It is unknown when or where this picture was taken.G. W. or Wash, as he was known by his family, left Cannon Co.,TN with his parents and most of his siblings (G.W. was the 10th child out of 14)and arrived on the White River near Yellville, Marion Co., AR in 1853. Here his father built and gin and flour mill in which I'm sure that the boys must have helped run. It was here that he lived until the civil war broke out. Though the distance hadn't been enough on these parents, they were forced to see their own sons thrown in the middle and on opposite sides.
Like most of his brothers in Arkansas, G. W. joined the confederacy - yet knowing that he still had 2 brothers in TN who had joined the Union. At the time when the war started, G. W. was too young to officially joined but he managed to become a valet to the officiers until he was able to actually enlist. He enlisted at 16 years of age and was finally mustered out just 2 1/2 months before his 20th birthday. What a way to spent your teen years! During the war, G. W. suffered a wound in the heal and would later receive a pension. His military records shows that he served in Company C, Hurd's Missouri Infantry - though no actual record has been found. However, he does appear on a muster and descriptive roll of prisoners of war belonging to the army of the northern sub-disctirct of Arkansas which surrended on May 11, 1865 by Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson, Confederate States Army, to Major General G. M. Dodge, Union States Army, Commanding Dept. of the Missouri. He is also shown as being in the Battle of Pea Ridge which occurred on the AR - MO state line. He was finally paroled on June 5, 1865 at Jacksonport, Arkansas.
As soon as this war was finished, G. W. had seen enough and decided it was time to move on. After the war, he met Adam File who had come to Arkansas from Hill County, Texas with a herd of horses and mules to sell people who had lost their animals during the war. It was through his connection and an offer to work on his ranch in Hill county that G. W. ended up here where he married on May 14, 1874 to Frances Ann Theodocia 'Fanny' Boon (later picture of her on the left), d/o Kinchin Augustus Boon Jr and Mary Elizabeth Foster, we have no record of his whereabouts. After his marriage, Adam File told G. W. that he would give him half of the increase of 500 head of cows if he would take them to free range - land not filed on by anyone, and keep them for 5 years. From the children's records, we know that in 1875, he was in Van Zant Co., TX, 1876 in Coleman Co., TX in 1879 and 1880 in Throckmorton Co., TX.
Settling up with Adam File, in the early 1880's, he moved his young family to Antelope Springs in Wilbarger Co., TX. As his share of the increase of the File herd, he now now had 270 head of cattle and he was also given him a mare. At Antelope Springs, on the Pease River, G. W. bought a 3600 acre ranch in the very southeast corner of the present Hardeman County with part also being Wilbarger County. He gave $1.50 an acre to the railroad company for the land. There was about 1400 acres along the Pease River bottom that was called 'access' land that no one claimed - it was here that G. W. pastured and farmed. He then bought a 2 sectin of farm land about a mile south and 1 mile east of Antelope Springs. He later sold all but 320 acres which became the 'home place'. Until they got got their farm land cleared of oak shinnery so they could build a house, G. W. and Fanny ran a store in a dugout on the river bank. The road in front of the 'homeplace', along the west side of the farm, was counted as the county line between Wilbarger and Foard County. Since the house was located on the east side of the road, the children were born in Wilbarger County.
1904 - Grandma Minnie (Mears) Jobe with her mother, Fanny (Boon) Mears and sons, Cale and Walter
During 1919, for a variety of reasons, G. W. and Fanny seperated, though they were never divorced. Fanny continued to live on the farm until it was sold, while G. W. moved to his ranch north of Rayland, across the Peace River where he lived with his daughter, my grandmother, Minnie, who was now a widow. During the latter part of his life, due to a fall from a tree and lack of medical attention that we have today, G. W. was to become blind. As a result, he started to wear the hat which you see in the picture pulled down over his eyes and used a cane.
Pictures taken about 1932 in front of his ranch house across Pease River north of Rayland, Hardeman County, Texas. Rayland was originally called Antelope Springs.
In April 1976, a granddaughter, Zada, wrote this about G. W.,
"I remember going across Pease Rivr many times and visiting with Grandpa (G.W.) and Aunt Minnie Mears Jobe. I can see Grandpa sitting on the front porch of the ranch house with one of his many greyhound dogs. . . Dad says that ranch house was built on what was called 'access' land - not on G. W.'s own deeded land. Ada and I used to sit on Grandpa's knees and he would tell us stories....I remember when Grandpa was on his bed dying, that called to 'Jack' to not let that steer get away. He was delirious and was remembering cattle roundups; and 'Jack' was what the cowboys and Grandpa nicknamed my Dad.. . I remember when the whole family showed up for the cattle roundups on Grandpa's ranch. Mountain oysters - no relation to fish - 'calf fries' were the celicacy of the day. The young bull calves were castrated and the fries thrown in the camp fire coals. The campfire was heating the branding irons, coffee pot, sout dough biscuits in a Dutch-over, etc. Those calf fries cooked that way were delicious. Grandpa's roundups were quite a get-together for all the MEARS clan. G. W.'s brand on his cattle at first was NEW (New bar) on the left side; 7B on the left hip; and a ) (half moon) under the left eye. Several years later the brand was changed to three crosses - + (cross) on the left jaw; + (cross) on the left side; and + (cross) on the left hip. The mark Grandpa had on the cattle was a grub on the rig ear (a notch cut out of the top side of the ear), and under half crop on the left ear (a notch cut from the underside). Grandpa used as his horse brand MEA on the left shoulder and RS on the left side. Grandpa was on the Rayland School Board before it consolidated with four other schools and became Five-in-One School. Then Grandpa was on the 5 in 1 School Board. He was also a member of the Texas Cattle Raisers Association. He was on Federal Jury before any Federal Court was held at Fort Worth; and he had to to Fort Sill, Indian Territory (Okklahoma). He was on petit and grand juries numerous times in Wilbarger County."This picutre shows G. W. with his daughter, Mae (Mears) Gunn.
My grandmother told me that by the Indians in the area, he was known as 'Big Chief'. G. W. often traded with the Indiana and even had leanred many of their dances.
A write-up in the Early Day History of Wilbarger County, Texas, information which was furnished by G. W. himself, states:
"In talking of the old days, he said that when he first came to this county the settlement around Vernon was known as Eagle Flat and only three people lived here, a Mr. Rutherford and wife, and a Mr. Darby. Mr. Mears tells of a dance held back in the early days wehre the fiddler only tune, 'Cotton Eye Joe.' Despite this fact, he says the crowd had a bit time and danced all night."
G. W. died just before his 89th birthday in 1934 and was buried at Thalia Cemetery in Foard County where many of the Jobe family are buried. He was living with his daughter, Minnie, at the time of his death.Fanny died at the age of 86 in Feb 1943 at the home of her son, Tom Mears, and is buried at the East View Cemetery in Vernon, Wilbarger Co., Texas.
After her son, Carl Mears died, Fanny's old stone was replaced with a large combined 'new' stone for Carl, his wife, and Fanny.
This section would not be complete without giving a special thanks to all those who have helped in the search for information on 'Wash' or G. W. Mears. First of all, I have to thank my gandmother, Minnie, even though she is no longer living. Without her answering my never-ending questions and still having a clear mind into her 90's, this would not even have been possible. I also have to thank Zada (Mears) who started her 'own quest' while I was still a baby. Then I have to thank all G. W.'s children who thankfully when I started this were still living and many of his grandchildren, most of who were several years older than me. One of these in particuliar is Kathleen Weddle who sent me several old pictures which will appear throughout and in their own albums! The last of G.W.'s children died in 1985.