Wanda Smith, of Garland, tells about her mother’s early life: My mother, Rosa (Willeford) Pelton, was a legend in her own right and I didn’t have to look beyond her to know who my hero in life was. She died just two months prior to her 104th birthday, but left a legacy ordinarily unobtainable by […]
Robert E. Ellis was born January 2, 1868. Then, 20 years later, Fannie Thomas was born at the home of her parents, Mr. & Mrs. John Kinchole Thomas. Robert and Fannie had met at a candy breaking party (taffy pulling) in Van Zandt County. Fannie was 12 and Robert was 32. They knew each other […]
Watermelon was always a special treat when I was growing up. There seemed to be several popular varieties back then. The three most desirable were the extra large dark green ones with dark red meat known as the Black Diamond in addition to the same exterior with a sweet yellow interior. The third one, which […]
Ella Fields was born in Missouri during 1873 and came to Liberty Grove at the age of seven. She married Pat Crabtree who was born sometime during 1879. Pat died at Liberty Grove in 1908. He was only twenty-eight years old. This left Ella with three small children to raise. George Washington Foster then built […]
The date was December 3, 1874 when the Texas & Pacific train pulled into the Dallas station. Among the passengers arriving were Rudolph F. Eisenlohr, a 28-year-old pharmacist from Cincinnati, Ohio, his wife Erma, and two year old son, Eddie. This was not Rudolph’s first trip to Texas. In 1850, at the age of four, […]
Florence Amanda (Parker) Way was the daughter of Matt and Clara (Withers) Parker, ranchers in Palo Pinto County, Texas. At the age of twenty-three Florence came to Rockwall as the bride of Jack Way, son of Jim and Amanda (Willess) Way. Jack was a farmer and mule trader in the area. Jack also served as […]
Ethel Laverne Butler Sellers was born at Liberty Grove (NE unincorporated Dallas County) on January 27, 1930. Her cemetery marker indicates that she was born in 1929, but that is because her dad had the date of birth changed so that she could start work a year early. She was born during the great depression […]
According to his death certificate, Calvin C. Low was born in Indiana on August 15, 1863. The story goes that he and his parents were traveling by covered wagon when both parents died of a fever, and Calvin was raised by Indians. We don’t know if he had any brothers or sisters, since little Calvin […]
Mrs. Sallie Loving Davis, 80, of 2303 Maders, whose family history is entwined with early history of Texas and Dallas County, died Friday at her home after an illness of many months. Mrs. Davis’ parents, Mr. And Mrs. James Loving, with an uncle, Oliver Loving, for whom Loving County was named, came to Texas from […]
Kirb Merritt was born at the old Merritt homeplace located on the corner of Liberty Grove Road and Merritt Rd just northeast of Rowlett. He married Kate Newman. Kate was the daughter of Flora Nelson and the granddaughter of Angeline Forster which was my grandfather’s sister. Kirb and Kate only had one son. Duane was […]
JAMES REID COLE, one of the noted educators of Texas and the South, came to Dallas in 1889 as the founder and president of a “Classical and Military school” which came to be known as the Cole School. Invited by a number of leading citizens to open his private school here, Cole conducted it for […]
John A. Dickson (1863-1929) brought his family from Mississippi to Dallas County in 1894, where he rented land and continued farming. Ten years before, on January 31, 1884, he had married Annie America Davis. To this marriage was born: William T in 1885; Vollie Lucille in 1888; Lorena Tina in 1891 and Neva Elizabeth in […]
I Was A Nurse’s Aide During World War II. My father, Herman H. Buhrer, owned the Live Oak Dairy in south Dallas, but had sold it just before war broke out on December 7, 1941. He and my mother, Julia, then purchased a farm in Richardson and moved there. I had been living at home, […]
In the fall of 1841 the families of Hamp Rattan and Capt. Mabel Gilbert, with a few other men, reached Bird’s Fort (near present day Arlington), and a little later the family of John Beeman. Late in November, 1841, a wagon left Bird’s Fort and was sent back to Red river for provisions. It stayed […]
Terrilyn Cade Krieter reports her family received word yesterday that, after 68 years, her Uncle Albert F. “Buddy” Mills (20), who was Missing In Action in Korea is finally coming home. She says that a positive ID was made this past July and her family met with the Army yesterday for updated details. The family […]
Oversize, reflectorized exit signs on Dallas expressways are among the more striking reminders of the community’s past. A particular example is the sign on Interstate 30 near the new Lake Ray Hubbard pointing to Chiesa Road, which is named for Giovanni Chiesa, pioneer landowner and settler in the area on the Dallas County side of […]
George Dotson was born July 15, 1873 in Dalton, Georgia. At the young age of 15 years, he left his home and traveled to Texas by covered wagon with friends from Georgia. They arrived in the Rose Hill area of Dallas County in 1888. He later moved to Rowlett, where he worked as a farmer. […]
Sam Cammarata, 30 of 2821 State, an instructor at the Sky Ranch Airport, was killed and his student, Bill Covington, 19, of 3018 Alabama was fatally injured when their light, two passenger plane crashed at the airport three miles south of the Veterans Hospital at Lisbon and about a half mile east of Lancaster Road […]
Albert K. Kirby along with his wife and children left Piineville, Missouri and headed for Rockwall in 1882. They came in a covered wagon bringing their household goods and cow with them. They had to blaze a trail and ford rivers and streams, the larger ones being Arkansas, Canadian and Red Rivers. At some of […]
For some reason, I was looking over the this photo of the “Fighting Garland Owls” this morning when I suddenly realized that the members of this football team represented some of the most deepest roots of the early pioneers of the Garland area. Before we get into family ties to these team members, it is […]
