Lucy Pulsifer Granger, chapter 2

By the 1860 census on June 15 , the George Grangers lived in Galveston, TX

Dwelling number 412, George Granger with Lucy wife and 3 adult children.  He is lumber mer(chant).

The 1860 census doesn't include Mary Granger Phillips, who had been part of the family back in Newburyport in 1850 at 21 years of age.  She met and married William Phillips of Georgia sometime in that gap, and then went to her mother-in-law's home in Georgia all the way from Beaumont Texas to have her first child in 1858.  It is possible the reason she went to Georgia for her first child's birth was economics, since William's step-father Samuel Gainer was a judge.  And certainly frontier Texas didn't offer quite the ammenities of genteel Georgia.

I've shared some of the letters that Mary wrote, both to her mother in law and her own mother, and since Lucy is our focus today, I'll search through them to find one she wrote her own mother.

I'm beginning to think one I've labeled for her mother in law was actually for Mother Lucy Granger, since she mentions Mother Gainer as sending love to the family when she is closing the letter.  That would mean her mother-in-law was close by when she wrote it.

Here are photos of copies of the letter (transcriptions follow)

So the text is this:

(Letter transcription: see photos Mary Phillips to Mom Lucy Granger 24 June 1860.1, 2, 3, and 4 )

Town Bluff, June 24^th, 1860

My Dear Mother

        It is a week today since I wrote Lizzie’s (her sister Elizabeth) letter and I have had no chance during the week to send it to the office.  I will have two now to send, as I note in my letter to Lizzie I would write you if I did not get down too soon.

        The weather is very warm up here I miss those beautiful sea breezes I used to enjoy last year at this time.  I feel as if it would be quite a long time before I enjoy them again.  I do so long to be over my confinement   I am dreading it more than before and I fear Zulie (her 2 year old daughter) will be so much trouble I can in a measure control her and she fears me a little and so jealous of me I must not caress

(page 2 of letter)

anybody or anything but her – William to my surprise has the utmost patience with her has not even yet spoken sharp to her. She is smart I can tell you and it is impossible to cheat her, no indeed, she will catch you in a minute.

        I was glad to hear your health was so good this summer  I trust it will continue your cares must be diminished enough now since you are by yourselves to give you quite a quiet time.  I know you must all be happy to hear no slams and insults I think I could never borne it as well as you did.

        I suppose Father & George get along well in the business line as no one spoke to the contrary in letters.  I often think how much it took only for W. & myself while living in Galveston that everlasting rent due it seemed to me always was our greatest chain.  I like Galveston

(page 3 of letter)

above all places to live in but it does cost a heap to live any way at all respectable there.

        Do you ever hear from Uncle Joseph (Joseph Pulsifer) I have written him and so has William two or three times but no replies.  I wish I could hear what he is about.  I think he must almost a Hermit by this time that is if he is by himself.  I hear from the Pass once in a while.  I suppose you heard of the dreadful murder of Bill Shaw by Pike (?) Smith.  I never was so horrified at anything how much trouble they must be in and dear Mrs. Gill has at least got Ella Edwards married to Charley (?) Colmell(?) too I suppose Laura is her next victim for business.

        We think what does Mr. Bradbury do with his house. I never heard whether he rents it or not or if he considers he has left Galveston.

(page 4 of letter)

I hardly can find anything to write which is worthy of interest so if I write a fussy letter you must excuse it.  I wish you would urge up the girls to write me oftener they surely are not very busy now. I know they have had to be in the kitchen lately but if they have been adopting Mrs. Bingit (?) hul (?) two meals a day they have some little time.  I often look for a letter from you two but often am disappointed about you think so.  I excuse you though of course. 

        Love to all I think of each one when I am writing home Father George. Lizzie & Lucy.  Zulie pulls me to the Piano and says Mama play.  I must close of course. William sends (?) love also Mother Gainer (?).  I hope next letter will be written by William with news of another member born in the family.

                Yours with much love,

                        Mary

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now back to Lucy, then soon to be grandmother.


Nothing else is documented about her life.

She continued to live in Galveston until her death when she was 69.  Two copies of a short obituary were kept by her descendents. 

GRANGER - DIED May 23, 1876

My best guess is:
 At her residence on Madison, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth Streets, of this city, on the 23 last, Mrs. Lucy E. Granger, aged 69 years.
The friends of the family are invited to attend her funeral from the Episcopal church at 10 o'clock this morning.
New York and Newburyport (Mass.) papers please copy.


When I checked Google Maps, Madison between Fifteenth and Sixteenth Streets in Galveston is just a block back from the beach on a sandy spit...so many hurricanes must have blown through this area and it looks very barren now, just a few modern homes on stilts.

I want to do more research into the early hey-days when Galveston was the major port for Texas, before Houston dredged itself a shipping channel.

Catch up

 On this day was born Mary Hull Granger Phillips  in   1829,    grandmother of my paternal grandmother, Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers.  Died within a year of birth of her second child; her husband, William Phillips, then died early in the Civil War.

I have been busy away from this place for the last couple of weeks.  Sorry that I haven't been looking at my favorite blogs much, let alone writing anything.  And several ancestors were having their birth anniversaries in this time.  Today is the birthday of Mary Phillips, who moved back and forth from early Texas plantations to Georgia as a young mother.

I know this because some of her letters have survived.

And I spent many hours transcribing some of them.
Here are previous posts:
letters,
grigsby-bluff-letter-dec-9-1861
before-war-started-1856-texas
old-letters-transcribed

So since this is just a catch up post, I won't post any new letters here.  But I will think hard about making a new post soon about these wonderful ancestor letters.

Last week I joined forces with another woman who has led an annual event for the church, but who said she couldn't do it this year.  As this has been our biggest fund raiser I didn't want it to fall by the wayside, so I asked everyone if they could find one other person to help, and we could do it as a community, as long as J. told me how she had done it in the past.

I organized volunteers based on what J. told me we would need.  I am not a mind reader, so when she asked me things that I hadn't done, I had to just say no, I didn't do that.  I had no idea that I should have done whatever that was.  This is "crazy making" that my family used to do all over the place, but I didn't fall into the drama.   She had always had a good friend work with her, and I didn't fill those shoes in any way - I didn't attempt to.

I just did what I knew how to do, and I think the event went very well.  Pictures are here trillium-5314.

My body didn't do so well, and my psyche is more of an introvert, which to me means I am happily alone for long periods of time.  My body complained almost constantly and I had to take pain relievers all the time, as well as allergy medications.  I slept like a baby, missing many events that otherwise would have kept me awake at night.  I also lost my sense of smell.  I think I remember the musty dusty smell about Thurs. as we repacked all the donated items for the sale into boxes to be carried out to the parking lot.

I've got pottery to make, and some to sell.  I laugh at "some" as I've halfway inventoried what I have on hand, and the value surprised me (higher than expected!)

I also have been attending the Council on Aging low-cost lunch that is provided at the Lakeview Senior Center weekdays.  I don't make it to all the lunches, but manage to be there for most of them.

This program brings a diverse set of elders together, many of whom have more needs than I presently do.  Some don't drive and there's a van that goes to their home to pick them up and take them back.  I'm so glad to see that there are some good programs helping people...and this is certainly one.  I wish more of the homebound elders could join us.  I know Meals on Wheels exists, but probably was cut by our current ignorant representatives in NC.  I hope the Senior lunch program continues.

I read Ronnie Barrett's blog .timegoesby as often as I can.  She often speaks of aging issues, and many are pertinent to my life. 

I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon.  My life is so often put under a scrutiny of the medical profession these days.   I'm very grateful for pain relief and other medications that my blood pressure and a recurring shingles virus are controlled by. What must my ancestor's lives have been like when the few doctors were used mostly to set bones or deal with fevers?

 Of course I'm talking about the long-lived ancestors. 

Before the war started - 1856 Texas

Of course tensions were high.  Wars don't start in a vacuum.  The Civil War had lots of things leading up to it.  I don't know most of them.

I will look at what my ancestors were saying in their correspondence however.

It is of note that Lizzie is the younger sister of Mary Granger Phillips, her name being Elizabeth Granger at the time of these letters.  It is even more precious when I know what will become of Mary, and how her children will go to her sisters, Lucy and Lizzie to grow up in their care.  My grandmother's mother was one of those children.

As noted before, I make comments in the document within parentheses and in italics.
(First look at photos of the original documents, then my transcriptions, then my "other notes")

(Note on layout, one page folded, with writing starting on right front fold, going inside for 2^nd and 3^rd pages, then back to front left for 4^th page, then along margins, MaryPhillipsEliz24Sept1856.001 and 002)

                                        Beaumont Sept 24, 1856

Dear Lizzie

        You must excuse a short note this week as I cannot write more.  Willie (her husband William Phillips) wished me to write you a few lines for him as he thinks  he can better explain why you may not teach, he says the gist of the matter is this you are going to marry and you wish to teach but Mr. Reed does not, so you are waiting for him if he says marry good bye to school.

****************************************

(next page of letter)

Now he says you need not deny it – for you know it is true.  I saw Helen all the Coulda (?) family called upon me yesterday Mrs. Catilda (?) is getting Helen ready to come.  Mrs. Louck (?) is about to go to housekeeping.  Mr. H. is building down below Mrs. Lewis’s (?) thing and are delighted at the idea.

        I wonder if it is  cold at the Pass (Sabine Pass, Texas) as here .  I am sitting by the stove this morning.  Mornings have been so cold I sit in the house now I think the room looks so pretty since changing the furniture I have taken out the (scratched out 2 letters) Bowl & Pitcher 

****************************************

(next page of letter)

and put the table under the glass with several little things upon it.  The beaureau (sic) is where the table stood and the bed in the farther corner of the room my little table I have recovered with the same having a plenty.  Mr. P  is making a much larger one.   I see no prospect for us to come down until Christmas so have become quite reconciled to wait.

        I am much obliged for the dish.  I do find it very convenient nearly every meal I use it.  I have potatoes and they keep nice and warm in it.  Noah and his wife I have not

*****************************************

(next page of letter)

seen as yet.  I called upon them and they upon me but always miss each other.  Her family are bitter as ever she went to church and her brother never spoke to her but she said she did not care a darn.

        I have hardly been out since you left.  I am sewing. Just made a shirt entire yesterday for (General?)

        Mrs. W. Harring (?) has fiterd (?) some business and has been in two or three times she is making her a black silk dress off the piece your apron was bought – how does it wear?  I am looking this week to hear from Mother.

        Your, Mary

(then to margins of letter)

Love to Lucy  I suppose she is too busy with Mr. (Bendley?) to write unless I write her.

I don’t expect to be able to play one tune.  When I come home the piano will be so bad  Cannot you get it tuned I tell you this winter will ruin it if you do not.

****************************

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Granger later married Sidney Sweet, and their other sister Lucy Granger married Agustus Wakeley, who was the clerk of Galveston County.

From the jumps of information in Census records, I am able to piece together that these families continued moving, having originally lived in Massachusetts, then Sabine Pass, Texas.  From there Mary Granger Phillips and her husband William apparently moved to Beaumont, and started a plantation nearby.  In later letters she talks about the cotton crops.
And the Granger unmarried daughters moved to Galveston, where later they married.  Their brother George also lived there, as well as their parents, who later moved to Tyler, Texas.

All this was before oil was discovered which basically raped the landscape of any beauty that Beaumont might have had. Oil was discovered at nearby Spindletop on 10 January 1901. So remaining landmarks are few and far between.  

(I'm sending this post to Sepia Saturday this week, because without this black gold, automobiles would not have existed.  Now isn't that a thought!)

  
Wikipedia has a good article about the history of Beaumont, Texas, mentioning Joseph Pulsifer, whose sister Lucy was married to George Tyler Granger (as mentioned in my post here.) and was the mother of Mary, Lucy, George and Elizabeth who are involved in these letters that I'm transcribing

I will post more information about the Pulsifer family later.  And as I do more research into early Texas history, I'll share what I learn too, for those of you who don't yet know about it's short time as a republic and so on.  My ancestors were some of the brave pioneers who worked through some years of extraordinary changes there.

Ancestors letters

Don't worry, you're not going blind.  This is a very faint copy of a copy of a letter that was faint to begin with.  I don't know where the original is now, but I just copied the 1980 Xerox onto the computer.  Unfortunately Blogger won't let me upload more than a smidgen of the size of the scanned photo.  But don't worry, I've transcribed it already.

I have yet to determine where Grigsby's Bluff might be.  But my grandmother's grandfather owned a farm just before the Civil War there.  His wife Mary Granger Phillips died suddenly, and this letter is to her sister from her father, as he went to the house.  At that time the husband had been seen by someone in Houston, and there weren't any clear explanations given of her death (at least in the letter).

So this is a sad letter.  But it also tells a lot of the life that was being lived just before the Civil War in Texas, written in Dec. 1861.  Her husband, William Phillips, died as a soldier during the war just a few years later, leaving 2 young children to be raised by grandparents, aunts and uncles.

And I have many more letters that were written by my grandmother's grandmother (she who had died so young).  I'm slowly transcribing them.  And I've already scanned them into a drop box where they are no longer kept in memory on my own computer.  

And I've started sending the photo files to Ancestry.com for my ancestors to have their words attached to their vital statistics.  I'll add the transcriptions as soon as I finish typing them. 

Why?  Well, somehow these words from these people have survived over 150 years.  They were just regular people living their lives.  Now here I am and finally have a break in my own life with enough time to do this.  So it's a project a 70 year old woman can do for the rest of the descendants of these hard working, brave, sometimes anxious, sometimes sick people, many of whom died young. 

I recently watched the PBS story about Margaret Mitchell.  She was a few generations removed from the war, but depicted it in her romantic novel.  I can see the words of my ancestor sounding so like Scarlet in her naivete.  She goes on and on about a beautiful piano which has been shipped from the East to a Texas town which has no other piano in it.  Then a few years later she admits the 16 blacks and 6 whites on their farm have little to eat and is not sure what may happen next.  She is also sorry to not have shoes for her daughter.

I'll make the transcritions available.  I don't think the person who has the originals has published them, so they are probably not under copyright.