To Peggy Loar, You're certainly welcome. I appreciate your interest. Tony Lanagan -----Original Message----- From: Peggy Loar <[email protected]> To: J. A. Lanagan <[email protected]> Date: Friday, August 27, 1999 12:45 PM Subject: Re: hello to the readers of the Shelby site >Tony, > >Thank you for posting the very interesting information about your family and >for the words of wisdom. > >Peggy Loar > > >

In a message dated 8/27/99 2:26:12 AM Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: << Nannette Johnston Columbus, Georgia >> Are your JOHNSTONs from Shelby Co? Grant JOHNSTON Chico, CA

I'm Tony Lanagan and am a life long EAST TEXAN and proud of it although I have been transplanted to Dallas since 1987. I grew up in Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, Nacogdoches, Texas, Overton, Texas and Longview, Texas where I went to Pine Tree High School. I am a pharmacist and graduate of the University of Texas. I'm 'kin' to a lot of people in Shelby County or people emulating from there. My maternal grandmother, 'Miss' Onie Nelson was the last of us born in the county December 29, 1887 about 2 miles from the Sabine River. In 1901 or 1902, her family of two natural parents, five sisters and one brother and one son-in-law moved across the Louisiana line to Pelican, De Soto Parish. In her married life, she lived 'ACROSS THE BORDER'--as it is known around East Texas--in Sabine Parish 3 miles west of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana but she never lost her love of Shelby and her aunts, uncles and cousins over there. She transferred this love of Shelby to all of us and I became a genealogist of sorts at the age of 8 or 10 years old around 1950 to 1952. I was always 'up' for a good story with some family based truth in it and still am. I even went to a 'singin' held by the Carroll family in Carrolltown in the early 1950's. It's a dad gum shame that they don't call you in like that anymore. It's a detriment to the research of us all. When I first saw the Carroll Cemetary, it was white sand, picked clean of every blade of grass--as was the custom. So were a lot of the yards in Carrolltown at the homes of her cousins. Surprisingly, as young, unmarried people, my grandmother and her sisters could go in the buggy from Pelican, Louisiana, unchaperoned, but in small groups; spend the night near the river at a relative's house on the Louisiana side, such as Uncle Malcomb Paul's; get up early the next day and go across on Myrick's Ferry to Paul's Store, Carrolltown, Strongs, or the 'Neck'. Although she said she was born in Shelbyville, she just said it as people who choose to say they're born in a bigger town than they were.--and Shelbyville was once famous enough that if you said that, people knew where you were born. She was really born in the 'Neck' which is short for 'Terrapin Neck' and in no way ashamed of it. This term was used since the origin of Shelby County to refer to a particular bend of the Sabine River. I have seen it referred to as the 'Neck' as early as 1862 in letters from a Shelby County Confederate soldier. Miss Onie's mother was a Booth; Her grandmother was a Carroll and one of her great grandmothers was a Paul and the other was a McClellan (but not of the Shelby County McClellans); What's in a name? For her, it meant that her Scots-Irish ancestors, the Carrolls and McClellans of York County, South Carolina, had passed down enough heritage that they, years later in Shelby County, knew to give her a birth name of 'Iona' for the sacred island off the coast of Scotland, said to be the graveyard of the Scottish chieftans, including MacBeth. All of these early Shelby County ancestors lived and died in Shelby County. All people descended from these original Shelby County settlers of the first Booth, Paul and Carroll families are related to her including the huge group of Pauls of Sabine Parish, Louisiana who are descended from Burton Paul, originally of Shelby County, Texas by way of Jones County, Georgia. My best researcher 'cousins' are Bill Carroll of Houston, Texas, Frances Lapp of Fort Worth, Texas, and Mrs. Mary Hancock of Georgia. I would like to publicly thank them. These people have been of invaluable help to me and we still 'consult'. Frances is a Booth and Paul descendant and Bill and 'Miss Mary' work on the Carrolls. Fay Dobson, a CASSEL researcher has been of help to me as we have ancestors buried in the Cassel Cemetary in Shelby County. 'Miss' Mattie Dellinger of Center, Texas--THE BEST NEWSPAPER COLUMN WRITER WE EVER HAD has been a great help to me as was Mr. J.B. Sanders who was one of the first to try to save Shelby County's heritage. I used to spend hours with Mr. Sanders in the 1960's when no one seemed to care much about what he was doing. He knew about YOUR ancestors...as well as mine. We should all be grateful to him. I never once heard him try to tell me about HIS genealogy. He wanted to preserve what you knew and wanted you to tell him what you found out about ANYTHING in the county. Thought to be a little different or 'walking to the beat of a different drummer' by the public, he was intelligent, had the fore thought to use a 4x5 camera to photograph documents not connected to him by blood, and then processed the film and prints himself in attempt to save it. Most likely, a lot of his material was probably destroyed, possibly even by librarians. I encourage you to work together, help one another, appreciate the people who do the "lookups" , and work on the cemetaries, and work on the web pages, mail you things without asking for postage re-imbursement, and who even do the small thing of taking the time to respond to YOUR e-mail. A lot of the people that I write on the web who request that YOU respond to THEIR plea won't even write back with a simple "I'm sorry, I'm not connected to that family. Good Luck in your search." And I say to you: Good luck in your search. Sincerely, Tony Lanagan

Hi, I am in Montgomery County, TX. My search is for the CASSEL, ROOKER family that has been in the Shelby Co. area since the 1860's I'm descend from them as my father, grandmother and grandfather are buried in the CASSEL cemetery in Shelby Co. but I have no family names passed my great grandfather William Cassel b. MS. Any help would be appreciated. Enjoy your list very much. fay [email protected]

List: I'm in Wagoner, OK. My Shelby Co. surnames are Southern and Bullard, and Timms and Golden. Would appreciate any info on them, and would love to meet new cousins! Heather

I'm in Smith County, but seeking relatives of CARPENTER, SUTTON, LARY and MCVAY. Discovered Claiborn Carpenter in Shelby County around1840 and am seeking any other info that may tell me who his parents were, where he was from, or what his wife (Eliza J.) maiden name was. I was aware that Shelby, Robertson and Nacadoches Counties were much different in the early 1800's, but just this week I discovered an 1840 East Texas County map that lists the specific boundaries. Makes the hunt much more interesting as now I can picture what counties were when back then. I didn't realize Smith County didn't even exist then, nor did Navarro, Henderson and some of the others. Thanks for this LIST, as I've picked up so many interesting websites and tips and tidbits. God Bless you.

On page 846 of the "Shelby County Texas History", there is a picture of John Moses Taylor in Joaquin, TX 1885. I surely would like to get a copy of that picture, if possible. Anyone willing to share? My recently deceased mother-in-law, Eunice B. Taylor Cannon, was a descendant, and I would like to gather photos of the older Taylor family members, to share with Mrs. Cannon's children and grand-children. Thanks, Sallie Cannon

Seems we have had roll call so I thought I would let you hear from me. My grandfather, Dr. Edgar B. Clements moved to Shelby Co Tx as a young man as did his parents and some siblings. My father, Thomas C. Clements was born and reared in Timpson. I am interested in the descendants of the siblings of Dr. Edgar B. Clements. Also researching Williams and Segar in Shelby as well as Panola County, Texas. Nannette Johnston Columbus, Georgia

I'm in Pittsburgh now, though with East Texas (Trinity County) roots. I'm researching, apparently futilely, only one Shelby County person -- Miles Courtney, who went to Shelby from either Galveston of Houston around 1880 -- lived near Tenaha, working on the railroad -- and died in Shelby county in 1920. Was married (his second marriage) to Eliza Murphy, ans spent the last years of his life living with her and her sister at the home of the sister and her husband, Enos Campbell. Anne Brannen

Hello from Rockwall, TX I'm researching WHITE, MIDDLETON, JACKSON and other related families from Shelby Co, TX. They were there since 1837 Republic of Texas days; came from Maury Co TN. Polly White Rash

I'm Judith Sinitiere in Lafayette, Louisiana. Researching the MESSEC (Messick, Messic, etc) family which moved from Georgia to Shelby County in about 1839 and eventually settled in the Cushing area of Nacogdoches County. Isaac G, Robert, and Jane Messick were the earliest known arrivals in Texas. My gr-gr-grandfather, William Messic, was living with a Roberts family in Shelby by 1850, then married Catherine TAYLOR of the DL Taylor Sr. family of San Augustine in 1851, and settled there until his early death in about 1863. Among the MESSEC family, I am most especially interested in information about the "Texas years" in the life of Captain Isaac Green Messec, 1822-1901, who migrated from Macon, GA to Shelby and Harrison Co early in life, then from East Texas to California in 1849. I have much information to share about his later life. My LONG and TUCKER ancestors settled further northwest, in the Fannin/Grayson area. In that branch I am particularly searching for information on my gr-gr-grandfather Moses James Allen Tucker, 1852-1912.

Hello, I am Ron Massey from Shreveport, LA, researching MASSEY, BAZER and ROWE. Thanks.

Hi everyone, Houston, Harris Co here. We try to get to Shelby Co once or twice a year. I am researching BRIDGES, GOCHIE, CHAPMAN. My Bridges and Chapman families came to Shelby Co around 1870 from Dale Co AL. The Gochie family was dropped from the sky into Louisiana around 1860 and made their way to Shelby Co by 1890. I would love to here from anyone who may connect to these families. Rhonda Bridges

Hi, Peggy Loar here. I live in Collin County, Texas and am researching the HUMPHRIES, STORY, DAVIS and FLETCHER families in Shelby, Panola and Harrison counties. Peggy

Greetings from San Angelo, Tom Green Co, TX Am researching on the PIKE & GAMMAGE families of Shelby Co & Panola Co, TX Have much information and am willing to share. Would love to find some present day cousins! Peg Peggy Pike Gordon San Angelo, TX [email protected] SURNAMES: ~~ BEUHRING/BUHRING, BILLINGSLEY, DAVIS, FLUKER, GAMMAGE, HALE/HAIL, HANCHER, HARRELL, HARTLEY, HOUGLAND, LAW, LEWIS, MAXEY, McGINNIS, MULLER, NEAL/NEIL, PIKE, SAXON, ROBERSON/ROBINSON, WHITAKER, YANCEY ~~ BARBEE, CASSELS (SC), GIPSON, GORDON, KELLEY, LEE (MD SC, GA), McALILLEY, McKEOWN, PAXSON, PITTS, RAGSDALE, REED/REID, YOUNG, WYLIE

I'm from Dallas County, researching Youngblood, Capehart and Brown. Thanks, Ruth YB

--part1_f8e19b43.24f4c523_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --part1_f8e19b43.24f4c523_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-path: [email protected] From: [email protected] Full-name: CMSTRO Message-ID: <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 12:24:20 EDT Subject: List To: [email protected] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 3.0 16-bit for Windows sub 86 Hi Jane, I really enjoy being on your list. I live in Tyler and only recently discovered that my gggrandfather, George Madison Stroope, settled in Shelby county abt 1839. My gggrandmother, Mary Jane Mosely Stroope is buried at Buena Vista cemetary. I'm researching burial sites for George Madison, Leanna F., and Edward Preston Stroope that I believe are also in Shelby County. Kindest regards, Carl Stroope [email protected] TYler, TX --part1_f8e19b43.24f4c523_boundary--

I'm from Ft Worth, Tarrant County. My gr gr grandfather Daniel McVEAN, received a land grant in Shelby County in 1838. He was married to Mary Catherine HUDSON. Also researching the HARDINs during 1830 - 1850. Deborah

I live in Angelina County. My connection to Shelby County is Tenaha. My grandfather James Thomas (J.T.) Walker was mayor of Tenaha in the 30's and owned a General Store with his father William Fletcher (W.F.) Walker who was also postmaster in Woods, Panola County for 18 years. J.T. Walker's wife Nellie DeBerry's uncle Ben Knight was the first mayor of Tenaha. He was the son of Achiles and Moina Knight of Woods, Panola County. Darlene Walker Henson [email protected] http://www.lcc.net/~dhenson

--part1_3c53f569.24f4a54b_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --part1_3c53f569.24f4a54b_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-path: [email protected] From: [email protected] Full-name: Grant6666 Message-ID: <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 21:46:29 EDT Subject: Re: Shelby County To: [email protected] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows 95 sub 10 In a message dated 8/23/99 6:37:58 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: << Let me know if you do live in Shelby County. >> I live in Chico, CA. I was looking for BUCKLEY but Doyle Brittan provided a genealogy from 1820s to 1950s. Now I stay on the list because I'm interested in MIDDLETON and CLICK. Grant --part1_3c53f569.24f4a54b_boundary--