The Family of Madison Sowder - Part 2

Denton Co., Texas - Birdseye view map 1883 - click to enlarge

 Continued from Part 1

A little less than two years after the death of her husband, Lucy Jane Wallen married Madison "Mattie" Sowder on 5 Nov 1879 in Rockcastle Co., Kentucky. Madison was the son of Logan and Isabelle "Ibby" (Sutton) Sowder and was born 11 May 1859 in Rockcastle Co., Kentucky. The marriage was performed by John B. Abbot at the home of Lucy's widowed mother, Louisa (Tyree) Wallen. The marriage was witnessed by John Bolen and Lucy's brother, Oliver P. Wallen. The surety was William Sowder, Mattie's paternal uncle, oldest brother of his father. Madison was the nephew of Lucy's first husband, William Renex Sutton, brother of his mother Isabelle. Isabelle was also the sister of my paternal great, great grandmother, Serena Susan (Sutton) Wallen, wife of William M. Wallen.

Madison, his wife Lucy, his step-daughters Louisa and Fannie Mae, and his sisters, Mary Jane and Rebecca, left for Kentucky in a wagon train of eighteen people, mostly family members, and headed for the northeastern part of Texas in the last week of September 1880. Three of Lucy's four brothers traveled with them to Texas: Oliver P. Wallen, Isaac Newton Wallen, and Daniel Thomas Wallen.

Map of Cooke Co., Texas

Lucy and Madison had five children, all born in Era, Cooke Co., Texas:

 1) William Robert "Bob" Sowder b. 24 Dec 1882. Bob married Eula Maude James on 14 Sep 1902 in Era, Cooke Co., Texas. Eula was the daughter of John B. and Martha (Crane) James. Bob d. 21 May 1961 in Plains, Yoakum Co., Texas and Eula d. 13 Jan 1957 in Bailyboro, Bailey Co., Texas. They are both buried in the Morton Cemetery in Cochran, Waller Co., Texas. Bob and Eula had 7 children.

2) Rebecca Ellen Sowder b. 9 Sep 1885. Rebecca married John Bitton Anderson on 13 Apr 1902 in Cooke Co., Texas. John was the son of Samuel Peters and Susannah (Collins) Anderson. Rebecca d. 14 Oct 1967 and John d. 8 Sep 1947, both in Comanche, Stephens Co., Oklahoma and they are buried there in the Fairlawn Cemetery. Rebecca and John had 9 children.

3) Jesse Newton Sowder, Sr. b. 15 Jun 1888. Jesse married Erin Eva Harrell about 1911 in Texas.  Jesse d. 13 Sept 1936 and Erin d. 26 Jan 1978, both in Texas (probably Lubbock Co.) and both are buried in the Idalou Cemetery in Idalou, Lubbock Co., Texas. Jesse and Erin had 6 children.

4) Emmit Logan Sowder b. 25 Feb 1891. Emmit married Rosa Lillian Pennington about 1920 in Texas.  Emmit d. 12 Oct 1955 and Rosa d. 1 Oct 1938, both in Lubbock, Lubbock Co., Texas and are buried in the Idalou Cemetery in Idalou, Lubbock Co., Texas. Emmit and Rosa had 7 children.

5) T. M. Sowder b. 2 Feb 1898 and d. 27 May 1898 in Era, Cooke Co., Texas. T. M. Sowder is buried in the Pollard Cemetery in Denton, Co., Texas.

Lucy died on 5 Feb 1898, almost 30 years before Madison. Her death was very likely caused by complications with the birth of her 5th child just 3 days earlier. Lucy was buried in the Pollard Cemetery in Denton, Co., Texas. Almost 8 years after Lucy died, Madison married 28-year-old Ella Flag on 13 Sep 1906, in Cooke Co., Texas.  Ella died about 2 and 1/2 years later on 15 Feb 1909 and was also buried in the Pollard Cemetery. There were no children from that union.

Map of Lubbock Co., Texas

Sometime between the 1910 and 1920 census, Madison and all three of his sons and their families moved to Lubbock Co., Texas and are  found living close together in separate households, but probably on acreage owned by Madison, in 1920. Madison died in 1927 in Lubbock and his sons brought his body back and buried him beside his two wives in the Pollard Cemetery in Denton Co. where many other family members were interred. His sons returned to the farm in Lubbock county. William moved, presumably to Yoakum county where he later died, before 1940. Jesse was dead by this time, so only Jesse's widow and children and his brother Emmit and his family were still in Lubbock county in 1940. Many of their family members are buried in the Idalou Cemetery in Idalou, Lubbock Co., Texas.

Madison's two sisters who traveled with the wagon train from Kentucky to Texas, are not to be left out.

1) Mary Jane "Mollie" Sowder married Lorenzo Dow Clampit, Jr., on 3 Feb 1884 in Denton, Denton Co., Texas. Lorenzo was the son of Lorenzo Dow Clampit, Sr. and his second wife Nancy Ellege. Lorenzo Sr.'s first wife was Isabel Walker, and Lorenzo Jr. came into the world with at least 7 older half siblings.  Mollie d. 22 Oct 1944 and Lorenzo d. 19 Sep 1934 and they are both buried in the Morton Memorial Cemetery in Morton, Cochran Co., Texas. Mollie and Lorenzo had 7 children. Two of their sons married daughters of the Sowder and Nance families.

2) Rebecca "Becky" Sowder married William M. "Bill" Nance on 10 Sep 1883 in Denton Co., Texas. William was the son of Isaac Newton and Rutha Jane (Pritchett) Nance. Becky d. 1919 in Granite, Greer Co., Oklahoma and John d. 8 Sep 1927 at the same place and they are both buried in the Granite City Cemetery.  Becky and William had 5 children. Their youngest son Jack owned and operated the Nance Hotel in Granite City for many years.

I'm not a Sowder descendant, but I do have a lot of information on the ancestry of Lucy and both her husbands through the Wallen and Sutton lineages. I can be contacted at the e-mail link near the bottom of this page, just above the photo of my "furchildren". As always, I love to hear from cousins, no matter how distant!

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The Family of Madison Sowder - Part 1

Rockcastle Co., Kentucky - view southwest from Skaggs Creek Church
photographed on May  23, 2011

Madison Sowder is related to me through his mother, Isabelle Sutton, who's parents, Uriah and Euna (Delaney) Sutton were my paternal third great grandparents. He is also related to me by marriage through his wife, Lucy Jane Wallen, who's parents, Jesse B. and Louisa (Tyree) Wallen, were also my paternal third great grandparents. This is not typically how I like to write my family history. There are far too many dates and repetitious places to keep the interest of the casual reader. However, if you have interest in the surnames Wallen, Sowder, Sutton, Gregory, Baker, Clampitt or Nance, you may find that you can wade through the data and pull out the bits of story within.

The Family of Madison Sowder includes his grandparents, his parents, his sisters, his wives, his step daughters, and his maternal uncle, William Renex Sutton. To keep things in order, I will have to start with my paternal great, great grand-aunt, Lucy Jane.

Lucy Jane Wallen, was the daughter of Jesse B. and Louisa (Tyree) Wallen. She was born on 2 Apr 1858 in Rockcastle Co., Kentucky.

Lucy married William Renex Sutton, son of Uriah and Euna (Delaney) Sutton, when she was about 15 years old. William was born about 1845 in Lincoln Co., Kentucky. William and Lucy had two daughters, both born in Rockcastle Co., Kentucky:

1) Louisa Sutton b. 15 Aug 1874. Louisa married John William Gregory about 1898 in Cooke Co., Texas. John was the son of Isaac and Mary Ellen (Copenhaver) Gregory. Louisa d. 10 Oct 1950 in Ft. Worth, Tarrant Co., Texas and is buried in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Ft. Worth. John d. 20 Sep 1934 in Cooke Co., Texas and is buried in the Pollard Cemetery in Denton Co., Texas. Louisa and John had 4 children.

2) Fannie Mae Sutton b. 11 Apr 1877. Fannie married William Joseph Baker on 5 Dec 1897 in Cooke Co., Texas. William was the son of George Washington and Cornelia Indiana (Davis) Baker. (William was born in Double Branch, Milton Co., Georgia. Milton Co. no longer exists. It was merged with Fulton Co. in the early 1930s in order to save it from bankruptcy.) Fannie d. 4 Jun 1951 in Lubbock, Lubbock Co., Texas and William d. 17 Jan 1959 in Claude, Armstrong Co., Texas. Fannie's and William's residence at the time of Fannie's death was Portales, Roosevelt Co., New Mexico. Perhaps she had been visiting family members who lived in Lubbock when she became ill and died at the Lubbock Memorial Hospital. Fannie and William are buried in the Abernathy Cemetery in Hale Co., Texas.  Fannie and William had 10 children.

William Renex Sutton d. 5 Feb 1878 in Rockcastle Co., Kentucky and Lucy became a widow before she turned 20 years old. Lucy's father, Jesse B. Wallen, had preceded his son-in-law in death just 6 months earlier. Both men are buried in the Wallen/Francisco Cemetery in Wabd, Rockcastle Co., Kentucky.

A little less than two years later, Lucy married her deceased husband's nephew, Madison "Mattie" Sowder.

Click here to continue in Part 2

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GO WEST! Eighteen on a Wagon Train to Texas 1880

I've known for years that all four siblings of my paternal 2nd great grandfather, William M. Wallen, left Kentucky shortly after the 1880 census was taken, but I was never certain of just exactly when they left. I only knew through births and deaths that they were in Texas by 1882. William's siblings were Oliver P., Isaac Newton, Lucy Jane, and Daniel Thomas. These five were the children of Jesse B. and Louisa (Tyree) Wallen.

Interior Journal - 20 Aug 1880

Last year I came across two articles in Kentucky's "Interior Journal" newspaper, that gave me new clues. The first one, dated August 20, 1880, told of the Justice of the Peace in the Skaggs Creek precinct, O. C. Brewer, resigning his official position in contemplation of moving out West. The second article, dated October 1, 1880, was more exciting: "O. C. Brewer and Oliver Wallen with their families, and several others - in all eighteen persons - left here last week for Texas. They will settle in Honey Grove or Paris, others are to follow." So, now I had a very close date, they left the last week of September 1880.

Interior Journal - 1 Oct 1880

To the best of my knowledge, through research, these are the eighteen people that left Rockcastle Co., Kentucky for Texas, grouped by families:

1) Orville C. Brewer and his wife 2) Marinda R. "May" (Bolin) Brewer, daughter of  Orville's former neighbors, George and Phoebe Brewer, who were already living in Cooke Co., Texas.

3) Oliver P. Wallen and wife 4) Mary Jane "Mollie" (Collier) Wallen and their three daughters: 5) Laura Ellen, 6) Lucy A., and 7) Lucinda. Mollie was 7 months pregnant with Sarah E. when she made this trek.

8) Isaac Newton Wallen and wife 9) Mary Frances "Fannie" (Sutton) Wallen and their two sons: 10) Andrew J. and 11) Daniel Thomas. In 1938, Fannie was interviewed about her life in Kentucky, Texas, and Oklahoma and the resulting story became a part of the "Indian Pioneer Papers". That interview can be read here: Pioneers to Indian Territory 1881. That title isn't exactly correct now as we know they left in 1880 and, not only that, they also lived in Texas for 10 years and didn't actually arrive in Indian Territory until 1890. However, the story Fannie tells is an excellent testament to the history, the hardship, and the grit of these early Kentuckians who traveled west by wagon and how some lived after settling at their destination.

12) Lucy Jane (Wallen) Sowder and her second husband, 13) Madison "Mattie" Sowder, and Lucy's two daughters by her first husband, William R. Sutton: 14) Louisa Sutton and 15) Fannie Mae Sutton, and Madison's two sister's: 16) Mary Jane Sowder and 17) Rebecca Sowder. I will write more about this family in my next post.

18) Daniel Thomas "Uncle Tom" Wallen - I wrote about Uncle Tom in this post: Treasure Chest Thursday: From Diamond Came Gold.

These families did not settle in Fannin or Lamar counties as indicated by the Interior Journal's October article; instead they traveled a little farther west and settled in the counties of Denton and Cooke.

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Women's History: Spinster Aunt - Myra Sutton

ELMIRA JANE SUTTON 1849 - 1905

Friend, Mother, Angel

drawing from thegraphicsfairy.com

Elmira Jane was the daughter of Uriah and Euna (Delaney) Sutton, my paternal third great grandparents. She was born about 1849 and was the 9th of 11 known children. Her sister, my great, great grandmother Serena Susan, was the 10th child, born when Elmira was just 2 years old. In his diary, my great grandfather, Oliver Morton Wallen, always referred to his mother's sister as "Aunt Myra".

In May of 1854, when Elmira was about 5 years old, her mother died, and then two of her siblings died shortly after: Mary, 15, died in July and Joseph, 11, died in September. In January of 1858, when Elmira was 9, her oldest sister Sarah married David J. Tyree. The same year in July another older sister, Isabelle, married Logan Sowder. With his two oldest daughters married, Uriah was now in need of a wife and mother for his younger children and so a few months later, in November, he entered into matrimony once again to a young widowed woman named Telitha Clark.

When Elmira's younger sister Serena married my great, great grandfather William M. Wallen in August of 1869, the newly wed couple lived with his parents in Wabd, Kentucky. Elmira's youngest sister Euna, married George C. Lawrence in 1871 and Uriah's spinster sister Mary died in 1874 which left only three in the household so in 1875 William, Serena and their young family went to live with Uriah, Telitha and Elmira on the Sutton farm a short distance away near Maretsburg. 

Uriah died around the first half of 1881 and in the Fall of that year William and Serena moved their family back to Wabd to live with William's mother who had been widowed since 1877. It was about this time that all of William's siblings and their families left for northern Texas and Indian Territory and there was now room at the old home farm for William's growing family. Because Grandma Sutton and Aunt Myra were alone, my great grandfather Oliver (age 11) stayed with them. Aunt Myra never married and it is not yet known when her step-mother Telitha "Grandma Sutton" died. 

Excerpt from Oliver's diary

In 1886 Serena died of Tuberculosis leaving 8 children (5 of them under the age of 10 years) without a mother, so Aunt Myra went to live at Grandma Wallen's house to help take care of the children. Serena's widowed husband, William M. Wallen, remarried 6 years later in 1892 to Sofa Thacker and according to Oliver, Papa "never helped us any mor, so Jessee and I had to look after the children." Oliver was the oldest, about 22, when his father remarried and now he was the head of a fairly large household. Younger brother Jesse Uriah would take on that roll in 1900 after Oliver married.

When Oliver's sister Mary, 23, died of Tuberculosis in 1895 her husband, James Luther Hayes, remarried right away and so Mary's 3-year-old daughter Viola "Ola" went to join her mother's siblings in the household of Grandma Wallen and Aunt Myra. Tuberculosis also took Oliver's sister Louisa, 19, in 1896 and his sister Lucy, 17, in 1901 and it was becoming obvious that he and all his siblings were at some stage of the disease.

Residents of the old home farm in 1900

Oliver married Sarah F. Davis in 1900. In 1901 my grandfather was born and then a set of twins were born in 1903. Oliver's health was starting to deteriorate at a more rapid pace. Aunt Myra would come and stay when he was too sick to do chores. In 1904 it was decided, for health purposes, to remove the family to the drier climate of Texas. Aunt Myra, Jess, Willie and Ola left for Kempner, Lampasas Co., Texas in November of 1904 and the rest of the family were to follow in January. Sadly, before they could sell all their things and make good their plans, sister Sarah, 26, was called to her heavenly home.  After Sarah's burial Oliver's family and Grandma Wallen left to join the others in Kempner. The only remaining Wallen family in Kentucky were Oliver's father William and his new family, and Oliver's sister Ella who had married Johnnie Norton in 1901 and now had 2 small children.

After the family arrived and settled down with the others in Kempner they experienced more sorrow as it was there, in mid-February, just weeks after burying sister Sarah, that Oliver's youngest brother Willie, 20, died. Sadly, just about 6 months later, in the first days of September, Aunt Myra died too. It is not known for sure if Aunt Myra had Tuberculosis or not but I suspect she did. It was estimated that, at the turn of the century, 450 Americans died of TB every day. Aunt Myra's death was a severe blow to the family. Like a mother, she spent her whole life loving and caring for the entire family through childbirth, sickness, poverty, and death. 

These are the entries in Oliver's diary concerning Aunt Myra's death:

Sept. 1 - ...found Aunt Myra very sick and Sarah hardly able to go. Evry thing looks very gloomy.

Sept. 2 - Aunt Myra and Sarah are no better. I am not well and have been on the down grade for 6 wks.

Sept. 3 - Aunt Myra is very bad this morning. Sarah is no better. At home all day. Aunt Myra died at 6 PM. We have lost a good friend. Aunt has been a mother to us. At 10 o'clock PM Bro. Frank Seak handed me $34.60 that had been made up at church to bear Aunts burial expense.

Sept. 4 - I was given enough to make $42.35 on Aunts funeral expense. Beside people brought in flour, coffee, sugar, beef and other things we needed. The people are good and kind to us but I feel discouraged. We have all worked so hard and it seems like we can't enjoy the fruits of our labor. After a short service by Bro. Sparks, a holiness preacher, we laid Aunt to rest beside Bro. Willie at 3 PM. The casket and robe cost $37.00.

(Note: I do not know why Oliver's wife Sarah was sick at this time, but she never contracted Tuberculosis, and neither did his father, his niece Viola Hayes or his grandmother Louisa Tyree Wallen.)

I recently found a very sweet and detailed death announcement for Aunt Myra Sutton in the Mt. Vernon Signal Newspaper dated Friday, September 15, 1905:

We also learn by letter, from O. M. Wallen, that "Aunt" Mira Sutton, who accompanied the Wallen family to Texas last fall, and who had lived with them for nearly half a century, after five days of intense suffering, passed over the river and is now resting under the shade of the tree with Paul and Peter. Her life was certainly that of love, labor and good offices for others. She was never married, but was indeed a mother to the Wallen family. She was and had been, from early life a faithful member of the Baptist Church. Had been badly afflicted for many years which she patiently bore. We now deplore the lonesome condition of aunt Louise Wallen, with whom aunt Mira has lived for the last quarter of a century, but separations must come, and friends must part, but we know from the acquaintance we had with these two good women that their separation will be short and they will join company in that happy home forever. We deeply sympathize for the remaining members of the Wallen family in their sore affliction and deep bereavement, and pray God to give them faith to look beyond this vail of sorrow, to a time of happy reunion. Rev. O. M. doesn't write very encouragingly of his health at this time. He says that Jesse and Little Ola are enjoying better health than they had while in Kentucky. Aunt Louisie was deprived of ministering unto aunt Mira during her last hours of earth; she being in Indian Territory with some of her children.

Kempner Cemetery, Kempner, Lampasas Co., Texas

Aunt Myra and brother Willie are both buried in Kempner Cemetery. As far as I know, neither has a tombstone.

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Treasure Chest Thursday: Finding a Genealogical Jewel

LOUISA TYREE WALLEN 

b. Feb. 1830 in Scott Co., Virginia - d. circa 1913 in Cooke Co., Texas

Louisa was my paternal 3rd great grandmother, wife of Jesse B. Wallen. She was responsible for raising the younger 7 of her son William's 9 children, with the help of the two oldest, Jesse Uriah and my great grandfather Oliver Morton Wallen, after their mother died. Louisa, "Grandma Wallen", is mentioned regularly in Oliver's diary. Their home had been in Wabd, Rockcastle Co., Kentucky from the early to mid 1850s until 1905 when most of them packed up and headed for Texas. By that time nearly all the children were either grown or had died of Consumption. All 9 siblings eventually perished from that disease (as had their mother) and Louisa would outlive them all with the exception of Jesse U. who died in 1917.

For nearly 15 years I'd tried to prove the parents of Louisa. My dad's first cousin and my closest cohort in genealogical research, Charlie Wallen, never let go of the belief that Louisa was the daughter of David and Rachel Rogers Tyree. I went along with him on that assumption for nearly 10 years until I started digging up new clues that pointed to Louisa as being the oldest child of David and Rachel's son William and his first wife Lucy Osborne. The clues were all over the place but I couldn't convince Charlie. Anyone can read more about those clues here and here at my other blog "Genealojournal" where I tend to muse about things yet unproven. There were more clues too that I discovered in Oliver's diary since writing those notes. None of them said what I needed to know...not quite.

I was obsessed with knowing the truth about Louisa's parentage and I had exhausted all my resources short of making a trip to Scott Co., Virginia or hiring a researcher there. Then, a little over a week ago I was browsing the Rockcastle County newspaper, the Mt. Vernon Signal, and I had decided to do a search on the name of the tiny town of Wabd to see if anything interesting might surface. Now, over the years, I'd done many a search in this newspaper on the surname Wallen, including all the variations in spelling. Many years ago the Signal had been transcribed from microfilm and posted to a genealogy web site by a dedicated genealogist, Cindy Crawford, to whom I will always be humbly grateful. I copied and pasted Cindy's entire transcription to my computer's hard drive (hundreds of pages) and I've been over it dozens of times with a fine toothed comb. In other words, I didn't really expect to find anything monumental on this day, I was just browsing and enjoying reading about all the people of the county that I had come to know over the years.

And suddenly, there it was! Just a dozen little words. My proof. The genealogical jewel that became my gift. I immediately got writer's block..that is, after I spazzed out and danced and babbled and sobbed for a few hours. It was so big I couldn't write about it..I couldn't write about anything. I always thought I'd find the proof of Louisa's ancestry by using my skills. But this wasn't skill at all. It was simply a gift, the perfect gift.

Yesterday I came across this quote by Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings in his comments to Martin Hollick's post "Genealogical Gimme":

"...the record that provides direct evidence of a relationship or fact, might better be called a "genealogy gem" or "genealogy jewel." Often, these are hard to find and, when they are published and made known, then they become a "genealogy gimme." or "genealogy gift."

For whatever reason, this little excerpt gave me what I needed to help me write about my new discovery.

So, what were those few special words I found in the Mt. Vernon Signal?

Well, under the title "WABD" - dated Friday, August 12, 1904, were the words: "Mrs. Louisa Wallen, of Wabd, is visiting her sister, Mrs. John Sowder".  

I froze when I saw it. My heart stopped...and then my mouth flew open..and then I did all that heebee jeebee stuff they call "happy dancing". Every Tyree researcher of this particular Tyree lineage knows who Mrs. John Sowder was. She was Elizabeth Tyree Wallen Sowder, daughter of William and Lucy Osborne Tyree! What a jewel, what a gift! I had been interpreting the clues right all along!

I  just wish cousin Charlie was still alive so I could have the pleasure of saying  (respectfully of course) "I told you Charlie!". 

And I still can't get this newspaper article to come up using "Wallen" as a search word!

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Treasure Chest Thursday: From Diamond Came Gold

 UNCLE TOM
My all time favorite Find A Grave discovery

Above photo courtesy of Shalina Thomas

Diamond Cemetery, Stephens County, Oklahoma

Above photo courtesy G. William Whitworth, Jr.

Daniel Thomas (D. T. or Uncle Tom) Wallen was the fifth and last child born to my paternal third great grandparents, Jesse B. and Louisa Tyree Wallen, (born 1861 not 1871 as shown on stone).  He and three of his siblings, Oliver, Isaac, and Lucy left Rockcastle Co., Kentucky around 1882 for Texas and promptly disappeared. That was back fifteen years ago in my research and the Internet was not quite as easy to navigate as it is today and so I preferred staying back in Kentucky where I was comfortable and where my own great, great grandfather William M. Wallen remained until he too left for Texas many years later. I knew these other four would surely turn up sometime in the future, which of course they all did. William was the oldest of the siblings and would probably inherit his parents Kentucky homestead. Of the remaining siblings, D. T. was the youngest, barely 20, and the only one of the four Westward bound that was not married with family. William's son, my great grandfather Oliver Morton Wallen, wrote a few excerpts in his diary concerning his uncle:

1894 - "In March I bought 50 acres of land joining Grandma's farm for $50.00, of D. T. Wallen." 

Jan. 17, 1900 -" Went to papa's, worked some in a new ground. Wrote two letters after dinner, one to D. T. Wallen and one to Guy Griffith.  Jan. 18 - Went to Mt. Vernon. Sent D. T. Wallen $10.00."

And after Oliver also went to Texas:

Aug. 2, 1905 - "...After noon went to Uncle Tom Wallen's rock query 11 N. W. Sanger..."

I didn't think Uncle Tom would even have a marker. After all, he was never married and had no known descendants and much of the time he lived in a tent in the rock quarry where he made a living. So, when I was making a rather broad search of Find A Grave using the Wallen surname, I was stunned to see "D. T. Wallen" in the list I pulled up. "D.T." was the name besides "Uncle Tom" that he was most known by. Of course, I wasn't sure it was really his tombstone until I clicked on his name and saw the cemetery was in Stephens Co. Oklahoma. The birth date was off by 10 years and I never really knew his death date. The State and County were what hit me! Now it all made sense! The thing that threw me off in earlier years was a letter copied for me by my distant cousin Connie Borgren that was to her grandmother from a lady in Gainesville, Texas.

"January 17, 1961

Yes, we knew uncle Tom Wallen since very early childhood.  He came to Texas from Kentucky and was a rock mason.  In fact he lived in a tent in the rock quarry near Clear Creek.  Later Uncle Tom's mother, Grandma Wallen came with her Granddaughter Viola Hays, to live with him.  It was through Viola that I knew them best as I went to school to Viola in the terms 1912-13 and 1913-14.  She married in the spring of '14 and left here.  It must have been either in '13 or '14 that her grandmother passed away for I do remember that she was not here when Viola married.  Uncle Tom built concrete cellars all over this country.  Which still stand as a memorial to him.  Infact we have one here in our yard.  When he got too old to work, he went to live with his niece Mrs. John Anderson in Sulphur, Okla., as you perhaps know. Mrs. E. W. Grundy, Gainesville, Texas"

Now, Mrs. John Anderson (Rebecca Ellen Sowder Anderson, daughter of Lucy Wallen Sowder) did not live in Sulphur and I knew this from the census. She and her family lived in Stephen's Co., Oklahoma for well over 30 years. However, there were other nieces and nephews that lived in Sulphur which is in Murray Co., Oklahoma so I thought Mrs. Grundy was probably mistaken in who the elderly Uncle Tom ended up living with. It turns out it wasn't the person Uncle Tom went to live with, but the county she lived in that Mrs. Grundy was mistaken about! Earlier census data showed his residence as that of Rebecca Anderson's half sister, Louisa Sutton Gregory. Louisa resided in the Texas counties of Denton and Cooke. Those counties were close to the rock quarry which was in the vicinity of Era, Texas northwest of Sanger. Regardless of who he ended up living with, I assumed Uncle Tom would be buried with no marker so, imagine my surprise in finding his tombstone in the Diamond Cemetery in Stephens Co., Oklahoma! My thanks to Jean for adding his memorial to Find A Grave and again for transferring the memorial to me. 

I'd love to find out more about Uncle Tom's rock quarry and I have used Google Earth to try finding it but I was unsuccessful. It could be abandoned by now. There are many rock quarries in the vicinity but none near Era which is almost exactly 11 miles N.W. of Sanger as my great grandfather described. Maybe if I actually went there.......

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Headstones And Cow Pies - Cleaning up the family cemetery

Wallen/Francisco Cemetery - Wabd, Rockcastle Co., Kentucky

Back in May of 1999 my Mother (then age 75) and I took nearly 2 weeks out of our busy lives to take a genealogical vacation to Kentucky where my dad's family was from and to Indiana where her family was from and where some still live. We stopped in Kentucky first and visited many of the more well known cemeteries in Rockcastle and Pulaski counties. Then we drove and drove and we backtracked and drove some more, but the most personal cemetery, the family cemetery, eluded us over and over again. We traipsed up hills and down, we climbed fences and crossed creeks....and we drove some more, and we got ticks! The Wallen Francisco cemetery simply was not where the book said it was. Severely disappointed, we finally had to give up and go on to Indiana where we stayed until it was time to start our journey home.

On the return trip, as we once again entered Kentucky and approached Rockcastle county I began to get wistful.....as we approached the Mt. Vernon exit, I simply couldn't resist one more last ditch effort. They were calling me, I heard their voices. At the last second I whipped off onto that exit with a heart full of hope. If my mother was ever bored or doubtful she never let me know. She was a trooper and a delightful companion the whole time.

We went back to the same area and retraced our steps. We knocked on doors and we got one "wall, I thank it might could be o'er yon", pointing a finger...and we got some folks that jus didn't know fuh sure, but thought they had heard tell of a ol' graveyard nearabouts. After a few more hours we were thinking it just wasn't meant to be. Then, my mother said "pull down that driveway, I'm going up to that door". Glory be, this time someone knew right where it was! The woman was happy to help and took us to her side yard for a better view and pointed to three trees off in the distance (the Walnut trees the cemetery book said to look for) and she said "you'll have to drive around and pull off the road and park and then you'll have to climb the gate because there's cows in there. After you get over the gate then just follow the fence line on up the hill to those trees." Oh boy, was I excited! My heart was pounding with anticipation!

Well, we got up to the gate and the darn thing was 5' high at least and we had to carry tools and camera; both of us had our hands full. Somehow we managed to get over it without a mishap. At the time, I wasn't even thinking about how old my mom was. She's always been an active and limber person and "75" just didn't enter my mind. 

Oh, what a glorious afternoon it turned out to be! Of course, many of the headstones were laying down and had thick dried cow pies on them, that part wasn't so glorious, but I didn't mind. We scraped those off and pulled some of the grass from around the stones before photographing each one. Every few minutes I had to stop and gaze in all directions. From this hill you could see all around for miles and miles; what a lovely peaceful spot and I could just imagine my great grandfather, his parents, his grandparents and other family members burying their kin and coming to visit and clean and reset stones from time to time. It almost seemed that I could feel their presence! We had honored them by our perseverance and tenacity and they cherished our visit, I just knew it!

My great grandfather was Oliver Morton Wallen. He left us a diary and in it he often wrote of the burials at the old family burying ground. His mother and most of his siblings were buried there, all having died fairly young. 

"December 23, 1904 - I finished up some work at the old family burying ground, which is about 3/8 of a mile from my present home and 1/4 mile from Wabd Post Office.  These are the relatives we have buried there:

Grandfather Wallen born Sept. 26, 1827, died Sept. 30,1877

Uncle Willie Sutton - Cousin Harvy Sowder, no dates

Mother Serena Susan born Mar. 20, 1851, died Jun. 28, 1886

Sister Mary Hayes born Jan. 31, 1872, died Mar. 27, 1895

Sister Emiline Wallen born about 1876, died about 1879 

Sister Lieuesa Wallen born Aug. 25, 1877, died Dec. 11, 1896

Sister Lucy Wallen born Aug. 15, 1883, died Mar. 15, 1901

Sister Mary's daughter, Ora born Oct. 15, 1891, died Jan. 6, 1893"

While we worked the cows decided to pay us a visit. The walnut trees offer the only shade in the pasture so I don't know if they came for the shade or came because they had visitors and were curious about us. Every time we looked up the line of cream colored cows was a little closer. Now, I'm a "wanna-be-farmer city girl" so my mother who was raised on a farm, assured me they meant no harm and wouldn't stampede us or anything...I had to ask just to make sure, you know. Kinda spooky how they just got closer without appearing to actually move....and how they just stared at us and chewed.

As we left for home I said a little prayer...."Thank you Lord for seeing that we found the family cemetery! The long and arduous hunt made it all the more precious!" 

More information on all known persons buried in the Wallen/Francisco Cemetery:

Jesse B. Wallen - son of William & Elizabeth Bloomer Wallen, md. Louisa Tyree

William R. Sutton - son of Uriah & Euna Delaney Sutton, md. Lucy Jane Wallen daughter of Jesse B. & Louisa Wallen

Harvey Sowder - son of Madison U. & Sibby Jane Owens Sowder

Serena Susan Sutton Wallen daughter of Uriah & Euna Delaney Sutton, md. William M. Wallen son of Jesse B. & Louisa Wallen

Mary J. Wallen Hayes - daughter of Wm. M. & Serena S. Wallen, md. James Luther Hayes

Ora Hayes - daughter of Mary J. & James Luther Hayes

Emiline Wallen - daughter of  Wm. M. & Serena S. Wallen

Louesa Wallen - daughter of Wm. M. & Serena S. Wallen

Lucy Wallen - daughter of Wm. M. & Serena S. Wallen

Sarah Elizabeth Wallen - daughter of Wm. M. & 

Serena S. Wallen

Sarah Jane Wallen - daughter of Isaac & Elizabeth Bloomer Wallen - Isaac was son of William & Elizabeth Bloomer Wallen, married his first cousin, another Elizabeth Bloomer.

W. Bloomer - I believe this to be Wisdom Bloomer, son of Nehemiah & Jane Payne Bloomer.

Thomas Graves - Husband of Sarah Matilda Grider, b. 1814 d. 1887

Sarah Francisco - Daughter of Jasper & Sarah E.

Graves Francisco, b. 1883 d. 1887

William T. Francisco - Son of Jasper & Sarah E. Graves Francisco, b. 1868 d. 1887

Eleanor Forgey, daughter of Archibald & Eleanor Roller 

Forgey, b. 1836 d. 1878, wife of William Tyree

Many others are certainly buried here but stones are missing or buried.

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