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Jacksonville Families

J. W. and Nancy Caroline Jarrett Blackburn

The J. W. Blackburn place was located north of Highway 175 on the road to Old Larissa.  In 1883 Mrs. N. C. Jarrett Blackburn was a member of the Independence Methodist Church. Since it appears the J. W. and Nancy C were single in 1880 they must have married between 1880 and 1883. By 1916 J. W. Blackburn

was living at 1028 Kikapoo. Children were: (1) Willlie who married a Rev. Spence.  Willie died quite young and is buried in the Blackburn lot in the Jacksonville City Cemetery. (2) Charlie Faye Blackburn, Mrs. Sam Aills. Charlie is buried in Nacogdoches. (3) Lillie Blackburn, Mrs. Sam Lane.  Lillie and Sam are buried in the Blackburn lot in the Jacksonville City Cemetery. (4) Cottie, Mrs. Dan Tucker.  Cottie and Dan are buried in the Tucker lot adjoining the Blackburn lot in the Jacksonville City Cemetery. 

Descendants of J. W. Blackburn still own the property where J. W. ran cattle.

1880 United States Census
 Precinct 4, Cherokee, Texas

O. D. Jones

Oliver David Jones was a land appraiser for the First National Bank.  He was one of the notorious drivers in the annuls of Cherokee County history.  It is reported that rather than keeping his eyes on the road he was always looking at land.

O. D. Jones married first Hallie Richmond.  He built his home on El Paso Street. Soon the Richmonds, his in-laws, built almost a duplicate house next door.

After the death of Hallie, the Richmonds moved back to their home state of Missouri and O. D. moved into their house and sold his original home to Mr. Hall or Mr. Parish.  Both men owned the home before my grandfather purchased it in 1923. 

O. D. married second Betty Whitfield. 

Betty hid the family silver in the fireplace for safekeeping.  One day O. D. came in and built a fire in the fireplace and destroyed the silver.

When Betty moved from Jacksonville to live with her sister Miss Mary Whitfield of San Angelo, Texas she sold a pair of brass andirons that had once belonged to the Richmonds to my grandmother.  I have only seen one pair that are similar to these.  That pair was in a home in Wichita, Kansas.

Bessie was know for her angle food cakes.  I have heard both my grandmother and Etta O'keefe comment oh how Bessie would come bringing her own bowl to teach them how to make an angle food cake.  The only problem was she would stir every stir. My sister would say her teaching method was just like mine.  When I would start to make something she would always want to help.  To hear her tell it the only helping she got to do was clean up the kitchen after the project was completed.

A dog named Troubles spent a good part of his time under Mrs. Jones' house.  I was shocked to learn the dog did not belong to her but actually belonged to Mrs. Cobb.  It seemed to me Troubles preferred to live next door rather than in his house on the corner.

James and Etta Myrtle Beard O'keefe Family

The O'keefe family moved to Jacksonville from Bullard sometime after 1906 and before 1916.  In 1916 they are found in the Jacksonville Telephone Directory on Bryan Street.  By 1923 they had moved to 527 El Paso where they lived until both James (Pa) and Etta died. James and Etta Myrtle were the parents of five boys and two girls:  Herman, Murl, Bruce, Lymon, Jimmy, Edith and Kate.

Herman married Lilla Mae and had a daughter Laska and a son Bud.  Murl married Louise and lived in Oregon and had  William, Patricia, Peggy, Michaele (Miki), and Sharon.  Lymon married Opal Newburn and had a son Jim.  Bruce did not marry.  Jim married Marie Lammons late in life.  One daughter Edith died young.  Kate married Ross Dorbant and had one child Kate Clair.  Kate died in child birth and Kate Clair was reared by her grandmother. 

Herman, Murl, Lymon, Bruce, and Jim all were onion growers in Laredo.  Only Herman made Laredo his permanent home.  Lymon, Bruce, and Jim lived in Jacksonville and would go to Laredo during onion season as did Murl who commuted from Oregon.. 

A weird coincidence?  Maybe.   Five members of the O'keefe clan share the same birthday.

As the kids used to say in the "oldie days" our electric meters were inside the house.  The meter reader would come inside the house to read the meter.  One day Mrs. O'keefe was just coming out of the bath when she heard someone coming to back door.  She jumped into a little closet to hide.  Also in the little closet was the electric meter.  Imagine her and the meter reader's surprise when he opened the door.

A tomato shed  just North of the railroad tracks on Bolton Street still carries the O'keefe name as does the Road leading to the O'keefe/Pinecrest Lake Region.  The damn broke on the lake sometime during my life.

Thaddeus and Jenobia Ray Family

Thad Ray married a Jenobia (Nobie) Fair and had three daughters: Maxine, Florence (died young) and Betty.  Maxine married Charles Harris and had two sons Don and John.  Betty married twice I believe.  One husband was J. C. Wells.

Thad was the brother of S. W. Ray of Jacksonville.  Both he and his brother married sisters of Walter Fair of Tyler.

The Rays first lived on North Bolton street and later moved to Austin Street. 

When my mother first met Maxine she went home and told her mother about the new girl in the neighborhood Magazine Ray.

I. T. and Mamie Shotwell Famly

I. T. and Mamie Shotwell lived at 509 Nacogdoches Street.  Ira was associated with Jacksonville Grain and Commerce.  I. T. and Mamie had two children I. T. Jr. and Ernestine.  My mother was good about naming people.  She came in from Sunday School one day telling about the new boy Iron T.  I. T. Jr. helped improve Sunday School attendance for Mom would love to go to Sunday School so she could hold I. T.'s hand.  In her teens and early twenties it was Earnestine who played an important part in Mom's life.  They graduated together in 1928 and taught school together at Old East Side.  Mr. Shotwell was on the school board and had to retire so Ernestine could teach in the school system in Jacksonville.  Ernestine would often comment she and mother had no desire to keep children after school for it punished them as well as the children.

Ernestine married Clifford Payne and had one son Clifford Earl (Chip) Payne. Clifford was a doctor and owned a private hospital in Lubbock.   After the death of Clifford Ernestine married Jimmy Wellborn, a family friend.

I. T. Jr. settled in Leveland.

Tol Smith

Ed and Maggie Tipton

Ed and Maggie Tipton were old time residents of Jacksonville.  Ed ran Tipton Drug.  The store was located on the NW. corner of North Bolton and Woodrow.  In later years Henry Linder ran the drug store.

The Tiptons had four children: Ruth, Margaret, Edward, and Ralph.  Ruth married Edgar Shirley of Sonora, Texas (1 daughter Derry Kay, 1 step-son Bill);  Margaret married a Weaver and lived in Snyder (one son Billy Weaver), Edward married Gurtrude and ultimately moved back to a farm near Troup area, (I believe Edward was married more than once and had a son Edward and daughter Heidi) and Ralph married late in life Ella May Moss Robbins (no children.)

At the time of their death the Tiptons lived on Pineda Street.

 

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