Gladys B. Ray, the Lee-Peacock Feud & Quantrill's Gueril

Yes, Mari. Our family drove out that way a few years ago and the house was still standing.

I am not mechanical, but is there not a concept of clearing pipes of unwanted substances .... those which only impede the flow of their intended easy passage? Such is what occurred in that house (imho), and in ample decibels to set aright even the the wrongs of the Lee-Peacock feud.
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The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

I was incorrect concerning the location of Dixon's Mound. It was near Pilot Gove in Grayson County, where the Dixon family's homestead lay. Miss Ray places it close to the North-South Road through the settlement. This does seem that it would be the present Pilot Grove Road as it extends above FM 121. 'Murder at the Corners' describes Dixon's Mound as a low rise distinguished from the surrounding, generally level terrain. Mari, does this little hill ring a bell (actually, the old house that I mentioned does sit upon a rise, on the western side pf Pilot Grove Road)? I am wondering, though, whether the mound might not be located to the south of 121.

Jack Dixon was a gentleman who ran an overland freight company -- such as Clyde and I have been discussing here sometimes of late. The railroads bought change and challenge to many whose livelihood had depended on this line of work. To me, the passing away of the old freight wagons, their drivers and their teams -- as they hauled heavy loads between Jefferson (and some other points as well) and Northeast Texas -- seems quite poignant.

Holly
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The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Subject: Desert Community Thu 02 Aug 2007, 12:58 pm

I'd long wondered from where the community of Desert in far northern Collin County took its name. Should Fred Tarpley be correct in his, '1001 Texas Place Names,' the origin is not quite as romantic as I had thought.

According to Mr. Tarpley, a fellow named Will Warden camped in the vicinity in 1846. Warden just so happened to have a personal chef traveling with him, and when this fellow (?) looked up and saw a group of Indians close by, he ran away in a panic: 'deserting' the campsite.

Over time, however, the accent shifted from the second syllable of the word to the first. Maybe that made more sense to folks. Remember, they were living just downstream from old 'Lick Skillet' (--> Pilot Grove).

Still, I wonder, though ....
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The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

In November of 2005, a battered photograph bearing the image of William Clark Quantrill was placed at auction, and realized a sales price of almost $1000. The imprint on the matting of the photo was that of the Burge studio, located in Independence, Missouri. This was one of two authenticated images which the auction house stated to have been in existence at that time. And while the photograph seemed to have had a moustache brushed in above Quantrill's lip, this was not so heavily drawn as is seen on the portrait linked to via Wikipedia, below (unfortunately, the auctioneers do not allow online transmission of images which are hosted on their website).

The provenance of this image was the George Hart Collection, and its primal origin was said to be this*:

Sometime after the death of William Quantrill, a woman appeared at a cemetery in Independence, Missouri, and requested that she be directed to the controversial gentleman's grave. When informed by the sexton that Quantrill did not rest there, but rather in Lexington of the same state, the woman gave this photograph -- which she bore -- to the cemetery's keeper and left the grounds for points unstated. In time, the sexton transferred the image of William Quantrill to one Charles Kemper, a deputy county clerk. From his hands, it evidently passed into the George Hart Collection.

Does anyone with familiarity of Quantrill's history know who this woman may have been, if she did truly relinquish the photograph, as the story relates? Under the circumstances, she would not appear to have been William's young (at the time of his death) widow, Sarah Katherine King Quantrill.

Thank you for any information.

Holly

* This story comes from a clipping of an Independence, Missouri newspaper, which accompanied the photograph at auction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Quantrill
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The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves