Mam-ma's Southern Family

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 ...

Here's another story from a news item from The Dublin Progress. An ad was found in 1905, where G.W. Lancaster was offering land for sale, described as an 174 acre farm on Alarm Creek, six miles southwest of Stephenville. [1] 21 Jul 1905 The Dublin Progress This G.W. Lancaster could be George Wilson Lancaster, my third-great-grandfather, who married Martha Jane Polly. Their oldest son was William Carl Lancaster, whom I’ve written about earlier. The ad gave some detail but not the land description. It had ninety acres in cultivation and the balance was in timber and grass. He had peaches, blackberries, grapes, and some young apples. The house on the property had four rooms. There were also outhouses, two good wells, and a windmill. It also said it was a bargain. Did that mean he was selling it for less than it's value? Or were other properties without such anemities?  Earlier in the 1880's, G.W. and his wife were living in Maricopa County, Arizon...

In The Dublin Progress , which I have been reading for mention of my Texas family names, I found an article in the October 27, 1897 issue about Dempsey Perry Coor, son of my g-g-great-grandfather, James Madison Coor. His farm was located outside of Dublin and he had brought in a very large sweet potato, of the Southern Queen variety, that weighed over twelve pounds. [1] I love sweet potatoes, so I wondered what the Southern Queen variety is. According to Mother Earth News article, the Southern Queen matures in about 105 days. It produces “long, narrow tubers with white skin and white flesh. The original strain was introduced from South America in 1870.” [2]   Some people refer to these white sweet potatoes as yams (my father did) but they are not related to true yams at all. It seems that sweet potatoes grow well in the south because they thrive in “warm, sunny climate and prefers loose, well-drained soil” [3] and have a long growing season. I also learned ...

Here is a photo of the Stephenville High School girls basketball team in 1924. Two of the girls on the team are related to me but not to each other. Circled in blue is Pearl Lancaster, who was my great aunt. She was the sister of my grandmother, Pansy’s father, George Warren Lancaster. The girl circled in yellow is Faye Loveless. She was my first cousin, twice removed. Her father was my great-grandmother, Lela Ann Loveless’ brother, Arthur Loveless. The clipping was sent to my grandmother by her brother, R.D. Lancaster. My grandmother also played sports in high school but this would have been a few years before her time. Someday, I hope to find her yearbook.  Ancestry.com  has high school yearbooks but the earliest for Stephenville High School is 1937. Pansy married in 1933 at the age of 20, so my guess is she graduated either in 1931 or 1932. At Classmates.com the earliest yearbook they have is 1937 also. I will need to research when yearbooks were produ...

It appears that my great-great-grandfather, William Carleton Lancaster, was a singer. In the newspaper, The Dublin Progress , there were many articles about singing at W.C. Lancaster’s home. [1] Singing at WC Lancaster Saturday night was enjoyed by all present. [2] It seemed there were singing events at least once a month. At least, that was how often they were reported or maybe the singing was at the Lancaster house only once a month. What kind of singing was it? Church singing? Singing where someone played the guitar, banjo, violin, or harmonica? It was not clearly stated in the newspaper. Singing at W.C. Lancaster’s Sunday was well attended and enjoyed by all. The singing class has bought new books, and we now have one of the best singing classes in the county. We sing every first and third Sunday evenings. Everybody invited to come and sing with us . [3] So this article said the singing was twice a month but did not state where, though it could have been at W.C. Lanc...

I have been searching in old newspapers pages of The Dublin Progress , a newspaper published in Erath County, Texas, where many of my mother’s ancestors and cousins lived. I am fortunate that many issues of this paper is digitized on The Portal to Texas History website. I searched on the surnames and many hits came up. One of the interesting things I learned were the names of the many small communities these families lived in, such as Harbin, Hickey, Alexander, Bunyan, Live Oak, Greens Creek, Lone Oak, and Howell Springs. I had heard of Dublin and Greens Creek before but not any of these other towns. These families were mostly farmers, so this part of Erath county must have been very rural with perhaps a small area where a few buildings such as a store, gas station, church, or school might be located. Now I wanted to learn a bit more about these communities. Here is a map of the county showing some of these communities: 1907 Map of Erath Co Post Offices You can see ...

My great-great-grandfather, Ebenezer Loveless married first Eliza A. Rodgers on 19 Mar 1871 in Chattooga County, Georgia. [1] They moved to Faulkner County, Arkansas where their eleven children were born. After Eliza’s death from dropsy on 27 Aug 1907 [2] , Ebbie moved to Erath County, Texas where his son, James Arthur, was living. On 11 Sep 1908, Ebbie took out a marriage license to marry Mrs. M. M. Blunt. A list of marriage licenses were in the newspaper. [3]  Here is the image of the newspaper account. The Dublin Progress, 11 Sep 1908, p1 They were married by the minister, J.F. Adams, on 12 Sep 1908. [4] Here is the image of the marriage record. 1908 Marriage between E Loveless & Mrs MM Blount Who was Mrs. M. M. Blount?  She was married previously. Looking at the 1910 census with Ebbie and his wife, more clues are given as to her identity and these will be helpful in finding records previous to her marriage to Ebbie. Here is the household of Ebb...