_____________________
~ CICERO RUSSELL, I ~
_________________________
"Cicero Russell, I" was born in 1851 in NC. He was a twin. He died on 1-3-1918 @ Tom Green Co., TX. He died during The Influenza Epidemic of 1918.
_________________________
Cicero had a twin brother "Lonzo Russell".
Lonzo married "Mary Rebecca Burleson" on 2-22-1895 @ Tom Green Co., TX. Lonzo died in 1897 @ Harriett, Tom Green Co., TX.
_________________________
Following his brother's death, "CICERO RUSSELL, I" married his brother's widow in 1898 @ Tom Green Co., TX.
CICERO's WIFE:
"Mary Rebecca Burleson Russell"
b: 12-26-1869
d: 10-1-1966
Mary lacked only a couple of months being 97 when she died. Everyone called her "Granny Russell".
MARY was the daughter of:
"John Burleson" (1849-1917) &
"Penelope Jane (KATY) Williams Burleson"(1851-1940).
MARY said that her Mother was called "Katy" in the Pioneer Story that Mary told which is @ the end of this biography.
________________________
** Mary & her 2 husbands are buried @ Harriett Community Cemetery, Harriett, Tom Green Co., TX. **
(In family papers, it was called "Crow's Nest Cemetery".)
________________________
** THE 2 CHILDREN of MARY & CICERO are Buried @ Fairmount Cemetery, San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX. **
1. "Cicero Russell, II"
b: 1-22-1899 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX; d: 1-19-1981 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX. = Memorial # 63768078.
2. "William Washington Russell"
b: 2-17-1901 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX; d: 8-7-1951 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX.
While repairing a windmill tower @ his home which was near the San Angelo Coliseum, William fell to his death.
= Memorial # 53841359.
________________________
There is a very good & informative story that "Mrs. Cicero Russell" (Mary) told to a reporter in San Angelo, TX in 1938. She told about "hers & her family's pioneer days" in this area of TX. The reporter transcribed Mary's story, & it is in The Library of Congress.
Here is Mary's Story.
Mrs. Cicero Russell (MARY REBECCA BURLESON RUSSELL), San Angelo, Texas, interviewed, February 2, 1938, as told to Nellie B. Cox.
"Range-Lore"
▪ "MY FATHER, JOHN BURLESON, came from Alabama to the San Saba Country. There he accumulated a small bunch of cattle & then for some reason, he went to Williamson County. There he married MY MOTHER, KATY WILLIAMS.
"GRANDFATHER WILLIAMS had been killed by the Indians before The Civil War. He & a man by the name of Freeman had started a herd of cattle to New Mexico. After arming all their men & mounting them on good horses it left grandfather & Freeman unarmed & grandfather riding a mule. After they got the cattle strung out & driving well on the trail, grandfather & Freeman started back home intending to get other horses & guns. On the way home in the late afternoon, Freemen got off his horse to go down to a spring for a drink of water. The Indians evidently surrounded him. Grandfather tried to go to his aid but both were hacked to pieces by tomahawks. These Indians were trailing the herd of cattle but when they tried to stampede the herd, the cowboys drove them off.
"My mother used to tell that when she was a small child each child had to pick the seed from cotton every night. The task set for them was that there should be enough seed to fill the child's shoes. This made enough cotton for grandmother to card, spin and weave the next day. Indians would prowl around at night. They would whistle through a crack by the chimney & would shake the door. All the children would be just as quiet, hardly breathe & grandmother would have the fire covered & the Indians would go away.
"My mother's brother had a paint pony which they kept in a log crib & then chained to a stout log so it wouldn't be so easy for the Indians to get him. Grandmother would often give the Indians corn bread & they liked it.
"I can remember seeing my grandmother standing by the wagon wheel crying when father & mother started moving to Brown County. GRANDFATHER, JIM BURLESON, had been living in Brown County for several years, I think. We lived in a new log house on Jim Ned Creek. For a long time we didn't have a door, just a blanket hung over the opening. Father was away much of the time. Late one afternoon mother saw a big black bear walking down to the creek near the house. The dogs barked but didn't go after it. When the old bear got through drinking, he came back up the trail & stood straight up, daring the dogs, then he went back to the creek & bathed. It was nearly night & mother thought that bear would surely come & crawl in under that blanket. There were some kind of boards or logs across the inside of the roof where the sides of the house joined the roof, and she put the children up there and climbed up herself & stayed there all night. Mother laughs yet when she tells how she made father build a log door & she fastened it with a crowbar.
"Mother told of another time in Brown County that grandfather, his brother, a man named Mosley, & father were working cattle away from home. The Indians came around the house in the brush & called like coyotes & owls. There didn't seem to be many of them but this time mother got ready. She took an old musket, put in everything like bolts she could find & tamped them down. She sat waiting all night but the Indians didn't show up. The next day however, they surrounded father & the other men & in the fight, father received two slight wounds. The Indians got the horses but long years after, father was paid for them. We called it "entering Indian claim" when we sent in the number of horses stolen. Father took that gun mother had loaded, tied it up in the forks of a tree, with a long wire to the trigger. When he pulled the wire, the whole gun exploded. He said that would surely have killed something.
"Another time at night mother heard an unusual noise outside. It sounded to her like it might be Indians sharpening their knives or rubbing them together. This kept up for a long time, then everything was quiet. The next morning, there were two deer (bucks) with their horns locked together in the small clear space in front of the house.
"My family moved to this country in 1875. We lived just below the town of Ben Ficklin. We ran a dairy for awhile. During the Ben Ficklin Flood, father rescued a boy, Cliff Gill. Cliff was about eight or nine years old, I think. He lived with us until he married.
"While we had the dairy, a man by the name of Taylor worked for us. He had been taken by the Indians when he was a baby about two years old & had lived with the Indians until he was nine or ten. He never wanted to live with his people, always said that the Indians had been good to him, that they lived happier then the whites & even as a grown man his one idea was to live with the Indians again.
"Frank Norfleet's father used to have a place north of father's. Frank was almost a young man then. Anyhow, he used to go to parties with us.
"Tom Ketchum has eaten at our table many times. He wasn't as bad as he was said to be. I tell you everything in this country stole cattle. Even my father has stolen nice heifer calves & nobody, even the big cattle men, ate their own cattle. When they wanted beef, they found a fat beef animal belonging to somebody else." ▪
_______________________________
ACCORDING to WIKIPEDIA:
"TOM KETCHUM" was a notorious outlaw who operated in this general area of TX in the late 1800's.
His 2nd. major crime was the murder of a neighbor @ Knickerbocker, Tom Green Co., TX, (near San Angelo) called "John N. (Jap) Powers", on 12-12-1895. Will Carver & Tom Ketchum were accused of killing Powers. They closed their joint saloon & gambling venture in San Angelo & hit the outlaw trail.
"THE HOLE-IN-THE-WALL GANG" is what Tom Ketchum joined after leaving Tom Green Co., TX. The gang focused on train robberies. When not robbing trains, KETCHUM worked for several ranches in TX & NM.
(This may be where MARY said that Tom Ketchum ate with them @ their table on the ranch!)
_________________________
~ Lynda, granddaughter to Cicero's daughter-in-law.
_________________________
~ CICERO RUSSELL, I ~
_________________________
"Cicero Russell, I" was born in 1851 in NC. He was a twin. He died on 1-3-1918 @ Tom Green Co., TX. He died during The Influenza Epidemic of 1918.
_________________________
Cicero had a twin brother "Lonzo Russell".
Lonzo married "Mary Rebecca Burleson" on 2-22-1895 @ Tom Green Co., TX. Lonzo died in 1897 @ Harriett, Tom Green Co., TX.
_________________________
Following his brother's death, "CICERO RUSSELL, I" married his brother's widow in 1898 @ Tom Green Co., TX.
CICERO's WIFE:
"Mary Rebecca Burleson Russell"
b: 12-26-1869
d: 10-1-1966
Mary lacked only a couple of months being 97 when she died. Everyone called her "Granny Russell".
MARY was the daughter of:
"John Burleson" (1849-1917) &
"Penelope Jane (KATY) Williams Burleson"(1851-1940).
MARY said that her Mother was called "Katy" in the Pioneer Story that Mary told which is @ the end of this biography.
________________________
** Mary & her 2 husbands are buried @ Harriett Community Cemetery, Harriett, Tom Green Co., TX. **
(In family papers, it was called "Crow's Nest Cemetery".)
________________________
** THE 2 CHILDREN of MARY & CICERO are Buried @ Fairmount Cemetery, San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX. **
1. "Cicero Russell, II"
b: 1-22-1899 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX; d: 1-19-1981 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX. = Memorial # 63768078.
2. "William Washington Russell"
b: 2-17-1901 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX; d: 8-7-1951 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX.
While repairing a windmill tower @ his home which was near the San Angelo Coliseum, William fell to his death.
= Memorial # 53841359.
________________________
There is a very good & informative story that "Mrs. Cicero Russell" (Mary) told to a reporter in San Angelo, TX in 1938. She told about "hers & her family's pioneer days" in this area of TX. The reporter transcribed Mary's story, & it is in The Library of Congress.
Here is Mary's Story.
Mrs. Cicero Russell (MARY REBECCA BURLESON RUSSELL), San Angelo, Texas, interviewed, February 2, 1938, as told to Nellie B. Cox.
"Range-Lore"
▪ "MY FATHER, JOHN BURLESON, came from Alabama to the San Saba Country. There he accumulated a small bunch of cattle & then for some reason, he went to Williamson County. There he married MY MOTHER, KATY WILLIAMS.
"GRANDFATHER WILLIAMS had been killed by the Indians before The Civil War. He & a man by the name of Freeman had started a herd of cattle to New Mexico. After arming all their men & mounting them on good horses it left grandfather & Freeman unarmed & grandfather riding a mule. After they got the cattle strung out & driving well on the trail, grandfather & Freeman started back home intending to get other horses & guns. On the way home in the late afternoon, Freemen got off his horse to go down to a spring for a drink of water. The Indians evidently surrounded him. Grandfather tried to go to his aid but both were hacked to pieces by tomahawks. These Indians were trailing the herd of cattle but when they tried to stampede the herd, the cowboys drove them off.
"My mother used to tell that when she was a small child each child had to pick the seed from cotton every night. The task set for them was that there should be enough seed to fill the child's shoes. This made enough cotton for grandmother to card, spin and weave the next day. Indians would prowl around at night. They would whistle through a crack by the chimney & would shake the door. All the children would be just as quiet, hardly breathe & grandmother would have the fire covered & the Indians would go away.
"My mother's brother had a paint pony which they kept in a log crib & then chained to a stout log so it wouldn't be so easy for the Indians to get him. Grandmother would often give the Indians corn bread & they liked it.
"I can remember seeing my grandmother standing by the wagon wheel crying when father & mother started moving to Brown County. GRANDFATHER, JIM BURLESON, had been living in Brown County for several years, I think. We lived in a new log house on Jim Ned Creek. For a long time we didn't have a door, just a blanket hung over the opening. Father was away much of the time. Late one afternoon mother saw a big black bear walking down to the creek near the house. The dogs barked but didn't go after it. When the old bear got through drinking, he came back up the trail & stood straight up, daring the dogs, then he went back to the creek & bathed. It was nearly night & mother thought that bear would surely come & crawl in under that blanket. There were some kind of boards or logs across the inside of the roof where the sides of the house joined the roof, and she put the children up there and climbed up herself & stayed there all night. Mother laughs yet when she tells how she made father build a log door & she fastened it with a crowbar.
"Mother told of another time in Brown County that grandfather, his brother, a man named Mosley, & father were working cattle away from home. The Indians came around the house in the brush & called like coyotes & owls. There didn't seem to be many of them but this time mother got ready. She took an old musket, put in everything like bolts she could find & tamped them down. She sat waiting all night but the Indians didn't show up. The next day however, they surrounded father & the other men & in the fight, father received two slight wounds. The Indians got the horses but long years after, father was paid for them. We called it "entering Indian claim" when we sent in the number of horses stolen. Father took that gun mother had loaded, tied it up in the forks of a tree, with a long wire to the trigger. When he pulled the wire, the whole gun exploded. He said that would surely have killed something.
"Another time at night mother heard an unusual noise outside. It sounded to her like it might be Indians sharpening their knives or rubbing them together. This kept up for a long time, then everything was quiet. The next morning, there were two deer (bucks) with their horns locked together in the small clear space in front of the house.
"My family moved to this country in 1875. We lived just below the town of Ben Ficklin. We ran a dairy for awhile. During the Ben Ficklin Flood, father rescued a boy, Cliff Gill. Cliff was about eight or nine years old, I think. He lived with us until he married.
"While we had the dairy, a man by the name of Taylor worked for us. He had been taken by the Indians when he was a baby about two years old & had lived with the Indians until he was nine or ten. He never wanted to live with his people, always said that the Indians had been good to him, that they lived happier then the whites & even as a grown man his one idea was to live with the Indians again.
"Frank Norfleet's father used to have a place north of father's. Frank was almost a young man then. Anyhow, he used to go to parties with us.
"Tom Ketchum has eaten at our table many times. He wasn't as bad as he was said to be. I tell you everything in this country stole cattle. Even my father has stolen nice heifer calves & nobody, even the big cattle men, ate their own cattle. When they wanted beef, they found a fat beef animal belonging to somebody else." ▪
_______________________________
ACCORDING to WIKIPEDIA:
"TOM KETCHUM" was a notorious outlaw who operated in this general area of TX in the late 1800's.
His 2nd. major crime was the murder of a neighbor @ Knickerbocker, Tom Green Co., TX, (near San Angelo) called "John N. (Jap) Powers", on 12-12-1895. Will Carver & Tom Ketchum were accused of killing Powers. They closed their joint saloon & gambling venture in San Angelo & hit the outlaw trail.
"THE HOLE-IN-THE-WALL GANG" is what Tom Ketchum joined after leaving Tom Green Co., TX. The gang focused on train robberies. When not robbing trains, KETCHUM worked for several ranches in TX & NM.
(This may be where MARY said that Tom Ketchum ate with them @ their table on the ranch!)
_________________________
~ Lynda, granddaughter to Cicero's daughter-in-law.
_________________________
_____________________
~ CICERO RUSSELL, I ~
_________________________
"Cicero Russell, I" was born in 1851 in NC. He was a twin. He died on 1-3-1918 @ Tom Green Co., TX. He died during The Influenza Epidemic of 1918.
_________________________
Cicero had a twin brother "Lonzo Russell".
Lonzo married "Mary Rebecca Burleson" on 2-22-1895 @ Tom Green Co., TX. Lonzo died in 1897 @ Harriett, Tom Green Co., TX.
_________________________
Following his brother's death, "CICERO RUSSELL, I" married his brother's widow in 1898 @ Tom Green Co., TX.
CICERO's WIFE:
"Mary Rebecca Burleson Russell"
b: 12-26-1869
d: 10-1-1966
Mary lacked only a couple of months being 97 when she died. Everyone called her "Granny Russell".
MARY was the daughter of:
"John Burleson" (1849-1917) &
"Penelope Jane (KATY) Williams Burleson"(1851-1940).
MARY said that her Mother was called "Katy" in the Pioneer Story that Mary told which is @ the end of this biography.
________________________
** Mary & her 2 husbands are buried @ Harriett Community Cemetery, Harriett, Tom Green Co., TX. **
(In family papers, it was called "Crow's Nest Cemetery".)
________________________
** THE 2 CHILDREN of MARY & CICERO are Buried @ Fairmount Cemetery, San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX. **
1. "Cicero Russell, II"
b: 1-22-1899 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX; d: 1-19-1981 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX. = Memorial # 63768078.
2. "William Washington Russell"
b: 2-17-1901 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX; d: 8-7-1951 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX.
While repairing a windmill tower @ his home which was near the San Angelo Coliseum, William fell to his death.
= Memorial # 53841359.
________________________
There is a very good & informative story that "Mrs. Cicero Russell" (Mary) told to a reporter in San Angelo, TX in 1938. She told about "hers & her family's pioneer days" in this area of TX. The reporter transcribed Mary's story, & it is in The Library of Congress.
Here is Mary's Story.
Mrs. Cicero Russell (MARY REBECCA BURLESON RUSSELL), San Angelo, Texas, interviewed, February 2, 1938, as told to Nellie B. Cox.
"Range-Lore"
▪ "MY FATHER, JOHN BURLESON, came from Alabama to the San Saba Country. There he accumulated a small bunch of cattle & then for some reason, he went to Williamson County. There he married MY MOTHER, KATY WILLIAMS.
"GRANDFATHER WILLIAMS had been killed by the Indians before The Civil War. He & a man by the name of Freeman had started a herd of cattle to New Mexico. After arming all their men & mounting them on good horses it left grandfather & Freeman unarmed & grandfather riding a mule. After they got the cattle strung out & driving well on the trail, grandfather & Freeman started back home intending to get other horses & guns. On the way home in the late afternoon, Freemen got off his horse to go down to a spring for a drink of water. The Indians evidently surrounded him. Grandfather tried to go to his aid but both were hacked to pieces by tomahawks. These Indians were trailing the herd of cattle but when they tried to stampede the herd, the cowboys drove them off.
"My mother used to tell that when she was a small child each child had to pick the seed from cotton every night. The task set for them was that there should be enough seed to fill the child's shoes. This made enough cotton for grandmother to card, spin and weave the next day. Indians would prowl around at night. They would whistle through a crack by the chimney & would shake the door. All the children would be just as quiet, hardly breathe & grandmother would have the fire covered & the Indians would go away.
"My mother's brother had a paint pony which they kept in a log crib & then chained to a stout log so it wouldn't be so easy for the Indians to get him. Grandmother would often give the Indians corn bread & they liked it.
"I can remember seeing my grandmother standing by the wagon wheel crying when father & mother started moving to Brown County. GRANDFATHER, JIM BURLESON, had been living in Brown County for several years, I think. We lived in a new log house on Jim Ned Creek. For a long time we didn't have a door, just a blanket hung over the opening. Father was away much of the time. Late one afternoon mother saw a big black bear walking down to the creek near the house. The dogs barked but didn't go after it. When the old bear got through drinking, he came back up the trail & stood straight up, daring the dogs, then he went back to the creek & bathed. It was nearly night & mother thought that bear would surely come & crawl in under that blanket. There were some kind of boards or logs across the inside of the roof where the sides of the house joined the roof, and she put the children up there and climbed up herself & stayed there all night. Mother laughs yet when she tells how she made father build a log door & she fastened it with a crowbar.
"Mother told of another time in Brown County that grandfather, his brother, a man named Mosley, & father were working cattle away from home. The Indians came around the house in the brush & called like coyotes & owls. There didn't seem to be many of them but this time mother got ready. She took an old musket, put in everything like bolts she could find & tamped them down. She sat waiting all night but the Indians didn't show up. The next day however, they surrounded father & the other men & in the fight, father received two slight wounds. The Indians got the horses but long years after, father was paid for them. We called it "entering Indian claim" when we sent in the number of horses stolen. Father took that gun mother had loaded, tied it up in the forks of a tree, with a long wire to the trigger. When he pulled the wire, the whole gun exploded. He said that would surely have killed something.
"Another time at night mother heard an unusual noise outside. It sounded to her like it might be Indians sharpening their knives or rubbing them together. This kept up for a long time, then everything was quiet. The next morning, there were two deer (bucks) with their horns locked together in the small clear space in front of the house.
"My family moved to this country in 1875. We lived just below the town of Ben Ficklin. We ran a dairy for awhile. During the Ben Ficklin Flood, father rescued a boy, Cliff Gill. Cliff was about eight or nine years old, I think. He lived with us until he married.
"While we had the dairy, a man by the name of Taylor worked for us. He had been taken by the Indians when he was a baby about two years old & had lived with the Indians until he was nine or ten. He never wanted to live with his people, always said that the Indians had been good to him, that they lived happier then the whites & even as a grown man his one idea was to live with the Indians again.
"Frank Norfleet's father used to have a place north of father's. Frank was almost a young man then. Anyhow, he used to go to parties with us.
"Tom Ketchum has eaten at our table many times. He wasn't as bad as he was said to be. I tell you everything in this country stole cattle. Even my father has stolen nice heifer calves & nobody, even the big cattle men, ate their own cattle. When they wanted beef, they found a fat beef animal belonging to somebody else." ▪
_______________________________
ACCORDING to WIKIPEDIA:
"TOM KETCHUM" was a notorious outlaw who operated in this general area of TX in the late 1800's.
His 2nd. major crime was the murder of a neighbor @ Knickerbocker, Tom Green Co., TX, (near San Angelo) called "John N. (Jap) Powers", on 12-12-1895. Will Carver & Tom Ketchum were accused of killing Powers. They closed their joint saloon & gambling venture in San Angelo & hit the outlaw trail.
"THE HOLE-IN-THE-WALL GANG" is what Tom Ketchum joined after leaving Tom Green Co., TX. The gang focused on train robberies. When not robbing trains, KETCHUM worked for several ranches in TX & NM.
(This may be where MARY said that Tom Ketchum ate with them @ their table on the ranch!)
_________________________
~ Lynda, granddaughter to Cicero's daughter-in-law.
_________________________
~ CICERO RUSSELL, I ~
_________________________
"Cicero Russell, I" was born in 1851 in NC. He was a twin. He died on 1-3-1918 @ Tom Green Co., TX. He died during The Influenza Epidemic of 1918.
_________________________
Cicero had a twin brother "Lonzo Russell".
Lonzo married "Mary Rebecca Burleson" on 2-22-1895 @ Tom Green Co., TX. Lonzo died in 1897 @ Harriett, Tom Green Co., TX.
_________________________
Following his brother's death, "CICERO RUSSELL, I" married his brother's widow in 1898 @ Tom Green Co., TX.
CICERO's WIFE:
"Mary Rebecca Burleson Russell"
b: 12-26-1869
d: 10-1-1966
Mary lacked only a couple of months being 97 when she died. Everyone called her "Granny Russell".
MARY was the daughter of:
"John Burleson" (1849-1917) &
"Penelope Jane (KATY) Williams Burleson"(1851-1940).
MARY said that her Mother was called "Katy" in the Pioneer Story that Mary told which is @ the end of this biography.
________________________
** Mary & her 2 husbands are buried @ Harriett Community Cemetery, Harriett, Tom Green Co., TX. **
(In family papers, it was called "Crow's Nest Cemetery".)
________________________
** THE 2 CHILDREN of MARY & CICERO are Buried @ Fairmount Cemetery, San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX. **
1. "Cicero Russell, II"
b: 1-22-1899 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX; d: 1-19-1981 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX. = Memorial # 63768078.
2. "William Washington Russell"
b: 2-17-1901 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX; d: 8-7-1951 @ San Angelo, Tom Green Co., TX.
While repairing a windmill tower @ his home which was near the San Angelo Coliseum, William fell to his death.
= Memorial # 53841359.
________________________
There is a very good & informative story that "Mrs. Cicero Russell" (Mary) told to a reporter in San Angelo, TX in 1938. She told about "hers & her family's pioneer days" in this area of TX. The reporter transcribed Mary's story, & it is in The Library of Congress.
Here is Mary's Story.
Mrs. Cicero Russell (MARY REBECCA BURLESON RUSSELL), San Angelo, Texas, interviewed, February 2, 1938, as told to Nellie B. Cox.
"Range-Lore"
▪ "MY FATHER, JOHN BURLESON, came from Alabama to the San Saba Country. There he accumulated a small bunch of cattle & then for some reason, he went to Williamson County. There he married MY MOTHER, KATY WILLIAMS.
"GRANDFATHER WILLIAMS had been killed by the Indians before The Civil War. He & a man by the name of Freeman had started a herd of cattle to New Mexico. After arming all their men & mounting them on good horses it left grandfather & Freeman unarmed & grandfather riding a mule. After they got the cattle strung out & driving well on the trail, grandfather & Freeman started back home intending to get other horses & guns. On the way home in the late afternoon, Freemen got off his horse to go down to a spring for a drink of water. The Indians evidently surrounded him. Grandfather tried to go to his aid but both were hacked to pieces by tomahawks. These Indians were trailing the herd of cattle but when they tried to stampede the herd, the cowboys drove them off.
"My mother used to tell that when she was a small child each child had to pick the seed from cotton every night. The task set for them was that there should be enough seed to fill the child's shoes. This made enough cotton for grandmother to card, spin and weave the next day. Indians would prowl around at night. They would whistle through a crack by the chimney & would shake the door. All the children would be just as quiet, hardly breathe & grandmother would have the fire covered & the Indians would go away.
"My mother's brother had a paint pony which they kept in a log crib & then chained to a stout log so it wouldn't be so easy for the Indians to get him. Grandmother would often give the Indians corn bread & they liked it.
"I can remember seeing my grandmother standing by the wagon wheel crying when father & mother started moving to Brown County. GRANDFATHER, JIM BURLESON, had been living in Brown County for several years, I think. We lived in a new log house on Jim Ned Creek. For a long time we didn't have a door, just a blanket hung over the opening. Father was away much of the time. Late one afternoon mother saw a big black bear walking down to the creek near the house. The dogs barked but didn't go after it. When the old bear got through drinking, he came back up the trail & stood straight up, daring the dogs, then he went back to the creek & bathed. It was nearly night & mother thought that bear would surely come & crawl in under that blanket. There were some kind of boards or logs across the inside of the roof where the sides of the house joined the roof, and she put the children up there and climbed up herself & stayed there all night. Mother laughs yet when she tells how she made father build a log door & she fastened it with a crowbar.
"Mother told of another time in Brown County that grandfather, his brother, a man named Mosley, & father were working cattle away from home. The Indians came around the house in the brush & called like coyotes & owls. There didn't seem to be many of them but this time mother got ready. She took an old musket, put in everything like bolts she could find & tamped them down. She sat waiting all night but the Indians didn't show up. The next day however, they surrounded father & the other men & in the fight, father received two slight wounds. The Indians got the horses but long years after, father was paid for them. We called it "entering Indian claim" when we sent in the number of horses stolen. Father took that gun mother had loaded, tied it up in the forks of a tree, with a long wire to the trigger. When he pulled the wire, the whole gun exploded. He said that would surely have killed something.
"Another time at night mother heard an unusual noise outside. It sounded to her like it might be Indians sharpening their knives or rubbing them together. This kept up for a long time, then everything was quiet. The next morning, there were two deer (bucks) with their horns locked together in the small clear space in front of the house.
"My family moved to this country in 1875. We lived just below the town of Ben Ficklin. We ran a dairy for awhile. During the Ben Ficklin Flood, father rescued a boy, Cliff Gill. Cliff was about eight or nine years old, I think. He lived with us until he married.
"While we had the dairy, a man by the name of Taylor worked for us. He had been taken by the Indians when he was a baby about two years old & had lived with the Indians until he was nine or ten. He never wanted to live with his people, always said that the Indians had been good to him, that they lived happier then the whites & even as a grown man his one idea was to live with the Indians again.
"Frank Norfleet's father used to have a place north of father's. Frank was almost a young man then. Anyhow, he used to go to parties with us.
"Tom Ketchum has eaten at our table many times. He wasn't as bad as he was said to be. I tell you everything in this country stole cattle. Even my father has stolen nice heifer calves & nobody, even the big cattle men, ate their own cattle. When they wanted beef, they found a fat beef animal belonging to somebody else." ▪
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ACCORDING to WIKIPEDIA:
"TOM KETCHUM" was a notorious outlaw who operated in this general area of TX in the late 1800's.
His 2nd. major crime was the murder of a neighbor @ Knickerbocker, Tom Green Co., TX, (near San Angelo) called "John N. (Jap) Powers", on 12-12-1895. Will Carver & Tom Ketchum were accused of killing Powers. They closed their joint saloon & gambling venture in San Angelo & hit the outlaw trail.
"THE HOLE-IN-THE-WALL GANG" is what Tom Ketchum joined after leaving Tom Green Co., TX. The gang focused on train robberies. When not robbing trains, KETCHUM worked for several ranches in TX & NM.
(This may be where MARY said that Tom Ketchum ate with them @ their table on the ranch!)
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~ Lynda, granddaughter to Cicero's daughter-in-law.
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