To wish you all Happy Saint Patrick's Day, it makes sense to begin this column with some local Irish-American history and genealogy.
Mineral Well's founder Judge James Alvis Lynch was an Irish-American, his grandfather Charles having come from County Limerick in 1720.
Another Irish family, which immigrated to Palo Pinto County, was that of Curtis Claude Mack. Curtis Mack worked for a telephone company here about 1954. He was married to Margaret Grant Currie, of Scottish descent. The grandchildren called them "Poppy" and "Big". Their children were Isabeller (Ethel Isabell), born in Hog Town (Desdemona) 3 Jul 1903; Ina Jo who was two years younger; and Jessie Mae, five years younger. Ethel became Mrs. A. E. Price; Ina, Mrs. J. B. Fitzgerald; and Jessie, Mrs. K. L. Barnes.
Curtis' father was G. O. (George) Mack. George was a sign painter, and he and his wife, "Grandma Weaver", separated or divorced and George left Palo Pinto after painting one last sign, never to be heard from again, although there were rumors of his "riding the rails" and being a "bum". "Grandma Weaver", who was born in Nacogdoches, lived with "Big" and "Poppy" until her death. She is buried in Palo Pinto.
About 1936 at the age of 80 George surfaced to give a newspaper interview about how he came to be in Texas. In the article he told that he came to Collin County with his parents and carried the mail by horseback, covering three counties. He made two trips per week to Rockwall and one per week to Lewisville. This was in the 1874. At least one of his brothers, name unknown, is buried in a Confederate cemetery in Austin.
Another interesting Irish American family of the area is that of William J."One-Armed Billy" Wilson, the cowboy who was with Oliver Loving when he was mortally wounded and was also a top hand for the Goodnight ranch. He married Emma Skeet, a relation of Wes Skeet, Goodnight's partner. Billy's ancestor, Jeremiah Wilson, was born in County Cork, Ireland. Jeremiah died in 1829, having married Martha Reed in 1789 in North Carolina.
Now to the mailbag. This email came from Katherine Short of Breckenridge: "Martin G. Nall was born in1806 in Tennessee and died sometime after 1860 in Palo Pinto County. He was my husband's great-great-grandfather, (and the family descended) from his son James W. Nall born in 1850 in Texas, through James' daughter Myrtle Lester Nall, born 18 Jan 1855, Palo Pinto County, Texas, married 6 Feb 1906, to Theodore Augustus Short born 25 Jan 1882 in Parker County, Texas. Theodore's grandfather Robert Thomas Short came from Tennessee to Texas with his mother, a brother, and sister about 1840.
"My husband tells a story of Martin Nall working as a surveyor and that he was responsible for the straight Texas state boundary lines.
"In the 1850 Palo Pinto County, Texas, Census there is M. G. and Cynthia Nolls with 8 children. In the next household was William and Margaret Bass with four children and 70-year-old Elizabeth Nolls. Do you have information about them?"
Bibliography: Land: Irish Pioneers in Mexican and Revolutionary Texas, Graham Davis, LC 2001008478, Texas A& M University Press, 2001.
If you have questions or comments, please let me hear from you: Sue Seibert, P. O. Box 61, Mineral Wells TX 76068-0061 or siouxcitysue@cox-internet.com . So, until next time, you all take care and come back and visit!