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Note: 1902 - 1995
Known as the TOP OF THE CROP. This is in reference to cotton: afterit is picked, there is often a fresh new sprouting at the top after themain season. Annie was a new child after the main crop was already in.
She had no middle name. R. E. Fariss has her marriage as July 3,1923 rather than June 3.
All the families in Giddings went to Two-Mile Rabb Creek for picnics.It had a deep spot called Blue Hole because of its color and depth.Then the spot got brushy. Everyone had to change to Seven-Mile Rabb.The ladies spread table cloths on the ground. Then, back at home, thetable cloths had to be washed and ironed on Monday.
No one could play games on Sundays, not even at the picnics. In theI.J. Fariss home, the only thing you could READ on Sunday was the Bibleor the morning's Sunday School literature.
Elvira married James Wilson Warren in July 1909 at age 26 at theBaptist Church, and wore a rose-colored dress. I. J. Fariss gave heraway. She still lived in the I. J. Fariss home till the day of hermarriage. The 7-year-old Annie Fariss still remembers in 1995 at age92 how pretty Elvira was coming down the stairs at this home in herrose-colored dress.
Aunt Elvira Stockton had one upstairs room to herself. Three girlsshared the other room. When Emily Fariss started at the University ofTexas at about the same time, Annie and Minnie were left to share theirupstairs room.
Then when Elvira got married, the boys moved upstairs into Elvira'sroom. I. J. and Annie moved into the boys' downstairs room, and thusI. J. then built a new special shelf for the Seth Thomas clock bought inKansas City after the Chisholm Trail drive.
In Chilton, Aunt Zie's father owned the largest store in town, and ithad a soda fountain. Zie's brother Elwyn worked there, and he gaveAnnie big scoops of ice cream. Elwyn later ran a service station inChilton, and Gus turned to farming.
Raymond P. Elledge came to Giddings from Austin to be football coachand history teacher. Raymond said, "Annie, if I had not been going withMinnie, you never would have passed freshman history." He was right.It was Medieval History, and she hated it.
Annie met Edgar Ballard when the High School sports teams playedaround at the various other towns. At one time, he was going with aGiddings girl and she was going with an Elgin boy.
She attended the University of Texas.
In 1921 she went to Elgin to teach school. Edgar Ballard wasAssistant Postmaster. She had his stinking little spoiled brother inone of her classes.
When Edgar died in 1942, she was a 40-year-old widow with two boysand no means of support. One early job that she had was to manage thePicture Show in Elgin.
These stories have never been written up:
More about her high school days. More about family visits to DimeBox, to the Knox farm, to Knox Lake with its lily pads, and about thebig family dinners there. More about Fanny Knox, she with the longbeautiful black hair, who cooked the world's best roast pork and sweetpotatoes. More about her years in Germany. More about her life in Houston.More about the work in Methodist Hospital.
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