Erath Co., TX - History: The Goodman's of Erath Co.,TX ****************************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb by: USGenWeb Archives. Copyright. All rights reserved http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ****************************************************** My great grandparents were early pioneers in Erath County TX, settling at Morgan Mill, Texas, settling there in 1875 as per following letter: Monday, March 9, 1908 Was in Tennessee Army. I am a native of Tennessee; was born in Grundy County in 1845. I will be 63 years old March 28. I am one of those old ex- confederates, was in the Tennessee Army, Fourth Confederate Regiment, Company G. Barnes was our Captain. He was a good officer and a good man. I served awhile in Captain John P. Henley's Company. During my last service we ran some Tennessee Federals in a barn and they shot me through the right arm before we got them smoked out. I was in a fix then, sixty miles inside of their lines and not able to ride out. Next morning a boy by the name of Levan and I were carried up the side of Cumberland Mountain to an old stillhouse and a man brought something to eat, and old man Levan and my mother found out where we were and they come to us. The Federals had killed my Father; he was 53 years old when they killed him. He had been in the Army, but they had discharged him. I had to hide 3 months in those mountains before I got to go in, and it was 12 months before I could use my right arm. Sometime after the surrender in 1870, I came to Kaufman County, Texas. Left there in 1875 and came to Erath. G. S. Goodman, Morgan Mills, Texas. From Civil War letters - 1908 http://historictempletonmccanlessdistrict.com/HTMD_CivilWarVetLetters.htm The following story is an account of his family:Sunday, September 28, 2003 LOUISA EVELYN F. MUSE (SUSA) AND HER FAMILY, The Goodman's of Erath County TX. Orville Muse and his wife, Malinda McBee Ross Muse had ten children. It is interesting to note here that we have records of the Muse family that goes back several generations. It also needs to be noted that Malinda's father was Rice Farrah Ross who married Sarah Bonham. Sarah Bohnam's records go all the way back to the Mayflower. No written record has been found regarding Rice Farrar Ross's ancrestry. Louisa was the eighth child, and the fourth daughter born to them. She was born about November 30, 1848, in Bedford, Tennessee (or possibly North Carolina). Most of the records in the Bedford County Courthouse before 1848 were destroyed by fire in 1862, when a group of Confederate soldiers taking refuge there accidentally set the place on fire. Louisa's father died in 1855. Her oldest brother, Ludophalus, died in 1856, and her mother, Malinda, died the following year. Louisa was only about eleven years old when her mother died. She had two older brothers, William and George Peery, and two older sisters, Martha and Hannah and two younger brothers, James and Henry (One child had died in infancy). Louisa had a son, James Henry, when she was about sixteen years old. The circumstances concerning this baby and his father is unknown. It appears that George Peery, although not the oldest, took charge of the family after his parents died. He is shown as head of the household on the 1860 census. He was only thirteen when his mother died. The records also show that he enlisted in the Confederate Army in May 1862 when he was 18 years old. He participated in the battle of first Manassas, Shiloh and Richmond, Ky. He was wounded twice, captured twice and was being held in Rock Island Illinois until near the close of the war. He finally took the oath of allegiance to the Union on April 15, 1865, the day after President Lincoln was assassinated. He came back home to Bedford, married Mary J. Wright, and served as Sheriff of Bedford County and later in the State Legislature. George Peery got married just a couple of weeks before his younger sister, Louisa wed George S.Goodman. George S. Goodman also served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He served in the 44th Regiment, Tennessee Mounted Infantry as a Private and the 34th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry as a Corporal. George's father, Anderson Goodman was murdered by bushwhackers near the end of the war. George avenged his father's death by attacking a group of soldiers staying in his cousin, Solomon Goodman's barn. During the battle, George was severely wounded in the arm. He and another young soldier were found by his mother and and the other soldier's dad. They took the two boys to mountain cave, inside enemy territory, and George remained there for several cold, miserable months while the wound healed enough that he could make it out of the area. He did not return home, because he was a "wanted person". He made it to an adjoining county where he met his future wife, Louisa Muse. Louisa and George S. Goodman were married on November 20, 1866. She was about eighteen years old and he was twenty-one. Louisa's son, James Henry was just three weeks past his fourth birthday when his mother married George S. Goodman. She was about two months pregnant with James Henry when her brother joined the Confederate Army. One wonders how such a young girl, with a baby, and two younger brothers survived this tragic war where some 620,000 souls perished. One thing seems pretty clear,---she apparently named her baby after her two younger brothers. James was eleven and Henry was eight when the baby was born. Louisa's husband, George Goodman probably adopted James Henry. Either that or he assumed the Goodman name, because that is all he ever went by. It is also likely that George felt fortunate to have an extra pair of hands around to help with the small chores. George and Louisa's first two children were born in Tennessee. Mary Evelyn was born September 5, 1867 and William Anderson was born November 8, 1869. In 1870, George and Louisa and the three children, James Henry, Mary Evelyn and William Anderson moved to the State of Texas. They moved to Texas by covered wagon. That is the picture, one most often sees of the pioneers moving westward. It would have been a trip of nearly a thousand miles. Moving at a speed of two to three miles an hour, they probably would have averaged no more than 15 to 20 miles a day. The trip would have taken several months. (According to Mary Lou Waymire, this is the way they traveled to Texas). In those years following the Great Civil War, railroad companies were building railroads crossing the continent in every direction. Railroad companies received from the Federal Government (and sometimes State Government) twenty to fifty mile strips of alternate sections (640 acres is a section) of public land for each mile of track that was built. The railroads would in turn, sell this land off to individuals, sometimes at a very low price to encourage development along the railroad route. Railroads made the price of passage relatively inexpensive in order to encourage settlers. This was all done with an eye to future business coming their way when the homesteaders would have products available to be shipped to markets There was a good deal of this land available in Texas at the time the Goodmans made their trek across country. They arrived in Kaufman County, Texas sometime in the early 1870's. About five years later they moved again, this time near Morgans Mill, Erath County Texas in 1875. Orville Goodman, the first son born in Texas, on April I, 1872, was named for his grandfather(Louisa's dad]. He was followed by Reuben Perrin, born two years later (both boys were born in Kaufman County, Texas). George Walter born, in 1876 was the first child born in Erath County, Texas. Oscar Poindexter, probably named after his great grandfather, Poindexter Payne, was born December 3, 1878. George was certainly able to consider himself very fortunate to have six sons now, five being born one after the other and of course, James Henry his first son (adopted). A boarder G.M. Tucker, came to live with them and helped out with the farm duties. Mr. Tucker later established himself as a well-known educator in that area. The next two children were both girls. Martha Elizabeth was born March 15, 1881 and Ada Salina (my grandmother) was born April 20, 1883. This was about the time that my grandmother Ada's half-brother, James Henry married Mary Louise Herring. James and Mary established themselves in the Erath County area, did some farming and ranching and raised their family there. Two years later the oldest daughter, Mary Evelyn married Henry Elza Bowling, Sr. They also established themselves in the Erath County, Texas area where five children were born to them by 1894. However, they apparently moved to the Oklahoma area sometime in the early 1900s. Their daughter, Amanda Bowling married Letcher Cope in 1914 in Caddo County, Oklahoma. Mary Evelyn and Henry Bowling both died in Oklahoma. Franklin Cleveland was the next son to be born to George and Louisa Goodman on March 9, 1885. Franklin Cleveland's birth was followed by a sister, Anna Belle, September 5, 1887. Another girl, Sarah Narcissus, was born June 15, 1889. This was the same year their older brother, Orville Madison, age 15, died. He was buried in the Bethel Cemetery, near Morgans Mill. A year later,(1890) the Goodman's second oldest son, William Anderson, wed Sarah Killian. Their first baby, Bertha, born September 21, 1891 lived just six short months. Sometime between June 1892 and December 1893, their second child, a son was born. He was named, Orville, after his uncle who had died just three years earlier. The last child to be born to the Goodmans was Charles Turner, born June 11, 1892. He was born in Denton, Texas and named after Doctor Turner, who was the attending physician. At some point during the summer of 1893, the Goodmans made the decision to sell their farm in Erath County, Texas and head for the Indian Territory (Later to be the State of Oklahoma) to claim land that they apparently thought they were entitled to because of their Indian heritage. To this day it has not been determined if there was any fact to this belief. On the contrary, no evidence has ever been found to support this claim Nevertheless, mistaken or not, they loaded up two covered wagons and headed north toward the Red River country. George, Louisa and their young children were in one wagon, along with all their worldly possessions. Martha Elizabeth was 12, Grandma Ada was 10, Franklin Cleveland was 8, Anna Belle, 6, Sarah was 4 years old and little Charles Turner was just over a year old and still nursing. In the other wagon , with more possessions were William Anderson Goodman, his wife, Sarah and little Orville, under a year old and still nursing. At the time, Reuben Perrin, at 19, was the oldest unmarried son. George Walter was 17 and Oscar Poindexter was 15. It is likely that they were on horseback, as the wagons would have been somewhat crowded. From Morgans Mill, Texas to Thackerville on the Red River, where they would cross is about a hundred and fifty miles. Traveling by wagon in the winter month of November and December, they would have averaged maybe 15 to 20 miles a day. The trip to the river would probably have taken at least a week if not longer. Sometime during the trip Louisa developed pneumonia and, with the baby Charles Turner still nursing, started to weaken. Thackerville was considered a good place to cross the Red River. There were sandbars that extended out from the banks of the river on both sides and the water wasn't as deep there. The sandbars made the river more narrow and easier to cross. They made it across the river, but Louisa was exhausted. George looked around for a place to stay and couldn't find anything right away. Finally a man offered to let them stay in his barn that had hay stored in it. Louisa sat down on loose hay, strewn around on the floor, leaned back against stacked hay, closed her eyes to rest and there she died. (Direct quote from Dorothy Jean Neff Kelley as told to her by Ada Salina Goodman Neff). This, of course, devastated her husband and family. Here they were, miles from what had been their home. There was a lot to do and not much time for grieving. Funeral arrangement had to be made, children had to be fed and taken care of. A still nursing baby was without its mother. It was certainly a tragedy in the worse sense. Louisa, before she died, had expressed a desire to be buried next to her son, Orville, who had died just a few years earlier. So George made arrangement with the railroad for her body to be transported back to Erath County, to be buried in the Bethel cemetery. Reuben Perrin, the oldest son accompanied her body home. The rest of the family obviously stayed in Thackerville and were unable to even attend the funeral. After Louise's death, all interest in following the dream of acquiring a homestead farther north in the Territory was lost. Now it was a matter of sheer survival. They were miles from their previous home, and relatives. They were at the very edge of civilization, in Chickasaw Indian Nation land. It was mid-winter and this family was without home and mother. Somehow, the family apparently found their way to some ranchland property owned by Harvey and Sarah Jane Stewart and "squatted" on this land. Fortunately, Sarah was able to take little Charles Turner to her breast and feed him along with her own baby, little Orville. Sarah probably took in the other young children as well while George and William went about trying to find enough work to keep them in food. It is likely that Reuben Perrin, after burying his mother, remained in Erath, perhaps temporarily working for his half-brother, James Henry, or maybe for his brother-in-law Henry Bowling. After his mother was laid to rest, Reuben met his future wife, Martha Elizabeth Lawson. When Martha moved to the Indian Territory with relatives, Ruben followed her and they were married in the Indian Territory in 1895 near the present day town of Ada, Oklahoma. After their first daughter, Louise was born, Reuben and Martha returned to Erath County, Texas and lived out their their lives on the farm there. Their original homestead is located across from the Tennessee School. Martha retained the farm until 1968 when she (as Martha Goodman Fields) deeded it to Woodrow (their son) He was to care for her until her death and he did. Probably George Walter and Oscar Poindexter returned to Erath and rejoined their brother, Ruben Perrin. George married Beulah Lillian Rose in Erath County and they later moved to Oregon. Oscar married Maggie Gilkerson and they lived in Hood County, Texas. George, William and Sarah along with Mary Evelyn and Henry Bowing and the younger Goodman children probably remained in the Red River area at least for a few years, on the Stewart's property. Undoubtedly, it was a pretty meager existence for them. Finally, around 1896-97, George, William, Sarah and his family decided to return to Erath County. The younger children, Charles Turner, Sarah Narcissus and Anna Belle surely would have accompanied them back to Erath County. Charles Turner, at a very young age, traveled to Orenco, Oregon where his older brother George Goodman was living with his family. George had married Beulah Rose about 1905 and moved to Orenco Oregon closer to his wife's family. Charlie made the trip by stowing in railroad freight cars and eating in hobo camps. He said that usually when the conductors found him, usually they would just warn him to be careful. Sometimes even bring him a sandwich. However, when he arrived in Hillsboro, Oregon (a few miles from Orenco) he was at once picked up for vagrancy. He finally convinced a kind policeman to call his brother and uncle George came to get him. Charles Turner served in the Marine Corp 1922-1928. He married Mary Ethyl Good in 1927 in Vancouver Washington, and they made their home in the Benton County, Oregon about 17 miles south of Corvallis, Oregon. He bought a farm of 180 acres along the Willamette River and they had a dairy with about 20 cows which he and his wife milked by hand. George S. Goodman was living with his daughter, Anna Belle Goodman Hussey and her family in 1920 in Denton Texas. He was probably living with his son, Oscar Goodman and Maggie Gilkerson in Lipan, Texas when he died. He died in 1924 and is buried in the Hightower cemetery, Erath County, TX. William and Sarah also are buried in the Hightower cemetery. William died in 1949 and Sarah in 1957. Grandmother Ada Selena, Martha Elizabeth and Franklin Cleveland likely remained in the Chickasaw Territory. At about the same time(1895-96) that George Goodman and part of the family returned to Erath County Texas, Grandma Ada married Will Brewton. She was only about 14 years old. Will was a brother of Ada's best girlfriend, and Ada married him just so she wouldn't have to move back with the rest of the family. She wanted to stay there and continue to go to school with her girlfriend. Will and Ada were both very immature and their marriage was never consummated. There is no record of their divorce. Ada's sister, Martha Elizabeth, also married at about the same time and maybe for the same reason as Ada . She married first a Kenner Hijo about 1895-96 and then to Palmer Cunningtuby about 1898 (these men were both Indians). Martha was barely eighteen when when she married Palmer Cunningtuby. She had three children, probably at least two children were Kenner Hijos. Bobbie Dean Ogle Eubank wrote me that, "According to Aunt Belle, she and my mother, Sarah (Sally) Goodman Ogle was staying with her(Martha) and her husband came in the house from working in the field and he was mad about something and started shouting at their kids etc., and my mom and Aunt Belle got scared and ran off and a neighbor came down the road and saw then they were small children about 9 and 6 and he picked them up and took them to Uncle Henry's house where they stayed for a while. I really don't know who raised them(Martha and Sarah Narcissus). Uncle Henry lived in Poly Section of Fort Worth, TX.". Martha Elizabeth died shortly after she married Palmer Cunningtuby (perhaps from childbirth complications), just a couple of months after her eighteenth birthday. These young girls, barely teenagers, were only trying to survive any way they could. Ada's brother, Franklin Cleaveland Goodman, married first Ida (last name unknown) and second, Minnie Gibson in 1916 and settled and lived out his life in Tishomingo, Oklahoma. His Uncle, John Wesley Goodman also lived in the Tishomingo area. One of his daughters, Thelma Goodman told Mary Lou Waymire that she knew Franklin and she thought that he may even have worked for her dad or her uncle. Franklin and Minnie Goodman and John Wesley Goodman and several members of his family are buried in the Tishomingo area. Ada met my Grandfather, Jesse Wayne Neff, Sr. in or near Thackerville, Oklahoma, Indian Territory and they were married November 18, 1909 in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Ada was "squatting" (living illegally) on Jesses' grandparents land. Jesse's mother had died when he was only a few days old and his maternal grandparents, Harvey and Sarah Stewart raised and educated him. Ada was 18 years old and Jesse was 21. Their first son, Jesse Wayne Jr. was born August 8, 1902 in Dibble, Oklahoma. By Norman E. Neff Note: I have told this story to help me put people, places and events in perspective for me. It is as accurate as I can make it. There are many guesses and uncertainties when one is dealing with past events. Some things may or may not have happened as depicted. A lot of individuals contributed to the information that I have used. However, I am solely responsible for any errors. I appreciate all the assistance and information received from: Dolores Jean Neff Kelley Norman Thornton Mary Lou Waymire Sandy Hooton Cindy Chipman Sharon Goodman Mitch Muse Lou Murphy And others, Thank you all for making the past come alive for me. ---------------------------------------------------------------