Back to whence you cameLetter from Ruby Flinn Petrie to
Effie - Dean Rogan Giles
Monday, April 15, 1957
930 Farra Drive
Okla. City, Okla.
April 15, 1957
Dear Effie Dean:
Your letter and check almost beat me home. I have the order in for a colored photo of , Isiah" and also of the great - grandmother. It will be within two weeks before they are finished. It will not take as much to restore the grandmother’s picture - it will be from the enlarge— enlargement. It has a few blemishes. As soon as I get them and the bill I will
send yours to you; also a refund. It certainly will not be $30.00 for both pictures and half the restoration of the grandmother’s.
I went to Bolivar, also to Teague Station out from Bolivar, but it was Sunday and the distant cousin was more interested in attending (and being on time) her church (Baptist, out in the country) than she was in me. However, her husband took me to see an elderly woman, Mary Freeman, who was supposed to be a cousin of Rhoda Teague’s. After talking to her for a while, I decided she didn’t know too much (she was about the age of Aunt Annie) and, too, Linda, my daughter-in-law was with me, and this old lady was telling bad as well as other information. I left. I do not want outsiders - daughters-in-law - to hear anything detrimental about my people. This Mrs. Freeman said her father had to support our grandmother and family as Isiah had left nothing when he died. Then she said he was tilling the land he left. She said our grandfather Flinn (Dr. J.C.) was crippled and not able to work on the farm, so they sent him to Nashville to school. She said: "He married a girl who could help him in his work. They moved to Texas where he became immensley wealthy." She was obvioulsly jealous ans cantankerous that I didn’t belive what she did tell me.
I'm sorry I did not stay over at Bolivar and try to find Jasper 's grave. Cousin Felix Flinn of Steele, Mo. told me he was born and lived near Nashville, in Bedford, and died in Bolivar. He was Isiah's father.
I had some notes in a book that was in my coat pocket It was stolen out of the car while we were eating lunch. It was in a parking lot so the car was not locked. I didn't miss it until we were so far away that I wouldn't go back. At the time, I didn't realize my book was in it. So, I've always thought some day I would go back to Bolivar and see what I could find out about Jasper and wife. Also grandmother's family. It might be like hunting for a needle in a hay-stack, so I will write Mr. Love and ask his price for finding out more and how. Mr. Love wasn't Interested farther back than Isiah, proof of the father of Charles Nicholson Flinn, the deceased heir he was proving. He told me Jasper, and his brothers, William and Frank, came from North Ireland and were Protestants; while Cousin Felix said Jasper was born in Tennessee. Isiah was born April 23, 1807, at Bedford , Tenn., but I'm not so sure about his father, Jasper.
No, I did not do anything about looking up records whi1e In Nashville. I did go to the Vanderbilt University and saw Uncle Joe's name on the bronze scrolls of the classes, in the main lobby. I remember hearing him say that one of his teachers had been one of Grandpa's class- mates. I did not find Grandpa's name - there were so many and my time was so short.
I think it would be fun to drive to Tenn. sometime this summer to see what we could find My work is secondary - nothing much, ha – keeps me from doing what I want to do. And I do love history and genealogy. I do only visited the one cemetery at Medon or Teagueville - both places are wide places in the road. I had a hard time finding it, but do know how to find it.
It is surprising how uninterested a lot of people are about their ancestors. Really, Grandmother Flinn got me interested when I used to go with her on her calls in the country and open gates. She would tell me about the War raging around them in Tennessee. I do wish I could remember all the things she talked to me about . I have always loved to remember bettor than anything, and history is what I like best.
Then, my mother had so much about her people who settled in Texas so early. Three of her ancestors’ names are on the bronze tablet inside the San Jacinto Monument at Houston, for fighting in The Texan and Mexican War. Well, I’ll be writing you again and sending photos as soon as I get them.
Sincerely,
Ruby Petrie
or on to Dr. John C. Flinn and Susan McGuire life during the Civil War, the Teague Family , or FLINN surnames