|
a.
|
Note: Earlier ABA had her deathdate as July 26, 1936. The tabulation ofgenealogy received from Jo Knox Marcia in May 1995 has July 26, 1934.
From the May 22, 1995 letter from Jo Knox Marcia:
"Grandmother Knox had blue-black hair. For most of her life it waslong and she wore it in a twisted bun on the back of her head. However,when she was in her early seventies she began requiring a lot of care,and as the years progressed the care became greater. In order tofacilitate dressing her, Mom persuaded her to have her hair cut, so forthe rest of her life she had "bobbed" hair. She had very little grayhair when she died. Papa (John Bates Knox) , of course, had beenwhite-headed for fifteen years, and Mom (Edna Monroe) was getting prettygray too, so both of them had grayer hair than did Grandmother.
"I was seven when she came to live with us (1928, at age 69, afterher house burned; her husband had died in 1921), and she would let mehelp make cookies. She made wonderful sugar cookies and she would letme cut them out. She also showed me how to darn sox and helped me makea quilt for my doll bed. Most of her time was spent reading the Bibleand writing letters. She wrote to all of her children and many of hergrandchildren and nieces and nephews.
"I do not know just when Edward and Betty Bettie Tipton moved to theold Knox homestead with Grandmother and Granddaddy Bob (Robert ArchibaldKnox and Fannie Mills Williams Knox) but it was probably when Frances(born 1914) was a small child. I suspect that Granddaddy Bob neededhelp in running the farm. Carolyn, or Bobbie as she was called (born1918) was the next child. She was three years older than I, andCharlotte, or Todd (born 1922) is a year younger. Their last child, ason Edward Jr., was always called Sonny.
"The big farm house that Granddaddy Bob built in 1898 burned in 1927,I think. Papa and all his brothers and sisters were born in theoriginal log house that Great-GrandPa built when he settled in Texas(William Alexander Knox Sr.). I suspect that it was more than just a"cabin," or that it had been added on to over the years. (Archiebelieves W. A. Sr. was well-off; we think he brought slaves to Texas.)The kitchen was in a separate building in back of the house. WhenUncle Lawrence was about a year old, the family moved out of the loghouse into another house on the property and the log house wasdemolished. A big two-story house was built on the site. Papa alwayssaid that Granddaddy Bob had had the lumber hauled in from Galveston.
"One of my few memories of the house is of walking up and down thestairs. Another is of the playroom just over the kitchen. Uncle EdTipton, or Uncle Pete as we called him, loved to hunt and fish. He alsoplayed the fiddle, and when I was a small child visiting the farm hewould, after supper, frequently tune his fiddle and play. I canremember hearing "Turkey in the Straw", "Pop Goes the Weasel," and othertunes. He was a lot of fun and would tease us, but he also was astickler for obedience. I can remember his use of a razor strop on Toddand me once when we disobeyed him.
"During the depression, in the early 1930's I think, farming became sodifficult that Aunt Bettie and Uncle Pete Tipton moved into Giddings.He got a job as an auto mechanic and she kept a boarding house. Butboth were fun-loving individuals who loved people and always had a crowdof people, usually young people, around them. Their home was agathering place for people of all ages. They later moved to San Marcos,probably during World War II, and after Todd married Bob Cummings, whogrew up in Mosheim. They moved to Mosheim where they had a littlestore. Mosheim is not on present day maps.
"The farm is no longer in the family. Another house was built on thesite of the one that burned, but it was a single-story house. Afterthe Tiptons moved to town, the farm may have been rented to tenants, butI'm not sure. Finally, Uncle Bill, Papa's younger brother (WilliamAlexander Knox III), moved to the farm from Rocksprings and triedranching for a few years. He couldn't make a go of it either, so Papa,who was the Administrator of the estate, decided to sell the propertyand divide the proceeds among the heirs. It was sold in the 1940's, Ibelieve."
Annie Fariss Ballard reminisces May 29, 1995:
"The house at Dime Box was L-shaped. The downstairs bedroom had a bigfireplace. The stairway was outside, but covered, and started up nearthe dining room.
"There were two big oak trees at the homesite, good for children toclimb, which the children did. The fire killed one of the oaks, but theother survived. The Knox family went back to get acorns from thesurviving tree, and planted the acorns at some other home.
"Ernest Knox, oldest son of Robert and Fannie, lived nearby with hisfamily. Ernest raised goats. He gave a little lamb to Annie once, totake back to Giddings to raise.
"Ernest was accidentally killed by his son-in-law by rifle, while agroup were on a deer hunt. There was real bad weather. Though it was1936, the preacher could not get to the burying in time. FannieWilliams Knox conducted the funeral service for her son Ernest."
Ed. Note: Here we have a discrepancy. Fannie died in 1934, andErnest in 1936.
"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.
"Fannie died in her sleep."
|
