Category Archives: Genealogy

Tree Climbing

Posted on November 20, 2019 by admin

Twenty years ago, Melva Geyer, then editor of the Greenville Herald Banner, and I discussed the need for a column regarding the W. Walworth Harrison Public Library. Since I was the Genealogy and Local History librarian, I became the columnist. … Continue reading →

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Old Concord Church and Graveyard

Posted on November 10, 2019 by admin

A doctor in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, asked to meet me at the Old Concord Graveyard adjacent to Concord Baptist Church at noon on Halloween. The church is one of the oldest churches in Hunt County, if not the oldest. Founded by … Continue reading →

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Going Through Customs and Immigration in Philadelphia

Posted on September 22, 2019 by admin

On September 16, 1751 Captain Coatam from Rotterdam sailed the vessel Nancy into Philadelphia harbor. All males of the age of majority were escorted by British soldiers to the State House. The group of some seventy-five men became British citizens … Continue reading →

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Voices from Small Places

Posted on September 8, 2019 by admin

Dr. Perky Beisel, Public History Professor at Stephen F. Austin University, introduced me to a wonderful, oral history project she and others created several years ago. It is exceptionally useful for small communities with elderly populations. Over the Labor Day … Continue reading →

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Tribute to Jim Conrad

Posted on August 3, 2019 by admin

Please join members of the Hunt County Historical Commission as well as members and supporters of the Cotton and Rural History Conference in the celebration of the life of the incredible James Conrad, PhD. The reception will be held at … Continue reading →

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Remembering Hal C. Horton, Jr.

Posted on January 20, 2019 by admin

I visited with Pud Kearns last week. As we talked she reminisced about her uncle, Hal Horton, Jr., who died recently at the age of 102. Hal was a descendant of James R. and Mary Merrill Horton. The couple arrived … Continue reading →

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Inanition, Milk Leg, and Quinsy

Posted on November 14, 2018 by admin

Recently, I pulled out A Field Guide for Genealogists, Second Edition, by Judy Jacobson and, as can sometimes happen, got distracted from my original quest. Ms. Jacobson wrote a chapter entitled “Those Old Time Diseases” that list causes of death … Continue reading →

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East Texas Historical Association

Posted on October 10, 2018 by admin

As you read this article, I will be driving down US Highway 69 from my home in Greenville, Texas, to Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas. I’m heading to the Fall Conference of the East Texas Historical Association. There … Continue reading →

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Railroad Picnic

Posted on October 7, 2018 by admin

The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, better known as the Katy, arrived in Greenville in October 1880. Not only did it help develop Greenville as a market center, it became the final link in a network of transportation in Northeast … Continue reading →

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Death in the 19th Century; Women and Property Laws

Posted on July 25, 2018 by admin

For more than two centuries, women in America were considered too delicate to handle finances or the burdens of business ownership under a variation of British Common Law. Close male relatives controlled property rights for women. Louisiana, Mexico, and other … Continue reading →

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