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Note: 1888 - 1916
His mother Annie told Max Fariss that his father I. J. was too hard onhim.
He was reported to be "quite a guy," which is a compliment for aninteresting and active man. Willie once hopped a steamship to SouthAmerica, and did some kind of work there.
He was called both Willie and Bill in Giddings. He at one timecourted either Emma Riggs or Pearl Riggs, a younger sister of his UncleFate's wife. Berta had hoped that it would be a match, and that therewould be another Fariss-Riggs marriage, but it never worked out. Thisfamily called him "Bill Fariss."
He entertained 3-year-old Helen Bess Fariss, and she remembers himfondly. The Fate Fariss home had a huge long hallway down the middle.Helen would stand on a broom, and hold onto the handle. Bill Farisswould pull her along in the hallway, as if she were riding on a sled.
On a drill rig in 1916, the kelly fell down on him and he waskilled at age 28. The location is variously reported as Humble, GooseCreek, and Spindletop. Annie Fariss Ballard says that the location wasnear Houston, and that a man named Hilliard was a partner or friend orowner of the rig. Aubrey Fariss says July 24, 1993 that it was GooseCreek.
Family stories said that he owned some oil leases, and further thathis death was not an accident. In any event, the benefit from his oilleases never accrued to his family.
Max Fariss (November 9, 1993) and Annie Fariss Ballard (later) reportthat a group consisting of Annie Stockton Fariss, Annie Fariss Ballard,Minnie Stockton Elledge, and cousins Lois Bowers and Claire Bowers rodethe dinky train from Giddings to Lake Victor in August 1916, to visitthe family of Uncle Tom Fariss. This was a kerosene-burning trainrunning north and west out of Giddings. The dinky that went fromGiddings to Houston was a different kind of equipment.
Willie's death was reported to his mother by telegram on thisoccasion. They were camping at Hancock Park near Lampasas at the time,not far from Uncle Tom Fariss' place at Lake Victor, when his mother gotthe telegram.
Annie Stockton Fariss hired a man with a Model-T automobile to drivethem to Austin. There they caught a train to return to Giddings.
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