TOM GREEN COUNTY TEXAS – BIOGRAPHY OF ALBERT NEELY CARLIN (1872-1959) Contributed by: Warren Wolff [WarrenWolff@aol.com] ******************************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net ******************************************************************************** Notes on Albert Neely Carlin (August 1872-August 1959) Albert Neely CARLIN had an extremely colorful life. He was born in Adams County, Illinois, to a prosperous hog farmer Daniel Hughes CARLIN and his wife Lucinda Alvira PIERCE. The Pierces were a wealthy Virginia clan. They provided him with a strenuous experience on the farm and an outstanding education where he studied biological sciences, horticulture, and medicine. In 1892, Albert received an undergraduate degree from Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU). In the 1960's, his diploma apparently was given by his widow to a Hispanic handyman named Nick (Davila?). Carlin family descendants have been unable to locate Nick's family in hopes of retrieving the diploma. Following that education, Albert graduated Valedictorian from Marquette University (Milwaukee School of Medicine) in l897. Albert first married Grace LANSTRUM whom we believe is related to Doctor Oscar Monroe Lanstrum of Montana. Lanstrum relatives recall her return to live with the doctor presumably after their divorce. There was a child named Irma. Irma and her mother ultimately moved to Phoenix, AZ where they both died. During the period 1897 to 1905, Albert apparently practiced medicine in Wisconsin and Illinois. Shortly thereafter around 1911, he gave up his medical practice and moved to Missouri where he met and married Adelle MADDOX, granddaughter of George Webster Maddox, a Quantrill rider. He and Adelle had two daughters, Alberta Belle and Ruth Garvene. He also served a good many years as a postal deliverer in the St. Louis MO area. The family then moved to a farm in Arkansas for a few years. Albert also operated a bakery in Arkansas. They moved on to spend a while in Oklahoma; this was about 1922. The family moved to San Angelo, TX in approximately 1926. There Albert became Superintendent of Parks for the City of San Angelo. That position drew heavily upon his knowledge of horticulture. During his tenure as Superintendent, Albert greatly improved the appearance of the central city park in San Angelo which was known as the Santa Fe Park. He personally planted and grafted hundreds of pecan trees in this park. After the 1936 flood, Albert had to overhaul his earlier work on the pecan trees and other plantings. He was also well known for his flower beds located at the Abe Street entrance to the park. It was during the 1936 flood that Albert lost his own home located on Avenue "A". To recover from that disaster, his wife, Adelle, took on several jobs including Room Service Manager for the Hotel Cactus. They rebuilt a new home as well as two houses on adjacent lots. One of these houses was rented for years to Nathan Donskey's family, the owners of a local jewelry store. Many articles were published in the San Angelo Evening Standard Times concerning this area as well as the Sunken Gardens park which was south of the Abe Street bridge. At that time there was massive beds of flowering Canna plants. Albert, on occasion, defended the flower beds from pilfering by firing shots at the tires on the cars of the offenders. In the Santa Rita area in the late 1940's, Albert improved the Sulphur Draw watershed, using the unemployed to build a series of dams, and hence ponds, to his personally developed engineering plans. He stocked all of these impounds with large gold fish/Koi carp as he did at a reflecting pool in a park northwest of the Beauregard Bridge. Albert also attracted lots of notoriety during a severe water shortage, circa 1948. Water rationing was imposed city wide. In open defiance, in order to keep is golf greens from dying, he turned on the water to the greens skipping the watering of the fairways. Albert was arrested on the spot and fined $100.00. His picture was on the front page of the newspaper. A few days later, the fine was overturned in the city court room. That fact was reported on the last page of the paper. He received hundreds of dollars in donations to help defray the cost of the fine. Those funds he returned to the senders or to a charity. During Albert's tenure, the city attached other attractions including a miniature golf course with first sand and ultimately carpeted putting surface. The "Kiddie Park" under the management of Roy Neff was also added during this time period. Additional holes were added to the public nine hole golf course as well as an improved golf pro shop. A completed thoroughfare along the river was always on his mind, but that did not come to fruition until after he retired approximately 1953. Albert was in great physical shape and was frequently asked to pose in a tee shirt with his biceps flexed. Further, his condition supported his deception of age. Albert's employment papers indicated that he was born in l882 rather than 1872. He gave credit or his physique to the loading of apple barrels at a cider factory in Milwaukee. Albert also had interesting hobbies which included arrowhead hunting and doodle bugging for oil. Of course, many scoffed at his oil hunting. To prove otherwise, he said there was a minute bit of oil under his property on Avenue A at an approximate depth of 98 feet. He constructed a small drilling rig and proceeded to drill in his unused garage behind the house. Sure enough, around 100 feet, he found some oil bearing shale but nothing more. About 1957, Albert suffered a stroke; he died in August 1959 at the age of 87. This information was provided by Mr. Carlin's oldest grandson, Warren Wolff, 1742 East Foothill Drive, San Bernardino, CA; (909) 886-8500; WarrenWolff@aol.com and in coordination with Mr. Carlin's eldest daughter, Alberta Carlin WOLFF. Descendants of Daniel Hughes Carlin 1 Daniel Hughes Carlin b: July 30, 1836 in Harford Co., Maryland d: November 18, 1909 in Bowen, Illinois +Lucinda (Lucy) Alvira Pierce b: June 09, 1840 in Middletown, Butler Co., Illinois d: March 27, 1927 in Bowen, Hancock Co., Illinois Father: John Joseph Pierce, Jr. Mother: Mary Ann Hardesty 2 Ida May Carlin b: September 22, 1860 in Gilmer, Adams Co., Illinois d: January 1886 in Adams Co., Illinois +Matthew George Finley b: Abt. 1856 2 Charles Calvert Carlin b: February 05, 1862 in Laprarie, Illinois(?) d: 1938 in Camp Point, Illinois (?) +Anna (Annie) E. Owen b: 1867 d: 1929 in Illinois 2 Florence Viola Carlin b: October 04, 1863 in Adams Co., Illinois d: December 10, 1965 in Adams Co., Illinois +Alfred (Boeshenz) Bashen b: 1864 d: April 10, 1945 2 Edmund Pierce Carlin b: December 14, 1866 in Adams Co., IL d: 1961 in Bowen IL +Emma Nevins b: 1867 d: 1925 *2nd Wife of Edmund Pierce Carlin: +Sarah Luella Garner Stratton 2 Albert Neely Carlin b: August 01, 1872 in Adams Co., Illinois d: August 21, 1959 in San Angelo, Tom Green Co., Texas +Grace J. Lanstrum d: in Phoenix, Maricopa Co., Arizona *2nd Wife of Albert Neely Carlin: +Adelle Maddox b: April 14, 1884 d: March 10, 1977 in San Angelo, Texas Father: John B. Maddox Mother: Belle Hood 2 Anna (Annie) Lillie Carlin b: August 01, 1872 in Adams Co., Illinois d: November 06, 1974 in Phoenix, Maricopa Co., AZ +(David) Edward Keller b: May 13, 1868 in South Huntington Township; Madison, Pennsylvania d: June 07, 1951 in Bowen, Illinois Father: Samuel Keller, Jr. Mother: Hannah Elizabeth Miller