Nutrition and Our Ancestors

    "Get dressed, we're going to Mama Lee's."

    It's funny what days will imprint themselves into your memory. That one stuck, but for no really good or exciting reason.  My sister and I had been playing outside in the backyard when my Dad announced we were leaving to go to Chester to visit the great-grandparents.  The trip wasn't an unusual one, we had gone many times before. The only thing in my memory which stuck was that I remember it being a bit later than our usual time to leave, but I didn't question the decision to go.

     The other thing I remember from my childhood is sitting at the table of my great-grandparents and eating the food. My own struggles with thryoid disease and my son's struggle with a wheat allergy have sent me on a quest for causes and healing that led me to the kitchen cabinet. After researching, reading, and reflecting I have decided that the food we consume today, and have for the past thirty years, is definitely not the food our parents and grandparents ate. It has been changed in a variety of ways which is, in my opinion and the opinion of many experts, responsible for the escalation of heart disease, thryoid disease, allergies, strokes, arthritis, autoimmune disorders, and a host of other lesser diseases which keep individuals from operating at their best.

     Consider first the history of white flour.  Before about 1880, all flour was from stone ground wheat. The process of grinding flour was done at the mill with a grindstone. This process crushed the wheat germ (the center part of the grain), but kept the oil in the ground flour. The flour was a rather unsual looking yellow color, and the shelf life was not long. (Thus, if you've read stories about flour going rancid, now you know why.)  This oil, however, contained the vital nutrients in the flour: protein, folic acid, B vitamins, carotenes and other antioxidants including omega-3 fatty acids. 

     After 1880, it became more popular to mill flour with porcelain, iron, or steel rollers. This removed the wheat germ and thus all the vitamins and minerals in the flour except for a little protein. Basically, the flour became nutrionally bankrupt, although it was a pretty white color, had an almost unlimited shelf life, and tasted really good when combined with sugar to form fluffy cakes, doughnuts, and other pastries.  Needless to say, people at the time thought it was absolutely wonderful! Soon rice, corn, and other wheat flours suffered the same fate. Wherever this flour was introduced people began getting sick. Over the years the government has required companies to add nutrients to the flour, such as B vitamins and folic acid, but the fact remains that white flour is sorely lacking in valuable nutrients and when we consume it, we are not only not getting anything that will maintain our bodies or help them to grow but could be causing us harm.



Anna Lee Whitehead McQueen (left) and cousin
in front of John S. Whitehead home in Polk County, Texas
the day the historical marker was placed about 1965.

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    Mama Lee had a "safe" which was a cabinet in the kitchen always filled with baked goods. She had a swing out flour bin which took up the whole cabinet next to her kitchen sink. (I would have loved to swing it in and out, but of course, that was not allowed!) Whether they used the stone ground flour or not I can't say. Her table, however, was heaped with grass-fed beef (corn fed beef was unheard of in those days - maybe I'll write about that some day), fresh vegetables from their own garden - purple hull peas, black eye peas, lady cream peas, mustard greens, okra, and on and on. Her eggs were from chickens that had been allowed to run in their yard so they were rich in omega-3 as well as other valuable nutrients.  Her back porch had a wall ten feet high and almost as wide with canned goods (not the tin kind, the bottled kind) of all varieties that she had put back after harvest. (She had a curtain over it and I use to love flipping it back and staring at all the food. We didn't have that at my house.)

     I know my great-grandparents worked hard to keep those chickens, put back that food, plant, grow and harvest their food. And yet, now that we are a wheat free household, and soon to be a grass-fed beef household, not to mention buying better quality fruits and vegetables, I oftentimes think I'm working just as hard as they were. My work is done in the car driving to various farmer's markets and several different stores to obtain the ingredients I need to provide good quality nutrition for my family that will not only keep us healthy but nourish our bodies and keep us well.

   Anna Lee Whitehead McQueen lived to be 94 years old. Her sister-in-law, Sally McQueen, lived to be 104. Many of my ancestors just two to three generations back lived long lives into their nineties. The modern medical establishment has been telling us for years that people are living longer because of the quality of our nutrition. Why then, have diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and auto-immune disorders skyrocketed in the last forty years?

     We can't be the healthiest nation on earth and be the sickest at the same time. We have to be one or the other.Could the food we eat today be the problem - especially for our tomorrows?

Catherine "Kati" McQueen Jacobs Felder

Catherine “Kati” McQueen was born in 1844 in Franklin County, Tennessee. She was the seventh child and sixth daughter of Milton and Susan (Simmons) McQueen.  She was five when her family moved to Texas in the fall of 1849. She was ten years old when her mother, Susan (Simmons) McQueen, died of pneumonia in 1854. 

On 22 December 1859 she married Euphenitus P. Jacobs in Tyler County, Texas.  It is possible he died during the Civil War.[1] In the 1860 Tyler County, Texas census she is still found living in Milton McQueen’s household.

On 14 April 1863 Katie married a second time to James Felder in Tyler County, Texas.[2]  James was born about 1819 in Mississippi.[3] His first wife was Elizabeth Barclay, daughter of Anderson Barclay and Sarah Ann Prather.[4] Anderson was a son of Elizabeth McQueen (daughter of John McQueen and Nancy Crews) and Walter Barclay. Elizabeth McQueen Barclay was Milton McQueen’s oldest sister.  Elizabeth Barclay (daughter of Anderson) was born in 1839 in Liberty County, Republic of Texas. James Felder and Elizabeth Barclay were married about 1855. Elizabeth died sometime after the 1860 census was taken.[5] James and Elizabeth had three daughters – H.S., born 1857; L.E., born 1858; and Mary J., born 1860.  At the time of James’ second marriage to Kati McQueen Felder the girls were still little being 6, 5, and 3.[6]  Kati became an instant mother. James was a veteran of the Civil War.

At least five children were born to James and Katie:  Narcissa, born in 1865; James Milton, born 26 March 1865; John, born 1867; William Daniel, born 1870; and Samuel, born 1872.[7]

Catherine died sometime between 1872, the birth of her son Samuel, and 22 July 1875, the date that her husband James remarried to Nancy Ann Raseberry in Polk County, Texas.[8]  Catherine was 38 years old at the time of her death. She was the second of Milton and Susan (Simmons) McQueen's children to pass away. (In 1867, shortly after the end of the war, older sister Nancy McQueen Barclay died.) Sometime after James' third marriage, he moved the family to Jack County, Texas where he is found in the 1880 Texas census for that year. Family correspondence and records later suggest that the family moved to Oklahoma.[9]



Written on back of picture in pencil is "this sister kate."
Picture found among possessions and other pictures of James Polk McQueen, Catherine's brother.



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[1] Marriage recorded in Tyler Co., TX.

[2] Marriage recorded in Tyler Co., TX.

[3] 1860 Tyler County, TX census, James Felder’s household; 1870 Polk County, TX census, James Felder’s household; 1880 Jack Co., TX census, James Felder’s household;

[4] Letter to me from Vivian Cogbill dated 9 August 1992. Marriage date approximate based on birth of first child.

[5] 1850 Tyler County, TX census father Anderson Barclay’s household; 1860 Tyler County, TX census husband James Felder’s household.

[6] 1860 Tyler County, TX census, James Felder's household.

[7] 1870 Polk Co., TX census, James Felder’s household; 1880 Jack Co., TX census; James Felder’s household.  Narcissa’s birthdate in both is given as 1865. 

[8] Polk County, Texas Marriage Book C, pg. 15.

[9] Correspondence with Vivian Cogbill, descendant of Susan Dominy, in the 80’s.

Sarah Jane Lowe McQueen

My good intentions to post on Milton's children went askew. I don't have the information at my finger tips nor is it easily accessible and put together like I thought. I will still from time to time post what I have on those families, but I will also digress a bit and post some other information as well.

 

        Sarah Jane Lowe was born in Tyler County, Texas in January of 1858.[1]  She was the daughter of William Mallett Lowe[2] and Frances Laird.[3]  William was born in Mississippi and was a veteran of the Mexican War. He came to Texas with his father, Eli Low,[4] during the time that Texas was under Mexican Rule.  Frances was likely the daughter of Robert Laird.[5] Robert moved from Mississippi to the Republic of Texas about 1836.

            On 7 Jan 1884, when she was 26 years old, Sarah Lowe married the widower James Polk McQueen[6].  He was eleven years older than she was at the time of their marriage. James had been a veteran in the Civil War having served first in the Mt. Hope Home Guard alongside his father, Milton McQueen, and then later in Ragsdale's Battalion. Despite the blow the Civil War leveled against his family, he was a well-to-do farmer in the Gavino Araujo district of Tyler County, Texas near present day Chester. While he didn't have the wealth of his father, Milton McQueen, he was not poor either and seems to have weathered the turbulent Reconstruction years in Tyler County better than most.

            James had first married Mary Mahaffey, daughter of Amos Mahaffey and Sarah Ricahrdson,[7] at the very end of the Civil War on 9 Mar 1865 in Tyler County, Texas.[8] Interestingly, he and she were both just eighteen years old when they were married. While that age of marriage is not unusual for a female, (oftentimes they married even younger), it is a bit out of the ordinary for a male to marry so young.  However, James' father, Milton, had died the previous December, and he was basically on his own at the end of the war. Likely, the war caused him to grow up much quicker than he would have otherwise, and he was probably older than his years.  James and Mary were married for a little over fifteen years before she died sometime between when the census was taken in 1880 and the date of James' second marriage in 1884. Mary was buried in the Vinson Cemetery[9] which was down the road from the James Polk McQueen place (see the picture on the front of the website.)

           When Sarah married James in 1884 she became not only a wife, but an instant mother to James Polk's children:  John Robert, 17;  Amos Mit, 16;  Sarah Ann "Sallie," 15; Nancy Elizabeth, 9; and Mary Emmer, 6.[10] On 7 July 1886,[11] a year and a half after her marriage to James, Sarah gave birth to a son. The couple named him Scott McQueen.  On 8 Oct 1889,[12] three years later, Sarah gave birth to a daughter. She was named Bertie McQueen.

            The picture at the beginning of this article was probably made about 1888 as there is a companion picture of Scott. He appears to be about two years old at the time. Both pictures are tintypes (and there are several others appearing to have been taken at the same time, but I can't determine who they are). Sarah's photo was also used to make a large 16 x 20 framed portrait in the possession of my family. The frame is made of heavy, ornately carved wood painted a gold color, and the portrait has been enhanced with some paints of some kind in various places.  

            Sarah died in February of 1895[13] at the age of  37 years old. She was buried in the Vinson Cemetery. James Polk McQueen was left a widower twice over at the age of 52, and he and Sarah had only been married for nine years. The couple's two children were still young - Scott was only 9 and Bertie was 6.  James' daughter, Sarah Ann, or "Aunt Sallie" as she was called in later years, finished raising her step-brother and sister as well as managing James' household. 

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[1] Replacement headstone in Vinson Cemetery, Tyler Co., TX; 1860, 1870, 1880 Tyler Co., TX census, William Lowe's    

      household. 

[2] 1860, 1870, 1880 Tyler Co., TX census, William Lowe's household.  His middle name comes from U.S. Confederate Pensions,

      1884-1958 found in www.ancestry.com.  William's second wife, Eliza, filed for a pension and she gives his middle name as  

      "Mallett."  There are several references in early Tyler County records giving him the middle initial of "M."

[3] Marriage recorded in Tyler Co., TX on 1 Jan 1852.

[4] 1835 Sabine District, Republic of Mexico census, Eli Low's household. This is not proof Eli, was his father, but it's the best we

      have to go with at this time. There were a lot of Lowe's that immigrated around this time and determining who belonged in

      which family can be confusing. 

[5] I no longer seem able to determine the source where this information came from, so this is not proven as of yet.

[6] Marriage recorded in Tyler Co., TX.  However, it is possibly from the 1854 Texas Scholastics, Robert Laird's household.

[7] 1854 Texas Scholastics, Amos Mahaffey's household; 1860 Tyler Co.,, TX census, Amos Mahaffey's household.

[8] Marriage recorded in Tyler Co., TX.

[9] Mary Jane Mahaffey McQueen's name is not found in the Jack Whitemeyer book on Tyler County, TX cemeteries, but she is

     listed on the website http://www.countygenweb.com/txmontgomery/tyler_county_cemeteries.pdf.   However, it states her date of

    death (no birth given) as 1878 which is an obvious error as she is found in the 1880 census with James.  The deathdate may be

    from the marker placed there by Bertie McQueen Vinson several decades ago, and she may have not known the exact date of

    date. 

[10] This list of children reconstructed from information from surviving family members. Birthdates are from various records

     including cemetery records and census records.  For more detailed information on these individuals feel free to contact me.

[11] Date from tombstone.

[12] Date from tombstone.

[13] Marker in Vinson Cemetery.

Amanda Melvine McQueen & W. W. Orr

Amanda Melvine McQueen, born on 19 May 1843 in Franklin County, Tennessee, was the sixth child and fifth daughter born to Milton and Susan (Simmons) McQueen. Her eldest sister, Elizabeth, was already twelve years old at her birth. Amanda was six years old when her family moved to Texas. We know little else of Amanda’s childhood, except for the fact that she was eleven years old at the time of her mother’s death from pneumonia.

On 30 Oct 1860, just before the beginning of the Civil War, Amanda married W. W. Orr in Tyler County, Texas (marriage recorded in county). On 1 March 1862 he enlisted in John Thomas Bean’s company which served in Company H, 13^th Regiment of Texas Cavalry.  This company participated in engagements at Fort Bisland, Bayou Teche, and near Centreville in Lousiana to name a few. Bean was the nephew of Milton McQueen and the cousin of Amanda. His parents were Jane McQueen and Leroy D. Bean.

On 7 March 1864, near the end of the war, Amanda gave birth to a son whom the couple named Charles Milton Orr.  After the war, the family moved to Dallas, Texas.  Amanda, W. W., and their son Charles were all buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Dallas, Dallas Co., TX. Both W. W. and Amanda have slabs over their burial, but another large monument stands at the head of Amanda’s with the words “our mother,” so it is likely there were other children in the family as well. 



Monument for Amanda Melvine McQueen Orr
Greenwood Cemetery, Dallas, Dallas County, TX
found at http://www.findagrave.com/




Tombstones of Amanda Melvine Orr (left) and W. W. Orr (right)
Greenwood Cemetery, Dallas, Dallas County, TX
found at http://www.findagrave.com/



Thomas Rock and Tranquilla McQueen

This is the first in a series of postings in which I will relay information on the children of Milton McQueen and Susan Simmons.

The Thomas Rock - Tranquilla McQueen Family

          Tranquilla McQueen was born on October 22, 1832[1] in Franklin County, Tennesse to Milton and Susan (Simmons) McQueen.[2]        The name "Tranquilla" comes from the Simmons side of the family.  Susan Simmons had a sister named Tranquilla Simmons and at least one niece, Tranquilla Morris, who was the daughter of Susan's sister, Elizabeth Simmons who married Edward Morris.  I suspect the name carries back from generations beyond Susan but have found no confirmation of that as of yet.

          Tranquilla married Thomas Rock on Februay 9, 1853 in Tyler County, Texas.[3]  Thomas was born in 1823 in Virginia [4]30 years old and Tranquilla was already 21 years old.  All her sisters, with the exception of Sarah, married between the ages of 14 and 17, so not only was her age of marriage unusual according to the standards of the time, but also unusual among her family.  Their courtship seems to have been unusually long as well, for most couples seem to have married within a few months of meeting.  Thomas and Tranquilla were acquainted as early as 1850, however, when he was living in the Milton MCQUEEN household as a schoolteacher.[5]  The family was living in the Wolf Creek area at that time.  Their marriage did not occur, however, for another three years.

          After their marriage, the Rocks lived in Woodville, where Thomas began practicing law as one of Woodville's first attorneys.[6]  In May of 1854 he served as a prosecuting attorney for the state in a case against James Wilson, alias Rhode Wilson, who was indicted for the murder of a Negro slave named William.  The trial was conducted in the new courthouse at Woodville.  The defendant was found guilty of murder in the first degree and ordered to be hanged.  This was one of the only public hearings conducted in Tyler County.[7]

          While Thomas appears numerous times in Tyler County records, I have found nothing on his life prior to his arrival in Tyler County despite numerous efforts. It does appear as if Thomas had at least one relative, a nephew, living in Tyler County by 1860.[8]  The 1860 Tyler County, TX census has a listing on the same page with Thomas for a "T. D. Rock," a 22 year old lawyer.  He had no real estate but his personal estate was valued at $200.  He, like Thomas, was born in Virginia but in 1838.  Both were living in Woodville at the time.  One of these men graduated from the University of Virginia before moving to Tyler County.[9]

          It was previously thought that Tranquilla's husband, Thomas, served in Hood's Texas Brigade, Co. F., the "Woodville Rifles," and was captured at Gettysburg in 1863.  The official regiment rolls, however, list T. D. Rock[10] and as Thomas Rock, husband of Tranquilla, served as district attorney for Tyler County again in 1863[11], it is not likely he was in the Gettysburg Campaign.  Another son, Charlie ROCK, was born to this marriage in 1863 as well.  I have, as a matter of fact, found no record for service for Thomas in the war, and as far as I know he did not enlist in the Confederate forces.

          There are numerous deeds for Thomas Rock and Tranquilla among the records of Tyler County so researchers of this family might want to take a closer look at them.  The most pertinent deed, however, is one found in Volume H pg 179 of that county.  It states that Thomas and Tranquilla of Tyler County, TX sold 200 acres bounded on the south east corner of E. F. Hanks league for $1250 to Thomas Douglas Rock and Wm. P. McDaniel.  The deed further states that tract as "being our homestead upon which we now reside together . . ."  The deed was dated 15 May 1873 and recorded two days later on 17 May 1873 at 11:00.

          Thomas and Tranquilla sold this property and subsequently moved to Gatesville, Coryell County, TX.  Tranquilla had received land from her father's estate which lay in Robertson County and at one time Coryell County was part of Robertson.  Perhaps, this induced Thomas and Tranquilla to move to this part of the state.  Thomas apparently continued to practice law as per an advertisement in the Gatesville "Sun" dated 1 Nov 1874 for "Rock, Jenkins, Vardiman, attorneys-at-law."[12]

The Rocks are found in the 1880 Coryell County, TX census.  On 29 June 1880, when the census for their household was taken, all of the ROCK children were still living at home with their parents, even 25 year old Nancy, 24 year old William, and 22 year old Thomas.  The census notes that all but Tranquilla, Nancy and eight year old George were "temporarily disabled, unable to attend to ordinary duties & businesses of the day on the enumerator's visit."  Everyone was ill, including Thomas, who was the enumerator that year.[13]

Tranquilla died on 18 June 1895 and was buried in Weaver Chapel Cemetery in Gatesville, Coryell County, TX.[14]  There is no record in the cemetery for Thomas, so it is uncertain if he died here and was buried elsewhere, or if his grave is unmarked, or if he moved on after Tranquilla’s death. He was alive in 1880 when he was the enumerator for the Coryell County, Texas census. 

          I have lost track of the Rocks after this date, although it appears that perhaps their son William went back to Tyler County to live.

         

         

Tombstone of Tranquilla McQueen
Picture from http://www.findagrave.com/

Children of Thomas Rock & Tranquilla McQueen

                    

Nancy V. ROCK was born in 1854 in Tyler Co TX.

                        (1860, 1870 Tyler Co TX census; 1880 Coryell Co TX census.)

William S. ROCK was born in 1856 Tyler Co TX.

                        (1860, 1870 Tyler Co TX census; 1880 Coryell Co TX census.)

Thomas M. ROCK was born in 1857 in Tyler Co TX.

                        (1860, 1870 Tyler Co TX census; 1880 Coryell Co TX census.)

John D. ROCK was born in 1859 in Tyler Co TX.

                        (1860, 1870 Tyler Co TX census; 1880 Coryell Co TX census.)

Joseph L. ROCK was born in Feb 1860 in Tyler Co TX.

                        (1860, 1870 Tyler Co TX census; 1880 Coryell Co TX census.)

Charlie S. ROCK was born in 1863 in Tyler Co TX.

                        (1870 Tyler Co TX census; 1880 Coryell Co TX census.)

James A. ROCK was born in 1866 in Tyler Co TX.

                                    (1870 Tyler Co TX census; 1880 Coryell Co TX census.)

Edward ROCK was born in 1869 in Tyler Co TX.

                              (1870 Tyler Co TX census; 1880 Coryell Co TX census.)

George ROCK was born in 1872 in Tyler Co TX. 

                        (1880 Coryell Co TX census.)

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[1] Tombstone for Tranquilla Rock, found at “Find a Grave,” http://www.findagrave.com.

[2] Tranquilla is documented as heir of Milton McQueen through several documents, including his will & the

division of his estate.  She is documented as a child of Susan Simmons as being an heir of William

Simmons, her grandfather through the division of his estate.  Her birthplace is from census records and place based on where family was living at the time.

[3] Marriage is recorded in Tyler Co., TX.

[4] 1850 Tyler Co., TX census, Milton McQueen household; 1860, 1870 Tyler County, Texas census head of his

own household; 1880 Coryell County, TX census head of his own household. 

[5]1850 Tyler County, Texas census, household of Milton McQueen.

[6] Wheat, James E. & Josiah, "The Early Days of Tyler county," 1963, Sketches of Tyler county History.  (Bevil Oaks:  Whitmeyer Printing, 1986), pg. 164:  hereafter referred to as Early Days; 1853 Tyler Co TX records - this is first time Thomas Rock appears.

[7] Moseley, Lou Ella.  Pioneer Days of Tyler County.  (Bevil Oaks:  Whitmeyer Printing, 1975), pg. 107:  hereafter referred to as Moseley.

[8] Early Days, pg. 164.

[9] Moseley, pg. 210.

[10] A Civil War Index of veterans states that T. D. ROCK reenlisted at Concord, Camp Gentry, TX, 1 Jan 1863, for 3 months under commander Capt. T. G. SCOTT, Co. A, 2^nd Brigard, TST.  T. D. married Mary MCDANIEL on 17 Nov 1862 in Tyler Co TX (marriage recorded in that county).  They are both buried in the Magnolia Cemetery in Woodville with several of their children. 

[11] Wheat, James E. & Josiah, "The Civil War and Tyler County," 1965.  Sketches of Tyler County History.  (Bevil Oaks:  Whitmeyer printing, 1986), pg. 180.

[12] Scott, Zelma.  A History of Coryell County, Texas.  (Austin:  Texas State Historical Association, 1965), pg. 66.

[13] Directly above the Rock household in that census, is the listing of Dr. J. A. McQueen, a 63 year old physician.  His wife's name was Mattie.  One might jump to the conclusion that Thomas and Tranquilla had moved to Coryell County where other MCQUEEN relatives were living, except that this McQueen, as well as his parents, was born in South Carolina.  While working on Metes & Bounds I: Dugal McQueen & Some Descendants, I was contacted by a man who descends from this family.  They hail from Alabama and are no direct relation to our McQueens at all.

[14] Tombstone of Tranquilla Rock, found at “Find a Grave,” www.findagrave.com.