Ancestry
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last modified
2010 March 26, cbd

Dad's Side

A. Bailey - see remembrances under Wilda.
My thoughts on dad's career as a pilot.
His birth record.

Dad's father:
Arthur B. Duncan II

Dad's father's parents:
Judge Arthur B. Duncan

A brief biography from

http://swco.ttu.edu/Guide/d.htm

Duncan, Arthur B.
Papers, 1822-1967
ca. 86,670 leaves
Includes correspondence, financial and legal material, literary reproductions, printed material, photographs, scrapbook material, lists, maps, and genealogical material pertaining to the Arthur B. Duncan family and the Hollums family of Floyd County, Texas. The collection bulks (1873-1967) with business correspondence, financial material, and legal material, including land records, deeds, leases, liens, surveys, abstracts, tax payment records, court petitions and judgments, and notary public records concerning Floyd County, Texas.
A county judge, civic leader, land agent, and abstractor, Duncan was born in 1862 in Hopkins County, Texas. With his wife, Sarah (Day), he moved to Floyd County in 1884, and served as county judge from 1890-1908, and 1912-1914. He also served as president of the school board from 1908-1912, and vice-president of the First National Bank (Floydada) from 1908-1912. In 1914, Duncan entered the real estate and abstract business, forming the Arthur B. Duncan Abstract Company, which dealt primarily with the early filing and patenting of Floyd County school lands and homesteads. Duncan died in 1931 in Mineral Wells, Texas.

Information about Judge and his father Dr. William B. Duncan from Floyd County Census Records.

Dad's grandmother dictated a fascinating account of her life and views in a Library of Congress project "TX BIOS".  It is available at

http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/bios/duncan.txt

and I've also copied it to here.

Dad's mother's parents:

from

http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?Floydada::tx::37884.html

John E Courtney ,TN+Sappho Shearer,Young Co, TX
Posted by: C Schuetzeberg (ID *****7113) Date: August 28, 2003 at 23:10:24
of 1841


John Ellis Courtney, fresh from Tennesse, met and married Sappho Shearer, daughter of rancher George Christian and Martha Jane (Hawkins) Shearer in Young Co, Texas. George Ellis came along in 1886. John("Jack") and Sappho had two other sons who died when they were young. But they had a string of pretty girls, starting with my grandmother Edith, that caught many an eye. Following Edith were Florence, Cecil, Kate, Zillah, Ruth, Hazel, Lethel and finally, Johnnie, born on Valentines Day, 1907. Sadly, "Jack" Courtney died in 1908 and was buried in the Farmer Cemetery with his two sons, Louis and Henry.

I'm sad that I didn't know most of these women other than my grandmother, Edith...who started teaching when she was 16 years old in Farmer along with her dear friend, Bernice Cox. We all enjoyed the delightful company of Lethel and Johnnie Courtney. Cecil Courtney worked for Arthur Duncan in Floyd and Lethel married his son, Arthur. They moved to Canyon, TX where Lethel, an astute business woman, and Johnnie ran the title and abstract company after Arthur died.

I've thrown in lots of names and places because there are lots of holes in what I know about the Courtney family. Some of them were reported to have been born in Canadian, OK. It would seem that they came back to Young Co. Sappho and her three youngest girls moved to Floydada at some point. I have lots of pictures of grandchildren and adults at her home, many whom I don't know. If you know members of this family, I'd love to hear from you. I wish I'd asked lots more questions while my grandmother Edith Sanders was still alive.



This is a picture that comes to me from Sappho Henderson, Kate's daughter.  The Sappho in this picture is "Grandmother Courtney" and the girl she is holding is Lethel, my dad's mother.  Johnie looks five or six in this picture so it is circa 1912.  George was the surviving brother and Ethel married into the family.  The dog is unnamed.

Sappho Shearer Courtney was born 30 Aug 1866 in Denton, TX. She and John Courtney married in Young Co, TX 9 Jul 1885,


My commentary on both sides and on what little I know about the marriage.


Mom's Side

Louellyn

Mom's father:

F. H. Pennington.  Pedigree is traced at http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=stevew&id=I13255  In particular, they are descendants of Hannah Boone, sister of Daniel Boone, ancestor of Pat Boone.

Mom's mother:

Wilda Slagle.  There is still a Slagle family reunion annually, typically around the last weekend in July somewhere in or near Panhandle, Texas, where mother was born.  This consists of all the descendents of "Mammy and Pappy" (Hiram B. and Narcissus) Slagle who moved their family and farm from Missouri to the area in 1914 by renting an entire freight train.  All of the children of this family are now gone but several of their children, "the cousins" remain, including my mother.

F.H. and Wilda are buried in the Panhandle cemetery on a five grave family plot.  Dad is also buried in the same plot and there is a space for mom and a "spare."

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