Tonya, I'd be remiss if I didn't answer you, right? I think that I know where those people live; sure, send me your work some time or anytime. If you ever need it, My snail is: Tony Lanagan P.O.Box 190429 Dallas,TX 75219-0429 my best regards.... -----Original Message----- From: Tonya Harris <mtharris@ev1.net> To: J. A. Lanagan <lanagan@by-rite.net> Date: Friday, August 27, 1999 12:30 PM Subject: Re: hello to the readers of the Shelby site >First of all let me say, I loved your post. I'm printing it and saving it >for my Shelby County History section. I do want to ask if you are kin to >the Carrolls (Carroll Cemetery)? Most of my family there (Bivens) are >buried in it. I also have Metcalfs buried in Shelby County. My kin live >next to the cemetery (raise chickens), you may know them. Coleman Bivens >(sorry to say I don't know the wife's name, it's a shame). I am planning on >going back up to visit. I visited when I first started all this, but I had >no clue. If you'd like to know more about my family and who's in it (I have >a Carroll), let me know. I may have more of your family, but I'm just >working off of memory right now. Looking forward to hearing from you. > >Tonya Aultman-Harris >mtharris@ev1.net >Researching: Aultman (AR, TX, MS),Cox (TX, OK), Parker (LA, TX), Peyton >(MS) >----- Original Message ----- >From: J. A. Lanagan <lanagan@by-rite.net> >To: <TXSHELBY-L@rootsweb.com> >Sent: Friday, August 27, 1999 11:53 AM >Subject: hello to the readers of the Shelby site > > >> 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 >> >> >> >> > >