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Note: October 11, 1833 - February 19, 1920
Grand-daughter of Judge John Rice Jones.
Daughter of Myers Fisher Jones.
Wife of William Holmes Fariss.
Mother of seven Fariss boys and two Fariss girls.
Born at Caledonia, Missouri. Emily Fariss Joekel Carnes' DARapplication says that her birthdate is October 12, 1833.
Her tombstone says that her deathdate is February 19, 1920. An oldBible has 1920; it was crossed out and 1919 written in; then 1920written in the margin and it also was then crossed out. Emily FarissJoekel Carnes' DAR application says deathdate is Feb. 20, 1920. MiltonGlenn Fariss says 1920. The "Giddings News" reported her death in anarticle published Feb. 27, 1920.
As to her middle name of Scott: two sisters of her father hadmarried two Scott brothers: Senator John Scott of Missouri and JudgeAndrew Scott of Missouri, who was appointed a Territorial Judge and wasthe first judge to go to the new Arkansas Territory. This Andrew was afamous duelist who killed several men to protect the honor of women.Thus Scott was Amelia's middle name.
She had family back to North Wales. Her great-grandfather John Joneslived in North Wales, and had 14 children. One, and only one of thefourteen, John Rice Jones, came to America. He was Amelia'sgrandfather; practiced law in Philadelphia with a good friend MyersFisher; and became one of the three Supreme Court Judges for Missouri.He died in St. Louis on a Sunday morning, at a time the court was insession, at the home of a daughter. She married a Catholic; wasconverted to Catholicism; and had her father buried in a CatholicCemetery. When her Protestant brothers (all active Masons) were able toget to town, they exhumed their father's body; had it re-buried in aProtestant Cemetery; and refused to tell anyone where the Cemetery waslocated. To this day, we do not know the burial place of Judge JohnRice Jones.
Her father Myers Fisher Jones was named after Mr. Myers Fisher, thePhiladelphia law partner of Judge John Rice Jones.
Myers Fisher Jones settled near Rutersville, Texas in December 1839,bringing his wife and five youngest children. Amelia attendedRutersville College.
We believe that her brother-in-law LaFayette Fariss visited in Texasfrom his Alabama home in December 1859. We believe he dictated toAmelia all that he knew of Fariss family history, as told to him by hisfather Thomas Israel Fariss. Amelia wrote it down; passed the papers toher daughter Lyda Fariss Wilson; and Lyda passed the papers to CharlieSteven Wilson. All three of these generations shared a strong interestin preserving Fariss family genealogy.
Emily Fariss Joekel reported that when William Holmes Fariss wentaway into the Confederate Army, he left Grandma with four little boys.She spun cloth and made him a Confederate uniform.
One of the cowboys of the family, either (1) her son Andrew MackFariss or (2) her brother Andrew Jones (who in 1893 moved to Oklahomawith Thee Fariss and the Medlins), or (3) her son I. J. Fariss, cameback from a cattle drive to Kansas roughly about 1876, and apparentlybrought home an 8-day Seth Thomas clock and a brass kerosene lamp. Webelieve these were a gift for Amelia Jones Fariss. Such lamps were newin Kansas City, and were certainly new to Texas. The Fariss family hadone of the first. They were apprehensive of the danger, and kept thelamp in the fireplace in case of explosion. The clock always had aplace of honor in the I. J. Fariss home.
Amelia was baptised in August 1872 in the Bethel Baptist Church.William Holmes Fariss was baptised September 1872, according to a Biblesheet which probably belonged to Aunt Lide. Later, when that churchdisbanded, Amelia was one of 13 constituent members who formed theGiddings Baptist Church. She was the last surviving Founder of thischurch.
Family legend says that Amelia and her daughter-in-law Eldora LuveniaMcGuire did not get along well at all. Dora would not have anything todo with the Negroes, and would not even let Negro women hold her babies.This was unusual for that time in history; unusual for a McGuire ofVirginia who would have owned slaves; and unusual in that every wifeneeded a lot of help with a large family of children.
Amelia is said to have treated the sick in Giddings by making homevisits. We don't know whether she treated only the poor, or black orwhite. We don't know anything of her nursing capabilities, but shecarried her medicines and supplies in a woven wicker case, possiblycalled a valise. It had leather hinges and leather straps. In lateryears, she chose to store the family genealogy documents in this case.The leather has mostly fallen off, but the valise is in remarkably goodcondition in 1992 in Lake Charles, LA. Helen Bess Fariss hopes todonate it to the museum at Washington-on-the-Brazos.
After the death of William Holmes Fariss in 1894, Amelia made her homewith Lyda "Aunt Lide" Fariss and William Wilson.
She was prim, proper, and formal. She always wore a hat and gloveswhen going out. She was a very small woman; so small that her specialsmall chair was carried to church in a little wagon, and it also wastaken to the Lafayette Fariss home when she did needle work with BertRiggs Fariss.
Gus Fariss told Augusta Fariss that his grandmother Fariss sewed verywell, and especially in patching clothes. She wove the threads backinto the torn spot so that the repair didn't show. She made the tinieststitches that he had ever seen.
Dime Box got its name because of money left in rural mail boxes. Ifthe mail carrier found a dime in a mail box, he knew that when he gotback to town, he was to buy a dime box of Levi's Snuff, and bring itback to the mail box on his next trip.
The ladies, as well as the men, dipped snuff. It was put just behindthe lower lip. Never never never did you let any of it leak out of thecorners of your mouth. There was a certain root which the children hadto go out to find. It was very soft wood. It was chewed and softenedtill it looked like a toothbrush. This is the stick that the ladiesused to get just a tiny bit of snuff out of the little tin box. WhenGrandmother Fariss, Amelia Scott Jones Fariss, lived in Giddings withher daughter Lide, she sent the grandchildren out to find this root, andbring it to her. She still dipped snuff late in life.
While Amelia Scott Jones Fariss lived with her daughter Lyda FarissWilson, she got sick on occasions, toward the last. Annie S. Farisswould go over to Lide's house to help take care of her mother-in-law.
The 1992 location of the chair and the Seth Thomas clock are notknown, unless the clock is with Raymond P. Elledge Jr. in Houston orAnnie Frances Walthall in Wyoming. The kerosene lamp and a familiarfamily spindle type daybed are with Emily Fariss Joekel Carnes in CorpusChristi.
Seven persons are buried on one Giddings lot:
William Holmes Fariss
Amelia Scott Jones Fariss
William T. Wilson
Lyda Fariss Wilson
Milton S. Merchant
Mary Adelia Fariss Merchant
Infant son of Sam and Ruby Fariss
The two burials on the adjacent 8-place plot are:
Andrew Mack Fariss
Clara Koch Fariss
The body of the stillborn son of Sam and Ruby Fariss was sent toGiddings, with the intent that the infant be buried on the cemetery lotowned by his grandparents, Fate and Bert Fariss. But by a mistake ofpersons in Giddings, perhaps the preacher or the funeral home, the babywas mistakenly buried on the William Holmes Fariss lot.
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