Old Stones Undeciphered: Graves

Sunday, May 23, 2010

1920s Beeville, Texas: Shades of the Ku Klux Klan

1914 Beeville

My second great grandparents William M. and Serena Sutton Wallen were married in Rockcastle Co., Kentucky in 1869. My great grandfather Oliver was the oldest of their 9 children. Serena died in 1886, and in 1892 William married Sofa Thacker. Sofa had a young son named Brack from a previous "relationship". William and Sofa had 6 children together, the last being born about 1906. In August of 1908 Brack, now married, went and got himself shot and killed by John Calvin Graves and I believe that is why Sofa and William packed up their family and left for Texas.

They settled in Bee county and for a number of years William was a night watchman for the city of Beeville. He died February 14, 1922.

Ten years ago I wrote to the South Texas Genealogical Society for help in locating information on William. An obituary was found and a death record. He was buried in the Glenwood Cemetery but there was no stone. The Recording Secretary at the time, Kay Pacheco, went above and beyond the call of duty for me going through records and newspapers on microfilm and making trips to the library. Nothing else was found. She was copying the obituary from the "Beeville Picayune" when another article on the front page caught her eye. She e-mailed me right away to tell me about it and copied that page and included it in the package she sent me. For 10 years my dad's first cousin Charlie and I puzzled over that front page article...what did it mean? What did Sofa DO to "assist" the Klan?

Beeville Picayune for Thursday,

16 Feb 1922 Front page:

"Bereaved Widow Very Grateful to Klan for Donation - Writes Note"

The Picayune is in receipt of the following letter from the Ku Klux Klan organization, at the bottom of which the recipient of the latest donation from this organization pens her appreciation:

Beeville, Tex., Feb. 15, 1922

Mrs. W. M. Wallen

City

Dear Mrs. Wallen:

Enclosed you will find $25.00, which is a donation from the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for your assistance, as well as to show our respect for your deceased husband. We hope you will accept the same in the spirit in which it is given. If so, will you kindly acknowledge the receipt of same by handing this letter to one of the local papers for publication?

Done by order of the Exalted Cyclops, Bee County Klan, No. 121, Realm of Texas. (SEAL)

----

Beeville Picayune

Beeville, Texas

Gentlemen:

I accepted the above well placed donation in the spirit in which I feel sure it was given, and shall ever feel grateful to the members of the klan. May the helpful work the klansmen of Bee county are doing continue successful.

Very respectfully,

Mrs. Wallen"

Naturally, I hope William was not involved in any way with the KKK, although I suppose it's entirely possible. ...but I'll think about THAT tomorrow!

Comments and speculation welcomed!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

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.