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.
On this date in our extended family history . . . the 21st day of July . . . in the year 1882 . . . Captain Enoch Snow dies at Blue Point, Scarborough, Cumberland County, Maine . . . the name of Cap'n Enoch Snow has been immortalized in a Twentieth Century-Fox movie entitled "Carousel." . . . was filmed in the locale of the present F.H. Snow Canning Company in Maine,and tells of the life and loves around a Maine fishing village. . . . This fall (1956) the lovable Cap'n Snow will become familiar to all through Snow's Chowder promotion of this seafaring character as their trademark. . . . we spent time with his 2nd great-granddaughter when we visited in Maine in the autumn of 2011 . . . she is a fount of information about our shared family history . . . and she was gracious enough to take us to a small family burial ground we would not have found without her assistance . . . her beloved father, Harold Forest Snow, is a 2nd cousin twice removed to the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
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 family history . . . the 20th day of July . . . in the year 1530 . . it is written that George Pyne / Pine of Devonshire dies . . . this George is currently believed to be a 15th great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
Chart from The Visitations of the County of Devon (Google eBooks) . . .
On this date in our family history . . . the 12th day of July in the year 1717 . . . the will of the late Daniel Merrill is probated in Essex County, Massachusetts . . . this Daniel is a 9th great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . the will itself is transcribed in full in A Merrill Memorial which was published in a very limited edition in 1928 by Samuel Merrill (1855-1932) . . . this Samuel is a fifth cousin five times removed to the Keeper of this blog . . . a different publication has the following to say regarding said Daniel . . .
Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Volume 3
(Google eBook)
Henry Sweetser Burrage, Albert Roscoe Stubbs
Lewis historical publishing Company, 1909 - Maine
- Sergeant Daniel, fourth son of Nathaniel and Susanna (Jordan) Merrill, was born in Newbury, August 20, 1642,
- and was admitted freeman, May 7, 1684.
- March 22, 1677, Moses Pilsbury and Daniel Merrill were chosen fence viewers "at the farter end" of the town of Newbury.
- In 1665, Daniel Merrill was one of those who were called upon and did take the oath of allegiance to the King, in a modified form.
- His name again appears among those who took the oath "as it is by law established within the Kingdom of England," in 1678.
- In the "Invoyes" of August, 1688, Daniel Merrill's list enumerates two heads (persons); two houses: twelve acres plow lands; two horses; two oxen; five cows; eight younger cattle; thirty sheep and six hogs; showing him to have been in very comfortable circumstances.
- In 1689 he was chosen "Way Warden."
- He was admitted to Newbury church in 1681, and to the Salisbury church later.
- He died June 27, 1717, in Salisbury.
- His will, made May 10, was probated July 12, 1717. In it his wife Sarah is mentioned, and "cousin" Thomas Merrill, to whom he gave land in Haverhill.
- Daniel Merrill married (first) May 14, 1667, in Newbury, Sarah Clough, who was born June 28, 1646, and died March 18, 1706, at Salisbury, Massachusetts.
- He married (second) May 29, 1708, Sarah, who was born October 14, 1650, in Salisbury, daughter of Abraham and Sarah (Clement) Morrill, and widow of Philip Rowell and of one Siphorus Page. They had Daniel, John, Sarah, Ruth, Moses, Martha and Stephen.
On this date in our family history . . . the 9th day of July . . . in the year 1889 . . . Wm. P. Henry of Milam County, Texas sold and conveyed the rights to about four acres of his land . . . located about four miles north of Rockdale . . . to the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway Company . . . this William Paschal Henry is a 2nd great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
Know all men by these presents, that I, W.P. Henry of the County of Milam and State aforesaid for and in consideration of the sum of One Dollar to me in hand paid by the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway Company the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, have granted sold and conveyed and by these presents do grant sell convey and deliver unto the said San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway Company of the County of Bexar and State of Texas that certain tract piece or parcel of land lying and being in the State of Texas and County of Milam and described as follows to wit. A Strip of land ? feet in width and about 1200 feet in length over and across my land on the T. J. Chambers Survey said strip of land to embrace ? feet on each side of the center of track of the S.A.&A.P....on the plans on file in the Office of the Engineer of said Company containing about 4 acres more or less. To have and to hold the above described premises together with all and singular the rights and appurtenances thereto belonging unto the said San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway Company, its successors and assigns forever. And I do hereby bind my heirs executors and administrators to warrant and forever defend all and singular the said premises unto the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway Company its successors and assigns against every person whomsoever lawfully claiming or to claim the same or any part thereof.
Witness my hand at this 9th day of July A.D. 1889.
Signed "Wm. P. Henry"
Original 1891 documents from Volume 27, pages 149 and 150 of the Milam County Records as found in the Milam County Courthouse in Cameron, Milam County, Texas . . . 1891 map from Portal to Texas History . . .
On or about this date in our family history . . . the 7th (or the 17th) day of July . . . in the year 1687 . . . a baby girl is born to Mary Stevens and John Barker . . . they give her the name of Joanna . . . and the birth is recorded as the 7th in the Vital Records of Andover, Massachusetts . . . but . . . the Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine (1909) . . . as well as the Barker Genealogy (1927) by Elizabeth Frye Barker . . . both give Joanna's date of birth as the 17th day of July . . . this Joanna Barker grows up to marry John Farnum . . . and they are 7th great-grandparents of the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
On this date in our family history . . . Edward Milliken, eighth son of John [Milliken] and Elizabeth Alger, was baptized at the Brattle Street church, Boston, Mass., July 6, 1706, and settled in Scarborough (District of Maine), on the Dunstan lands, in 1729. . . . this Edward is a 7th great-grandpa of the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
History of the families Millingas and Millanges of Saxony and Normandy, comprising genealogies and biographies of their posterity surnamed Milliken, Millikin, Millikan, Millican, Milligan, Mulliken and Mullikin, A.D. 800 - A.D. 1907. Containing names of thirty thousand persons, with copious notes on intermarried and collateral families, and abstracts of early land grants, wills, and other documents. Embellished with portraits, coats-of-arms, and views of family seats. Compiled by Rev. Gideon Tibbetts Ridson, Sr. Kezar Falls, Maine. Author of "Early Settlers of Harrison, Me.," "Burbank Genealogy," "Hamblens of Beech Hill," "The Ancient Ryedales," and "Saco Valley Settlement and Families." Knowledge of an Honorable Ancestry should be an Incentive to Noble Conduct. Journal Press, Lewison, Me. Published by the Author (1907)
One hundred years ago . . . in July of 1913 . . . aging veterans of the war between the states were gathered on a hallowed battlefield in Adams County, Pennsylvania . . . amongst those survivors were representatives of the 5th Maine . . . and one of those regal gentlemen was Peter Brackett, the youngest of thirteen children said to have been born to William Brackett, a veteran of the Revolutionary War . . . the originals of the photos in this collage are from Peter's photos . . . and they were last known to be in the possession of some of his kinfolk in Lynn, Massachusetts . . .
In 1913, the State of Maine offered to pay the expenses and arrange transportation to Gettysburg and back for any Maine resident who had participated in the battle in 1863 and who wanted to attend the 50-year reunion . . . it is known that he attended, so mayhaps this veteran of the 5th Maine, Peter Brackett, accepted Maine's assistance in making that sentimental journey . . .
In this photo, Peter Brackett (1838-1927) is standing in the yard of the home he shared with the family of Eva Mae Smith nee Brackett (1874-1936) . . . this Eva was known as Grammie Smith to the Mother of the Keeper of this family history blog . . . and she was raised as the daughter of Peter and Lizzie (Merrill) Brackett . . . click on Eva's name in this paragraph to read the rest of the story about her connection to this Peter Brackett, who, as it turns out, is also a 3rd great-grandson of the same Anthony Brackett who is the 10th great-grandpa of the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
On the 25th (yesterday) the Keeper of this family history blog was doing some work on Find-A-Grave regarding the Old City Cemetery in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas . . . two of the photos posted on Find-A-Grave during that work session are of the final resting place of a little girl with the name of Hattie R (1873-1875), Dau. of Wm. M. & E.V. Baines. . . .
As far as is currently known, there are no other Baines buried in this cemetery . . . and the parents were not listed as being buried elsewhere in Milam County . . . so, a search was begun for her family members . . .
The 1880 census quickly revealed that amongst the inhabitants of Rockdale as of June of that year were 37-year-old Wm. M. Baines, his 39-year-old wife, Elizabeth V. Baines, and an assortment of children . . . also in the same household were William's 33-year-old brother, Geo. W. Baines, and his 24-year-old wife, Cornelia . . .
Further research led to the fact that these Baines brothers are two of the sons of George Washington Baines, Sr. and his first wife, Melissa Ann Butler . . . this info wound up placing these Baines brothers in the waayyy distant branches of our family tree, where . . .
On this date, the 26th day of June, in the year 1881 . . . a baby girl is born in Collin County, Texas . . . she is the first of three children known to have been born to her parents, Joseph Wilson Baines (1846-1906) and Ruth Ament Huffman (1854-1936) . . . and they give her the name of Rebekah . . . Rebekah's father, Joseph, is a brother to the above named William and George . . . which makes Rebekah a first cousin to the little Hattie who is buried in the Old City Cemetery in Rockdale, Texas . . . Rebekah grows up to marry Samuel Ealy Johnson . . . and they are the parents of the 36th President of the United States . . . who is a 9th cousin twice removed to the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
A faded census page from 1870 bears the heading . . . Inhabitants in Greensburg Precinct, in the County of Green, State of Kentucky, enumerated by me on the 17th day of June, 1870. . . . on Line 15 is enumerated 55-year-old Mary Henry (nee Kirtley) . . . and under the heading "Profession, Occupation, or Trade" it is indicated that she "Sews & Knits" . . .
Mary is enumerated in the household of her only daughter, who is listed here as Ann B Owen . . . this "Sewer & Knitter" is known to have had two sons, William and Francis . . . her first-born son, William Paschal Henry (1836-1912), left Kentucky and wound up in Texas sometime before 1860, mayhaps by way of Missouri . . . it is believed that she never saw him again once he left Kentucky . . .
This William is a 2nd great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . he had settled in Milam County (in central Texas) before 1880 and remained in that area until his death in 1912, when he was laid to rest beside his wife at the Pleasant Grove (aka Murray) Cemetery . . .
The dates of death and burial locations of his parents, Thomas Henry and Mary Kirtley, remain unknown to us at this time . . .
See also . . . Henry-Kirtley Timeline . . .
