In the past year, CHF has had the opportunity to examine several Collier Family Bibles, the oldest of which belonged to Robert Collier (see May 3, 2015 post Robert Collier, Son of Vines and Elizabeth Collier). Robert was born in Virginia in 1783 and died in Upson County, Georgia in 1850, so the Bible is vintage early 1800s.
The Bible is massive with plain front and back covers.
Inside the front cover is a note that “Hambleton was folded 15th of August – 1838”. Hambleton was obviously a horse (foal) and his birth was considered important.
The family history portion is well-preserved and mostly very legible. Based on known handwriting characteristics, the entries in green ink at the end of the “Deaths” section, were added by Jena Cuthbert Collier. The entry of the death of Robert Collier was written by the same person who made most of the entries in the Robert Marshall Collier Family Bible (most likely Robert Marshall himself). The Robert Marshall Bible will be covered in a later post. Martha Marshall Booker, the wife of Robert Collier, signed her name with an “X” (see deed in June 6, 2015 post Robert Marshall Collier’s Papers), so she would not have made the remaining entries in the Family Bible. A comparison of the writing in the initial entry under “Marriages” and the legal document signed by Robert Collier and presented in the May 3, 2015 post, Robert Collier, Son of Vines and Elizabeth Collier, indicate that the entries were made by Robert Collier.
Transcriptions follow each page.
MARRIAGES
Robert Collier and Martha Marshall Booker was married the first day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and six.
BIRTHS
Robert Collier was born the thirteenth of November in the year of our Lord Seventeen hundred & eighty three (1783)
Martha Marshall Booker from the best account was born in the year of our Lord Seventeen hundred & eighty two (1782)
Edith Louisa Collier was born on Monday the Sixteenth of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & seven
William Vines Collier was born on Tuesday the fourth of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight (1808)
Sarah Smith Collier was born on Thursday the twenty eighth of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & nine (1809)
Efford Cobb Collier was born on Saturday the fourth of May in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & eleven (1811)
BIRTHS
Mary Booker Collier was born on Thursday the fourth of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & thirteen (1813)
Robert Marshall Collier was born on Wednesday the ninth of November in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & fourteen (1814)
Frances Elizabeth Collier was born on Sunday the Twenty sixth of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & eighteen (1818)
Isaac Cuthbert Collier was born on Saturday the twenty ninth of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & twenty one (1821).
DEATHS
Isaac Cuthbert Collier departed this life on Thursday about 12 o’clock the 7th of May in the City of Macon in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & forty (1840) in the triumphs of a saving faith – his diing (sic) words was “glory & honor to God and the Lamb forever & ever.”
Robert Collier Father of This family departed This life on Sunday 1O minutes after 1O oclock in the night being the 6t h day of January in the year of our Lord One Thousand and fifty in his sixty seventh year of his age he was a good Husband & Kind Father and an indulgent Master. His last words as understood was “I am done with the world.”
Added in green ink (by Jena Cuthbert Collier:
Wm Vines Collier son of Robt. & Martha Booker Collier died in Columbus Ga on May 11 – 1877 and is buried in Oakland Cemetery Atlanta Ga on the Raines lot .
Martha Booker Collier died in Upson Co Ga (3 mi south of The Rock) May 27 – 1876
CHF is grateful to Christopher Collier for allowing access to these valuable family treasures.
On June 24, 1932, the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) placed a monument over the grave of Vines Collier. See the February 15, 2015 CHF post on the subject, Marking of the Grave of Vines Collier, 1932
The Atlanta Journal newspaper reported on the event in its the August 21, 1932 Sunday Edition.
A high resolution electronic copy can be accessed for downloading by clicking on the following link.
Although I am familiar with most of the information in the article, and have visited Vines Collier home inside and out, I still very much appreciate the addition of this article. One cannot collect too much information on the Collier Family.
Absalom Terrell Collier was born December 14, 1876 in Upson County, Georgia. His parents were Robert Terrell and Francis Ann (Shattles) Collier. Sometime after 1880, his family loaded their belongings in a wagon and headed west. They settled in East Texas.
Ab (as he was called) grew up in the rolling pine and hardwood hills of East Texas. He was lanky and probably over 6’4” tall. Oral family history tells us as a young man he broke wild horses to ride. In 1895, he married Eudora Belle Stewart in Melrose, Texas. They made their home in the Melrose area of Nacogdoches County. Ab and Dora had six children who survived past infancy: Alton Terrell, Lula Bell, Christine Sybil, Pauline, Lora Pearl, and Douglas Woodrow. As were most of the men in rural East Texas, Ab was a farmer.
Eudora was born in Mississippi in 1877. Her father, Eli Stewart, was a Primitive Baptist minister whose travels to deliver the Message led his family from Georgia to Alabama to Mississippi to Louisiana, finally putting down roots in the East Texas county of San Augustine, just east of Melrose. Dora’s mother passed away when Dora was only six or seven. Eli was married three times; researchers should note his first and third wife were both named “Jane”.
Eli Stewart and his third wife, Jane Pate Stewart. Eli is holding Sallie, Jane is holding John. Eudora Belle Stewart is standing. Photo was taken 1893.
Eli and his third wife are buried in the Shiloh Cemetery near the Denning community of San Augustine County, Texas.
Dora’s sister and the oldest sibling, Mary Elizabeth, was 25 when their mother died. Mary helped Eli raise her brothers and sisters and was no doubt was an important person in young Dora’s life. Mary Elizabeth Stewart, married William (Billy) Barton O’Neal in 1879. They made their home in San Augustine County, where they stayed at least through the 1920 census.
William (Billy) Barton O’Neal as a young man.
Billy and Mary O’Neal left San Augustine County sometime after 1920. The early 1920’s found them farming near Lubbock, Texas.
This is a low resolution photo of William (Billy) O’Neal on a mule. The setting appears to be in Lubbock County, Texas.
The 1920s were a time of change for American farmers. During the years of World War I farmers prospered due to high prices resulting from war-torn Europe’s diminished agricultural capacity. To address the high demand for agricultural products, the United States government encouraged an expansion of farms and farming assistance programs. However, as Europeans recovered from the devastation of the war, U. S. agricultural exports fell and prices began to slide. With the mistaken thought that prices would stabilize, the government continued to promote farming expansion.
As the 1920s progressed, it became more and more difficult to make farming pay in the small fields cleared between the forested East Texas hills. The close-knit Collier family was hard hit as farming prices continued to plummet. Cheap land was available elsewhere, including the Texas Panhandle. And it was being discovered that the grass-covered High Plains of the Panhandle, once known as part of the Great American Desert, could be extremely productive farmland under the right conditions.
Dora began experiencing some medical issues, and her doctor suggested she consider moving to a drier climate. Meanwhile, the farming economy in East Texas seemed to be getting worse. Ab and Dora decided to take their family to the Lubbock, Texas area where sister Mary and her husband, Billy O’Neal were raising cotton. They most likely made the move in the late fall of 1925 or early winter of 1926, after the cotton harvest.
Ab, with sons Alton and Douglas, loaded equipment, livestock, and other belongings on a train and went ahead by rail. The rest of the family followed by automobile. In the group traveling by car were Dora and her children, Lula Bell (with toddler Helen and her husband, Burette Doss), Pauline, and Lora Pearl. Daughter Christine Sybil was married, had left Nacogdoches, and was building her new life with her husband. Also included in the car were Alton’s wife, Tommie Inez, and the couple’s three sons: Cecil Ensley, Homer Raiford, and Lenox Ravonne. It was no doubt a tiresome trip, covering some 450-500 miles in a 1920’s automobile, with 6 adults and 4 children, and over roads that, compared to today’s, were probably poorly paved and not well-maintained.
1921 Road Map of Texas, stars mark the locations of Lubbock (left) and Nacogdoches (right) counties. The two areas are 450-500 miles apart.
The family moved into the Wollforth area, southwest of Lubbock, where they worked a place known as the Napper Farm.
The group had not been in the area long before the shine began to wear off their move. The monotonous landscape with unending horizon and constant sun and wind was in sharp contrast to the green hills of East Texas.
Ab found farming conditions in the High Plains were different and with a set of unique challenges. The wide-open expanses made farming large tracts possible, but the single-row farming implements Ab brought from East Texas were out of place.
Farming with one-row, horse-drawn plow.
Even horse-drawn multi-row equipment was giving way to mechanization with the introduction in 1918 of Ford’s mass-produced tractor, the Fordson.
Multi-row horse-drawn farm equipment contrasted with mechanized farming equipment of the 1920s.
Rain was scarce, averaging less than 20 inches of rainfall per year, as opposed to the 40-50 inches they were accustomed to in East Texas. Winter snow was common, and a wind-driven 3- or 4-inch snow could result in 2-foot drifts if an obstacle was there to stop it.
Panhandle farmers had yet to realize the fine, fertile soil was delicately held in place by shallow, tenacious grass roots. Turning the soil with a plow opened the ground up to erosion by the never-ending wind, generating immense, suffocating dust storms. During periods of extreme drought these conditions combined to ultimately result in the infamous Dust Bowl days of the early 1930s.
Dust storm
Then on April 20, 1926, William (Uncle Billy) Barton O’Neal died. He was buried in the City of Lubbock Cemetery.
Ab managed to purchase multi-row farming equipment. The Collier family left the Napper Farm and moved to an area northeast of Lubbock where they worked the Duncan Farm. Meanwhile, the Napper Farm was purchased by Riley Micajah (“Wig”) O’Neal, son of Billy and Mary O’Neal.
Lubbock, Texas 1926 (Left to right) Pauline, Lula Bell, Ab, Lora Pearl, Helen, Dora Belle
Alton and Inez Collier with sons Cecil (on left), Homer (in back), and Lenox (right front). Photograph made in the Lubbock area circa 1926.
Burette Doss holding daughter, Helen, Lula Bell (Collier) Doss and Homer Collier. In front of windmill in Lubbock, Texas area.
Left to right: Lula Bell (Collier) Doss, Homer Collier (boy in front), Helen Doss (in bonnet), Lora Pearl Collier, and Cecil Collier. Lubbock, Texas area.
In 1927, Henry (Bud) Turner drove from Nacogodches to Lubbock with the intention of taking Pauline Collier for his bride. The two were married in the Lubbock area on July 22, 1927. In October of 1927, the newlyweds, along with Burette and Lula Bell Doss and daughter Helen, returned to Nacogdoches. Lula would give birth to her second child the following month.
Sometime in 1928, Mary O’Neal moved to Midland, Texas to be with her son, Bascom Ely “Slim” O’Neal. She may have been ill when she relocated.
On October 23, 1928, Ab wrote to Burette Doss in Nacogdoches and asked him to find him a farm – they were coming home. Sometime between the time of cotton harvest in December 1928 and January 1929, the Colliers returned to Nacogdoches. Family history tells that a crowd gathered at the train depot when the equipment and livestock were unloaded. Locals had never seen such massive farming equipment. Ab parked the equipment at his farm where the curious came from miles around to ask if they could look at these High Plains implements.
Mary O’Neal died in Midland, Texas on February 13, 1929. She was buried in the City of Lubbock Cemetery. Here sister, Eudora, was back in East Texas and was not able to attend the funeral.
The move to Lubbock left lasting impressions. Homer Collier, son of Alton and Inez, started first grade in Lubbock. Homer remembered his hands were always chapped by the wind so he tried to keep his hands closed so the redness wasn’t obvious.
Homer Collier, First Grade, Fall 1928
Pearl and Douglas were caught outside in one of the characteristic dust storms. They were able to make their way home by holding on to and following the wire fence. Lula often told her grandchildren how lightning would strike a barbwire fence and travel along the fence great distances.
Dora said Ab spent all the time they were in Lubbock chasing his hat!
Paschal Smith was a neighbor and friend of the Vines Collier family in the early 1800s in Oglethorpe County, Georgia. Records show that he purchased 15 acres on the Buffalo Fork of Long Creek from Peachy Gilmer. Cuthbert S. Collier (son of Isaac Collier and grandson of Vines Collier) signed as a witness to the transaction. Paschal Smith also served in the Georgia militia, likely alongside some Collier family members. Following Smith’s death, Isaac Collier is on record in 1822 attesting to the proper disposition of Paschal Smith’s estate. Isaac Collier’s first wife was Elizabeth Means Smith, so Paschal may have been a relative. CHF welcomes any information on this possible connection.
Charles Vines Collier, Sr. (also son of Isaac Collier) and wife Rebecca Owen Collier had seven sons. The fifth-born son they named Pascal Smith Collier. He died July 4, 1862 from wounds received in the Seven Days Battle near Richmond, Virginia (see September 14, 2015 post “The Sons of Charles Vines Collier, Sr. and Rebecca Owen Collier”). He was seventeen years old. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. The monument below was placed on young Pascal’s grave through the efforts of the late Ramon Collier, a descendant of Charles Vines and Rebecca Owen Collier.
Robert Terrell Collier (son of Williamson Collier and grandson of Vines Collier) married Francis Ann Shattles in 1859 in Upson County, Georgia. Robert Terrell was young Pascal Smith Collier’s first cousin, once removed.
In the 1880s, Robert Terrell and Francis Ann loaded their belongings in a wagon, or wagons, and departed for Texas with their ten children. Making the trip were their sons Absalom Terrell, born in 1874, and Pascal Smith, born in 1881 and named for his deceased second cousin. The family settled in East Texas. Absalom Terrell eventually moved to Nacogdoches, Texas and founded a large Collier family there. Meanwhile, Pascal Smith, known to the Nacogdoches group as “Uncle Pack”, remained near his mother and father in the Gilmer, Texas area (see March 18, 2016 post “Robert T. Collier . . .But Not This One”).
On April 27, 1942, with the world at war, the United States conducted the Fourth Registration of the Selective Service System, or “draft”. Known as the “old man’s registration”, it registered men, not already in the military and born on or between April 28, 1877 and February 16, 1897. 60-year old Uncle Pack was required to register for the draft. Here is his draft card.
Possible Grave of Efford Cobb Collier, within the iron fence Douglassville Cemetery, Douglassville, Texas.
Background
Efford Cobb Collier, son of Robert Collier and grandson of Vines Collier, was born May 4, 1811 in Upson County, Georgia. He died April 26, 1967 in Douglassville, Texas. He married Elizabeth singleton Harris on November 13, 1834 in Talbot County, Georgia. Elizabeth was born November 24, 1820 and died January 18, 1873 in Bryan, Brazos County, Texas.
The promise of abundant, cheap land in Texas has long enticed settlers, particularly following its annexation by the United States in 1845. In the late 1850s, several families from The Rock in Upson County, Georgia formed a wagon train bound for Texas.
From the files of Jean Cuthbert Collier (dated sometime before December 23, 1923:
“Facts regarding Efford Cobb Collier that removed to Texas from Upson County, Georgia in 1857.
Efford Cobb Collier was the son of Robert Collier and brother of Robert Marshall Collier. It is said that Efford Cobb Collier removed to Texas with a lot of his neighbors, who were, Roswell Powell and James McCoy. It is said that Efford Cobb Collier had the following children: a son William Vines Collier, one daughter named Fannie andone daughter named Sarah and he resided on what is now known as the old Haygoodplace in Upson County Georgia, 3 or 4 miles South of The Rock and that his daughter Fannie married Hardy Jackson being his second wife and his daughter Sarah marriedJames Jackson who was the son of Hardy.
I am now endeavoring to secure information from Douglassville Texas, Cass County,where Efford Cobb Collier is said to have moved in the year 1857.
J. C. Collier“
J.C. contacted several of his Texas kin through the mail and eventually made trips to Texas to meet descendants of his great uncle, Efford Cobb Collier. He found no Colliers in Douglassville, Texas, however. Following Efford’s death in 1867, the family moved to the Central Texas area.
In a letter dated September 3, 1940 to Mrs. I. H. Pressler (granddaughter of Efford Cobb Collier) in Florence, Texas, J.C. stated
“My father, as you know, was born in Upson County, Ga., and I guess I am the one that found your grandfather’s grave over in Douglassville, Texas, Cass County. When I was searching for his grave I ran across the Greene’s on my grandmother’s side who was also born in Thomaston, Upson County, Ga.”
J. C. must have been pointed to Efford’s grave by a knowledgeable local person, which was entirely possible in the mid-1920s. But a review of J. C.’s papers to date have revealed no description of the actual grave location. Then, in 2019, question was brought to the forefront by Tom R. Collier, who had researched and identified the property owned by Efford. Was Efford buried on his farm?
CHF approached Brenda McCoy, historian of the McCoy family and of Douglassville. Based on her research, she believes she has identified the grave of Efford Cobb Collier. Here is the evidence and her conclusions.
My name is Brenda McCoy. I am a Great – Great Granddaughter of James H. McCoy, Sr. who brought his family to Douglassville, Cass Co., Texas from The Rock, Upson Co., Georgia with the Collier family and the Powell family. After retiring, I moved back to the Douglassville area where I had grown up.
Soon after my return, I received a call from Glen Collier of Nacogdoches, Texas. I had been referred to him by someone else…maybe the Mayor of Douglassville (population 214). Mr. Collier was looking for the burial location of Efford Cobb Collier, and he explained his role in helping the Collier family with maintaining records, etc. from years past. In the time following, we exchanged emails as I began the search for the burial location, and I started reading the Collier letters that he was putting online.
For me it was like sitting down and reading a newspaper with names and information going back and forth from The Rock to Douglassville! I knew of the Greene’s and their home place here. I also knew of their relatives here. After reading some of the letters, I discovered for the first time that our McCoy family had come on the wagon train with the Colliers and the Powell’s. There were just a few members of the Powell family left here when I was growing up. And, the Colliers had left.
In working on our family’s genealogy, I have been to The Rock, Upson County, Georgia three or four times. Two cousins had worked on it for many years, and then I got involved, too. So when Glen Collier called, it was a wonderful opportunity to work on the information that the Collier family needed, and at the same time, to learn more about these three families. That also led into more investigation about other families that came here earlier.
(Note: A review of letters written by Mr. Jena Cuthbert Collier, indicated that he had begun his search for more information about Efford Cobb Collier and the members of Efford’s family in 1912. It seemed that the overriding question over time became “Where is Efford buried”? Mr. J. C. Collier had begun putting the genealogy of the Collier family together. It appears from his correspondence that he worked on this for the remainder of his life.)
Here are portions of some of the relevant correspondence that assisted Ms. McCoy’s research:
Dec. 20, 1923 Jena Cuthbert Collier (J. C. C.) wrote Mrs. Mary Greene Wilson (a cousin on his mother’s side) who lived in Douglassville, Cass County, Texas. In this letter he informs her that he has sent out letters to various towns trying to locate the family of Efford Cobb Collier.
Jan. 20, 1924 Hardy R. Collier of Goldthwaite, Texas writes to J. C. Collier that there is a difference in dates of birth and death as it shows in his Grandpa’s Bible and other information shared by J. C. Collier. On page 2 of the letter, he also states that Mrs. Fannie Jackson had said that Grandpa Efford Cobb Collier is buried at Douglassville, Cass Co., Texas. (Fannie Jackson was the daughter of Efford and Elizabeth Collier. Fannie married Hardy Ransom Jackson.)
Sep. 16, 1925 In Jena Cuthbert Collier’s letter to Mrs. Mary Greene Wilson, Douglassville, Texas, he states in the sixth paragraph:
“When I come to Texas I will have to go to Douglassville, and I want to find if possible the grave of Efford Cobb Collier…”
Sep. 28, 1926 Jena Cuthbert Collier wrote Mrs. Mary Greene Wilson in Douglaseville, Texas and stated in the first paragraph “…The flu has been very hard to get rid of. I still have a slight trouble in my throat and at times I ache awfully caused by the flu I contracted at Waco last fall.”
The previous information gives us a clearer idea of when he visited in Douglassville, Texas.
Note: J.C. Collier continued his correspondence in between dates that I have used in sharing selections with you. Those years also included many references to the Great Depression, to business, and to farming and prices regarding such.
Sept. 3, 1940 Jena Cuthbert Collier wrote a letter to Mrs. I. H. Pressler in Florence, Texas. He stated that he regretted not getting to know her personally, but when he was last in Texas and at Waco, he had a case of the flu. It was then impossible for him to get down to Florence. In his closing paragraph he states:
“My father, as you know, was born in Upson County, Ga., and I guess I am the one that found your grandfather’s grave over in Douglasville, Texas, Cass County. When I was searching for his grave I ran across the Greene’s on my grandmother’s side who was also born in Thomaston, Upson County, Ga.”
Sep. 29, 1942 Jena Cuthbert Collier wrote a letter to Dr. J. D. Eggleston in Hampden-Sydney, Va. In the second paragraph, J. C. Collier refers to his great-grandmother, Martha Marshall Booker. Mid-way in the paragraph, he states:
“One son, Efford Cobb drifted to Texas in 1856*, he is buried at Douglasville, Texas, and my inquiries found his grave, his people had scattered all over the state of Texas and I visited several of them on my last trip in Nov. 1926…”
*Note: From all other accounts the move to Texas was in 1857.
Some of the Greene family graves JC Collier found in the Douglassvile Cemetery. Possible grave of Efford Cobb Collier enclosed by iron fence in background.
On Jan. 30, 1866 Efford Cobb Collier deeded personal property to his wife and children. The personal property included his farm.
More from Brenda McCoy:
Since Efford’s health must have been bad when he deeded his property to his wife and children on Jan. 30, 1866, he probably knew that he wouldn’t live too long. His oldest son had been his “overseerer” for his farm before the Civil War, but he was killed in the War in Mississippi. I have wondered if Efford and the family had made plans for the family to go to the area around Bryan maybe after he died. Who knows for sure? A lot of the families here did have some married children to go to the areas around Dallas, down to Waco, and to the Bryan area, etc. after the War. (The Cole family here went to Bryan.) As for burial, I just don’t think that they would have buried Efford on land that they knew would go back to Josiah J. Williams or would be sold.
So…I started thinking about the Douglassville Cemetery, and in particular, one burial site with an iron fence around it but no gravestone for it. I went there and took a shovel and tapped in the ground hoping to find a gravestone that might have fallen over some years ago. No luck. (And, I have the notebooks from two women who had kept records of those buried in D’ville from years ago until they had each died. By then the Cass Co. Genealogical Society had “read” all known cemeteries in the county and published the books.) (Also, no one who died during the Reconstruction Period here had a real marker unless it was homemade of concrete – which there were a few. Some families put “real” ones on the graves at later times when they could get them. But, in learning a little about the Efford C. Collier family, and knowing about the correspondence between the Greene’s and others from GA to TX, and knowing where this grave with an old iron fence around it is, certainly tells me that it is likely Efford’s. There is no way to know for sure, but I just can’t see the family burying him anywhere else. I do not think that he is buried in Powell Cemetery #1. It is not in Douglassville. And, there are no Greene family members buried in it. He could perhaps be in another plot nearby in the D’ville Cemetery in an unmarked grave, but I still think that he is buried within this iron fence. There is no gate to it, and it is only large enough for one person to have been buried. There would have been iron fencing available in this area of the country. There were no railroads anywhere around here until 1873. Getting a monument would have been very difficult – especially during the Reconstruction Period. One would have to be ordered from some other area of the country, and then it would have to be transported from that place to this area. Then it would have to be hauled by a wagon and placed in the proper location. While this was routine in earlier years, it might not have been possible during the Reconstruction Period after the Civil War. But, a nice fence around the grave would have kept the grave from being “lost” over years. I think that is what the family did.
Other evidence:
I also reviewed the Cass County Genealogical Society’s cemetery books of 1996 when they “read” every cemetery and copied every marker in Cass County, and there was no listing for Efford Cobb Collier.
I studied letters of the Collier family and found through them several references to Efford being buried in Douglassville…not outside of Douglassville, and not near Douglassville, but in Douglassville. There is only one cemetery in Douglassville, and it is only a short distance from the intersections of Hwy. 8 and Hwy. 77. Both the Methodist and Baptist churches are visible from the cemetery.
The oldest known marked grave in the Douglassville Cemetery is 29 Oct 1859. This is in the same area as the grave that has the fence around it which I believe is most likely Efford Cobb Collier’s. There is one other grave site enclosed with the same design of fence as the one that could be Efford’s, and it is in the same time period. Other older grave sites northeast of his also have fencing but of a different design. Iron fencing around graves was not uncommon in those earlier days.
I took a shovel and tried to locate any kind of marker on both the inside area and just outside of this site hoping to find something that would have a name or initials on it but found nothing. It is not uncommon for markers to fall over and then over a period of years to have dirt cover them or for grass to grow over them. That did not seem to be the case here.
Other Douglassville information of interest.
James Charles Blalock and Orinda Dorthea Adelia Coleman (O. D. A.) lived at The Rock, Upson Co., GA and remained there. Below are some of their children and spouses who came to this area of Texas:
Nancy W. Blalock married our James H. McCoy (Robert Collier was the one who married them.)
Lucinda G. Blalock married Hardy Ransom Jackson; he married Martha Francis Collier (2) (In his Will, he left Martha $1,500 in gold; his watch, and a horse.)
Eleanor D. Blalock married Roswell Powell
Dorothea Cordelia Blalock married Dr. James Madison Willis (Came here abt. 1855.)
Ransom Cole (1800 – 1887) came to Texas in 1850. His wife was Agatha Bostwick (1806 – 1854). They had nine children. They settled in the Douglassville area. Two of the boys, Jasper Newton Cole and Noah Benjamin Cole, went to Bryan, TX in 1867. Brother Mason D. Cole had a store in Douglassville from 1865 – 1869, and then he joined the brothers in Bryan later in 1869. The father, Ransom Cole, stayed on his farm in Douglassville until his later years, and then he joined family in Bryan, Texas where he died.
Ransom Cole and Hardy Ransom Jackson had a lot of acreage in the northeastern quadrant from Douglassville.
In the foreground is the cemetery marker for J. J. Williams. He was the postmaster in Douglassville and is the one who sold Efford C. Collier land in the E. Frazier Headright.
Thank you Brenda McCoy for your research and sleuthing!
Although I am familiar with most of the information in the article, and have visited Vines Collier home inside and out, I still very much appreciate the addition of this article. One cannot collect too much information on the Collier Family.