A Letter from the Texas Confederate Home

Terrell Bryan, my great-grandfather, wrote this letter to Mr. T. J. Martin of Ringgold, Louisiana. Thomas Jefferson Martin, a minister in Bienville Parish, was the husband of Laura Bryan, Terrell's niece. 

If you've seen my web pages, you may have seen a transcription of this letter. Above the transcription, I wrote, A copy of this letter was in my father's notebook. I am assuming that he received it from Marguerite Cook Clark, a granddaughter of Thomas J. Martin of Bienville Parish, Louisiana.

I don't know if my father received the copy from Marguerite Cook Clark, but she did have the original. I found this on my third visit to see her genealogical collection. 

Texas Confederate Home

Austin, 25th May, 1910

    Mr. Thos’J. Martin Ringgold La

       My Dear Tom & family, Yours of 20 instr rec this morning.  I am surely glad to hear from you & so many others so near and dear to me. I wish I could see all back there U express myself to all.  Well I am so lonely in this world no place like home when Harriet was with me but she finished her work & run her race all well so God’s law saw best what to do.  So I have to submit to the law.  She died with a pain in her shoulder in about one hour after it struck her.  She was getting dinner after eleven o’clock and died a little after twelve, about one hours she suffered.  Died in good health.  My 4 children was with her to see her buried.  So I drifted from place to place.  Now I am here.  I think to stay.  We are well cared for about 350 inmates.  My children, 4 in number.  Dollie married T.S. Wylie live at Bronte, Coke County,  Bunch to J. D. Biggs at Morgan Mill, Erath County.  Allie to Johnie Hammettee, Seymour, RFD No.7, Baylor Country, Redic to Mirtie Hearston, Seymour F.D.D., No 7 Baylor County.  Hollie to J.A. Latta. She died, left one child about 13 years now.  He has married has one more little girl.  Our Texas baby Laura to Harve Keith at Stephenville.  She died, left 3 sweet little girls.  He married again.  All are going well. May God bless them all.  I was glad to hear from Ben M. & John H. and others of our kin.  Charley to you did not state about him.  Abe Evans where is he and a great many others.  Give my best wishes to all that ever knew me and to all our kin God Bless them so if we never meet on earth pray to meet with loved ones as children of God.  Tom think that will be joyful beyond the grave.  Tom pray that we may be there in Gods house eternal in heaven with loved ones then never to separate any more.  My best love to you and family and all the loved ones. 

                                               As ever
                                                Terrell Bryan

For more about Terrell Bryan's time at the Texas Confederate Home including information about those mentioned in the letter, click here. 

These posts tell more about Terrell Bryan in the Texas Confederate Home and his later years of life. 

• Friday's Photo: Terrell Bryan's Twilight Years

• Friday's Photo: A New Photo of Terrell Bryan AND More About His Time at the Texas Confederate Home

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

© 2017

Sources

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission.

Letter - Terrell Bryan to Thomas Martin in Bienville Parish. 25 May 1910. Web. 29 Jul. 2017. <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bryanquinn/Bryan-WillsdeedsobitTX-TerrellBryantoThomMartin.htm>

Friday's Photo: Terrell Bryan's Twilight Years

My second cousin sent me this photo of my great-grandfather, Terrell Bryan. This was taken at the home of his daughter, Dollie Wylie, in Bronte, Coke County, Texas. It may have been taken sometime between the death of Terrell's wife, Harriet Albritton Bryan, in 1909 and Terrell's own death in 1920.  

Terrell moved often after his wife's death. He was living in Stephenville when his wife died February 9, 1909. Soon after, he must have gone to West Texas as a local newspaper reported Terrell Bryan returned home from a trip of some time in Coke and other west Texas counties. At that time, three of his children lived in West Texas. Dollie Wylie lived in Coke County, Allie Hammett lived in Baylor County, and Redic Bryan lived in Howard County.  

In May 1910, he was found as a roomer at the home of Olin Cameron, a liveryman, in Stephenville, Texas. Terrell was 73 years old and not working. Soon after, Terrell was admitted to the Texas Confederate Home. Between March and September of 1911, he visited Stephenville at least twice. He requested to be discharged from the home in August 1912. His daughter, Terrell Little "Bunch" Bryan Biggs wrote the following about Terrell's living situation in June 1913.

Yes, PaPa could be here with me and be one of my family if he just would. I would love to wait on him but he won't do anything his children wants him to do. He is a Woodsman. He draws his Policy now it ought to keep him up. He gets his pension besides what we children does for him. He don't care to spend money anyway. 

He is so hard to get along with is the cause of him leaving the old Soldiers Home. He stayed there just as long as he could. I know just how he was. He is so childish and so strong headed. You know Mama was all the one could do any thing with him and she could not do much. Poor old man. Makes his own bed hard. I don't think he will ever change. 

McNeil Wylie reported Terrell moved in with the Wylie family in 1914. That must have been short lived as Terrell was living in Stephenville in June 1914 when Bunch wrote in another letter I saw Papa the last time I was at Stephenville. He looks well and fine. looks so big and stout.  Terrell wrote to his niece in Georgia on October 17, 1915. He stated he had lived with Dollie Wylie in Bronte, Texas, but was presently living in Stephenville. 

Terrell was again admitted to the Texas Confederate Home on October 31, 1916. It is unknown when he left the home, but below is Terrell at the Wylie home in about the year 1918.

Four Generations - Terrell Bryan at the Wylie Home in Bronte Texas. Terrell's daughter, Dollie Wylie, is pictured along with her son McNeil Wylie (in uniform) and her grandson, T. M. Wylie, Jr. - son of  T. Milton Wylie. 

Terrell Bryan was 83 years old when he passed away on May 16, 1920, at the home of his daughter Dollie Wylie. I am glad he was with family.  Terrell is buried in West End Cemetery in Stephenville, 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

© 2017

Sources

1910 United States Federal Census for Terrell Bryant. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jul. 2017. <https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7884/4449200_00590/27981400?indiv=try&h&db>.

Biggs, Terrell L. Bryan (Morgan Mill, Erath County, TX) to "Mrs. E. O. Bryan" [Erie Ontario Nix Bryan - Ringgold, Bienville Parish, LA]. Letter. 11 June 1913. From the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014 and November 8,9,10, 2016. Used with permission.

Biggs, Terrell L. Bryan (Morgan Mill, Erath County, TX)  to "Mrs. E. O. Bryan" [Erie Ontario Nix Bryan - Ringgold, Bienville Parish, LA]. Letter. 13 July 1914. From the collection of Jaqueline Dudley Skinner.

Bryan, Terrell  (Stephenville, Erath County, TX) to "Miss Lizzie Ragan" [Lizzie Ragan, dau. of Span Regan-Terrell County, GA]. Letter. 17 October 1915. From the collection of E. Ragan Pruitt.

Family photograph (Terrell Bryan) from the collection of Fran Lomas. Used with permission.

Family photograph (Wylie Family Group) from the collection of Jane Aebersold. Used with permission. 

The Dublin Progress. (Dublin, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 51, Ed. 1 Friday, April 30, 1909, newspaper, April 30, 1909; Dublin, Texas. (texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth543466/: accessed July 25, 2017), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dublin Public Library.

Moments in Time, A Genealogy Blog: Friday's Photo: A New Photo of Terrell Bryan AND More About His Time at the Texas Confederate Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jul. 2017. <https://momentsintimeagenealogyblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/fridays-photo-new-photo-of-terrell.html>.

Wylie, McNeil. Circumstances Leading to the Departure of Terrell Bryan From his home in Ringgold, Louisiana: Selecting Erath County, Texas as his home. No Date. Print.

Friday's Photo: A New Photo of Terrell Bryan AND More About His Time at the Texas Confederate Home

One of the recent photos at Erath County Photos, History, and Memories on Facebook is a photo of Civil War veterans posing on the north side of the courthouse in Stephenville during the year 1911. It was published in a 1984 calendar. 

I remembered the photo as I have the calendar and knew that my Erath County Civil War ancestor could not be in the photo. In 1911, Terrell Bryan lived in the Texas Confederate Home. 

A few of the men attending Terrell Bryan's funeral in 1920.

As I looked at all of the veterans in the photo, I wondered if any of those men had attended Terrell Bryan's funeral so pulled up my post, Masons Attended Terrell Bryan's Funeral in Stephenville, Erath County, Texas, to compare.  Only a few looked old enough to be veterans. None appeared to be in the calendar photo. However, one of the veterans in the calendar picture caught my eye. He could possibly be my great-grandfather, Terrell Bryan. I needed to review my research!

Bryan family, please weigh in.
Is this Terrell Bryan?

According to the Texas Confederate Home Roster, Terrell Bryan came to Texas in 1876 and resided in Stephenville. He was admitted into the home on May 4, 1910 and discharged, at his own request, in August 1912. He was re-admitted on October 31, 1916 and died on May 26, 1917. In case of death R. E. Bryan would be contacted and he wanted to be buried in Stephenville, Texas. 

Some of these dates conflict with other records. In an earlier statement, written by Terrell Bryan, he came to Texas in 1877. AND, his death date is May 16, 1920. So, was he really in the Texas Confederate Home in 1911?

A revisit to my Bryan family web pages to find a letter Terrell wrote while staying at the Texas Confederate Home led me to some forgotten, but very interesting newspaper transcriptions telling a different story. 

Terrell Bryan was admitted to the Texas Confederate Home in 1910, but in March of 1911, he returned to Stephenville were he remained for three months. And, in September of 1911, he visited Stephenville for a few days.  It is very possible the man in the front row is Terrell Bryan. 

Update (July 2017):  An Erath County history expert stated this man looks like Terrell, but he has been identified as J. A. Butin in the photo (possibly John A. Buntin). However, there is no source for the identification. 

Visit Moments in Time, my Facebook page, to see the full photo shared from Erath County Photos, History, and Memories. 

Diana

© 2016

Sources

Davis, K. H., Devereaux, L. E., & Ericson, C. R. (2003). Texas Confederate Home roster: With added data from Confederate Home ledgers. Nacogdoches, TX: Ericson Books.

Erath County Photos, History, and Memories. (n.d.) In Facebook [Group].  Retrieved 17 Mar. 2016  from https://www.facebook.com/photo.php? fbid=10207399997411637&set=gm.509090979275972&type=3&theater.

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn

Quinn, Diana B. (2002). Letter - Terrell Bryan to Thomas Martin in Bienville Parish. Bryan Davis Hairston Criswell Giddens Quinn Driscoll Murray Staubach Glynn. Rootsweb., Web. 18 Mar. 2016. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bryanquinn/Bryan-WillsdeedsobitTX-TerrellBryantoThomMartin.htm.

Young, Dan. (1983). Town and Country Bank Presents A Calendar of Erath County History 1984. Erath County, TX: Vanderbilt Street Press.