Family Stories

Family stories told to me by my grandmother, family members, letters, articles or other documentation.

Thomas Family:

Joseph Thomas was a Presbyterian Minister in Upper Ireland. He died 6 months before his son John Greenfield Thomas was born. Katherine Greenfield Thomas then married a man named Kerr. John stowed away on a ship with his half brother (Kerr) and came to the USA. John was 14 yrs old when he left Ireland. Thomas Kerr and Barbara Kerr were half brother and half sister to John. Katherine's brother had a greenhouse in New Orleans, Louisiana. Aunt Nellie said that Thomas was Welsh, English, a little Irish and a little Scotch.

John and Thomas had a falling out after arriving in Missouri. Thomas went to Pennsylvania and got rich in the Steel business. Never married and never knew what happened to his mother. In later years John went to Pennsylvania and couldn't find out anything.

Johns parents were in produce business in New Orleans. They went to Ireland at his mother’s insistence shortly before his birth. His father developed a fever shortly after arrival in Ireland and died; his mother remarried and had two more sons. At age 14, John and a younger brother stowed away on a ship bound for the U.S., got as far as Missouri, and had a falling out. The brother (Thomas Kerr) went to Pennsylvania and became wealthy in the steel business. He never married, but is reported to have adopted a son. The family lost track of him. John moved on to Texas, where he married and had 12 children. He became an alcoholic. Family stories say his wife was a teetotaler Baptist who kicked him out of the house because of his drinking. Afterward, he lived in a “coffee pot”—an advertising structure in town. He as viewed, apparently benignly, as the town drunk. His wife is said to have taken him back into the home later, when he was ill. He died in a hospital. Told by Judith Thomas

Minnie Mae Thomas-Family story is that she caused herself injury by overexerting herself while menstruating. She walked 5+ miles to visit a relative for the day; while she was there, a "blue norther" threatened and she started home. She was caught in the storm and thoroughly soaked and chilled. Afterward, during each menstrual period she went "out of her head." She was hospitalized at least once. On a home visit, she started to go out of her head again, and her mother told another relative that she would have to go back to the hospital. Overhearing in an adjacent room, she walked out and said, "I'm never going back to that place." She returned to her room and killed herself with a pistol. Told by Judith Thomas

James Greenfield Thomas- Retarded or possibly autistic. Mother claimed father was drunk when he was conceived, and he was "never right." Known for artistic ability, especially drawing and penmanship. Told by Judith Thomas

Nellie Thomas- Never married. Raised a foster daughter, Mildred. Poor in old age and dependent on help from relatives; lived an increasingly reclusive life; piles of newspapers, magazines, and other things filled rooms to the point that you walked through corridors of the stuff. Told by Judith Thomas

Henry Thomas, Johns son ran a newspaper in the Indian Territory. He printed something about an Indian that angered him and he waylaid Henry and hit him in the head. Henry died of the blow, causing him to lose his memory before death.

George Thomas worked as a salesman at a store in Denison, Grayson County, Texas. _____?______ introduced him to a man who had escaped from a Pox house and had Small Pox George had been vaccinated and nearly lost his arm but took small pox instead and died from it. Was buried at midnight as they did in those days.

Bertha Thomas-Killed in auto accident. Family story is that it was a result of her "back-seat" driving. Her husband was driving, she in front seat, and son and another child in back. It was icy, and, as they approached an intersection, another car also approached. She panicked and screamed at her husband to stop. When he did, the car skidded and she was thrown out against a tree. Her neck was broken and she died instantly. Told by Judith Thomas

Alice Thomas Fulks lived to be 81 years old. She lived in Florida. She got up one chilly morning in January. Having on a flannel night gown, she stood in front of her open heater to warm herself and her gown caught fire and she burned to death.

Edith Edna Thomas- A successful business woman who never married. Worked for Pullman Company and lived in Chicago for many years. Left that company and moved to New York. Died of a cerebral hemorrhage while standing in line at a cafeteria. Told by Judith Thomas

Chief Justice John Marshall is related to the Murray side of the family. Spencer's are related to the Thomas side of the family. Winston Churchill is also related to the Thomas family.

Helen Evangeline Thomas Bell- According to Aunt Rae, Eva married "badly." Her husband, Clarence Bell, made a good living with the Katy railroad until the depression, when he lost his job and never got back on track. They had money struggles in later years. Aunt Rae says Clarence had a reputation among his sisters-in-law for not keeping his hands to himself. (My mother reported that he “felt her up” once.) Eva was reported to have said, "I've made my bed and now I have to lie in it." I understood that as a somewhat fatalistic statement that one has to live with one's choices, bad or good and can't remedy the bad ones. She had six children, and died of cervical cancer at the age of 45, when her youngest child (Carolyn) was six. Told by Judith Thomas

Alfred Owings (P.J.) Thomas-A Marine who was stationed in Beijing in the mid-1920s during the Chinese civil wars to protect the American Legation. Died of TB. He married a Roman Catholic woman (Clara) and converted to her faith. They had one daughter, Patsy. Told by Judith Thomas

Rae Bernard Thomas Saye-She was named after two male friends of her father, Ray Gilbert and Dan Bernard Sullivan. She considered herself a repository of the family history, a role she inherited from Florence after her death. She was married and divorced 4 times by her early 40s. She married Henry (Hank) Saye in the late 1950s and remained married to him until her death. She was unable to have children. Told by Judith Thomas

MURRAY FAMILY:

He was a newspaperman and published the first newspaper in Texas, The Austin Statesman, in the 1880s. A Confederate sympathizer, he left Michigan and headed for Texas. He joined the Confederate Army and spent time in Mexico and the Arizona Territory, which included what is now the state of New Mexico. He published a newspaper in Mesilla (now NM) and, when the fighting moved into his area, he buried his printing press for a time to keep it from Union hands. Along with his brother-in-law, L.S. Owings, he campaigned for Arizona statehood. He later moved back to Texas and was one of the founders of Denison, Texas, in 1872. According to family stories, he built the first house in Denison (heretofore a "tent city") so that my grandmother, born in 1873, wouldn't be born in a tent. He published Denison's first newspaper. He was a scholar and "truth-seeker" (he read first editions of Darwin and other scientific and/or anti-religious thinkers) and left behind a large library. Told by Judith Thomas

Helen West Murray Thomas (GaGa)- I remember her as very old (to my child's eye). She lived next door to our house and kept canaries and a rat terrier dog. During WWII a number of relatives lived with her, including many of her daughter Eva's children. Eva stay there with her during her last illness. She lived with our family in Denison from 1953 until she went to a nursing home (in 1958?). Told by Judith Thomas

Caroline Roxana Murray- Called "Dulce" by Mexican playmates in San Antonio, the name stuck with her in the family. Later called "Keeka" by younger children. Her fiance died shortly before they were due to marry; she never married. After her mother's death, she kept house and cared for her father until his death. She became a Roman Catholic convert as an adult. Told by Judith Thomas

Cory Louise Murray McMillin- "The pretty one," according to her sister Helen. Married Troy McMillin and had a daughter Susan who died in infancy and a son Murray (1897-1926). She died of TB at age 27, when Murray was six. Her husband Troy W. McMillin was killed in a train robbery a few months after her death. Murray was raised by relatives—I don’t know who. Told by Judith Thomas

Edwin Bredette Murray- Only son. An alcoholic who was a disappointment to his father. He never married. He is buried in the Presidio in San Francisco. Told by Judith Thomas

Edith Amanda Murray Carter-Married Edwin D. ("Dee") Carter and had only one child, a son Edwin who died as a baby in 1902. Her husband died in 1923, at the age of 47. According to her sister Helen and Aunt Rae, she became angry and bitter about her losses and rejected religion and god. "Any god who would take away my son and husband is no god I want to worship." She developed rheumatoid arthritis as an adult (the only family member I know of with the disease other than myself). She lived with Carolina (Aunt Keeka), the oldest sister, after the death of her husband (1923) and of Great-grandfather Murray in 1924. I remember her as a humorless, unhappy old woman (probably in chronic pain from the RA) who didn't much like children. My impressions of Aunt DeeDee, Aunt Keeka, and GaGa left me in dread of becoming old. I thought it inevitably meant being alone, poor, and unhappy. They weren’t upbeat, joyous persons. Told by Judith Thomas

WALTON'S FAMILY:

The Walton's came from England.

Playing- Songbird- Kenny G

One more thing...the information contained on this page was not meant to take the place of doing your own research by using primary records such as birth certificates, census records, wills, etc . You can find a list of my sources by clicking on the hyperlink for sources on the family tree pages. I have worked very hard to ensure that I have given proper credit to every source of data on these pages. Some of my information has come from other family members, however, and I don't know their sources. In other words, everything on this page may not be completely accurate and you would be wise to verify all names, dates, etc. for yourself.