Now, as Stella sat swinging her feet off the back of the wagon that was slowly taking her toward the Oklahoma Territory, she was in a pensive mood.  She was thinking of Rufus Johnston, her beau for the past several years.  Stella realized their backgrounds were different.  Rufus (1879 - 1954) was born in the well-established town of Pulaski, Tennessee, where he lived until he was sixteen, when his family moved to a farm near Duffau, Texas, in 1905.  Stella (1877 - 1964) was born in Norway Mills, Texas.  From there her family had moved to the small rural community of Chalk Mountain.  However, the two had one common interest, which was music.  Rufus was a talented musician.  After hearing a melody, he could play it by ear.  They both sang.

Secretly, Stella knew she loved Rufus, but he had never proposed marriage.  Now that she was twenty-three, she had decided to go to Oklahoma with her brother and his family to claim some free land.  Suddenly, as these thoughts were drifting through her head, she looked up and saw a horse-drawn buggy and driver approaching at a very fast pace.  As it came closer, her heart gave a bound, for she recognized the driver as Rufus.  “Stella,” he said, ‘‘my Uncle Percy told me if I would get married, he would let us live on his farm near Stephenville.”  Estella Ruth Flint Jones and Rufus Davenport Johnston were married shortly afterward on September 14, 1902, in Chalk Mountain.  On June 12, 1903, their first child, Russell Mahlon, was born.  Two years later a second child did not survive.

Life on the farm did not last.  Rufus had not liked farming in Tennessee, and he cared no more for it in Texas.  Being adept with numbers, he decided to attend Draughn’s Business College in Dallas where he became a bookkeeper.  After completing his business course, he, in looking for “greener pastures,” came to Coleman about 1905.  He worked in at least three grocery and general mercantile stores, clerking as needed during the day and completing the bookkeeping at night.

While Rufus was away at school and getting settled in Coleman, his family had stayed in Chalk Mountain with Stella’s mother and sister.  Russell stayed with them while Stella taught school.  In October 1907, Stella with four year old Russell and a five months old baby girl named Theatus Allene joined Rufus in Coleman.  In 1910, Herbert Roy was born.  He was a joy to the family, but in 1911, diphtheria left a painful void when it took Herbert’s life.  Soon after the baby’s death the family moved from the south part of Coleman to a place a few blocks northwest of the Methodist Church.  Here on March 1, 1915, another baby girl, Estella Ruth, was born.  It was soon evident that she had inherited her parents’ musical talent.  She would quit crying as soon as the record player was started.  Too, before she was tall enough to see the piano keyboard, she would reach up and pick out a tune with one finger.  While Ruth was still an infant, Rufus bought a home on North Blanco Street.  Here the last child was born, a beautiful red headed baby girl, who did not live because of a breach birth.

Rufus and Stella had joined the Methodist Church as soon as possible after Stella’s arrival with the two older children.  Rufus was on the official board for several years; Russell was junior steward for a few years before the left Coleman; and Stella taught many years in the Junior Department.  Rufus joined the Knights of Pythias, and Stella became a member of the Rebeccas.

About 1918, Rufus became the Texas Company agent for Coleman County, a place he held for several years.  He then became a partner in two different businesses, but the depression of the thirties ended his business ventures.  He then kept time on government projects during Work Projects Administration days.  The biggest and most exacting project on which he worked was the Talpa Dam, since the workers were scattered over several miles.

Russell (1903 - 1977), who attended a barber college in Taylor, became very skilled in the trade.  He lived in Coleman almost thirty years, but most of his life in California.  He fathered three children.  He is buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Bakersfield, California.

Theatus (1907- ) married Ed LeMay (1902 - 1970) in 1943 (see Ed LeMay).

Ruth (1915- ) received a B.A. Degree from Daniel Baker College in Brownwood.  Later, she earned an M. A. Degree from Howard Payne College in Brownwood.  She married Leander Hall; they had two children.  After his death, she moved to California and taught organ lessons.  She now resides in Brownwood and is teaching private music lessons.

Soon after the depression Rufus’s health began to fail.  He and Stella had been married for fifty-two years, when he died.  Stella died ten years later; both are buried in the Coleman Cemetery.