From Texas Under Many Flags – Published in 1930
Transcribed by Mary Maxwell
William Alfred Trimble Massey, a retired farmer and stockman, whose home is in Hood County, twelve miles southeast of Granbury on the Acton Road, has lived in that section sixty years of his life, and is one of the notable members of a prominent family group, comprising many persons of real worth and high character as citizens and individuals.
Mr. Massey was born in Alabama, September 24, 1856. His father was William R. Massey, a native of North Carolina, a farmer and slave owner, and after coming to Texas a frontiersman, living for a number of years well out toward the edge of the settlement. He came to Texas in the fall of 1859, driving a covered wagon from Alabama. They were six weeks on the road. He first settled in Erath County and in 1860 moved to Parker County. From there in the fall of 1867 the family established their home in Hood County. On coming to Hood County they bought land and settled twelve miles southeast of Granbury, and in that locality William R. Massey lived out his life. He donated the land for the cemetery, school and church at Fall Creek, and after his death, his widow accepted a small consideration so as to give the church, cemetery, and school title and deed. The old school and church have long since been replaced by modern edifices. William R. Massey married Caroline C. Glenn, who was born in Alabama, daughter of James Glenn, and she lived through the best years of her life in the Fall Creek community. Four of her brothers were in the Confederate army, W.B. Glenn, J.M. Glenn, Andrew Glenn and F.M. Glenn. Jim and Andrew were taken sick with the measles and died while in the service. The youngest enlisted from Alabama at the age of fifteen, while the others went from Texas. W.B. Glenn was a Texas cattle man and, after the war, while out on the frontier, was shot in the back while engaged in an Indian fight. However, he recovered from the wound. Jim Glenn was promoted to official rank while in the Confederate army. William R. Massey and his wife had a family of four sons and three daughters, William A.T. being the third child and eldest son. His two brothers now living are: James E. Massey, a Hood County farmer, who married Fannie Merrifield and of their eighteen children, twelve are living; and Walter Massey, a very successful farmer and trader in Oklahoma, married Willie Leath, and two of their five children are living.
William Alfred Trimble Massey was three years old when the family came to Texas and has little memory of that migration, but he was a boy of about eleven years when the family located in the Fall Creek community of Hood County. He attended a log cabin schoolhouse there, and after school days were over he went to farming and stock ranching, and the greater part of his life has been spent on his farm twelve miles southeast of Granbury, where he still gives some supervision to his farm and live stock. He owns about 800 acres of land in Hood County. Mr. Massey and his family are Methodists.
He married at Fall Creek, October 13, 1886, Miss Sallie Merrifield. Her grandfather, Jack Merrifield, settled in Dallas County in 1848, on the spot where the present courthouse is located. One of the Merrifield family, writing some years ago to the Semi-Weekly Farm News, described the coming of the family to Texas as follows: “We came to Dallas in 1848 from Nelson County, Kentucky. I went to the first school taught in Dallas and can remember the little log hut owned and run as a notion store by Col. Neely Bryan. We lived mostly on wild meats after our supply we brought with us gave out. In 1854, my father moved to Cedar Hill, where there was a little store run by James Berry.” Mrs. Massey’s grandfather was a slave owner. Her father, T.J. Merrifield, went out to California during the gold rush of 1849, and returned from that far off country alone on a mule. Mrs. Massey was one of a family of twelve children, seven daughters and five sons, being sixth in age. The others still living are: James Merrifield, a retired farmer of Parker County, married Zura Dobbs and has five children; Andy Merrifield, a farmer at Lone Wolf, Oklahoma, married Mollie Queen, and six of their seven children are living; Fannie Merrifield is the wife of James E. Massey, as already noted; Ada Merrifield lives at Mineral Wells, widow of Grude Gray, and thirteen of her fourteen children are living; and Beamus Merrifield is a farmer in Tom Green County, Texas.
Mr. and Mrs. Massey have a family circle comprising eight children, besides numerous grandchildren. The eldest, James, born August 23, 1887, a mechanic living in the Acton community of Hood County, married Elvie Johnson, and of their six children, five are living. Ora Massey, born February 17, 1891, a farmer in Hood County, married Joe Robert and has four children. Vida, born February 11, 1893, is the wife of Pierce Gee, a mechanic and railroad man at Yoakum, Texas, and has three children. Alfred, born May 1895, died October 19, 1897. Caroline, born October 7, 1896, is the wife of Arnold Cramer, of Fort Worth, and they have three children. Stetson, born October 23, 1898, a Hood County farmer, married Dolly Gee. Peggy, born October 5, 1900, lives at home with her parents. Mary, the youngest, was born March 3, 1903, and is the wife of Bob Bell, of Fort Worth, and has two children.
| William Alfred Trimble Massey was born September 24, 1856 and died October 23, 1930. He was buried in the Fall Creek Cemetery in Hood County, Texas. |
SOURCE
Texas Under Many Flags, Volume III. Clarence R. Wharton, Author & Editor. 1930: The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York.