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Note: June 4, 1877 - April 21, 1963
Is she LIDA or LYDA or LYDIA or ELIZA or ELIZABETH ? ??
She is LYDA in her mother's will. She is LYDA in a Bible sheet that isheavily laminated in plastic and tells of her baptism. She is LIDA on alaminated Bible sheet that tells of Marriages. She is LIDA on herAugust 18, 1896 "State Summer Normal Certificate" Teacher's Certificatefrom a summer extension course, displayed in the Lee County Museum inGiddings, showing that she is qualified to teach the First Grade. Sheis ELIZA in an old Bible photocopy. In his letter of unknown date to anunknown addressee, her son Charlie Wilson refers to his own mother as"Lydia or Lyda Fariss." In the 1880 Census of the William HolmesFariss household, she is a 3-year-old "Elizeth." The correct spellingof her name is hard to pin down.
Her cemetery tombstone says her death date is April 21, 1963. Ira hasit this way on one yellow sheet, but unfortunately he has April 21, 1964on another yellow sheet, Ira's Page 1 and Page 17. Robert Elwyn Farisshas April 21, 1964.
William's death date on his tombstone is September 18, 1939. His wifeAunt Lide wrote September 19 in one of her notes. Ira carries September18 on one yellow sheet, but unfortunately Ira carries William'sdeathdate as November 18, 1937 on a second yellow sheet. I think thatIra carries him as William F. on one of these sheets.
William was from a family of ten children. William drove a coal-oiltank truck, or wagon, for Gulf Oil in Giddings.
Lyda and her brother Fate were baptized at the same time in 1890 inthe Baptist Church by Dr. Weaver.
Lyda worked in the bank before her marriage.
Her mother, Amelia Scott Jones Fariss, a widow for 26 years after1895, came to live with her. We believe that Amelia's brother-in-lawLafayette Fariss visited in Texas from Alabama in December 1859. Webelieve he dictated to Amelia all that he knew of Fariss family historyas told to him by his father Thomas Israel Fariss. Amelia wrote it alldown; we can recognize what we believe to be her hand-writing. TheFariss family documentation came originally from Amelia. Lyda inheritedit and faithfully kept it up. Aubrey Fariss and others "always dependedon Aunt Lide to keep the family records." She had voluminous files.Her son Charlie Steven Wilson Sr. was very proud to have inherited thisdata. There were many portraits.
The original highway from Giddings to Houston ran alongside therailroad. The Wilson Dairy was a lot of acres on the south side of thehighway, not many blocks east of the I.J. Fariss home. When the newhighway right-of-way was put in, it cut through an important part of theWilson Dairy cow pasture.
Alene Wilson Brosh says that the Wilson family owned a furniture storein Giddings which burned down in the early 1900's.
Aunt Lide's house was on the corner, one block east of Elsie/RobertFariss, facing south, not far from the Baptist parsonage. UncleFate/Aunt Bert were the backyard neighbors of Lide, with an alley inbetween, and each home had its own fence on the alley. Fate/Bert wereon a corner, facing north, on Highway 290, across the street from theGulf station.
Aunt Lide's black maid was Irma, who slept on a small bed in the fronthallway. The front door was never used; the door to be used was on theside street to the east.
Charlie Wilson Jr. says July 24, 1993 that there was a big fig treeright in the middle of the back yard. Hood Wilson cut a trench from theback yard out to the street, to drain the back yard.
Irene Frances Wilson Ellis has wonderful childhood memories ofvisiting her grandmother Aunt Lide in Giddings during her summers, fromher home in Hallettsville. See Irene's notes for details.
Lyda's funeral services were held on Monday April 22, 1963 at theGiddings Baptist Church with the Rev. John Tripp officiating.
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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