Tompa was the next to youngest in a big family of 12 or 13 kids. One of his oldest sisters was named Emma. I met her in Austin once. She was rather rotund. His little sister was Aunt Mary Jane. She was fairly petite, if I remember correctly. I met her in Winters. Tompa and Mary Jane, being the youngest two seemed to have a lot of sibling rivalry going on, even in their old age. They loved to argue with each other.
Granny (Emma Elizabeth) was the daughter of a widow, Georgia Gooch, who married Mr. Lacy after her first husband died. Granny had a sister and a brother, Claude. I can't recall the sister's name at the moment, but Claude was married to Delilah and they lived on a farm near Winters. I visited their farmhouse once as a child. There was an actual upstairs and a cellar. Those were pretty foreign to me having grown up in the Valley where two story homes were rare, and cellars were unheard of.
Granny's mother, known to me as Grandma Lacy, lived in a house about 1/4 mile from Tompa and Granny's house north of Weslaco. After Mr. Gooch died she married Mr Lacy and had two more sons, Jim and William (?). William's son, Bill, lives in Shalimar, FL which is just a few miles from where I live now. It's a small world!
Doc must have been a doctor, or a quack. I remember being very small and getting sick. Doc came to the house and sprayed something in my throat, and I threw right up on the carpet. I never did like him. I seem to remember Mom telling me he was a drunk. So why did they let him spray something in my throat????
I also remember when Grandma Lacy died. She lived to be 97 or 98, I think. She was a tiny little old woman who always had her gray hair pulled back in a bun. Anyway, I remember we were going over to Granny's house and my mother told me not to be running around making noise because Grandma had died and we were suppose to be quiet.
Nancy
In the early 2000's I had my father tell what he knew about TomPa and Granny. It compliments Nancy's post above.
ReplyDeleteHere is what I wrote down:
My father was born Thurman Donald Blackwell on March 13, 1918 in Winters TX. The youngest of 4 boys.
His older brothers were; Roland Thomas Blackwell, Royce Blackwell and Weldon Blackwell.
After Roland's death sometime around 1930, My dad changed his first name to Thomas.
He was born to Thomas David Blackwell (TomPa)and Emma Elizabeth (Gooch) Blackwell (Granny).
Thomas David Blackwell was born near Winters Tx on Jan 13, 1884.
We know that he was a Waco police officer in the 1913 and that he was involved in one of the unsuccessful raids on Bonnie and Clyde during that time. He owned property near Killeen and was bought out by the federal government to build what now is Fort Hood. This is when he moved his family to Weslaco.
His parents were George Washington Blackwell and some woman whose maiden names was Parson
Granny ( Emma) parents were from Georgia and her mom's maiden name was Lacey.
George Washington Blackwell was killed by outlaws.
Granny's sister's name was Minnie. Lacy was actually Georgia's second married name. She married Mr. Lacy after Mr. Gooch died. Her maiden name was Nall. She went on to have 2 more kids, Russell and Jim, after she became Mrs. Lacy.
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