Holiday H Hayley - Pioneer

  WEST TEXAS PIONEERS

The Col. H. H. Hayley Family
Coke County, Texas

Incidents in the lives of the very early hard working
Pioneers who wrought so well to build West Texas
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By Ethel Anna Pearce Hayley

The family of Jake Hayley began to migrate to Texas from Mississippi in the early 1870s. There were 4 Sons and 4 Daughters, some of them were married. Some came at different times, all stopped in Hill Co. After a few years, they were settled permanently at Seymour, Texarkanna, Coleman and Coke Counties. Now, the 4th and 5th Generations are scattered all over Texas and other states, some living as far away as California and N.Y. and overseas in Service of the U.S.

In early 1879 the Col. Holiday H. Hayley family was the last of the Hayley's to come from Mississippi. They came via Railway to Ft. Worth and were met by some of the relatives from Hill Co. where they spent the cold, wet winter. A big crop of corn was raised by their kin in 1878. About 80 bushel per acre was sold for only 12 cents a Bushel. As they couldn't get to the timber, in the black mud they burned corn on the cob as fuel, it made a very good fire. Finally the family located 1 mile west of Itaska, later moving to Jack's Branch near Peoria. This Branch was covered with wild grapes, plums, blackberries, and pecans. The country was full of prairie chickens and when the children could find a nest full of eggs, it was a real treat for the whole family. It was hard for the early settlers to get grub, as money was scarce and hard to get, as well.

In 1879 some of the Hayley's decided to go further West where they could take up a homestead as they had no money to buy land. Col. Hayley had to stop often to soak the wood to tighten the tires on the wagon wheels and let the horses graze. The team consisted of one very tall horse and one extra low horse, so, attracted a lot of attention. They located 2 miles from Rough Creek in Coleman Co. They went to the timber & cut logs for a one room house; cooking was done on the fire place. A good wheat crop was made. Only feed for horses was raised. Cattle feed was unknown. They did well when it rained but the cattle died during drouth years. The Hayley's under went all the hardships of the early pioneers, grubbed the land to plant a crop and garden with scarcely any tools, broke land with a one horse plow and etc. These years the children went to school only a few months at a time. Fortunately, Mrs. Hayley, who was Eliza Bailey of the prominent Bailey's of Mississippi, had a good education. Along with teaching her children, reading, writing and arithmetic, she gave them great lessons every day from the Bible. She was very busy sewing for her family by hand. None of those very early pioneers had sewing machines. Mr. Hayley peddled house hold utensils over the country, mostly trading them for chickens, which he sold for money to buy grub. Most people only bought meal for Bread, but the Hayleys always bought Flour. They had more of a variety to eat than most of the early neighbors, the nearest being 2 miles away. Occasionally, a singing master would pass through and teach a Singing School in the Schoolhouse. They would teach a 2 week Singing Course for $1.00 each. A Methodist Circuit Rider and a Missionary Baptist Preacher would occasionally come and hold services in the homes visited, or in the school house later.

Mrs. Hayley was a small woman weighing less than 100 lbs. and seemed very frail, but she never stopped going or complained. One day, when the family was away and she was alone, a travelling Dentist came along. Her teeth were bad, she had him pull 22 teeth, all that she had, at one time. At that time they didn't use anything to ease the pain. He charged her $5.00 for pulling all of them. For nearly a year pieces of jawbone worked out.

As they were unable to get a homestead in Coleman Co. the family moved to the newly organized Coke Co. The land belonged mostly to the State & K. & T C C Ry. Co. The State had given this land to the Railway Co. to survey it. The State got one Section and the railroad got the alternate sections. The cattlemen had been using it free, so the State put their part of land on the Market at $1.00 per acre. You could pay 1/40 down and 1/40 a year at a low rate of interest. That took $16.00 to File and make the 1st payment on a Section. Mr. Hayley located a Section in the N. E. Corner of the County about 6 miles from Old Fort Chadbourne. This was a fairly good Section of land, about 200 acres tilable, the balance good pasture land with good sized cedar on it. There was no house, fence, or anything. Soon after the County was organized in 1889, they came in a new wagon with 5 head of horses. They brought everything they had, even Farming tools in the wagon. There were 6 children.

The weather was fine. They camped out 2 nights. They were a happy family, going to a new land with the promise of a home of their own.

Mr. Hayley quit peddling to improve his lands. This was a good year, plenty of rain. They made 15 acres of fine corn, some potatoes, pumpkins, melons and kershaws. With a good garden and the wild game killed, there was plenty to eat. In crossing the prairie, in Runnels Co., they would sometime see as many as 4 or 5 herds of antelope at a time. It was hard to get close enough to kill one. Cattleman was glad for them to pen and milk their cows that roamed the unfenced range. Sometimes they milked as many as 1/2 day to get plenty of milk. As the cows only had grass to eat, they didn't give much milk.

Col. Hayley and his boys got a job of building a fence around a Section of Land below Ballinger. They got $15.00 per mile. They fenced 40 acre of their own land and planted feed which made well.

The eldest daughter Annie taught a pay school for 2 months. She had 30 pupils at $1.00 per month. The next year she taught a school and boarded in the H. H. Luckett Ranch home. Mrs. Luckett was a sister to Col. T. L. Odom. The estate now has many oil wells on it.

At this lonely home one morning, they heard a rattlesnake in the yard. They killed it with a hoe, it was 6 ft. 2 in. long. They hung it up with the head down and their fine dog ran up and grabbed the snake by the head. The dog died within 30 minutes so there was a grief stricken family, for they had lost their best friend.

Many cedar posts were cut, hauled, and sold as land was being fenced. The money they brought was a great help while improving their own land. Also, the Col. & sons, Albion & Larkin built many fences for other Land owners.

In the 1st year in Coke Co. there was a big camp meeting on Oak Creek, held by a Methodist Missionary and a local Protestant Minister. People came from 20 miles, some brought their cows to milk, stretched their tent and camped. These early settlers got better acquainted; as well as a great Revival of their religion. There was no church organization in Coke Co. at that time. On the last day Mrs. Hayley was bitten by a spider, nothing much was thought about it but after reaching home, she became seriously ill. Her son, Albion went 20 miles horse back for an old Dr. living on Colorado River.

In 1889 Coke Co. was organized. Most of the voters lived in the east part of the Co. They voted for the County site to be located at the foot of Hayrick Mountain about 12 miles from the center of the County. A dryer place could not be found anywhere. Drinking water was hard to get. People swarmed in from everywhere and it seemed like they all wanted to run for office. There were about 25 candidates to run for the different officers. When all the votes were counted, except a little box at Tennyson in the S. E. Corner of the County, it was conceded that certain men had been elected, because there were not enought men in Tennyson to change it. It was several days before they got returns from Tennyson. They declared that 3 men had been elected for Sheriff, Judge and Clerk. The 3 men defeated claimed fraud & entered suit; but it was so long before they could get their case to trial, that it was nearly time for the next election. The lawyers advised them to drop the suit, claiming that it would cost more to try the suit than the offices would pay the balance of the Term. The clerk, who was defeated was elected next election. The Judge elected was defeated by another man. The Sheriff was re-elected for another term; but in a year or 2 after he went out of office, he was sent to the Federal Penitentiary in N. Y. (SingSing) for complicity in robbin Robert Lee Mails. The County had a bad time trying to get off to a good start. The Records for titles of lands in the new County had to be transcribed from the records of Tom Green County from which Coke Co was sliced. The temporary building, which was built to hold these Records was burned twice during the clerks tenture of Office (it maybe 1 1/2 yrs.) one, at Hayrick and once at Robert Lee, so he had to transcribe the Records 3 times. They got 15 cents a hundred words for the work, it was done in writing in Pen and Ink, so he certainly didn't get rich.

About this time the 1st man was killed in Coke Co. The great LaGripe epidemic struck the people fo the new County. Those who had it say the Flu of the present day are mild compared to the aches & pains of LaGrippe 60 years ago. With no Doctors and only simple remedies to combat the disease, many died.

The Col. Hayley home was a remote place, with no school near so they decided to sell it in 1890. People were coming in from everywhere to buy land. The place (Section of Land) was sold for $525.00. $225.00 was paid in Gold money and 3 yokes of oxen. Some gold was in a Tobacco Pouch. His son, Larkin, would get him to show him this money often. His Uncle Larkin A. Hayley, for whom he was named, had the distinction of Raising and having ginned the first Bale of Cotton raised in Coleman Co. Later, he came to Coke Co. and had taken up a 1/2 Section of Land about 5 miles west of Hayrick. Col. Hayley bought it, no improvements on it. So they lived in a tent, while they grubbed out the Mesquites, built a house and etc. It was very dry. They had to haul water 5 miles so another farm in Coke Co. was made ready for human abode. Prairie dogs were thick in the Mesquite flats. When you cleared and ploughed a field they would move out around the edges. When the crop came up, they started in on it and they ate it down, as they come closer crops were completely eaten up. Men came around poisoning them at so much per acre but they were so thick everywhere they would move right back in. They destroyed about 1/3 of the crop and the Hayley's killed more than 200 Rattlesnakes. Albion Hayley rode horseback to a month Pay School in Mathematics at Hayrick which was all the school advantages they had.

Col. Hayley's father and 2 Uncles were the only close neighbors. They took a camping out fit and went on a fishing trip to the Colorado River. The river was deep every where. There was a big hole of water about 1 mile long close to where Robert Lee now stands. They caught 25 cat fish that weighed more than 12 lbs., the biggest weighed 25 lbs. It was fine sport to catch them, but to get rid of them was another matter. They couldn't afford to fry but a meal or 2 of them because of the lard needed. They tried boiling & baking them but they were no good. There were no neighbors to give them to so they had to throw them away. The river was full of Yellow Cat, blue cat, and channel catfish.

The next home of the Hayley's was in the northern part of Coke Co. about 6 miles above Sanco. Tt had a 4 room house on it and a little land in cultivation. After digging on a well all summer, it was a dry hole. This was a dry year. They had a good garden early, but the cane planted never came up. They got by by selling a span of mules, 3 horses and 6 yearlings.

About this time the County Seat was moved from Hayrick to Robert Lee in 1890. The country around Sanco was filling up with people. There would be Singings and parties and the three oldest children, now grown up, went on horse back and had a good time. They made some very good friends that year that they have held through the years. There was good hunting along Yellow Wolf Creek. The happy times was clouded by the family dog going mad and having to be shot. Real sorrow came when the 4 year old baby in the family died. The little coffin was made of pine lumber, he was buried in the little grave yard at Sanco.

This was another year with no school. Larkin was 16, Lottie 10 & Lula 7 1/2. The girls had not ever been in school. The Court House at Robert Lee was started building. A contract for building a bridge across the Colorado river had been let. Col. Hayley got the contract for hauling out the bridge material from San Angelo. The way the road ran it was about 40 miles and very bad roads. The worst was coming down the Mountains with the loads. The hind wheels of the wagon had to be locked and ease down as best as you could. The contract price was 20 cents per 100 lbs. The regular price was 25 cents, but by getting this big haul, he took it cheaper. A good load for 2 horses and a wagon was 2000 lbs. That would make $4.00 for the trip. It took 1 1/2 days to make the trip. It took one driver and a team. The driver had to feed himself and the team. There was no feed made; the feed was all shipped in. Corn was always from 75 cents to a dollar per bushel and hay 50 cents a bale. There is no way you could figure it where a man could count on clearing over $1.50 for this 1 1/2 days trip. Not county anything on the wear and tear of your team and wagon which was terrific. Some few wagons would stand a 4000 lb. load and you could hitch 4 horses on. It would take only 1 driver. He was hauling out some of the girders, or big timers, with a 4 horse load. b y the time he got to the mountain, the ground was frozen and slick from a little sleet on the ground, he locked both hind wheels and started down. The wagon slipped and broke off both hind axles, up against the wheel. It was 18-20 miles from town, this heavy material had to be unloaded. The wagon had to be taken into town, repaired with a new axle at the blacksmith shop, taken back and loaded with the heavy materials on the hillside before the journey could be completed. I have gone into detail in this matter in order that the present generation can get an idea why a man would trade 1/2 Section of land for a horse and sell the horse
for $35.00. Somesay "That opportunity is gone, if I had a chance, like my ancestors had, to get good land for nothing, I would have gone places." Now, if you break an axle on your car, a few miles from a garage, don't grumble about it!"

The Hayley Family moved to Robert Lee and bought a home on the Colorado River while filling this contract, so the children got to go to school part of the 1891-1892 term. Sam Hearne taught this school The eldest girl, Annie, married J. T. Parker March 10, 1892. Years after, in 1912, she was elected County Treasurer of Coke Co. She served 6 years. She was one of the first women to hold office in Texas. Robert Lee had about 600 or 700 people in it at this time. There were no utilities of any kind, no telephones. People hauled their own water from the River or for 15 cents per barrel. Wood was used as fuel, so Larkin & Albion hauled a lot of it and sold it for $1.00 per Load or $2.00 a cord.

Besides helping to haul out the Bridge Material they moved houses charging $20 to $25 to move a house, putting it down and leveling it up at a new place. Albion often helped Cattlemen with their cattle for which he got .75 a day. I think the Court House and Bridge were both finished in early part of 1892. Rock was hauled from near Hayrick, 12 or 15 miles. The contract for building the court house was let for $28,000.00 but the contractor relet the building of it for $14,000.00. The house was 2 stories high, there were 2 halls and offices for all the County Officers downstairs, it was in very good shape after 50 yrs. At one time it looked as it would pull apart but the commissioners got several rods and ran them through the building up stairs & pulled it back together - it seems to be holding fast since. I know they have put new roof on it and maybe two. In the old days there was a trap door to go out on the roof and sometimes the young people would go out on a Sunday evening and sit on the shady side of the Cupola.

One of the best early Revivals of early Robert Lee was held in the new Court House. A Rev. Brown, a methodist preacher, conducted it and most all the young people were converted and joined some church. The Methodist had a Missionary Pastor who preached onece a month and the Baptist would occasionally have a man to preach. The Courthouse & Bridge cost $35,500.00 and was paid for in bonds.

There was an epidemic of Typhoid Fever in Robert Lee in 1892 and several people died. Every summer there would be some one around sick with it. It lasted usually 60 days and months before they were well again. So the people hard pressed for money could hardly pay the Doctor bills of $100 or more. Some struggled along 3 or 4 years to pay it. Others never did. There were no nurses but neighbors were good to help through these long illnesses.

There were no church in Robert Lee. Services were held in the Court House. A presiding elder began to come around to hold conference every 3 months About the 3rd Quarter of 1892 he wanted to build a Methodist Church. After preaching a stiring Sermon a collection was taken. He proposed if 3 more men would join him for $25 each, they could build a church. Col. Hayley was 1 of the 2 to make the $100.00. They got up more collections and started the church. Col. Hayley went before the committee and got permission to pay his part by hauling the lumber from San Angelo. Albion & Larkin took off the wagon bed, fastened their bedding on the rocking bolster for to sit on and pulled out to San Angelo for the first load. When they got to San Angelo it started raining and rained all night. Next day they pulled out for home with the lumber, the rain poured down steady all day. They sat on the bedding which was wet. No raincoats as today, so they were soaking wet all day. It was a cold rain. On the road home they met J. W. Timmins, the District Judge, and Jas. L. Slayden, who was running for Congress. They stopped and insisted on the cold, wet boys taking a drink of whiskey to keep them warm, but nothing they could say would induce the boys to take a drink. The men were in a buggy and able to keep dry. Slayden was elected and came back to Robert Lee to make a speech. He remembered and mentioned about the boys not yielding to temptation. Judge Timmins was a very fine man and Judge. He kept the place of Dist Judge for 25 or 30 yrs. The boys knew that many of the first settlers had come to Coke Co. to get away from whiskey and the open saloons, only to find the flourishing wide open in New Coke Co.

The weather cleared so the boys went back and made several more trips until the $25 was paid. The Col. said that was the best investment he ever made in Coke Co. It was several years before there was any other church in Robert Lee. Anybody could preach in the new church who wanted to. There were two saloons in the town that was where most of the men staid. There were several small grocery and dry goods stores in the town during this period but they could not buck the saloons. After a few months most of them folded up. There was only one that survived until after Whiskey was voted out, then he made $30,000.00 to $40,000.00 before he died. Behind one Saloon there was a tall board fence you couldn't see over and one on the inside was a small building where poker was played. Men would come for miles around, leave their horses hitched at the hitching post for several days without feed or water, playing poker and drinking and shooting up the town. As there was no jail, if drunks got unmanageable they would be chained in one of the rooms in the Court House. So finally a dog house, as it was called, was built to lock up the drunks until the Jail was built. If one had to be kept any length of time, he was carried to San Angelo Jail. These tough cow boys had come west for adventure. 1891 and '92 were dry years. Sandstorms were bad.

The Hayley children went to school and Larkin and several boys took advantage of the opportunity to read Judge G. W. Perryman's Law Books. He was a great friend of the young people and delighted in assisting them anyway he could. From 1891 to 1900 there was always as many as 3 or 4 lawyers, & that many doctors in Robert Lee, a town of not over 800 population.

John A. Stewart was school teacher in 1894-95, a very fine man. One of his last 2 terms of school and during vacation Larkin Hayley had a job working in Coke Co. Clerk's Office. This was a good education for him. The County Clerk's name was R. R. (Dick) Smith, a very fine man. These two years and much reading was Larkins best school years.

Col. Hayley was prominent in advancing all the best things for Coke Co. He helped to organize the Confederate Veterans and was furthering the things for which the "Lost Cause" stood for - by promoting these Reunions. An Association was formed in Runnels, Coke and Tom Green Counties - where a 2 or 3 day ex-Confederate Reunion was held. The Hayleys were always on Program.

The people of Robert Lee had a lot of fun as well as hard falls, when the first Bicycle was brought to the town. Before long many owned them. Two lawyers making the District Court at San Angelo and Sterling city made these trips on Bicycles. Soon there was a Bicycle Shop where one could be rented for 25 cents an hour. At first the men thought it a disgrace for the girls to ride them. They soon gave in for they saw they could not retard "The March of Progress".

One of the first teachers in Edith school was named Thompson. He got $35.00 a month and had to pay $10.00 a month for board. His father in Coleman Co. was old so the boy was very saving to send money back to him. He would walk into town every Friday and spend the weekend with the Hayleys. In order to save wear on his shoes, he would carry them and walk barefooted until he got to the edge of town. People today in 1953 do not know the real meaning of saving as our early pioneers did.

About 1892 or '93 the mail on stage coach was robbed a few miles out from Robert Lee. A Federal Investigation was sent and 4 men were sent to SingSing Prison in NY. While there, one of them met a man andgot him interested in trying to build a Railroad in W.Tex. About the middle 1890s the men began to come home from prison. An Englishman by the name of Wheatcraft came out from NY and came to Robert Lee to try to get the people interested in Building a railroad from Sweetwater to San Angelo via Robert Lee. He was a handsome man, dressed nicely, wore a high silk hat and was a good mixer. Everybody was thrilled for in those days Railroads were the only things that built towns.

The Hayleys owned 200 acres of poor land adjoining Robert Lee. So they imagined the railroad coming, this land being cut up into lots and sold at fabulous prices & etc. While trying to get right of way and etc. he entered into the Social Activities of the town. He organized a glee club, one song that they especially prided themselves in was "I Went to the Animal Fair," which they sang, gleefully, at all the picnics. Soon the boys all came out wearing tall silk hats, stiff bosomed shirts, big ties, $5.00 cuff buttons and $3.00 to $5.00 stick pins in the lapels of their coats and big, shiny pins in the bosoms of their shirts. On special occasions they would wear white gloves and carry canes. They had parties and singings galore, for it was indeed the "Gay Nineties". The boys played pranks on Mr. Wheatcraft, take him horseback riding, push him in the trees and run the horses. Skinned him up a little but he never whimpered. He would laugh bigger than any of them.

He finally brought a Civil Engineer and wife out, but we never knew of him doing any surveying. He was having such a big time he forgot about the railroad. In 2 or 3 yrs he moved his headquarters to Sweetwater, by some means. He got the money and right of way and graded 25 miles of road out of Sweetwater toward Robert Lee and San Angelo. Something happened and he quit. It seems Thos. Trammel & Co. had been advancing him a lot of money & had quit. They took over the right of way and the road that was built, and everything stopped for a year or two.

About this time another man by the name of A. E. Stillwell was trying to promote a R.R. from Kansas City through West Texas and old Mexico to Port Topobampo on the Pacific Coast. Trammel & Co. heard of it and got them to take over this graded road. The railroad was changed to run by Bronte instead of Robert Lee. The road was finished from Sweetwater to San Angelo about 1907. Robert Lee had another little railroad boom about 1908 or '09. Austin Spencer a capitalist of San Angelo got right of way to build a road from Robert Lee to a point on the Orient between Bronte and Ft. Chadbourne. He threw up a grade 5 miles out of Robert Lee, surveyed out a townsite at the interesection of the Orient and had a big lot sale. One man built a store, the idea was to move the towns of Bronte and Ft. Chadbourne to the intersection of the 2 roads & sell these lots to build the road, but the lot sale was a fizzle. The store closed; and the dreams of another railroad for Robert Lee went up like the first. There is no doubt it was Wheatcraft in his first efforts that was the cause of the Orient being built through Coke Co. It would have gone further west and missed Sweetwater and San Angelo. Wheatcraft was a real sport and in lots of ways a swell guy.

About 1897 Albion Hayley went to work on the Childress ranch for $20.00 per month.

The 1st business venture of Larkin Hayley was helping a blacksmith make a homemade Merry Go Around at his measurements and instructions. It had seats for 8 people, he did a flourishing business at picnics and Ex-Confederate Reunions for 2 years- it completely wore out. It was powered by 2 horses, that driving round and round got so drunk the team had to be changed often. His 2nd business adventure was farming. He got 5 cents a lb. for his cotton. He had a good horse & saddle and 2 dozen girls he sparked. He would ride his horse out to see those living in the country on Sunday and call on those in town at night week days. That had parties and singings and some Sundays he would hire a buggy and team from the Livery Stables and take his girls driving. At times horses got scared and ran away and tore up the buggy - then he would have to save and work hard for months to pay the damage. All those girls married and have fine families and these friendships through the years are still enjoyed. He finally met, at Reunion and married Ethel Pearce of Ballinger. A few years later Albion met and married Leila Taylor, whose father was a Baptist Minister in Kentucky. Lula Hayley taught school several years, and married Book Peeler a rancher near Lamesa. He died with Flue & Pneumonia in that great epidemic of 1918.

He left her with 5 small children to raise. All are fine citizens with growing families. Many of Col. Hayley's grandchildren served with honor in World War II. Only two were old enough to serve in World War I. Zula Parker, a fine young woman took Civil Service Exam and got a job in Washington, D.C. She had been there only 6 weeks when the terrible Flue epidemic of 1918 came. She fell victim and died. Col. Hayley's good friend, Marris Sheppard, saw to it, the body was returned to Clyde where the Parker Family lived. At this same time Hubert Hayley, in France, was stricken with Flue as the 36th Headquarters Troop was marching to the battle front, so many had Flue Hospitals couldn't care for them so his Capt. and the cook cared for him as they marched on. Later, this 18 year old boy saw his school chum, George Scott, dead on the battlefield. He was one of Coke Co. war casualties in World War I.

A number of granchildren served in the war, several wounded. Pat McMullan, Jr. was wounded at 2 different times - he lost a leg on the battlefield. Bert Hayley, in the Navy, saw the havoc of the Atomic Bomb at Nagasaki, when his ship, the Buckingham docked there, soon after. A granddaughter, Mary Lou Peeler, a nurse served as Lt. in McClusky Hospital in Houston. So many and not much data on their war record, I shall not record all. So you may know how widely read the San Angelo Standard is, I want to tell you a grandson in law of Col. Hayley, wounded, was in a hospital in Paris, France. A buddy from West Texas asked him if he would like to read his Standard-Times. Turning the page the first thing he saw was photos of W.L. Hayley and I and a writeup of our 45th Wedding Anniversary Celebration here in Snyder. I wrote many letters and cards to those overseas whom I knew.

Albion and Leila Hayley had no sons, but their 4 daughters did their bit during the War. Two of them taught school several years before they married. During the War Mildred Lasswell taught in the Bronte School several years going and returning home with her children. After Col. Hayley's death, Albion became owner of the old home place at the foot of Hayrick Mountain. Part of the first County seat, Hayrick, and the cemetery were on this land. Their fine girls were raised there and the eldest, Mildred and Lum Lasswell, own the farm today, which has been in the family 54 years. Albion and Leila Hayley's bodies were laid to rest, along with a few more, of the early pioneers, in the little graveyard at the foot of Hayrick Mountain. The four girls married fine boys of pioneer neighbors: Lasswell, Kirkland, McCutcheon and Fields - all linked with the real pioneers that started Coke Co.

The Hayleys have helped to build every Methodist Church in Coke Co., have contributed to all causes that was good for the up building of their town and country.

I have a wonderful letter in my Scrap Book from Congressman Clowd Hudspeth written to the family upon hearing of the death of Col. H.H. Hayley, that goes to show Riches are not so important, as are those of the mind and heart that cause people to live for others, their God and their Country.

Closing I'll quote Edgar Guest "In the End"

If in the end all things prove well
What matter failures here and there,
Or hours of anguish and despair,
Or the rough ground on which we fell?
If out of trials darkening spell
We come at last to sunsets fair
And Find the peace which follows care
We'll have adventurous tales to tell.
Tis this which adds to life its zest;
The future's an unwritten book,
One never knows whats worst or best.
Upon our cares we'll proudly dwell,
If in and all things prove well.

Note: Jo Collier found this manuscript in the Jail Museum, Robert Lee, TX, and sent me a copy of the handwritten copy. Much of this material has been published in the San Angelo, Ballinger, Bronte and Robert Lee Newspapers, but this is the most complete manuscript that we have of her writtings. She mentions a lot of other folks besides her family because my grandparents had more friends than anyone I ever knew. You will also want to check out the H. D. Pearce page. And a very special thanks to Jo - I couldn't do Coke County without her!

A very proud granddaughter - Mary Love Berryman

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