| James Sylvester Laughlin sold his land in Williamson County in 1897,
and together with T. C. Culverwell, bought 1800 acres at $2.00 per acre
in Coleman County. Mr. Culverwell lived in Santa Anna and helped work on
the ranch until 1903 when he sold his part. J. S. took the east side,
running from west to east from Mukewater Creek to over the Brown County
line - a total of 755 acres. The family, with 5 children, was accompanied
on the move to Coleman County by the sister and brother-in-law of Laughlin’s
wife, Olive Mable, Mary Frances (Clark) and Ezekiel Charles Miller (see
Clark). (Two more Laughlin children were subsequently born in Coleman
County.) The Miller family included three children, with a fourth
child being born in Coleman County in 1905. The family had wooden
cages filled with chickens hanging on the sides of the two covered wagons.
Wooden water barrels also hung on the sides. Inside the wagons the
families carried trunks of clothes, bedding, tools, and kitchen utensils,
as well as a few pieces of furniture. When they arrived at their
new home, the canvas coverings of the wagons were used to form a temporary
tent and lean-to until they could build a house. They lived in the
lean-to/tent, until J. S. could haul lumber from Santa Anna to build a
house and barn.
Shortly after arriving in the County, J. S. went to the Paige Store
in Trickham to ask if he could have credit for a season until his got his
farming/ranching started. Mr. Paige told him to charge anything he
needed. When J. S. charged only a plug of tobacco, Mr. Paige urged
him to get something more. "Well, there’s another man working with
me (Charlie Miller); I guess I’d better get another plug of tobacco."
His family later complained that their supplies were down to little more
than popcorn, but all he charged was tobacco.
After a few years the Millers returned to Williamson County, but later
came back to Coleman County. Aunt Frank and Uncle Charlie are both
buried in Trickham, as are their two youngest children. Their oldest
son is buried in Bangs and their second son in Santa Anna. These
children married and lived at least much of their adult life in Coleman
County. Many of the grandchildren of Aunt Frank and Uncle Charlie
and at least one great grandchild were born in Coleman County.
The Miller family follows: Ezekiel Charles Miller was the son
of Ezekiel and Mandy (Potliff) Miller, was a distant cousin of the two
Miller brothers who married Laughlin sisters. He was born in 1868
and married Mary Francis Clark in 1888 (see Clark). Mary Francis
was born February 29, 1868. They had four children:
Preston Dallas, (July 22, 1889 - January 4, 1947), married
Ida C. York, the daughter of E. F. "Major" and Sarah Francis (Stacy) York,
in Trickham, January 18, 1912 (see Jesse Monroe York). Four children,
the oldest two of which were born in Trickham: Elinor Francis (November
6, 1912; married Howard Sikes, December 15, 1933). Donald Lee (December
19, 1913; married Elsie Lee Martin, January 4, 1934). He died March
1978, buried in Bangs. Roy Charles (March 1, 1922; married Gladys
Christine Daws in Santa Anna October 26, 1940). They have two children:
Ronnie Charles (May 10, 1942) and Carmalita Ann (April 18, 1944; married
Larry James Sloan, January 19, 1964). Morris Preston (November 30,
1923; married Mary Doyle Whatley, July 3,1948).
Zora, born July 22, 1893; married Gid Mathews; died July 24, 1913, buried
in Tnickham. (see W. D. Mathews).
Clark Ezekiel, born April 11, 1897; married Birdie Wagonner; died July
24, 1966, buried in Santa Anna. No children.
Zelda Mae, July 31, 1905, in Coleman County; married Cliff Walker; died
in 1982, buried in Tnickham.
All of the Laughlins’ time was taken up caring for their extended family
and farming and ranching. Three of their sons served in France in
World War I. They were Gray, Roy, and James Raymond (Jack), who was
killed on active duty on October 14, 1918. The American Legion Post
#182 in Santa Anna is named the Jack Laughlin Post in his honor.
Gray and Roy remained members of this post until their deaths in 1971 and
1970 respectively. J. S. and Ollie’s oldest daughter, Minnie, attended
business college in Brownwood and passed an examination to be certified
as a public school teacher. She taught in several schools in Coleman
County, including the one in Trickham. She married Harry Wilson in
1929 and moved to Canada for a time. She returned to Trickham where
she and her husband lived with her brother, Gray, in the house she occupied
until hen death in 1981. From 1958 until the closing of the Trickham
Post Office, November 24, 1979, she served as postmistress of the Trickham
station in a room attached to her front porch. During the 1950’s
and 1960’s, she and Gray cared for their elderly mother, then for their
brother Porter Elmer (Bud), after he had a stroke, and for her husband,
after he suffered a stroke. Ollie and Bud Laughlin, and Harry Wilson
all died in the house in Trickham, and are buried in Trickham. Minnie
also died at her home, ten years after Gray, buried in Trickham.
The Laughlin family follows:
G. B. [Gillispe Berry] Laughlin (February 9, 1807 - April 7, 1868) and
Lucenia Downey Laughlin (August 24, 1815 - March 27, 1868). G. B.
was born in Virginia, and Lucenia in Pennsylvania. They had left
their farm in Atascocia County, Texas, and had joined a group of people
in Bell County that was starting out for California at the time of their
deaths. She apparently died of typhoid fever, and he of blood poisoning
caused by a small wound on his foot. Their deaths orphaned their
five children:
(1) J. G. [Joe or (Joel) Gordon], born October 24, 1848,
in Iowa. Married Mary E. Renster, November 15, 1877. He had
at least two children: Minnie Laughlin (a first cousin of the Minnie Laughlin
who lived most of her life in Trickham) and a son, John.
(2) Mary Octavia, born November 5, 1850, in Iowa, married Mike
F. Miller, September 19, 1872, died September 1893. They had five
children:
(1) Jasper Newton, February 11, 1875, married Martha Elizabeth
Glazner, died July 7, 1944. Three children, Dillard F., Lloyd B.
and Mary Lou.
(2) Green E., born July 31, 1877, died about 1879.
(3) Rosa Lea, born November 22, 1879, married John Dockery, October
8,1908, in Santa Anna (see Dockery).
(4) Hardy W., born October 4, 1882, married a woman named Margaret,
no children.
(5) Lucinda (Lou) Elizabeth, married first S. F. Whitfield and
had one son, S. F.,Jr. Her first husband died, and she married second
L. B. Watkins.
(3) Ann Elizabeth (Betty), born December 18, 1853, in Texas, married
Nicholas Gordon Brown, November 18, 1869, died February 3, 1881.
She had three children:
Alice Octavia, born September 27, 1875, married Wes Daniels
in Santa Anna, where she lived her adult life. They had two daughters,
Jewel married Ed Sewell; they had children. Beulah married Mr. McBumney
in Santa Anna, where they brought up their children, including a daughter,
Ruth, who married Bob Lilly, now lives in Zephyr.
Sarah M., born November 12, 1877.
Ann Elizabeth, January 29, 1881 - January 30, 1881.
(4) James Sylvester, born June 10, 1856, in Texas, married Olive
Mable Clark, November 10, 1887, died December 16, 1931, buried in Trickham.
Seven children, the last two born in Coleman County; all buried in Trickham
except the son (Jack) killed in France in World War I and daughter, Mable,
buried in Bangs.
(1) Gray Pascal, born April 2, 1889, never married, died October
19, 1971.
(2) Porter Elmer (Bud), born October 2, 1890, married Mina Rogers, February
14, 1914, died December 19, 1960. Two sons: James Gray, died July
1981, buried in Trickham, the father of three children but he did not return
to live in Coleman County until after they were grown. Jack died
in May 1971, had one son, now living in Brownwood with his two children
(see R. S. Stearns).
(3) James Raymond (Jack), July 28, 1892 - October 14, 1918, in World
War I France. He is buried in a military cemetery in San Antonio.
(4) Lee Roy, born November 2, 1894, married Many Edna Cole, February
1, 1920 (see Samuel Sidney Cole), died October 19, 1970. They have
two sons who now own the original Laughlin ranch in Coleman County:
Billy Roy, born December 3, 1926, married Mildred Fay Wise, June 9, 1945.
Three children: Cheryl, married to Andrew Davis Campbell, Jr., two children,
Shelly and Brian. Charlotte, married Billy Charles Lee. Doyle,
July 25, 1936, married Wanda Rhodes, July 18, 1958. Two children:
David Wayne and Darla Kay, married to Donnie Mark Barnum.
(5) Minnie Jane, October 18, 1896, married Harry Wilson, June 11, 1929.
Died July 20, 1981. No children.
(6) Effie Mable, born June 24, 1900, married Carl Sheffield, November
12, 1922, died September 8, 1982. No children.
(7) Willie Rhea, born November 4, 1904, died July 5, 1932. She
never married, buried at Trickham.
(5) Nancy J., born March 4, 1859, married first H. W. [Hardy W.]
Miller, November 2, 1876. He died December 8, 1880, after they had
a son and a daughter; she married second Louis Modgling by whom she had
several more children. Both of the Miller children came to live with
the Laughlins in the county.
(1) Lilla Mae, (always called Mae), born October 2, 1877, married
Carrol Bowden, two children: Jesse Cecil, born July 10, 1909; married Flora
Ann Randolph September 16, 1939; two children - Carolyn May and Thomas
Oscar. Lola Ilene, February 5, 1911; married Fred F. Haynes, June
17, 1928; they lived in Coleman County and had five children (see Fred
Haynes and Bowden).
(2) Jesse B., born December 16, 1879, married Julia CanZada; they had
six children, all of whom spent their childhood in Trickham before the
family moved to San Saba County. The children were as follows: Hardy,
December 30, 1907; Roy, April 2, 1909; Jess, July 10, 1910; Laura Mae,
February 9, 1912, married Louis Hampton, lives in Brady; Leonard, born
July 29, 1913; and a baby that was born and died around 1915, buried in
Trickham.
|