And if you think that living in North Texas was bad for your health, your ancestors should have lived in Northwest Louisiana as long as mine did. Bill Pearce ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Hawkins" <hawkins@texoma.net> To: <TXFANNIN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 5:54 PM Subject: Re: [TXFANNIN-L] mostly offtopic > It has a lot to do with Genealogy . Diseases and the weather and wars > have a great deal to do with where folks lived and why they chose to > move. > While editing photographs of children in Fannin County I noted that > there are many many of them with Crossed eyes. I was asking if any one > had noted if there was a reason. I know people are born with crossed > eyes but personally have only known 1 person born that way. Due to the > large no's of people in the late 1800's in photographs , they represent > a lot larger number percentage wise in a class picture for instance. So > what caused so very many back then? Can it be caused by a disease? or > only at birth? If so why has it decreased. > Things like that are part of their history . Why it happened would be > nice to know. > Where your Fannin County ancestors lived in the county BEFORE the > railroads, had to do purely with health. All of the early settlements > that stayed together for at least 10 years were located so they werent > right on top of a wet place and had north and south breezes crossing a > slight rise. Out of the flood plains. > When the spot for Bonham was worked out it was noted it was Not a very > healthy area but the rule was still to place a county seat only near the > center of the county -no more than a half days ride for anyone. This was > hard to do because the Bois d'arc flooded and cut the county in half a > lot. > Sure enough when a few people got ill they would send them quickly out > to a farm on higher ground as they thought that was the only way to get > them well. > It is that reason that the Russell Heights area ended up in the hands > of the rich. You will note the area around Gates Hill Cemetery - the > African American cemetery for Bonham is in a low area that experienced > flooding and was toward the Bois d'arc marshes that used to happen > before the dam was built in Denison to control the Red River . > Some places like Ragsdale , ended up dying out anyway except as a > country school area. Early on it had a good sized population and was > fairly safe from flooding but a horrible epidemic killed almost a third > of the citizens. Their bodies carried all the way south of where > Monkstown was to be later and buried quickly in a forrest. They didn't > come back to mark the graves for many years. Few ended up being marked > and today no one knows exactly where it was located. > Comparing diseases today and yesterday are important. also where folks > lived and how they responded to the situation another. > Watching history you can even see why folks never lived in certain > areas . No houses show up in some of the areas until after the 1930's. > The reason--- little > 'tornado alleys' that repeated the pattern of a tornado track too many > times to be just coincidence. > Her answer to my question feeds my curiosity very well, maybe there > were more children with crossed eyes because they run in families and > the families were larger and more branches of the families concentrated > in one area. Fannin county was quite a web of intermarriage sometimes so > it spreads the genes. > And just maybe I am spending too much time thinking about it. > But I'm still waiting for a tornado to hit just the right houses > that were built where folks probably shouldn't build them. > Bet yall didn't know your ancestors were so very intertaining to me. > On lots of subjects. > Susan > > > > > Cynthia Yocum wrote: > > > > What does this have to do with Fannin Co. Genealogy? > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: <Pantrees@cs.com> > > To: <TXFANNIN-L@rootsweb.com> > > Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 8:46 AM > > Subject: Re: [TXFANNIN-L] mostly offtopic > > > > > Yes, children are borned crosseyed today. Thank God we have good Doctors > > > that know how to correct them. My granddaughter had surgery and wore > > glasses > > > to correct hers. > > > A little over thirty years ago a neighbor's daughter had surgery and > > glasses > > > also. I am not a Doctor but found out by experience. > > > > > > > > ==== TXFANNIN Mailing List ==== > Your listowner Susan Hawkins & > she can be reached at owner-TXFANNIN@lists.rootsweb.com > >