Hopkins Co. TX - Maloney Family From: June E. Tuck ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** From the historical files of June E. Tuck, who does not validate or dispute any historical facts in the article. Daily News-Telegram, June 10, 1925 (Edited) MALONEY FAMILY IN ANNUAL REUNION The Mahoney family annual reunion was held Saturday, Sunday and Monday at Commerce. The following members of Sulphur Springs were there: Mrs. A. B. Williamson, Mr. & Mrs. L. M. McKee and children, B.J. McLendon and two sons, and Mrs. Ruth McLarty and daughter. Two members of the Maloney family, Mrs. Fannie Kavanaugh of Arlington and C. E. Hunt of Dallas, have died during the past month, and as a result the attendance was cut down to 102. The Commerce reunion was held in the city park at that place where big tents made things look like a little city all its own. Camp life was indulged in and all kinds of exercises were held to entertain the various members of the different families. Children played games, the younger set enjoyed auto rides and parties of their own, and on Sunday the regular religious exercises consisting of Sunday School, etc., were held for all. The Maloney family is one of the foremost of North Texas, and the members are making good in all the walks of life, not only in Texas but in adjoining states. The members who live in Sulphur Springs are among our foremost citizens. Wolf City succeeded in securing the reunion for the year 1926. The first reunion of the Maloney family was held August 7, 1883, at the home of J. E. Jackson and wife, two miles west of Ladonia, Texas, August 7, being the birthday of their mother, Nancy Elizabeth Maloney. The reunions are now held in June in memory of Nancy Elizabeth and her husband, Samuel Norwood Maloney, the father and great-grandfather of this clan. Samuel Norwood Maloney was born in 1806, in South Carolina. His father, William DeJernett Maloney, came to this country from Ireland several years prior to the birth of this son. The family moved from South Carolina to Georgia and it was here that Samuel Norwood met, loved and married Nancy Elizabeth Cupp. Her parents were of Dutch descent. The descendants of Samuel Norwood and Nancy Elizabeth Maloney are indebted to the Irish, Dutch and American races for their ancestry. Samuel Norwood was elected sheriff of Cobb County, Georgia, which office he held for twelve years and he also represented his district in Georgia state legislature for two terms. As his children grew up he began to give serious consideration to providing settlements for them. He began to hear of Texas, its wonderful country, its great prospects, and the cheapness of the land. He interested his brothers sufficiently to organize a company and start for Texas. In the latter part of October 1857, the long overland journey began. There were 66 people in the party. It took three months to make the trip overland, there being no railroads. On their arrival in Texas, the family first settled near Ladonia, stayed there for a month then moved to Willow Creek, half way between Commerce and Wolfe City. Samuel Norwood bought several sections of land at a price around fifty cents an acre, and began to build homes and improve the land for cultivation. Samuel Norwood only lived five years after reaching Texas. Nancy Elizabeth left with many cares and responsibilities, managed her affairs wonderfully. She lived to see all of her children, the five boys and the five girls, married and with children of their own. She died at the age of 78 while visiting her daughter, Mrs. Sarah Jackson, at Ladonia, Texas, in 1891, and was buried at that place. Only three of their ten children are living: W. O. Maloney, Soper, Okla.; Mrs. Ann Williamson, Sulphur Springs, Texas; and Mrs. Chloe Rutland, Dallas, Texas. The many descendants, scattered in many towns in Texas and other states: Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, New York and California, in memory of their sainted mother and father, gather once each year in some selected spot, there to enjoy sweet fellowship of family ties, give thanks to the Father in Heaven for His many blessings and renew again the pledge to perpetuate the name of this family and the good its members can accomplish in the years to come. From this family of Samuel Norwood Maloney, his wife and their ten children, there has sprung a multitude now numbering 362 of which 267 are living and 65 are dead. After the first reunion another was not held until 1898 when the Maloney clan was called together at Jackson ` s gin, six miles north of here, and plans were put into effect for making a permanent organization. The attendance of this reunion was small. The following year, 1899, the real reunion got under good headway. This one was held at Wolfe City with 112 present. A miniature city of tents gives shelter under spreading trees, long tables furnish ample room for the good things to eat that are provided so bountifully. The darkies, who feel that they are almost a part of this family, having served as cooks for many reunions, prepare the meals. Record of Reunions 1883 - Ladonia, Texas - 53 1898 - Ladonia, Texas - 91 1899 - Wolfe City, Texas - 112 1900 - Wolfe City, Texas - 102 1901 - Ladonia, Texas - 103 1902 - Bonham, Texas - 119 1903 - Commerce, Texas - 105 1904 - Wolfe City, Texas - 105 1905 - Wolfe City, Texas - 103 1906 - Wolfe City, Texas - 57 1907 - Bonham, Texas - 93 1908 - Wolfe City, Texas - 99 1909 - Bonham, Texas - 83 1910 - Commerce, Texas - 114 1911 - Wolfe City, Texas - 100 1914 - Wolfe City, Texas - ____ 1917 - None held account of the World War 1919 - None held account of the World War 1920 - Commerce, Texas - 97 1921 - Wolfe City, Texas - 117 1922 - Sulphur Springs, Texas - 110 1923 - Dallas, Texas - 150 1924 - Wolfe City, Texas - 120 1925 - Commerce, Texas - 102