Crawford to present "Pioneer Women of Bosque County" Jan. 11
MERIDIAN - Courage, spirit, making do with little to nothing, resilience are all words that describe the pioneer women coming West, with or without their families. They needed these qualities to survive and raise their families in the harsh frontier.
At the upcoming Bosque County Genealogical Society's January meeting, Bosque County Historical Commission archivist Ruth Crawford will be speaking on Pioneer Women of Bosque County The meeting and presentation will be held Saturday, Jan. 11 at 1 p.m. at the Bosque Collections building located at 101 N. Main in Meridian.
Ruth Crawford to present Bosque County Pioneer women at Bosque County Genealogical Society meeting Jan. 11 at 1 p.m. at the Bosque Collections Building.
Among others, Crawford will highlight the lives and times of women like Elizabeth Barnes, Lucinda Everett, and Mary Ann Mabry, who were among the first women to settle in Bosque County. For example, Barnes and her husband ran the ferry on the Brazos River near Steele Creek. Mary Ann was married to the first County Clerk, Jasper Mabry, and became the mother of Martha, the first white child born in the territory.
“If I could be anybody else in life, I would want to be her,” Crawford said of Barnes. “She had such an interesting life, making a home in the wilderness, without an established supply or mail chain, dealing with Indian raids, protecting the home when the men were away.”
As no other can, Crawford has the knack of bringing history alive with anecdotes and interesting details about life in the early days of Bosque County around the 1850s. Her stories about the strong, hardy women who helped build Bosque County is sure to entertain, as well as inform.
At the meeting, a display table will be provided for BCGS members and guests to display any family heirlooms, scrapbooks, photo albums, family research notebooks and family heritage items. If you are interested in joining the Bosque County Genealogy Society, please request a membership form at bosquegenealogy@gmail.com.
Photos by Simone Wichers-Voss & Courtesy of Bosque Collections
