My parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were all neighbors, near Barber Creek, between Forest Hill and Long Leaf, La. The location of their Old Home Places and names (in red) are:
Graham Home Place
My great-grandparents: ROBERT GRAHAM (b. Aug. 20, 1818; d. Feb. 10, 1890). Married RUTH SMITH (b. Dec. 5, 1813; d. Jun. 2, 1869) about 1843. Both are buried at The Graham Cemetery near Forest Hill, Louisiana. Ruth, after becoming ill, told Robert that she wished to be buried at the top of a hill (see present day Bell Road) on their home place (located at the fork of Barber and Perkins Creek, near Forest Hill, La). She was buried there and that hill became known as the The Graham Cemetery.
Willis Home Place
My great-grandparents: DANIEL H. WILLIS, JR. (b. Apr. 2, 1839; d. May 22, 1900). Married JULIA ANN GRAHAM (b. Feb. 22, 1845; d. Sept. 28, 1936). Both are buried at The Graham Cemetery. They married January 5, 1867 at her father, Robert Graham's home place. When Daniel asked Robert Graham for Julia Ann's hand in marriage (just after the Civil War), Robert asked him if he could feed her. Daniel replied that he had a horse, a milk cow, a barrel of corn and a barrel of molasses. Robert responded my goodness son you have enough to marry several of my daughters. Later, three of Daniel's brothers would marry three of Julia Ann's sisters. When Daniel Willis died in 1900, he left Julia Ann $35,000.00 in gold, a large homestead near Barber Creek and the woods full of cows. Daniel H. Willis, Jr. was the son of Rev. Daniel H. Willis, Sr. (b. Dec. 28, 1817; d. Mar. 27, 1887) and Anna Slaughter (b. May 29, 1820 d. Mar. 24, 1876). Both are buried at Amiable Baptist Church Cemetery near Barber Creek.
Lawson Home Place
My grandparents: ROBERT S. LAWSON (b. Mar. 25, 1868; d. in 1941). He married NINA RUTH HANKS (b. 1891; d. 1962). Nina Ruth Hanks is buried in the Butter Cemetery. Robert S. Lawson's parents were Robert W. Lawson (b. Apr. 9, 1810; d. Nov. 25, 1890), and Florentine Rougeau (b. Dec. 5, 1838; d. Dec. 6, 1871). She is buried in the Rougeau Cemetery. Nina Ruth Hanks parents were Nathan Hanks (b. Dec., 1850) and Mary Celima Stagg (b. Aug. 01, 1862, and died 1947 and buried in Butter Cemetery).
Hanks Home Place
My great-grandparents: ARTHUR ALLEN HANKS (b. Aug. 27, 1877; died Aug. 22, 1942). He married MARY STARK (b. 1860; d. 1931). She traveled by covered wagon first to Branch, La. and then to Forest Hill, La. in 1910. She is buried in Butter Cemetery. Arthur Allen Hanks "ran off" with another women and is buried in Oklahoma. Arthur Allen Hanks parents were William Hanks and Francis Soileau.
My Childhood Home
We lived on the Old John Duke Home Place (adjoining the Old Willis Home Place) until I was age four, which belonged to my mother. Our home was between present-day Empire and Barton Roads facing Highway 165. We then moved to Clute, Texas near were my dad had gotten a higher paying job at Dow Chemical. My parents were neighbors as kids. Julia Ann Graham Willis had always told her children and grandchildren that there was gravel in Barber Creek. Both their parents/grandparents old home places, near Barber Creek, were later destroyed by gravel and timber companies who bought up the undivided shares of the old home places. A large pit/lake stands were their homes once were. The gravel pit has destroyed the timber and Barber Creek. It became overrun with sand and silt; literally smothered to death. The EPA finally made them shut down but it was too late.
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