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Family Stories of Sue Real
Mullins
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P. O. Box 67 |
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Crockett, TX 75835
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The Murder of Joseph Neal©
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Jane McGuffin, born in Ireland in 1811. From Ireland Jane and her mother
Elizabeth McGuffin (born 1775) went to Canada and from there they traveled by
covered wagon down to Louisiana in 1823. Jane was 12 years old.
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Later Jane met and married Joseph West Neal. Joseph was born in Alabama.
He had been married to another unknown woman and had five children, Joe born
about 1825, Jesse born about 1826, Willis Benjamin born about 1829, Thomas
Franklin born about 1831 and George Washington born about 1833. Joseph and Jane
married and had three more children, Menerva Evalina and William. Jane was
pregnant with their third child, Susan Frances Neal when Joseph was murdered,
Tuesday, December 9, 1845.
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Joseph and Jane Neal owned a commissary in Many Louisiana. On December 9,
1845, two outlaws came in to rob Joseph. He refused to give the robbers his
money and reached for his rifle that was standing behind the counter. The
robbers shot and killed Joseph in front of his wife and children. They took his
money and hightailed it out of town. Susan’s two brothers, Joe Neal and Jesse
Neal started practicing their fast gun draw and got to be really good. Soon they
went to work at a sawmill. They worked there for a few months, just long enough
to earn a few dollars. One day, Joe and Jesse Neal collected their pay, went
home and got the money they had been saving. They gave their brothers, Willis
and George some of the money to give to their mother and told them to let their
mother know they were going after the men that had killed their father. The boys
lit out on the cold trail of the two outlaws. They crossed over into Texas
checking the saloons in all the little towns and settlements and any known
outlaw hideouts along the way. They finally found the two men in a saloon
standing at the bar. When the two men looked into the mirror over the bar they
saw the boys standing behind them. They turned and drew their guns but the young
Neal boys were faster on the draw. They shot and killed the two men that had
killed their father, then got on their horses and rode out of town. The law was
hot on their tails. The Sheriff and his posse trailed the boys back to the
family farm in Many, Louisiana. The boys had come back to tell the family that
the two killers were dead and that they were ok. The boys grabbed some food and
cartridges. From the family farm you could see someone coming before they could
see you. When the Neal boys spotted the posse riding toward the family farm the
boys lit out for the neighboring farm. The posse searched the family farm and
neighboring farms but could not find them anywhere. When the posse got to the
neighboring farm the boys had doubled back passing, and hiding from, the posse.
The posse finally split up. Half of them camped on the edge of town, and sneaked
back into town on foot, hoping to catch a glimpse of the two Neal boys. One of
the men from the posse sat in a chair beside the front door of the Neal
Commissary and another deputy sat across the street in front of the saloon owned
by David Recknor.
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The other half of the posse camped on the edge of the family farm watching
for the boys to return home. In the dark of night the two boys sneaked back to
the family farm, kissed their family goodbye, managed to turn the posse’s horses
loose and headed out of town. After about six months the law finally gave up and
went back to Texas. The trail was now too cold to follow. As far as the law was
concerned the two boys had vanished from the face of the earth. The two Neal
boys were never heard from again except for the few messages they managed to get
to their family. Finally the messages stopped coming. The boys had headed for
“No Man’s Land”. The area between Sabine in Texas and the Arroyo Hondo in
Louisiana was called the “Neutral Ground” or “No Man’s Land”. It had no laws, no
government and no one to enforce any kind of control over the people living in
this zone. This made a perfect place for criminals and low life to gather. It
was soon filled with desperados of the worst kind. Men who robbed and murdered
without fear of any type of punishment. The United States and Spain finally put
an end to this condition by agreeing upon the present day boundary between
Louisiana and Texas. But it took time to bring law and order to this part of the
country.
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In about 1848 Jane McGuffin Neal married David Recknor, owner of the town
saloon. They had three more children.
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Although Joseph Neal himself never lived in Montgomery County, his
descendants like, Jesse Malachi Real I & II, Allen Zachariah {A.Z.} Real, Hugh
McGuffin, John Neal and their descendants did and do live in Montgomery County,
Texas.
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Other members of the Neal related families moved to San Augustine,
Liberty, Polk, Montgomery, Trinity and Leon Counties, Texas.
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Submitted and
© 2004 Sue Real Mullins
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The Trip to Texas©
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Susan’s family had sold the farm, commissary and the saloon. They had
been waiting on the wagon train. Jane and her new family reluctantly gave up
their wait for her two boys to return home. They loaded everything their
covered wagons could carry, including wagons loaded with barrels of whiskey
that David would later trade for land in Keechi, Leon County, Texas. Susan
Francis Neal, her mother Jane McGuffin Neal, her stepfather David Recknor, her
brothers and her sister Menerva Evalina Neal were headed to Texas. Many people
died on the wagon train. Drownings at river crossings, dysentery, cholera,
injury, pneumonia and “the fever” were common killers on the trail. The
men often suffered accidental gunshot wounds. Pregnant women died in
childbirth.
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Richard and Lucrecia Real’s son Thomas died of “the fever” on the
trip to Texas. When and where is unknown.
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The wagon train started its trip in the springtime so hopefully they
would be at the end of their journey by fall. The trip was devastatingly hard.
They awoke at four a.m. so they could be rolling by seven a.m. They paused for
ten minutes each hour to rest the livestock. At eleven a.m. they stopped for
what was called a “nooning”. They had a meal, greased the wheels and checked
the wagons, did other chores, perhaps got some much needed rest and by two
p.m. were back on the trail again. They kept rolling as long as they could,
sometimes well into the night. Faced with scorching heat, violent storms and
scarce water these brave frontier settlers still managed to covered an average
of fifteen miles a day. At night the wagons were pulled into a circle that
would provide some defense in case of an Indian attack. The Indians were wild
and hostile. They attacked the wagon train. They stole horses, burned wagons,
killed the men and kidnapped the women and children. Someone always sat guard
at night.
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The Indians came and asked for food and chattered words Edward Real and
the others could not understand.
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The wagon train stopped on the banks of the treacherous, swirling river
and the weary settlers wondered how they would ever cross that huge gap of
water with no bridge and high steep banks blocking their way. Winter was
closing in and bad weather would soon be upon them. The settlers were not
willing to go out of their way to find a more suitable crossing. They had come
too far to turn back now. Could they find a way to cross the river? These
families were strong, determined, pioneer stock. Soon the men, women and
children were all working side by side. They cut down and trimmed trees. Susan
Frances Neal and Lucrecia Lewis could handle an axe and saw as well as any
man. Dirt was removed from the steep banks and fashioned into slopes on which
they could lower the wagons down to the lower banks with ropes. The trees were
made into rafts and placed near the water’s edge. Someone had to swim the
treacherous river currents to the other side with a rope and tie it to a tree
or some other suitable anchor. When all the work was done, the wagons were
loaded onto the rafts and, using the ropes, were pulled across the river with
great difficulty. Sometimes if the river was calm, or there were no trees
nearby, they removed the wheels from the wagons and floated them to the
opposite bank. When the wagons got stuck in the mud they hitched two,
sometimes more, teams of mules or oxen to the wagon and the men, women and
children all had to help push it through the mud. The larger wagon was about
10x4x2 feet and pulled by a team of six mules or oxen. The wagons were
awkward, heavy and rough riding. They were filled with all their worldly
processions and a food supply that had to last for the whole trip. The food
supply consisted of 150 pounds of flour for each adult, 5 pounds of baking
soda, 10 pounds of jerky, 40 pounds of bacon, 40 pounds of dried fruit, 40
pounds of sugar, 40 pounds of coffee, along with rice, yeast, vinegar and
molasses.
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Between
the laughing and the crying, the living and the dying, the singing and the
sighing, the wagon wheels rolled on.
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| These families settled in San
Augustine, Milam, Sabine, Liberty, Polk, Montgomery, Trinity and Leon
Counties, Texas. |
Source: The Real Family Album written by Sue Real
Mullins.
© 2004 by Sue Real Mullins
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Jesse Malachi Real #2 and The Breathing Pipes©
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Grandpa (Jesse Malachi Real #2) once told me that when he was a kid,
they didn’t have all the fancy doctors and hospitals like we do now, they had
an illness called the “sleeping sickness”. They buried people with a breathing
pipe and a bell so they would know if the person woke up after they were
buried. He said the “sleeping sickness” caused a person’s blood pressure and
pulse to drop so low that you could not find it. Their breathing became so
shallow it would not even show on a mirror. They thought the person was dead
so they buried them.
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One time they were having a funeral for a man they thought was dead.
They had already put the wooden box (coffin) into the ground and was covering
it with when all of a sudden they heard pounding on the box and yelling coming
from the hole in the ground. They pried the lid off the box and sure enough
the man was still alive. Grandpa said, “the women started dropping like
flies”. Four of them fainted at the sight of the “dead man” climbing out of
his coffin. So that after that funeral they started burying people with a pipe
sticking out of the grave (breathing pipe) and a bell attached to the above
ground end of the pipe. A string was tied to the bell and the other end of the
string was ran through the pipe into the coffin. This was so that if the
person was not really dead when he was buried the pipe furnished air for them
to breath and they could pull the string to ring the bell so someone would
know they were alive. For three or four days after the next few funerals some
one would sit guard of the bell, waiting to see if it rang. Grandpa said there
were a few rambunctious boys that when they were bored would hide in the
cemetery and ring the bells so they could watch the town folks come running to
the cemetery. After the whippings with a razor strap it only happened a couple
of times. He would not say if he was one of the boys.
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Note: There are several breathing pipe graves is in the old Bohemia
Cemetery in Trinity County, Texas.
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John Luther Real |
John Luther lived in Montgomery County, Texas. He was the son of Jesse
Malachi Real #1 and Susan Frances Neal. Uncle Johnnie was born in Keechi,
Leon County, TX. on Nov 30, 1878, and died in New Caney, Montgomery, TX. on
March 29, 1959. His wife was Lottie Elezzbbech Wiggins, born November 30, 1888 and
died Feb 12,1919. John and Lottie are buried side by side in Dry Creek
Cemetery, Montgomery County, TX. Uncle Johnnie was so well liked that not only
family but others as well called him "Uncle Johnnie". While living in a little
sawmill town of Waukegan, Montgomery County, Texas, he was the assistant
manager of the sawmill commissary. He owned the first and maybe the only taxi
service in Waukegan. Before anyone else owned a car John Luther had the first
one in town. He hired a man to run a jitney service (a taxi that charges 5
cents) with his car from Waukegan to Conroe. Before long he had to buy another
car because some people were demanding to ride in style into Conroe to shop
and didn't want to ride the train. Source: The Real Family
Album written by Sue Real Mullins.
© 2004 by Sue Real Mullins,
P.O. Box 67, Crockett, TX 75835.
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Quote from John Luther's grand daughter Joyce Blackmon: Mother (Lola Real-
John & Lottie's daughter) used to tell me about going to town with Papa (John
Luther), and his habit of thinking the car would follow the road just like his
horse. She said they spent a lot of time getting the car out of the woods or
the ditch because he just couldn't steer it.
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One time, after they finally got to town, Mother was lying the back seat,
and the car salesman came up to Uncle Johnnie and told him about a new car
called a "roadster" and that he really should get one.
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Mother, being sick and tired of hauling the car out of roadside thickets and
such, raised up and said, "Papa, let's get one of those roadsters; I'm so
tired of this woodster." |
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Jane McGuffin Neal Recknor |
Jane
was born in Ireland in 1811. She was Scotch-Irish. She was considered the
Matriarch of the families. She was first married to Joseph Neal until he was
killed in a hold-up trying to protect his family and property from outlaws.
Joseph had been married before and had five children, Joe born about 1825,
Jesse born about 1826, William (Willis) Benjamin born about 1829, Thomas
Franklin born about 1831 and George Washington Neal born about 1833. Jane
McGuffin and Joseph Neal were married Nov 13, 1845. Witnesses were: S. A.
Eason and A. Nabours. According to their court recorded marriage papers (Many,
Sabine Parish, LA. Deed Book A pg 258 filed 13/11/1845) on this Nov.13,1845
they wished to officially celebrate their marriage by Judge W. R. D. Speight and
they acknowledged Menerva Evalina Neal and William Neal as their children.
Jane was pregnant with their third child Susan Frances Neal, born June 18,
1846, when Joseph was murdered on December 9, 1845. December 12,1845, Jane
McGuffin Neal had to petition the courts for permission to keep and raise her
own children and Joseph's from a previous marriage. On December 12, 1845 an
inventory was ordered of all properties, land and personal. Lists were also
made of all personal properties. Some of which are listed: 31 head of cattle =
$ 170.50.......... 1 Roane mare = 30.00.......... 1 gray colt =
10.00.......... 6 head of sheep = 9.00.......... 1 Sorrell mare =
55.00......... 1 brown mare mule = 40.00.......... 35 hogs = 61.00.......... 4
goats = 7.00.......... 100 bushels of corn = 100.00.......... 300 lbs of
fodder = 3.00.......... 1 wagon & 2 chains = 50.00.......... 2 yokes of oxen =
60.00.......... 800 lbs of fodder = 4.00.......... 10 acres of land =
20.00.......... 20 acres of land = $ 40.00.......... Home plantation of 25
acres = 100 ...... .... 3 pairs if geers & 3 plows = 10.00...... .... 3000
bales of cotton = 37.50.......... 100 bushels of sweet potatoes =
25.00.......... Household furnishings and cooking utensils = 140.00..........
3 guns = 18.00.......... 2 saddles = 3.00.......... 600 planks =
9.00.......... Total $ 1012.20.
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On January 12, 1846 the courts held
what they called a “family meeting”. Notifications were sent out by Sabine
Parish Judge W. R. D. Speight (husband of Amanda McGuffin) The “family meeting”
was composed of, Alexander Biles, John Ford, Patrick Dillon, William Phillips
and Samuel J. McCurdy. It is unknown at this time how Amanda McGuffin (Speight
Lightfoot) was related to Jane McGuffin. Others mentioned in the “family
meeting” succession papers were the local justices, or prominent citizens
which consisted of, Judge William R.D. Speight, William E. Phillips, appraiser
Samuel McCurdy, William Herring, Patrick Dillon, S.A. Eason, John Ford,
Francis Marion Eldridge (husband of Susan Frances McGuffin) deed recorder John
Baldwin, Thomas Hargrove, James Gray, A. Nabors (Nabours, Neighbors) appraiser
A. Burke and Jane's court appointed attorney A. Biles. Jane McGuffin and
Joseph Neal could neither read nor write. According to the succession papers
there were no female family members notified to attend the “family meeting”.
These were the ones that would tell Jane McGuffin Neal what she could or could
not do with her and Joseph's property. They told her that it would be
“advantageous for, and in the best interest of", her and the children to sell
all properties. The property was then used for the few outstanding debts. Some
of the property went to the people that advised her to sell; A. Nabors, S. A.
Eason, John Herring and John Baldwin among others. Jane sold the commissary
(store) that she and Joseph had owned in Many, Sabine Parish, Louisiana. The
earliest record I have of Joseph owning the commissary is 1843. He was also
listed in the 1840 Natchitoches Parish, (Sabine Parish, Many, was established
in 1843) Louisiana census. Joseph never changed his location. The parish
(county) lines changed. After Jane and Joseph were married they ran the store
together. The very same store he was killed in on December 9, 1845. Joseph and
Jane had sold off the other properties before he died. It is important to note
that when searching through the old Deed and Platt records at the Many, Sabine
Parish, Louisiana Courthouse there were many Deed and Platt records were
missing. I was told by both, the tax office clerk and the county clerk's
office that many of the deeds and Platt records had been stolen in the 1800's.
Jane McGuffin Neal Recknor was a hard working, fun loving and well liked
woman. Quote from Jane McGuffin Neal Recknor: “Bury me in a Mulberry coffin so
I can go through hell a poppin”. (Mulberries pop when thrown into a fire) She
lived to be almost 100 years of age. (Quote from Leon Co. TX Historical
Archives)
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Note: Joseph Neal had eight living
children. Note: Jane McGuffin Neal Recknor had eleven living children
including step-children. Note: Jane McGuffin Neal Recknor had a brother named
John Hugh McGuffin. Note: Spelling and grammar is original. Source: The Real
Family Album written by Sue Real Mullins.
© 2004 by Sue Real
Mullins, P.O. Box 67, Crockett, TX 75835. |
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The Meeting of Jesse Malachie Real #1 and Susan Francis Neal |
One day in the year 1861 Susan Frances Neal and her sister Menerva Evalina
Neal were sitting outside at the family farm in Many Louisiana when two men
came riding up. The two men were Richard Real and his young son Jesse Malachi
Real, #1. They were traveling with their family, Richard Real, his wife
Lucrecia Lewis, four of their seven children, Jesse Malachi #1, b, 1847,
Edward (Ed) b. 1852, Thomas b.1853, Missouri America b.1854 and Richard's 71
year old father Edward Real on a wagon train headed for Texas. The Real's were
independent types who usually moved on to the next frontier as soon as
civilization came too close. They were camped just outside Many, Louisiana
near the Neal farm. The Real family had come from Chickasaw / Choctaw
Territory, Pontotoc County, Mississippi. They stopped at the farm to buy corn.
Susan commented to her sister Menerva that she was going to marry that boy.
Her sister told her that she was crazy because she did not even know that boy.
Source: The Real Family Album written by Sue Real Mullins.
© 2004 by Sue Real
Mullins, P.O. Box 67, Crockett, TX 75835. |
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Jesse Malachi Real #1 and
The Pony Express |
The Real families arrived and
settled in Leon County, Texas. In about 1861, “Young Jesse”, (Jesse Malachi
Real #1) as he was called, lied about his age and became a "Pony
Express"
rider. He carried the mail from Leon County Texas to the Ft. Worth / Dallas,
Texas areas. He also carried the mail from Leon County Texas to Houston
County Texas before the stage lines. He had to have the mail in Houston
County by 6:00 pm. He would head back to Leon County, at 6:00 am the next
morning. He was a true cowboy and an expert horseman. Jesse was riding
through Indian country when a renegade war party chased him. He managed to
get away but his horse (Old Dan) tripped and fell on him. Young Jesse broke
his leg but finished his mail run with the mail along with his scalp. After
his pony express adventure Jesse joined the “Frontiers”. Source: The Real
Family Album written by Sue Real Mullins.
© 2004 by Sue Real
Mullins, P.O. Box 67, Crockett, TX 75835.
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The Family of Jesse Malachi Real #1 and Susan Frances Neal |
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True to her word, in the year about 1865, Susan was 19 years old and Jesse
was 18 years old, Susan Frances Neal married Jesse Malachi Real. They had six
living children, Marion Francis, Josephine Evaline, Susan Frances, John
Luther, Emma Ann and Jesse Malachi Real, #2. They lived in Keechi, Leon
County, Texas where their family grew up. They lived on a farm. Susan cooked
on a fire in the fireplace. Their house had a mud roof and a dirt floor. In a
few months they bought a cook stove and also a sewing machine. They were the
first family to own a sewing machine in that part of the country. Susan had a
spinning wheel she spun thread on to knit socks and stockings. She wove the
thread into cloth for making clothes. The thread was made from the cotton they
raised. Her work seemed to never end. Her days were long and hard. It was not
uncommon for her to still be working after her family was asleep in bed. Her
duties, as was all the frontier women, was to have children to work the land.
She also produced the family's food and clothing. She planted, plowed,
harvested and cooked the food for her family. She planted, raised, picked,
cleaned the cotton and spun it into thread to make the cloth to sew the
clothes to clothe her family. She pressed the cottonseed to make cooking oil,
margarine and soap. After the oil was removed she ground the seed to make seed
meal to feed the cows, horses and sheep. She had to be teacher and nurse for
her children, her husband and often for the children of neighboring families
when the men and other women shared the work of the homestead. The family
raised all their food and had fruit trees. They preserved fruit and put it in
large churns and crocks. It would keep for months without spoiling. Susan
Frances Neal Real was said to have started labor pains while plowing in the
field. She walked back to the house, had her baby, (Jesse Malachi Real, #2)
washed up, took her baby and went back to the field to finish her plowing.
Jesse Malachi Real, #1, was a man of many talents. He and his son Jesse, #2
were considered to be the best fiddlers in the family. His life and adventures
included being an expert horseman, a pony express rider, and a farmer. He also
owned numerous sawmills, J. M. Real Lumber Company, with his son Jesse Malachi
Real #2. With his father Richard, he was a wildcatter in the oilfields of East
Texas. He was a deeply religious Baptist man. And from what I've been told he
was a faithful loving husband and father. Maybe that's why Susan was so
willing to pack up and follow him anywhere. Edward Real, Richard Real and
Jesse Malachi Real #1 bought and donated land to build and helped to build the
first church in Keechi, Leon County, Texas. It was the Mt. Zion Baptist Church
of Keechi. They along with Jesse's wife Susan Frances Neal Real and David
Recknor were original charter members of the church. Soon Jesse Malachi Real,
#1 and Susan Frances Neal Real decided to move their family, including his
parents, Richard and Lucrecia, from Leon County Texas. So, in about 1881 they
loaded all their worldly possessions, sewing machine and cook stove, into
their covered wagon, tied the milk cow to the back of the wagon and set out on
the trail again. There was still a lot of country to be seen. Source: The Real
Family Album written by Sue Real Mullins.
©2004 by Sue Real
Mullins, P.O. Box 67, Crockett, TX 75835. |
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The Death of Jesse Malachi Real #2 |
Jesse Malachi Real #2 was the sort of person that would give you the shirt
off his back if you needed it. His favorite thing to do was ride his horse,
“Old Dan 2nd ”, and play his fiddle. His favorite snack was bowls of fresh
churned butter. I remember many days when I was about three years old that he
and I would sit on the door steps and he would share his butter with me. He
would sneak the butter out of the house when he thought Grandma and Mama
weren't watching, but sometimes I would see them sneak up to the door checking
on us. The sawmill / oilfield town of Wigginsville, Texas was a town of
heartache and heart- break for the Real family. Just a couple of years earlier
(Dec.17,1948), Allen Zachariah (A. Z.) {Jesse Malachi's son} and Daisy Real's
twenty month old daughter Barbara Allen had died. The date was Wednesday,
January 11, 1950. It was a cold stormy night. Grandpa Jesse was worried
because “Old Dan 2nd” was throwing a fit. The lightning was streaking across
the sky and the thunder was booming. Old Dan sounded as if the devil himself
were after him. He was rearing up, stomping the ground and trying to kick his
corral down. This went on for a few minutes then he would quiet down. Grandpa
Jesse looked out the windows and the door but could see nothing wrong outside.
Even though it wasn't like Old Dan, Grandpa figured he was just upset about
the storm. Finally Grandpa decided he had to go outside to try to soothe his
horse. Old Dan was his baby. He had raised him from a colt. Old Dan would make
noises like he was begging every time Grandpa left the house and he couldn't
go with him. Daddy told Grandpa not to go outside in the bad storm because
there was nothing wrong with the horse except he was spoiled and probably just
wanted to come into the house with Grandpa. They laughed about the joke as
Grandpa walked out the door. When Grandpa did not immediately come back into
the house, Daddy told Mama that Grandpa was probably telling that old horse a
bedtime story. Grandpa had been outside for awhile when Old Dan started having
another fit. Daddy knew something must be wrong and ran out the door toward
the corral. He found Grandpa Jesse lying dead on the ground outside the
corral, his head in a pool of blood, with a hammer laying beside his body. It
is told in the family that Jesse had information about a murder and that was
why he was killed. His death was ruled a stroke. Source: The Real Family Album
written by Sue Real Mullins.
© 2004 by Sue Real Mullins, P. O. Box 67,
Crockett, TX 75835. |
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Johnnie Malachi Real and The Real Shoes |
While in Tamina, Jesse and Mary Neal Real's son Johnnie Malachi Real met
Olive Vera Bebee, daughter of Charlie Bebee and Mary "Mae" Sise Bebee. When
Malachi told Vera's mother that he wanted to marry Vera, her mother said that
she did not have any shoes to wear to the wedding and that if Malachi wanted
to marry Vera he would have to the mother a pair of shoes. She wanted a pair
of red shoes. Well, the only place to buy a pair of red shoes was on the other
side of the river. Malachi thought about what Vera's mother had said. He knew
the nearest safe crossing was farther than he wanted to walk. When after about
a month of trying to convince Vera's mother to change her mind about the red
shoes Malachi finally jumped into the swirling river to swim to the other
side. He fought the currents and barely made it to the other side alive. He
bought the red shoes, swam back across the river with the red shoes tied
safely to his body under his shirt. He married Olive Vera Bebee and Mary Sise
Bebee wore her red shoes to her daughter's wedding. They were married
forty-five years until his death. Source: The Real Family Album written by Sue
Real Mullins.
© 2004 by Sue Real Mullins, P. O. Box 67,
Crockett, TX 75835.
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Johnnie
Malachi Real;s Move to Colorado |
Johnnie Malachi Real, like his father, Jesse Malachi Real #2 and his brother,
Allen Zachariah (A. Z.) Real, owned sawmills. You might say the Real's have
sawdust instead of blood running through their veins. Johnnie Malachi Real owned
a large sawmill in Security. In the early 1960’s he heard that the state of
Colorado was in dire need of sawmills. Supposedly in Colorado you could make as
much money in one year as you could make in Montgomery County, Texas in ten
years. That was just too much temptation. This was one opportunity he wasn’t
going to let slip by. If they could work there for two years he would have it
made. He decided he needed a change. He hired the mill hands that wanted to go
and they loaded his complete sawmill onto old logging trucks and headed for
Colorado.
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It was like a wagon train. Grandpa Jesse, #1 and the other ancestors would
have been proud of him. There was Johnnie Malachi, his wife Vera, their
daughters, Arvenia, Betty Jean, Brenda Joyce and Barbara Lou along with 22
logging trucks loaded with equipment, 14 cars, 10 pickups, 50 drivers / mill
hands and families of the mill hands. Some of the logging trucks were new but
most were old and needed engine repair. They went up the mountains, over the
mountains and down the mountains. They finally made it to the top of the
mountain near the Denver area after two weeks of traveling time, break downs and
car sickness. It was the end of summer and the mountains were beautiful. They
knew this was going to be a great two years. They got the trucks unloaded and
the mill set up. It was time to get to work cutting, sawing and planing the
timber. I don’t know if it was the light headedness from the high altitude, the
colds, the fever, the cold blisters, the frost bite, the shortness of breathe,
the double and triple layers of clothing or if everyone was just plain homesick.
After four months of Colorado mountain winter weather, Malachi sold his complete
sawmill where it stood. He was back in Montgomery County, Texas three days
later. That was the last of the sawmill business for any of the Real’s. Source:
The Real Family Album written by Sue Real Mullins.
© 2004 by Sue Real Mullins, P. O. Box 67,
Crockett, TX 75835.
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Johnnie Malachie Real and The
Hungry Horse
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Malachi and Vera lived in Wigginsville, Montgomery County, Texas.
Malachi’s brother, Allen Zachariah (A. Z.) Real, and his wife Daisy, lived next
door. Malachi had a horse he kept in a corral in the front yard. He had
no barn so he kept the horse feed barrel in the house in a corner of the living
room. When it was feeding time they would go in the front door, get a bucket of
feed and head straight to the corral to feed the horse. One particular night
their children were asleep in the living room. About two in the morning, Malachi
and Vera awoke to a loud, crashing noise. Remembering their children were asleep
in the living room and fearing for their safety, Malachi grabbed his gun and ran
toward the living room. The noise had been so loud that it woke A. Z. and Daisy
next door. A. Z. fearing the worst for his brother’s family, came running with
his shotgun to help Malachi fend off the intruders. Malachi and A. Z. got to the
living room at the same time. They discovered the children awake and laughing
and the horse standing in the corner eating from the feed barrel. The horse had
kicked in the front door to get to his feed barrel. Source: The Real Family
Album written by Sue Real Mullins.
© 2004 by Sue Real Mullins, P. O. Box 67,
Crockett, TX 75835.
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Allen
Zachariah (A. Z.)
Real, Johnnie Malachi Real, John Kite and the Buzzard Eggs
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As a joke, one time A. Z. Real, brother
Malachi Real and cousin John Edward Kite found a Buzzard (Vulcher) nest with
eggs in it. They stole the eggs and put them under a setting hen to hatch. The
hen belonged to John’s mother, Cassie Louvinnie (Veenie) Neal (John Neal's
sister) Kite. When the eggs hatched and Aunt Veenie saw all the little Buzzards
she just could not figure out how her prized setting hen could manage to lay
Buzzard eggs. She told everyone about her hen that laid Buzzard eggs. Source:
The Real Family Album written by Sue Real Mullins.
© 2004 by Sue Real Mullins, P. O. Box 67,
Crockett, TX 75835. |
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