Mattie Ann was an ideal Christian wife and mother of eleven. She was a life-long member of the Baptist Church. Many of her descendents were born and live in Haskell County, TX.

Mattie and her husband Jeff moved to Haskell County, TX by train from Hohenwald, TN, going through Memphis, Little Rock, Dallas, Abilene, TX, and from another train there, into Haskell, in 1924. Jeff's mother Vicie Ann Carter Turnbow joined them in their move to Texas. Aunt Lona remember's Granny being faint with fear when they crossed over the Mississippi at Memphis, as she had never traveled that fast before in her life. Two of Jeff & Mattie's sons: Crawford Allen and Bob, and two daughters: the twins Jessie & Jeffie, and several grandchildren still live in Haskell. Many are and will be, buried next to her. The Jeff Turnbow family has always remained in Haskell County with the exception of a couple of early years in the 1940s. This is when they were living near Detroit, TX (east TX), and this is where Jeff Turnbow died, during this brief stay there. This is why he is buried outside Detroit, TX. His children said he had began missing hunting in the wooded area of his childhood home back in TN, so he moved to east TX. He enjoyed doing this again in his last years. Jeff enjoyed hunting so much that he brought along his two prize, bluetik hound dogs on the train journey to TX, along with his wife and children on the train.

When I was a child, I often remember when mom & I would go into Mommy Turney's (grandmother's) home to visit with her, she would either be praying for all 11 of her children, or singing from her Baptist hymnal. How we miss her. I was very blessed that I got to stay with her many times, spent many nights with her when I was just a child. Many cold winter mornings she would get up and make strong, hot coffee, and she would pour it into a saucer to cool it down, and sip from it, and I would do the same! She always had plenty of sugar cubes nearby, and she often scolded me for eating the cubes. She was also a great cook, especially remembered for her preserves, and cinnamon-pickled beets, which were like candy, they were so delicious. I have many fond memories of staying with her up until I was about 10 years old. Many afternoons we would go outside and sit under her big shade tree and even as a small child, I remember being curious about her younger life she had in Tennessee, and the Turnbow place, and would ask her to share her stories about this place, and she often did. I enjoyed so much my time with her, was quite a blessing. She always watched me very closely, as there was a creek behind her home, and she was always afraid I would stray off and fall in it and drown. So I rarely ever got to go outside alone unless I snuck out of the house. The one time I did this, I really got in trouble, was the only time she took a swatter to me, she was so upset she couldn't find me and she cried, and I remember crying to, just because I had upset her so much on that occasion, I never did this again. I jumped in her lap and told her how much I loved her.