MINERVA CRANFORD, daughter of John and Elizabeth( Wilkes) Cranford, was born in Morgan County, Alabama on 13 July 1827. In 1845 she married John W. Childress, a native of Walker County, Alabama. They lived in Jasper until
the birth of their first child, after which they resided in Bessemer, Alabama until about 1852, when they removed to Dangerfield, Texas.

In 1865 they were living at Kosse Texas, where Mr. Childress died and is buried. He was a Confederate soldier, having enlisted at San Antonio 16 February 1861,
and served as third corporal in Captain Teel's Company of the Second Regiment. After the death of her husband,Mrs. Childress moved to Rockdale,Texas with her six children and operated a hotel there for many years.

After her retirement from the hotel business, she moved to Corsicana Texas to live with her son, James Thomas Childress. She did research work for all Cranfords, and in World War I she worked for her country in every way
possible. She was quite active up her death on 23 February 1926. Her children, grandchildren knew her as Dannie., She was buried in the cemetery at Corsicana. She was small lady, but proud and independent.

She belonged to the Christian church and walked to church every Sunday dresssed in a black dress carrying a black umbrella. It is said among her relatives that if "Dannie" Childress failed to find a Christina Church in heaven, she
would be back soon.

Source: Family of John and Elizabeth Wilkes
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Minerva is Buried in Oakwood. No marker found.
Death certificate and Corley Funeral Record both attest to burial. No Plot Location and No marker.

Updated 07/08/08
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She was one of 14 children of John and Elizabeth Cranford listed below:

1. Abner Cranford
2. Winifred Cranford b. 1811
3. Mary "Polly" Cranford
4. Celia Cranford
5. Martha Patricia Cranford
6. William Cranford b. 1818
7. Thomas Matthew Cranford b. 1820
8. Charlotte Cranford
9. John Monroe Cranford
10 Malinda E. Cranford b. 1825
11 Nancy Emily Cranford b. 1827
12 Minerva "Dannie" Cranford
13 Lydia Ann Dorcas Cranford b. 1831
14 Chesley Hardy Cranford b. 1823


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OBIT

PIONEER RESIDENT
OF CORSICANA DIED
TUESDAY MORNING

MINERVA CHILDRESS
PASSES AWAY AT AGE 98
YEARS, 9 MONTHS

Minerva Childress, aged 98 and 9 months, died at the home of her son, Tom Childress,219 West Sixth avenue, at 10:20 o'clock Tuesday morning and the funeral services will be held from the First Christian Church Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock, with the pastor, the Rev. Paul J. Merrill, officiating. Burial will be at Oakwood cemetery. Pallbearers will be J.H. Bryant, J.W. Edens, N.F. Garrett, R.M. Whitten, E.W.Cunningham, and J.R. Webb.

Mrs. Childress was the mother of nine children, five of whom survive, as follows: Tom Childress of Corsicana; J.W.Childress of Fort Worth; W.E. Childress of Orange; Mrs. Lizzie Stilwell of Fort Worth, and Mrs. Ruth McNamara of Waco. She is also survived by 25 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren. She was widowed in 1871 and never remarried.

Mrs. Childress had been a resident of Corsicana for sixt years, coming here from Alabama, where she was born. She was a member of the First Christian church of this city, having joined the church of that faith when only twelve years of age, and having a faithful Christian life during all the intervening years. She was a devoted and loving mother faithful in all things that were given into her hands. She suffered all the hardships and privations that were gone through with by the early settlers of this section of the great State of Texas.


Mrs. Childress was known and loved by all the older citizens of Corsicana and surrounding territory, and to many of the younger generation was known as "Grandma" and she was a favorite with the young people, whom she loved and for whom she always had time and words of cheer and sympathy.

Corsicana Semi-Light Weekly
February 26, 1926

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