Houston F. Brashears

X

There is a H Brashears that was granted land.

http://ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/eastland/land/east...

ET RR CO 6 H. BRASHEARS 2 49

_________________________________________________

He had the second oil well come in during the Ranger Oil Boom.

__________________________________________________

178. HOUSTON10 BRASHEARS (JAMES MORGAN ALEXANDER9 BESHEARS, JOHN WESLEY8 BRASHEARS, JAMES7 BRASHEAR, PHILLIP SR.6, ROBERT5, SAMUEL4 BRASHEARS, ROBERT3 BRASHEAR, BENOIT (BENJAMIN)2 BRASSEUR, ROBERT1) was born 20 Sep 1855 in Jamestown, KY, and died 28 Jul 1937 in Ranger, TX. He married (1) D. A. BEARDEN 16 Sep 1878. She died Bet. 1882 - 1887. He married (2) MARY ELLA UNKNOWN Abt. 1887. She was born 26 Jan 1866 in Hunt Co, TX, and died 17 Aug 1954 in Eastland Co, TX.

__________________

Mary always dipped snuff (whatever that was) but she would spit in her can and tell the story of the wagon getting stuck in the Red River when she came to Texas with her family. The Indian scared her to death. She LOVED Hersey Bars and HAMBURGERS... Really really loved the burgers. She was a cool grandma.

__________________

I remember one time when Lantz, myself (charlie) and Effite went to gather eggs out near the barn. Mary was sitting on the porch in the deerskin cushion chair doing the snuff thing. I put my hand up into the box where the hens where sitting and I grabbed a big black snake. That was all I needed as I was about 8 years old..... I was screaming all the way back to the house and had trouble opening the gate so I climbed over it and my pants got caught on the sharp point on the gate and torn my pants almost off. I was screaming at the top of my lungs and sent thru the house to the fornt porch to Mary (my great grandma) and told her that Grandma and Lantz where going to die. She had to do something immediately. She went to the edge of the porch and looked at the barn and simply said " Effie will handle the snake" "Don't you worry you will see" "Now you run in and get us one of those Hersey Bars and lets split it".

Sure enough - Lantz and Effie (grandma lived along with my older brother).. Effie said it was a chicken snake and that they just eat eggs not little boys. Well you sure could have fooled me.l

Charlie - 2008

_______________

Notes for HOUSTON BRASHEARS:

Houston moved to Parker Co., TX in 1870 and taught school at Brock and Palo Pinto before moving to Eastland County in 1884 as a widower with a two-year old son. He lived the remainder of his life on his farm north of present day Lake Leon. The house was near Lone Cedar Baptist Church (on his land) and was known as "Old Tin Top."

Since the Parker County Courthouse burned in 1874 there are no official

records of marriages that took place in Parker County from its

establishment in 1856 until 1874. These marriages records have been

obtained from several sources, bible records, personal papers, the actual

marriages records or family histories. This is by no means a complete

listing of all the marriages that were performed in Parker County, but we

feel fortunate to have collected this many for our files. Due to human

error in typing and transcription there may be mistakes.

<BR Align=left></HTML>

		

Groom Surname   Groom First Name       Bride Surname       Bride First Name     Date

Allen           Pleasant T              Caldwell           Martha C             4-18-1875

Baily           Mack                    Tarkington         Nancy / Pansy        1870

Baker           William Thatcher        Beeman             Emily E              9-18-1856

Barker          James Jasper            Veach              Ann Eliza            12-19-1854

Barnes          A H                     Hosghead           Susan W              8-?-1860

Barnett         George Franklin         Crouch             Forence Arzellia     11-27-1873

Barnett         John N                  Jackson            Elvira               9-2-1858

Bearden         Joel Dallas Tyson       Littlefield        Elizabeth            5-?-1870

Bedford         James Mouton            Skidmore           Nancy D              before 1871

Bedford         William Gordon          Shaw               Sarah E              unknown

Bell            J P                     unknown            Susan R              11-2-1859

Bell            R E                     Leach              Margaret             1867

Bivins          Cyrus P                 Briscoe            Eliza Ann, Mrs       9-21-1862-63

Bivins          Cyrus P                 Canafax            Rebecca              9-21-1869

Blocker         William Leeander        Acker              Mason (B)            3-14-1868

Bond            Benjamin                Southerland        Minerva              8-26-1860

Bond            Stephen Finley          McCarver           Katherine            11-23-1862

Borden          Joseph                  Bonner             Mary M               ca 1872

Boswell         William Edward          Blocker            Rebecca Ann          11-7-1867

Boyles          Gabriel Hardin          Davidson           Mary Molly Evaline   2-15-1866

Braselton       Walter M                Wilmuth            Lucinda J            3-15-1868

Brashears       Geo Alfred "Caldwell'   Crenshaw           Martha Elizabeth     12-22-1863

Brashears       Hugh F                  Higgins            Sallie Rebecca       ca 1870

Brashears       John                    Birch / Burch      Amanda Jane          186?

Brashears       John                    Birch / Burch      Amanda Jane          186_

Brashears       Wm Colonel Runnels      Bearden            Hanah                before 1861

Brashears       Wm Colonel Runnels      Bearden            Melissa              ca 1861

_________________________________

1880 CENSUS, Pct 1, Eastland Co, TX 8th & 9th June 1880, p.12

  -H. Brashears, head, age 24, born KY, father born VA, mother born KY, in cattle business
<br/>
  -B. Brashears, wife, age 19, born TX, father born GA, mother born GA
<br/>
  -M. Brashears, son, age 1, born TX
<br/>
    [ The census taker obviously misunderstood the wife's name and thought it was a "B" instead of a "D".]
<br/>
_________________________________

1930 CENSUS, Pct. 2, Eastland Co, TX, 23 Apr 1930, Sheet 10B, p. 5301

  -Houston Brashears, head, age 75, born KY, father born US, mother born US, farmer
<br/>
  -Mary E. Brashears, wife, age 65, born TX, father born US, mother born AL
<br/>
  - Houston wa 31 & Mary was 21 when they married.  Their farm was valued at $9000.
<br/>
________________________________

More About HOUSTON BRASHEARS:

Burial: Merriman Cemetery, Parker Co

More About MARY ELLA UNKNOWN:

Burial: Merriman Cemetery, Eastland Co

________________________________

Houston and Mary Ella Brittain were married in Crawford County, Texas

JOHN WESLEY B. BRASHEARS and DRUCILLA /  WILSON 

        With Special Thanks to Doyle Finn 183 
<br/>
         JAMES MORGAN ALEXANDER BESHEARS and JANE WOOLDREDGE/ SARAH T. COE 185 
<br/>
                 Hugh Frank Brashear and Sallie Rebecca Higgins  
<br/>
                 Houston Brashears and D.A. Bearden / Mary Ella Brittain 
<br/>
                 Hulon Brashears and Roda J. Cain 
<br/>
                 Phalous Beshears and Louella Jennie Smith/ Valona Gadberry 
<br/>
He liked to keep a bottle of whiskey in the barn for a quick nip once in a while. They where all Baptist raised and born.  No gambling except for domino's and 42 was the game at the lodge in downtown big Eastland, Texas.  

__________________________________

Letter from Elisha COLLINGS (1876)

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:  Elisha COLLINGS (c1826-1890) claimed to have been born in Kentucky but was reared in Greene Co., IN, from at least the age

of 7.  According to family tradition, he moved to Texas for health reasons taking with him his two oldest sons, "Jack" and Byrd, and his younger brother, Jesse L. COLLINGS.  The men arrived in Texas in 1875 but soon separated -- Jack and Jesse remained in Hood County while Elisha and Byrd continued on to Eastland County.  In the summer of 1876, Elisha wrote a series of letters back home to friends and loved ones, including his second wife (Mariam M. JOHNSON) and their two children (Jesse and Alice), and two other daughters (Sophia HATFIELD and Martha COLLINGS).  The following is a transcription of a handwritten copy of the original letter.

-----

Eastland County

Lone Star

June the 10th, 1876

Dear Friends and Relatives:

I seat my self this Saturday evening to drop a few lines to you all to let you know that we are all well and hearty and sincerely hope these lines may find you enjoying good health.

I received this morning the first line I have had since I left from R. HARDESTY and Wm. FLYNN and at the same time a letter from Jack and Jesse L. COLLINGS.  All well was as good news to me.  Jack had not missed a days work since I left him.

Answers to the queries in Uncle Dick's letter, to the county seat twelve miles, population fifty or sixty (guessed at), one saw mill and corn cracker, three stores, one Doctor, two or three lawyers, one blacksmith shop.  You can get good land from $1.50 to $2.00 per acre near town, probably from five [and] one-half miles from town.  To get a house in my county seat or county.  Build it or live in a tent.  My nearest neighbor was five miles from me when I first stopped.  I have now three in less than one mile.

Population one year ago, thirty-eight, now over six hundred.  Preaching at Eastland City in the millhouse [on] Sabbaths.  School nearest, fifteen miles.  There is not much vacant land here, principally taken up by rail roads, Academy Asylum and common school land and Spanish grants or old survey.  Price range from $1.50 to $2.00 per acre.  Vacant land can be homesteaded, of this there is but very little good land.  You pay $1.50 for file, $6.50 for surveying one hundred and sixty acres, live on the land three years then pay the cost of making deed and get title from the state of Texas.  Whole cost $12.00 to $15.00 for one hundred and sixty acres.

Timber is short and scrubby but there is plenty of the kind.  I have made and had made three thousand rails this spring.  Since I got well, I can take my ax and mall and wedge and cut and split one hundred to one hundred and ten rails and rest four hours each day.  Byrd will get done laying by my corn in two hours and we are going to Sandy [Creek] fishing.

My first planting, five acres, is high as my head and looks fine.  The land generally sandy, black or red.  Its qualities not tried sufficiently to tell but [my] weak judgement is that a good granger can make a good living and make it fast here.

Water is scarce here.  Health, I think, is as good as any part of the United States.  I want none of my friends to come here on my word for what would suit one man would not suit another.  When you can't [stay] there no longer, there is lots of beautiful land here that though beautiful in its natural state can be beautified by labor.  But I will say this much, if I was there and had nothing, I would come here / but I would rather have some money and the more the better.  I am better satisfied than I expected to be, though.  I have to haul water four miles.  I would not give my land here for yours there.

To Uncle Dick:

Tom [?] has had the blues bad but as he can't get away without I take him away and I can't.  I have hired him to make me one-half mile string of fence and break me twenty acres of land.  He is working like a tow-head now.

Do as you please but don't come here expecting to live without an effort or by your art or learning but [through] industry and honesty from my native state.  I will gladly greet from my native land to my beloved brothers and neighbors, R. HARDESTY and Wm. FLYNN. 

/s/ Elisha COLLINGS

(A few lines to Nelson HATFIELD and family)

Dear Son and Daughter:

I write you a few lines.  We are all well and hope these lines may find you well and doing well.  I think this is a good country.  I am well satisfied.

There is lots of game here but hunting is a slow way of making a living.  It is like horse swapping.  Nels, you stopped to [sic] soon. If you was here I could hope to see you a free man, but you must depend on your own exertions.  I am getting old, but I'll live in hope.  All a man needs is a year's support, a start of hogs and cattle and sheep and with attention to business he can soon have plenty of everything / but here or there it takes scratching to get a start.  Hogs, cows, horses, sheep and fowls do fine here without feed.  The climate nice.  Harvest is over.  I have got only one pair of oxen.  They have been in the yoke

since the fifteenth of March except four days and Sundays.  They have been to Merriman, twelve miles, four times, to Eastland, twelve miles, nine times, broke fourteen acres prairie, handled my house timber 3,000 from one-half to three miles, hauled water four miles every two or three days and every drink they drank, they go from one-half to three miles, plowed over five acres of corn three times and have mended all the time without any feed only the grass.

I am heads up.  My corn looks beautiful.  The ground has not been wet since it was first planted.  We got a big mess of beans for dinner.  We have had radishes, turnips, beans some time but for the lack of seed we could have had potatoes.  We have melons on the vine, corn as high as my head.  Nels, I would not give my place here for the HATFIELD place.  I am making a trap to catch a gang of Mustang ponies.  If I am successful, I may ride over some of these times.  So kiss the babies for me.

A farewell,

/s/ E. Collings

To Martha:

I write you this scrap to let you know I am not mad but in good health. I think I can do well here.  I have friends here as well as there. People treat me kindly.  I have been mighty down-hearted but I am well again.  My eyes are better than they have been for nine months.  I am stout and able to work.  I thank God for his goodness and hope these lines may find you well and doing well.  You must read all the letter for information as I have but one stamp to write all of you.  Be a good girl and if you can come out here I think you might get some Indian or

old bachelor.

Tell Aaron and Byrd [COMBS] and families howdy and all my old neighbors.  Accept a father's love.

/s/ E. Collings to Martha Collings.

Direct to Merriman postoffice

Eastland County, Texas.

A few lines to Mom:

What is the matter that I don't get no letters.  I have written four letters to Jesse and you but get no answer.  I would be glad to hear from you all.  I am trying to make another little home.  I am well and hearty and can do more work than most men my age. 

The boys would dread to get hold of me.  Worse than the widows if there was any here.  We have turkey very often.  For breakfast we have some honey.  I can't help [but] think of you and my darling babies when I get [a] nice piece of honeycomb.

Now please write me about my darling Alice.  Jesse, I would like you would write all about your stock and crops and etc.  I like to forget Byrd was bad sick week before last but is well again.  He had the flux. He went to get the steers one morning this week and killed two chaparrals and one rabbit.  So I must close for lack of room.

>From the old wizzard --<br/>
/s/ E. Collings to Mariam and the children

________________________________

Eastland History

In 1875 Jacamiah S. Daugherty and Charles U. Connellee purchased land on the C. S. Betts survey and platted a townsite. County voters opted to move the county seat from Merriman to the newly platted site, as it was closer to the center of the county, and the new community was named Eastland. Connellee, Daugherty, J. B. Ammerman, and others built a stone courthouse, and the county commissioners court held its first session in the town in September of 1875. By January of 1876 the population was estimated at 250.

Nearby in Cisco you'll see the site of the 1929 Bank Robbery made famous in A. C. Greene's book, The Santa Claus Bank Robbery. When the movie was made it was filmed on the exact location. Cisco has many brick structures dating from that period including the same bank.

For the morbidly curious or students of early 20th Century Texas History, the utility pole that was used to lynch the Bank Robbery's Mastermind (we use the term loosely) is in back of the Majestic Theater on the corner of Mulberry Street. 

Indian Raids 

It has been estimated that more than 400 people were killed, scalped or carried away by Indians between 1853 and 1874.  This is an attempt to list those individuals. Go to the below URL:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txparker/history/indianraids2.htm

Thurber is 6 miles from Ranger

This 9.1 acre cemetery is diagonally bisected by the Palo Pinto/Erath County line such that the cemetery is in two counties. The oldest grave in this 100 year old cemetery is that of an African-American girl, Eva Chapman, born and died _21, 1890. Over 1000 people are buried herein, but 694 are in unmarked graves; indicated by white metal crosses or white plastic pipes. Their names are listed on the large Monument To Those In Unmarked Graves near the entrance. Why so many unmarked graves? As long as Thurber was active, and although graves were temporarily marked with stones, bricks or wooden crosses, families knew grave locations and lovingly tended them. When Thurber was abandoned in the mid-1930's, the intent was to return with permanent markers. But it never worked out that way.

The cemetery has three distinct sections: the African-American, the Catholic and the White Protestant. And each section had its own entrance. The east gate, in use today, was for the African-Americans, the north gate for the Catholics and the south gate for the White Protestants. In the African-American Section there are two identical, adjacent tombstones for Mary Green, each a wife of Jack Green. But ages are different. With identical tombstones, Jack was careful to not show partiality to either wife. An 8 foot weather-worn wooden cross marks the grave of Anthony Bascilli. This man dug his own grave, lined it with bricks and marked it with the cross. To ensure that those shoveling dirt in his grave would be careful, he said he had hidden pints of whisky in the dirt he dug out. A new suit and new shoes were placed in the foot of his casket. A metal door was hinged over the casket, a few feet of dirt was shoveled in, then another metal door with lock a placed over this and covered with remaining dirt. A key was dropped down a pipe to the casket. One can only imagine Bascilli's conception of Resurrection Day: He certainly wanted to be pre- sentable, and the first one out! Over half the graves are children less than two years old. Little babies were sometimes buried in shoe boxes. There were several instances when one family buried three children in one year. The Castaldo burial plot (low metal fence and tall four-sided marker) has graves for three children who all died within a few days of each other. After burying their first child, the family returned home to find a second child had died. Four days later a third child died. There were diseases which are not common today; diphtheria, scarlet fever, whooping cough and malaria.

Next to the Castaldo burials is a grave plot which is a mystery. It is neatly outlined with six cedar trees and a brick fence. But apparently no one is buried there. There was a Knights of Pythias symbol on the gate. But why is this in the Catholic Section when the Church banned secret lodges?

Fifteen years ago, an unscrupulous rancher opened cemetery gates to permit cattle to graze in the cemetery, and to this day damage is still being corrected. One of the tombstones knocked over by cattle was that of Rev. J.B. Dodson 1856-19l9. Research by local Methodists discovered an old-time circuit riding preacher who had briefly served as pastor of Thurber's Methodist Church. Although born in Missouri and dying in Dallas, this minister wanted to be buried in Thurber. In the Fall of 1993, the Methodist Church honored Rev. Dodson by placing a Circuit Rider emblem on his tombstone (preacher with Bible on horseback).

Mike McCounnla's tombstone was carved out of sandstone. Mike was proud of his union membership in the Brick, Tile and Terra cotta Workers Union whose logo was a triangle with the letters "B" "A" "T" and "A" "T" at each apex. In the upper left corner of Mike's tombstone is the union symbol, but the "B" is backward.

Georgie Milligan. Concrete marker. "As yo(sic) are now, so once was I, As I am now so yo(sic) must be. So trust in God and follow me."

A beautifully detailed weathered sandstone marks the graves of two Croatian sisters, Marija and Olga Kalcicrodje. There are three other similar sandstone markers in the cemetery, all undoubtedly carved by the same meticulous craftsman. The words are in Croatian and translate: A Here are resting in peace two sisters, and Marija (dates). This monument erected by their parents. "Let the soil be light for them".

Because of rocks in the cemetery, particularly in the African-American Section, graves were hard to dig, and sometimes dynamite was used to blast out graves. When one heard a dynamite blast emanating from the direction of the cemetery, the question might be asked, "I wonder Who died?"

_________________________________________

He taught school in Brock and Palo Pinto County (somewhere)  From 1870 – 1884.

Then  he moved to Eastland in 1884 with a two yr old son – Joe Brashears and he was a widower.  

The question is why was the land Grant Dated July 7, 1896 – two years after he moved to Eastland.   

He married Mary Ella in 1887 in Hunt County….. He must have moved to Eastland sometime after 1896 when he got paid the land…not in 1884.

And why is the one in Eastland dated Sept 28, 1921 .. is this for payment? 

Houston Died July 28, 1937 in Ranger, Tx

___________________________

Grandpa Powell and Lantz G. Powell took all of us fishing at this 'hole' and Lantz caught a very nice size bass.  He was afraid that he would lose the fish if he pulled it up to shore as we where on a 4 ft bank.  So he grabbed me by the neck and threw me in the water and yelled 'git that fish'.  I handed the fish to him and after I got out 3 water snakes swam by right where I was as I had disturbed their nest. Still gives me the chills today.

Charlie Powell - 2008

COLONY CREEK. Colony Creek rises twelve miles southeast of Breckenridge in southern Stephens County (at 32°32' N, 98°47' W) and runs southeast eighteen miles to its mouth on the Leon River, twelve miles southeast of Eastland in southeastern Eastland County (at 32°22' N, 98°40' W). It crosses flat to rolling terrain with local escarpments surfaced by deep, fine sandy loam that supports hardwood trees, conifers, brush, and grasses. In its lower reaches the stream flows through a flat, flood-prone area with local shallow depressions, surfaced by clay and sandy loams that support water-tolerant hardwoods, conifers, and grasses.

_______________

He taught school in Brock and Palo Pinto County (somewhere)  From 1870 – 1884.

Then  he moved to Eastland in 1884 with a two yr old son – Joe Brashears and he was a widower.  

The question is why was the land Grant Dated July 7, 1896 – two years after he moved to Eastland.   

He married Mary Ella in 1887 in Hunt County….. He must have moved to Eastland sometime after 1896 when he got paid the land…not in 1884.

And why is the one in Eastland dated Sept 28, 1921 .. is this for payment? 

Died July 28, 1937 in Ranger, Tx

__________________________