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|  | 1931 :: Henry-Davis Reunion
« Thread Started on Feb 29, 2008, 1:43pm » | |
In his 18 Oct 1931 radio address, Herbert Hoover said that, "I appeal to the American people to make November 26 next the outstanding Thanksgiving Day in the history of the United States; that we may say on that day that America has again demonstrated her ideals; ... that upon this Thanksgiving Day we have removed the fear of the forthcoming winter from the hearts of all who are suffering and in distress -- that we are our brother's keeper."
The following transcription of a yellowed and crumbling newspaper clipping was e-mailed to Vickie Everhart nee Pounders by Peggy Skeeters nee Fergeson on Friday 10 September 1999. The quoted text is the original wording, and the other text is notes that have been added by .
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On Sunday, [sic] November 26 [sic], 1931, a happy event took place at the home of Mrs. Ella Hamilton in this city [Rockdale]. It was a get-together of the Henry family for the first time in twenty years. W. P. Henry and Mrs. Ella Hamilton being the only ones left in the old home town.
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26 Nov 1931 was Thanksgiving Day, and was on a Thursday. The photos from that gathering are actually dated Sunday, 22 November 1931. Mayhaps they had an extended (and long-overdue) "reunion" at the Hamilton home that was located at 604 West Cameron in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas.
Did they get together in February of 1911 for their patriarch's 75th birthday? The year of 1912 saw the sinking of the Titanic; the birth of Nellie Josephine Peebles nee Henry and Elizabeth Marilla Henry nee Smith; as well as the deaths of William Paschal Henry, Sr. and his sister-in-law, Margaret Frances Antony nee Davis. Was this the year that also saw the scattering of these family members?
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Dr. and Mrs. T. E. Riddle were guests at this occasion, they being old friends and Dr. Riddle the family physician.
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Thomas E. Riddle came to Texas from Tennessee as a young man and was engaged in farming and ranching while studying medicine. It was by long hard work that he prepared to take and successfully passed the medical examinations. Thus he proudly "hung out his shingle" and framed his certificate for his office. He was one of those rare individuals whose treatment included medicinal aids and prayer. Many of his medicines he prepared from plants, herbs and roots. These he carried with him in his saddle bag as he became a familiar figure moving mile after mile among the early day residents. Many long vigils were kept by this good man as he faithfully fulfilled the Hippocratic oath he had taken years before. Dr. Riddle served in the Confederate Army with McCord's Texas Cavalry, Company F, was a lifelong member of the Baptist Church, and was a Mason. It is probable that Dr. Riddle served Rockdale and its surrounding territory longer than any other doctor in the history of the town. His death occurred in 1934 and he is buried among many lifelong friends of yesteryears in the family cemetery. . . . from A History of Rockdale, Texas 1874-1974 edited by Mrs. Ida Jo Marshall.
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Everyone came early, talked and enjoyed themselves. The dining room was decorated with lovely ferns and chrysanthemums. The table spread in picnic style, then came the time to eat, and everyone seemed ready. Dr. Riddle returned thanks. In the afternoon some pictures were taken. Then came the parting time but all declared that they had enjoyed themselves.
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I know of a group photo of Berta, Edgar, Sudie, Romy, Annie, Will, Ella, Emma; and of a photo of Dr. & Mrs. Riddle with Will, Emma and Edgar. Are there others from that reunion?
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All the relatives were present except nine grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
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See separate list (at the end of this article) of all those not listed as attendees within this article. If the previous statement is correct, then there were quite a few at the reunion who didn't get listed in the 1931 newspaper article.
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Grandpa Henry was born in Kentucky, came from there to Sherman in Grayson county.
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According to a note handwritten by Laura Hamilton (1898-1987), he "was borned in Greensborough, Kentucky Feb 19-1836."
According to a handwritten entry which appears on a photocopy of a "Family Record" page from a 19th century family Bible (existence and/or location of original unknown as of 2002), "Wm. P. Henry (was) born February the nineteenth 1836."
According to another entry in said family Bible, "born in Brazoria County Texas October 30th 1865 Margaret Ann Henry."
According to another entry in said family Bible, "Ella May and Jesse Eugene Henry were born in Grayson County Texas October 26 A.D. 1875."
That places Josephine in Brazoria Co. in 1865 and in Grayson Co. in 1875. Was Wm. P. in Grayson Co. before their marriage in 1864, and then again c. 1875?
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There he was married to Josephine Davis, she being a relative of Jefferson Davis.
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According to the 1860 census, eighteen-year-old Josephine was living in Columbia, Brazoria County, Texas with her Father and brothers (her Mother having died before the family left Georgia).
According to an entry in the previously mentioned family Bible, "Josephine W. Davis married to Wm. P. Henry at the residence of Mr. James W. Lance March 1st 1864," (which we now know was in Brazoria County, Texas, thanks to a trip to that County Courthouse by Pam Bryan nee Pounders of Lake Jackson).
According to an entry in said family Bible, "born in Brazoria County Texas October 30th 1865 Margaret Ann Henry."
As of November 2002, I have not found any connection to Jefferson Davis. Take a look > here < for a discussion on the Genealogy of Jefferson Davis.
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Grandmother was born in Georgia.
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According to an entry in said family Bible, "Josephine W. Davis born May 10th 1842," but it doesn't say where. We do know her parents married in Morgan County, Georgia on 30 Aug 1830, and that the family was living in Morgan Co. at the time of the 1850 census. Josephine's middle name was "Wingfield." Don't know where that name came from, but FYI -- there is a "Wingfield" Davis on the 1840 Morgan Co. census.
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Eight children were born to this union, three dying when infants.
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According to entries in said family Bible —
Born in Brazoria County Texas October 20th 1865 Margaret Ann Henry
Margaret Ann Henry died April 19th 1868
Wm. P. Henry, Jr. born October 3rd 1868
Jerome Bonepart Henry born April 18th 1870
Emma & Edgar Henry born January 31st 1872
Harry Henry born July 31st 1874
Harry Henry died in Sherman January 10th 1875
Ella May and Jesse Eugene Henry were born in Grayson County Texas October 26 A.D. 1875
Jesse Eugene Henry died September 1876
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On Oct. 3, 1876, the Henrys arrived in Rockdale to visit a sister and family of the Mrs. Henry's, it being Dr. and Mrs. M. F. Anthony, who at that time had the post office and drug store combined on the corner where the Wolf Hotel now stands.
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This would be Margaret, Josephine's only sister. Margaret's husband was Dr. Milton Antony, Jr. (their 1st cousin once removed). He was a Confederate Surgeon in Brazoria County during the war between the states, and was the third Postmaster in Rockdale, serving 6 June 1876 to 26 April 1877 (which was one month after the entire wooden portion of Rockdale burned). He was a practicing physician in both Cameron and Rockdale. Margaret and Milton are buried in the Old City Cemetery in Rockdale.
The Wolf sat on the northeast corner of the intersection of Main and Milam. According to a history of Rockdale published in 1936, a two-story stone and brick bank building was erected in 1875, which later became the Wolf Hotel, and then, c. 1935, the American Legion Hall. An 1885 map of Rockdale does show a bank at that location, and on the corner across the street is a post office in the Mundine House (now McVoy's).
A year before Josephine went to Rockdale to visit her sister, Margaret, the following item appeared in the 12 Nov 1875 issue of the Galveston Weekly News: "There are street fights occurring (in Rockdale) almost every day and the officers of the law seem to enjoy it, taking their fines, never giving offenders the least word of warning or lecture. Nothing better could be expected when they license women of ill fame for ten dollars a month and receive half of the fines and their compensation. The most disgusting of it is, when they choose, these officers step beyond their authority and utterly disregard the law at pleasure. Every day or two some very interesting scenes occur in the pettifoggeries of Rockdale."
And a just a year before that 1875 report, the same paper, in the 9 November 1874 issue, described the brand new city of Rockdale as being "delightfully located in a thriving section of the county. . . . there are two or three banks, fifty or sixty merchants, and plenty of saloons, and has generally all the appearances of a railroad town. . . . While all it new and in some degree crude, there are some fine stone and brick buildings. . . . Where a population of eighteen hundred now thrive, was ten months ago the home of the deer, and the pleasure ground of the black bear."
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Grandpa liked the country so he moved to a place just across the road from Dr. Riddle, just south of town, and stayed there awhile.
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"Among the earliest settlers in this section was Dr. T. E. Riddle, who settled in the vicinity of what is now Cattail in 1867. Dr. Riddle passed away only a few years ago, having reached a ripe old age." (from the 1936 Annual Lair, Rockdale Public School)
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He then bought 100 acres of land three miles north of town, moved there, and raised his family, . . .
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Milam County Record, Volume 54 Page 526-529 . . . Know all men by these presents that I, Mary Estes of the State and County aforesaid in consideration of the payment of a promissory note . . . for three hundred ($300) Dollars given by W. P. Henry, have granted, bargained sold and released and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell and release unto the said W. P. Henry all that tract or parcel of land known as a part of a two league survey . . . containing an area of one hundred acres of land. . . . Witness my hand this the 14 day of December 1878.
Bethlehem, a farming community three miles north of Rockdale was named for the Biblical city of Bethlehem. Some of the early settlers who came to this area were ... S. W. Christian ... David Hamilton ... William P. Henry ... from A History of Rockdale, Texas 1874-1974.
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. . . lived there until his death, Feb. 10, 1911.
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According to William Paschal Henry's printed obituary (actually a photocopy of an undated newspaper clipping), as well as his tombstone, he died in 1912, not 1911.
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Grandmother was killed Oct. 28, 1899.
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According to her tombstone, Josephine Wingfield Henry nee Davis died 28 Jan 1899. After receiving this conflicting information regarding Josephine's date of death, Roberta Mae Pounders nee Henry returned to the Rockdale Public Library to once again peruse the microfilm copies of the 1899 Rockdale Reporter. In the 1 Nov 1899 issue, she found what we had been looking for.
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Three of the children left here at different times. W. P. Henry and Mrs. Ella Hamilton are the only ones left in the old home . . . (crumbled edge, but I would guess the word missing is town)
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Edgar moved to Norton in Runnels County c. 1920
Emma moved to Houston County before 1904
Jerome moved to ? c. 19??
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Those present on this occasion . . . (part of the word "occasion" is crumbled away) . . .
W. P. Henry (Jr. 1868-1941),
Miss Grace Henry (1908-1996) . . . (Henry is frayed & the first part of someone's name is crumbled away; the next line begins with) . . .
(Er) nest (Buck 1911-1995) Henry,
Mr. and Mrs. (Birdie Henry 1894-1943)
Jack (Kyle) . . . (crumbled) . . . and
Lucille, Graham (1917-1984),
We(l) to (n) . . . (crumbled) . . . Delbert Kyle,
Mr. and Mrs. (William Clinton 1896-1969) . . . (frayed) . . . Henry and
Nathlee Henry,
Mr. and Mrs. Will (Pearl Henry 1899-1981) Vogel,
Mr. and Mrs. Eddie (Bessie Henry 1901-1964) Backhaus and
Ruth Backhaus,
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Henry (1903-1955) and
Wesley Bert Henry.
Mr. and Mrs. Jerome (1870-1956) Henry and granddaughter,
Gloria Sue, of San Antonio;
Mrs. Emma (nee Henry 1872-1944) Sharp, Crockett;
Mr. and Mrs. Edgar (1872-1950) Henry, Norton;
Mr. and Mrs. Sylas (Ruby Henry 1895-1978) Christian, Rockdale;
Frank (1899-1952) and
Nellie (1912-1996) Henry, Norton;
Mrs. Ella (nee Henry 1875-1967) Hamilton,
Misses Laura (1898-1987) and
Ruth (1909-1998) and
Harry (1913-1983) Hamilton, Rockdale.
Those who were visitors:
Dr. (1838-1934) and Mrs. T. E. Riddle and
Miss Docle Williams, Rockdale;
Cleve Calvert, and
Miss Margaret Calvert, Houston;
Milton Phillips, Norton;
Mrs. Ida Halyard, Crockett.
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Ida (Sharp) Halyard (1871-aft.1962) was a sister of Berta Mary Sharp, who married Edgar Henry, and of Sam Houston Sharp, Jr., who married Edgar's twin sister, Emma. Anybody know who the other guests are?
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benotforgot
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| | These NOT listed at the 1931 Henry-Davis Reunion
« Reply #1 on Feb 29, 2008, 1:47pm » | |
Quote:
Those known to have been living in 1931, yet not listed as attendees at this gathering, include --
Descendants of Jerome Bonepart Henry (1870-1956) --
Gladys Henry (1899-1974)
Velma Henry (1901-1968) -- in Waco, Texas
Susie Viola Henry (1907-1954) -- in San Antonio, Texas
Descendants of Emma Sharp nee Henry (1872-1944) --
Alice Alexandria Sharp (1889-1966) -- in Houston Co., Texas
Stuart Arlington Leaverton (1908-2001) -- in Houston Co., Texas
Edward Lucille Roberts (1909-1978)
Sam Collins Roberts (1911-1957) -- in Houston Co., Texas
Avis Lynell Roberts (b. 1913) -- in Crockett, Texas
Ella Josephine Sharp (1894-1982) -- in Palestine, Texas
Tim A. Newton, Jr. (1912-1979) -- in Palestine, Texas
Willie Clarence Newton (1917-1981) -- in Palestine, Texas
Jerry Lewis Sharp (1898-1978) -- in Houston, Texas
Katherine Sharp
Eloise Sharp (1921-1977) -- in Houston, Texas
Harold Lyn Sharp -- in Houston, Texas
Jerry L. Sharp, Jr. -- in Houston, Texas
Delores Sharp -- in Houston, Texas
William Harden Sharp, Sr. (1904-1947) -- in Ohio?
William Harden Sharp, Jr. (b. 1929) -- in Houston Co., Texas
Helen Marie Sharp (b. 1931) -- in Houston Co., Texas
Descendants of Edgar Henry (1872-1950) --
Vesper Sylas Christian (1917-1975)
Ruby Iola Christian (living)
Charles Blakely Christian (1922-1998)
George Rettig Henry (1897-1977) -- in west Texas
Georgia Faye Henry (1925-2001) -- in west Texas
Weldon Lee Henry (1927-1998) -- in west Texas
Milton Edgar Henry (1902-1975) -- in west Texas
Milford Barton Henry (living) -- in west Texas
Marlyn Edward Henry (1930-1995) -- in west Texas
Robert E. Henry, Sr. (1905-1976) -- in Massachusetts
Robert E. Henry, Jr. (1930-1997) -- in Massachusetts
My Mom is a daughter of the above listed Robert, Sr. This reunion was held two months before she was born in Massachusetts. Her 19-year-old mother, Elizabeth, would die three days later. Mom "does" appear in this > 1939 reunion photo. <
Descendants of Ella Hamilton nee Henry (1875-1967) --
Minnie (Hamilton) Fergeson (1895-1989) -- in Houston, Texas
Ewin Fergeson (1921-2009) -- in Houston, Texas
Emma (Hamilton) Davis (1904-1998)
James Ross Davis, Jr.
Eileen Davis
Vernon Ray Davis
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benotforgot
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| | Re: 1931 :: Henry-Davis Reunion
« Reply #2 on Feb 29, 2008, 2:03pm » | |
A Little Historical Perspective ~
In October of 1931, President Hoover acted at 20 minutes past midnight to end the run on banks, 800 of which had failed. Flying from Texas to attend the secret meeting with the President and other congressman. Rep. John Nance Garner found that his wife had folded a scriptural quotation within his invitation ~ "The spirit of the Lord watches over you and keeps you in perfect safety. His spirit is guarding, protecting, inspiring and guiding you in all your ways." Said the congressman, "I was mighty glad to read it."
In his 18 Oct 1931 radio address, Herbert Hoover said that, "This broadcast tonight marks the beginning of the mobilization of the Nation for a great undertaking to provide security for those of our citizens and their families who, through no fault of their own, face unemployment and privation during the coming winter. ... This organized effort is our opportunity to express our sympathy, to lighten the burden of the heavy laden, and to cast sunshine into the habitation of despair. ...
Other happenings in 1931 included --
Thomas Alva Edison died at the age of 84. That night, in his memory, the lights of the nation were turned off for one minute.
Aviator Amelia Earhart married New York publisher George Putman, with the stipulation that she may do as she pleases.
Will Rogers made the statement that, "We are the first nation...to go to the poorhouse in an automobile."
New foods in 1931 were ... Hotel Bar butter ... Bisquick biscuit mix ... Beech-Nut baby food ... Hostess Twinkies ... Toll House cookies.
New products and inventions in 1931 were ... Alka Seltzer ... Breck shampoo ... the air-conditioner ... infrared photography ... Schick shavers ... dry ice ... coaxial cables ... synthetic rubber.
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