Month: April 2018

On April 15th, Greenleaf Cemetery had their first annual Blessing of the Animals event. It raised about $1,000 of sorely needed funds. Since Greenleaf presently has zero money to spend on events, even to raise money, the entire event was funded by donations and volunteers.

Sponsors included La Sorella Wine Bar, Trees Forever, KOXE radio, and Moore Printing. Reed Memorial, Sterling Monument, and PF&E sponsored the bottled water to give away to thirsty event-goers.

La Sorella baked dog and cat cookies for the canine and feline participants. Trees Forever furnished the eye catching animal shaped yard art.

Doug House, minister of Union Presbyterian Church of Brownwood, gave the blessings. Other volunteers included Cary Perrin, Steve Harris, Steve Pucket, and John Lee Blagg.

Lots of people and pets made their way through the cemetery. The pets were mostly dogs and cats, of course, with one adorable little goat.

If you missed it, no worries! It’s an annual event, so you’ll have another opportunity next year.  -Freda

 

This is the retelling of a story taken from 1932 Brownwood Banner Bulletin newspapers. Research was done by Cary Perrin.

Joe Meichinger’s parents were both immigrants; his father, Martin, was from Germany, and mother, Josephine, was from Switzerland. Martin struck oil while digging a water well in the location where the old Hotel Brownwood still stands. For a year, he sold the “oil water” as a healing elixir.

Joe Meichinger was fatally shot in his home on April 27, 1932. His widow, Willie Longley Meichinger, and his 17-year-old daughter, Eva Nell Meichinger, were charged with the murder. Eva had spent the year of 1930 as an “inmate” at the Catholic Home for Girls in Dallas. Generally, these homes were for unwed mothers.

Eva confessed to the killing. Mother and daughter were released on bonds of $10,000 each.

During the trial, she told of severe beatings and abuse inflicted on by her father at the slightest provocation. She said that from early childhood, her father beat both her and her mother with heavy straps and horse whips. He repeatedly threatened to kill them both.

Both mother and daughter said they thought at the time that he was about to kill them, and they feared for their lives. The prosecution argued that this wasn’t true.

On the night of the killing, Willie and Eva went to visit a neighbor. They came home to find Joe drunk, sitting in a rocking chair waiting for them. According to testimony by his wife, Joe said he was going out to get something to drink, and he intended to kill them when he got back.

When he returned home, he chased them around the house, beating them with a heavy leather coat. He caught Willie, and was beating her while she laid on Eva’s bed. As this was happening, Willie pulled a pistol out from under the mattress. She tried to shoot him, but the gun wouldn’t fire, so she dropped it.

Eva picked up the gun and tried again to fire, but the gun wouldn’t work. Finally, Joe staggered out of the room, and passed out on a different bed. During that time, Eva fixed the pistol so it would fire. She then took it to the sleeping porch, and stood waiting for her father to wake up. When he awoke, he was again threatening to kill them.

Eva shot him. She emptied the five bullets in the pistol into him, and went to get his shotgun. She shot him again. She then went to get two more shells, and shot him twice more.

Willie went to find her brother, and the two of them reported the killing to the authorities. Willie and Eva were arrested. During the trial, many neighbors and friends from Brownwood and Salt Creek testified as to the abuse in their home.

The first trial had a hung jury, but in the second trial they were both found not guilty. The Brownwood Banner headline on November 23, 1932 was, “Jury frees Mother and Daughter.”

The large headstone pictured in the body of this article is for his father, Martin. The stone placed on Joe’s grave is pictured above, and has only his last name and years of birth and death.  -Freda

Sometimes, a handshake is not just a handshake. When you look at the sleeves of these clasped hands, pictured on the gravestone of M. J. Butler, you can see that one seems to be that of a woman and one of a man. This tends to symbolize a good marriage.

On the other hand, if the sleeves seem to be gender neutral, it could symbolize the hand of God welcoming the soul of the dead into the heavenly kingdom.

Another interesting thing in this symbol is that the index finger on one or both hands might be extended. This indicates that one or both of the couple was a member of the Masonic Lodge.

John Caldwell Allcorn came to Brown County in an oxen-pulled wagon in 1875 from Tennessee, stopping first in Ft. Worth.

Allcorn fought in the confederate army, under General Joe Wheeler. His maternal grandfather was a captain in the colonial army during the Revolutionary War.

Using the wagon and oxen that brought him here, Allcorn hauled the stones used to construct most of the major early businesses in Brownwood. For years, these were the only permanent structures in town, and most are still being used today.

Allcorn placed the first water pump in the Pecan Bayou. It was horse-powered, and drew water from the stream to be delivered throughout Brownwood for domestic use.

Allcorn and his wife were members of the First Presbyterian Church. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, and in 1905, helped form the Bangs Masonic Lodge.

 

 

Information is from Something About Brown and Freemasonry in Brownwood. Pictures from Findagrave.com.

 

 

Dr. James Addison Abney, commonly known as Dr. Jim, was born in Tennessee in 1846. At 3-years-old, he came to Texas with his family.

In 1868, he was serving in the Confederate Army at Camp Ford, near Tyler. During this time frame, he married Susanna Davis, and became a doctor. Dr. Jim practiced medicine in Homer (East Texas) and Lufkin.

They moved to Lampasas due to his wife’s poor health, and stayed there after her passing. He came to be one of the town’s leading physicians.

He later married Almonta Bartlett, who was the daughter of one of Lampasas’ oldest families. His new wife owned a ranch near Blanket, so they moved to Brownwood to be near it. He was actively engaged in ranching, and purchased more acreage on the Colorado River, near Eden.

In Brownwood, Dr. Jim formed a partnership with Dr. Turney and Dr. B. A. Fowler. Their medical practice helped establish Brownwood’s first hospital in 1896

The Frisco Railroad was extended from Brownwood to Brady, passing through Dr. Abney’s land on the Colorado River. He and E. H. Broad, owner of a nearby ranch, each decided to build towns along the railroad tracks. Broad tried to start a town called Broadwood, while Dr. Jim chose for his new town the name Winchell, after the president of the Frisco Railroad. The railroad endorsed Winchell, but not Broadtown. Winchell quickly grew into a small town. It had a small newspaper, blacksmith shop, with other businesses following soon after. At one time, Winchell had three cotton gins and two churches.

At one time, Dr. Jim sold 500 steers, which had to be delivered to Barnhart by way of a cattle drive. They moved about ten to twelve miles each day, for three weeks, and didn’t lose a single head of cattle.

In 1906, Dr. Jim and his son Fred, who was a pharmacist, opened the original Citizens National Bank, in Brownwood. In later years, he sold his ranches and invested most of his money in the bank.

Dr. Jim lived to be almost 101.

Most of this information is from a 1965 Brownwood Bulletin. Pictures are from FindAGrave.com.

 

In 1942, James Lathem Ables was the only letter man on the Brownwood High School football team. After he graduated in 1943, he became an Air Force cadet, and served in the Air Force during the final days of WWII. After the war, he went to college at the University of Texas, graduating in 1949. He then went to work in Washington DC as an administrative assistant for Representative O. C. Fisher.

In 1950, the young officer was called back to active duty. He wanted to be where the action was, so he chose to join the Marines. He went to Korea in command of a rifle platoon with the 1st Marine Division.

 

Latham was killed in action while fighting the enemy in Korea on April 29, 1951.

Second Lieutenant Ables was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation, and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.   -Freda

Greenleaf Cemetery has seen over 20,000 burials, from the mid nineteenth century all the way through today. As I walk through Greenleaf, I can’t help but wonder who all these people are. In fact, it has almost become an obsession for me. The more I research and talk to people, the more I know, but there are still thousands of mysteries.

Being an old, historical cemetery, through the course of the years there were no policies about grave markers. There are hundreds of unmarked graves, some of which just never had markers erected, and some had markers of wood or field stone. Those just wore away in the weather. There are elaborate stones surrounded by curbing, and others that are so small there is only room for names and birth/death years. Some headstones are intricately carved in granite or marble, and others are homemade, from cement or sandstone, sometimes inlaid with broken colored glass or marbles.

There are people buried at Greenleaf with well-known stories: Robert Howard, for instance. Many others will require lots of digging and asking to find an answer to the question, “Who are they?”

I intend to add a blog post ever day or so, answering that question about SOMEONE. Every single person who has been laid to rest at Greenleaf has a story. They have each had a life worth living and worth remembering.

The headstone pictured above is the stone for Ireen Day. Ireen died in childbirth when she was sixteen years old. That wasn’t uncommon in the 1920s. Her husband was my granddad, Ancie Fred Day. I don’t really know much more, except that their baby, Fred, Jr., grew up to become a doctor. In other places, I have seen her name spelled “Irene,” so I suspect it is misspelled on the grave stone. My grandparents have a double grave marker, and Ireen is buried to the side of my granddad, her husband.  -Freda

 

On October 2, 1925, near where St. John’s Church is now, B. T. Clements bounced out of the back of a truck.  He died three hours later at Medical Arts Hospital of a fractured scull at 40 years old.  B. T. was a clown with the Sells-Floto Circus, which was performing in Brownwood. He was known in the show as Spot.

Clements was born in England, but lived in Chicago.

After his death, the circus troupe led a parade to Greenleaf Cemetery and placed a wreath on his grave. According to the headstone, “Stone erected by members of IABP&B and IATSE.” IATSE is the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, but I haven’t been able to find what IABP&B is.  -Freda

This memorial stone is nestled amidst the trees in one of the oldest sections of Greenleaf Cemetery. It isn’t actually a gravestone, but a dedication to a high school sweetheart. The couple would park under the trees to spend time together. After she passed, he brought this memorial stone and laid it under the trees. It got broken, and the Greenleaf Grounds Supervisor mounted it on a base to save it from further damage.

Photo by Steve Harris. Story as told by Shane Agan.