01/19/2024
Interesting read about a woman born in Meridian, Tx in 1878.
The Texas Quote of the Day:
"How true was the expression: 'the windmill draws our water and the cows cut our wood.' The lowly cowchips around which I had at first tip-toed and raised my skirts held a place of high esteem."
----- early settler Mary Blankenship discussing the prairie's most abundant form of heating fuel at her family's new farm near Lubbock in 1902 in her autobiography, "The West is for Us." Mary was born in Meridian, Texas in 1878. In 1901 she and Andrew Blankenship got married in a "buggy wedding," surrounded by friends and family. Mary wrote that she worried about the horse's behavior as the preacher had them recite their vows. After they were married, they moved to the Blankenship farm in Erath County. A promoter named Jim Jarrott convinced them to move north and west to a place near Ropesville (Lubbock) where they homesteaded. When they left Erath County, all they had was what they could fit in their wagon, a dog, a horse, a couple of mules ---- and 500 dollars in gold coins that they sewed into a money belt covered by Mary's many petticoats. Before they left Erath County, they had "last photos" taken of themselves, just in case. This photo is that "last photo." But it turned out they needn't have worried because they endured, and when they could finally afford a car, life became much easier because they were able to travel to Lubbock to socialize. Over time they acquired more and more land, moved to Lubbock, and became leading citizens. The Town and Country shopping center at Fourth Street and Univesity Avenue was located on their property. It opened in 1954.