On May 28, 1850, William McEwin married Catherine Reynolds in Lamar County. The marriage license spells William's surname "McEwin" very plainly. On the back is written, "Rite of Matrimony duly performed between the within named parties" signed "James Graham Minister of the Gospel in the M.E.C. south" and dated May 28th 1850.
Catherine Reynolds came from Tennessee. She was born May 22, 1829. She came to Texas in 1849 with her mother Elizabeth Emberson Reynolds, two sisters and four brothers.
Elizabeth Reynolds' maiden name was Emberson. She was born about 1808 and died between 1860 and 1870. Betty Swindle's grandfather told her that his grandmother (Elizabeth Emberson Reynolds) came to Texas because she was a sister to John Emberson. John Emberson was one of the earliest settlers of the Lamar County area. Elizabeth and John Emberson were children of Hezekiah Emberson and Elizabeth Webb.
Brown Coleman has information about the Emberson family gathered by her father, Esker A. Dodson, a grandchild of Catherine Reynolds and William McEwin. According to E. A. Dodson's notes,
"Hezackier Emberson married Elizabeth Webb. They lived in Virginia where [their son] John Eldridge Emberson was born May 22, 1798, in Scott County, Virginia and when 15 years of age he left home [and] came to New Orleans January 8, 1815 where he was a captain and takes his discharge and with Elijah Carter go up the Mississippi River in a keelboat to where from the northwest the river is red and they secured a flat bottomed square ended barge for their perilous journey up Red River.The children of Elizabeth Emberson Reynolds were:"John Emberson Sr., Mr. Carter, and five other white men were the first to explore Red River coming up after the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. They wintered near Emberson Lake in Lamar County (the lake was named for Emberson). After trapping and hunting, they returned through Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) to Arkansas where John Emberson Sr. went home with Mr. Carter... Emberson married Mr. Carter's daughter, Matilda Carter, 18 Dec 1820 in Washington County, Arkansas�
John Emberson Sr. was born 22 May 1798. His wife Matilda Carter was born 22 November 1801 and died 9 August 1849. John Emberson Sr. died 18 December 1860. [Their children were] Eliza Emberson Williams born 22 April 1822, Elijah Emberson born 15 May 1825, Eldridge Emberson born 21 July 1827, Rebecca Ann Emberson born 1 March 1832, John Emberson, Jr. born 25 June 1835 and died 1 June 1918"
| Catherine | b 22 May 1829 d 27 April 1880 | m 9 May 1850 William McEwin |
| Eliza J. | b 13 Sept 1835 d 16 Oct 1918 | m 1st John A Walthall 30 Dec 1856 2nd Hanes |
| George A. | b 8 June 1839 d 16 March 1932 | m Mary E Sumner 9 March 1869 |
| Margaret E. | b 21 May 1842 d 29 Nov 1900 | m 13 Dec 1860 George W Wren |
| James M. | m Addie Brown 12 Sept 1867 | |
| Hezekiah | (probably) | m 17 Oct 1855 Sarah E. Caviness, second wife of William McEwin |
| Fourth brother's name is unknown |
In September, 1860, William and Catherine McEwin lived next to Catherine's mother, Elizabeth Reynolds and three of her children. Elizabeth gave 52 as her age and Virginia as her birthplace. Her children at home in 1860 were all born in Tennessee:
| George | age 21 |
| Margaret | age 18 |
| James M. | age 14. |
Margaret Reynolds married George Wren on December 13, 1860. Margaret's surname is misspelled in the county marriage records as "Runnels". That is the way the name was pronounced by many local people. Clerks of the 19th century often spelled named as they heard them rather than ask for a spelling.
George and Margaret Wren had three children, according to Alice McEwin Pittman. Lizzie Wren married (John?) Ervin. John Wren married Fronia Sylvester. Alice Wren married Guy White.
Margaret Wren's grandson, Charles E. Ervin, knew that his grandmother was a Reynolds and had a sister, Eliza Hanes, who lived at Emberson. Mr. Ervin also recalled that Margaret Wren's daughter Lizzie (his mother) considered herself a second cousin to Catherine McEwin's son, John. Mr. Ervin believed that John Reynolds of Sumner, who was Ella Brown's father, was a brother to Margaret and Catherine Reynolds. Their brother, George A. Reynolds, married M. E. Sumner in Lamar County on March 9, 1869. G. A. and M. E. Reynolds are buried at Prairie Ridge Cemetery. Mr. Ervin recalled that many Wren and Reynolds family members were buried in the old Sumner cemetery. He said he remembered going there to funeral services and crossing the branch of the creek in a wagon.
The older generations had strong family ties. When Weaver, Effie and Alice McEwin were young children, dependent on friends and family for their care, Weaver and Effie lived for a time with George and Margaret Wren.