On Saturday, May 18, 2024, from my home near Dallas, I embarked on a 553 miles-long road trip for the purpose of visiting several sites in Northeast Texas which are associated with both my personal history and my family history. I had visited most of these places in the past, at least once, but in some cases, it was for the very first time.

WHY DID I DO THIS?
More than fifty years ago (in 1971), after a box of old photographs belonging to my paternal grandmother sparked my interest in family history, I set out to learn how my family came to be living in Texas. Back then, I didn't have a clue. Well, okay, maybe I had some clues, but I really didn't know the whole story. Today, I do. Well, as much of it as can be gleaned mostly from public records, which unfortunately leaves a lot of questions unanswered, or subject to speculation. In addition to researching my family's history, there's something else I like to do, namely visit places associated with history in general, and family history in particular, because I feel much more connected to events--and also to the people who took part in them--if I can see and experience those places in context--which is why I took this trip. Then, after returning home, I made this website for the additional purpose of sharing with YOU what I saw and learned and experienced on my trip!

MY FAMILY IN TEXAS
I am the descendant of no fewer than eight different families that settled in Texas during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Two on my father's side and six on my mother's side. Their family names are:

Father's side (in the order they came to Texas, and counties where they lived)

1. TATE (1888--Cherokee, Hays, Wilbarger, Dallas)
2. MILES (1898--Collin, Dallas)

Mother's side (in the order they came to Texas, and counties where they lived)

WHAT I VISITED:

• 3 Local History Museums
• 11 Cemeteries
• 3 THC Markers
• 7 Farm Sites
• 4 Houses or House sites
• 1 Courthouses

TOUR ITINERARY
To join me on my tour, click on the "Start Tour Here" button below, or select a particular county and stop from the list below the button.

(or pick a place below)

COLLIN COUNTY (MILES FAMILY)

NOTE: THC=Texas Historical Commission

1. Josephine THC historical marker, in Josephine City Park.
2. Site of J. W. Miles 100-acre farm 2 mi. west of Josephine, part of Stephen D. Walters survey, bought 1898, sold 1901; NW corner of acreage on County Road 641, about a half mile south of FM 1773.
3. Site of J. W. Miles lot in Josephine,113 Thelma Street (Lot 4, Block A of Coffman Addition), purchased February 1915. No evidence of property being sold by Miles.

HUNT COUNTY (JENKINS, WILLIAMS, MILES families)

1. Josephine Cemetery, where some of J. W. Miles children are buried, including John Henry Miles.
2. Site of J. W. Miles 160-acre farm near Collin-Hunt county line, northern quarter of Littleberry Harrison 640-acre survey. NW corner of farm at junction of FM6 and County Road 2606. Nearby creek runs through length of property. Paid $4,800 in 1901 (cash and promissory notes). No evidence of Miles selling land. Was apparently still living here in 1920, when federal census was taken.
3. IOOF Cemetery, on FM 6, west of Caddo Miles, J. W. Miles (great-grandfather) and fourth wife (Mary Alice Hefner) graves, also grave of son Layton Monroe Miles.
4. 3904 Simonds Street, in Greenville, where J. W. Miles died on May 19, 1928
5. Audie Murphy/Cotton Museum, 600 I-30 East, Greenville, TX 75401
6. Site of Thomas W. Jenkins 100-acre farm, part of John C. Bates Survey, north of Greenville, on waters of Cow Leech, a branch of the Sabine River, about 4 miles north of Greenville, date of purchase unknown; sold portions in 1876 and 1878 and presumably what remained also in 1878, before moving to Lamar County. Precise location uncertain. Corner is about where State Hwy. 34 starts to curve to the left.
7. Site of John I. Williams farm NOT KNOWN. Didn't visit.
8. Audie Murphy Birthplace THC Marker on U.S. Hwy. 69. MARKER ON RIGHT.
9. Audie Murphy THC Marker on U.S. Hwy. 69. MARKER ON LEFT.
10. Headwaters of Sabine River THC marker on U.S. Hwy. 69. MARKER ON RIGHT.

FANNIN COUNTY (Personal History)

1. Site of W. B. Victory, Sr. farm, about a mile south of Bailey, on FM816. Where I spent a week in the summer of 1957.
2. Whiterock Cemetery, County Road 4250, south of Bonham, graves of W. B. Victory, Sr. and wife (step-grandparents) Didn't visit on this trip due to lack of time.

LAMAR COUNTY (JENKINS, MORRISON, SEAY, WARD families)

1. Lamar County Historical Museum, 1009 W Kaufman Street, Paris, Texas 75460
2. Evergreen Cemetery, Paris, grave of Thos. W. Jenkins and other relatives. Grave of Louisa I. Williams Jenkins is apparently unmarked. Does anyone know location of grave though?
3. Site of Aiken Hospital, Paris, where Louisa Williams Jenkins died on March 28, 1914 (building no longer there, stood on present-day Sixth Street-then 16th-at west end of Parr Street)
4. Site of house on corner of Booth and 11th Street NE (formerly Lee/29th Street), in Paris, where Booth Street dead ends: House that T. W. Jenkins was apparently renting when he died on October 6, 1911. But which corner? There are now vacant lots at both SW and NW corner
5. 1025 N. 29th Street, Paris (where Louisa Williams Jenkins was living with son, William Newton Jenkins, at the time of her death in 1914) Is house still standing? House number has changed and maybe street name too. THIS IS PROBABLY THE SAME HOUSE AS ABOVE.
6. Seay House Site, 36 16th Street SE, Paris (where M. E. Seay family lived in 1917). Formerly S. 32nd Street; house there now is not the same as in 1917.
7. Lamar County Cemetery, a.k.a. Faubion Cemetery, FM 195, on the left, about 3 ½ miles northeast of the Lamar County Courthouse. Emmerine Morrison Jenkins (first wife of William Newton Jenkins, and mother of Lena Morrison, Lillie Pearl Jenkins, William Ollie Jenkins, and Isaac Newton Jenkins), born 1874, died 1904, is buried here in an apparently unmarked grave.
8. Camp Maxey, west side of U.S. 271, near Powderly, just under 9 miles north of Lamar County Courthouse. This is the site of T. W. Jenkins farm, I. F. Morrison farm, and also Casey Cemetery. This property is presently used as a training facility by the Texas National Guard, but visitors may sign in and drive around unsupervised, provided there is nothing going on at the time of their visit. There really isn't much to see here, unfortunately. All houses and barns are long gone. The only remnant of a bygone age is Casey Cemetery, which is usually overgrown so that grave markers cannot be seen. Ada Ann Richardson Morrison is buried here, but her grave is either unmarked or the marker is covered with earth and thus hidden from view. The grave of Artenia Elizabeth Coble Morrison, wife of Christopher Columbus Morrison, is marked.
9. Long Cemetery, east side of County Road 44250, near Powderly, Texas, about 12 and ½ miles slightly northeast of Lamar County Courthouse. Thomas William Jenkins' brother, Benjamin Franklin Jenkins, Ben's wife, and assorted Jenkins and some Morrison relatives are buried here.
10. Red Oak Cemetery, east of Blossom, grave of Daniel P. Seay and second wife and son and grandson.

TITUS COUNTY (SEAY FAMILY)

1. Titus County Courthouse, Mount Pleasant. Where Matthew and Elizabeth's son, Smith Seay, was judged insane in June 1918. Present-day courthouse is a later building.
2. Union Hill Cemetery, Mount Pleasant. Buried in marked graves are Matthew A. Seay and wife, Elizabeth Lewis Seay, and also their son, Smith Seay, who committed suicide in 1918 by leaping out a train window in Mississippi, while traveling with his brother, Thomas A. Seay, to visit relatives in Tennessee. Also: Matthew and Elizabeth Seay's son, Thomas Alexander Seay (unmarked grave), and his son, James L. Seay and wife, Velma, Matthew and Elizabeth's daughter-in-law (son John M. Seay's wife), Fannie, and their son, Thomas D. Seay and his wife, Claudie A. Seay. If John M. Seay himself is buried here, it appears that his grave is unmarked.

UPSHUR COUNTY (WARD FAMILY)

1. Chilton Cemetery, on south side of Old Quitman Road (FM2211), about a mile northwest of the center of Big Sandy. Probable final resting place of Morris Ward, Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth Ann Wilson Ward. Morris Ward, Jr.'s wife, Mary Ann Lowry Ward, may be buried here too. Graves unmarked. Mark Lowry's son, Charles Monroe Lowry (1856-1911) is buried here. Grave has upright marker. Charles' brother, John Elliott Lowry (1851-1911), and John's wife, Mary Dell Reed Lowry, are buried here too, also with upright and flat markers. Their daughter, Irma Lowry (1899-1907), is likewise buried here with an upright marker, as well as their son, John Reed Lowry (1904-1931), and another daughter, Lucy Dell Lowry Gorman (1895-1981), with husband William Boyd Gorman.
2. Morris Ward, Sr.'s original 162-acre, 1860, State of Texas land grant on the Sabine River (inherited by Morris Ward, Jr. and enlarged by land purchase), just under 3 miles south of Big Sandy. The Ward family may actually have been living here as early as 1857. They were my earliest ancestors to live in Texas. If any place can be considered our ancestral home in Texas, this is it!
3. THC Walter's Bluff Ferry historical marker.

SMITH COUNTY (LOWRY FAMILY)

1. Site of Mark Lowry's blacksmith shop. NE corner of FM16 (formerly Dallas Road) and County Road 363 (formerly Walter Bluff Road) (2 acres). His home property (4 acres) was probably located directly across the road.
2. Starrville Community THC Marker, NW Corner of the intersection of FM757 and FM16 (formerly known as "the Dallas Road," a little more than 2 miles north of Exit 517B on Interstate Highway 20, This is where the Starrville Town Square was located.
3. Starrville Cemetery, FM757, approximately 2 miles north of Exit 517B on Interstate Highway 20. Mark Lowry is buried here, with an upright marker that faces east. Also buried here (with markers) are Mark's uncle, David Lowry, and several other Lowry family members, including cousin William David Lowry, with whom Mark jointly purchased some property in 1889.

CHEROKEE COUNTY (TATE FAMILY)

HENDERSON COUNTY (Personal History)

1. Campus of Trinity Valley Community College (formerly Henderson County Junior College), the school to which I was accepted in 1967, but couldn't afford to attend.

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