D. A.'s Mother's Mother's family

Margaret Elvira Fullerton, the great, great grandmother of this writer, was born October 18, 1829 in Pickens County, Alabama, a little west of Tuscaloosa and on the western border of Alabama, directly across from what later would become Noxubee County, Mississippi. She became an orphan, and went to be raised by her Uncle Daniel Hefflin, a well-to-do planter who owned a number of slaves in Neshoba County, Mississippi, the next county over on the southwest from Noxubee. Neshoba County is situated northeast from the Jackson area and Philadelphia is the County Seat. A log school house existed in that community, and Paul's parents sent him from Jackson to live with the Hefflin family while attending summer school there.

Paul Collins Abney is steeped in significant European history. His earliest recorded ancestor is Haldane "the Old," whose title was the Earl of the Uplands in Norway, Viking heritage, who lived in the 700's A.D. Those Vikings immigrated to the northern coast of France in what became known as Normandy. That lineage continued and contained William, the Duke of Normandy, who led his people across the English Channel to conquer the English Crown from King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. William the Conqueror was crowned King of England on Christmas day, 1066. He is Paul's 6th cousin, 23 times removed.

Later in the Abney line of descent appears Sir Thomas Abney of Willesley, who served as Mayor of London circa 1690-1700, and was one of the founders of the Bank of London. Sir Thomas was Paul Collins Abney's 4th cousin, 4 times removed, and 8 times removed to this writer. He was a leading layman at the St. Thomas' Church at Willesley. In 1712, Sir Thomas took into his castle to live for his last 33 years, the musician who wrote much of the hymnody sung in that church. That hymn writer, many will recognize, was Dr. Isaac Watts, author of many, many hymns appearing in church hymnals yet today.

Around 1830, Mississippi was very undeveloped. The native Choctaw Indians were forced by Federal authorities to move west after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed on September 27, 1830 on the banks of a creek in the southwest part of what later became Noxubee County. A sign pointing south from State Highway #14 marks the site. This treaty ceded all lands from the Alabama border to the Mississippi River from the Choctaw Indians for settlement by United States citizens moving west. The Indians were relocated in a new territory called "Oklahoma," an Indian term, meaning "land of the Red Man."

It is of interest to know that the Choctaws are still there, concentrated mainly around the Oklahoma towns of Canadian and Choctaw in the eastern county of McIntosh, about 80 miles south of Tulsa.

Paul married Margaret on December 29, 1845. They were married as sixteen-year-old runaways in Neshoba County. Paul's father, Joseph Duncan Abney, was a prominent minister of the Missionary Baptist Church. He was an itinerant preacher. Along the way, he became financially secure, owning a plantation, other outside lands, and almost 20 slaves. However, by the time Paul and Margaret married, which occurred when Joseph was on an out of town preaching trip, Joseph had, through a series of reverses, lost all of his financial security, except his remaining homestead. After the "child couple" confronted Joseph with their newly married status, Joseph managed to accept it and permitted them to lodge in one of the cabins of his former slaves.

The Republic of Texas joined the United States on their wedding day. This was the same year that Congress mandated a uniform election day for presidential elections, as opposed to states voting on their own schedules. Andrew Jackson, former President of the United States, died in 1845 at age 78. James K. Polk was inaugurated President of the United States, a Democrat, destined to serve only one term. His Vice President, George M. Dallas, is alleged by some historians to have had Dallas, Texas named for the Vice President. Baylor University was established in Waco, Texas. Many of Edgar Allan Poe’s best known poems were published this year ... The Raven ... The Fall of the House of Usher .... The Murders in the Rue Morgue. And the New York Knickerbockers was born, probably the first “organized” baseball team following a set of rules drawn up by fireman Alexander J. Cartwright.

In 1849, this young couple moved to Saint Helena Parish, Louisiana, which is the parish (county) immediately adjacent on the northeast side of the parish where Baton Rouge is the State Capital. Next, they moved to Angelina County in East Texas in 1853, which was on the outer fringe of civilization. Texas had been a state for only 8 years after 9 brief years as a republic.

Yellow fever took the lives of some 5,000 people in New Orleans from 1853 to 1855. Vicksburg, Mississippi lost 16% of its population to the fever in 1853. Congress authorized a survey to determine the best route to establish a transcontinental railroad. Mr. Franklin Pierce was inaugurated President of the United States, the 14th President .... a Democrat ... who was not re-nominated by his party in 1856. The Gadsden Purchase was negotiated with Mexico for the U.S. to acquire some 30,000 square miles of land mostly representing New Mexico and Arizona today ... at a price of $15 million .... but re-negotiated later to $10 million. Louisiana State University was chartered in Alexandria, as the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy. And Gail Borden applied for a patent for making evaporated milk in a vacuum.

Paul and Margaret settled in Homer, which then was the Angelina County Seat. Homer is located southeast of Lufkin about five miles out federal highway #69. Though many of the early years provided deep periods of poverty, especially during the Civil War, Paul later acquired large land holdings, and his occupations were being a farmer and a surveyor. A subsequent home in Lufkin was located where the Texas Foundries later stood.

Many of the twelve children borne by Paul and Margaret had an impact on Lufkin and Angelina County. The children were:

James Addison Abney Hampton Parton Abney

Nathaniel Searcy Abney John Edgar Abney

William Albert Abney, Sr. Cary Collins Abney

George Monroe Abney Sarah Jane Abney

Franklin Pierce Abney Adaline Juliette Abney

Perry Collins Abney Emily Aerphina Abney

It is William Albert Abney, Sr. who is this writer's great grandfather. Margaret desired her children to have exposure to the teachings of Christ, and so she organized a Sunday School meeting for her 12 children and others in the neighborhood to attend regularly. That effort eventually developed to become the First Methodist Church of Lufkin in 1882.

Paul C. Abney died May 23, 1894, and is buried at the Walker Cemetery in the Redland Community of Lufkin. Margaret E. Fullerton Abney died December 27, 1919, and also is buried at Walker Cemetery.

ABOUT THE CHILDREN OF PAUL C. AND MARGARET F. ABNEY:

James Addison Abney was born November 6, 1846 in Neshoba County, Mississippi. He was the eldest child, and the one about which the most has been preserved in written form, therefore providing for a more lengthily report at this point.

This was the year the first rotary press was devised and produced by Richard M. Hoe. It was capable of 8,000 newspapers per hour, and the first use was in the following year at the Philadelphia’s Public Ledger. The Pennsylvania Railroad was chartered in 1846. Anesthesia was given its first public demonstration before doctors by William T. G. Morton, a Boston dentist. And the first sewing machine in the U.S. with an eye-pointed needle was patented by Elias Howe, who is now called the father of the modern sewing machine.

Though James Addison Abney was born a mere ten months following the marriage of his parents, he was actually born in the seventh month of pregnancy, weighing only three pounds. In a sort of miracle of that day, the baby survived. He reached a maturity to be 6'2" and weighed as much as 275 pounds. What would they have thought if they had known he would live to celebrate his 100th birthday!

In the summer of 1861, at age 15, at an old time Methodist Camp Meeting at the McEndree Camp Ground, James Addison Abney followed his father into the Methodist Church under the influence of his devoted Christian mother and the inspired preaching of the Rev. John M. Hamill. This was Jim's first public profession of Jesus Christ.

He was so large, even in his early manhood, that at the age of seventeen, he passed for substantial soldier material and was inducted into the Confederate Army in the Spring of 1864 by Captain H. G. Lane, for Company E, Borders Brigade, Anderson's Regiment. Captain Lane promptly took "Big Jim" to Camp Ford, near Tyler, a stockade filled with Union prisoners. Inexperienced soldiers, such as Jim, were used as guards here.

It was during this service when he survived a life threatening accident while on guard duty that he rationalized his total lack, and, sensing the work of the Holy Spirit on his heart, he reaffirmed in more mature terms his younger commitment to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Jim later wrote of the stark poverty and despair which dominated during those war years when the Confederate troops in his part of the war were held to very ineffective progress and usually had very little food or supplies. After the war, he was sent home penniless and barefooted.

Jim, at age 22, was married December 10, 1868 in the Court House square in Angelina County Seat, Homer, to Susan (Susanna) Elizabeth Davis, a member of the family of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Susanna's father was a first cousin of President Davis, making her a first cousin, once removed. The wedding license spelled her name Susanah. She is this writer's great great aunt. So, Jefferson Davis is the first cousin by marriage, five times removed for this writer. Jefferson Davis died in New Orleans, December 6, 1889 (Dallas Morning News, 12/06/95, Page 2A)

Episcopal clergyman Phillips Brooks wrote the hymn O Little Town of Bethlehem in 1868. The House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson, basically over political differences of view, but the U.S. Senate failed by 1 vote to get the required 2/3's to convict. General Ulysses S. Grant was elected President of the United States. Thomas Alva Edison patented an electric voting machine. Christopher L. Sholes, a Pennsylvania printer, patented the first practical typewriter. Congress passed laws limiting work hours of federal employees to an eight-hour day. And the earliest recorded bicycle race took place at the Parc de St. Cloud in Paris, France.

Jim was a physician, a professional status he acquired by personal tutoring for a couple of years from Angelina County's only doctor at that time, a Dr. Manning, followed by his registering in the medical branch of the Soule University at Galveston in October, 1869. He received a diploma on March 2, 1871. He promptly established a practice at Homer. Later, in 1891, he took a post graduate course at Tulane Medical School in New Orleans.

Dr. Jim, as his old "Big Jim" nickname melted away in favor of his new profession, was half owner one of the earliest drug stores in Lufkin with his partner, J. M. Scurlock. The store was known as Abney & Scurlock, Druggists, and was opened October 1, 1887, having bought out Mr. A. C. Vinson. They advertised prescriptions as a specialty, claimed to have "fresh" drugs, patent medicines, paints, oils, varnishes, toilet articles, fine soaps, cigars, etc., etc. James Addison Abney's Lufkin home was at the corner of North First and Bremond, where the Lufkin Telephone Exchange later stood.

Susanna's brother, John W. Davis (July 26, 1843 - May 1, 1912), was elected Angelina County Sheriff in 1874. Though short of stature, his determination to do the job was large, and he was effective at arresting the rowdy who disturbed the peace in the rapidly proliferating saloons. His successful enforcement was a discouragement for the criminal element to remain active, an element which had developed in the War years when the men of good citizenship were away, serving their Confederate cause.

The saloons did represent an air of moral decay, which the Christian community opposed. Dr. Jim, staunch in his Christian commitment through the Methodist Church, often was a spokesman for the Church community at large concerning the presence of the saloons.

When the Houston East and West Narrow Gauge Railroad announced plans for its Houston to Shreveport line to come through Angelina County, much enthusiasm arose. Railroad officials were invited to a reception at Homer in an effort to influence their routing the line through Homer. Dr. Jim was asked to give the welcoming speech in the town square for the officials, but he declined upon learning that the primary promoters of the affair were the saloon owners who would provide plenty of product for public consumption. The affair did turn into a drunken matter, with Sheriff Davis arresting a number of drunks, including all the railroad officials there as the town's guests.

The railroad officials ultimately ran their line some six miles away from Homer, apparently a spiteful response to Homer's bad experience for the railroad officials, and a station was established in 1882, named Lufkin, which was the name of the head of the railroad. The first train arrived on September 12. The economic impact of the rail line was so great in causing Angelina County people to relocate in the new Lufkin, that Homer decreased in significance, thus forcing the ultimate relocation of the County Seat to Lufkin. Dr. Jim relocated to Lufkin and built a fine home.

In 1882, Schuyler S. Wheeler, a New York industrialist, invented the electric fan. The first Labor Day celebration was held in New York City, by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, the forerunner advocacy leading to the establishment of the national holiday. Floods along the Mississippi River left some 85,000 homeless. The Edmunds Act was adopted by Congress to suppress polygamy in the territories, especially in Mormon Utah. Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) published the Prince and the Pauper. Irishman Phil Casey, one of Ireland's finest handball players, established the first handball court in the U.S. in Boston.

Many people in our country who recognize the name of "Lufkin" do so because of the Lufkin brand of large trailer trucks manufactured in Lufkin. It is ironic that a truck brand, in an industry, which competes so fiercely with the railroad industry, is named after a city which is named after a railroad company president.

Susanna's failing health motivated them to relocate in March of 1892 to Lampasses, hopefully to benefit from the warm mineral springs there thought to have healing properties. She died October 15, 1892. She is buried in the Walker Cemetery of the Redland Community in Angelina County with a tombstone identified as Sue E. Abney. Willie C. Abney is identified on Sue A. Abney's tombstone, indicating he was born and died on the same date, October 4, 1869. This writer has not seen Willie's name on any list of children borne by Jim and Susanna Abney. Willie could have been a premature infant born some eleven months after their marriage. He could have been a miscarriage, with really nothing to available to bury in a cemetery. However, it is unusual to have two names on a single (individual) tombstone dating some 23 years apart as to death date.

After Susanna died, and while still living in Lampassas, Dr. Jim married the widow, Almonta Bartlett, daughter of Grandma Heuling, the matriarchal voice at the local Methodist Church. Both of them were age 47 at the marriage. Almonta's estate included a 2,000-acre ranch at Blanket in Brown County further west and north.

James moved with his family to Brownwood in 1895, to be near Almonta's ranch. There he practiced medicine, and became a 10,400 acre ranch owner on Brady Creek, near Eden, in Concho County, which Dr. Jim's brother, Frank P. Abney, helped him to operate. During the course of his ranch operation, he established the town of Winchell in cooperation with the Frisco Railroad Company. Winchell was the railroad company president's name. With his son, Fred, Dr. Jim organized the Citizens National Bank, spending the remainder of his career in the banking business. Almonta lived till 1923. He lived to a hearty old age of 100, had a great birthday party, and he died July 29, 1947.

James and Susanna bore two sons and a daughter: Frederick Sherwood Abney, who married Clara Brian, was a banker and lived in Brownwood; DeWitt Fleetwood Abney, who married Margaret Lyle, and who was an automobile dealer in Brownwood; and Edna May Abney, who married Harvey F. Mayes. DeWitt and Margaret bore James, Frederick Sherwood and Mark Lyle Abney. Fred is the one who has provided such extensive research and gathering of research from others to make tracing the Abney line so rich. He is truly a shining light of Christian concern for preserving the heritage of a family with such a rich Christian history.

Other Children of Paul C. and Margaret F. Abney:

Nathaniel Searcy Abney was born February 14, 1851 and died October 9, 1855 at the age of 4 years. He is buried in the Walker Cemetery in the Redland Community of Angelina County.

Hampton Parton (Hamp) Abney was born February 3, 1869 in Lufkin. He was married May 9, 1894 to Jeanette (Nettie) Marshall at Whitesboro in Grayson County (about 70 miles north of Dallas), and they moved to Sherman (Grayson County Seat), the following year. The remainder of their lives was spent there, where he practiced as an attorney. In 1895, he served as City Attorney and also served two terms as an Alderman. Another source claims this couple resided a while in Rusk, but the time alleged conflicts with the City Attorney service time above. Their offspring were Evelyn Abney, Hamp Parton Abney, Jr. (born July 13, 1903), and Jeannette Marshall Abney. By this time, it seems that Hampton was shortened to Hamp. Hamp, Jr. married Dorothy Nell McKee of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1927 in that city, and they settled in Dallas, giving birth to Hamp Parton Abney, III on February 27, 1930.

Perry Collins Abney married Joe Northington and resided in Dallas. Her name is also shown in another source as Peery.

Franklin (Frank) Pierce Abney married A. A. (Minnie) Arrington October 15, 1865 in Angelina County, and they lived in Mineola in northeast Texas. Later, Frank helped his brother, Dr. James Addison Abney, operate a large ranch in West Texas, near Brownwood.

Adaline (Addie) Juliette Abney married Albert Ross Moore January 31, 1884, and lived in Tyler. An alternate spelling is Juliet from another source. The marriage record officially carries her name as Addie Abney; another example of nicknames getting carried over into official county records, etc.

Emily Aerphina Abney first married T. Jeff Mosley December 10, 1885. The marriage record officially carries her name as Emma Z. Abney. An alternate source claims her middle name is Zepharina, rather than Aerphina. It possibly means she had a four-part name. Her second marriage was to Dr. Victor A. Godby.

Sarah Jane Abney married Ephrem H. F. McMullen on November 29, 1865 in Angelina County.

John Edgar Abney married Clara Easter. They bore Montey Abney and Carey Abney.

Cary Collins Abney is represented in another spelling as Carry. This writer has no further information on this person.

George Abney practiced medicine in Lufkin. He married Mattie Powell. George was associated with the Cox & Glass Drug Store. George and Mattie bore two children: Charles and George Raymond Abney. George Raymond Abney, born 1887, was known as Raymond and he married Ina Westmoreland, who was born 1888. They bore a daughter, Margaret. Ina died in 1947, and Raymond died in 1951. They both are buried in the Hillcrest Cemetery of Lufkin.

Their daughter, Margaret Abney, married Colonel Walter C. Sanders, whose military career caused them to live in many locations over the world. Margaret and Walter bore a son and twin daughters: Raymond Abney Sanders; Nancy Sanders (who married Charles Grob, a certified public accountant); and Sherry Sanders (who married Alan Augustine, an architect). The families of both daughters settled in Houston, and each bore a son and a daughter. Colonel Walter C. Sanders is buried in the Hillcrest Cemetery of Lufkin.

William Albert Abney, Sr., born May 21, 1853 and this writer's great grandfather, was one of Lufkin's earliest merchants. Calvin Mantooth was his partner in the firm of Mantooth & Abney, established in 1884. They advertised dealing in dry goods, clothing, notions, hats, boots, shoes, groceries, hardware, tinware, cutlery, tobaccos, can goods, etc. They advertised a generous inventory at all times, and "low figures" when items were purchased for cash. The store was located on Cotton Square.

William served as Postmaster for Lufkin, and was on the Lufkin City Commission. He married Martha (Mattie) Jane Dixon, who hailed from San Augustine. She was born November 27, 1853. Mattie had a sister named Sarah Lavina Dixon. This writer possess a Bible given to Sarah by her father, with a note from him dated May 8, 1869, quoting, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might." He would have been the great great grandfather of this writer. Unfortunately, his name is inscribed only as her father, and not his complete name. Lufkin resident Mrs. W. Arch (Mary) Henderson, who gave this Bible to me in 1988, said she recalled his name only as Judge Dixon from San Augustine. Sarah was Mary's step grand mother.

The children of William Albert Abney, Sr., and Martha (Mattie) Jane Dixon were:

Margaret Lavina Abney, who married Dr. James Herschell Chapman

Dixon Felix Abney, who married Edna Clark

William (Will) Albert Abney, Jr., who married Tempy Wood

Paul C. Abney, who married Ethel Latimer

James A. Abney, who married Audre Latimer

William Albert Abney, Sr. died November 7, 1913. Martha (Mattie) Jane Dixon Abney died April 27, 1928. Both are buried in the Knight - Glendale Cemetery of Lufkin.

About the Children of William Albert Abney, Sr. and Martha Jane Dixon:

Dixon Felix Abney was born October 16, 1879, and died in a tragic hunting accident at the early age of 28 on January 1, 1908. A shotgun accidentally discharged from the hand of his 13-year-old younger brother, Jim, mortally wounding Dixon in the back of the head. Newspaper accounts of the tragedy reported that Dixon was probably one of the most popular young men in Lufkin of that day. Dixon's burial site is the Knight - Glendale Cemeteries of Lufkin. His wife was Edna Clark, who later married Dr. John Dawson of Houston, where she spent the remainder of her life into the 1960's, long after she was widowed a second time. She was close to this writer's family in Houston in the 1940's, and my two sisters' wedding social activities partly took place in Aunt Edna's home.

William (Will) Albert Abney, Jr. was born March 7, 1884. He was known as Will. He married Tempy Wood, who was born November 7, 1888. They bore two children.

The first was Dixon F. Abney, born January 1, 1909, and obviously named after his uncle who died one year earlier on the same date. Dixon married Elsie Greve of Nacogdoches. Dixon died November 25, 1979, and is buried in the Garden of Memories Memorial Park in Lufkin, beside a grave identified as Mrs. Dixon F. Abney (December 18, 1910 to April 27, 1975) and a grave identified as an Abney infant named Dixon.

Dixon F. Abney and Earl Medford established Abney & Medford Hardware in 1946, the year Paul Abney was born as son of Dixon and Elsie. Paul had two brothers, Dixon F. Abney, Jr. and William Greve Abney. All of the three brothers continued in the business of owning and operating hardware stores. It is of interest to note that Paul Collins Abney was an actor in the amateur Centennial play produced in Lufkin in 1982. His role was to portray his great, great grandfather whose exact name the actor bore.

The other child of Will and Tempy Abney was Lillian Margaret Abney. Lillian, born September 24, 1910, married Earl B. Medford, June 27, 1937. Lillian and Earl gave issue to Tempe Lou Medford, who married Jerrell Durham and settled in Lufkin; and William Earl (Bubba) Medford, who settled in Houston.

William Albert Abney, Jr. died June 21, 1945. Tempy Wood Abney died June 18, 1966. Both are buried in the Knight - Glendale Cemetery of Lufkin.

Paul C. Abney was born 1888 and died 1933. He married Ethel Latimer. He is buried in the Knight - Glendale Cemetery in Lufkin.

James (Jim) A. Abney and Audre Latimer Abney bore two daughters, Sara Latimer Abney and Audre Lou Abney. Jim is the younger brother, who at age 13 allowed a shotgun to discharge accidentally from his hand, killing his older brother, Dixon. Jim operated a hardware store in Lufkin. He was born November 18, 1894, and died after a long struggle with cancer on January 27, 1959. He is buried in the Knight - Glendale Cemetery of Lufkin. Audre Lou Abney married Bud Lokey. Jim, the great uncle of this writer, is remembered as giving me my first Red Rider BB gun, a handsome piece of mechanism he generously took off the display racks in his hardware store to give as a special gift one time around 1945.

Margaret (Maggie) Lavina Abney, the eldest of the five children, was born February 23, 1878. She was the second wife of widower Dr. James Herschell Chapman, who was 25 years her senior.

In 1878, Thomas Alva Edison patented the phonograph, recording Mary Had A Little Lamb on a cylinder wrapped in tin foil. He also formed the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City. Senator Aaron A. Sargent of California introduced a women’s suffrage amendment (permitting women to vote) in the exact words by which it ultimately was adopted after World War I. The amendment was submitted every year until adopted.

CHAPMAN LINEAGE:

Dr. James Herschell Chapman had ancestors documented back to the American Revolution. His grand father was William D. Chapman, who is the great great grand father of this writer. William D. Chapman was born 1760 either in Virginia or South Carolina (conflicting reports are on record). Benjamin Franklin invented the first bifocal lenses in 1760. Thomas Jefferson, destined to the Presidency of the U.S., entered the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg, Virginia in 1760. Jefferson is my 28^th cousin, five times removed. The population of the Colonies was estimated at one million people. And the Silk Hat was introduced in Florence, Italy, a style to influence much of the men’s fashion world for a while.

William D. Chapman married Elizabeth Cowan in Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina in 1785. She was born in South Carolina and died there in 1846. William D. Chapman was paid as a private and as a sergeant in Captain Uriah Goodwyn’s Company in the 3rd Regiment of South Carolina Continental Troops, commanded by Col. William Thompson. William D. Chapman’s death is recorded in the Georgia Journal of Millidgeville, Georgia, evidenced by a notice that in Jones County, Elizabeth Chapman, Administristratix of the William Chapman Estate, would be selling a residence on September 3, 1814. His actual date of death is not known, but must have been between his ability to father William Hilliard Judson Chapman, born April 17, 1808, and some reasonable time prior to the 1814 newspaper notice of Elizabeth being his estate’s Administristratix. The children of William D. Chapman and Elizabeth Cowan Chapman were:

1. Robert M. Chapman, born 1790 in Georgia, married October 29, 1834 in Jones County, Georgia to Carolina Glover. Last Census located him in 1840 in that county, even through the 1830 Census showed him in Butts County.

2. Elizabeth Chapman, born 1793 in Georgia, married in Georgia a Mr. Daniels of Muscogee County, Georgia.

3. Harriett Chapman, born 1796 in Georgia, married the Rev. Mr. Jackson.

4. Mary Chapman, born 1797 in Georgia, married Henry Cunyus, a farmer, who had been born in Houston County, Georgia.

5. Salina Chapman, born 1802 in Georgia, married a Mr. Allen in Muscogee County, Georgia.

6. A daughter was born in 1805, who apparently died in childbirth.

7. William Hilliard Judson Chapman was the father of our Dr. James Herschell Chapman.

William Hilliard Judson Chapman was born April 17, 1808, the year that Congress prohibited the further importation of African slaves. James Madison was elected President, and Napoleon was consolidating his dominance in Europe. Beethoven composed his famous Fifth Symphony (No. 5 in C Minor) and Pastoral Symphony (No. 6 in F Minor). The earliest periodical in the legal profession, the American Law Journal was founded by John Elkin Hall in Baltimore, Maryland. It published until 1917. The first Bible Society was established in Philadelphia, its first president being the Rev. Mr. William White. That year was the first recorded duel between two U.S. Congressmen, George W. Campbell (Tennessee) and Barent Gardenier (New York). Gardenier was seriously wounded, but he recovered.

William Hilliard Judson Chapman married Temperance Honor Jordan in 1830. Temperance was born in Georgia in 1812 and died in Randolph County, Georgia in 1860. William married Rosa Bell in 1860. Rosa was born in Cuthbert, Georgia in 1802. William died September 10, 1884 in Cuthbert, Randolph County, Georgia. William was recorded in the census of 1850 a farmer in Cuthbert, Randolph County, Georgia. The 1860 Census found him in that same location as a mechanic. The 1880 Census found him still in Randolph Country and married to Rosa. Cuthbert is about 60 miles south of Columbus, Georgia in the southwest corner of the state.

William Hilliard Judson Chapman and Temperance Honor Jordan gave birth to 14 children half of whom died in infancy. The seven who survived were:

1. Mary Ann Chapman, born in Georgia in 1834. She married September 18, 1854 (?) in Randolph County, Georgia, a Mr. Andrew J. Morris.

2. Temperance Chapman was born in 1834 in Georgia. Apparently she never married, and the 1900 Census of Miller County, Georgia found her in the home of her sister, Sarah Catherine (Kitty) Chapman and her brother-in-law, Council Allen Sheffield.

3. William Paine Chapman, born 1838. He became a physician, and was known as Dr. Will Chapman as he lived and served his patients in Angelina County, Texas. He married Dora C. Chapman (born in Georgia, 1847). Dr. Will Chapman was listed in the 1880 Census of Tyler County, Texas.

4. Sarah Catherine (Kitty) Chapman, born 1847. She Married Allen Sheffield, believed to be an attorney.

5. Robert Duncan Chapman, born December 8, 1839, Houston County, Georgia, was destined later to appear with his brother, James Herschell Chapman, in Angelina County, Texas.

6. Elizabeth Chapman, born 1850.

7. James Herschell Chapman, born in 1854, Randolph Country, Georgia. He is the grand father of this writer. The Republican Party was formed this year in Jackson, Michigan, primarily to oppose slavery. The first U. S. Oil corporation was formed, the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company. David Livingstone was in his second year crossing the African continent of a 4-year trek. The U.S. signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan, declaring peace, friendship and commerce. And Charles Lewis Tiffany, jeweler, established Tiffany and Company in New York City.

Children issued by William Hilliard Judson Chapman and Rosa Bell Chapman were:

1. John Chapman, born in Georgia, 1864. Reportedly gave no issue.

2. Anna Chapman, born in Georgia, 1867. Reportedly gave no issue.

3. Judson C. Chapman was born in 1870. He reportedly gave issue to a daughter, Lorena Chapman, who married a Mr. Young.

The first wife of Dr. James Herschell Chapman was Minola Manning Chapman, born September 5, 1862, and died June 5, 1896, being buried in Homer Cemetery, just south of the Homer Community in Angelina County. Homer was originally named Angelina, and was begun before the 1850's. Dr. Chapman is listed as one of the early five doctors practicing in Homer when it was still the County Seat. Dr. J. H. Chapman is listed as one of three investors May 12, 1882, to start the newspaper, The Banner, which was the second publication in Homer. He was an advertiser in the issue of March 2, 1883. His third wife, Josephine T. Chapman, lived 1868 to 1959, and she is buried along side him in the Knight - Glendale Cemetery of Lufkin.

Dr. James Herschell Chapman and Minola Manning bore three children: Jamie William, born July 25, 1880, in Texas, died June, 1978, Plainview, Texas; Bertie (or Berdie), born 1882; and Harmon, born in 1884. Dr. Chapman apparently bore no children with his third wife, Josephine T. Chapman. He was age 55 when Mattie, his second wife, died in 1909, so not fathering more children is understandable.

The second wife of Dr. James Herschell Chapman was Margaret (Maggie) Lavina Abney Chapman is the grandmother of this writer. As noted earlier he had two of his brothers, Dr. William Paine (Will) Chapman and Captain Robert (Bob) D. Chapman, who also migrated from Georgia, ultimately to Angelina County. It is not known if they came together, but they were all present by the turn of the century in Angelina County. Dr. Will Chapman, as noted earlier, did appear in the Tyler County, Texas 1880 Census. Both doctors practiced medicine in Angelina County for most of their careers. This writer's mother believed her father, James Herschell Chapman, came to Texas at age 16, which would have been 1869.

There is family "folk lore" to the effect that James Herschell Chapman owned East Texas land for a while, selling it at agricultural or woodland rates. Some years later, on January 10, 1901, the first great Texas oil well discovery, Spindle Top, was situated on that same land, just south of Beaumont, Texas, so the story goes. It would be interesting to determine through land deeds if that is true, or if it merely be typical genealogical evangelastic reporting?

Robert Duncan Chapman, brother of James Herschell Chapman, was born in Georgia, and was living in Georgia when the Civil War erupted in 1861. We do have information that his Confederate Army experience was serving as a Captain of Company E, 55th Georgia Volunteers. After the war, he ran a store in Georgia. He later came to Tyler County in East Texas, and opened a store in 1872. When the Texas and New Orleans Railroad was built north from Beaumont, and the southeast Angelina County community, Huntington, was on the line, Robert established himself in Huntington. He was Huntington's first Postmaster, taking the job in July 23, 1900 as it initially opened. Robert is regarded by some as "the father of Huntington." He was the first to build a store in Huntington; a mammoth general store.

On June 18, 1900, E. A. Blount of Nacognoches and W. J. Townsend, Sr. of Lufkin, established the town site of Huntington on that railroad line by filing with the Angelina County Court a plot plan showing the location of its lots and blocks. On Saturday, June 22, they conducted a public auction of these town lots. Among the successful bidders were Capt. Robert D. Chapman and Dr. James Herschell Chapman.

Robert's store was described in the Lufkin Weekly Tribune in 1902 as having an "immense stock of everything you can think of, from a handle to a full stock of goods of any description. He is also in connection with his son, at the head of the Huntington Piling and Tie Company. In connection with his mercantile business, he also has an undertaking establishment."

Robert Duncan Chapman married Eugenia Alice McNeil November 21, 1867 in Cuthbert, Randolph County, Georgia. Eugenia was born August 10, 1845 in Harris County, Georgia, the daughter of William W. McNeil and Martha Goodson. Eugenia died June 22, 1906 in Houston, Texas (coincidentally “Harris” County as well) and is buried in Nacognoches, Texas. She died while a resident at Boyd’s Sanitarium in Houston.

Robert Duncan Chapman was shown in the census of 1840 as a one year old in the home of his parents in Houston County, Georgia. In 1850 the census found him in Randolph County, Georgia. The 1860 Census of Randolph County, Georgia listed him as a clerk and living in the home of his parents. The 1870 census found him in Cotton Hill, Clay County, Georgia as a dry goods merchant, age 30, with his wife, Eugenia, age 22, married with no children. The 1880 census found him in Jefferson County, Texas, married with three children. The 1910 Census found him in Dallas, Texas as the head of household with his daughter, Martha, and two grandchildren, Robert Leon Sonfield and George McNeill Sonfield.

Robert Duncan Chapman published A Georgia Solder in the Civil War in 1929 when he was 91 years old and living in Houston, Texas. In it, he states that he left Cuthbert, Georgia in 1871 for Texas, with his wife and son. They traveled across Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana to Morgans Point, Louisiana, where they took the Whitney Steamer, a sea-going vessel, to Galveston. From there, they took the Stonewall River Steamer for Sabine Pass, and later went up the Neches River to Woodville, Tyler County, Texas, where they settled and lived some years, Robert laboring as a farmer, then as a lumberman. Then Robert became a traveling salesman for a Galveston firm, the Wallis Landes Company. He served them about 18 years. During these traveling years, he lived in Woodville, Mineola and Nacognoches, where his family was mostly raised. After leaving that work is when he spent time described in Angelina County from 1900 to 1905.

His book goes on to say he moved to Dallas in 1905 for several years, including being recorded in the 1910 census there. For three of the years in Dallas, he was in charge of the entrance gate to the Dallas State Fair. Then he returned to Nacognoches till 1912. It was then that he moved to Houston, Texas. He claims that he was a sitting bailiff for about 11 years for the Harris County Grand Juries at Houston, Texas, which would have been from about age 80 to 91! Robert claims to have been a professing member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South for more than 80 years.

The children of Robert Duncan Chapman and Eugenia Alice McNeill were:

1. William McNeill Chapman, born December 25, 1870 in Cuthbert, Georgia, and left Georgia in 1871 with his parents, bound for Texas. He married Laura Blount October 10, 1894. She was born December 16, 1877 in San Augustine, Texas; died July 29, 1896. They bore two daughters, who died in infancy. William remarried, wife name now unknown, and they gave issue to a daughter, Mattie Chapman. William was a Lieutenant in Company B, 2nd Texas Regiment in the Spanish American War. A war companion, George King, married William’s sister, Lollie Dee Chapman.

2. Martha Carrie (Mattie) Chapman, born January 18, 1874, Woodville, Tyler County, Texas, married Leon Sonfield in Nacognoches, Texas on June 1, 1892. Leon was born April 21, 1865 in Memphis, Tennessee, son of Henry Sonfield and Rose or Rachel Kornic. Leon died December 15, 1934 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mattie married a second time, which was to Charles Manning Desel, June 13, 1912, in Dallas, Texas which means she must have divorced from Leon Sonfield at some unknown date. Charles and Mattie resided in Dallas at the 1929 publishing date of her father’s civil war soldier book at 815 Wenetka Street, just a few blocks from where this writer lives today. There are no Desel’s listed in the 1996 Dallas Phone Book.

3. Lollie Dee Chapman was born April 7, 1879 in Woodville, Tyler County, Texas. She married George Smith King of Nacogdoches. He was born in 1876 in Rusk County, Texas. They moved to Houston, where he was a prominent lawyer.

Lollie Dee encouraged her father to write a book about his Civil War experiences. Such book was published, and a copy was possessed by my Mother, Martha Dixon Sharpe, but, alas, she lost it. However, in 1996, this writer’s good fortune was smiled upon by Robert L. Sonfield, Jr., Executive Director of the Chapman Family Association, when he provided me with a republished copy. Such is good providence! George Smith King had been a fellow soldier in the Spanish American War with Lollie’s brother, William, and it is presumed that William brought George into Lollie’s acquaintance. George earned his law degree at the University of Texas. He served as District Attorney in Nacognoches County until he moved to Houston in 1905. George died August 27, 1965 in Houston, Texas. Lollie died May 17, 1955 in Houston, Texas. Their children were Carrie Eugenia (Geane) King, born February 21, 1903; and Lollie Dee King, born September 21, 1908.

William Paine Chapman, another Texas-bound brother of James Herschell Chapman, was born in 1838, Georgia. This was the year Samuel Morse introduced his famous Morse Code. Charles A. Spencer, a New York scientist, made America’s first microscope. The Trail of Tears was the beginning of forced marches of Cherokee Indians for removal from Georgia to Oklahoma, the U.S. Government enforcing the 1835 Treaty of New Schota. And the Boston schools were the first in the nation to authorize music instruction in its curriculum, at the advocacy of Lowell Mason, who was appointed superintendent of music, an unpaid position.

William Paine Chapman married Dora C. Chapman, who had been born in Georgia in 1847. The 1880 census placed them in Tyler County, Texas, with his occupation as a physician. Later, they moved to Angelina County, where most of his career was pursued. He was known as Dr. Will Chapman.

The children of William Paine Chapman and Dora C. Chapman were William, born 1862; and Mary H. born 1868 in both Georgia; Lee J., born 1871; Hattie, born 1874; and James Chapman, born 1878 all three born in Texas.

Margaret (Maggie) Lavina Abney Chapman, the grandmother of this writer and her husband, Dr. James Herschell Chapman, bore two children. Martha Dixon Chapman, born April 5, 1904; and Herschell Albert Chapman, born December 12 1906. Herschell Albert's name came from his father, and from his maternal grand father & his uncle, William Albert Abney and W. A. Abney, Jr.

Martha is the mother of this writer. My middle name, Albert, is immediately from my Uncle Herschell Albert Chapman, but it also goes back to my great grand father, William Albert Abney, Sr. Herschell Chapman was married to Gertrude L. (maiden or previous name not known), a California woman for whom this was a second marriage. This was probably in the 1930's. They spent the rest of their lives in and around the Oakland, California area. His major life long vocational pursuit was selling insurance. They bore no children. She had a previous marriage about which this writer has no information. However, her niece who contacted this writer to report her death was Alice Goodwin, P.O. Box 442, Guerneville, California, 95446. Herschell died around 1952, and Gertrude died May 29, 1983. Both are buried somewhere in California, probably in or near Oakland.

Dr. James Herschell Chapman was listed as a charter member in 1906 for the Angelina County Medical Society.

Maggie died October 19, 1909 in one of the plagues of those times. She is buried in the Knight - Glendale Cemetery of Lufkin. James died in 1925, and also is buried in the Knight - Glendale Cemetery. So, Martha was aged 5 and 21 when her parents died, which was a hardship. The children, Herschell Albert Chapman and Martha Dixon Chapman, were raised after Maggie's death by their grand mother, Martha Jane Dixon Abney, who was the wife of James William Abney. Dr. Chapman resided with them in the Abney home.

Martha Jane Dixon Abney was widowed in 1913, and Dr. James Herschell Abney soon moved out from the house. He had been much older than his wife, Maggie, actually being only one year younger than his mother-in-law, Martha Jane Dixon Abney. Family oral tradition reported that he felt it more appropriate to move out, as it did not reflect the proper appearances for an unmarried man and woman to be domiciled together. She continued to raise his children in her home, Herschell and Martha. After he married the third and last time, to a woman named Josephine, his contacts with the Abney family became somewhat detached, or, at least, a continuing relationship has not been identified by this writer. James is buried beside her. She is identified as Josephine T. Chapman, born 1868, died 1959.

OTHER CHAPMAN’s

Jiles R. Chapman is identified at a grave site in the Kelty's Cemetery in Angelina County. It is indicated that he died December 19, 1904, was a Sergeant of Company K, 42nd Georgia Infantry of the Confederate Army, and that he died at the age of 64, which means being born 1840. He may have been another relative of Captain Robert D. Chapman, Dr. James H. Chapman and Dr. Will Chapman.

Angelina County Marriage records carries the entry of a Mr. J. M. Chapman marrying Sarah Ann Houston on December 2, 1866, which could have been the same Chapman with the middle initial off somewhere. There are grave sites in the Knight - Glendale Cemetery of Lufkin identified as Giles Hardy Chapman, born June 30, 1880 and died May 30, 1954; Lula V. Chapman, born August 3, 1890, and died September 29, 1947. However, no connection with these scattered Chapman’s can be made with the Chapman family, which concerns this paper.

CONTINUING WITH THE CHAPMAN’s MAIN LINE

Martha Dixon Chapman was born April 5, 1904, in her Lufkin home. Her church life was in the Methodist Church. President Theodore Roosevelt was reelected to a second term in 1904. The U.S. consolidated its ownership of the Panama Canal through an agreement signed in Paris, France. Jack London published his famous story The Sea Wolf. The first section of the New York City Subway opened, destined to become the largest system in the country. The St. Louis World’s Fair stunned the world with many firsts. The diesel engine was shown for the first time in the U.S. The first use of ice cream on “cones” was introduced. It is alleged that the first “hamburger” was introduced by a businessman from Athens, Texas. This writer lived 1972-1982 within a block of the edge of this famous World’s Fair location in St. Louis. The first speed limit laws were established in New York State. And the first perfect baseball game was pitched by Denton T. “Cy” Young of the Boston Americans in which the pitcher did not allow any opposing player to reach first base.

Martha had a high school teacher of science named Mr. Blevins. It is of interest to know that he also taught her son, this writer, in Dallas during his 9th grade in 1954, at Alex W. Spence Junior High School. There is also a Miss Bess Wood of Lufkin who taught at that school at the time, and who remembers this writer being there. She is Lillian's Aunt, Tempy Wood Abney's sister. Bess was born March 17, 1897. In 1987, Bess resided at the Angelina Nursing Home.

Martha attended the University of Texas at Austin, graduating in May of 1925 as a Phi Beta Kappa with a double major in Latin and Greek. She was then engaged to fellow University of Texas student and Austin Theological Presbyterian Seminary student, Dwight Alfred Sharpe. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1925 and from Austin Seminary in 1926 (seminary courses had overlapped his university studies). She taught in the Lufkin Public Schools the ensuing year. Martha and Dwight was married in her grand mother’s Lufkin home on Monday, May 31, 1926. Her grand mother, Martha Jane Dixon Abney died April 27, 1928.

Dwight Alfred Sharpe, of Georgetown, was born September 4, 1901. Two days later, for the third time in this nation’s history, a president was assassinated. On September 6, President William McKinley, while in Buffalo, New York, was shot twice anarchist Leon Czolgosz. He died September 14. The United States Steel Corporation was organized. Spindletop was struck January 10 of this year. And Andrew Carnegie made possible the first extensive New York City public library system through a gift of $5,200,000, which built 39 branch libraries. Queen Victoria died in Great Britain. Otis Brothers installed the first escalator, which was at Gimbles Department Store in Philadelphia. Willis Carrier invented the forerunner of the air conditioner. King G. Gillette began the manufacture of safety razors with disposable blades. And Wilhelm Maybach, technical director at Daimler Works, built the first Mercedes automobile.

Dwight Alfred Sharpe’s father, Harry Seth Sharpe, had migrated to Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas in 1895 from Ravenna, Portage County, Ohio. This German Palatine ancestry line entered New York State from England in 1710, and Dwight's line moved west to this northeast Ohio county seat around 1850. Second Lieutenant George Sharp, great, great, great grand father of this writer, represented the Sharpe line with his service during the American Revolutionary War in the New York Militia. Dwight’s mother was Mattie de Noailles Simons of Taylor, Williamson County Texas, whose family moved there around 1852 from some unidentified place in Texas, and previously from Kentucky. Mattie was born August 20, 1876 and died February 22, 1944, being buried in the cemetery at Georgetown, along side of whom her husband later was laid to rest. Henry (Harry) Seth Sharpe was born August 26, 1874 and died March 20, 1951.

Dwight was President of his High School graduating Class, Business Manager of the School Annual, Salutatorian of his class, Vice President of the Literary Society, and lettered two years on the track team. He attended for one year the University of Kentucky (which had been his mother’s family’s “homeland”), then graduated from the University of Texas in 1925 and from Austin Theological Presbyterian Seminary in 1926, and spent his career serving as pastor of churches in this order: Laredo (1926), Little Rock (Arkansas - 1929), Ballinger (1935), Houston (1941), Sweetwater (1951), Dallas (1954), San Antonio (1958), Ruidoso (New Mexico-1963), and finally at Houston (1965) again. In several of these cities, he was a member of Rotary International.

Martha Dixon Chapman Sharpe and Dwight Alfred Sharpe bore three children: Martha, Elizabeth and D. A.

The eldest is Martha de Noailles Sharpe, born September 7, 1927, in Laredo. She graduated from San Jacinto High School in Houston, Magna Cum Laude, and entered Rice Institute. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. On September 6, 1947, she married Victor Marcus Ehlers, Jr. (born May 25, 1923). The wedding was in Dwight's home pastorate in Houston, Central Park Presbyterian Church. Their offspring were two daughters:

Martha Lynne (goes by Lynne) , who was born December 30, 1950; She married Dr. Foster [Scot] Brin, August 23, 1980 in Austin, Texas. He is a psychiatrist. Their son is Andrew Victor Brin, born July 8, 1989.

Nancy Lea, who was born February 26, 1954, and she was married June 11, 1977 in Austin, Texas to Kevin Grady Reeves (born January 14, 1945). Kevin and Nancy bore Matthew Scott (born May 15, 1980), Christopher Thomas (born September 11, 1982) and Victoria (Vicki) Lea (born August 10, 1985).

Both Nancy and Lynne are graduates of the University of Texas at Austin, with Lynne having a Masters in the School of Social Work. She and her father were the first parent and child combination both to acquire a masters from that school of Social Work. A suitable banquet of recognition marked the occasion.

Nancy graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1990 and became an ordained Presbyterian minister, initially serving as an Associate Pastor at the University Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas, the church in which her parents met when they were University of Texas students in the late 1940's. Her next call was in 1996 to began development of a new Presbyterian Church in Round Rock, Texas, in Williamson County, just north of Austin. It is called Grace Presbyterian Fellowship.

The second child of Martha and Dwight Sharpe was Elizabeth Ann Sharpe, born August 9, 1929, Little Rock, Arkansas. She always claimed "Texan citizenship," as she was conceived while the family still lived in Laredo. She graduated Valedictorian at San Jacinto High School in Houston, and attended Rice Institute. After her August 14, 1948 marriage in Central Park Presbyterian Church, Houston, Texas, to Andrew Albert Jumper, of Mississippi (born September 11, 1927), they both completed their degrees at the University of Mississippi. Andy went on to become a Presbyterian minister, serving churches in Houston (1954), Dallas (1957), Lubbock (1962) and Saint Louis (Missouri - 1970). Elizabeth and Andy bore four children:

Mark Andrew Jumper, born May 1, 1954. He was married November 23, 1991 to Ginger Lou Jones (born December 12, 1958) in St. Louis, Missouri, at Central Presbyterian Church. He graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary (Presbyterian) in Decatur, Georgia, and served his first pastorate in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, followed by service in the Naval Chaplaincy. He served in the Pacific, based on Okinawa, Washington, D. C., Jacksonville, Florida (where he met Ginger), Newport, Rhode Island and at Dallas Naval Air Station. Their offspring are Christina Joyce Jumper, born July 17, 1992; Andrew Albert Jumper II, born February 2, 1994; and Caroline Grace Jumper, May 22, 1995.

Peter Sharpe Jumper (born April 4, 1956), married Nancy Louise Robinson (born December 4, 1955) of Kansas City, (Raytown) Missouri in her parent's home church on July 29, 1978; They settled in St. Louis. Peter attained a Masters Degree in Social Work from St. Louis University. Peter served a term in the U.S. Air Force as a jet fighter pilot. Their sons are Benjamin David Jumper (born January 18, 1984), and Daniel Sharpe Jumper (born April 6, 1987). They moved to Texas in 1989, residing in Richardson, a northern suburb of Dallas.

Katherine (Kathy) Elizabeth Jumper, born June 14, 1958, married U.S. Air Force Captain (jet fighter pilot) Gary Carlton (from Florida, born October 29, 1957) on April 30, 1983 at Central Presbyterian Church in St. Louis. Their daughters are Laura (born September 6, 1985) and Emily Ann (born April 27, 1988). They first lived in Enid, Oklahoma near the Air Force Base, and moved in 1987 to the Phillippines. Returning to civilian life, they moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Peter and Gary served together at Enid and formed the condition for Kathy to meet Gary.

Carol Anne Jumper, born February 5, 1960, married Dr. Bruce Robertson (born October 23, 1956) of Missouri on August 9, 1980 at Central Presbyterian Church in St. Louis. Bruce completed his veterinary medicine training after their marriage and established practice in Fulton, Missouri. The wedding was on what would have been her deceased mother's 51st birthday. Their offspring are Samuel Adam (born November 15, 1983) and Jeffrey Alan (born December 18, 1985).

Elizabeth died after four years of cancer in late December, 1973, and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery on St. Charles Rock Road in Saint Louis County, Missouri. Andy married Sydney Kay Dicken Armistead (born 1948, Asheville, North Carolina) on November 20, 1974, at Central Presbyterian Church, St. Louis. Her child brought into the marriage is Amy, born 1969. Andy died of cancer May 28, 1992, and Syndey remarried April 17, 1994 to Robert Schmidt in St. Louis, ceremony conducted by her step son, Mark Andrew Jumper. Amy married Zion Hilelly September 1, 1996 in New York City. Zion is from Israel, and the wedding was a Jewish ceremony of great grandeur .... black tie. The Jumper children and Tiffany Sharpe attended the festivities.

The third child of Martha and Dwight Sharpe was this writer, Dwight Albert Sharpe, born June 24, 1939 in Ballinger, Texas. He graduated in 1957, in the middle of the class at Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas, attended Austin College in Sherman, and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in May, 1962. He met Suzanne Margaret Boggess, in New Orleans, where both had come separately to work after college.

Suzanne, born April 2, 1938, Griffin, Georgia, was the daughter and eldest child of Thomas Shelton Boggess, Jr. and Alice McElroy Boggess. Alice hailed from Ottumwa, Iowa, and met T. S. while they were students at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. The Boggess family's basic home since 1854 was in Macon, Noxubee County, Mississippi. However, family from Suzanne's great, great grandmother Eliza Wellborn Boggess settled in Noxubee County as early as 1834. The land on which Suzanne’s parents retired had been in the family since the 1840's. In fact, the Wellborn family came from England to Jamestown in 1610. The Boggess family's first settler from England established homestead in Virginia and Robert Boggess' will was probated in 1662. Noxubee County, Mississippi is adjacent to Pickens County, Alabama, where Margaret Elvira Fullerton Abney was growing up circa 1830.

Dwight Albert Sharpe (D. A.) and Suzanne Margaret Boggess met in New Orleans on June 17, 1962, and married September 30, 1962 at the Canal Street Presbyterian Church.. He worked in New Orleans for IBM Corporation several years before going into full time Christian work in 1970 as an administrator for Trinity Christian Community. They both served in various leadership roles in the Canal Street Presbyterian Church. Later the family relocated for similar administrative work for the Covenant Fellowship of Presbyterians in Saint Louis, living there from 1972 till late 1982. They served various leadership roles in the Central Presbyterian Church. They then moved to Dallas where he joined the staff as Business Manager of Highland Park Presbyterian Church, a congregation of some 8,000 members at that time.

The three children of D. A. and Suzanne B. Sharpe are Taylor Marcus Sharpe, born January 26, 1965; Tiffany Lenn Sharpe, born August 4, 1966; and Todd Wittman Sharpe, born January 26, 1969.

Dwight Alfred and Martha Dixon Chapman Sharpe retired to San Antonio in 1968, where they lived near the Alamo Heights Presbyterian Church and participated with that congregation until their deaths. They lived lives of strong and dedicated service to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Martha died August 2, 1979, and Dwight died August 2, 1981. They both are buried in the Georgetown (Texas) Cemetery, along with his parents, brother and other Sharpe relatives.

A MATTER OF SATISFACTION:

The matter of self satisfaction for Pastor Dwight Sharpe was that all of his three children became Christians, they all married Christians, he was privileged to baptize all but one of his nine grand children (Nancy Lea Ehlers Reeves), and all of those which had reached an age of accountability by the time of his death had made Christian commitments, including those married by that time, doing so with spouses who were Christians. He lived to see his first great grand child, Matthew Scott Reeves, son of Nancy Lea Ehlers Reeves and Kevin Grady Reeves. This writer cannot help but see God's hand on this family through many, many generations of commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ, and the blessings that brings from generation to generation.

AMEN

D. A. Sharpe

Dwight Albert Sharpe

805 Derting Road East

Aurora, TX 76078-3712

dasharpe@aol.com E-Mail Address

SOURCES of information for this paper:

Personal interview with Paul S. Abney, Dallas, March 17, 1987

Personal interview in Lufkin, March 19, 1987 with Lillian Abney, who married Dr. Earl B. Medford

Personal interview in Lufkin, March 19, 1987 with Margaret Abney, who married Colonel Walter C. Sanders.

Personal interview in Lufkin, March 19, 1987 with Tempe Lou Medford, who married Jerrell Durham.

Handwritten notes of Martha Dixon Chapman Sharpe describing her family, mother of this writer.

Personal interviews with Martha de Noailles Sharpe Ehlers, sister of this writer.

Land of the Little Angel, A History of Angelina Country, Texas, Compiled by the Angelina County Historical Survey Committee, Lufkin Printing Company, 1976.

History and Descriptions of Angelina County, Texas, compiled & published by R. W. Haltom, Editor of The Leader, Lufkin, Texas, 1888.

Cemetery Records, Angelina County, Texas, Vol I & Vol II, 1969-1981, Lufkin Genealogical and Historical Society, 107 E. Lufkin Ave., 75901.

Angelina County, Texas Marriage Records, 1846-1897, compiled by Helen Swenson, 1981.

Abney, compilation of John Hensell, 7720 Bradford Street, Houston, Texas, 77017, genealogical Abney listings back to 700's A.D. (This writer received Hensell's document from Mr. Fred S. Abney).

Line of descent of a branch of the Abney family from the founding of the ancestral home at Wyvelslie, in Derbyshire, England in 1300 to the birth of Hamp Parton Abney, III at Dallas, Texas, U.S.A., February 30, 1930 by Hamp Parton Abney, Christmas, 1930. This is a private publication, a copy of which this writer received from Mr. Fred S. Abney.

An Abridged Autobiography of Some of the Many Incidents and Experiences of James A. Abney, M.D., Confederate Veteran, Brownwood, Texas, June, 1928.

A June 1, 1983 letter from Alice Goodwin concerning Gertrude L. Chapman's death.

A Church History bulletin for the February 22, 1987 worship services of the First United Methodist Church of Lufkin, Texas.

A souvenir program of the "Lufkin: The Beginning; a Centennial Play," produced at the Lufkin Civic Center, October 15, 16, 17, 1982.

Dr. Jim, an undated biographical manuscript of Dr. James Addison Abney, written by his son, DeWitt F. Abney, such copy received by this writer from Mr. Fred S. Abney, of Dallas, Texas.

Old Glory, the 1919 High School Annual of Georgetown, Texas.

A Georgia Soldier in the Civil War, Robert Duncan Chapman, Houston, Texas, 1929, reprinted by Charles P. Young Company, Houston, Texas, 1994, for distribution by Robert L. Sonfield, Jr, 770 South Post Oak Lane, #435, Houston, Texas 77056-1913.

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