My history in Texas

 

My fourth great-grandparents, James and Mary Graham, are buried in the Skinner Cemetery. My great-great-great-great-grandfather is the elder of the two James Grahams mentioned on this plaque. My great-great-great-grandparents on this side are buried elsewhere in Texas,  but my great-great-grandparents on this side (as well as two other great-great-grandfathers), my great-grandparents (all eight of them) and grandparents (all four of them) are buried in California. My parents and brother live and were born in California. I also lived in California for 57 of my 60 years. 

History fascinates us. I speak for myself and my husband Don. I know many others don’t have the same fascination we do with discovering how people lived in the past.

For almost seven years, I’ve been especially fascinated with American history from the mid-19^th century to the early 20^th century. Until recently, my primary focus had been Central California. That is the northern portion of the San Joaquin Valley between Fresno and about 150 miles north of there, the Sierra Nevada mountain region to the east, and the area between San Francisco and San Jose.

Bits of this 19^th century history have appeared in five books I’ve self-published. Twentieth Century history will be in two more books I’m already working on, and in a few more I have in my mind to do later. That’s all my mega-series The Redskins, focusing on a mythical family who were the local ancestors of the former Chowchilla Union High School mascot Reddy Redskin.

For those who don’t know, CUHS is my alma mater. I became a third-generation graduate of the school in 1980, following in the footsteps of my parents and my maternal grandfather. Although Grandpa’s older siblings didn’t graduate from Chowchilla High School, some of their great-grandchildren have done so in recent years. So I guess you could say four generations of my family are alumni.

Reddy Redskin is the former mascot because in 2015, California passed legislation requiring the four California high schools who used Redskin as a mascot to do away with that name. We had been the Redskins ever since the school opened 99 years prior. The other three high schools had done so even before us. Since my grandfather was born in 1916 as well, it almost seemed like one of his friends had survived for almost a century, only to be murdered at age 99.

I set out to write a story where that murder happened. But I was about four pages into that manuscript when it became clear the better story was that of his great-grandparents. Circumstances brought them together in 1852, not long after the California Gold Rush. That first book was their story. From there they became a family. Subsequent stories in the series tell the stories of others in their family. I’ve only written books taking the story to 1913 so far, but soon Reddy Redskin himself will enter the story.

That’s both background and a shameless plug for my series, which can be bought on Amazon. (The first book, The Red Hawk, can also be purchased on the Barnes and Noble website, although not in its stores.) Even though the series is still my passion, I find myself now drawn to new aspects of history. And that’s because I moved to Texas in 2021.

A most intriguing part of Texas history, known to almost no one here, is a few of my ancestors on my father's side also have a history with Texas. My fourth great-grandparents, Jim Graham and Mary “Polly” Dodson Graham are buried here. So are my third great-grandparents John Graham and Mary Vance Graham Allen. Great-great-great-great-Grandma Graham lived here from 1856 to 1889. I have other relatives who lived here more briefly, going all the way down to Polly Dodson’s great-grandchildren, one of whom later became my Great-grandmother Van Curen.

The elder Grahams aren’t too far from here. They’re buried in Pilot Point, Texas less than 50 miles from my home in Richardson, Texas. This Friday I was finally able to visit their graves at the historic Skinner Cemetery. I say finally, because I had been wanting to do this since we moved here 10 months ago. But we had previously only been able to make it up to Pilot Point one other time, and that time we went to the wrong cemetery.  (Pilot Point has two historic cemeteries, and a third cemetery where many of its current residents will someday be buried. Even that third cemetery has some fairly old graves, but not as old as the other two.) 

The younger Grahams who died in Texas are farther away. My third great-grandfather died before either one of his parents, and probably lies in an unmarked grave on the family’s farm in Gainesville, Texas. That’s where my fourth great-grandparents lived before moving to Pilot Point.

My third great-grandmother returned to her home state of Tennessee with her children, who were four and two years old when their father died. Then she came back to Texas with her second husband and several children about 20 years later. They settled in Bonham, which is about 65 miles east of Pilot Point. My great-great-great-grandma is buried there.

The children who came with Mary Graham Allen included her daughter Mary Elizabeth Graham, and Mary Elizabeth’s husband, William Graham. My great-great-grandmother Graham was Mary Elizabeth Graham her entire life because William was her Grandpa Graham’s nephew.

Most of William and Mary Elizabeth’s children were born in Texas, including my great-grandmother Fannie Graham Van Curen. But in 1892 when Fannie was seven years old and her youngest brother was an infant, they moved to California. These Grahams, as well as members of the Van Curen family whom they met soon after, are buried there. In fact William and Mary Elizabeth Graham, my Great-Great-Grandpa Van Curen, all eight of my great-grandparents, and all four of my grandparents are buried in Madera County, California. Most of these relatives are in the Chowchilla Cemetery, but the Grahams and the Van Curens, except for my grandpa, are in Arbor Vitae Cemetery in nearby Madera. My parents and brother, all of whom were born and grew up in Chowchilla, have lived in the nearby larger city of Fresno for almost 40 years now.

Were it not that my ancestors moved from Texas to California 70 years before I was born, I would be a seventh generation Texan. I am here with my husband, his daughter, and his six grandchildren. I love being the Grandma Ellen of a new generation of Texans, but it’s hard that I’m here with no living blood relatives.

That has deepened the connection I feel to these Texas ancestors who are buried here. I only know of them through deep digging on the records of Ancestry. Growing up, I did know Great-Grandma Van Curen had come from Texas but that was all I knew before I found more on Ancestry. I sometimes have a subscription allowing me to learn who my ancestors were, and where they came from. Most of the time, I do not.

From what I know about the Grahams I have tried to imagine what life was like for them. I hope someday to write all that into a book. But would anyone else really be interested in the life of an obscure Anglo-Saxon family who lived outside the metropolitan area long ago? I hope so. 

Now that I’ve told you why I am fascinated with Texas history, you can expect me to share more of it on this blog. In the blog entry before this, I reported on some contributions of a more famous family, that of former Texas Governor James Hogg and his children William, Ima and Michael. Next time, I’m going to tell you a little about the history of some towns north of Dallas.