Tammy - Thanks - what a great insight into the old Bastrop area. The very reason I am on this list is that my grandfather (who I never met) was born and raised in Bastrop. You said: "My grandmother and her siblings had to wear a poultice attached to a scarf around their neck that smelled horrible. I can't remember what it was called. They used to take it off and hang it on a tree when they went to school and picked it back up on the way home so their mother wouldn't know they took it off. It was supposed to ward off disease." I don't know if it's the same, but my grandmother and mother both used to heat a little lard and add a drop of medicinal turpentine to it, then pat it on our necks if we had a sore throat or lost our voices (if you try this, please don't rub the solution on the neck), then wrap a wool sock around our necks and safety pin it in place. Smelly? You bet! However it worked like a charm. I used this same "recipe" on my own children when they were small, along with several other old remedies and wive's tales that were passed down. You said: "Boll Weevils ruined crops in about 1905 causing one of my relatives to give back his land to Orgain and move to San Saba." What, or who, is Orgain? Thanks - Dena --------------------------------- Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/

I have uploaded 3 biographies about Bastrop county residents you might want to look at. These are in the Bastrop County Archives. Biography of Ed Bell ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/bastrop/bios/belled.txt Biography of Sam Houston Blalock ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/bastrop/bios/blalocsh.txt Biography of W H "Uncle Billy" Mullins ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/bastrop/bios/mullinswh.txt Gene Phillips