NANNIE ELIZABETH TERRELL MULLINS
“Nannie”
The first part is an account of her father’s family history: Edward S. Terrell.
Edward S. Terrell was born in Maury County, Tennessee, on May 24, 1812. We do not know just when he came to Texas, but he was one of the first, if not the first, to settle in the Ft. Worth area. He established a trading post, doing business with the Indians as well as the white settlers.
1812 – 1905
With a friend, Edward Terrell took a wagon and team and went north to purchase supplies for his business. Supplies were purchased, loaded on their wagon, and they headed south on their return trip. However, before their arrival home, they were ambushed by some Indians and captured. They were tied to saplings, and the Indian leaders began to debate what they would do with them. Eleven of them wanted to turn them loose, but, of course, they would keep their wagon, team and supplies, and their guns. One of the Indians was determined that they should die. Finally, however, the decision was made to turn them loose, but to keep all their belongings. So they set them free and indicated they were free to walk away, but no food, nor any weapon they might use to procure game for food was given them. As they walked away they halfway expected to hear the whiz of an arrow for each one of them, but fortunately no arrow came. Away from the Indians they picked up a club so they would be ready to hurl it at a rabbit or some other animal they might see, however, the only thing they saw was a skunk. They were pretty hungry, but they were not hungry enough to eat skunk soup or broiled skunk, so they went hungry.
After walking many, many miles, they saw a light. Making their way to it, they found it was shining from an opening in a log cabin. Knocking on the door, they announced that they were white men and friends. A man opened the door and invited them in. Formalities were exchanged, and their appearance told the man they were very hungry. While they were engaged in conversation, the man’s daughter prepared some hoecakes and made some coffee. They needed no urging to begin eating when it was placed on the table before them.
They learned the name of their host was David Peveler, and the young lady who prepared their food, was his daughter Lucinda. Ed Terrell decided that he not only liked the food that had been prepared, but, more than anything, he liked Lucinda, the one who had prepared the wonderful hoecakes and coffee. Time brought the two together in matrimony. Edward S. Terrell married Lucinda (Lou) [Peveler] Terrell, July 16, 1845, in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas.
Edward S. Terrell, being one of the earliest, if not the first, settlers in Ft. Worth, saw and took part in many of the “first things” to happen there. When he was 93 years old he heard his first phonograph play, and took his first automobile ride. In the Civil War he was a soldier. He is referred to as a captain in some writings, but it was his cousin, John C. Terrell, [1] who was granted a commission as captain.
the Tarrant County Courthouse
In 1869 Edward S. Terrell was at Ft. Belknap. It was in the True Community north of New Castle, Texas, where many of the Terrell’s lived and are buried. Edward S. Terrell died November 1, 1905, [2] at the home of his son, Edward S. Terrell, Jr. He was buried in the True Cemetery, near New Castle.
His wife, Lucinda Peveler Terrell, [3] was the daughter of David Peveler and Sally McCart Peveler. She was born December 24, 1825 in Missouri. After the death of her husband she went to live with her daughter, Dora Terrell McCloud. She died there March 15, 1920. Money was sent to take her to be buried in the True Cemetery with her husband, but for some reason this was never done. Edward S. Terrell and Lucinda Peveler Terrell were the parents of the following children:
1. David P. Terrell, born May 11, 1846 in Ft. Worth, Tarrant County, Texas. He married Mary. He was their child, and the first child born in Ft. Worth.
2. Nancy (Nannie) Elizabeth Terrell, born January 28, 1848 in Honey Grove, Fannin County, Texas; died August 05, 1944 in Granbury, Hood County, Texas.
3. George Whitfield Terrell, born August 06, 1850 in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas; died November 11, 1911 in New Castle, Texas. He married Nancy Ann Penn December 22, 1879 in Graham, Young County, Texas.
“Blu”
4. James Bluford Terrell, born January 11, 1853 in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas; died July 29, 1939. He married Mary Josephene Lindsey September 18, 1884 in Graham, Young County, Texas; died July 29, 1939 in New Castle, Texas. Buried True Cemetery.
5. Mary L. Terrell, born September 11, 1855 in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas; died 1865 in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas.
6. Edward S. Terrell, Jr., born February 16, 1861 in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas; died February 12, 1914 in New Castle, Texas. He married Sarah Fannie Bennett June 08, 1898 in Young County, Texas; born December 1876 in Kentucky.
7. E. Dora Terrell, born April 03, 1861 in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas. She married A.C. McCloud January 09, 1881 in Young County, Texas; died November 01, 1941 in Kingsville, Texas.
8. Alice Terrell, born January 16, 1864 in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas; died January 10, 1940 in New Castle, Young County, Texas. She married Charles Franklin Vardy December 13, 1885 in New Castle, Young County, Texas; born 1864.
9. Emma Terrell, born June 12, 1867 in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas. She married John. A. Hinsely October 21, 1888 in Young County, Texas; died in Jacksboro, Texas.
Nannie Elizabeth Terrell grew up in Ft. Worth. While acting as bridesmaid at the wedding of Samuel Peveler and Lynn Mullins,[4] she met for the first time a young man who was best man at the wedding of his sister, Lynn Mullins. Nannie, relating this experience to her son Joe Mullins and his wife, Margaret, said to them, “it was love at first sight.” They, Thomas Patrick Mullins and Nannie Elizabeth Terrell, were married January 1, 1867. They lived in Whitney, Texas until the early 1870s, when they moved to Granbury, Texas, where they lived on W. Pearl Street, on the south side almost opposite where they moved later, to the place now known as the Mullins place at 1030 W. Pearl, where a granddaughter, Alleene Mullins,[5] daughter of Sam Mullins, now lives.
By 1888 Nannie Mullins and her husband, Thomas Patrick Mullins, were the parents of twelve children. Two of these died in infancy. A daughter, about six years of age, suffered burns from which she died. Nannie Mullins saw nine of her children grow to maturity. Her husband died June 3, 1892, leaving, her with nine children, aged from four years old to twenty three. Faced with widowhood and the challenge of nine children, Nannie Mullins faced the situation with remarkable courage and talent. Fortunately the older children were able and very willing to help in keeping the family together. She was wonderfully blessed in rearing her large family to maturity, that is, the nine she was left with as a widow. Below is a list of all her children:
1. Edward Barry Mullins, born December 25, 1868 in Whitney, Texas; died November 29, 1912 in Wagoner, Oklahoma.
2. George M. Mullins, born August 08, 1870 in Granbury, Hood County, Texas; died November 26, 1870 in Granbury, Hood County, Texas.
3. Lula Mullins, born November 06, 1871 in Granbury, Hood County, Texas; died November 09, 1877 in Granbury, Hood County, Texas.
4. Samuel Patrick Mullins, born April 08, 1873; died September 29, 1964 in Granbury, Hood County, Texas.
5. Anne Elisabeth (Bessie) Mullins, born November 21, 1874 in Granbury, Hood County, Texas; died February 20, 1910 in Granbury, Hood County, Texas.
6. Thomas Patrick Mullins, Jr., born March 14, 1876; died July 25, 1946 in Granbury, Hood County, Texas.
7. Sweetie Mullins, born July 12, 1878; died July 03, 1910.
8. Eudorah (Dora) Alice Mullins, born May 25, 1879; died August 20, 1985.[6]
9. David T. Mullins, born May 04, 1881; died January 28, 1882.
10. Johnnie W. Mullins, born August 27, 1884 in Granbury, Hood County, Texas; died January 03, 1978 in Los Angeles, California.[7]
11. Joseph Anderson Mullins, born March 08, 1886; died December 15, 1948 in Long Beach, California.
12. Charles G. Mullins, born July 28, 1888 in Granbury, Hood County, Texas; died February 09, 1931 in DeQueen, Arkansas.
Nannie Mullins was tactful and loving in the treatment of her children. There was a remarkable spirit of family unity and loyalty. The love and respect in which the children held their mother was a remarkable testimony of her tactful dealings with them. One incident will illustrate her management of the children, especially the three youngest ones, Johnnie, Joe, and Charlie. She had requested them to always be home by a certain hour. One day these three were late in getting home. She told them she would have to punish them for their disobedience. First she called Johnnie, who came over to receive his punishment. She tapped him lightly with her switch a few times. She called Joe next, but Joe did not come, said he was too big to receive that kind of punishment, and he went off to bed. Charlie was called next. He come forward obediently and accepted a few light taps with his mother’s switch. All the boys went to bed. Some time later Nannie heard someone at her door. It was Joe. He said, “Mamma, I am now ready to take my punishment, I was wrong,” and he came over and received his punishment.
Nannie Mullins was a member of the Methodist church. Her father was a member of the Christian church. Whether Nannie was influenced by the ministry of her husband’s Methodist minister father, we do not know. Several of her children became members of the Methodist church. Grandma Mullins, as she was affectionately called by her neighbors and friends, had impaired hearing, and some time later her eyesight was also impaired. Margaret Mullins, wife of Joe Mullins, writes that one time while they were there for a visit, they played on their musical instruments for her. She was able to hear enough so that she would tap out the tune with her foot. At one time when she wanted to sign some papers, she had Joe guide her hand so she could write her name. This daughter-in-law speaks very highly of her mother-in-law, saying she considered her, and all the members of the Mullins family she met, as very fine people.
Your author was a very small boy when he first met Grandma Mullins, but he remembers her very distinctly as a very pleasant lady and a good neighbor to his own grandmother, Mrs. Hiner, who lived about two blocks away.
Living in Granbury for a time was a man known by the name of John St. Helen, who, it was claimed, was actually John Wilkes Booth, the man who shot Abraham Lincoln. Mrs. Mullins became well acquainted with the family. On one occasion when they come for a visit to see the Mullins family, he gave Mrs. Mullins a set of twelve silver tablespoons, or tea spoons. She later gave these spoons to different members of the family, and some of these spoons are keepsakes of those who now have them.
Nannie E. Terrell Mullins died August 5, 1944, and was buried in the family burial lot in the Granbury Cemetery. She lived a long and full life, filled with love and care for her family, and was loved and respected by them in return.
[1] John C. Terrell is a fourth cousin, once removed, to Edward S. Terrell.
[2] One family member has the date of death as November 3, 1908.
[3] Ed Terrell’s first wife was Nancy Elder (b. June 2, 1811, d. March 21, 1842). They were married February 8, 1834 in Madison County, Kentucky. They had two daughters, Martha Terrill (b. December 26, 1836) and Josephine Judith Terrill (b. May 8, 1838). Lucinda Peveler was Ed’s second wife.
[4] Melinda (Lynn) Mullins, b. 1844, d. 1879 from a snakebite. They were married about 1866 in Pecan Grove, Hill County. Lynn was buried in the Degraffenried Cemetery in Hill County. All the graves were moved to Whitney Cemetery when the Lake was put in.
[5] Alleene Mullins was born November 5, 1908 and died June 18, 1997 and is buried in the Mullins’ plot in the Granbury Cemetery.
[6] Date added after original publishing.
[7] Date added after original publishing.