Welch Family History, Rusk Co, Texas *************************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm Transcribed and Submitted by Scott Fitzgerald - scottfitzgerald@tyler.net East Texas Genealogical Society, President 22 November 2005 *************************************************************************** Originally published in East Texas Family Records, Volume 1, [No. 1], 1977, Pages 7 and 8 by the East Texas Genealogical Society. WELCH FAMILY HISTORY Contributed and written by Mary Franklin (Deason) Dunn. First published in "The Rusk County Journal", October 17, 1973. Robert W. "Bob" Welch was born September 17, 1819 in North Carolina. Mary Ann "Pollyanna" Nelson, his wife, was born January 20, 1817 in Jefferson County, Tennessee. They were married October 1, 1839 in Bedford County, Tennessee. Pollyanna was the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Mansfield) Nelson. John Nelson had fought in the War of 1812 and died in Bedford County in 1830. Information on the Nelson family came from his wife's application for bounty land based on her husband's services. Pollyanna's oldest brother, Andrew Nelson, had cone to Texas and died at the Alamo in 1836. His heirs were awarded grants of land, so this was probably a deciding factor in the move of the family from Bedford County, Tennessee to Rusk County, Texas about 1848. Pollyanna had two sisters who came to Rusk County, also. They were Nancy NelsOn who married James Little and Amanda Nelson who married William D. Little. In selecting a place to live Bob Welch decided upon a place with plenty of water-a creek of springs. It came to be known as Welch Springs in his honor. It was reported that at the time seven springs along the creek had a different water in each. Three springs are still to be found. One is pure and was used by several families as a "wash" spring. The main, tile lined spring contains a water with a high sulfur content, and was thought to possess curative powers. In the 1890's the springs were much used as a camp meeting grounds and later a hotel was erected by Nathaniel Johnson so people could stay there and drink the healing waters. The home built by Bob Welch was further up the creek from the main spring. It was a story and a half log cabin. Older family members tell of the water being brought up to the house by a bucket on a long wire and pulled by a windlass. This family was also supposed to have brought with them the first sewing machine and the first iron cook stove seen in this community. Bob Welch raised his own tobacco and hung it underneath the stairway to dry. This house stood for many years but burned after the turn f the century. Only daughters were born to Bob and Pollyanna Welch-ten of them! The first four were born in Bedford County, Tennessee and the last six were born at Welch Springs, Rusk County, Texas. They were Sarah Elizabeth, Amanda (called Mandy), Nancy Nalinda (called Nan), Beuna Vista (named for the Mexican battleplace but called "Boonie"), Helen, Dorothy Ann (called Ann), Margaret Jane, Rosetta Washington (called Rose), Mary Alice Virginia, and Rebecca (called Becky). (Birthdates for the daughters are in the Welch Bible Record, page 12. [East Texas Family Records, Volume 1, 1977, page 12]) The family were staunch Presbyterians and attended church at Pine Grove. By 1855, Pollyanna'a mother, Elizabeth (Mansfield) Nelson was known to be living in Rusk County, by her bounty land application. The family were not slave owners, and with no sons in the family, the oncoming Civil War probably did not affect this family as much as others. They did report hearing the cannons from the Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana, all the way to Welch Springs. During the war years of the 1860's several changes did come to the Welch family, some happy and some sad. On September 21, 1862, the oldest daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, was married to Benjamin Franklin Jones, and on August 17, 1865, Amanda (or Handy) was married to Gustavus Treadwell. Both marriages were performed by Reverend Archibald H. Watkins, long-time pastor of the Pine Grove Presbyterian Church. Then On September 9, 1869, "Nan" was married to John N. Crow. The first death recorded in The Family Bible was that of the little nine year old daughter, Alice Virginia. The patents left early that hot morning of August 30, 1867 to go to Henderson. At home all was well as Alice Virginia and her sisters waved goodbye to their mother and father as they left in the family wagon. Before the parents' return in the late afternoon, Alice Virginia was seized with an attack of "cramp colic" (probably acute appendicitis) and was dead upon the arrival of her parents. She seems to be the first of the family to be buried at Pine Grove. It was reported that her grandmother, Elizabeth Nelson, was buried on Gary Hill, the forerunner of Pine Grove. Scarcely a month later, on September 27, 1867, death came again to the Welch family. "Handy", the second daughter, who had married Gus Treadwell, was expecting her first baby. She died in childbirth and she and her little son were buried in a single grave at Pine Grove. She was buried beside her mother-in-law, Allie (Jones) Treadwell and near her sister, Alice Virginia. The decade of the 1870's seemed to go smoothly with only marriages recorded. Four of the daughters became brides between 1870 and 1877. They were: Helen and Jessie Knight were married October 1, 1870. Buena Vista and Thomas Blakemore Holland were married December 25, 1871. They were maternal first cousins; Margaret Jane and Timothy Deason were married September 15, 1875. "Becky" and George Brock were married October 18, 1877. During the decade. of the 1880's, the last two girls married and left the family home. Rose and James Henry Jennings were married December 10, 1882 and Ann and Andrew Cannon were married last. Andrew Cannon was an Austrian Jew who came to drink the waters. He met and married Ann and they went to Galveston to live. They were washed away there in a flood in 1915. Their only child, Mary Cannon Anderson, died at New Orleans in 1953. In the 80's death struck the oldest and the fifth daughters. Sarah Elizabeth Jones died January 9, 1884 and Helen Knight died about 1887. Grandma "Pollyanna" Welch died at the family home at Welch Springs May 6, 1895. Grandpa "Bob" Welch died in the spring of 1901 at Welch Springs. After Pollyanna's death, Bob Welch married the second time, to Lucy Mathis. They were the parents of two children, Robert and Nora Welch. Robert died as a young man, unmarried. Nothing is known of Nora.