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Samuel B. Windham > John Darby Windham > Thomas Windham

Thomas WINDHAM "Tom"

Born: Aug 8, 1859 in Angelina Co, TX
Died: Aug 28, 1951, CCTX

Father: Dr. John D. WINDHAM

Mother: Fannie MONTEITH

Married on

Dec 21, 1883, CCTX

Laura Lou JONES

Born: Feb 26, 1866 in Homer, LA
Died: May 17, 1948
Father: Alfred Walter JONES

Mother: Elenor FLOYD

Children:

1. John W. Windham (b. Jan 22, 1885 in Oplin, CCTX; d. Feb 16, 1954; m. Maggie STRALEY "Bunce" on Aug 5, 1894)

Children:

Robbie Ellen Windham

James Thomas Windham

Notes:

John is buried at Ross Cemetery^cem, Baird, CCTX.

Maggie Straley's father was John H. Straley.

On the marriage record, John's middle initial is "D".

John owned land in the Midland area of Texas, much of it with producing oil wells. He was a multi-millionaire.

2. James Calvin Windham "Jim" (b. Dec 30, 1885; d. Aug 15, 1901 in TX)

Notes:

Young Jim was killed after being throw from his horse. He and his older brother, John, were helping their father pen some horses. The horses, ridden by the two brothers, ran together and both horses and riders were thrown to the ground. Jim died instantly from a broken neck. He was 15. After that, his father sold many of his horses, effectively giving up the horse business.

The "Calvin" in his name is probably for his Uncle Calvin who died in May 1901.

James is buried at Tecumseh Cemetery^cem, CCTX.

It is believed that Jim was my namesake (James Britton Durham).

3. Alfred Walter Windham (b. Apr 25, 1888; d. Sep 27, 1898 in TX)

Notes:

Young Alfred is buried at Tecumseh Cemetery^cem.

Alfred died at the age of 10 of fever. His mother always said thereafter that A. Walter had been her favorite.

4. Winnie Jones Windham (b. Jul 9, 1890; d. 1975 in TX; m. John JORDAN on Dec 12, 1920)

Child:

Infant daughter (died at birth in 1922)

Notes:

Winnie, John and the baby are all buried at Tecumseh Cemetery^cem.

5. Samuel Robert Windham "Sam" (b. Apr 12, 1893; d. Jul 6, 1964 in TX; m. Pearl M. WATSON (b. Jul 28, 1909, Forth Smith, AR; d. Jul 1, 1994, Taylor Co, TX))

Children were:

Robert Lee Windham (b. Dec 8, 1925; m. Ida Virginia ?))

Billy Ray Windham (b. Aug 17, 1927; m. Rita Marie ?))

Howard Newton Windham (b. Aug 20, 1929)

Infant

Bailey Anson Windham (b. Dec 9, 1932, TX; m. Charlyn L. JOHNSON))

Tommy Samuel Windham (b. April 11, 1934)

Hal Dean Windham (b. Feb 8, 1938; m. Brenda G. RAY)

Virginia Lee Windham "Ginger" (b. Aug 20, 1941)

Winnie Joan Windham (b. Sep 12, 1943; m. Michael ODOM)

J.D. Windham (b. Nov 29, 1945)

Notes:

Sam and Pearl are buried at Tecumseh Cemetery^cem.

6. Annie Laura Windham "Lollie" (b. Aug 29, 1895; d. Jan 30, 1985 in TX; m. Charles D. STRALEY on Dec 21, 1913)
Children:

Frankie Lee Straley (b. Aug 14, 1915, TX; m. Jack HANCOCK)

Elsie Louise Straley (b. Apr 3, 1920, TX; m. Edmund Earl DURHAM)

Charley Tom Straley (b. Jul 11, 1923, TX; m. Peggy Eugena SANSOM)

Notes:

Lollie and Charley are buried at Tecumseh Cemetery^cem.

Annie preferred to be called "Lollie" or "Loll", and her grandchildren all called her "Nanny".

Nanny was literally "a pistol". She once got really mad because she felt nobody was listening to her. So, to get everybody's attention, she took a loaded six-shooter off the fireplace mantle and shot a hole in the bedroom ceiling. She was in her 70's when this event occurred.

Family lore tells that she once, when they were first married, she saved Charley's life from a flash flood in the creek bed on the Pecan Bayou, CCTX.

7. Oscar Thomas Windham (b. May 18, 1898; d. Sep 19, 1900 in TX)

Notes:

Young Oscar died from a "fever".

Oscar is buried at Tecumseh Cemetery^cem.

8. Ernest Richard Windham (b. Jun 15, 1900 in Oplin, CCTX; d. Mar 22, 1965; buried in Baird, CCTX; m. Sarah Marie BROOKS (b. Apr 12, 1901, MO; d. Dec 17, 1969, TX) on Apr 19, 1919, CCTX.)

Children:

Richard Brooks Windham (m. Marion E. DYER)

Laura Mae Windham (b. Sep 11, 1926, TX; m1. Ocie YARBOROUGH; m2. Mr. Hill)

Wanda Jo Windham (b. Sep 1, 1929)

Notes:

Ernest is buried at Ross Cemetery^cem, Baird, CCTX.

9. Infant Boy (b. 1902; d. 1902 in TX)

Notes:

The child is buried at Tecumseh Cemetery^cem.

10. Frank Anson Windham (b. Aug 8, 1903 in Oplin, CCTX; d. Feb 23, 1986 in TX; m. Inez FERGUSON (b. Sep 18, 1905; d. Jul 30, 1994, Baird TX.) on Mar 22, 1930, CCTX)

Child:

Frank Windham Jr.

Notes:

Inez is the daughter of Elbert and Hattie Zoe Ferguson of Oplin, TX.

Frank and Inez were "Lifelong Ranchers", as is inscribed on their tombstone at Tecumseh Cemetery^cem.

11. Tom Ferguson Windham "Tommie" (b. Oct 24, 1906 in Oplin, CCTX; d. Nov 11 1991; m1. Kathleen WOOD; m2. Marietta DYER (b. Dec 28, 1911 near Novice in Coleman Co, TX; d. Dec 3, 1993) on Sep 8, 1936)

Child to Marietta:

Paula Windham

Notes:

Tommie and Marietta are buried at Tecumseh Cemetery^cem.

Notes:

Tom and Laura were life-long farm and ranchers in Callahan County Texas. They, along with most of their children and ancestors, are both buried at Tecumseh Cemetery^cem, CCTX. There is a nice accounting of their lives in I Remember Callahan County ^1c.

I have gone back and forth about calling him "Thomas" or "Tom". I cannot officially make it "Tom" because the early census records list him as "Thomas", and someone in the family had to supply that information. However, Mr. Windham did not like the name "Thomas". He always went by "Tom", and that is how he signed documents.

Also, I have a brief story on the subject, as told by my brother, Tom Durham, whose own name has been the subject of a small family controversy:

"Mom wanted to honor Tom, by naming her first son after him, so she named me "Tommy Dean Durham"; not "Tom" nor "Thomas", but "Tommy". When I told Mr. Windham that I was named after him, he said, "Well, son, you ain't. My name ain't "Tommy", it's "Tom!"

My brother has since officially changed his name to "Tom Dean Durham", so the controversy is settled, at least for now.

Laura Lou Windham's obituary.

In October 2, 1945, a great article on Tom and Laura ran in the Abilene Reporter-News.

Laura Lou Jones was born in Homer, Louisiana. Laura's father, Alfred, was shot and killed by his wife's brother, Oscar Jones. It was reported that Alfred was angry (and drunk) because Laura Lou had been female at birth and he wanted a son. He claimed he would kill both Elenor and their newborn daughter. Elenor's brother came to her aid and killed Alfred before he could act on his intentions. After that, the Jones left Louisiana for Texas. Unfortunately, Elenor never fully recovered from childbirth and died shortly thereafter.

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