More Tidbits in the Dublin Progress for Lancaster Families

I love newspapers, especially small town newspapers with lots of tidbits about local people and their doings. Recently I found The Dublin Progress a newspaper published in Dublin, Erath County. The count seat was Stephenville and there were newspapers published there, too. Dublin is a bit west of Stephenville and this newspaper covered all of the small farming communities around it, such as Hickey, Harbin, Howell Springs, and Purves.

This newspaper can be found in digital form on The Portal to Texas History website where they have many newspapers available in the Texas digital Newspaper Program Collection. I can search the papers by name and I have found many hits on the names Lancaster, Coor, Loveless, and Welch. These are some of the family names who lived in Erath County, Texas in the early part of the 1900s.

Here is an example of a hit I received. This clipping is from the community of Hickey in the 13 November 1914 newspaper.[1] There are four different references to Lancaster family members and a Loveless family.

13 Nov 1914, The Dublin Progress

“R. L. Smallwood and Grandpa Lancaster went to Highland last Sunday.” This Grandpa Lancaster was likely George Wilson Lancaster, father to William Carlton  “W.C.” 
Lancaster. He was seventy-five years old in 1914. Often this paper referred to the older gentlemen as “grandpa.” R.L. Smallwood was a Baptist minister.

“Singing at W.C. Lancaster Saturday night was enjoyed by all present.” 
W.C. Lancaster was William Carlton, sometimes referred to in the paper as Carl. There have been many notations of singing by W.C. or at W.C.’s home.

“Mr. and Mrs. Rob Loveless of Stephenville visited Warren Lancaster and family Sunday.”  
Here Warren Lancaster was George Warren Lancaster, son of W.C. Lancaster. Rob Loveless was the brother of W.C.’s wife, Lela Loveless Lancaster. Rob’s wife was Lillie Moon.

“Warren Lancaster, Huts Loveless and Jesse Butler left Sunday night for the west to pick cotton.” 
Again, Warren was the son of W.C. Lancaster. Huts Loveless was William Hutson Loveless, the brother of Warren’s wife, Lela Loveless Lancaster. Huts had married Warren’s sister, Josephine, often called Jodie in the newspaper.

So these newspapers give clues. Clues to where they lived. Clues to their activities. Clues to other relationships and friendships. From the first tidbit, I could learn with more research that the family was Baptist. From the second, I learned that W.C. Lancaster liked to sing or was involved in singing. From the third, I learned that Rob Loveless and his wife lived in Stephenville and confirmed a relationship between the Loveless and Lancaster families. From the fourth, I can research about raising cotton in the area and migrant cotton picking.

Soon the Stephenville Tribune and Stephenville Empire newspapers will be online. I’m sure I’ll find more articles about Lancaster, Loveless, and Coor families.


[1] “Hickey,” The Dublin Progress, 13 Nov 1914, p. 7, col. 1, Lancaster & Loveless mentions, digital image, The Portal to Texas History (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ : accessed 26 Nov 2016).


Copyright © 2016 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family

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