Friday's Photo: My Great-Grandmother, Lodema Criswell Hairston with Family in Falls County, Texas 1919

The above photo shows my great-grandmother, Lodema Criswell Hairston (right), with her sister-in-law, Amy Myrtlene Manning Criswell. The photo is dated 1919 and is said to have been taken on the day of Amy's husband's funeral. Amy's husband was John Carson Calhoun Criswell, son of William M. and Mary Ann Evans Criswell and brother to Lodema. John died on 25 February 1919. John and Amy lived in the Odds Community in Limestone County, but their brother Thomas LeRoy "Whit" Criswell lived a few miles away in Marlin, Falls County. He is pictured with Lodema in the next two photos. 

I suspect that the following two photos were taken in Falls County, as I remember being told about the water tower by Whit Criswell's home that can be seen behind Lodema in the second photo below. The children's identities are unknown. 

Lodema spent some of her youth, was married, and had her children in Falls County. I imagine this was her last trip home. In the fall of that year, she fell ill and died on 3 October 1919 at home in Seymour, Texas. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

.

Diana

© 2023 

Lodema Criswell Hairston, photographs,1919; scanned images, from the privately held photo collection of Lena Stone Criswell, NM, 2001.

Friday's Photo: Henry Creswell, a New Large Project, and My First Steps

Thank you to my sister for this photo of her son standing near a monument
to Henry Creswell at the Sinking Springs Cemetery in Abington, Virginia. 
Click on the photo to enlarge. 

I have been told that Henry Creswell, buried at the Sinking Springs Cemetery in Abington, Virginia, was my direct ancestor. If correct, he would be my 5th great-grandfather. My great-grandmother, Lodema Walker Criswell, was the daughter of William Moore Criswell and Mary Ann Evans. William Moore Criswell is said to be the great-grandson of this Henry Creswell. 

A New Large Project 

I have never spent much time looking for the Criswell family. My cousin Jackie sent me what she had. A distant cousin's wife, Lena, shared fabulous stories, letters, and photos. Other distant relations sent me photos and family trees, but I never took the time to research and make sure I had documentation for each family line. 

Today, the Criswell line has been added to my "Large Projects" list. This list consists of five family projects. When I work on my family tree or visit a repository, I choose from only these projects. When I finish a project, I add another. This "Large Projects" list helps me stay focused and keeps me out of many rabbit holes. 

My First Steps 

I have three full Criswell binders and a large amount of digital files for this family. Most of the information I have collected involves William Moore Criswell, Mary Ann Evans, and their many children when living in Falls County, Texas. My first steps will be to read and organize the information in my binders and digital files, add documented information to my family tree, make any necessary corrections to my tree, and begin a timeline for William M. Criswell. As I find new or interesting Criswell items, you may see them in a blog post. 

If you want to know more about the Criswell family or about other families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

.

Diana

© 2023 

Henry Criswell Memorial, photograph, 2023; digital image, original photograph from the privately-held collection of C. Trujillo, AL, 2023. 

Myrtie Hairston Bryan's Funeral Book - Seymour, Texas 1927

This funeral book titled "In Memoriam" was completed after the death of my
grandmother, born Johnie Myrtlene Hairston. 

I have seen spelling variations of her first and middle name but most knew her as Myrtie. 

Myrtie died more than 25 years before I was born. My father was six years old at the time and only had a few memories. Her obituary, seen at 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #1 Johnie Myrtlene "Myrtie" Hairston, tells some of her story. 

Myrtie's parents were Phillip A. Hairston and Lodema Walker Criswell. She married my grandfather, Redic E. Bryan in 1900 in Erath County, Texas. 

At the time of her death, she had five living children. My father, Whit Criswell Bryan, was the youngest. His brother, Hairston Albritton Bryan (Buster), and his three sisters - Myrtie Marie Bryan (Marie), Monte DeRay Bryan (DeRay), and Willie Mae (later known as Willa Mae). 

I assume this was written by one of Myrtie's daughters. At the time, 23-year-old DeRay, was a teacher in Amherst, Lamb County. Marie, age 25, was at home and probably helped with the house and younger children. Willa Mae was 17 years old and still in high school. 21-year-old Buster was living and working in Wichita Falls and my father was six years old and living at home. 

Myrtie's date of birth has been erased. Myrtie was born in Falls County, Texas on 8 July 1880. Her family left Falls County for Erath County in 1883. Myrtie came to Baylor County in the fall of 1905 with her husband, two daughters, and her parents. 

Services

At

Home

Officiating Clergy

Rev. J. R. Baulch

Rev. C. E. Cogswell

Music

"In the Sweet by and by"

"Rock of ages"

"Jesus Savior, Pilot Me"

By

G. E. Barrett

F. Morris

Myrtie was buried in Woodmen Cemetery. Myrtie is said to be buried with two

children who died as infants and with her parents. Later, her husband, Redic, and son, Buster, were also said to have been buried nearby. However, only Myrtie's grave is marked. 

Floral Offerings

Fidelis Class

Y.W.A.

Marrero Cross

[Myrtie's first cousin. Marrero was the daughter of Lodema's sister, Caldonia.]

First Babtist Church

Woodsman Circle

Mr. & Mrs. J.D. Blanks

Mrs. J. S. Foster

Mr. & Mrs. T. E. Brock

Jack Eaves & Family

[Jack Eaves was married to Lodema's sister Frances Criswell - Aunt to Myrtie.]

Mrs. W.B. Murphy

Richmond Family

Mrs. Putge [transcription is questionable]

Whit Criswell & Family

[Whit Criswell was Myrtie's Uncle and the brother of her mother, Lodema.]

Mr. & Mrs. W. B. Murphy

Floral Offerings

Mrs. J. F. Bunkley

Mr. & Mrs. S. L. Webb

Mr. & Mrs. A. G. Barrett

Mrs. John Criswell  & Family

[John Criswell was Myrtie's Uncle, brother to her mother, Lodema]

Mr. & Mrs. Chloe Shawver

W. M. W.

Mrs. A. R. Smith & Family

Mrs. F.M. Rayburn

The Pep Squad

Amherst Faculty

Mrs. M. M. Harrison

Mrs. C. E. Rupe

R. E. Bryan & Family

Pall Bearers

G.W. Adkins

W. H. Frances

O. Parks

J. A. Blanks

Wesley Harrison

Charlie Harris

Flower Girls

Flo Richmond

Catherine Clark

Ruby Williams 

Nell Smith

Velma Wilbanks

Willie Mae Adkins

Annie Bell Emsoff

Wanda Jones

Henry Lee Carter

Family Record

Father

P.A. Hairston

Mother

Lodema Hairston (Criswell)

Other Members of Family

R.E. Bryan

Marie Bryan

DeRay Bryan

Buster Bryan

Willie Mae Bryan

R.E. Bryan Jr.

(died in infancy)

Redic E. Bryan

(died in infancy)

Whit Criswell Bryan

Mrs. John Criswell & Family

Memoranda

Telegrams

J.E. Biggs - Groom, Texas 

[James E. Biggs was married to Redic's sister, Terrell "Bunch" Bryan]

J. D. Blanks - Denton, Tex.

Marrero Cross - Waco, Tex.

[Myrtie's first cousin. Marrero was the daughter of Lodema's sister, Caldonia.]

Whit Criswell - Marlin, Tex.

[Whit Criswell was Myrtie's Uncle and the brother of her mother, Lodema.]

Dollie Wylie

[Dollie Wylie was the sister of Redic Bryan.]

Cordus Bray

[Cordus Bryan was a friend of DeRay. I have letters he wrote to DeRay.]

SEYMOUR MERCANTILE COMPANY

W.H. GRAY

Funeral Director and Embalmer

SEYMOUR, TEXAS 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2022

Sources 

    Diana Bryan Quinn "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #1 Johnie Myrtlene "Myrtie" Hairston," blog entry, 5 January 2014, Moments in Time: A Genealogy Blog (https://momentsintimeagenealogyblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-1-johnie.html : accessed 3 January 2022).

    Lena Stone Criswell, "Criswell-McKinley Family Tree," private tree, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/10909485/family/familyview? : accessed 3 January 2022).

    Myrtie Hairston Bryan, photograph, ca. 1910; digital image, from the privately held photo collection of D.B. Quinn, 2022.

    Myrtie Hairston Bryan's Funeral Book, In Memoriam (Seymour Mercantile Company, Seymour, Texas), 1927,  privately held by Diana Bryan Quinn, Virginia Beach, VA, 2022.

    Terrell Bryan Family Bible Records, 1836 - 1927, The Illustrated Polyglot Household Bible (Philadelphia: G. Zeigler, McCurdy, & Co., 1870), "Family Record," privately held by Diana Bryan Quinn, Virginia Beach, VA, 2022.

#52ancestors Post Seventeen: William W. Noah Is Buried in the Bethel Cemetery in Erath County

This week's writing prompt for #52ancestors is cemetery. One of my favorite visits to a cemetery was my 2003 visit to the Bethel Cemetery in Erath County, Texas. This was not because I found a lot of family in the cemetery. William W. Noah is the only one. But, because my grandmother grew up in the very small community of Bethel. The Hairstons, Noahs, and Thompsons left Falls County to live in Bethel in about 1883. Phillip A. Hairston, my great-grandfather, and his sisters, Permelia Hairston Noah and Mattie Hairston Chisum Thompson, all settled in the Bethel School Community. This community no longer exists, but seeing the landscape and the surrounding areas added a little more to my family history. 

William W. Noah was born April 7, 1866. According to the 1880 census record, he was born in Texas.  He was the first child of Permelia Ann Hairston and Joseph Sydney Noah. His only sibling was Oscar Edward Noah born in 1871. William, also seen as Willie, was about seven years old when his father died in Falls County. Ten years later his family moved to the Bethel School Community. 

William died only about a year after arriving in Erath County on November 15, 1884. It is said he took arsenic to control his epilepsy and died as a result of too much arsenic. 

Visit Find A Grave to see more of the Bethel Cemetery and learn a little more about the Bethel School Community. 

Click on the family tree to see an enlarged version. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2018

Sources

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn.

#52ancestors Post Fifteen: Tax Records Helped Me Find Hairston Family

Phillip Hairston and Lodema Criswell Hairston with daughter, Myrtie.
Tax records show Phillip Hairston and his family were
in Erath County by 1884. 

This week's writing prompt is taxes. Taxes have helped me find family. 

I have been looking for connections between John L. Hairston and his said to be family for years. Every six months or so, I look for Hairston family members at Ancestry.com, newspaper sites, FamilySearch.org, Google and other appropriate sites. Content is constantly added and you never know what new information you will find. 

Since beginning my research, I have always known John L. Hairston was in Hinds County, Mississippi in 1850 and 1860. I have land records placing him in Georgia in 1838  but was unsure about the time between 1838 and 1850. 

A few years ago, I found tax records at FamilySearch.org showing John L. Hairston was in Hinds County, Mississippi by 1847. AND, other Hairstons listed with him were two men, Robert and Vincent/Vinson Hairston, I had been researching as I thought they might be brothers of my John L.  This put me a little closer to finding family. 

Samuel B. Hairston is another thought to be brother of John L. Hairston. Although thought to be in Alabama from the end of the Civil War until his death, he was found in Falls County, Texas tax records (with his children) in 1887 and 1888. 

Oral family history indicates John L. Hairston left Mississippi for Texas after the Civil War, first stopping in Arkansas. John L. Hairston cannot be found in the 1870 census but tax records show he was paying taxes in Falls County in 1868. 

It is said my great-grandfather, Phillip A. Hairston, and his family left Falls County in 1883. Finding Phillip A. Hairston on the Erath County, Texas 1884 tax rolls proved this family story. 


If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds.
 

Diana

© 2018

Sources

Family photographs and documents from the collection of 

"Mississippi, State Archives, Various Records, 1820-1951." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Mississippi Department of Archvies and History, Jackson.

"Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1837-1910." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 21 July 2016. Citing Comptroller's Office. State Archives, Austin.

#52ancestors: Post Eight: Oscar Edward Noah #56

Coming up with this post was difficult. The writing prompt for #52ancesters is heirloom. Google defines heirloom as a valuable object that has belonged to a family for several generations. I am trying to relate these 52 posts to my Hairston family, but I have no heirlooms. 

My father was orphaned in 1929. Most of his family's belongings were left behind in Seymour, Texas when he and his sisters made their permanent home in Borger, Texas. Whatever heirlooms existed were with Dad's sisters. When his sisters died everything went to my cousin - their caregiver.  

However, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines heirloom as something of special value handed down from one generation to another.  So, I do have heirlooms. My cousin gave me a box of photos - the photos that sent me on this fabulous journey to find my Hairston family. 

This photo of Oscar Edward Noah and his family is one of those found in the box. On the back is written, All the bunch including the grandson Hulen Stroman.

The photo was probably taken in 1921 or 1922 as Hulen was born in 1920. Many Hairston cousins have this photo. Cousin Bob, a descendant of Oscar, sent me the following labeled photo. 

According to his obituary, Oscar Edward Noah, son of Joseph Sidney Noah and Permelia Ann Hairston, was born on March 1, 1871, in Marlin, Falls County, Texas.  His parents were married on June 11, 1865, in Hinds County, Mississippi. It is said they left Mississippi, after the war, for Falls County, first stopping in Arkansas, with Oscar's grandfather, John L. Hairston, and other extended family members including his mother's brother (my great-grandfather), Phillip A. Hairston. 

Oscar Edward Noah is #56 on this family chart. Click to enlarge. 

In 1880, I found Oscar at age 9 living with his mother, brother, and extended family in Falls County. His father was kicked by a mule and died from the injuries in 1873. The entire family moved to Erath County in 1883. The next few years were probably very difficult for the family. Oscar's older brother and only sibling, William, died in 1884. The next year, his mother married A. J. Lackey. Mr. Lackey left the household in 1890. Permelia divorced him and took back her previous surname of Noah. 

I don't know where Oscar attended school or college, but by 1892, he was teaching in Erath County for $40 monthly in the Acrey community. This community can no longer be found on maps. It was described in an 1891 issue of The Stephenville Empire as on the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railroad, nine miles from Stephenville and six miles west from Bluff Dale. 

On August 25, 1895, Oscar married Mamie Allen. During the 1895 - 1896 school year, together they taught all grades and managed the Moccasin Rock school in the Lowell Community (not far from Lingleville). Oscar was 24 years old with 3 years of teaching experience and had just received a first grade certificate good for four years. A first grade certificate is the highest a teacher could earn. This enabled Oscar to teach older students and more difficult subjects. His salary was $56.20 monthly. Mamie was 17 years old and had applied for a second grade certificate, but was given a first grade certificate good for four years. Her salary is unknown. 

Oscar was very active in his community and church. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, the Democratic Club, the Anti-Baily Club and the Erath County Baptist Association. In all of these activities, he served in some type of leadership capacity. 

Oscar served on juries, was appointed an election officer in 1906, served as an election officer during the statewide prohibition election in 1911, and served as a draft registration officer in 1917. He was on the Board of Trustees for the Lingleville School District and on the School Board for Erath County. 

This was published in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune
in 1939 and found at Newspaperarchive.com. To
read the entire article click here.  

Oscar Edward Noah was a well-educated farmer. In 1902, he served on the executive committee of Erath County's newly organized Farmer's Institute allowing farmers to hear prominent lecturers talk about farming in Texas. In 1935, he was one of 36 farmers in Erath to organize the Dublin Soil Conservation Association. 

Oscar and Mamie had seven children and all are pictured above. 

Oscar died at the age of 86 in 1957. Click here to see his obituary. Mamie died three years later. To see her obituary, click here. Oscar and Mamie are buried in West End Cemetery in Stephenville, Erath County, Texas. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2018

Sources

Crooks, Pam. Back to School-1800's Style! - Petticoats & Pistols. 2008. Web. 25 Feb. 2018. <http://petticoatsandpistols.com/2008/09/10/back-to-school-1800s-style/>.

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn

Newspaper Archives, Obituaries & Family History Records. Web. 25 Feb. 2018. <https://newspaperarchive.com/>.

The Portal to Texas History. Web. 25 Feb. 2018. <https://texashistory.unt.edu/>.

Shipman, Cindy. "Re: O. E. Noah." Message to Diana Bryan Quinn. 2002. Email. 

Turnbo, Charlie. The Churches of School Hill School Hill, Texas. TexasEscapes.com., 2002. Web. 25 Feb. 2018. <http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsNorth/School-Hill-Churches-Texas.htm>

The Stephenville Empire. (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 3, Ed. 1 Friday, August 30, 1895 - Page: 3 of 4 . The Portal to Texas History. Web. 25 Feb. 2018. <https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth857641/m1/3/zoom/?q=mamie%20allen&resolution=4&lat=3733&lon=3134>.

Stephenville Empire-Tribune. (Stephenville, Tex.), READING THIS ARTICLE SAVED FARMER BUYING SEED CORN. 1939 February 24, page 9.  Newspaperarchives.com. Web. 25 Feb. 2018. <https://newspaperarchive.com/stephenville-empire-tribune-feb-24-1939-p-9/>.