Meixner Family History #23 - Epilogue Part 6

                                                        Marriage and Children

Alice Armistead, born June 26, 1881, received her education to become a teacher while living in Bell County, TX.  She taught school a few years before meeting Harmon Meixner in Concho County.  Here is a quote from my dad's book:  "My Mother was a very beautiful lady all of her life, of course, but she was especially lovely when she was a young lady.  Her family lived in Bell county before they moved to Concho County in the early 1900s.  She availed herself of quite a bit of education.  She went to one of the academies in Belton and finished that particular phase of her work.  I don't know how long she taught, but I do know that she taught school in the little community of Lowake, Texas.  She lived with a Mr. and Mrs. Low(e), a couple there in the community." (1)

An early picture of Alice Meixner from my cousin Claudia Brown.

According to the Texas State Historical Association Lowake was:  "...named after two farmers, Lowe and Schlake, who donated land for the town site ". (2)  In the 1900 census there is a family by the name of Lowe and a family by the name of Schlake located next to each other.  Possibly these are the families who gave the town it's name and possibly this Lowe family is the one Alice lived with.  My cousin said Harmon and Alice met in the home of a mutual friend, maybe they met in the Lowe house where Alice was living.

1900 Census of Concho County listing the Lowe and Schlake families.

Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Justice Precinct 4, Concho, Texas; Roll: 1623; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0037; FHL microfilm: 1241623.
Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.

Harmon and Alice were married Dec 25, 1905.  According to my dad, their first home was about 2 1/2 to 3 miles due south of Paint Rock and was on the R.T. Trail Ranch.  Two children came along in the next few years.  Mary Lorena Meixner, was born the 3rd of Feb 1907, and William Frank Meixner, was born the 20th of Oct 1908.  My dad, Robert Harmon Meixner, was added to this growing family on July 10, 1910.  With the family now at five, the little house where they were living on the Trail Ranch proved to be too small.

1910 Census of Concho County listing Harmon, Alice, Mary, and Frank.  Robert Harmon is not listed because the census was taken in April and he was born in July.

1910 Census of Concho County listing the Richard T. Trail family.  Harmon and family lived on this ranch for several years.

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Justice Precinct 1, Concho, Texas; Roll: T624_1541; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0026; FHL microfilm: 1375554.
Source Information:  Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
Original data: Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA

In search of a larger home for the family Harmon rented some land from a Mr Gregory sometime in late 1910 or early 1911.  According to my dad:  "This place lay ten miles and a little southwest of Paint Rock." (3)  I found a John S. Gregory in the 1910 Census (see below).  I do not know if this is the person they rented from or not but it is possible.

1910 Census of Concho county listing John S. Gregory.  This may have been the Mr. Gregory who owned the land where the Meixner family lived.

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Justice Precinct 1, Concho, Texas; Roll: T624_1541; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0026; FHL microfilm: 1375554.
Source Information:  Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
Original data: Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA

In the next few paragraphs my dad describes the house on the Gregory place and talks about granddad's farming operation:

"The house was built like an A-frame building with a shed extending out to the west side.  The building faced the east.  It had a living room, a small kitchen and a very small room upstairs, with the stairs leading up on the south side of the front room.  Since the house was not very tall, the little room upstairs was only big enough for a bed and a trunk or two.  My brother Frank and I slept upstairs.  I remember that where the stairs joined with the room upstairs, there was a hole left there about a foot wide through which one could see down into the living room.  There was no heat in this room except what heat rose up from below."

"The Little home was heated by a cast iron stove which was some three feet long and fifteen inches by one foot.  The smoke was carried out by what was known as a stove pipe.  These pipes were made of tin and were about three feet by six inches.  These pipes went up to the ceiling in the room and then out through a vent to the outside.  Of course it is needless to say that our fuel was wood."

The shed in the back of the house ran the length of the house and was about fifteen feet wide.  This served as a kitchen and dining room.  I think that the ceiling was about seven feet high.  I guess that maybe some of the kids slept in the kitchen.  I really think that the rest of the family slept in the living room."

"The field lay to the west of the home.  To the best of my knowledge it contained four-hundred acres or more.  Dad used some hired help to work his land and see to his cattle.  Dad kept several head of horses.  During the winter months he worked as many as as eight horses to till the soil for spring planting.  The farm land was rented.  He paid the landlord one fourth of the cotton and one third of the maize, cane, corn, small grain and other."

"Dad leased land for his stock other than what came with the Gregory place.  He leased land from Mr. Ira White whose ranch lay joining the Gregory place.  This lease added quite a bit of fence building and up-keep to Dad's responsibility.  I do not know how he got around to all that which was his responsibility."

"Three more children were added to our family while we lived in this home.  I will never be able to understand how all of us squeezed into this little shack."  (4)

The family lived there from about 1910 or 1911 to about 1916 or 1917.  Alice Alynn Meixner was born on Nov. 17, 1912, Alberta May (Peaches) Meixner was born on May 16, 1914, and Emma Ruth Meixner was born on May 9, 1916.  The seventh and last child, Victor Rudolph Meixner, was born Oct. 8, 1923, after the family had moved to yet another location.  Alice was 42 by that time.  Must have been a little bit of a shock.

1920 Census of Concho County listing the Meixner family.

Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Justice Precinct 1, Concho, Texas; Roll: T625_1786; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 87; Image: 297.
Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA. Note: Enumeration Districts 819-839 are on roll 323 (Chicago City).

Concho County highway map with locations of where Alice and Harmon worked and lived from the early 1900s to about 1916.  Lowake - Alice lived and worked, Sims Ranch - Harmon worked and possibly lived, Henderson Ranch - Harmon worked there, Trail Ranch - first Meixner family home on this ranch, Gregory place - second Meixner family home.

Besides a growing family many other challenges were faced by the Meixner family during the second decade of the Twentieth Century.  I'll write about some of those challenges and about the opportunity for the Meixner family to purchase their own farm in my next post.


References:
(1)  Meixner, Robert Harmon, Sr., Memoirs of Robert Harmon Meixner, Sr. July 10, 1910 – June 13, 1994.  Unpublished.  Compiled by Margaret Avis Meixner.
(2)  Mary M. Standifer, "LOWAKE, TX," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hnl47), accessed April 14, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
(3)  Meixner, pg 118.
(4)  Ibid, pg 27, 118-119, 133-135.