NOTES AND THOUGHTS ON ABOVE

NOTES ON THE ABOVE :

#5 SUSIE’S - I HAVE NOT HEARD THESE AGES. THE AGES AT THE TIME OF THE DIVORCE WERE 8 MONTHS AND 2 YEARS AND 8 MONTHS. WHEN THEY WERE LIVING IN WRIGHT COUNTY (PRESUMABLY RIGHT BEFORE THEIR MOTHER DIED, IF THE AGE LENA STATED WHEN THEY CAME TO TEXAS IS CORRECT) THEY WERE 6 AND 8.

#5 LENA -- I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO LOCATE ANY HOWELLS FROM FT. WORTH THAT APPEAR TO HAVE MOVED TO VAN ZANDT COUNTY, THAT WAS THE WATER COMMISSIONER. LENA WAS TO HAVE LIVED WITH A HOWELL FAMILY THAT HAD A DAUGHTER LIVING THERE BY THE NAME OF MATTIE. THE JOHN HOWELL FAMILY THAT LIVED IN VAN ZANDT CO. DID HAVE A DAUGHTER NAMED MATTIE IN IT. THIS HOWEVER IS THE FAMILY THAT APPEARS TO HAVE COME DIRECTLY TO VAN ZANDT CO. WHEN THEY CAME TO TEXAS.

#7 SUSIE -- FATHER RAN OFF WITH MOTHER’S SISTER---- ONLY STORY I HAD HEARD WAS THAT GRANDMA ARCHER SAID HER DAD WENT TO WORK ONE DAY AND DIDN’T COME BACK.

I HAVE, ALTHOUGH NOT TOTALLY DISCOUNTED, WONDERED ABOUT THE INFORMATION THAT HAD BEEN GIVEN BY LENA. AT THE TIME OF THE DIVORCE IN 1875 SHE WAS LESS THAT A YEAR OLD. PRESUMABLY, BUT NOT NECESSARILY, ELIZABETH AND THE GIRLS MOVED TO WRIGHT COUNTY NOT LONG AFTER THE DIVORCE. ALSO, IF THE MATHEW IN THE 1880 CENSUS IN ARKANSAS IS HIM, HIS DAUGHTERS AGES BEING 1 AND 2, WOULD HAVE PUT HIM GONE FROM THE AREA BY AT LEAST 1877 AND SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN 3 OR UNDER. REMEMBERING THE RED HAIR I CAN SEE BUT NOT THAT HE BROKE HORSES FOR A LIVING (UNLESS OF COURSE IT WAS MENTION LATER).

SUSIE BEING 2 YEARS OLDER WOULD MAKE YOU THINK SHE WOULD HAVE KNOWN MORE THAN WHAT SHE HAD TOLD. HER WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED TO HER FATHER MAKES ME BELIEVE THAT SHE DIDN’T KNOW THE STORY AND THAT MAKES IT SEEM LESS LIKELY LENA DID.

THE STORY OF SUSIE TELLING LENA THAT THEIR FATHER HAD NOT DIED BUT RAN OFF WITH THEIR MOTHER’S SISTER MAKES NO SENSE TO ME. IF ELIZABETH’S FAMILY HAD DISOWNED HER WHERE DID HER SISTER COME INTO PLAY? THEY WERE MARRIED IN PHELPS COUNTY AND MOVED TO HOWELL ---- DID HER FAMILY FOLLOW HER FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON? IS THE LADY HE’S MARRIED TO IN THE 1880 CENSUS HER SISTER? THIS THOUGH SEEMS UNLIKELY SINCE HER NAME APPEARS TO BE ELIZ.