In Memoriam
By Mary Wright Davies
Asrel "Ase" Gary was one of the Grandsons of William Whitten Gary and Rutha Gary, pioneers from South Carolina who over a thirty five year period journeyed and rested for periods, then traveled on through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Indian Territory by wagon trains with their growing family. They wanted a better life for themselves and their children, and endured extreme hardships to push forward, searching for the place to call home. They made it to Texas by 1849 and lived in Rusk County for a year or so. By 1851 they were settled in Bosque County, living on the edge of the wilderness, having to protect themselves from Indian raids, becoming part of the community and government there.

One of their sons in this pioneer family was Govy Gary. He was a farmer, an Indian fighter, a leader, and a strong independent frontiersman of his times. He moved from Bosque County to East Texas, to the piney woods area of San Augustine County, and he and his wife Mary Ann Jackson (Carter) Gary, daughter of William Carter from Tennessee, became the parents of seven children, four who lived & know their names: Sarah Elizabeth Gary, Cynthia Elvira Gary, Isaac William Gary, and their youngest, Asrel "Ase" Gary. In 1866 he took the oath of allegiance to the United States in San Augustine, Texas. Govy Gary met a Miller at Buck Branch and they got in a dispute over the man speaking dishonorably about Govy's eldest daughter Sarah Elizabeth Gary. The man shot and killed Govy Gary. He and his clan immediately left the county. By the next morning the news spread about Gary's shocking, unexpected death! Before the Gary clan could rally that morning, the Millers were gone.

Asrel known as "Ase" was 8 years old when his father died. Asrel A. Gary was 19 and Alice Juliette Morris was 18 on on their wedding day, Jan 22, 1879 in Sabine County, Texas. They lived in Sabine County where Asrel was a farmer.

Blackland Cemetery has six graves with five headstones of the family. It looks like a field with wispy grass blowing in the wind, and speaks of a time of yesteryear when farmers buried their loved ones on their land. When Alice's father Moses Akin Morris died in 1887 and her mother Martha A. (Smith) Morris died, they were buried on what was originally their land. It passed to Asrel Gary and became his homestead. Melton Gary, their young son of twelve years and eight months died in 1897 and was buried there. There are two family explanations of Alice's death. The first was that Alice died shortly after gall bladder surgery when she was released too soon and died on the way home. The second as told by daughter Alice was that she died on the operating table because she got to the doctor too late.

One of their daughters, Sarah Josephine (Gary) Dees died at age 30 in 1921. Asrel Gary was the final burial in the year 1922.

Eight names of Asrel and Alice Gary's 11 children are linked below. Their children are all named on Alice Gary's memorial which is linked. Asrel has become an honored given name in the Gary generations ever since Govy Gary named his youngest son Asrel in 1861.