James Henry & Sarah (Allison)
Skurlock
Sarah Allison was born in Arkansas on
24 Mar 1857 to James L. Allison & Mary A. Baker. After spending the
first 20 years of her life in and around Randolph County, Arkansas, she
moved with her parents to Texas. She married James Henry Skurlock
on 17 September 1879 in Fredericksburg, TX. They were the parents
of nine children:
1. Robert Cornelius born 19 Nov. 1880
married Lettie Jones 19 May 1909 Tarpley, TX.
2. William Thomas born 27 Nov. 1881,
married Dora Frances Light 4 Nov. 1903 Bandera, TX.
3. James Calvin born 15 Jan 1884, married
Sallie Johnson 14 May 1909 Bandera, TX.
4. Marion Edgar born 1886 and died
at 16 years old.
5. Melissa Ada Isabelle born 20 May
1887, married Fred Fries 20 Oct. 1904, Tuff, TX.
6. Damon Franklin born 15 Feb. 1888,
never married.
7. Lee Alexander born 28 Oct. 1890
married Vandela Fae Dahl Dec. 1919 in Llano, TX.
8. Lottie Mattie Gertrude 2 Sep. 1893,
married George Robert Jones 14 Sep. 1910, Bandera, TX.
9. Mary Frances Elzada born 2 Jul.
1897, married William John Friess 6 Aug. 1917, Bandera, TX. (She was known
as Frances as a young girl then Elzada the last half of her life. She died
a few days before her 100th birthday.)
In 1897 this family moved to Bandera
Co., TX. They purchased 640 acres of land on the West Prong of the
Medina River. The family lived in tents until they were able to build a
log cabin home. This cabin had a dirt floor and they used a large
wood fired cook stove to prepare their meals. Their home was filled
with love and happiness as the parents taught them to be kind to each other.
A preacher would often come from Medina or Utopia and have church meetings
at the local school house. The children played games like: horse
shoes, checkers, dominos, drop the handkerchief, shooting marbles, having
races or throwing a ball over the house. The girls would make rag dolls
to play with. They would roll old rags up & tie them. Then make
a big ball & tie them together. They would put string in the head with
pins for the hair. Pins were also placed in buttons for the eyes.
Old rags were used for clothes for their dolls. However, most
of their time was spent working in the fields or helping with the animals.
They had 350 goats, 250 sheep some cows and hogs. There wasn?t much
time to play.
One night after bringing the goats in
from the pasture one of the goats was missing. A baby goat could not find
his Mama and was crying. The family started looking for the goat and heard
the pitiful cry of the mother coming from under the ground. It had
fallen into a small cave. Frances, the youngest child in the family
was given a lantern and told she would be lowered into the cave to rescue
the goat. Now as you can imagine she was very scared and cried that
her Daddy didn?t love her. He explained that she was the smallest
child and the only one that could get in that hole. He always called
her ?Cricket? and said ?Cricket, you know I love you and we will get you
out of there. They tied a rope around her and Cal, her brother, lowered
her into that dark stinky cave. The lantern provided a little light
so she was able to look out for sharp rocks & snakes. Fortunately
she didn?t see either one and the goat wasn?t too far inside. She
put the rope around the goat?s neck and called for her brother to pull
the rope. Then she gave it a push from the rear and the goat was
rescued. Next they started pulling her out. When she could see day
light shining at the entrance of the cave, she was very happy and never
wanted to go back in. She was scared but safe with her family once
again.
One day Tom was sent into San Antonio
with a load of hogs. Frances started begging to go with him and was
finally allowed. She was about five at the time. They placed
extra boards on the side of the wagon so the hogs wouldn?t jump out. There
were two boards placed at the front and back of the wagon and springs placed
on top for them to sleep on that night. The hogs squealed all
day long as they fell over each another. As night time came, they
hoped the hogs would settle down but they continued the noise all night
long. No one got any sleep and they were very tired.
You can be sure France had enough of the noise and smell of the hogs and
never asked to go into town with the hogs again.
In 1881 Bob, the oldest son, was
given a baby black mule which became a pet of the family. His name was
Pete. He was raised around all the kids and everyone loved him.
The children could play under him or pull on him and he wouldn?t move.
Lottie would pull his ears and Frances would pull his tail and Pete would
put up with it. A little child could crawl under him and he wouldn?t move
until the child was gone. He would let as many kids get on him as they
could and they all loved him very much. When he was hurt, all the
kids cried. He died in 1922 and they all missed him very much.
Sarah Allison Skurlock was a tall thin
frail woman. She had one eye put out in an accident while riding
on a horse. James, her husband, was riding in front of her and let
a branch snap back and it hit her in the eye. He cried so hard and
said he wished it had of been his eye and not hers. He loved her dearly
and felt so bad about the accident. She died in 1910 and is buried
in Shepard Cemetery, West Prong, Medina, TX next to her son, Edgar, who
died in 1902 and her father, James L. Allison. James Skurlock died
in 1925 and is buried in Eckert Cemetery, Gillespie Co., TX.
View
her Tombstone & of James L. Allison (Her Father)
Information & Photograph from:
Sharon Friess Linneer
Granddaughter of child # 9,
Mary Frances Elzada Skurlock Friess
