That Ol' Fam Damily! Winnie Laura Dragoo

Winnie Laura Dragoo is my maternal great-grandmother.  I have tremendous respect for her.  Though she bore significant hardships in life, she seemed to have done so with much strength and love.  I hope that, somehow, I might have acquired some of the same genes which were reflected in her general character.

Winnie and her sibling, Andrew, were born in the home of their austere-looking maternal grandparents, Nathaniel Wheeler Tobey and Winnie Adeline Dennis, in the Oakalla/Copperas Cove area of Burnet County, Texas. 

This was the same home that her mother, Melvina Tobey, was born. The stone house was built in 1885 by Nathaniel, being made of "Austin cut stone" (so emphasized by my great aunt, Elba Hollon Hunter), and still stands today across the road from the Tobey Cemetery.  I personally touched the stones of this house back in 2001 while on a 2-week family history adventure through Texas and Oklahoma.  It was thrilling!

Nathaniel Wheeler Tobey was an owner of slaves in that area, and he used them to clear trees from a significant portion of land that he owned in the nearby Lampasas Valley.  I viewed this piece of land myself and considered the heavy price paid by those slaves.  The land there is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen; how tragic that it should be marred by human servitude.  In prayer, whilst gazing upon that valley, I sought to honor the strength and fortitude of those slaves and hoped that the land might be considered a sacred monument to their many deprivations in life.

The Tobey family is from England, having sailed to the Sandwich Isles in the early 1600s.  (They have some kind of ties to the Mayflower that I still have to sort out).  The Dennis family descends from Ireland.  Winnie Laura's father, Andrew Crawford Dragoo, is of French descent.  Eventually, the Dragoo family ties to the religiously persecuted French Huguenots and King Louis XIV's Royal Navy, which one of my ancestors reportedly deserted by jumping ship.

Unfortunately, little is known of Winnie's life as a child or youth. While still a teenager, she taught school in the Oakalla, Burnet County, Texas area before marrying Edward Jesse Hollon in 1896 just before her 18th birthday. 

Winnie's wedding dress was lovingly made by her mother, Melvina.  The photo of Winnie here shows her in that very dress.  White lace was probably not considered very practical for life in the Texas plains in the late 1800s.

From Oakalla in Burnet County, the family traveled east to Cameron in Milam County so that the wedding might be legally licensed at the nearest courthouse.  Afterward, Edward and Winnie enjoyed a three-month honeymoon in a covered wagon -- hunting, fishing, and camping along the Brazos River.  They then settled into farming to make their living together.

Winnie and Edward were married for 21 years before melanoma cancer of the face took Edward's life.  During that time, they deeply loved and adored one another and had nine children together, including Redell (a.k.a. Reid) who was born 21 days after the death of his father in 1917.  (Click here to read my story about Edward and the great care Winnie offered him prior to his death.)

Being left alone to struggle with the raising of six of the nine children led to difficult times. In that fateful year of 1917, Inez (age 19) was wed, less than two months before her father's death.  J.D. (17), or "Bud" as he was called, either took care of himself or helped with the family's income.  Bonnie (15) had already been living on her own for about a year and was later married for the first time at age 16.  That left Winnie with MayDell (13), Lois (10), Helen (8), Tooter (6), Elba (2), and her infant son, Redell. By all appearances, she was very much loved by each of her children.

Following Edward's death, Winnie sold the two-story family dwelling in Velasco, Texas. Over the next few years, she moved her family within Texas from Velasco to Sweeney and later to Alvin. She then moved again to Wichita Falls and back again to Alvin, where she apparently bought another home.  Possibly between these latter two moves, Winnie Laura married Jack R. Lane in Wichita Falls in July 1922 (five years after the death of her beloved Edward).  Due to Jack's stingy and intimidating nature, the marriage was short-lived.  

The 1930 Census reveals that Winnie, at age 51, owned her own home (worth about $2000) and was the manager of a poultry farm! She was still raising the youngest two of her nine children at the time -- Elba (15) and Redell (12).  Winnie also maintained her profession as a nurse for 40 years. 

In 1942, Winnie moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. One known address is 2918 Koepke Street, which I attempted to visit back in 2001.  Unfortunately, the house no longer stands.
 

 Winnie and mother, Melvina.

They seem to have been quite tickled about something in this photo.

 Winnie in later years, standing in the cellar of the old Tobey homestead
where she, her brother, Andrew, and her mother, Melvina, were all born.

Winnie wrote the following creed in 1957, which had apparently guided her for many years:

My motto.

I don't worry about yesterday.
It's gone.
I don't worry about today.
I don't have time.
I don't worry about tomorrow.
That's gambling.
I can't live yesterday over and I can't live tomorrow today,
but I can be careful what I think and say.

Laura Hollon

Winnie was more commonly referred to as Laura throughout much of her life. In fact, her gravestone reads Laura Winnie Lane. However, her probate birth record lists her name as Winnie Laura Dragoo, as attested by her own mother, Melvina Tobey Amos.

Winnie is buried next to her namesake, daughter Lois Laura (my grandmother), in Grand Prairie, Texas. Lois preceded her mother in death by 7-1/2 years. Thus, it was by total coincidence that the last available burial plot in the open section of the cemetery was located next to Lois, which the family gratefully assumed for their beloved mother in 1964 when she died at the age of 86.

My only possessions of Winnie.  Two shoes, one porcelain and one pewter,
which Winnie had among her collection of little shoes, handed down to her youngest daughter, Elba (my great aunt), and then from Elba to me.
Winnie's five-year diary in also in my possession, given to me by Aunt Juanita, one of Mom's sisters (click to enlarge image).  The diary actually covered 1940 - 1942.  It was given to Winnie by her great-grandsons, Hollon and Randle.

Here is my ancestral line of women following maternal ties back to my 3rd great-grandmother.  They are as follows, left-to-right: Winnie Adeline DENNIS, Melvina TOBEY Dragoo Amos, Winnie Laura DRAGOO Hollon Lane, Lois Laura HOLLON Plaskett, Yvonne Derelys PLASKETT Hancock Sylvester (nevermind the rest of her names), and me -- Jacqueline Joyce HANCOCK.