Post by benotforgot on Feb 29, 2008 12:43:58 GMT -6
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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 Vickie.Everhart@gmail.com.
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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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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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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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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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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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- 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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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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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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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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"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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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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According to William Paschal Henry's printed obituary[/u][/url] (actually a photocopy of an undated newspaper clipping), as well as his tombstone, he died in 1912, not 1911.
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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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- Edgar moved to Norton in Runnels County c. 1920
- Emma moved to Houston County before 1904
- Jerome moved to ? c. 19??
- 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?[/size]