That Ol' Fam Damily! Andrew Crawford Dragoo: Will He Ever Get a Headstone?

I've been trying to sort through the TOBY / TOBEY portion of my family line.  To my surprise, I learned that I have some sort of ties to Francis Cooke, Mayflower voyager.  More on that later if I find out anything WOWZA-like.  Researching this highly confusing, tedious, and prolific Toby line (26 children by one father, for example) is an exhausting process.  It is also one that necessarily must touch upon the the DRAGOO line as well.  In the process, I decided to write up one direct ancestor's life history as best I could. See what you think.

Perhaps some of you are not at all interested in family history stories.  If that is the case, skip this one.  Pearls and all that, ya know.  

Andrew Crawford Dragoo about 1906

He worked then on a ranch near San Angelo, Texas

I have a soft place in my heart for this nomadic ancestor of mine -- Andrew Crawford Dragoo. He is my great-great grandfather on my mother's side. In fact, he reminds me in a lot of ways of the lifestyle my mom and I led when I was younger, and I bet she would have really liked imagining things about him if we had sat down together to rifle through the few details discovered about him.

In sorting through these details, I have developed a better idea about who he was and have written them down so that SOMEONE will remember, even if that someone is only me. There isn't much to share, but what is here paints enough of a portrait for one to figure out some of the kind of life he lived, some of the sorrows he felt, some of the weight he carried, some of the troubles he imposed upon others, and maybe even some of what he might still be granted through the grace and love of another.

Andrew Crawford Dragoo was born in 1850 in Texas and appears to have never left Texas. When young, Andrew worked on ranches to support his sisters (or half-sisters), who were "boarded out."  Andrew was also the foreman of the Ford ranch at some time in San Angelo, Texas. He worked there for G. Rawley White. Dixie Stogner (of the Dennis line) also states that family stories discussed through the years declare Andrew was a gunfighter, known to many as "Doc."

Andrew married at age 27; his bride was 15. Trouble in the marriage arose quickly. Melvina "Viney" (Toby) Dragoo and Andrew Crawford Dragoo separated before their second child was born. The story passed down from Melvina to other family members is that while living at Oakalla, Burnet, Texas, and while their first child, Winnie Laura, was still a toddler, Melvina was pregnant. (Melvina would have been about 17 at the time, and Andrew Crawford would have been around 29.)

One night, Andrew had several of his men friends over to the house visiting, playing cards and gambling. After they left, Melvina told him that she didn't want them there at the house again if they were going to gamble; if they did gamble, she would leave him. Apparently, all this gambling had happened quite a few times before; in fact, Andrew seemed to have had a reputation for gambling that no one wanted to publicly acknowledge.

Well, a few evenings later, Andrew invited some friends back to the house and the gambling was repeated. True to her word, Melvina picked Winnie Laura up, went out of the house, and walked a short distance to the nearby Toby homestead. She stayed there with her parents, at least until her son, Andrew Nathaniel, was born.  It was in this Toby homestead that Melvina, Winnie Laura, and Andrew Nathaniel were each born.  This historic dwelling, built in 1875 by Melvina's father, Nathaniel Wheeler Toby, was still standing and being used as a home at this writing (in 2009).

When their daughter, Winnie Laura, was four years old (about 1882), Andrew and Melvina divorced.  Soon afterwards, Melvina married James Amos, a good man, and over time, bore another 10 children.  But, Andrew declared that he "never loved but one woman, and that was 'Viney'" and refused to remarry following his divorce.

He shifted around from relative to relative in West Texas.  The pattern was about the same wherever he went.  He stayed the longest with one nephew, Bill (son of William Dragoo) in the area of Santa Ana and Robert Lee in West Texas.  Then, after coming up for a "short visit" with his half-sister, Eliza Jane, Andrew ended up staying for two years.  He reported that he had no where else to go. At the time, Eliza was living with her daughter Viola and her family.  Later on, Andrew moved on to live for a while with Perry, the son of another half-sister, Minerva.

In 1937, Andrew Crawford Dragoo became so old and ill that his son, Andrew Nathaniel Dragoo, was asked to come and pick him up to take him back to Sinton, Texas. Nathaniel Osborn Dragoo (Andrew Nathaniel's oldest son) was chosen to go along for the trip. Andrew Nathaniel's wife, Sallie, was asked to be caretaker, which responsibility she assumed for the next two years before Andrew Crawford Dragoo's death in 1939 at the age of 88.

The informant for Andrew's death certificate was his son. Of interest, the certificate states that Andrew was a retired barber and that the principle cause of death was senility.  Andrew is buried in the Sinton Cemetery, Block 6, Lot 204, in Sinton, Texas.

He never received a headstone.  In its place, he was given a metal marker, which even misspelled his name as "Mr. Oragoo," rather than listing with some semblance of Andrew Crawford Dragoo.  One day, I hope to fix this wrong.

Divorce didn't keep everyone apart forever. 

Here is a family portrait in later years.

Winnie Laura Dragoo Hollon (my great grandmother),

Melvina Toby Dragoo Amos (my gg-grandmother),

Andrew Crawford Dragoo (my gg-grandfather),

and Andrew Nathaniel Dragoo (my great grand uncle).