Biography:  Amelia Caraway Allen - Coke County, TX

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Submitted by Mary Love Berryman - marylove@tyler.net
15 May 2002
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The Observer/Enterprise, April 19, 2002, Robert Lee, TX

Out of the Ordinary - by Jane Austin Bruckner

As April is Women's History Month, it's a great opportunity to feature 
some of Coke County's early grandmothers whose grand and great-
grandchildren still live in the area. This story was written by banker 
Bill Allen about his grandmother Amelia Allen for Grandmother Stories 
from the Heart of Texas, Eakin Press, 2002.

Amelia Caraway Allen

by William H. Allen  

My Mama Allen, born Amelia Boyce Caraway, was a popular school teacher 
and daughter of Wylie and Nannie Byrd Caraway, early settlers in the 
Hayrick community of Coke County. Amelia came as a child with her 
family from Gonzales, Texas to Tom Green County in 1883.

On June 5, 1902, she married Hawley Allen, son of James Monroe and 
Laura Hawley  Allen. As newlyweds, they filed on a state land grant 
of four sections of land offered in Irion County and were required 
to live there for three years. Her husband worked for March Brothers 
Mercantile Store in San Angelo during the week; each Saturday night 
after work he rode a horse back thirty-two miles to be with his wife, 
returning in time for work Monday.  Amelia lived in a tent by herself 
during this time, personally protected by a bulldog and her own 
ability to use her 45 Colt pistol.

In 1911, her husband was elected sheriff of Tom Green County, serving  
through 1921. In 1922 they moved to the Hayrick Ranch in Coke County,  
where he was elected sheriff of Coke County in 1923, serving through 
1926.  During his term in office he and Amelia and their three sons 
lived in the lower floor of the jailhouse in Robert Lee.  Uncle H.C. 
used to jokingly say he was born in jail.

Amelia and the other Caraway children and cousin Wylie Byrd attended 
one of the first schools in Coke County (1885-86).   They were taught 
by a Mr. Hall in a 'one-room, wooden structure' on Mountain Creek, 
one mile west of Hayrick Mountain, and near the spot now occupied by 
the H. C. Allen stone ranch house. It was a four month, "subscription" 
school. Parents paid $1.50 per month for each child.  After one term 
the school was moved two miles east to Sand Springs.  There was a good 
spring at that site which furnished water for the school; also, a the 
country was settling up faster in that direction, and the move made 
it more convenient for a larger number of children.

Mama Allen belonged to the First Baptist Church in San Angelo and 
later, Robert Lee Baptist Church, teaching the Ladies Sunday School 
class and joining  the Women's Missionary Union. She was involved in 
Eastern Star and modeled honesty, integrity, loyalty, family pride, 
love, and dignity.

Mama Allen cherished pretty things and spent many happy times looking 
at and buying fabrics, patterns, gloves, and hats.  This activity was 
not so pleasant for me, as I waited stoically to be "released" while  
my mother and Mama Allen tried on gloves and hats searching for the 
perfect "match".

Each  morning as she arose, she put on the dress that she had worn the 
previous afternoon.  After morning chores, lunch, and a nap, she would 
put on a fresh starched and ironed dress and be ready for visitors and 
grandfather's coming home.  Even though the Allen men wore boots all 
week, she expected them to wear shoes on the Lord's Day. We knew she 
was the Queen of her home and we complied.

Cooking seemed second nature with her; so our family remembers the 
delicious family dinners and ample breakfasts.  Well into her nineties,  
she continued cooking balanced meals using fresh vegetables and meats.  
I believe this was partly responsible for my grandparents' good health 
and long lives.

Her cranberry salad, a favorite of mine, was always served in a 
beautiful pressed glass bowl on Sundays. When that bowl was not in use 
it was on display in a glass-fronted china cabinet. She gave us the 
bowl and china cabinet when she no longer needed it, and the bowl 
still has its place of honor on our table.

(Next week read about Mayor Garland Davis' grandmother Martha)

Permission granted by Observer/Enterprise for publication in the
Coke County TXGenWeb Archives