Hill Co. TX - Letter from E. N. McMullan, 1927 ==================================================================== USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Diane Christie ==================================================================== David, I have transcribed a letter sent to my grandmother ca 1927 by E. N. McMullan (born 23 Feb 1854) from Brazil. He was responding to a letter she had apparently written him. In it he mentions his father was the founder of Hillsboro, owning the original land & inducing settlers to come there. He lists his brothers & sisters & briefly names the spouses of his sisters, what happened to them & the fate of his 4 brothers. He talks at some length of the theft of land and money from a 9 year old Alice Baker by her guardian (who was coincidentally his brother in law) and the effect on his life by his battle to correct the injustice being done to Alice. This apparently crossed county lines because he includes Bosque Co. in his discussion. I'm sending it to you because I don't know what category it would fall under or if it should be posted to both Hill & Bosque counties or not. At any rate a .txt copy is attached. Some of the surnames mentioned in the body of the letter were: McMullen, Williams, Moore, Hamilton, Dyer, Smith, Clark, Odell, Oldham, Baker, Bains. I haven't any further information available on Mr McMullen or any of the other facts alluded to in his letter. I just found this among my grandmother's pictures some time back & had put it away , just finding it again the other night. Hope it can help someone else out there. Santos Brazil So. America May 20, 1027 Dear Mrs Smith:-- Accept many thanks for your long &interesting letter of Mar 27th. It came like an oasis in the great desert of my lonely life; & as it was a voluntary offering of cheer to a lonely &unknown sufferer; it tells me that you are a Real Woman. The Master Piece of Gods Creation; the kind that can build a Real Home; the most Sacred Alter in all the Earth, where Father Mother & the little ones, gather around the fireside to cheer & love &bless each other. And where the Plastic Soul of Mother instills in the heart &brain of there little ones, the moral & intellectual traits that are to be the most powerful factors in shaping their future lives. And when they have grown up &wandered away to fight lifes battle alone in this heartless world, let me hope they will never forget their childhood home; or the loving embrace & goodnight kiss, of Mama & Papa. My Father died before I was two years old; but I had a Real Woman for my mother; & I had four dear Sisters &four dear Brothers, whose loyal love for Mama &for each other, made our home a terestial Paradice; &up to twelve years old, no happier kid ever strolled the prairies of Texas, or climbed the pecan trees, in our beautiful grove not far from Hillsboro, where I was born on the 23 of Feb 1854. My Father Hugh McM was the founder of Hillsboro. He owned the land, & cut it up into town lots, & gave away every other one to induce settlers to start the town, &make it the county cite. All my sisters married good men who never mistreated them. The oldest Marthy, married John B. Williams, who was a Col in the Confederate Army. Josephine, the 2nd, married Dr. W. T. Moore, & they came to Brazil with my Bro Franks colony, shortly after the Civil War; & after about 8 or 10 years returned to Tex. &my sister died at Towash. Moore moved to Cleburn & was Mayor for one or two turns, then moved to Whitney where he married Trudie Hamilton, who was the divorced wife of Cash Dyer, my cousin. Trudies father was Dr. Hamilton. My Sister left one child, Montie, who married Gip Smiths son, Sep, I believe the called him, of Whitney. My third sister Jennie, married Geo L. Clark. She died leaving several children. One a Dr of Ft Worth, a widowed daughter in Houston, well fixed, & Mr Clark has been dead some time. My fourth sister Lou, married John Odell, & they came to Brazil with us; but my sister died, &he returned & opened a store in Towash, & died there at my Uncle Simpson Dyers; who then owned the mill at Towash. My Bros all died young. One at 5 years, Milton at 20, was sent home from the army sick, & died. Eugene at 18 was a Lutenant, was taken sick & mother & all of us went to him, but he too died. My oldest Bro who brought the Colony out here, at the age of 18 was a Captain under Walker, in his filibustering expedition in Nicaragua. He died here shortly after landing with the Colony, leaving Mother, & myself, a boy of 12 or 13, & after 5 years we returned to Miss, & then to Tex. My Mother died while on a visit to my sister, Mrs. Martha Williams, who was then a widow, &living in Cleburn. This left me alone & a few years later, I made the greatest mistake of my life, by marrying Mabe Oldham, who lived near Fowler. A few months later, Jim Bains, (who was my friend before either of us married, who had married Fannie O, my wifes only sister.) said to me, "Ney, did you ever hear Levi, (my wife's Bro.) speak about his farm up the country?" I said yes, & I have wondered how he ever come to own a farm. Then Jim explained that Levi had been appointed Guardian for his cousin, little nine year old Alice Baker, whose Father & Mother had both died suddenly & that he had bought the farm with her money; & took the deed in his own name, instead of Alices, &besides, was reporting to the orphans Court only one half of what the farm produced, &was stealing the other half. And said he, "Something ought to be done about it." Jim knew that I would do something, regardless of consequences to myself. So I investigated, & then employed a lawyer &prosecuted the Thief. & after he was forced to make good, the guardianship was taken out of his hands. Then his Bro Will applied for it, but the Judge refused him. Then as a last effort, the old lady Oldham with the assistance of of the boys, made out a big account against Alice for extra attention, medicine, &C, claiming she was sickly. I butted in again & proved this a lie, & they lost again. Now I claim, had my wife bee a Real Woman, she would have taken my side in this matter, but instead, she had done all she could to show her sympathy for the Thief &his assistants. And used every other method to make life miserable. And while I would like for you to know all the facts, I will not burden you with the details of my family troubles; but will say that about 9 years ago, I gave up everything; &walked out of my home to commence anew; fight lifes battle alone; when I did not expect to live a year. I saved little Alice; but it has cost me a life of misery; &left me a Derelict on the Lonely & Tempestuous Sea of Despair. And while she was too young to understand or give me her gratitude, I believe that her Father & Mother from the Spirit World did. And I know that some mortals did, &others like you, will, when the facts are know; as the records of Bosque Co will still prove, when we are all dead. No I did not take offence on account of the enclosed stamped envelope, because I knew from your letter, that you was prompted by kind & generous motives. I do not need money, but am dying for the loyal love of my Sons, of which a heartless &lying Woman, is robbing me. And don't you take offence, when I tell you, that an american stamp will not pay postage on letter mailed here. & I am sending it back, hoping it will make another trip out here on a letter to me. Yes I like the kiddies first because they are innocent, &second because they are happy, & wish I could have shared that dinner with you all. I don't know just what you would like to know about this country. Its big like the U.S. but in this section, it never frost; &yet it never gets at hot as it does in the States. It is healthy, &we have not storms & there never was a crop failure. And there is not place on Earth where poultry &stock of all kinds can be grown more easily, or as cheap as here; & all these things bring good prices. You can plant &harvest something every day in the year. A few acres of banans would enable you to sell every day in the year & they bring good prices; &strange as it may seem, there is about 1000 housflies in Tex, to one here. Besides, the water here is far superior to any I ever saw in the States; even the big rivers are too cold for comforable bathing. And if I thought I could induce 10 or 15 families of real good Americans to come out, I would sell them land dirt cheap, as I have near 3000 acres with fine water power, which I am forced to sell in order to live on the interest. If I hear from you, &live long enough, I'm going to send you by mail a small box of curious; which I am sure would delight both you & the kids. I have sent several to relatives &friends; but few get threw; they are stolen in the mail. You left out the Mac in my name it is McM. Accept my kindest regs for yourself, your husband & the kid. Your grateful Friend. E. N. McMullan Caixa Postal No 637. Santos S.P. Brazil S.A. Many years ago I used to write for the messenger, & also Dallas News, Meridian Tribune (Bosque Co) Did you read any of these articles? In Oct 1923, I wrote a Story for the Wide World Magazine of London England.