Meixner Family History #24 - Epilogue Part 7

                                                         War and Drought

The second decade of the Twentieth Century started with William Howard Taft as president of the United States.  He served until 1913.  Woodrow Wilson became the 28th president in 1913 and served until 1921.

Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America. 1919  Harris & Ewing

This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3f06247.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Woodrow_Wilson,_Harris_%26_Ewing_bw_photo_portrait,_1919.jpg

This decade, known as "The Nineteen Teens", was a particularly deadly decade.  In 1912 a ship dubbed "unsinkable", the RMS Titanic, hit an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912.  The ship lasted only 2 hours and 40 minutes, after hitting the iceberg.  Of the 2222 people on board, including the crew, 705 people survived but 1,517 lost their lives. (1)

Titanic at the docks of Southampton.

http://students.umf.maine.edu/~hartwenr/webquest/teacherpage/titanic%20in%20dock.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic

In 1914 a seemingly innocent visit to Sarajevo by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, turned deadly when he and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated by a Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip.  The date was June 28, 1914.

Gabro Princip just arrested by police, after his successful attempt on the life of Prince Franz Ferdinand of Habsburg in Sarajevo.  28 June 1914

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gavrilo_Princip_captured_in_Sarajevo_1914.jpg

A month later Austria-Hungary declared war.  Treaties and alliances that were in place between nations quickly helped escalate this into a world war.  Early participants were the Allied Forces of France, United Kingdom, and Russia, who were aligned against the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary.  Some of the participants would change over the years and the United States would be drawn into the war by 1917.  The treaty of Versailles finally ended the war on June 28, 1919, but the seeds were also sown that would ultimately develop into another world war years later.  The "Great War", or "The War to End All Wars", would later become known simply as World War I.  An estimated 10 million people were killed and 20 million wounded as a result of the war.  (2)

A ration party of the Royal Irish Rifles in a communication trench during the Battle of the Somme. The date is believed to be 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme, and the unit is possibly the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles (25th Brigade, 8th Division).

This is photograph Q 1 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 1900-02)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Irish_Rifles_ration_party_Somme_July_1916.jpg

Death did not stop it's cold march with the end of the war, however.  In March of 1918 several soldiers at Fort Riley, Kansas were detected as having the symptoms of flu.  These cases of flu became the first recorded cases of the Spanish Flu.  Eventually this flu would develop into a world wide pandemic.  After the spread of this initial strain of the flu, it mutated into a strain that was unusually deadly and seemed to target the young and healthy.  It was particularly deadly for those that were 20 to 35 years old.  American soldiers spread the flu across training facilities in the U.S. and then across the ocean via the troop transport ships to Europe.  From there it spread worldwide.  Some estimates go as high as 50 million deaths worldwide from March 1918 to the spring of 1919.  (3)

Masked medical personnel giving treatment to an influenza patient. U.S. Naval Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana. (Circa autumn 1918)

Picture courtesy U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command.
http://history1900s.about.com/od/photographs/ig/1918-Spanish-Flu-Pictures/Giving-Treatment.htm

Other developments of this decade were of a more positive nature.  Arizona was admitted as the 48th state to the United States in 1912.  It was the last of the contiguous states to be admitted.  On Dec 1, 1913 the Ford Motor Company introduced the First moving assembly line in the automotive industry.  It would revolutionize the auto industry as well as other types of manufacturing around the world.  This innovation allowed Ford to reduce workers hours and nearly double their pay.  Workers were now able to buy the cars they were building.  The next year, 1914, Ford Motor sold more cars than all the other car companies combined.  The Panama Canal opened in 1914, and in 1917 the first Pulitzer prizes were awarded.  (4)

Ford assembly line, 1913.

http://www.gpschools.org/ci/depts/eng/k5/third/fordpic.htm

But then the decade ended with the passage and implementation of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution.  The manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor became illegal.  This amendment created unintended consequences that resulted in the "growth of vast criminal organizations, including the modern American Mafia, and various other criminal cliques.  Widespread disregard of the law also generated rampant corruption among politicians and within police forces." (5)  The passage of the Twenty-first Amendment on Dec 5, 1933, repealed the Eighteenth Amendment.

In Concho County the Meixner family was busy trying to make a living.  In my last post I wrote about the first two places the family lived after Harmon & Alice married and about the children that were born.  This new decade offered many challenges to the family.  Sometime in 1916 they moved to a third home.  My dad described it like this:  "It was sometime during the year of 1916 that we moved to a new location.  We called this the Caruther's (probably Crothers) place, since it was owned by a man by that name.  This piece of land joined our old home place on the North.  A hot top road divides these two places now and of course we do not own the old home place anymore."

"To the best of my memory this place had two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen.  The new location contained 480 acres.  The house was located on a promontory.  A little creek called the Duck Creek, lay to the west of the house and the house sat on an incline about two-hundred feet above the creek.  A bluff ran along side the creek for two-hundred yards.  The bluff sat a few feet from the creek and there were some huge overhanging rocks that stuck out toward the creek.  There was a space under these overhanging rocks that made an ideal place for children to play.  We children used this place a lot and enjoyed it.  To the west of the creek and west of the house there was about ten acres of field.  To the extreme west side of the place there lay some forty acres of cultivated land."

"We lived on this place for two years.  (1916-1918)  During this time World War I was being fought.  It was also during this time that we suffered the worst drought in the history of West Texas.  These two incidents preyed upon the minds and hearts of the people.  They worked their havoc on the small community in which we lived.  Most of the people placed their belongings in their old covered wagon and headed east.  My Father and Mother, with a few more brave souls, chose to remain there and tough it out."  (6)

I believe, according to Dad's description in relation to the old home place and to Duck Creek, that this is approximately where the Meixner Family lived from 1916 to 1918.  W.D. Crothers (Dad had Caruthers) owned property to the north of the old Meixner home place.  I believe this is who owned the land granddad rented in 1916.

In Texas the drought of 1917-1918 is considered by many as the worst on record.  The drought in the 50's was the longest and our current drought may alter the rankings but the drought in 1917-1918 certainly is one of the worst.  Various articles used the words "legendary" and "memorable" to describe it.  One article said native grasses were severely damaged and as a result invasive species were able to permanently take over in many areas.  It was so bad that 1400 box cars were sent to Texas by the Federal government to help evacuate starving cattle to other areas.  (7) (8)

My Dad describes one experience of the family like this:  "In 1914 Dad had built up a sizable herd of cattle.  A buyer came by and offered him eighty-five dollars for a cow and calf combination.  He talked it over with my mother and she advised him to sell.  Dad studied about it for a few days and then came up with the conclusion.  He told Mother that if they were worth that much to the other fellow they were worth that much to him.  By 1917 the great drought had arrived.  Dad was forced to take cattle to Fort Worth and take a price of twelve dollars per head.  Dad made a mistake that time, but who hasn't made a few mistakes." (9)  While my dad characterizes it as a "mistake" in the above quote, I would be inclined to call it a decision that didn't work out like he hoped.  How could granddad have predicted he would face the worst drought in Texas history in a couple years?  Granddad took his cattle to town, loaded them on the train, and accompanied them to Fort Worth, probably riding in the caboose.  I find it interesting that I now live close to Fort Worth and not too far from the Fort Worth Stockyards where granddad would have taken his cattle in 1917.

Photographs of the Fort Worth Stockyards.

http://www.stockyardsmuseum.org/index_files/StockYardsHistory.htm 

The official beginning of the Fort Worth Stockyards was in 1893.  "The Fort Wort livestock market became the largest in Texas and the Southwest, the biggest market south of Kansas City, and ranked between third and fourth consistently among the nation's large terminal livestock markets for five decades, from about 1905 to the mid-1950s.  The year 1917 set records that stood for nearly thirty years; more than a million cattle and a million hogs arrived, for a total of 3.5 million animals in all categories-cattle, calves, hogs, sheep, and horses and mules." (10)  I wonder if some of that record was due to the drought.

Another account of the drought went like this:  "One of the things we endured was the sand storms.  They came frequently and sometimes with great ferocity.  Often they were so severe that we would awake in the morning with a layer of dirt on our beds and all over the house.  The dust would collect in the ceiling and become so deep that it would gradually sift down on us at the least disturbance.  Dad would have to crawl up through the vent into the ceiling with a corn scoop and rake and scoop the dirt down through the vent into a large wash tub.  Then we would carry it out and dump it.  These storms gradually blew the top of the soil taking the grass with it.  Some of the grass hung on by its roots, but the little stump was really dead." (11)

And another event:  "While we were living on the Caruther's place in 1918 we had a blizzard.  The wind got up to sixty or seventy miles per hour.  It looked like we might be getting a great snow.  Where there was something for the snow to drift up on, it piled real high.  On the north side of the barn and sheds, the snow piled up even higher than the eaves of the buildings.  Out on the open spaces there was just a smattering of snow.  The wind was blowing too hard for the snow to catch on small objects like grass and rocks.  The snow went through the cracks in our house and gathered on our beds.  It was an unwelcome mess."

"The temperature must have gotten much below zero.  Someone had built a surface tank down at the foot of the hill on Duck Creek.  The tank was some thirty or forty feet across and contained about three feet of water in depth.  The morning after the storm we went down to this tank to cut the ice so that our horses could drink.  Six or seven of our largest horses were out in the middle of the tank walking around on the ice. When we began to cut the ice, we found it was a foot in thickness.  We cut the ice in slabs and pushed these slabs back under the main ice cap." (12)

One more experience that must have been particularly hard for granddad was explained by my dad like this:  "I remember one time during  the great drought we had run completely out of food, as we did from time to time.  Dad had run out of money.  He got in the old wagon and went to town to try and borrow some money to live on.  He went to the bank and they told him that they were not loaning anybody any money under any circumstances.  He went to the grocery stores and they turned him down.  They would not let him have credit.  I remember that there was one grocery store left in town.  This store was owned by a man by the name of Mr. Barbee.  Dad went to Mr. Barbee and told him his story.  Mr. Barbee said, 'Harmon, you just bring your wagon and team around here to the back of the store, back the wagon up to the back door and load all of the groceries you want on the wagon.'  He said, 'When you make a crop you can pay me for the groceries.'  My Dad was completely overcome by Mr. Barbee's kindness.  It is needless to say who we bought our groceries from for many years following." (13)

The 1920 US Census for Concho County lists an Ezekiel N. Barbee as Manager of a Grocery Store.

Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Justice Precinct 1, Concho,Texas; Roll: T625_1786; Page: 11B; Enumeration District: 87; Image: 316.
Source Information:  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).

When the United States entered World War I in 1917 even more stress was added to the Meixner family.  Here is what my dad said about that: "During the years that we lived on the Caruthers place, the Great War was raging (World War I).  This was a time of great apprehension and tension.  Everyone felt insecure and there was never a time that one felt comfortable.  All men up to a certain age were signed up to fight in the war and many of them were being drafted into the service.  My Dad had signed up and was always uneasy thinking that he might be drafted at any time.  I know that he and my mother spent many an anxious hour.  They never knew what moment Dad might be called into service."

"We were in the midst of the most drastic droughts in the history of West Texas so my Dad had more than enough to harrow and to harass him.  Times were exceedingly hard from the standpoint of the weather as well as the economy.  One could not borrow a dime anywhere.  The fact that there were no jobs to be had.  Most of the people had furnished their covered wagons and left the country.  Mother had two brothers who were either drafted or volunteered for the service."  (14)

It is very hard to read but this is a copy of granddad's Draft Registration Card for World War I.

Source Citation: Registration State: Texas; Registration County: Concho; Roll: 1952491.
Source Information:  Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
Original data: United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.

"During World War I, Herbert Hoover was the Food Administrator.  He declared meatless, wheatless, and sugarless days.  He prescribed certain days when people could not eat these products.  For instance, if it was a wheatless day, people could not eat anything that was made of wheat.  We were rationed to one level teaspoon of sugar per day.  That  much sugar just gave the food enough sugar to make one want something sweet.  The wheatless days did not bother us much, since we either could not get flour or there was none to get.  The government recommended that we eat shorts, which was a product that was meant to be fed to the hogs.  It had a texture somewhat like flour, but it tasted like the devil."  (15)

And we think we have gone through difficult times.  At least by the end of 1918 the war had ended and so had the drought.  Granddad rented 160 acres of land from a man by the name of Millard F. Kerby in 1918.  In 1919 he purchased the land from Mr. Kerby and his crops were beautiful.  Things were looking up.  I will go more into the details of the land purchase and the decade of the 1920s in my next post.

References:
(1)  http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/p/titanic.htm
(2)  http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwari/p/World-War-I.htm
(3)  http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/p/spanishflu.htm
(4)  http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1910timeline.htm
(5)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States
(6)  Meixner, Robert Harmon, Sr., Memoirs of Robert Harmon Meixner, Sr. July 10, 1910 – June 13, 1994.  Unpublished.  Compiled by Margaret Avis Meixner, pg 48-49.
(7)  http://texashurricane.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/how-bad-is-this-drought/      
(8)  http://www.gilmermirror.com/view/full_story/10032438/article-Texas-facing-another-drought         
(9)  Meixner, pg 25-26.
(10)  Nell L. Pate, "FORT WORTH STOCKYARDS," Handbook of Texas Online(http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dif04), accessed January 14, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.  
(11)  Meixner, pg 58-59.
(12)  Ibid, pg 52.
(13)  Ibid, pg 60.
(14)  Ibid, pg 171.
(15)  Ibid, pg 51.  

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.

Meixner Family History #22 - Epilogue Part 5

                                                         Granddad's Cowboy Years

It's difficult for me to think of Granddad as a cowboy, since my only remembrances of him are when he was in his 80s,.  But that is what he was in his early years in Concho County.  He moved west like many others were doing at this time to follow the opening of the frontier in Texas and to take advantage of the opportunity that it offered.  He worked on large ranches riding the herds and working the cattle, breaking horses, etc as recounted in post #20.

A couple weeks ago I made a trip to Bell County and several other places and met one of my cousins.  I most likely met him before, but this was before I started getting into my family history and before I knew all the people and relationships, so that may be why I really don't remember our prior meetings.  His name is William Rudolph (Bill) Schleede and he lives on a farm in Bell County.  His current place is located just a short distance from the farm where he grew up which is also the farm where Theresia and her second husband Rudolph Schleede lived from 1892 until his death in 1911 and then her death in 1932.  His grandmother (who is also my great-grandmother) is Theresia (Eigel) (Meixner) Schleede and his grandfather was William Rudolph Schleede.  His father was also named William Rudolph so he is the third one to carry the name.  I had a wonderful visit with Bill and I will write more about that visit in a later post.  Bill related a story to me that is relevant to granddad's cowboy days.  

In 1901 a young man by the name of M.P. McElhannon started his practice as a doctor at Belton in Bell County.  Bill told me that my granddad, Harmon, broke a horse for Dr. McElhannon.  (This is the process of taming a wild horse down to the point you are able to mount and ride it without it bucking you off.)  This was the first horse the doctor owned and was the horse he used as he began his practice as a doctor in Bell County.  He practiced in Bell County for many years and was a well respected and well known doctor in that area.  I found it interesting that "cowboy" Harmon helped him get started.

Cowboys Breaking In Horses.

http://uair.arizona.edu/item/294498, Photograph of cowboys breaking in horses on the Empire Ranch [ca. 1890-1900]. Empire Ranch -- Portfolio Box: (2) [Vault] Special Collections, http://www.library.arizona.edu/

Cowboy Breaking in a Horse.  Painted by Fredrick Remington.

http://www.wpclipart.com/American_History/commerce/commerce_2/Cowboy_breaking_a_horse__Remington_1893.png

When granddad got to Concho County my dad stated in his book that:  (He) "...worked for Sam Henderson, who had some fifty sections of land (32,000 acres) in his spread." (1)  and later he said "Papa worked for an old time family by the name of D.E. Sims.  Mr. Sims lived on the Concho River and his spread took in the present site of the Painted Rocks.  Dad worked for the Sims family for quite a long time .  He was a friend to the family many years as we lived in Concho County." (2)

Granddad Harmon Meixner in his early years.  Picture shared by my cousin Claudia Brown.

Working on a large ranch was lonely work.  It meant hours spent riding in the blazing sun, freezing cold or driving rain and watching the heard or looking for strays.  Cowboys found various means of diversion to liven up their day and to entertain themselves.  Granddad said "one day he and his buddy were riding along and came up on a huge badger.  They got off their horses and took their quirts with them. (A quirt is:  "a riding whip with a short handle and a rawhide lash.")  One would hit the badger with a quirt and get him to chase him, then the other one would run up and give the old badger a good lick with the quirt and the badger would turn and chase him.  They would finally wear the badger out." (3)

Badger.  Somehow this guy doesn't look like he would be that much fun.  

http://theshroom.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/advice-column-ask-a-honey-badger/

Cowboys worked in all types of weather and all types of conditions both day and night.  ..."often while driving the cattle at night a storm would be raging.  He said that the lightening would play back and forth on the tips of the horns on the cattle." (4)  I guess this would have been static electricity.  I think that would be quite a sight on a dark stormy night.  Sounds to me like St. Elmo's Fire.  * (See my reference below about St. Elmo's Fire.)

As they worked the heard of cattle the "cowboys never yelled, whistled or made any kind of unusual noise because if they did they would have a stampede.  That meant that the cattle would run and then scatter everywhere.  It would take days to round them up again.  For the most part the cattle were roped, marked, and worked right out in the open prairie.  Fences were few and far between.  It was a very common thing to ride for fifty miles without opening a gate." (5)

Description: Photograph of four cowboys on horseback in front of a column of cattle in an open field. Behind the cowboys and cattle are two small, wooden houses.  Creator: Mugg, Kilo

Harvey Patteson & Son Photographers. [Field of Longhorn Cattle], Photograph, 1952; digital image, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth44331/ : accessed March 18, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Cattle Raisers Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.

Cowboys Herding Cattle, Photograph, n.d.; digital image.

(http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth44466/ : accessed March 18, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Cattle Raisers Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.

A couple more interesting stories that I got from my dad's book were granddad's stories about snakes.  I would guess you had to become somehow reconciled with snakes when you were living as close to nature as they were back then.  Remember the snakes in the rafters dropping on to the beds that I told about in post #12?

"... the cowboys were riding the range several miles from the ranch house and the bunk house.  They were living in a tent.  One morning they got up and ate their breakfast and then proceeded to roll up their bunks.  Dad discovered a large rattlesnake had spent the night with him.  The snake was under his bed roll and was mashed rather flat.  Dad said that he could not bear to kill the snake after he had been so nice and hadn't bitten him. He got a long stick and carried the snake a good way from the camp site and let him go." (6)

Another story went like this:  "As dad first started riding the range, he would notice the old cowpokes spying a rattlesnake and simply ride up close - drop the reigns to his horse.  Then he would walk, or I had better say, ease over to where the snake was coiled and gently raise their cowboy boots (these boots had a long heel) high over the snake and come down with the heel of the boot on the snake's head and kill him."

"Dad said that he was riding the pasture by himself one day and he noticed a rattler coiled up which gave him a chance to try and do what the other boys had been doing.  He got up to the snake, raised his foot high and came down toward the snake's head.  He missed the snake's head and the snake grabbed his pant leg.  He said that he took off at a high rate of speed.  He just didn't know when to stop running.  A morning or two later, he was going after his horse and one of his bridle reigns dropped down and made a hissing noise and he took off and ran for a hundred yards.  He thought that a rattler was about to get him." (7)

Rattlesnake.  You aren't going to catch me trying to stomp on one of these things!

Mitchell, J. D.. Rattlesnake at bay, Photograph, May 25, 1917; digital image, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth64950/ : accessed March 18, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Victoria College/ University of Houston-Victoria Library, Victoria, Texas.

"Dad said that one time while working for Mr. Sims, it came time for him to do his washing.  He took his clothes and went down to the Concho River to do his wash.  Dad said that it was a moon light night and he was stooped over washing his clothes in the clear water and all at once he heard a rumbling noise.  At once he became aware that the 'river was coming down', (an expression used to indicate that a head rise was coming down the river).  A roll of water was coming down the river about four feet high.  He lost no time in grabbing his clothes, at least those that he could quickly grab, and get out of the river.  He lost most of his clothes, but he saved his life." (8)  This was not an unusual occurrence on the river.  When you got a heavy rain upstream from where you were located the water would quickly fill the river and it would go down stream as a wall.  ** (Isaac Cline recounted a similar event on the Concho River.  See the link to this very interesting story below about "The 1885 Hail Storm, Concho County, Texas".)

After years of being a cowboy, granddad finally decided to settle down.  Or maybe it was the fact that he met this pretty lady named Alice Armistead and fell in love and she decided it was time he was going to settle down.  Either way, granddad and Alice started their married life in December 1905.  Their first home was on the Trail Ranch which was located about two and a half miles south of Paint Rock, TX.  (9)

Grandmother Alice Meixner in her early years.  Picture shared by my cousin Claudia Brown.

I'm sure granddad was still a cowboy for his entire life but his marriage did start a new phase of his life: Marriage and Raising Children.  I'll talk about that next time.

* Wikipidia's description of St Elmo's Fire:  Physically, St. Elmo's fire is a bright blue or violet glow, appearing like fire in some circumstances, from tall, sharply pointed structures.  St. Elmo's fire can also appear on leaves, grass, and even at the tips of cattle horns.  Conditions that can generate St.Elmo's fire are present during thunderstorms, when high voltage levels are present between clouds and the ground underneath. Air molecules glow owing to the effects of such voltage, producing St. Elmo's fire.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo's_fire        

** This is a facinating story about an incounter Isaac Cline had in Concho County with the river "coming down".  Isaac Cline was with the cavalry at the time.  He would later become famous as the meteorolgist for the U.S. Goverment at Galveston when the great hurricane hit  in 1900.  Read the story at this website:   http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/Chilled-Catfish-of-Concho-County.htm

References:
(1)  Meixner, Robert Harmon, Sr., Memoirs of Robert Harmon Meixner, Sr. July 10, 1910 - June 13, 1994. Unpublished. Compiled by Margaret Avis Meixner, pg 12.

(2)  Ibid, pg 13.
(3)  Ibid, pg 15-16.
(4)  Ibid, pg 16.
(5)  Ibid, pg 16.
(6)  Ibid, pg 17.
(7)  Ibid, pg 18.
(8)  Ibid, pg 14.
(9)  Ibid, pg 27.

My Paint Rock Excursion

"Hundreds of Indian Pictographs are found along a Rock bluff overlooking a once widely-used Indian camp ground.  One mile northwest of Paint Rock on U.S. Highway 83, the site is easily accessible..."  This is a quote from the brochure of "Paint Rock Excursions".  This tour takes place on the Sims/Campbell Ranch in Concho County.

Brochure for "Paint Rock Excursions".

D.E. Sims came to Concho County in 1876 and by 1886 he had amassed some 14,000 acres of land and had built a large ranching operation.  His ranch spanned the area just north of Paint Rock, TX along the Concho River.  This area included a rock bluff that was home to over 1500 Indian pictographs.

I knew that my granddad, Harmon Meixner, worked for D.E. Sims in the late 1800s and early 1900s and that my father, Robert Harmon Meixner, worked for Mr. Sims' son, Benjamin Victor Sims, during the depression years (probably around 1930-32).  So for those two reasons I had wanted to visit the Sims ranch for some time.  When I discovered a site on the Internet about tours to the pictographs, I decided a tour would be a great way to be able to visit the ranch and to see the pictographs as well.

The current owners of the ranch are Kay and Fred Campbell.  Kay inherited a portion of the original ranch owned by her grandfather, D. E. Sims, that included the area around the pictographs.  After varied careers, Kay and her husband decided to move back to the ranch when they retired several years ago.  A small snapshot of the family tree looks like this:  Dunlap Edward Sims married Ella LeCompte and had five children.  They were Orland LeCompte Sims, Dunlap Sims, William Sims, Benjamin Victor Sims, and Walter Sims.  Walter died at the young age of 14.  Benjamin Victor Sims married Ellen Hartgrove in 1920.  They had four children:  Dunlap Sims, Benjamin Orland Sims, William McKinnie Sims, and Cora Ellen Sims.  Cora Ellen Sims was called "Kay" by the family and has been known by that name ever since.  She married Fred Campbell and this couple, Kay and Fred Campbell, are the current owners of the ranch with the Indian pictographs.  I explained the family a little so you can see the relationship my family had with the Sims family.  (1)

Photographs of the Sims family at the Visitor's Center.

On Feb. 19, 2013 (which is also my mother's birthday - she would have been 96) I met for lunch with my sister, Oneta, my brother Harmon and his wife Tanya, and my brother Jack and his wife Bobbie in Ballinger, TX.  After lunch and a nice visit, we headed to the Sims/Campbell Ranch in Concho County to tour the pictographs.

Here we are at a restaurant in Ballinger for lunch and visiting before we head out for the tour.

The ranch is a mile northwest of Paint Rock.  To get there just head north on Hwy 83 out of Paint Rock, TX, cross the bridge over the Concho River, and look for a brown sign on the left that says "Indian Pictographs".  Turn in at the dirt road and proceed to the Visitor Center.

As I traveled up the dirt road that day, I saw what I considered typical pasture land for livestock but then the next thing I saw were two not so typical buffalo off to the right.  These are truly beautiful animals.

Buffalo on the Sims/Campbell Ranch.

I had called ahead of time and talked to Kay (Sims) Campbell by phone to set up our appointment.  (Making an appointment by phone is the preferred way to set up a tour.)  I had a wonderful visit with Kay by phone.  I found that not only had our father and grandfather worked for the Sims family but that the Meixner and Sims families had been lifelong family friends.  In fact Kay told me a bit of family history I had not known before.  She told me my uncle Victor Meixner was named after her father, Benjamin Victor Sims.  This is the same Ben Sims my Dad worked for during the depressions.

The Visitor's Center on the Sims/Campbell Ranch.

As we approached the Visitor Center I was excited about finally meeting Kay in person.  As it turned out my experience exceeded my high expectations.  Kay welcomed us warmly.  We had a nice though brief meeting with her husband, Fred Campbell, before he headed out to take care of ranch business.  Kay is a very warm, friendly, and interesting person.  Her knowledge about the pictographs and the various Indian tribes that painted them is extensive and her unique presentation was witty and charming.  I thoroughly enjoyed her account of the Indians that roamed the area, her discussion about current interpretation of the pictographs, and what part the pictographs played in the Indian's spiritual ceremonies.

Kay (Sims) Campbell showing a picture of the Concho River and the cliffs where the pictographs are located.

The family listening to Kay's presentation and passing around artifacts she showed us.

She also gave us an informational demonstration of how the Indians probably made the paint that was used in painting the pictographs.

Kay's presentation of how the paint was made and a demonstration of pictograph painting on her arm.

Our time at the visitors center took a little longer than it normally would because we talked about our two families and the relationship they have had over the years.

After her presentation, Kay gave us a brochure titled "Along the Trail".

Along the Trail brochure.

We then proceeded to our cars to drive down to the cliffs and view the pictographs.  I jumped at Kay's invitation to ride with her to the cliffs so that I could continue our visit about our families.  We had a great visit riding down to where the pictographs were located but I was shocked and saddened to hear that one of her sons had passed away suddenly just the week before.  Yet, here she was welcoming us and making sure we had an enjoyable experience just a few days after this tragic event.

Upon arrival we departed our cars and worked our way by foot along the line of cliffs.  Kay pointed out and explained the various pictographs and gave us great insight into each one.  Be sure to refer to and follow along in the "Along the Trail" brochure.  It also gives a good explanation of the paintings.

Kay pointing out the pictographs to the family.

A small sampling of the many pictographs.  The last two photographs of our family group were taken by Kay (Sims) Campbell.

Upon completion of the tour we returned to the Visitor's Center.  We took pictures and examined the various artifacts, arrow heads, and pictures on display and then it was time to go.

Top two pictures are artifacts and arrow heads found on the ranch.  The next two are family members checking things out and looking at pictures with Kay.

I could have spent several more hours visiting with Kay.  She is a living symbol of that pioneer spirit in Concho County.  She is a wonderful lady that gave a gift of what, to me, was a magical afternoon.  In addition to that, my generation of the Meixner family re-connected to Kay's Sims/Campbell family.  A connection that started over 110 years ago.

Here I am visiting with Kay (Sims) Campbell about our families before the tour (above) and after the tour (below).

I highly recommend a "Paint Rock Excursions" tour.  Set up a time with Kay and then take the day and drive down for the tour.  It will be well worth your time effort.

After we left the Sims/Campbell Ranch, we proceeded to the old house where my father grew up.  I will make a separate post about this experience.

References:
(1)  http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2012/mar/17/local-ranch-displays-history-citys-namesake/