The 1854-1855 Texas Scholastic Index in Trinity County

During the school year of 1854-1855, Texas required that a Scholastic Index be taken in each county, showing the number of students aged 6-16 who were attending school in each county. In Trinity County, the list was compiled by 27 year old Andrew Jackson West (who in October 1855 would marry 15 year old Matilda Taylor, the eldest sister of my great-grandmother,Nancy Frances Taylor.)

This list provides us with a good picture of the 80 families that were early pioneers in Trinity County. There were 218 children attending school in the county in 1854-1855 - a remarkable achievement considering how greatly these children were needed with everyday farm labor during early pioneer times, and what distances were no doubt traveled to and from the nearest school room.

From this index we know that three of the Franklin sisters-Rebecca, Frances, and Jemima- were already settled in Trinity County by 1854.

Rebecca Franklin and Abraham James Womack had six children. 2 males and 2 females were attending school. This would have been Frances Elizabeth 14, Sarah Jane 13, Richard 11 and George 7. Mary age 15 was no longer attending school, and James age 4 had not yet started school. We know that Rebecca was pregnant with another child at this time; William Alfred who would be born in January, 1855.

Frances "Fannie" Franklin and John Chapman had seven children. 1 male and 3 females were in school; Allace "Linny" 11, Mary 10, Allen 9, and Sarah Elizabeth "Betty" 7. Jemima "Mima" age 6 Rebecca age 4, and Caroline 1 were still at home. Fannie was also pregnant; another daughter, Adeline, would be born in 1854.

Jemima Franklin and William McClendon had seven children. 3 males and 2 females were attending school; Henry 16, Thomas 13, William 11, Mary 10, and Rebecca Alace 7. 19 year old Milledge Livingston was finished with school, and 4 year old Robert Lewis was not yet attending school.

What was school like for these children?

We know that in 1860, the school teacher, 23 year old John Burris, was living with the McClendon family. It is likely that in the earliest days of the county, when a formal school had yet to be built, the classes may have been held in private homes or community buildings. We know that in 1866 the Eastern Star Lodge in Nogalus Prairie held a community school in their meeting hall, charging $1 per student per month. If students could not afford the fee, the Masons paid tuition for them. (History of the Eastern Star Lodge #284 AF p. 227) Respect for the Masons ran deep in these families; Henry Franklin had been a Master Mason and most of the families were members until recent times. My grandmother was a member of the Eastern Star and my grandfather and father were Masons. By 1873 the school had moved to Centralia and there were paid teachers for 5 months of the year.

 Books would have been precious and in short supply; simple primers for the children may have been brought with the pioneers and other books may have been sent up to town from New Orleans or Galveston. It is certain that each family had a bible; that likely provided the main reading material in the early days. Children would have done their lessons on slate tablets using chalk; pen and paper would have been very dear indeed. Henry Franklin admonishes his son-in-law AJ Womack to make sure and write along all the sides of the paper when writing a letter- and artifacts of letters from his great-niece, Mary Anna Purvis Campbell show that she did just this (Making letters somewhat hard to read!)

Girls were destined to become wives and mothers, using their education for running a household. Most male children prepared for the business of running a plantation. A few male children were prepared for higher education including Rebecca's eldest son, Richard Hilton, and Jemima's eldest son,  Livingston McClendon, who both became physicians.

Family History Writing Challenge- incorporate- the birth of Abe and his brothers

Who was Abe’s mother? Why was her name never passed down for anyone to remember? Where did she come from and who was her family? Where did she go? These are questions we may never know.

Her three sons were born in one of the most turbulent periods of our history. She began her family in the midst of uncertainty and conflict. All around her, battles raged. Her husband, his family, and their male neighbors were engaged in constant conflict. She and the women lived in a state of ever present danger and uncertainty. Bearing children always took great courage; raising them amidst these conditions had to be frightening. Small children, as always, were often blissfully unaware of the danger; their mothers were not. It took brave women to survive these times. Their very existence and that of their community was teetering on the brink of uncertainty.

The first child, Richard Jr., was born just as their world began to erupt, in 1812.  Jesse W.  was born in 1813, and Abraham James was born in 1814.  Now the young couple had three babies to care for and protect from the ravages of the increasingly unfriendly world about them.

Her sister-in-law, Frances Coleman Womack, had even more children to care for. She had lost several babies early on, but now had a large a thriving family at their prosperous plantation at Womack Hill, about 10 miles up the Tombigbee, adjacent to her parents plantation. John Jr. had been born there in 1799, followed by Vashti b 1802, Aurelia b 1804, Mary Virtuous 1806, Jesse 1807, Daniel 1809, Elizabeth 1812, and Francis b 1815. Two more babies, Caroline and Abner, would be born later. We can only imagine what these pioneer women went through during these births, generally without even a doctor present. The women of the family had to help each other through these dangerous times within each family, as the men dealt with the dangerous times within the community.

The Tombigbee and Tensaw settlements were perilously perched between the Spanish to the south in Mobile and Pensacola, and the increasingly warlike Creeks to the east. Both the Spanish and Creeks were showing signs of aggression against the small pioneer settlements. The goal of each was to drive Americans from this region and reclaim the land for their own people. They would support each other in this endeavor, and the attack could come from both sides.

The Womack’s and their neighbors had a tenuous grasp on their homes and their lands. Their families and their future were in danger. Richard and his brothers, Frank, Jesse Jr., and John, had joined other male leaders of the community by signing petitions to the Territorial Governor and to the United States Congress, to send them support. The Spanish had seized guns and ammunition headed up the rivers toward the settlements; their only hope of securing weapons necessary for protection had to come from overland- which took time. They didn’t have much time to spare.

The situation of Spanish taxation and control had long been intolerable. Prices for even basic necessities were exorbitant. Their position was not only physically dangerous, it was becoming financially impossible. They would have to change things, or leave their plantations and move on. There were a few early glimmers of hope that things might change.

In September, 1807, a road was cut between St. Stephens, which was now a proper small town with square lots, and Natchez, 200 miles away on the western border of the Mississippi Territory. This improved communication between the two towns, with an impact which was soon apparent. (1)

1- Pickett's History of Alabama-  chapt XXXIV

Family History Writing Challenge Day 2- Mattie, an Old Scroll, and a Research Revolution

                                                         

                                                       

Mattie Womack

         

                         My grandmother sparked my interest in genealogy when I was a young child. Until she came to live with us in her final years, I only saw her for a week each year when we visited her home in Oklahoma. Even in that brief time, passing the family heritage on was important to her- and I was her youngest grandchild/last hope! She would have me recite the birth order of she and her eight siblings- Emma, Dona, Leona, Mattie (my grandmother), Edgar, Ora, Maude, Holly, Lillian. There were occasional stories of her life in East Texas in the 1880’s. But what really caught my interest was the story of her grandfather, “Injun Abe.”

The facts were sparse; he was a Choctaw Indian, he had moved the family from Rankin County, Mississippi to Apple Springs, Texas on ox drawn wagons, and there he started the plantation that my grandmother grew up on. My grandmother was proud of her Choctaw heritage; in her final years, when her memory was fading, she carried a piece of paper in her purse with the handwritten phrase “I am (percentage unfortunately forgotten by me!) Choctaw Indian.” The pride in our heritage was passed down through our family; but with no accompanying knowledge of the culture or the connection, other than the legend of “Injun Abe.”

                      My grandmother’s maiden name was Womack, as was her grandfather “Injun Abe’s.” That sounded Indian to me! When I began doing real research, in the 1980’s (a hundred years after the birth of my grandmother in 1881) I was living in New Orleans, Louisiana and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and genealogical research moved at a very different pace than it does now in our web enabled 21st century. My father shared with me one tangible piece of information- a copy of a family tree, laboriously written in tiny script, and rolled up on six pages of frail old paper.  Its origins were again, vague, but I have found through the years that it was amazingly accurate. It described many branches of the Womack family in great detail- but our branch was noted as a connection that was of uncertain connection to the other branches. The mystery of Injun Abe continued! 

A local Louisiana library surprisingly had a great deal of information on the Womack’s (I had no idea that I was living in the midst of their homeland) and I found out first of all that this was an English-not an Indian- name.  I began inquiries in the old way- writing letters to possible connections and waiting (sometimes months) for replies with clues or brick walls. This brief chance for exploration came to an abrupt halt with a move overseas. My research was at a standstill.

Twenty years later, I returned to a new world of genealogical research- the internet era. Now I had the time and the means (i.e. a computer and high speed internet connection) to dive into the mystery of “Injun Abe.” I did so with relish. This is what I now know of “Injun Abe,” my great-great grandfather.

The old family tree scroll- one of six pages