Samuel Gann of Winchester Va Family

From Linda Washbourne, Wolfforth, TX. From Yvonne Cates Barton, 5367 E 31st St, Tulsa, OK 74135-5003 (918)747-7787 7/25/95

History of Angelina County, Texas, 1992. "James and Sally had eleven years together before his early death on May 1, 1879 at age 32. It is reported by family members that he died on injuries received involving a team of horses and a wagon. Others say he had problems with his stomach. Life was not easy for "Life was not easy for James and Sally. They were dirt farmers, worked hard just to make a living. They had some acreage in the Hudson community on Highway 94 West. Little is known how Sally lost ownership of the land after James's death. Before James died, two of their children, Minorri (age 10) and E. Oscar (age 4) died just seven months apart. Sally was three months pregnant when James died. "Nell Anderson McDonald, a granddaughter, remembers her grandmother Sally tell of her early life after the death of her husband. She had a strong faith in God and worked hard just to survive. She taught her children to love and trust in the Lord. There is a letter still in the family which she wrote to Willard and Tellie urging them to go to church, carry their children, and teach them about the Lord before it was too late. She felt in her declining years, she had not done enough for her Lord. "She told how she and the older children would work in the fields for other people. They were paid in vegetables, meat, grain, etc. Sometimes she would be paid in money. "They had a dog named Buck that watched the baby and younger children at the end of the row while she and the older children worked in the fields. They also had an ox that Jimmy, her son, used to plow the garden. "Nell Anderson McDonald recalls how they would ask their 'Papa' about his childhood. He was asked was he ever hungry. He replied, 'I guess so. I didn't know what the problem was.' He told how they often ate parched corn at night because that was all they had. "Sally lived out her declining years in the home of her daughter Alzady Brock in Keltys, Texas. She would visit with the other children for a few weeks at a time. Lucille Anderson (Mrs. Doug Warner), a granddaughter, stated, 'If you had a quilt in the frames ready to quilt, she would come and help quilt it.' She would always carry her chair, a straight back with a leather bottom. The legs had been cut off to accommodate her short legs. She was only about five feet tall. "To my knowledge, all her children and her grandchildren have been good citizens. I feel her obituary taken from 'The Lufkin Daily News,' September 11, 1933, sums up her life. It reads in part: 'The deceased has been a resident of Angelina County all her life. She was a consecrated Christian, a devoted mother and grandmother. She was possessed of many frields and admirers from the people with whom she had cast her lost for so many years.' "She lived to be 87 years old, a mother of eight children, raised six of them alone in a small log house in the Hudson community. Both James E. and Sarah Jane Anderson are buried in the Largent Cemetery in Angelina County. "I feel when Solomon wrote in Proverbs 31:25-31 describing a virtuous woman, he must have known a woman just like our 'Grandma Sally.'" By Marie Kitchen