Merphia Ewing Quillin Hart - Final Resting Place

 Merphia E. (1901-1985) and Oscar C. (1893-1974) Hart were buried in Wilbarger Memorial Park Cemetery just west of Vernon, Texas. 

Paintings by Merphia Ewing Quillin Hart

 

This painting was from a slide picture that my daddy took in Colorado. Mother and Daddy vacationed in Colorado for quite a few years when I was a child. This was Mother's favorite scene, and Granny painted it for her. Mother had it framed and it hung in my childhood home for as long as I remember.

It is now hanging on the wall of my Possum Kingdom lake cabin. 

This painting was a still life which Granny gave to Mother and Daddy. When Mother moved to Abilene in the early 1980s, Mother hung it in a spare bedroom and used it to decorate the room with a rose theme. When Mother passed away in 2007, I took it to the Possum Kingdom lake home. 

Merphia Ewing

 My grandmother, Merphia Ewing, was born in 1901.  There is/was some confusion about her name. We called her Murphy. Her delayed birth certificate reads "Annie Murphy Ewing". Her headstone and other records list her as "Merphia Emma."  She was an artist and signed her paintings as "Merphia." I will refer to her as she signed her paintings....Merphia. She was my daddy's mother. 

She married Paul Bryan Quillin in 1919 and divorced him before 1940. She remarried Oscar Clifton Hart. I called her Granny, and many times, she was referred to as "Granny Hart." 

Delayed Birth Certificate of Merphia Ewing

 Frederick Short "F.S." Ewing, Merphia's father, gave the information for this delayed birth certificate. F.S. has been a bit hard to find personal information on. He seemed to be a bit of a drifter.  

This information was given in 1953. Frederick Short Ewing would have been about 83 years old. When F.S. died in 1962, he was living in an infirmary, so I'm not sure how accurate his information would be.  

Unfortunately, I believe that this delayed birth certificate led to confusion about my grandmother's name. I had always wondered why sometimes she was referred to as Murphy, or Annie Muphy, or Merphia Emma, or Merphia, so forth and so on.

I have decided to go with the name of Merphia. She was an artist, and she always signed her paintings as "Merphia." 

Obituary for Martin Harmon Jones

 

Mattie Bell "Bridges" Jones Death Certificate

The death certificate of Mattie Bell Jones is found in Taylor County, Texas. Mattie Bell had always lived next door to my grandfather, J.C. Jones. My grandmother, Ava "McNair" Jones had always taken care of Mattie Bell. During the last year of Mattie's life, her daughter Lucy, moved her to a nursing home in Abilene, Texas, where Mattie died in 1971. Therefore, the informant is Lucy Day. She gave the names of Mattie's parents as William E. Bridges and Harriet A Springfield.  This has caused me some complications in my research, as MOST all family trees have the father as William L. Bridges. Could Lucy have made an error...most likely. Could the registrar have made an error...maybe. I feel, though, that Mattie's father should have been listed as William L. Bridges. 

Mattie Bell Bridges 1880 Census

 Mattie Bell "Bridges" Jones at age 2 is found in the 1880 U.S. Census, line 9-15. She is listed with her parents, William and Harriet Bridges. They are living in Whitfield County, Georgia.