The Carrolls

UPDATED 7/15/08 9:15 MDT
UPDATES WITH MORE BIRTH, DEATH, AND MARRIAGE DATES 7/16/08 8:45 MDT

I've been meaning to write a post on the Carroll side of the family, but have gotten stalled for a number of reasons. One is that I've been busy with, you know, work and family and life in general, and the other, more to the point, is that my own memories of the Carroll family--our mother's side--are much more plentiful, so much so that I don't think I could put them all in one post. For whatever reason, as I was growing up we spent a lot more time with the Carrolls than with the Webbs. I know this might not be true for all of us, but it certainly is for me. For one thing, both Webb grandparents died before I was born or when I was a baby, as did Grandma Carroll. Grandpa Carroll is the only one I remember. For another, as noted in some of the comments and earlier posts, for one reason or another my parents, Roy Lee and Ruth Mae, seemed to spend more time with her family than his.

So, before I launch into full ramble mode, here is some brief information about the Carrolls, starting with my mother's grandparents, Alfred Miles Carroll, born 1842 in Weakley, Giles County, Tennessee, died Conroe, Texas, April 7, 1917; and Tennessee Eudora Cardwell Carroll, born ca. 1845 in Nashville, Tennessee, died Marshall, Oklahoma, in 1910. They were married October 9, 1862, but there's no record of where. Here's a photo of them:

Family legend has it that Tennessee Eudora was mostly American Indian, Cherokee-Choctaw, although no one that I know has ever tracked that down through tribal records. Also, she was blind by the time this photo was taken (not sure when that was but it was almost certainly in the late 19th or early 20th centuries; she died in 1910 at the age of 65.) Again, if I find out more about them I'll update this although that's a bit outside the scope of this blog as we've defined it.

OK, more to the point are my grandparents Carroll, James Albert Carroll, born Sept. 20, 1871, in Missouri, died March 10, 1961, in Seminole, Texas; and Florence Adeline (or is it Magdelene? Her nickname given on one record is "Maggie," which would make you think it was, and one pedigree chart shows that name) Cobb, born Sept. 18, 1875, and died January 12, 1954. They were married January 31, 1895. Here's a picture of them, seated, with my aunt Dell (I think) on the left, my mother in the center, and my aunt Jack on the right in the back.



From the print, the car in the background, and the general look, I'd be willing to bet that this was taken at the Carroll's 50th wedding anniversary in January 1945, the same time as a photo in an earlier post. James Carroll, always known to everyone as "Pop" Carroll, looks very much as I remember him, even though this was taken some years before I was born. When I was between say six and ten years old, when we lived in Midland, Texas, for a few years, we would often go to visit with him in Seminole, Texas, which at the time was also where Aunt Jack and Uncle Nick lived. I don't remember much about the house he lived in--he might have lived with Jack and Nick for all I know--but I do know it was small, although we always had a great time as kids there, and always looked forward to visiting Jack and Nick if not Pop Carroll. Later, he came to live with us in Midland, where he took over my room, to my dismay, and slept in my bed, with a coffee can next to the bed to spit tobacco juice into. Needless to say, I was totally grossed out by this. The other memory of him that I have at that time was that he would sit in a chair in the sunken living room watching the old black and white TV; his favorite was a show called "Highway Patrol," with Broderick Crawford. He mostly watched in silence but I remember him yelling at the TV now and then, and yelling at us to be quiet. He also had the coffee can for spitting, and his canes, which he would use to whack any kid who came near. I got it a few times before I learned to avoid being around him. He must have moved back to Seminole, as he died there in 1961, a couple of years before we moved back to Farmington, New Mexico, in 1962. I don't remember going to his funeral--I was eight years old--although I must have. Likewise I have no memories at all of Grandma Carroll, Florence; she died when I was less than two years old. I'll leave memories of her to others. I heard later that he was not the most pleasant of persons, to put it mildly, that he was usually out of work and sometimes mean; but again, that's something best left to people who actually remember more than a coffee can full of nasty spit and a swinging cane.

OK, now for a list of my mother's siblings, courtesy of Randall and the files that Becci compiled some time ago. Some of them I knew only by their nicknames, only learning their real names many years later. Those are given in parentheses at the end. Not sure why these nicknames were applied but it carried over to my generation. Here they are, in chronological order:

Samuel Elmer Carroll (Shorty), born June 16, 1896 in Oklahoma, died Feb. 16, 1977 in Barstow, California
Edgar Ora Carroll, born January 22, 1897 (or '98), died Dec. 5, 1929
Claude Wilmont Carroll, born Nov. 27, 1899 in Powell, Oklahoma, died July 13, 1969, in Denton, Texas
Mary Eudora Carroll (Rubie--Ruby?; various spellings), born Dec. 7, 1900, died January 4, 1992, in Austin, Texas
Lena Eloise Carroll (Jessie), born March 1, 1904, died Sept. 25, 1952
Maude Almeda Carroll (Jack) , born Sept. 5, 1905, died Feb. 1976
Della Estella Carroll (Dell), born Feb. 21, 1907, in Tupelo, Oklahoma, died may 17, 1989, in Olney, Texas
Ruth Mae Aline Carroll, born April 20, 1909, died January 14, 1989
Tommy Cleo Carroll, born October 23, 1911, died December 25, 1935
Lillian Leota Carroll (Lil), born Jan. 9, 1914, in Breckenridge, Texas, died March 18, 1992, in Farmington, New Mexico
James Clinton Carroll, born Sept. 16, 1921 (the only one still living)

I should modify what I said about knowing them: I really knew the aunts, save for Aunt Jessie (pictured at right), who died about a week before I was born, and of course uncles Edgar, who died in 1929 I think in an industrial accident, and Tommy, who died in 1935, although I often heard the story of the latter's tragic death in a car wreck on Christmas morning, 1935. I'd need to get the full story of that from someone who knows it better, but the gist of it is that they were coming back to McNary, Texas, from visiting family in Fort Hancock, Texas, on Christmas Day. There was a rollover near Ysleta, Texas (which is now a suburb of El Paso) and Tommy was thrown from the car and killed. Roy Lee was also in the car and suffered severe injuries to his back; he was taken to El Paso where he was in the hospital for quite some time. Aunt Lil's husband, Wilmer Freeman, was also in the wreck but not injured, so far as I've ever heard. Tommy was only 24 at the time and apparently well-loved, so his loss was a family tragedy.

UPDATE:

In a comment from Guinn, she gives this story:

"Daddy, Wilmer and Tommy were coming back from partying in or around El Paso. The family was at McNary. The guys were drunk. They hit the side of a bridge and Tommy was killed. I wasn't in the wreck, I was home listening to Grandma and Aunt Jack scream and moan over the fact that he had been killed. The Carroll girls didn't hold back in emergency situations. Mother and Lil were very calm, even before we knew who was killed. We had no phone. There was a cafe and filling station at McNary. First we got the message that there had been a wreck, but no one knew who was killed. Grandma went into a moaning swoon saying 'Please God don't let it be Tommy.' Babs and I were bug eyed. We certainly didn't want to hear grandma pray that one of our Dads was the one killed. Mom and Lil went to the cafe and waited for more info. It was Tommy, and it was a scene I will never forget."

Guinn about the time Tommy was killed, 1935

Guinn would have been not quite five years old when this happened; it really does seem like the type of experience you could never forget. I can attest to the statement "the Carroll girls did not hold back in emergency situations," which makes me laugh as I write it. One time when I was probably eight I gashed my finger with a pocketknife, requiring several stitches; Aunt Jack happened to be visiting at the time and I still remember the wailing and carrying on; it scared the daylights out of me, making me think it was a lot worse than it was.

I only vaguely remember uncles Shorty and Claude; they visited us a couple of times but I have only the most hazy impressions of either of them. In a later comment Jimmy noted: "I don't think Uncle Claude ever visited us. [Roy Dale] may have seen him at Grandpa's funeral. The same is true for Uncle Shorty. He was in Seminole for a few days when Pop was operated on for kidney cancer and then came back after Pop's funeral long enough to get everyone really upset."

When it comes to the rest of them, however--Aunt Jack, Aunt Ruby, Aunt Dell, and Uncle Jimmy--I have very distinct memories; but this post is long enough already so I'll stop here and start a new one on that later on.