . . . I remember my Dad talking about some of them . . . and I remember Grandma's stories . . . I memorialized this cemetery in my Ode to My Family History back in January of the year 2010 . . . the little one in these photos is one of my grand-nephews . . . he will have these photos to show how he had fun in the cemetery on a spring day when the wildflowers were blooming in Texas . . . I need to write down the story of this day for him . . .
Today I visited yesterday
And walked among the graves
Of family and friends from long ago
Whose memory had begun to fade.
The graves were unattended
As were my thoughts of them
When a vision of the ages past
Brought back my sense of kin.
The vision showed the church lawn
On a crisp summer day
The table spread, the food prepared
And friends who would break bread.
All my relatives were there
both young and old
Grandma and I walked hand and hand
Sharing stories never told.
We laughed and cried
And shared our thoughts
And I found the friend
I thought I'd lost.
As the sun began to fade . . .
The church bell rang out clear
Grandma and the others
slowly disappeared . . .
Today I visited yesterday
And now the memory is strong
Of the family from which I came
AND NOW BELONG . . .
by Pat Conner Rice
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.
On this date in our extended family history . . . the 3rd day of July . . . in the year 1884 . . . Britton Valentine dies in Lee County, Texas.
Mr. Valentine was married to Matilda, who was a sister of my 3rd great-grandpa, Richard C. West, Jr., of Mississippi.
The Valentines were a part of a group of people who came to Lee County, Texas from Oktibbeha County, Mississippi shortly following the end of the war between the states.
From A History of Lee County, Texas (1974) as remembered by Mrs. R. L. Vance . . .
The Republic of Texas had granted to Daniel Walker a league of land in north-central Lee County on 10 February 1846 and out of this in a few years developed the small community of Cole Springs.
Records show that Britton Valentine, who had purchased a tract of land from Caroline Hill in 1877, deeded two and one-half acres of it for the use of a Baptist Church in 1879. . . .
A small private cemetery near the church contains three markers that have survived the years. They bear the names of Britton Valentine, Matilda Valentine (his wife), and Siobbell, wife of M.G. Welch. . . .
From A History of Lee County, Vol. II (2000) -- "Some Memories of Old Cole Springs" as remembered by Hallie Mundine McCoy of Rockdale 1978, just after her 80th birthday . . .
Cole Springs was a community in Lee County located about four miles west, and slightly north, of Tanglewood. One building that served as both a church and a school was there. . . . An elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Britton Valentine, are buried in the tiny cemetery there, near where the church used to stand. Mr. Valentine had markers made for their graves before either of them died. On his marker he had the inscription, "Saved by Grace," and on Mrs. Valentine's marker the inscription was, "If ever saved, saved by Grace." . . .
This ca. 1938 image is a photo of Mary Annie Mollie Nettles nee West holding one of her great-grand-daughters . . . as of ca. 1932, this Mollie (1852-1939) still had very specific memories about what was happening on the 22nd day of February during the 12th winter of her life (1864) in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi . . .
Closer came the fighting until one day we could hear the cannon booming as a battle was fought over a bridge maybe twelve miles from our home. I remember what they called that bridge, though I don't know how you would spell it ... Sookietoncha, it sounded like [i.e., Sakatonchee].
It made cold chills run over you to hear that cannon. We had already had several wounded soldiers to take care of . . . Aunt Mary [Mary Valentine nee Carter (1814-1892)] and Mother [Sally West Thomas nee Carter (c. 1820-1868)] were fine nurses ... but now they really poured into the house.
I remember that Col. [Jeffrey] FORREST had come by the day before and asked Aunt Mary for a horse to ride. She had told him to take his pick, only leave her old Tom to ride, since he was real gentle. But he insisted on using Tom, and in anger she told him, "I hope he does you no good, Sir!"
Late the next day, after the battle at the bridge, old Tom came home riderless with blood all over the saddle. Col. FORREST had been killed on him. Aunt Mary wept in remorse and never again rode old Tom. Col. [Jeffrey] FORREST and Gen. [Nathan Bedford] FORREST were brothers, and we saw them often.
Assuming the above family story is true . . . then Old Tom is mayhaps depicted in the painting, Vengeance at Okolona, by John Paul Strain . . . these recollections of the years of the war between the states were told to Ruby Vance nee Nettles (1910-2003) by her paternal grandmother, Mollie . . . this same Mollie is a 2nd great-grandma to the keeper of this family history blog . . .
