52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #17 Lodema Walker Criswell, My Great-Grandmother

Lodema as a young woman - date unknown, Lodema and family - about 1893,
Lodema with her brother 1912 - Thomas Leroy "Whit" Criswell,
L.W.H. - found in the Bryan Family Bible

Lodema  Walker Criswell was born in Cherokee County, Texas on June 4, 1856. Her parents, William M. Criswell and Mary Ann “Polly” Evans, moved to Falls County, Texas three years after her birth. 

Lodema married Phillip A. Hairston at age 17.  They had two children, a baby boy who died in infancy and a daughter, my grandmother, Myrtie Hairston. In 1883, the Hairston family moved to Erath County, Texas where Lodema lived with her husband and daughter in the Bethel Community. In 1905, Lodema and Phillip moved to Baylor County with their daughter, her husband and children where they remained until their deaths. Lodema died on October 3, 1919, two years after her husband, Phillip. She and Phillip are buried in an unmarked grave in Seymour, Texas.  

No Story Too Small

Diana

© 2014

Sources:

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn.

Stephenville Tribune [Stephenville] 11 Nov. 1905: Microfilm


"Texas, Deaths (New Index, New Images), 1890-1976." Index and Images.FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2013. Citing Bureau of Vital Statistics. State Registrar Office, Austin.