In 1991, I put together my first booklet for the McNair family. I was a fledgling genealogist and I had the help of my mother and my grandmother's sister, Ova McNair Kerr. This post is what Mother (Carolita Quillin) wrote for that booklet.
RECOLLECTIONS FROM A GRANDDAUGHTER
I REMEMBER MAMA. Her name was Ella. I called her Mama.....
Ella Vermell King McNair was born November 6, 1883 in
Dalton, Georgia, Murray County. She was the first of 14
children born to William Lazarus and Emily Melissa Hulsey
King. When Ella was 7 years old in the year 1890, the family
moved from Georgia to Texas in covered wagons. There were 6
children at that time. They settled in Erath County at Bluff
Dale. One sister was born there. The family then moved to
Moody, Texas, in McLennan County (Waco area). There, 4 more
sisters and 1 brother was born.
One of Ella's school teachers was Frank McNair. She
married him on June 6, 1903, in Bethel Baptist Chapel,
Bethany, Texas, McLennan County. After their marriage,
Ella's parents moved to Tye, Texas, in Taylor County in 1903.
Ella's first child, Ava, was born 21 April 1904, in Eddy,
Texas, McLennan County. When Ava was 19 days old, Ella and
Frank moved to Abilene, Texas, Taylor County, in 1904.
After their move to Abilene sometime between 1905-06, a
son, Bernie, was born. Frank took Bernie fishing with him
and they sat on the damp ground. Bernie took acute Brights
Disease and lived only 5 days. He is buried in Jones County,
somewhere near Leuders and Avoca. There is a place there
called Bunkers Hill (Fort Phantom Hill?) where at one time a
battle was fought. Ella and Frank were crushed by his death
and Frank never wanted anyone to mention him. Ella had saved
one of his little suits and a pair of his button-up high top
shoes. When Frank found out she had them stored along with
the love letters he had written her, he was very unhappy.
When Ella was stricken with a stroke and was in the
convalescent home, Frank burned the clothes and all the
letters and tore up the trunk they were stored in. They said
Bernie looked like Ella. He had dark skin and eyes.
A brother of Ella's, Perry King who was an ordained
Baptist minister, baptized Frank. Ella had another brother,
Boyd King, who was in full time ministry. Boyd was a singer,
and he would lead the singing and Perry would preach in
revivals. Frank said he received a call to be a preacher in
1902, but he didn't surrender to the ministry until 1909.
Another daughter, Ova, was born in 1913. Lillian, the fourth
child, was born in 1914. Ella went with Frank a lot as he
traveled throughout surrounding counties as an Associational
Missionary. They traveled by horse and buggy.
Ella was a slender, gaunt person. Her skin was olive,
and her hair and eyes were dark. Her eyes were piercing.
She always claimed that her people were Black Dutch from
Wales. She wore her hair combed back from her face and in a
bun held in place by big, brown hair pins at the nape of her
neck. I never remember her wearing but one style of shoe,
black ones that laced in front with a clunky heel, and she
always wore them with heavy, cotton stockings. She was a
dutiful and devoted wife and mother.
Ella was a very reserved person, and there was never
very much nonsense about her. The family was loving, but not
at all demonstrative with their affection. She had a sense
of humor and I can still hear her "guffaw" and say, "oh,
pshaw" when she was amused.
Ella and Frank raised very large gardens, and they spent
their time during the growing season tending it. They canned
and preserved almost everything they ate. They had a cellar
with many shelves filled with jars of beautiful fruits and
vegetables of every kind. She was a good cook and made the
best biscuits I ever ate.
We went to visit them, but not very often. We would
always have to spend the night. I always loved going to
their house. They had a piano and I thought all their stuff
and their house was really neat and different from what I was
used to. They came to visit us, too, every once in awhile.
She was healthy and never went to the doctor much. They
would use old home remedies and methods in treating aches,
hurts, and pains. I remember they would drink sassafras tea.
Ella was a coffee lover and drank lots of it. She dipped
snuff but was clean and discreet about it. There were always
spit cans sitting around. Frank dipped snuff too, and they
kept us in drinking glasses that they bought their snuff in.
In 1953 Ella and Frank celebrated their Golden Wedding
Anniversary at their home in Lockett. Thirty members of the
family gathered for lunch and throughout the afternoon
approximately 150 guest attended the celebration. When Ella
died, they had been married 61 years.
Ella suffered a stroke, and she was in the Vernon Clinic
Hospital in Vernon, Texas, for a short time. Then she was
moved to a nursing home on Texas Street in Vernon. Her
condition deteriorated progressively, and she didn't know
anyone. The doctors wanted to amputate a leg, but Frank
wouldn't consent to it. Ava and Lillian stayed with her
around the clock for the last month of her life. After 6-8
months, she died on October 15, 1963. Ella was buried in
Wilbarger Memorial Park in Vernon, Texas, Wilbarger County.
No comments:
Post a Comment