Susan W. Taylor (George Russell Street's mother)

I didn't have very much information on George Russell's mom. All I had was a name - Susan W. Tolar. I kept thinking there had to be more information somewhere. I kept digging and tonight I came up with more. Her name is Susan W. Taylor - not Tolar. Now, we know her mother and father and her siblings. I knew there was more out there! Now, we must try and find out what happened to her youngest child, H. A. Street.

One of the Taylor descendants has contacted me. She is going to publish a book when she finishes her research and she has promised to share with me. She lives in Mississippi in the same area the Streets and the Taylors lived before they came to Texas.

In the 1870 Census, Susan was a widow and lived on a farm with her 6 children. See the post on George Russell Street for more census information. On the farm next to Susan lived her brother and his family. Their farm was owned by them, free of any mortgage. It was worth $624 and personal property valued at $405.

J. B. Taylor - age 62 - farmer
M. Taylor - age 62 - wife - keeping house
John L. - age 23 - works on farm
M. J. - age 21 - female - at home

In the 1900 Census, Susan lived in Martindale, Texas (Caldwell County). She was living with her son, John. She was 62 and a widow. He was 45, single and a carpenter. They owned their house without a mortgage. They lived in a home, not on a farm.

Martindale, Tx. was established on the banks of the San Marcos River. A Baptist church was organized in 1858 and a post office was established in 1875, when the local population was less than fifty. In 1890 the town had four general stores and four gristmills and gins. By 1892 the population was 200. In 1905, Martindale had two schools with four teachers and 184 white students and one school with one teacher for 73 black students. Four churches, a hotel, three cotton gins, three stores, a bank, and telephone service were in operation by 1914.
Susan died November 29, 1909 and is buried in Humphrey Cemetery, Martindale, Caldwell County, Texas.

George Russell Street

My grandfather was John Gadys Street, Sr. His dad was George Russell Street. George Russell Street was born in Tippah County, Mississippi. On the 1870 census, he was 6 years old and lived in Tippah County, Township 3, Range 4. This area is south of the Chickasaw meridian. the Chickasaw meridian is a horizontal baseline that actually runs through Tennessee, just north of the Mississippi-Tennessee line. 

You can go to this link http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mstippah/LandPatents.htm and see the original patents for the land in this county. 

Listed on the same census - same household are:

S. W. Street (his mother) age 35 occupation "keeping house"
James Street (brother) age 16 - working the farm
John Street (brother) age 14 - working the farm
Linsey Street (brother) age 12 - working the farm
Lee Street (brother) age 10 - working the farm
George Street age 6
H. A. Street (half-sister) age 1

H. A. Street is not listed on any other documents I've been able to find, I'm assuming she either died and there is no record of it or another family adopted her. Her father couldn't have been the same as George's because his father died before George was born.

Census says that their farm was worth $780 and the personal property on the farm was valued at $400.

Family legend has it that George Russell left Mississippi when he was old enough and made his way to Texas. My Great Aunt Ima said that George Russell rode the Chisholm Trail before settling in Texas. The facts tell another story.

Back to the 1870 Census - his family lived on a farm right next to his mom's brother J. B. Taylor. According to the Taylor family, Susan came to Texas with her sons at the same time the Taylor family moved here. Documents from the time back up this information.

George Russell led his wife and children to think that his family was back in Mississippi and that he had left home at a young age and didn't know what happened to them. Well, he came to Texas with them so he had to know where they settled. They settled in Martindale, Caldwell County, Texas. In the 1900 Census, George Russell was married and living in Kosse, Limestone County, Texas. His mother and brothers were still living in Martindale, Tx. His mother, Susan W. Taylor was living with her son John. She was 62 and widowed. Her son, John was 45 and single. He was a carpenter. They owned their home and it was paid for (no mortgage). He was unemployed for 3 months during that year. He never saw his mother or brothers after he left them to begin his own life. Susan W. Taylor died in 1909 and his brothers died:

James H. died 1931 in Tarrant County, Texas
John S. died 1942 in El Paso, Texas
Linsey died 1900 in Mississippi
Leroy P. died 1948 in Tarrant County, Texas

this just to show that some of his brothers were close by and it wouldn't have been hard to stay in touch. I guess the reason or reasons why he chose not to stay in touch with them will never be known.

In 1893, George Russell married Laura Melissa Ainsworth. He was 30 years old.

In the 1900 Census, George Russell was living in Precinct 5, Kosse, Limestone County, Texas. He and Melissa had been married 7 years. His occupation was farmer. He had been out of work one month during the year. He owned his farm free of any mortgage. He was 37 years old.

Melissa (spelled Malissie on the census form) was 27
Gadys (son) was 5
Emmett (son) was 5
Ed Jordan - 25 lived with them and was listed as a boarder'

George Russell died in 1926 and he is buried in Parker Cemetery, Johnson County, Texas. He was 63.

Gathering My Bunch

I've been working online discovering the genealogy of my family for about a year now. Before Internet and the World Wide Web, I did some genealogy by searching through old courthouse records and visiting cemeteries. Wow, the resources online make is so much easier but the amount of information can be overwhelming.

I wanted to be able to tell the stories I've found during my search. Finding out the names of people, who their parents were, who were their children, who were their siblings ... well, that is interesting but it is just facts. I want to know more than facts. I want to share the stories with others so that they are not forgotten. That is why I decided to start this blog. It will be a work in progress. As I discover something I think is interesting and is "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey would say, I will blog about it here. That means it may be really random at times. I know I will probably change how I blog at different times due to the fact that this blog will always be a work in progress. I hope that those of you that take this journey along with me, will enjoy the stories I uncover.

I would like to make a note regarding the title of my blog. It is a nod to my step-sister, Penny Rose Rossa. Last summer my mom and I had the privilege of visiting with Penny, her daughter Ashlyn and her dad, Bob. During the visit a lady came over to where we were sitting. The lady obviously suffered from Alzheimer's and she was upset. It seems as though she was looking for her bunch. Penny told her (motioning to all of us sitting there) we were "her bunch", meaning we were Penny's family. That meant so much to Mom and me. We loved the term and have used it often since that visit. So my search through the past (and present) is "gathering my bunch". Thanks, Penny Lynn!