> Crilley wrote: > > > My interest stems in that I made one very, very brief visit through > Taylor > > County several years ago. My grandparents left there with their family > in > > 1886 for Texas. My father was their last child and born in Alma, Texas. > > > > > I was looking for hints as to how my grandparents would have thought of > > Texas when they arrived. > > > > The first thing that struck me about Taylor County was its red, clay soil > > and its tall pines. > > > > Alma, Texas is in the Blackland Prairie, and at the time they arrived was > > very good for cotton production. The main trees were scrub mequite > > trees.....trees just don't grow that tall period in Texas! > > > > I've often wondered if my grandmother might have brought along a peach > > tree....or a rose bush cutting. By the time I was interested in > genealogy, > > there just weren't any people around to ask these questions to! At any > > rate, I'll bet she missed the tall pines. We did have a peach tree in > the > > back yard when I was a little girl...don't remember them ever being very > > good though....probably too cold. > > > > That's why I keep asking if the Peach trees are native or just when they > > started growing them in Taylor County. > > > > I think our Mailing List group is probably made up of three categories: > > 1) People who were born and raised in Taylor County and who still live > there > > 2) People raised in Taylor but now only getting there for a visit > > 3) People who only had ancestors from there and know very little about it I am category # 3. I used to attend family reunions in Taylor County as a child but am just now beginning to re-aquaint myself with the family I still have there. One half of my Taylor County ancestors also went to Texas in 1883. The 1882 typhoid epidemic had struck the Mathews family of Taylor County hard, taking the lives of one son, their son-in-law and a baby grand-daughter. My Great-great grandfather, William Washington Mathews had it. Another son survived but was brain damaged by the fever. Will loaded his family into a wagon and moved to Falls County, Texas (Rosebud) in 1883. He left behind his oldest daughter, Lula Jane Mathews Jarrell, who had been widowed by the epidemic and her one surviving twin daughter (the other having been taken by the fever. The young widow now had a house,the farm and farm equipment that had belonged to her and her late husband as well as the farm and posessions left behind by her father. I would think a young widow with two farms and other possessions wold attract numerius suitors. In December 1884 she married a young preacher, Monroe Tony Gualtney. They had eight more children and raised their family in Taylor County. What significant factors led to this western migratuin in the 1880's? What can you tell me about Falls County, Texas? James Harrell Burnham