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MADORA NEELY Dora or Duckie August 18, 1876 - July 8, 1956 Nearly 80 years old
The Lost Family of Madora Neely Pinyan
By Juanita Pinyan Reedy (granddaughter) and Karyl Reedy Aronoff (great granddaughter)
{Picture upload to come} Facing page, left to right:
- Front: John Bogue Pinyan 1868-1931
- Veda "Jo" Pinyan 1901-1967
- Madora "Duckie" Neely Pinyan 1877- 1956
- Rear: Velma "Bunnie" Pinyan 1898 - 1952
- Hollis Fitzhugh Pinyan 1899 - 1938
Madora Neely was born August 18, 1876 or 1878. According to her marriage certificate, she married John Bogue Pinyan August 27, 1897 (at the age of 19 or 21) in Waxahachie, Texas. She died July 8, 1956 and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, in Dallas. Her parents and brothers were never mentioned to her grandchildren. It is not known how much her children knew about her family. In 1985, her daughter-in-law, Nora Pinyan, first mentioned Madora's brothers. Madora's grandson-in-law, Lloyd Reedy, was able to put some pieces together, and that is how we were 'found'.
Her children and grandchildren called Madora "Duckie". Even as an elderly woman, she wore her hair long, well past her waist and twisted into a knot on top of her head. She was a trim woman who walked with the aid of a cane. At some point in her life, a marble tabletop fell, hitting the back of her heel and cutting the tendon, causing her foot to turn. Her grandchildren remember an independent, quiet, even tempered, kind, and loving grandmother. She was an excellent baker, producing loaves of fresh bread, kid-sized biscuits, and glorious cakes. A caramel cake and coconut cake each with hand beaten icing several inches thick are best remembered by her granddaughter. Her grandson recalls the outstanding jelly rolls she made. She and her daughters also made numerous quilts that were often embellished with hand embroidery. Both grandchildren recall the family as being proud and Presbyterian.
Duckie's husband, Bogue, died July 25, 1931. Her grandson, Hollis Fitzhugh Pinyan, Jr., was born less than a month later on August 19, 1931. After losing her beloved husband, Duckie became a doting grandmother. She was blessed again on September 24, 1933 with the birth of her only granddaughter, Juanita Joyce Pinyan. Duckie's only son, Hollis Fitzhugh Pinyan, Sr., died suddenly of a heart attack on the seventh birthday of his son, August 19, 1938. About two years later, on November 17, 1940, Duckie's youngest child, Billie Rae Coonrod died in a tragic car accident. After losing her only son and her beautiful baby, Duckie changed and began living in the past. She moved in with her daughter and son-in-law, Velma and Ed Dickson. On April 20, 1952, tragedy struck Duckie again with the sudden death of Velma, her eldest child. Duckie died of pneumonia on July 8, 1956 and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Dallas.
Madora Neely and John Bogue Pinyan had five children: Velma, Hollis Fitzhugh, Veda Jo, Mable Doris, and Billie Rae.
Velma Pinyan was born April 4, 1898 in Arkansas. There were members of Bogue's family living in Arkansas at the time. Velma was always called Bunnie. She was a slim woman who was always on the move. Bunnie was a homemaker in the true sense of the word. She was the one who gathered and cooked the eggs for breakfast, the one who killed and cooked the chicken for dinner, the canner, and the gardener. She also collected rocks for her rock garden. Bunnie was the daughter who took care of her mother. She married Ed Dickson, who worked for the railroad. Bunnie died from complications following a car accident on April 20, 1952 in Seagoville, Texas. She is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Hollis Fitzhugh (always known as "Fitzhugh") was born October 8, in Paris, Lamar County, Texas. At some point, the family moved to Dallas and rented a farm at the corner of Webb's Chapel Road and Royal Lane. While attending Farmers Branch High School, Fitzhugh met Nora Coonrod and they dated until the Pinyans moved to Rockwall, Texas. When the Pinyans returned to Dallas a few years later, Nora and Fitzhugh resumed dating. On March 1, 1925, a Presbyterian minister, Mr. Templeton, married Fitzhugh and Nora in Rockwall. A son, Hollis Fitzhugh Pinyan, Jr., was born on August 19, 1931 in a house on Crawford Street in Dallas, now a part of Love Field Airport. A daughter, Juanita Joyce Pinyan, was born September 24, 1933 in a farmhouse on Royal Lane in Dallas owned by Nora's mother. The first year of their marriage, Fitzhugh farmed 40 acres he rented on Merrill Road in Dallas. Later, Fitzhugh managed service stations on Ervay Street and Forest Avenue. In 1937 the family moved to the Rio Grande Valley where Fitzhugh managed First Gulf Service Stations in Mercedes, Texas. Shortly after, the family returned to Dallas. Fitzhugh was a tall, handsome man who loved to hunt. On August 19, 1938, he died of a heart attack and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Veda Jo Pinyan, "Jo", was born August 1, 1901 in Rockwall, Texas. She was first married to Pat Hill, whom she divorced. Billy Collins was her second husband, whom she also divorced. Aunt Jo remarried Pat Hill and was married to him until his death. After Pat died, Aunt Jo shared a farmhouse on Goliad Street just outside of Rockwall with her sister, Mable Doris, and brother-in-law, Ed Dickson and Chuck Harrell. A long porch filled with a collection of dinner bells, and assorted rockers and gliders led to the front door. The remainder of the front of the house was a screened-in porch with assorted beds, dressers and fans. Aunt Jo collected antiques to such an extent the house resembled an antique store; cut glass, crystal and porcelain was sitting in every space possible. In spite of all this, the house was extremely neat, clean, and amazing. Jo was an attractive woman, had attended charm school and worked as a model. She would have her niece, and later her grandniece, practice walking across a room with a book on her head. Very outspoken and fearless, Aunt Jo thought nothing of crossing some farmer's land to help herself to Spanish moss from his tree. She also had a sultry, southern voice. She died of a heart attack on Christmas Day, 1967, and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Doris Mabel Pinyan was called Dardy. She was first married to Carl Morgan who was called Uncle Jelly. He was with the Seabees during World War II. After returning from the war, he opened an antique store. Aunt Dardy and Uncle Jelly had a son who died as an infant. They were divorced and Dardy then married Delman Harrell, called Chuck. Dardy had a hearty laugh. She would take her grandniece and grandnephew on picnics by the stock tank on her property and teach them how to gather eggs from the hen house. She would also have them pick one thing from the house to take home with them after each visit. While visiting friends in Fort Worth, Texas on Christmas Day, 1972, Dardy died of a heart attack. She is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Billie Rae, called "Bobbie", was born September 29, 1919 in Rockwall, Texas. She married Ernest Wade Coonrod (aka Charles Conrad). Aunt Bobbie was a beauty and was pampered by her mother and older sisters. She was never allowed to do the dishes or the house work. Bobbie died in a car accident on November 17, 1940. Following her death, her husband joined the Air Force. She is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Supplementary notes by Roy "Buddy" Neely Jr., June 2002
Additional information concerning Madora's early life has come to light as a by-product of research into the background of her brothers and parents, and so it is offered here.
Madora was born into circumstances of considerable family poverty as was common to many, if not most, of the population of the South in the decades following the Civil War. Her father was Theophilus Monroe Neely, the sixth generation in our line of Neelys in America, beginning with Thomas Sr., who arrived from Ireland in 1728. An extensive discussion of his background and ancestry is to be found in Chapters 1 and 2. Theophilus was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee and subsequently migrated to Blount County, Alabama, where he met and married Madora's mother, Sarah Hood on February 16, 1965. Madora was the fifth (and only girl) of six children born to that couple, and was undoubtedly born in the log cabin with a dirt floor which was their home. Her older brothers were William Henry "Will", T.H. (who most likely died in childhood), Stephen Farris "Steve", and John Theophilus "John" or "John T."; her younger brother was Ernest Monroe "Ernest".
In 1988, at age 86, one of Will's sons, U.R., made an audio tape of events of the life and times of his parents and siblings, in order to preserve that information for future generations. Much of that information must have been told to U.R. by his father, Will, who had experienced it first hand. So we have an important transcription from which many verbatim quotations are reproduced in this book. One significant section which relates the Theophilus family's life and circumstances during the years when Madora and her brothers were born and growing up, the 1860s and 1870s, appears in Chapter 2, pages 33 and 34, and also in the first pages of Chapter 3, which begins the story of Will's family. Those quotations paint a poignant picture of the hardship the family endured while pointing out their persistence and determination which was to characterize the Neely line even down to our day.
Unfortunately, Theophilus died as a young man at age 31, in 1880, leaving his widow, Sarah, with five children to support. At the time, the four boys ranged in age from Will at 14 years to Ernest as a 7-month old baby; Madora was not yet 3. It is not known just how Sarah managed, but it is thought that she lived with or near her mother, Rachel Scott, in Blount County. It is assumed that Will, Steve and John were of substantial help, possibly hiring out to other farmers who needed and could afford supplemental labor. Any way one considers the situation, it must have been very difficult.
On June 24,1885, five years after Theophilus' death, Sarah married Andrew Jackson "Jack" (or "Ike") Nation, who was a neighbor and Sarah's second cousin, their grandfathers Patrick and Thomas Scott being brothers. Jack Nation's wife had died March 24 of that year, leaving him as a widower with children to care for. It may be concluded that the marriage was partly a matter of practical need for both Sarah and Jack, he to help support her family, and she to complete the raising of his children. Nevertheless, it appears that all was not well from the first of that union. Will, at age 19, left home and married Ulah Allgood in October of the same year. Steve at the age of barely 16, left home about the same time and traveled by train to establish his own life in Ellis County, Texas. One might assume that they did not favor their new stepfather Sarah and Jack had one child on August 15, 1886 who was named Hope, possibly with the hope that the marriage would succeed and this child would prosper. He was Madora's half brother, and nine years younger. One wonders if the older sister doted on her baby brother as is often the case in such situations. As time passed, Sarah and Jack's marriage deteriorated, and according to U.R.'s tape "...It was a mistake. From what little I heard, her new husband drank too much and did not help with the children ....by all accounts Grandmother had a hard time ".
By 1892, Will had decided to move to Texas where he had visited and learned of the favorable prospects for farming cotton in Ellis County. He relocated with his family to Ellis County in December 1892. We have no surviving correspondence nor specific recollection as regards the following, but have deduced from events that it likely is true. Will learned of his mother's decision to leave (or she had already left) her union with Jack Nation. He went back to Alabama in late 1893 or very early 1894 and brought his mother's family to Texas, or possibly he arranged for them to travel by train. In either case, Sarah arrived in Ellis County with her daughter Madora, then 17 years old, Ernest, 14, and Hope, 7, as well as her mother, Rachel Scott, age 71 and in poor health. They lived at Maloney, a small rural community about 15 miles south of the Ellis County seat of Waxahachie. A relative named Henry Wood lived in that area, and it is assumed that it was with his help that they were able to relocate there. Will and his family had also lived and farmed near Maloney the previous season, their first in Texas, and perhaps still lived there as well.
Rachel died in the spring of 1894 and Sarah died on May 15, 1896. There exist studio photographs made in Waxahachie of Sarah alone and again in the same setting with Hope Nation, which may have been made in 1895, judging by the apparent age of Hope, who would have been 9 years old at that time. They are both reproduced in this book on pages 37 and 292. We also have a photograph of a beautiful Madora (courtesy of her great granddaughter, Karyl Aronoff) which appears on the title page of Part III, page 243.
Three faded copies (now over 100 years old) have been seen, but none of them indicates a date. Madora reached her nineteenth birthday in August following her mother's death.
After Sarah's death, Madora and Hope lived for a time with Will's family. It is interesting to speculate why. An alternate possibility would have been to live with "Uncle Steve's" family who also lived in Ellis County at the time. Steve had married Mary Gilbert about 1888 or 1889, with whom he had already had three children at the time of his mother's death. Also, the remaining brother, John T., had come to Ellis County from Alabama and had married Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Henson in December of 1895. One might guess that Will had of necessity shouldered the burden of being the man of the house after his father's death in Alabama when he was 14, and grew accustomed to taking responsibility for his mother and brothers and sister for the five subsequent years until Sarah's marriage to Jack Nation. If that line of speculation is true, it would seem to have been natural for Will to take charge of his remaining younger sister and half brother after his mother's passing in Ellis County.
But there was apparently a clashing of wills between older brother and younger sister. We do not know why. Another guess is that Madora, as she neared 20 years of age and having the Neely self assurance, felt that her decisions should be her own entirely, and not to be prescribed by Will. In that hypothetical situation, it is interesting to note some of our cousins' cryptic sketches of Will's personality that may have applied then: "he was autocratic" ... he was "kind of a stiff critter". In any case Madora (from U.R.'s tape): "eloped with Bogue Pinyan, much to Mother and Papa's disapproval. However, they apparently had a successful life near Dallas, Texas ".
And so that is what has been learned about Madora's early life. After her departure from Will's household about 1897, it has been said that there was no communication with any of her brothers "for 25 years", although that may have been a round number signifying a long time. What a shame. But it may be true, or even slightly more. The first subsequent contact that we hear of is from U.R.'s tape when he speaks of Madora's five children by name as then living in the Dallas area, "all of whom I visited in 1925 when I was teaching at Decatur Baptist College" It is heartbreaking to know from Juanita's and Karyl's statement in the second paragraph of this essay that Madora's "parents and brothers were never mentioned to her grandchildren."
And so it was that Juanita and Karyl titled this piece "The Lost Family of Madora Neely Pinyan"
It was in the early stages of research for this book in 1999 that notice was taken of the late Lloyd Reedy's (Juanita's husband) internet posting inquiring about Neelys who had come from Tennessee and Alabama to Ellis County, Texas. Subsequent correspondence has led to acquaintance with the remaining Madora descendants.
Although Madora and Bogue had five children (four girls and one boy), they only had two grandchildren, who are in our generation (nine) of our Neely line. None of their four daughters had children who survived as infants. Their one son, Hollis Fitzhugh "Fitzhugh" Pinyan, had one son and one daughter.
That son, Hollis Fitzhugh (always known as "Hollis") Pinyan Jr., was visited in his home town of Tyler, Texas recently where he lives an active retired life with his wife, Mary. They have no children. Hollis has served in a very impressive number of capacities, which are too many to list here completely, but which include: the Tyler Junior College Board of Trustees, Chairman of the Board East Texas Lighthouse for the Blind, Chairman East Texas Council of Government Futures Committee, Mayor Pro-Tem City of Tyler, Tyler City Council Member, Chairman of Tyler Planning Commission, and President Tyler-Smith County A & M Club. There exists a snapshot of Hollis in his Texas A & M Corps of Cadets uniform as a sophomore with his grandmother Madora in 1949. By very great coincidence, three Theophilus great grandsons were at A & M at the time: Hollis Pinyan, Roy "Buddy" Neely, and William Warren "Bill" Neely Jr, (although too young himself to be a student) whose father Warren Sr. was an Army major posted to the A & M military teaching staff. None of us were aware of the others.
The daughter, Juanita Joyce Pinyan Reedy continues to live in her home in Plano, Texas, in apparent good health. It was my very great pleasure to meet her and her daughter Karyl Reedy Aronoff in Karyl's home in Dallas in February of this year. It was amusing and interesting to learn during our visit that it was expected in Madora's dining room, years before when they farmed in Rockwall county, that Bogue would always dress for dinner. The genealogy chart which follows, titled Descendants of Madora Neely, lists the other daughter and son of Juanita and her six grandchildren, whom we are looking forward to meeting.
Reference was made by Juanita and Karyl in the first sentence of this essay that Madora was born in either 1876 or 1878. It is not unusual to find such an uncertainty as we research dates in the past, especially when there is a case of a child being born in a rural home, as undoubtedly Madora was, and under the conditions of the Reconstruction South when vital statistics were not high on the list of survival priorities. Although it is thought that her mother Sarah Hood had some education, her father Theophilus had little or none and is reported to have been unable to read or write as an adult. The 1880 Alabama census report shows Madora as age 2 on June 1, 1880, which is not compatible with either an August 1876 or 1878 birth date, but which would be compatible with an August 1877 birth. Further, in considering the birth dates of her older brother John on July 28, 1875 and her younger brother Ernest on November 22, 1879, it appears that an August 18, 1877 birth for Madora seems to be the most plausible, being closest to midway between the two. For purposes of a consistent usage, the year 1877 has been adopted and is shown as such in the heading of this chapter, and it has been used to calculate Madora's age at various points noted. However, we do not insist that this must be correct. We have no other evidence to consider. {n.b.: Gravestone has 1876 as birth year.}
The Two Grandchildren of Madora "Duckie" Neely Pinyan
- Hollis Fitzhugh Pinyan. Jr. 1931
- Juanita Joyce Pinyan Reedy 1933