On this date in our family history . . . the 10th day of April . . . in the year 1634 . . . the Elizabeth sets sail from Ipswich, Suffolk, England, bound for New England . . . amongst those onboard are Richard Kimball and his family . . . this Richard is a 10th great-grandpa to the Keeper to this family history blog . . .
Richard Kemball came to this country in the ship Elizabeth, William Andrews, master, in 1634. He appears to have gone, soon after landing, to Watertown, Mass. . . . Richard is said on the shipping list to be thirty-nine years old, but he was probably somewhat older. He was, however, in the prime of life, and soon became a prominent and active man in the new settlement. . . . He was proclaimed freeman in 1635, May 6. Was a proprietor in 1636-7. Soon after this date he was invited to remove to Ipswich, where they were in need of a competent man to act as wheelwright to the new settlement. Here he spent the remainder of his days. . . . excerpt from History of the Kimball Family . . .
150 years ago today . . . in the year 1864 . . . in our family history . . . James M. Hall penned the following words in his Civil War-era Journal . . .
To day the boys are at work on the stables. Sam [Samuel Houston Sharp] rode my horse Ratler to Crockett and was conscripted and put into the army of the Confederacy Sans Serimonia. I let Sam have 100$ before he left for Crockett. Mother [Mahala Sharp Hall nee Roberts] and the children [Roberta and Toby] left for home. In the evening Mr. Thomas Sharp arrived from the wheat region with two loads of wheat which he left at the mill. He and Mr. Anderson remained with me for the night. I ground 51 bushels of corn. Weather changeable and cold, with a hard freeze at night.
This Sam is a 2nd great-grandpa to the Keeper
of this family history blog . . . and the history recorded in Hall's
Journal provides the only evidence we are aware of that our Sam
(apparently unwillingly) served in the Confederate Army . . .
150 years ago today . . . on this date in our family history . . . in Houston County, Texas . . . James Madison Hall writes about the arrest of Samuel Houston Sharp as well as himself . . . on charges of being liable to conscription . . . this Sam is a 2nd great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
Friday, January 15th, 1864. To day the boys are still at work on the stables. In the evening while Sam & I were running the mills a file of soldiers rode up and arrested us and forthwith shut up my mills and marched us off to Crockett like common felons. when we reached Crockett we were imprisoned in the Court house and a guard mounted over us. We were not allowed any fire or food, neither were we permitted to converse with any person. So we were kept without any charge against us but upon mere suspicion that we were liable to conscription. So much for our boasted rights as Southern gentlemen and for the causes which led us to sever our connection with the old government. Had I been thus treated by the Yankees I could have borne it all without complaint for I could not have expected any thing else, but coming from those who ought to be our guardians instead of our oppressors comes exceedingly hard, and not well calculated to make good and true soldiers to the Confederacy. I predict that it is but the beginning of the reign of Military despotism and will brake down our once happy land of freedom. I was again discharged late in the night but how long before I am again arrested God only knows. Sam however was kept in close confinement all night. Weather clear & cold.
List of property appraised 31st dec 1846 By David O. Warren James Perkins and Jackson Randol -- and belonging to the estate of Elisha and Patsey Roberts --
MALES Candy, Spencer, Daniel, John, Shedrack, Bedney?, Charles, George, Washington, Bedford, Jerdin, Nathan, Nelson, Philip, Columbus, George, Martin, Burrel, Ceasar, Massaline, Elick?, James, Alfred, Charles, Dick, Carrol, Allen, Leonard
FEMALES Betsey, Rose & child Lewis, Linda Cole, Linda Payne, Rachel, Jenny & child Philip, Clara & child Mary, Caroline & child Dick, Mary, Celia, Elon, Virginia, Vina, Clara, Agg, Louisa & child, Nancy, Gelina
These names are being listed here with the hope that there are researchers who will be assisted in their journey to find their ancestors by the sharing of the names of these individuals . . . this list is made available thanks to the research efforts of Elisha and Patsy's great-great-granddaughter, Esther . . . thanks a bunch cousin Esther!
150 years ago today . . . on the 21st day of December . . . in the year 1863 . . . in Houston County, Texas . . . James Madison Hall writes in his Journal that he is choosing to record information on a daily basis (1860-1866) for the benefit of those that come after me, in order that they may see some of the benefits that war brings upon the Country and people . . .
On Christmas Day 1863, J.M. Hall will make reference to their Christmas jollification . . . and will state that all went off as merry as a marriage bell . . .
Meanwile, almost two thousand miles away, while listening to the church bells of Cambridge, Massachusetts toll out the glad tidings of Christmas Day . . . Henry Wadsworth Longfellow picks up his pen and writes the following words . . .
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
The following video gives a version of the story behind those words, as told by Edward K. Herrmann and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir . . .
See also . . .
P.S. Longfellow is my 5th cousin 6 times removed, i.e.,My 10th great-grandmother,Elizabeth (Burbage) Wiswall (abt.1610 - aft.1664),is his 4th great-grandmother.My 10th great-grandfather, Thomas Wiswall (bef.1601 - 1683),is his 4th great-grandfather.
On this date in our family history . . . the 19th day of December . . . in the year 1878 . . . Mary Olive and W.A. Muston are married in Crenshaw County in the State of Alabama . . . this Mary and William are 2nd great-grandparents of the Keeper of this family history blog . . . by 1890 they are in Texas and have had at least three sons . . . in June of that year it is adjudged that the said Mary E. Mustin is a Lunatic, and it is ordered by this court that she be conveyed to the Lunatic Asylum at Austin, County of Travis, for restraint and treatment . . . at least one more child would be born, a daughter, in January of 1893 . . . after that date, no further record has been found of our Mary Olive's existence . . .
Texas is the finest portion of the Globe
that has ever blessed my vision.
The above poetic statement was penned by Sam Houston in an 1833 letter to a cousin, shortly after Sam had crossed the Red River and stepped onto Texas soil for the first time, i.e. . . .
On December 2, 1832, an imposing figure stood on the north bank of Red River. His passport read: "General Sam Houston, a Citizen of the United States, thirty-eight years of age, six feet, two inches in stature, brown hair, and light complexion."
Sam would soon become a frequent visitor in the homes of some of the men later described by Alexander Horton as . . . some of the noblest men to be found in any county. They (were) generous, kind, honest and brave . . . Elisha Roberts* . . . Philip A. Sublett* . . . These were the most earliest settlers of East Texas. . . .
*This Elisha is a 4th great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . Sublett is married to Elisha's daughter, Easter Jane . . .
Before Sam left Tennessee, he served as a commander in the Tennessee volunteer militia of General Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812 . . . among those serving under Sam were the Parker brothers, Daniel and Isaac . . . by August of 1833, this Daniel and Isaac were members of a wagon train leaving Illinois, their destination being Texas . . . regarding the people on this wagon train (including a young girl known as Cynthia Ann), according to Glenn Frankel in his book, The Searchers, The Making of an American Legend . . .
In mid-November they reached the brown, placid Sabine River, bordered by pine trees as tall and erect as sentinels, and crossed over into Texas. They camped that first evening, November 12, 1833, near San Augustine, twenty miles deep inside their new promised land, just in time for one of the most awesome celestial events in human history.
On the Night the Stars Fell, the heavens blazed with shooting stars as large as moons trailing clouds of bluish light like divine afterthoughts. Although well past midnight, the bright burning sky illuminated the wide, awestruck faces of the pilgrims as if it were high noon. . . .
As it happens, during the year the stars rained all over the sky, Grandpa Elisha and a large assortment of his kith 'n kin lived near San Augustine, just about Twenty miles deep inside their new promised land . . . i.e., just east of San Augustine and about 20 miles west of the Sabine River . . . so it is quite possible this group of travelers actually camped on land owned and / or occupied by some of our Roberts kith or kin . . .
Meanwhile, in another part of Texas in 1833 . . . a family by the name of O'Docharty is residing in San Patricio County during this year of the Plenty Stars Winter . . . as the years passed and their lives on this earth came to an end, many of these family members were laid to rest in the Old Cemetery on the Hill (FYI, it is believed by some that our Elisha's son-in-law, Bryant Daughtry, might be buried in the same cemetery) . . . the matriarch of the O'Docharty family was Susanna, who was tall and slender with a shock of red hair . . . it has been said of her that she accurately predicted her own death . . . the following is a portion of what is referred to as her epitaph . . . it is from a collection of stories handed down through generations by oral tradition . . .
And now I lie with them upon this hill
Mingling with Texas earth as seasons come and go.
Chilling northers bend grasses almost to the ground;
Low-hung clouds are misty blankets
Dropping days of rain upon the earth.
Then wild flowers make sweet the air in spring;
At dawn birds chirp and trill as if to wake us,
But we lie immutable, insensible to summer heat and winter cold . . .
While we lie here a segment of a forgotten colony.
Here I lie beside my own --
A hundred springs have come and gone
Since first I lay upon this lonely hill. . . .
This blogpost was researched and prepared specifically for The Fifth Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge over at cousin Bill's blog which is known as . . . West in New England . . .
On this date in our family history . . . the 11th day of November . . . in the year 1791 . . . a baby girl is born in Cumberland County, Maine . . . her parents, Thomas Thurston and Lucy Fenderson, decide to call her Lucy . . . this Lucy is a 4th great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
Mrs. Silence J. Soule penned the following words . . . I have observed that old people live much in the past. As I grow older I find myself turning oftener to the days in the old home. I hear the patter and the prattle of childish feet and voice ; light step of youth and maid; sober footfall and serious word of man and matron; the slowing step and failing voice of age. All, all are gone! I alone am left of . . .
The dear home faces whereupon
The fitful firelight paled and shone.
Henceforward, listen as I will,
The voices of that hearth are still.
How strange it seems with so much gone
Of life and love to still live on.
These few lines of poetry were adapted by cousin Silence from
Snow-Bound
by
John Greenleaf Whittier
The version linked here is dedicated as follows . . .
To the Memory of the household it describes :
On this date in our family history . . . the 3rd day of November . . . in the year 1816 . . . Mahala Lee Roberts is born in Washington Parish, Louisiana . . . she is the 7th of nine children known to have been born to Elisha Roberts and Patsy Gill . . .
By 1830, Mahala is living in San Augustine County, Texas with her parents and siblings . . . in 1833 her father signs his name to a document establishing the town of San Augustine . . . in 1836 Mahala marries John M. Sharp in San Augustine County . . . and at least two children will be born to them . . . Samuel Houston Sharp and Margaret Sharp . . . John Sharp is presumed to have died before 1846 . . .
In 1851, Mahala marries Joshua James Hall in San Augustine County . . . and they have at least two children . . . Roberta Hall and Toby Hall . . .
On Mahala's 53rd birthday . . . the 3rd day of November . . . in the year 1869 . . . Mahala's granddaughter, Margaret Elizabeth Sharp, is born in Liberty County, Texas . . . another two years later . . . on the 3rd day of November . . . in the year 1871 . . . another granddaughter, Ida Mae Sharp, is born in Houston County, Texas . . . Mahala would live to share another thirteen birthdays with these two granddaughters before her death in June of 1885 . . .
We are blessed to have access to a portrait of our Mahala . . . as well as photos of some of her grandchildren . . . the little one in the collage is a four-year-old version of the Keeper of this family history blog . . . in the arms of her great-grandma, Berta Mary . . . Mahala was grandma to Berta Mary . . . and is a 3rd great-grandma to the four-year-old in the photo . . .
A hundred-year-old photograph
stares out from a frame.
And if you look real close you'll see
our eyes are just the same.
I never met them face-to-face
but I still know them well
From the stories my dear grandma would tell.
They're my Guardian Angels
and I know they can see,
Every step I take they're watching over me.
I might not know where I'm going
but I'm sure where I come from.
They're my Guardian Angels
and I'm their special one.
A hundred-year-old photograph
stares out from a frame.
And if you look real close you'll see
our eyes are just the same.
This blogpost containing poetry as well as song lyrics was researched and prepared specifically for The Fifth Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge over at cousin Bill's blog which is known as . . . West in New England . . .
Sixty-five years ago today . . . on the 3rd day of October . . . in the year 1948 . . . a family gathering is being held at the Hamilton home on Cameron Avenue in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas . . . the photo in the collage was taken that day . . . the handwritten list on the back of a copy of that photo gives the family names . . . the people in said photo include the surviving children and daughters-in-law of William Paschal Henry and his wife, Josephine Wingfield Henry nee Davis . . .
Rockdale Reporter, October 7, 1948 -- A family reunion of the Henry's was enjoyed by many in the home of Mrs. J.D. Hamilton Sunday. Dinner, which was furnished by all, was served buffet style.
Those attending from Rockdale were: Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Henry, Roberta [Mom of the Keeper of this family history blog] and Oscar, Mrs. Will Henry, Mr. and Mrs. G.R. Henry and Weldon Lee, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Backhaus, Ruth and Doris Ann, Mr. and Mrs. S.C. Christian, Mr. and Mrs. Vesper Christian and Donna, Mr. and Mrs. Milford Henry and Dale, Mrs. Howard Avrett and Darwin, Mr. and Mrs. Graham Kyle, Graham Jr. and Linda Sue, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Towery, Bohn, Dana and Sandra, Robert Phillips, Mrs. J.D. Hamilton and Laura.
Out of town guests were: Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Henry, Waco; Mrs. Velma Henry Smith, Waco; Mrs. Ida Halyard, Crockett; Georgia Faye Henry, Freeport; R.B. (Sonny) Rosenkrans, Freeport; Delores Sharp, Palestine; Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Reynolds, Palestine; Mrs. T.A. Newton, Palestine; Mr. and Mrs. T.A. Newton Jr. and Shirley, Palestine; Mrs. W.C. Newton and Luckey, Palestine; Mr. and Mrs Alton Peebles, Mary Jane and Martha Lou, Lexington; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Weldon Kyle, Nanette and Douglas, Houston; Mr. and Mrs. E.E. Fergeson, Houston; Delbert Kyle, Huntsville; Mr. and Mrs. Fred Ceasar, Virginia Hope and Harry Douglas, Thorndale.
On this date in our extended family history . . . the 27th day of September . . . in the year 1860 . . . Oliver Lazarus Battle is a passenger in the Gulf of Mexico on board the steamboat Bayou City . . . she is bound from Galveston to Houston, and when about to make a landing at Lynchburg, her boilers burst with terrific explosion and fearful result . . . among those who die as a result of that explosion is Oliver's brother-in-law, I.T. Irvin, Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives . . . Irvin was last seen rushing aft, and it is believed he jumped overboard and was drowned . . . this Oliver Battle is a 1st cousin five times removed to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . many news clippings about this tragic event are available online, including a lengthy article in the State Gazette. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 12, No. 9, Ed. 1, Saturday, October 6, 1860 . . . P.S. . . . Oliver's mother, Margaret Fannin Battle King nee Porter, was the stepmother of James Walker Fannin . . .
Remembering the Grandmas . . .
for Ancestor Appreciation Day . . .
I hear the voices of my grandmas
Calling out from a distant past
"Please do not let us be forgot.
Record our stories that we may last."
Tell the children of our wanderings
Let the kinfolk hear the tales
How we braved the new horizons
How we blazed the olden trails.
How we buried too many babies
How we struggled to keep them fed
How we caressed the hands of our loved ones
As they lay dying on their beds.
How we endured many a hardship
With an eye to the future goal
To create a more promising future
And to keep our family whole.
They were as different from each other
As the scraps in a crazy quilt
Yet once the pieces were sewn together
Another generation they had built
I can sense them calling out to me
From the gloaming of my past
"Please do not let us be forgot.
Record our stories that we may last."
Begotten . . .
and may they never be forgotten . . .
Remembering my Grandmas . . .
- Berta Mary Sharp, and her mother, Nellie Lemaire
- Elizabeth Marilla Smith, and her mother, Eva May Brackett
- Ima Lois Muston, and her mother, Emma Patience Nettles
- Jerusha Marilla Barker, and her mother, Jerusha Lakin Hobbs
- Josephine Wingfield Davis, and her mother, America James Fears
- Mahala Lee Roberts, and her mother, Patsy Gill
- Mary Alexandrien Lemaire, and her mother, Elizabeth Waring
- Mary Annie West, and her mother, Sarah Mildred Carter
- Mollie Olive, and her mother, Clementine Jordan
- Nancy Virilla Quinn, and her mother, Sushannah
- Phoebe Merrill, and her mother, Olive Jane Goodwin
The above family poem was composed by BeNotForgot back in 2009 in response to a challenge posted at Genea-Musings: Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Poetry and Genealogy . . . and the Wordle (name cloud) was created at wordle.net . . .
On this date in our extended family history . . . the 19th day of September . . . in the year 1891 . . . Easter Jane Sublett nee Roberts dies at her residence, three miles east of San Augustine, Texas [click HERE to read what some of the 1891 papers had to say about Easter and her family] . . .
Easter Jane is an older sister of Mahala Lee Roberts . . . who is a 3rd great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . this Easter Jane and Mahala are two of nine children known to have been born to Elisha Roberts and his wife, Martha "Patsy" Gill . . .
By the time Mahala was 16 years of age, in 1833, Easter Jane had already been married for five years, to Philip Sublett . . . and that was the year when Elisha, as well as this son-in-law, were two of the twenty-one men who signed the original founding document of San Augustine . . . those twenty-one men, and their place in the family tree of the Keeper of this family history blog (if any), are listed below . . .
- John Cartwright || findagrave [paternal grandpa of wife of 1st cousin four times removed, Benjamin Thomas Roberts]
- Chichester Chaplin || findagrave [son-in-law of Haden Edwards and Martin Parmer]
- Samuel Davis, Jr. || findagrave, and his sister Mary Richardson Willson nee Davis, wife of Dr. Stephen Pelham Willson [these Davis siblings are my 2nd cousins five times removed . . . this connection is via a different maternal line which our Roberts descendant, Berta Mary Henry nee Sharp, marries into in 1895]
- William English
- Claiborn Garrett
- William Garrett || findagrave [father-in-law of 1st cousin four times removed, Henry William Sublett]
- James S. Hanks [brother of Wyatt Hanks]
- Wyatt Hanks || findagrave
- Alexander Horton || findagrave [entered Texas with Elisha Roberts, and served as Sheriff when Elisha was Alcalde]
- Benjamin Lindsay
- L.H. Mabbitt [stepson of Wyatt Hanks]
- Thomas McFarland || findagrave
- William McFarland || findagrave
- Elisha Roberts || findagrave [4th great-grandpa]
- Philip Sublett || findagrave [husband of 3rd great-grand-aunt, Easter Jane]
- Charles Stanfield Taylor || findagrave
- Edward Teal [father of Henry Teal; brother of George Teel]
- Henry Teal
- George Teel / Teal || findagrave [father-in-law of nephew of wife of 3rd great-grand-uncle, Noel Gil Roberts]
- I D Thomas [brother-in-law of 3rd great-grand-uncle, Noel Gil Roberts; grandpa of the renowned artist, Seymour Thomas, who was also a grandson of Stephen W. Blount, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence]
A special invitation has been issued to descendants of the above men to gather in San Augustine during the annual Sassafras Festival for an event hosted by San Augustine Main Street . . . during this annual festival, at 2 p.m. on the 26th day of October . . . there will be a gathering at the Historic Museum Theatre on Columbia Street in downtown San Augustine . . . regarding this special event it has been stated that . . .
Historic San Augustine is celebrating its 180th birthday with a presentation of the newly discovered deed dated July 11th, 1833 purchasing the land where the town of San Augustine was laid out by Thomas McFarland. The document is signed by these 21 Texas patriots who established the town.
If you are a descendant of one of the twenty-one signers listed above, please contact Connie at . . . deed dot descendants at gmail dot com . . . for more info about the Sassafras Festival, please call 936-275-3172 . . .
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 . . .
This week (August 2009), for Randy's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, he is asking, "How many ancestors did you 'meet'?" His short and sweet instructions are to . . .
- Write down which of your ancestors that you have met in person (yes, even if you were too young to remember them).
- Tell us their names, where they lived, and their relationship to you in a blog post, or in comments to this post, or in comments on Facebook.
I was born and raised in Texas . . . and plan to live here 'til I die . . . and I am blessed to have been touched by hands . . . that touched the hands . . . of those who came before . . .
My Mom was born in Massachusetts, but was living in Texas with her paternal grandparents before 1940 . . . and she now lives just one block away from the land owned by those grandparents . . . Mom was only 3 days old when her mother, Elizabeth, died . . . Elizabeth's father had died in 1920 . . . and her mother, Eva, would survive her daughter by only 4 years.
- Mom's father, Robert E. Henry, was born in Milam County, Texas in 1905 . . . and died in San Patricio County, Texas in 1976 . . . he joined the Navy in 1927 . . . and then took up residence in Massachusetts until after WWII . . . when he finally returned to Texas, bringing his 2nd wife and their three daughters with him . . . his father died shortly thereafter, and before I was born.
- Robert's mother, Berta Mary Henry nee Sharp, was born in Houston County, Texas in 1873 . . . and I was born on her birthday just four years before she died in 1955 in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas.
My Dad, Forrest Lee Pounders, was born in San Benito, Cameron County, Texas in 1927 . . . and died in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas in 1996 . . . he spent time in Japan and Korea while in the Army, but lived his entire life in Texas.
- His father, Jacob Edmund Forrest Pounders, was born 1902 in Caldwell County, Texas . . . and died in Rockdale, Texas in 1957 . . . both of Pa Jake's parents were dead before I was born.
- His mother, Ima Lois Pounders nee Muston, was born in Lee County, Texas in 1906 . . . she lived next door to my parents my entire childhood, and until her death in 1999 . . . her father died when she was a child.
- Her mother, Emma Patience Muston nee Nettles, was born in Lee County, Texas in 1882 . . . and died in Rockdale, Texas in 1964.
So, that makes seven (7) for me -- 2 parents plus 2 grandpas plus 1 grandma plus 2 great-grandmas.
On this date in our family history . . . the 30th day of August . . . in the year 1830 . . . America J Fears becomes the bride of Milton Grant Davis . . . this America and Milton are 3rd great-grandparents of the Keeper of this family history blog . . . the record of their marriage shown in this collage was found in Georgia's Virtual Vault . . .
Research note . . . Many branches of this family have it in their records that *James* was her middle name, however, no contemporary record has been found showing what the *J* actually stands for.
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.
