Anglin tidbit

This is primarily a Blackwell family blog, but I don't think it hurts to tell a story about my Anderson/Anglin side. My mom, Dorothy, was daughter of Tom Anderson and E.W. Anglin Anderson. That's right. My grandmother's name was E.W. That's because she was the youngest of 5 kids, and her father died shortly before she was born. For a long time they just called her "baby" but eventually decided they'd better give her a real name. They decided to name her after her father, but Eli Washington didn't seem exactly right for a little girl, so they just gave her his initials. She went through life known as "E".

So E's grandfather was among the pioneers who came with a group of other settlers led by Silas Parker to north central Texas. They built a fort there and called it Ft. Parker, which is close to the town of Groesbeck. Unfortunately, there was an Indian raid on the fort in 1836 and most of the inhabitants were massacred. A 9 year old girl, Cynthia Ann Parker (Silas's granddaughter) was captured and taken to live with the Comanches. Apparently Mr. Anglin and his family escaped. Cynthia Ann lived with the Indians for 24 years, married a chieftain, had 3 children, including a son who later became Chief Quanah Parker, but she was "rescued" by the Texas Rangers in 1860 and made to return to her white family. She never really recovered from being torn from her Indian family and never really assimilated back into the white world. The character, Stands With A Fist in the 1990 movie Dances with Wolves is based on Cynthia Ann Parker. Anyway, the cemetery near Groesbeck has a lot of Anglin family headstones and is really interesting to visit.

Tornado!

In addition to their other land, the Blackwells farmed some land about twenty-five miles north of Weslaco. It was just south of a little town named Monte Alto. It was on a "raised" area, so they called it "the hill".
My father, Royce, and his younger brother, Roland, were up there plowing. Because it was so far to ride a tractor up there, they'd spend the night in what Dad called a shack.
Well, one time they were there working when a very strong storm blew up. Dad said he and Roland got under the tractor and held on. It rocked and shook, but it protected them from the tornado winds. They survived, and hopefully the crop got harvested.

Carol Johnson

Indians!

Tompa told me of a time when he and Granny were riding in a horse drawn buggy and had stopped beside the road to have a picnic lunch. Indians came up on horseback. Tompa and Granny were a little frightened, but Tompa offered them some food and it made things all right. The Indians rode off and let the Blackwells eat their picnic lunch in peace.

Carol Johnston.

Bonnie and Clyde

Tompa told me a story about a "run in" with Bonnie and Clyde Barrow. Tompa and Granny had been riding in their car and had stopped in a small town near Waco named West, TX. Tompa had gone into a store but noticed a man looking at him. He and Granny went on their way down the rode, but noticed that a car was following them. Soon the car came up beside them, and a man was standing on the running board and was holding a gun.
The man looked at Tompa and Granny for a few moments then got back into the car, and it turned away. Tompa said that the gunman must have thought that they were someone else. He believed it was the Bonnie and Clyde Barrow gang because he heard the next day that they were in the area and had shot a man.

Carol Johnston

1960s Patty and Carol

Pretty girls in extra stylish bell bottoms.

The Weslaco Blackwells 1955

Here we are in 1955. From left to right are Royce, Tompa, Patty, Granny, Nancy, Weldon, Poochie, Marguarette, Carol, Mike and Bob. Dorothy must have been taking the picture.

more crispies

These must have been close to the flames. I can only tell for sure that the top right is Marguerette with Patty and Carol, and that's probably Carol in the striped shirt in the middle. And on the bottom left, that's Royce and probably Carol and Patty at Easter, considering how dressed up the girls are. Not at all sure about the rest.