Dream A Little Dream Of Me: Those Two Ronnie's

Stars shining bright above you

Night breezes seem to whisper, I love you
Birds singin' in the sycamore tree
Dream a little dream of me

I sat singing those words of the song over and over again. A song I had not heard in a very long time sung by The Mama’s and The Papa’s with Mama Cass Elliott. 

Dream a little dream of me.

Why am I singing these words over and over throwing in a hum or two?  (I can’t get that tune out of my head)

In all actuality, the question already had the answer

Ronnie: James and Jessie Daviss Boggess son

My cousin is named Ronnie. His mother and my father were brother and sister from Navasota in Grimes County Texas. 
While at work he passed out and was taken to the hospital. After initial testing he was air lifted to another hospital where they have an excellent Trauma Center.

The doctors did all they could do. They placed him in a semi coma state which included life support.  The determination was made that Ronnie would not get any better and the family needed to gather and make a decision.

Several days later my cousin called and told me that night a decision was made to disconnect the machine the next afternoon. 

That Night: The Dream

I was watering my front lawn when I looked up and saw my brother Ronnie walking up the sidewalk. He stopped to talk and in the process told me that he had just left seeing our sister June and was on his way to see our mama. He was looking young, tall and handsome like he did in his younger days. 

I told him that mama was over that way, and I pointed to the right in an upward position. I also told him that John, June's ex husband was up there too.

Ronnie, in a very loud voice said "WOW"

That's when I awakened and sat straight up. 

I swear, that dream tripped me out because my sister June, my mom and John were all deceased. I did not see them in the dream nor was there a mention of my other two brothers who also were deceased and gone on to Glory.

As I was thinking how weird this dream was, I came to the conclusion that it was all about cousin Ronnie and that the thought process was given to me just before I retired for bed and it just stuck.

I looked up at the clock and wondered if cousin Ronnie was having trouble and quietly thought about the doctors taking him off the life support machine.  Since I had not received a phone call I dismissed the troubling thought out of my head. 

Later that morning I told my daughter about my dream and what I thought the dream may have meant. She said since I had dreamed about her uncle mabe I should look for him as I had so often done.

Ronnie: Frank and Zepher Dones-Burks Williams son

My brother Ronnie was the one brother that was somewhere out there in the elements. A wandering soul who never stayed anywhere stable. All his wanderings came about later in life and we as his family never understood when or why his life took a turn. After all we were all raised the same and very much loved by our mother who doted over us.

Oh we expressed our concerns to each other but the truth of the matter lay only within the confines of him. 
We just knew that our love for him never wavered and wished that he would show up one day. 

Over the years I regularly looked for Ronnie on the Social Security Index and figured that as long as his name did not come up he was alive and hopefully taking care of himself. 

It was about eight years that we had not seen Ronnie. One day, he showed up. I called my brother Bruce who drove down that week-end to see him.  We were elated and knew for sure now that he was alive.

Ronnie stayed around for several months. He lived with me for awhile and then moved in a trailor in the back of a car wash that his nephew and some other guys operated. 

Ronnie was a very witty person. Full of funny comments and very intelligent. Then at times he could be troubling. This meant that the rules in place at the car wash had to be adheared to. In Ronnie's eyes he told his nephew Anthony that they had too many rules. 

He packed up his blanket and walked away. That was in the summer of 2010.

I took my daughters advice, turned on the computer then googled the Social Security Death Index. I entered his name and hit enter.

Screaming at me as if coming out of the page I saw his name, date of birth and date of death!!!

I could not describe how I felt. I was numb and in a state of total shock. 
December 24, 2011 leaped out at me. My brother has been deceased since 2011. How could I have not known this. I always check the index. Not only that, I put my phone number and address in various places in his wallet just in case.

I told my daughter what I had found and through her tears she called Anthony.

Perhaps we did have too many rules for his liking and he figured my dream would do to show his exit.

Perhaps, just perhaps Ronnie and cousin Ronnie are rooming together. (After all, Cousin Ronnie came into the world in December and brother Ronnie left this world in December.)

Perhaps the good Lord picked the same day for two families who are intwined to know how blessed they are to have had those Ronnie's in their lives.

Sweet dreams, till sunbeams find you
Gotta keep dreaming, leave all worries behind you
But in your dreams, whatever they be
You gotta make me a promise
You'll dream a little dream of me

Ronnie Evans Boggess and Ronald Louis Williams know that you were loved, that you are still loved, and will always be loved.

Rest in Perfect Peace you two.

Many Rivers To Cross1: Rivers of Life Rolling On The River

Living in the Jonah’s of my imagination are the proud women and men who would rather die than be taken from their home leaving countless families alone weeping and crying.

I can hear them saying, "You tried to break me down here in this hell hole of a hull, thinking I would join my aunts and uncles on the bottom of the deep blue ocean." 

Some of our own from one Continent we know, huge and vast coming from the past.

How many I ask are the bones that lie in the deep are a reflection of 

me when they were in the flesh?   

After watching Many Rivers To Cross; the first episode on PBS, my mind 
wandered back and forth between my Texas counties and my ancestors
who may have taken the same route shown. So far I have no documented verification.

                                                                                                                    

Everyone that knows me has been told that I am stuck in Texas with my

research and that I have a million billion trillion bricks and blocks

that have fallen in my way.

Okay I admit I am exagerating about those trillion or so bricks and blocks but I do have 1024 direct descendants who fit in there somewhere.

I am not going to call them walls because I do have human Walls that are in my shared DNA with names like Thelma, Steven and Crystal that I have come to love sight unseen.

This show bought home, that I have had very few rivers in my life to cross.

My Ancestors bore the brunt of that.

Just because I have not found Mr and Ms Elusive does not mean that I have to jump off the top of the roof of my house.

The front porch step will do just fine.

Does Texas have many rivers?  You bet she does; they are long, they are wide and they are wild.

With that being said, Mariah Taylor my elusive 3^rd great grandmother

and her parents may have crossed the Sabine River which snakes all the way from the Gulf of  Mexico up to East Texas.

The Sabine River:

I have not gotten a handle yet on where Mariah was really born but her son

Joseph was born in Harrison County reportedly in Jonesville Texas.  Near

Jonesville there was Swanson’s landing. It was a port that was used

to deliver goods and slaves from New Orleans.

Did Mariah’s ancestors come that way?  

My paternal greats on my Daviss side could have gotten off somewhere 

around Galveston Texas, crossed over the Brazos River or the Navasota River not knowing that one day two of their offspring may meet up one day just like the mighty rivers that kiss the ocean.

The Brazos River

The Navasota River

What about Captain John Taylor who steered the Hannah Elizabeth in 1836 from Barbados. He brought a boat load of slaves to what was known as 

Brigs landing,  a port in Orange Texas. Some he left  and the rest he headed towards Galveston to sell.

Was Mariah’s family on that brig?  Were they shuffled off and transported

to Harrison County Texas? 

(excerpt found in the Gateway to Texas: The History of Orange and Orange County)

In order to stay off that front step, I tend to piddle and hope that my piddling 

will lead someone else to find their family with little nuggets and gems

one step at a time. 

I have no idea if this 34 year old man (they referred to him as a boy)

that was found on the north side of the Sabine was my ancestor; but he was someone's child husband or brother.  His name was George

                                                                                                                                   

            How many rivers does George have to cross to be called a man?

  

                           

                               The Standard Clarksville Texas October 25, 1856 

In the 1870 Census in Albany New York , 27 year old Kate Rivers was listed as a servant. Ms Rivers was born in Africa.

How many Rivers Lord, How Many Rivers To Cross?

                                This is the excerpt of the 1870 census

I went looking for any Davis that I could find to tie into my Daviss.  Even though this particular Davis was not mine he was living in a levee camp in Missouri.

Since we are talking about rivers,  Davis’s next door neighbor

was a Teamster by the name of Red River. He and his parents were from Tennessee according to the 1910 census.

                 How many rivers did Red have to cross to work at the Levee?  

                      Here is a excerpt of  Red listed on the 1910 census

When I lived in Dallas Texas in the early 1970's I used to cross over the

Trinity River Bridge. The area I lived in was dry. You were not able to buy 

beer or liquor. The trip across the bridge was the only way we could secure a 

happy week-end with spirits especially during football season. 

Need I say more?

The Trinity River

Try crossing over this bridge

Yes, Yes, Yes, there are still waters!!

I Am Who I Am: I Am Ancestors A Plenty

Across the ocean I really began with many hearts beating. 

I am who I am, but who am I? 

This journey has taken me through many census pages looking and seeking parts of me that came to America many years ago.

There were two changes in my life that started me on my Daviss Journey.

The first one started one day in June 1961.

I was sitting on Agneda Taylor Hodge's front porch in Altus Oklahoma.  She was the sister of my brothers wife Gwen. 

I spotted this man walking on the grounds of Lincoln High School located next door.
His back was to me but his walk looked oh so familiar.
In fact he had that cool walk just like my brother Theodore and his frame, head and all, resembled his.

I asked Agneda if she knew who he was. She said it was Prof Davis, the school principal.

My ears perked up; Prof Davis, how does he spell his name? Heck if she said Daviss with that extra S then he had to be a part of me. One "S" she said, but now that I think about it, he does kind of look like your brother. 

Agneda used the terminology Prof instead of Professor. That made me think that she must think well of this man Prof or was that a term used in a small town where everyone knows everyone.

I can’t remember if the sail went out of my boat but I did dismiss the connection because all I knew was that I had Two S’s in my Daviss.

A couple days later this lady came over who was a teacher at the school. We got into a conversation and she told me her name was Mrs Jones, but just call her G.G. like the rest of them. (another sign of familiarity) but knowing my age and manners, I stuck to Mrs Jones. 
Prof Davis name came up and I told her what I told Agneda, about him walking like my brother.

Well this teacher asked me what my parents names were and where were they from?  Of course I said Theodore with two S’s on the Davis and that he lived in Denver Colorado.
She told me that Prof had a brother named Ted who lived in Denver. She was not sure if his real name was Theodore nor if he was known as one S or two but she would find out from Prof.

Thinking to myself, my Denver dad is a two S kind of guy.

The next day there was a knock on the door and bless my heart, there stood that man who was walking on the school house grounds with a picture album in his hand.  He came in the house, opened the book and said to me. Is this your father?

Staring back at me was a photo from long ago that was a duplicate of the very one in an album I had. 

That man had a big grin on his face. He was my father’s brother! Wright Cuney Daviss, son of James Penn and Betty Owens Daviss.

                                                                                                                        

Prof Davis was actually Prof Daviss! Wow, I got a good hug out of that one and I returned the favor and hugged him back.

A two S Daviss carrying a one S name. 

That revelation blew me away but it also put in the back of my mind if I was related to other one S Davis somewhere in this here universe. (that is another story for later).

The second journey was after I moved to Dallas.

Again there was a knock on the door. This time it was a young lady in a white hat cocked to the side, and standing next to her was a nice looking gentleman.

The young lady said, Are you Vicky?
Yessssss, that’s me as I looked at them out of the side of one eye.  Rolling around in my  mind I was thinking, what in the heck do they want with me?

The young lady said, I’m your cousin. I’m Erma Jewell and our fathers are brothers. My father is John Pierce Daviss, and this is my husband Richard Lewis.

Erma Jewell and I got to be quite close after that.
I would drive down to Conroe Texas and visit Uncle John, Aunt Harriett along with Cousin Erma.

I learned that Erma Jewell and Richard called each other Buddy. I thought that was the cutest thing.

On one visit I drove down, trailed her to Navasota and Piedmont where they were having a Homecoming Celebration at Little Flock Baptist Church.
It was then I met  my aunts Jessie (Miss), Elena and Jimmie, Uncles Spencer, Harry, Owens and Uncle Zeke. 

I also did a double take when I saw my aunt/cousin Romona Burks Daviss, whom I had not seen in years when I lived in Los Angeles.

She was visiting her sister Cammie. My mom, grandfather, and the rest of my siblings went over to cousin Cammie's for dinner. 

At the time I had no idea that she was married to my uncle Harry. I just knew we were cousins on the Burks side.

I wanted to know more about my family.

I was too late to meet a grandmother or grandfather on that side.
I am told though that I had been here on numerous occasions as a baby, that Aunt Jimmie had kept me quite often, and my brother Theodore even lived there and went to a school by the name of Carver in Navasota. 

What got me was Aunt Elena; When I walked over to meet and tell her who I was, she already knew. She told me that she had thought about me every day for 26 years...26 years! Why, that was exactly how old I was.  

So here I am: Who for the life of me am I

Who were these people that I spring from? Where did they live, what did they do for a living. 

They had to be strong people

They prayed for their children, they farmed the land, they taught their children in school and they helped bring life into the neighbor women who were about to give birth. 

Louis Cooper registered to vote in 1867.  He was the husband of Mary White He had to be a strong man to even register and so close to the end of slavery.

I am Louis Cooper

On the 1880 census Mary White Cooper who was the grandmother of James Penn Daviss, was a widow. Her husband Louis passed away and left her to work for shares in order to eat and feed the rest of the children.

I found her not only on the population census but on the Agricultural census as well where it shows how many cows and mules she had and the crops she grew. Talk about a strong woman.

 I am Mary White Cooper

Louis and Mary's Children  Sallie, Lydia, Jerry, Cherry, Anna, Roxie and Eliza all grew up to have children of their own. 
They are the Zephyrs, Williams, Scott's, Nelms, Minors, Boggess, Parhams, Mathis, and numerous others who all stem from those roots. 

I am Louis and Mary's Children

Living a couple houses up was one of her daughters Sallie.  Sally was married to Ed Kinney at the time and the census shows that James and Leah were the step-children. Sally later married James Conway.

I am Sally White Cooper Conway and James Conway

James, Sallie’s son grew up and married Betty Owen daughter of Thornton and Francis Bradley Owen . They had 8 children. 5 girls and 3 boys. 

James Penn became a teacher and a preacher, and after his wife Betty Owen passed away he married Gertrude Sims Pierce.
Together they combined their children, along with Gertrude bringing Elo and Jimmie Pierce into the marriage.
James Penn and Gertrude had seven children together.  6 boys and 1 girl. 

I am each and every one of those 17 children of  the Owen and Sims Women

I am James Penn Daviss and Gertrude Sims Pierce Daviss.

I am the thoughts that filtered through their minds concerning God, Family and Education. 

Just like that old time favorite licorice candy called Good and Plenty filled to the top of the box

I am one of the children who grace this Room of Ancestors A Plenty, with twigs, limbs, and leaves. Whose visions, strength come from the Room of Ancestors A Plenty of hatched roofs, trunks, branches and roots prior to merging into one. 

Like that little wooden church in the country called little Flock Baptist Church or the old homestead of each of our fore-parents. 

Where the Rooms of Ancestors A Plenty in Georgia, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, California, Wisconsin and Michigan our blood runs deep.

It flows from one to another like the limbs on that Baobab Tree in Africa.

 I am each and every one of you: For that I am eternally grateful and I Thank God. 

Sentimental Sunday: The Man Who Crossed The Brazos

Houston Texas July 8,1899. The Brazos River had reached its peak after flood waters put numerous towns under water. Negroes who lived between Brookshire and Fulshire were stranded. Relief parties were sent to pick them up and take them to dry land that was located in Brookshire.

In Navasota the water had receded about 7 ft and the tale of the ruined crops were evident. Crops teetering to the brink as they were choked by the rushing water. People were scrambling to the plantations where they worked because most were on higher ground and many of the Negroes lived on the bottoms.

In Hempsted there was an appeal to the governor and cities to send out food to the more than three thousand Negroes who also lived on the bottoms and were starving, because they had been without food for days. The same thing was happening in Richmond, and Calvert. The Railroads that served all these areas were washed out and under water, making life miserable for those who depended on them for various services.

While reading the story of the flood I ran across this amazing sketch of this rather handsome man.


http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86071197/1899-07-08/ed-1/seq-2/
The Houston daily post. (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, July 08, 1899

The old man was rescued from his little cabin out on Peach Ridge near Brookshire. He had been water bound for three days. He claims that he is 106 years old and his appearance indicates the truthfulness of the assertion. This sketch was made by the post artist while the old man was being taken to Brookshire.

I went to the census to see if I could find him and also to compare the age that he claimed to be if possible. Even though the artist had a different view of the man whom he thought was every bit his age of 106. I thought that he looked more like a man in his late eighties.

I am pretty sure this is a distinct possible for the Frank in the paper. The age fits plus the area where he said he was rescued from and where he was living. The only different is the spelling of his last name and as we know " Spelling doesn't count" especially in those days.

1870 census
Ancestry:
Source Citation: Year: 1870; Census Place: Precinct 3, Fort Bend, Texas; Roll M593_1585; Page: 598A; Image: 591; Family History Library Film: 553084.


Name: Frank Spates
Birth Year: abt 1790
Age in 1870: 80
Birthplace: Louisiana
Home in 1870: Precinct 3, Fort Bend, Texas
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Post Office: Richmond
Household Members: Name Age
Frank Spates 80
Margaret Spates 50

Here is also another census that fits in with the areas that was under water and all located near each other but this is in Waller County. Spelling is off again but the age on the original census record fits whereas the index is off.


Ancestry:
Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Justice Precinct 5, Waller, Texas; Roll T623_1676; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 52.Name: Frank Sperght
[Frank Speight]
Home in 1900: Justice Precinct 5, Waller, Texas
Age: 1
Birth Date: 1798
Birthplace: Virginia
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Relationship to Head of House: Father
Father's Birthplace: Virginia
Mother's Birthplace: Virginia
Marital Status: Widowed
Household Members: Name Age
Caesar Sperght 50
Laura Sperght 51
Eda Sperght 19
Delia Sperght 18
Elisabeth Sperght 13
Wealthy Sperght 11
Frank Sperght 1
Frank Sperght 1


It is rather amazing how and when you cross the path of an intriguing subject or article even though you know very little about them. But as we live and breathe we all have a story. No matter how insignificant it is to you, there is always someone else that can capture that story and be blessed.
Mr Frank lived to a wonderful age if his years on earth through this article told the truth. And whats more amazing is that his life was spared again through this horrible flood. I would love to have listened to all he had to share along his travels.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Enveloping The Past To Secure The Future

There is no telling what you can come up with when you are looking for treasures. I was talking to Luckey from OurGeorgiaRoots and found her ancestor was Thomas Dorsey: The music man Thomas Dorsey!! I had been listening to some of his compositions for years.
I remembered that I had seen something in and old logbook that reminded me of Mr. Dorsey.

These worn envelopes found in an old church log book from Little Flock Baptist Church was an indication to me that the church knew good music, and invested in it to carry on their music ministry just before and after hearing good preaching. Thomas A Dorsey was the all time Father of Black Gospel music.


He wrote and sang "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" my all time favorite. Others from this list are "The Little Wooden Church On The Hill" and "Jesus Lives In Me".

You could get all these songs from 10 cents to 25 cents. Sheet music was mostly what was ordered in those backwoods churches. I can see them now playing that piano, shaking that tambourine and stomping their feet to the beat.

Now here is another set of worn envelopes found in that same old church log book. It says to me that that my grandparents and the church Community of Little Flock Baptist Church in Grimes County Texas thought about the future and put savings into a Retirement fund to have a better life.
I would also imagine that more than a few of my relatives knew the Boyd's in one fashion or another.

Boyd came to Navasota Texas right after emancipation from Mississippi. He eventually taught himself to read and write and found a church home that he eventually joined called Hopewell Baptist Church in 1869.
R.H. Boyd helped to organize the Texas Negro Baptist Convention. He also organized and served as pastor to several churches in Texas. He later moved to Tennessee where he founded the R.H. Boyd Publishing Company. After his death his son Henry took over the helm.

Wordless Wednesday: Water From the Well to the House

This well located on my Daviss grandparents property in Navasota Texas bought years of cool refreshing water.

Surname Saturday: JP's and JD's Taylor and Daviss

Joseph Paul Daviss and James D "Jake" Daviss
The Maternal and Paternal side of it all.






Joseph Paul Taylor, the handsome man on the left is from Marshall Texas.
He is the father of my maternal grandmother Essie Dean Taylor, and son of Mariah Taylor and step-father Lawrence Taylor. According to several sources he was born btw 1865-1867 in Jonesville, Harrison County Texas. Known as JP, he passed away in Kaufman County Texas in 1951.
He is buried in Marshall Texas at the St. Johns Baptist Church Cemetery.

James D "Jake" Daviss, the handsome man on the right was born in North Carolina around 1856. The city and county is unknown. He is the father of my paternal grandfather James Penn Daviss and the son of Hubbard and Elizabeth Davis (oral history). When and how James D Daviss came to Texas has not been established but his footprints stretch from numerous counties as a doctor. James D passed away in Houston Texas in 1921 and was buried at the historically black Evergreen Cemetery.