Hiram Lively Letter

The following letter was sent by Hiram Fitzgerald Lively to his sister Nannie Rosalee Ford in 1903. Nannie's first husband, Rice Orlando Ford, vanished from the face of the earth one day. None of my grandparents could say what happened to him, they just said he disappeared. This letter sheds some light on what may have happened. Hiram F. Lively was elected Dallas County Judge in 1904. Nanny married Robert Monroe McCain in 1907 and I am descended from this line.

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HIRAM F. LIVELY

ATTORNEY AT LAW

ROOM 309 NAT’L EX. BANK BLDG.

PHONE 1003-1R

DALLAS, TEXAS, July 29th, 1903.

Mrs. Nannie R. Ford,

Mesquite, Texas

Dear Sister:-There does not appear to be any mail at the post office here for you.

Nannie, I wanted to talk to you when I was out there Sunday, but my time was so short, that I did not get an opertunity to do so, therefore I want to write you a few lines, with the kindest of feeling, brotherly love, and heartfelt sympathy, and I trust that you will consider it so.

I have learned that there is a warrant out for Ford, and I am therefore thoroughly convinced that he has gone on the scout and left you, and he is subject to being brought back at any time and prosecuted for the offence, in that event he might leave you alone and where you could not get assistance, and while I do not desire to advise you to leave your husband and I do not do it; But my sister, you will allow me to say to you that I think you would be very foolish to leave here and go to him anywhere until the charge is cleared up and he is so situated that he will not have to scout around and perhaps leave at any moment. I am of the opinion that he has left you, and it may be that you will never here from him again but whether that be true or not, he will never be a free man until he gets rid of the charge that is against him. He can be brought back wherever he can be found.

I expect that you feel sad, lonely and at times despondent, but this sister is not right, and you should cheer up, and make up your mind to take care of yourself and rear your children in the way it is now your duty to do; while the responsibility is great and you have your troubles and you have my sympathy, and I stand ready to help you in any way I can; and you know that out dear old father is ready and willing to help you, and to give you advise and ready to try to make your burdens as light as he can. My suggestion to you is that you take his advice and counsel; that you cheer up and make the best of life you can, and I am sure that you have the sympathy of all of us, and that we are ready to help you and your children in any way we can and that is right. You of course do not, and cannot expect us to feel kindly toward Ford or to render him any assistance, since he has treated our dear sister in the was he has treated you.

Sister, your children are now at the age when they need care and close attention, as they are now at the age when their character is being formed and the life shaped; and it seems to me that you ought to have them at home where you could control them and rear them to be industrious. This you can never do while living first in one place and then in another. And while it puts a burden on you, that Ford ought to share, the raising of the children, still I think in justice to the children and yourself that you ought not to drag around over the country after Ford, and especially so since he is liable to be picked up at any time and tried in the Courts, and there leave you among strangers, where you would neither get help or sympathy.

I think now that I will take a trip for the summer and be gone for a month, and I will not get a chance to see you until I get back as I will leave next week if nothing happens, and for that reason I write this. Sister, look at this only in the light it is written, that of a brother to his sister; and know that feel kindly toward you and mean just what this letter says. I hope you are all well and that every thing will turn out for the best. Good bye. With Love, I am

Your brother.

Hiram F. Lively