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Topic: LETTERS TO AUNT AMANDA (Read 677 times)

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LETTERS TO AUNT AMANDA
« Thread Started on Mar 5, 2006, 3:05am »

This particular trail of discovery began late in 1998 for me when I first started corresponding with LaVerne (Adams) and Bill Dixon. LaVerne and I share a common ancestor in Richard West, Sr. He was the father of ... Mathilda (West) Valentine, LaVerne's g-g-grandmother ... and of Richard West, Jr., my g-g-g-grandfather.

In talking with the Dixons, I learned of the existence of some 19th century letters regarding some of the people who came to Texas c. 1869 from Oktibbeha County, Mississippi. Bill and LaVerne told me that this was a series of letters from various people in Burleson/Lee County, Texas written back home to a Miss Amanda Boyd in Starkville, Mississippi.

If I remember correctly, the Dixon's were able to obtain photocopies of handwritten transcriptions of some of these letters which had been made by Ascenia (Peebles) Underwood. My understanding is that Mrs. Underwood had years ago visited a lady somewhere in Texas who allowed her to hand copy the original letters.

The Dixons were kind enough to send me typed copies of a total of twenty letters. The dates on these letters range from December 1869 to February 1892. They all had a return address of post offices in Lexington and Tanglewood, Texas.

Since setting up this US MISSISSIPPIANS site, I have been blessed to make contact with all you wonderful kith and kin with links back to Oktibbeha County.

The late Jim Vick of Italy kindly introduced me to his Texian cousin, Norene (Vick) Weigl. In an e-mail dated 17 Feb 2000, Norene mentioned that she had "a copy of the Vick early letters written by Vicks who came to Lee Co., Texas back to relatives who remained in Mississippi." When I questioned her about the letters she had, she told me she received her copies from Dora (Smith) Pendley of Mesquite, Texas.

Norene was kind enough to contact Dora's husband (Dora doesn't do e-mail) and he in turn contacted me. Dr. Pendley told me that ... Dora got the copies from Ila Vick years ago ... She was a daughter of Lum Vick. She was living in Rotan, TX when we visited her. She is a sister to Boyd Vick who lives in Lubbock.

I drove to Mesquite Tuesday morning (29 Feb 2000) and spent a perfectly delightful couple of hours visiting with Dr. and Mrs. Pendley in their home. When I got there, Mrs. Pendley had already made copies of the letters for me.

I was delighted to see not only what appear to be copies of the originals of some of the typed letters I previously received from the Dixons, but also some letters I had not known about before.

One of those new letters was an undated six-page letter addressed to a Mrs. Frances Henderson in Breckenridge, Texas. That letter was from a Homer C. Richey who was trying to locate all heirs of a "Miss Ida Seale, a cousin of the Vicks (who) died last summer." Mr. Richey was expressing a keen interest in buying 440 acres of land in Mississippi which belonged to Miss Seale's estate. That letter is added as a COMMENT to this message.

These letters are posted on the appropriate dates on the CALENDAR at this UM site. This enables us to re-read these letters throughout the year as we receive automatic reminders on the anniversary dates of when those letters were originally written. I have also adding historical notes of interest to some of the letters.

I now tend to believe that there are probably various collections of these letters scattered around out there somewhere. If y'all hear of ANYBODY that has copies of the letters to Aunt Amanda, please follow up on it. I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find that the Pendley's collection differed somewhat from the Dixon's collection!

« Last Edit: Apr 9, 2008, 11:06am by benotforgot »

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Re: LETTERS TO AUNT AMANDA
« Reply #1 on Mar 5, 2006, 3:06am »

Norene Weigl says that: The Civil War occurred between 1861-1865. Our Vick family lived in Oktibbeha, Miss. at the time. In 1869, 21 families from that area formed a wagon train and made their way to Lee County, Texas (just east of Austin).
These letters were written to "Aunt Amanda" Boyd (related on the Boyd side but not the Vick side) who remained in Mississippi all her life and never married. One hundred years later, we are so glad that she was a "pack-rat" and kept all these letters. They give us a very clear picture of the life of great-grandpa Joseph William Vick and his family during his teen and pre-marriage years.

Aunt Amanda was sister to: Mary Caroline (Boyd) Vick, second wife of Littleberry Fletcher Vick. and Louisa Catherine (Boyd) Vick first wife of Hartwell Vick. (LBF) Littleberry and Hartwell were brothers-in-law to "Aunt Amanda". (LBF) and Hartwell were also brothers to our gr-gr-grandfather Joshua Thomas and Uncles of our great-grandfather Joseph William Vick (Buried at Richland, NM).

Aunt Amanda's only connection to great-grandpa Joseph William Vick is that she was sister to two of his aunts as Littleberry Fletcher and Hartwell were his uncles (brothers to Joshua Thomas. )

Two of the arthors were Littleberry Fletcher and his second wife Mary Caroline (Boyd) Vick. Littleberry was second son of William (Capt. Billy) and Martha (Walker) Vick.

Two of Littleberry and Mary Caroline's children were also authors of some of the letters. Joseph Henry, their first child, also wrote several of these letters.

Adela (Della) their second child was one of the authors. She married William Jart Marquis. One year after their marriage, she died in childbirth. Twelve years after Della's death, her husband, William Jart married Annie Jane Vick, daughter of Joshua Thomas and Judith Ann Vick.

Third son of William (Capt. Billy) and Martha (Walker) Vick was Joshua Thomas Vick (my great-great-grandfather). None of his family wrote any of the letters, but several of the letters made reference to he and his wife, Judith Ann (Ball) referred to as (UNCLE THOMAS and AUNT JUDY) and their family. Joshua Thomas and Judith Ann were parents to Joseph William, (Father of James Albert Vick who was father of my dad, Emerson Vick).

Hartwell, fourth son of William (Capt. Billy and Martha (Walker) Vick did not write any of the letters, but two of his children did. His first child, Luvicy Jane Vick, was one of the authors. His second child, Cornelia, was also arthor of some of the letters.

THE AUTHORS' CONNECTION TO OUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER JOSEPH WILLIAM VICK:

Littleberry Fletcher (LBF) and Mary Caorline were Joseph William's uncle and aunt. Joseph Henry and Adela "Della", children of Littleberry, were his first cousins. Also Luvicy Jane and Cornelia, children of Hartwell, were his first cousins.

« Last Edit: Apr 9, 2008, 11:07am by benotforgot »

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