I started my morning off with a cup of coffee and an intent to make a neat summary story about my great great grandmother Rebeca Lavinia Mitchell. She died in 1944, twenty three years before I was born, and I do not ever remember hearing much about her. Rebeca was my father's great-grandmother, and he was only six when she passed.
Luckily, I am in contact with a Mitchell family member who has a full collection of information, so I am getting a chance to know Rebeca.
She was born in Benton County, Arkansas, May 23, 1863, and like many other families, her parents migrated into Texas for better opportunities. The Civil War was still raging when she was born. Her birth in Benton County, AR is verified by the 1870 Census.I wonder if this woman is where the story came from about one of my ancestors being born in a covered wagon as they came to Texas.
In 1879, Rebeca married Francis Marion Mitchell in Lampasas County, Texas. The notoriety of the Mitchell family in Lampasas can be found with simple search, but I will post a few links at the end. In total, the couple had 12 children. Their lives were spent farming / ranching in Lampasas County until Francis Marion's death in 1904. Rebeca and most of her children migrated to Coleman County, Texas and established lives there. Rebeca Lavinia is buried in Rocksprings Cemetery, Mills County, Texas alongside her parents and Francis Marion. Buried in the Evans family plot is also a daughter, Birtha A Mitchell who died when she was only 22 years old.
I had never heard much about this side of the family. All I had heard growing up was that the Mitchell family married into the Slayton family. It was not until I began the genealogy of my family that I learned about the Evans connection. I took a long trip home to visit a couple years ago and made stops at cemeteries in Lampasas and Mills Counties to find gravesites. The rest, is history.
Rebeca's strength would have been impossible to miss. Raising so many children and mostly on her own, she would have a perseverance. When I look into the photographs provided to me by Allen Mitchell, I try desperately to find some part of myself in her expressions.
I can remember my Granny (Gladys Keeney Slayton) talking about a cousin, Jodie Yates. As I continued to develop the Rebeca Evans / Francis Marion line, I discovered that 3 of their children married 3 siblings. This means the Mitchell line married into the Yates line 3 times. I feel a story brewing.
In 1944 when Rebeca passed, WW2 was still occurring, and 5 of her grandsons were in the war. She was preceded in death by her husband and four of her children. I cannot imagine that level of grief and sacrifice.
Mitchell Family - Lampasas
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jch03
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/tx-horrellbrothers.html
http://www.lampasaschamber.org/5559938_47902.htm
Luckily, I am in contact with a Mitchell family member who has a full collection of information, so I am getting a chance to know Rebeca.
In 1879, Rebeca married Francis Marion Mitchell in Lampasas County, Texas. The notoriety of the Mitchell family in Lampasas can be found with simple search, but I will post a few links at the end. In total, the couple had 12 children. Their lives were spent farming / ranching in Lampasas County until Francis Marion's death in 1904. Rebeca and most of her children migrated to Coleman County, Texas and established lives there. Rebeca Lavinia is buried in Rocksprings Cemetery, Mills County, Texas alongside her parents and Francis Marion. Buried in the Evans family plot is also a daughter, Birtha A Mitchell who died when she was only 22 years old.
I had never heard much about this side of the family. All I had heard growing up was that the Mitchell family married into the Slayton family. It was not until I began the genealogy of my family that I learned about the Evans connection. I took a long trip home to visit a couple years ago and made stops at cemeteries in Lampasas and Mills Counties to find gravesites. The rest, is history.Rebeca's strength would have been impossible to miss. Raising so many children and mostly on her own, she would have a perseverance. When I look into the photographs provided to me by Allen Mitchell, I try desperately to find some part of myself in her expressions.
I can remember my Granny (Gladys Keeney Slayton) talking about a cousin, Jodie Yates. As I continued to develop the Rebeca Evans / Francis Marion line, I discovered that 3 of their children married 3 siblings. This means the Mitchell line married into the Yates line 3 times. I feel a story brewing.
In 1944 when Rebeca passed, WW2 was still occurring, and 5 of her grandsons were in the war. She was preceded in death by her husband and four of her children. I cannot imagine that level of grief and sacrifice.
Mitchell Family - Lampasas
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jch03
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/tx-horrellbrothers.html
http://www.lampasaschamber.org/5559938_47902.htm
Comments
Post a Comment