Chasing Our Tales, West Texas Frontier

 

Our community recently lost one of its finest members from one of its oldest families, Gil Hull. He and his wife, Sylvia, and sons Jeremy, Adam, and Chris have been important parts of Mineral Wells for many years. We grieve with their family over this loss and know that we were all better for having known Gil.

About a week and a half before Gil died, he called me on the phone to tell me he had some books he wanted to share with me and with the readers of this column. He brought them to me and said he felt these books would give information to North Central Texas through this column for years to come.

The books are The West Texas Frontier by Joseph Carroll McConnell and were published in 1939 by the Texas Legal Bank and Book Company of Palo Pinto County, Texas.

Here is the first tale I am going to tell from Mr. McConnell's book. It's called the Gunsight Gap Episode.

"During 1869, several wagons of corn were being hauled from near Stephenville to Fort Griffin, and were guarded by eleven soldiers. When they reached Colony Creek, in Eastland County, several deer were seen, and pursued by the cavalrymen. Since the teamsters were depending upon the soldiers, they were unarmed. So when the wagons reached Gunsight Gap, in the southern part of Stephens County, several Indians came charging freighters. The teamsters ran down the creek, for a considerable distance, crossed over the divide west, and went to the home of W. W. Ray, who then lived on Big Sandy. The Indians captured the several teams of mules, then were hitched to the wagons, and the soldiers went on to Fort Griffin. W. W. Ray hauled the teamsters to the post."

This interview was done of J. M. Ray, the son of W. W. Ray; W. C. McGough; Lish Christenson, and others.

I believe this W. W. Ray to be William Washington Ray who was listed on the 1870 census from Fort Griffin, living on Cedar Creek. He is listed as a stock raiser who was born in Alabama. He was 40 years old. His wife is listed as Julia Ann Ray, born in Missouri, a 30-year-old housekeeper. With them are listed Pat R. ?, age 16, a stock handler; and the Ray children, Jacob, 13; William Washington Jr., 7; John R. Taylor, 6; Mary Frances, 4; Benjamin, 3; and Martha, 9 months.

W. C. McGough was married in Erath County to Mary Westbrook on 10 Jun 1875.

Lish Christenson was Elisha L. Christenson, who is listed on the 1920 US Census living in Stephens County. He was 62 years old and was born in Texas. He was married to Harriet E., who was 54 and was born in Tennessee. They had a daughter, Ollie, age 24 living with them.

My question for all of you is...are you related to any of these people? I know certainly we have Rays and Christensons in the area, so let us know if these are your kin folks!

Now I have some communication from readers.

"I recently discovered your "Chasing Our Tales, Genealogy and the Lynch Family of Mineral Wells" writings and am wondering if you would share a little more information with me. You said "Lynch's great grandfather, Charles, was born in......migrated to VA before 1715..."etc. Do you have data on any of the other children of Charles, in addition to John? Do you have names of John's children in addition to James Alvis? I just recently crashed through a very solid brick wall I have been attempting to dismantle for nearly 40 years, on the Lynch line, and would appreciate any assistance you can and will lend. I am back to a William born about 1800, whose son, John Wesley, also moved to Texas (Thornton in 1880), between 1870-1880, so it would seem these families may be related somewhere. Thanks for whatever you can do Liz Adams Brooks, lizbiz444@yahoo.com "

"Surnames: Brown, Wright, Yeager, Kinsolving: My great grandmother was Alice Brown Yeager, Mattie's sister. Their parents were James P. Brown and Harriet Wright. I have limited information on the Brown family, but have more on the Wright family. The James P. Brown family is listed in the 1880 census in Council Grove, Kansas and this is available on the LDS site. Most of what I have on the Brown family was extracted from a photocopied page from the "Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas" published by Lewis Publishing, Chicago, 1893. The book is in the Texas State Archives in Austin. I would be happy to scan or mail a copy of this page to you. I don't know very much about Mattie other than that I have been told the Browns and the Kinsolvings were in the cattle business together. Where did you get your information about her being the first child born in Palo Pinto County? It would be nice to fill in some blanks about this family. Linda LeBlanc, gleb5@bellsouth.net "

And here is some information Noel Garland provided about the Easley family: "Name: Robert Easley; Sex: M; Birth: ABT. 1655 in probably England; Death: BEF. MAR 1711/12 in Henrico County, Virginia

"The first person of the name Easley who has been located in America is Robert Easley, who is found in 1680 living in Henrico Co., Va. He was probably born c. 1655, and he died in Henrico Co., Va., between October 1711 and January 1712 (see documentary evidence below). The records give no clue as to his origin or ancestry, but it is presumed that he is the immigrant ancestor of the family. The great majority of Easleys in America descend from him.

"He may have been in Virginia for several years prior to the 1680 date, as a headright was issued for him to Col. William Byrd in March of 1676:

"Because of the destruction of so many of the early court records of Henrico Co., Va., it is not known how Robert Easley obtained the remainder of the land which he left to his children in his will.

"The above seems to be the total biographical record available for Robert Easley, the immigrant. To sum up his life: Robert Easley was born in 1659 or before, probably in England, but the place of his birth and his parentage are not known. He seems to have emigrated as a young, unmarried man, entering as one of the headrights of Col. William Byrd. Apparently he had no brothers in Virginia, and if he had sisters, they have not been identified.

Father: Unknown Easley b: BEF. 1635
Marriage 1 Ann Parker b: BET. 1663 - 1668 in probably Virginia
* Married: BEF. 1 OCT 1684 in Probably Henrico County, Virginia

Children

# ID: I0003

# Name: John Easley

# Sex: M

# Birth: BET. 1680 - 1688 in Henrico County, Virginia

# Death: BEF. APR 1742 in Henrico County, Virginia

# Note:

"John Easley, oldest son of Robert and Ann (Parker) Easley, was probably born c. 1680-1688 in Henrico Co., VA, and died in 1742 in Henrico Co., VA. He is proven to have married before 10 August 1711, in Henrico Co., VA, Mary Benskin, dau. of Jeremiah and Elizabeth ( ) Benskin. She predeceased her husband. The following court records pertain to this John Easley:

Father: Robert Easley b: ABT. 1655 in probably England
Mother: Ann Parker b: BET. 1663 - 1668 in probably Virginia
Marriage 1 Mary Benskin b: ABT. 1691 in probably Henrico County, Virginia
* Married: BEF. 20 AUG 1711 in Henrico County, Virginia

Children

 

And, here is a final question. Noel and I are trying to discover the location of Kidwell Heights in Mineral Wells. Hope someone can help us out with that!

Well, that's all we have time for today. Hope to hear from some of you concerning the Gunsight Gap Episode and the families who were part of that little bit of our history. Email me at siouxcitysue@cox.net or write P O Box 61, Mineral Wells TX 76068-0061.

 

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