Chasing Our Tales - With More Fortune Bend Stories
Greetings Dear Readers. I have often wanted to begin a column like that! And this is one time when you Dear Readers have contributed much to the writing of this column by sharing your stories.
I, first, want to make a correction. In naming the family of John and Bonnie Gann, I misnamed one of their children. Instead of Vera Nell, her name should have read Vernell Gann Phillips. This was a serendipitous mistake, however, for Mrs. Phillips called and told me several wonderful stories about her family.
Mrs. Phillips says that once, when her twin brother and sister, Veva and Vearon, were very small, living there in Caddo, their mother heard a big cat screaming. Mr. Gann was out bailing hay, so Mrs. Gann put the twins in a closet to keep them safe from the lion. The cat howled so fiercely and long, the mule jumped the fence and ran off. When Mr. Gann came home, he asked his wife about the problem, and she explained that the panther had been yelling up the hill all day.
Vernell went on to tell me that when her family wanted supplies from town, they hitched up the wagon and rode as far as Indian Creek School the first day. On the second day they would drive on into Mineral Wells, do their shopping, and go back west as far as Indian Creek School where they would, once again, spend the night before proceeding back to Caddo.
Thanks, Vernell, for the wonderful stories!
I have discovered a wonderful web site for the Gann family. The url/internet address is http://www.galen.gann.com
The next story comes from Laura Hight Singleton of De Leon. Mrs. Hight writes that she appreciated the column about Fortune Bend and Pickwick. Her dad, Amos Hight, was born three on 4 May 1919 to Earnest and Maggie (Terry) Hight. They had eight girls and three boys while living in that area. Laura's dad was born at home as were most of "Granny" Hight's children. It was several months after the birth before the family made the trip to Palo Pinto to register Amos' birth, which Dr. Smith signed.
Laura goes on to say that her dad grew up and married Mary Elizabeth Rainwater. He served in World War II as Amos Hight, but when he applied for his social security at age 65, he got out his birth certificate which had recorded him as "No Name Hight".
Amos and his future wife Elizabeth grew up together, and they had many stores to tell on each other. They were close to the Gann family and were saddened when Vearon died in 1985. Then in 1986 Amos Hight died. They are greatly missed.
Laura remembers the McCoy fondly, saying they were special people who were extremely musically talented. Laura states that she still owns her family's home place at Brad, behind what was Snoddy's Cafe.
Laura included a partial Hight family tree. The married names are in parentheses:
Earnest Hight born 1 Jun 1888
Maggie Gertrude (Terry) Hight born 2 Sep 1892
Children of Earnest and Maggie:
Inez (Moore) born 9 Aug 1914
Sadie R. (McCoy) born 17 Nov 1917
Amos D. born 4 May 1919
Eva Lee born 9 Jan 1921
William A. (Billy) born 24 Jul 1924
Dorthy Ruth (Couch) born 21 Apr 1927
Cleo Dean (Mc Coy) born 11 Sep 1930
Marvin born 17 Mar 1933
Iris Virginia (Skiles) born 10 Jan 1936
Wanda Sue (Lewis) born 5 Feb 1939
Earnestine (Strawbridge) born 24 Feb 1941
Thank you, Laura!
I also discovered the following information regarding one of the McCoy family of Palo Pinto County. William Anderson Garrard was born on 8 Dec 1844 in Milford, Bracken County, Kentucky. He was living in 1880 in Palo Pinto County. He owned Garrard Homestead on 29 Aug 1887 in Stephens County, Texas. On 26 Aug 1887, G.W.Boring applied for a survey of the following land: one hundred and sixty (160) acres situated in Stephens County Texas, and three days later the land is transferred to W.A. Garrard. Garrard later transferred the land to Ellen Garrard on 2 Dec 1889 because of marital problems. W.A. Garrard died on 5 May 1894 in Washita, Oklahoma. He was killed by a mule, as he was a muleskinner by trade. W. A. Garrard's parents were John Mountjoy Garrard and Mildred (Amelia?) Kinney. He was married to Ellen Kirkney McCoy in 1883 in Palo Pinto County. The family story is that either
Ellen accused her husband William A. of fooling around with a neighbor woman, or he accused her of relations with a neighbor man. In either case, the story is she asked him to leave. They never divorced. Their children were John Mountjoy, Robert McCoy, Annie Maria, Timothy Paul
I have received some wonderful emails from Noel Garland of Mesquite, Texas. He states there is a Garland Bend, one bend northwest of Fortune Bend. Upon reading the Fortune Bend column, Mr. Garland contacted his friend Pete Weldon in San Angelo. Mr. Weldon tells us that Thomas Fielder Weldon was his grandfather. he goes on to say that his grandparents are buried in Pickwick Cemetery, not too far from Graford. He says he can can find it easily enough, but it is not really near any other land mark except the Possum Kingdom Lake.
Mr. Garland has further shared so many of his family memories, that I am planning a separate column on the Garland families of Parker and Palo Pinto County, and I am also hoping to get information from Mr. Weldon on his family.
One other tidbit of information about the Weldon family is that their family reunion is scheduled for the second weekend in July at the Gateway Inn in Graham.
You regular readers may remember the column dealing with the Savage family of Parker and Palo Pinto Counties. My teacher friend, Bonnie Bailey, who assisted me with the article, tells me that her husband's family, the Bailey family, were settlers in the Fortune Bend area.
Finally, I had a letter from Jack Schmitz Jr. of Denton, Texas. His ranch is on U. S. 180 and state highway16. As the ranch is on both sides of the highway, it is located on both the Big Ioni and Little Ioni Creeks.
Mr. Schmidt has asked for information on the Ioni Indians. I have not discovered much, thus far, but I hope to write separate pieces on the Indians of the area. Thus far I have discovered that the Tehuacana Creek Treaty between the Republic of Texas and the Comanche, Keechi, Waco, Caddo, Anadarko, Ioni, Delaware, Shawnee, Cherokee, Lipan and Tawakoni tribes was signed in 1844. In one source I found that the Ioni may have been part of the Waco tribe.
And to give an example of how one thing leads to another, I discovered that one Jesse Chisholm also signed the treaty of 1844. Chisholm was a half-breed Indian who later opened a cattle trail to Kansas. Although it appears that he is not related to John Chisum who founded the famous Chisholm Cattle Trail, the trail is named with the holm spelling rathe than the sum spelling. For loads of information, especially if you have a young person doing a report of the trail, go to internet address http://www.texhoma.net/~glencbr/ . But, as they say, that is another story!
Well, I guess that's all for the time being. It is exciting to hear from so many different people, and I hope you will keep the letters and emails coming! Sue Seibert, P. O. Box 61, Mineral Wells TX 76068-0061; siouxcitysue@cox-internet.com .
You all come on back now, you hear!