Since 1857, the Paluxy River Valley has been the focus of this family's history.  Three covered wagons carrying the William Bryant BAKER (Columbia, Tenn), William BENjamin TINNIN (Cape Girardeau, MO), and CRITES families arrived in the Paluxy River valley in 1857.  All 3 settled in what is now the Rock Church community. 

The boundary between the counties of Erath and Hood snaked along the Paluxy River in such a way that some of the family history has ended up in either Erath County records or in Hood County.  The church at that time was at Vinegar Hill.  William BEN TINNIN was a widower.  His mother Charity ALLBRIGHT TINNIN (Mrs. HUEY) & his son ISSAC Christopher came with him to settle in Texas.  His 1st wife's last name was YANT.  She & another son died in a cholera epidemic in Cape Girardeau, MO.  He married his 2nd wife, HANNAH GUNNELS, after he arrived in the Paluxy Valley.  One of her daughters, ROSE ANN TINNIN, was born on Dec. 28, 1866.  Hannah died on August 8, 1874.  Ben remarried once again, this time to Culpernia MAYBERRY who had six children from a previous marriage.  Ben became known as the "Marryin' Grandpa."  His brother CHRISTOPHER TINNIN also came to Texas.  He and his wife (either BECKY or KATHERINE) settled near Acton, Texas, on the other side of the Brazos River. 

William Bryant BAKER m. ELIZABETH Emma RUSSELL in Sept. 25, 1853 in or near Columbia, Tenn.  They had six children: JAMES M. BAKER (d. 1855), BELLE Pilina BAKER (m. Mr. ARMSTRONG), MARY Ann Francis BAKER (m. Mr. STANLEY), LEVI Sheppard BAKER (d. July 3, 1876), RUTH Alma Rinda BAKER (m. Mr. TURNER), and William BRYANT Stonewall (for Stonewall Jackson) BAKER.  William BAKER pere died on October 28, 1862, of complications from a wound he received in the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas.  He left his wife to raise five children, all under the age of 7, on the Texas frontier. 

Pictured (l-r):
Don Baker, Rose Ann (Tinnin) Baker, Otis Baker, Bryant Baker, Pernie Baker
(circa 1896)

On Nov. 11, 1886, [Ben TINNIN's] daughter ROSE ANN married William BRYANT BAKER's son William BRYANT Stonewall BAKER.  They had four children who lived: PERNIE Elizabeth BAKER (b. 1888), DONna Belle BAKER (b. 1891), OTIS Egbert BAKER (b. 1893), and VERA Slover BAKER (b. 1904). PERNIE BAKER married FINIS Breckinridge JEFFERY in Tolar, Hood County, Texas, on Dec. 24, 1911.

In the early 1900s, Bryant & Rose Ann moved from their farm in Tolar to a farm bought from a Mr. MEEKS that was bordered by the Paluxy and Richardson Creeks.  Bryant died there in 1933 of Bright's disease.  Rose Ann lived until 1948 when she died of cancer in her daughter Vera's house in Bluff Dale, Erath County, Texas [see obituary].  The BYNAM family bought the farm at that time.  The farm, however, is still known locally as the Old Baker place, and where Paluxy Road crosses Paluxy Creek is called Baker's Crossing.  OTIS BAKER married EVA PAIR from Glen Rose, Somervell County, Texas, on Dec. 17, 1917.  VERA BAKER married James DEWEY RENFROW of Erath County on Oct. 20, 1923. 

FINIS JEFFERY came to Tolar c. 1907 from Mt. Olive, Ark, to work with his brother-in-law ROLAND LANDERS (m.LAURA Emmett JEFFERY, Finis' older sister) in the Tolar Drug Store.  In 1920, he moved his family into Fort Worth to take a job at the drug store in the Polytechnic area.  He died of Bright's Disease on Sept. 30, 1930 in their house in Ft. Worth.  PERNIE was trained to work on a farm and be a housewife.  She tried opening a beauty shop in FW but it was the Depression and business was bad.  She moved to Stephenville, Erath County, Texas, and rented a house to take in college students as boarders.  This venture failed as well so she was forced to move to the farm out at Baker's Crossing.  She had to send her youngest son, BEN JEFFERY, to live with her sister, DON BAKER VOGT, who was now living in Memphis, Tenn.  Her 3rd son, FB JEFFERY, stayed with ROLAND LANDER's daughter MERLE LANDERS HANCOCK in Dublin, Texas.  Her older two sons, CARROLL Bryant JEFFERY and Emmett KAY JEFFERY, came to the farm with PERNIE.  The two boys eventually left to join the military at the beginning of WWII.

[ Photograph courtesy of Novella Fern (Baker) Sumner (1920–2002) ]

Return to Rock Church People
Return to Rock Church Index

---

This page last updated 30 Apr 2006.