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Note: n those years , so we may assume that is what caused the deaths of those little children. Their gravesites are unknown.
Mary Elizabeth died December 23, 1888, soon after the birth of Ethel. The tiny baby was brought to a neighbor woman, Mrs. Charles (India?) McKinley, who had a newborn son. Mrs. McKinley nursed both babies, and saved the life of Ethel. Ethel always thought of the little boy as her step-brother.
Ethel grew up in the large family home in Riesel. When she was 18 years old, she married Alva Archie Barnard, also 18, from Kirk, Texas. They were married while sitting in a wagon in the front yard of their neighbor, Mr. Jennings, under the shade of a huge mesquite tree with one prominent limb that artfully hung low to the ground.
Ethel had auburn curly hair, light blue eyes, was about 5'4" in height and of medium weight.
The Barnard family made several moves in the early years of their marriage. They first lived near Kirk, then moved to Gouldbusk in Coleman County, then Riesel, then to Coleman County again, then to a little farm between Mart and Riesel.
The next move was to Brownsville, Texas where Alva owned a dairy and a nice home on Barnard Street with two rent houses on the back part of the land. While there he owned a shrimp boat which he operated out of Port Isabelle, and a dump truck, which he used to do contract hauling for the government in and around Ft. Brown during WWII. During those depression years, after the children had moved on with their lives, money was in short supply. Alva would make Ethel move from the beautiful big home facing Barnard Street and into the smaller rent house on the back part of the property.
Later, Alva and Ethel moved back to an old farmhouse on 200 acres of land in Kirk near where Alva had been born. Needless to say, Ethel was less than happy about this move. The roof was full of holes, the underground cistern was unusable because of an accumulation of leaves and dirt, the floors were not level (and never were completely level ever after), no indoor plumbing, an outhouse, walls with ancient wallpaper falling off, etc. Eventually the house was habitable. Her sister, Georgia, who married a rather wealthy older man in Franklin, Texas, helped out with money and clothing from time to time. Alva and Ethel lived out their remaining years in that house while helping raise Bill and Joe Barnard, the children of Oscar and Blanche Barnard.
Walker's Chapel Cemetery Stories by Sally Breen:
One summer day in the 1970s, Ralph and Oscar (Bunch) Barnard, and Ralph's daughter, Belinda, accompanied me (Sally Breen) on a visit to the Walker's Chapel cemetery where Mary Elizabeth Ramey Titsworth is buried. It is in Fall County, Texas. It is a small, uncared-for cemetery near Riesel. Bunch told us where to find it. Ethel (Mimmi) did not know where the cemetery was. We had to walk through a cotton field to reach it. The cattle had toppled many of the gravestones. I broke my foot while traversing the cotton field.
In later years, Patsy Breen Cryer, my sister, Keith Williams, my husband, Marti and Bill Barnard, son of Oscar Barnard, Dalton Baldauf, my grandson, and Neal Hogue, my son, visited the cemetery again. This time the field was knee high in beautiful bright green oats. Patsy noticed that Dalton's mouth was green, and we discovered that he had been eating the oats.
Again a few years later, Rachel Hogue Scholz, my daughter, Kenny Scholz, my son-in-law, Amber Kennedy, my granddaughter, Curtis Franklin, my gr-grandson, again tried to visit the cemetery. This time the rows in the field were deep in water. We made it about half-way, but the mud clung heavily to our shoes. We were near tears and decided that we would never reach our destination. Since that time I have called this cemetery the Evil Cemetery. I wonder why Mary Elizabeth is buried in this neglected cemetery, yet William David and her mother, Harriet Dunlap are buried in the beautiful cemetery in Riesel, Texas.
Stories by Harriet Ethel Titsworth Barnard:
Ethel, my grandmother Mimmi, told us the story of the Odel biscuits. The cook's husband was named Odel. When she would cut the biscuits each morning for the Titsworth family, she would save the scraps, roll them together to make one very large biscuit that she would save for Odel. Of course, it was called the Odel biscuit. To this day, everyone in our family knows about the Odel biscuit, and we always have our own Odel biscuit.
She also remembered with fondness her "Little Granny," Harriet Ethel May Titsworth Dunlap, who lived with them for many years. Ethel had a tatting shuttle that had belonged to her Little Granny. This shuttle was given to my mother, Kathryn Almeda Barnard Breen Patty. My mother gave it to my daughter, Rachel Elaine Hogue Kennedy Scholz, when Rachel was a teenager, and she taught Rachel how to tat-an almost lost art.
Interview w Harriet Ethel Titsworth Barnard by Sally Breen, December 21, 1972
In the room during this interview were Harriet Ethel Titsworth Barnard "Mimmi," Sally Breen Hogue, Harold Neal Hogue, Rachel Elaine Hogue, Melinda Lee Hogue, Neal Hogue, Oscar "Bunch" Barnard. It is very difficult to hear what Mimmi is saying for Bunch's loud and persistent voice, and my kids' playing and laughing.
Discussion of her ancestors. Said that Harriett Almeda May's first husband (she didn't remember what his name was [Spear]) died, she married Henry Dunlap. They had several boys. When the boys got old enough, they "chased the old man off."
She said her father's sister was called "Tennessee."
"When my Little Granny died, Uncle Eli Dunlap came from Hereford, Texas and bought the casket and everything. Uncle Ru[fus] was "rounder," and got into lots of trouble. I remember when I was a little bitty girl, he came to our house, and my Daddy hid Uncle Ru in the attic of our house. He finally got out of all that trouble and turned out to be a real fine man. He married a lovely woman and they had 3-4 children. I remember when Rolla was born, Uncle Ru and, it seems like her name was Molly, came to see me. I was feeling badly. They used to keep us in bed so long when a child was born.
Jim was a good guy. But Joe had a lot of trouble with his wife. He married a woman by the name of Alice Farmer. Oh, my goodness, when I think of all those things'85
My children were small and Pop had moved us into a little old house between Mart and Riesel. The children were going to school in Riesel going with a horse and buggy.
Beatrice's name before she married was Faulkner. Her children were Nada Sue, who was red-headed, and Carol Jane. Carol Jane never forgets me at Christmas time. The boy is Buddy, but when he got older, he wouldn't let anyone call him Buddy, he was "Buff II." Buddy married Susan, a girl from Corsicana. He was working in Lubbock, and she was going to college there. They have a little boy named Buff III, and they call him Tray. The girl Judy married right after Buff died. Dick gave her away. Judy has been taking a course in proof reading. Nada Sue is teaching. Susan (Buddy's wife) is teaching every day. Their baby is in the hospital with double pneumonia.
Bunch interrupts to say that I'm going to get in trouble writing this book. I assure him I'm not writing a book, only doing a family tree. He told the joke. "There was a woman who said her ancestors came over on the Mayflower. Someone replied, 'That's nothing. My ancestors were here to meet them.'"
Bunch assures me that Pappa's family was part Indian. "Pappa's mother's father was part Indian. Pappa was about 1/32nd Indian. We called Pappa's mother Grammaw Lindsey.
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Death Certificate for Harriet Ethel Titsworth Barnard
State File #260
Falls County, Marlin, Texas (at the THS Hospital)
Name of Deceased: Harriet Ethel Barnard
Date of Death: 8-28-75 (August 28, 1975)
White Female
Occupation: Housewife
Date of Birth: 10-29-1888 (October 29, 1888)
Age: 86
Birthplace: Texas
Fathers Name: Bill Titsworth
Mothers Name: No record
Deceased was never in the Armed Forces
S.S. #463-26-2788B
Informant: O.U. Barnard
Immediate Cause of death: Acute myocardial infarction & Coronary Atherosclerosis (Sudden)
Signed: S.C. Brown, M.C.
Name of Cemetery: Kirk Cemetery
Funeral Director: Littlepage Funeral Home #554
Registrars File No.: 459
Note: The Titsworth Bible tells the sad story that all three of the children of William David and Mary Elizabeth died within a few months of each other in the 1880s. Yellow fever was raging across Texas i
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