BISHOP-ANTHONY GRANDPARENTS

One day, while visiting my parents, I was chastising my small children in the bedroom.  When I walked back into the kitchen, my dad sat with a grin on his face and he said how much I sounded like his mother.  My voice made him think, for a split second, that his mother was in there, even though she had been dead for over thirty years.  He had told me that several other times and each time I wished that I had known her.  My grandmother died the year before I was born, which would have been her 80^th birthday.

My paternal grandparents are the subject of this entry….

William Pinkney BISHOP was the 14^th and last child of Pinckney and Charlotte (POPE) BISHOP of Marion County and Fayette County, Alabama.  He was born on May 17, 1866 in Marion County, Alabama.  William married Mary Elizabeth ANTHONY on May 18, 1886 in Marion County, Alabama. Mary Elizabeth was the eighth of nine children born to William Pickens and Mary “Polly” (LOGAN) ANTHONY on September 21, 1869 in Marion County, Alabama.  To their many grandchildren and great-grandchildren they were known as Granddad and Granny BISHOP; to their nieces and nephews they were Uncle Bill and Aunt Betty. 

About 1905, they left most of their families and Alabama.  Bill and Betty traveled with their eight children to the Salt Creek Community of Brown County, Texas where two more children were born.  Prior to 1915, they had left Central Texas and relocated to the East Texas community of Golden in Wood County where my father was born.  In the early 1920’s, they made a move back to Brown County settling in Rising Star where they resided for their remaining years.

W.P. BISHOP was a farmer and helped establish Church of Christ congregations wherever they lived.  My granddad died on March 6, 1929 and almost twenty years later, a much loved and respected, Granny Bishop died on September 28, 1948. 

William P. and Mary Elizabeth (ANTHONY) BISHOP had the following children:

1) Lou Etta b. Sep 7, 1887 d. Feb 17, 1963. She married Gus William BENNIE b. Oct 12, 1883 d. May 10, 1963 on Jan 20, 1908. They had four children and resided in Bangs, Brown, Texas;

 2) Lashley Brown b. Feb 18, 1890 d. Nov. 10, 1959. He married Lizzie May BREWSTER b. Dec 21, 1891 d. Feb. 26, 1982 on Oct. 1, 1908. They had three children and resided in Brownwood, Brown, Texas;

3) Avie Pearl b. June 29, 1893 d. May 1, 1974. She married 1. John NEWTON; 2. Virgil C. ALLGOOD b. Nov 14, 1892 d. Aug 4, 1914 on May 3, 1908.  They had one child and resided in Eastland County, Texas;

4) Lemmie Birgus b. May 8, 1895 d. Dec 19, 1971. He married Maude L. PITCHER b. Jan 16, 1894 d. July 1, 1971 on Dec 10, 1971.  They had two sons and resided in Eastland County, Texas;

5) Susie Bell b. Mar 2, 1897 d. Aug 11, 1983.  She married Edwyn “Eddie” USREY b. May 7, 1894 d. May 25, 1926 on Dec 7, 1913. They had three daughters and resided in Brownwood, Brown, Texas;

6) William Anthony b. Jan 4, 1900 d. Feb 7, 1993.  He married Ardenia “Denia” Mae PITCHER (sister of Maude L.) b. Oct 3, 1899 d. Nov 11, 1992 on Jan 7, 1917.  They had five daughters and resided in Abilene and Stephenville, Texas;

7) Vernettie Emily “Jack” b. Aug 19 1902 d. Jan 5, 1991.  She married Joe Thurston ALLGOOD b. Nov 5, 1905 d. July 29, 1997 on Dec. 15, 1928.  They had two daughters and resided in Rising Star, Eastland, Texas;

8) Humphrey James “Red” b. Sep 7, 1904 d. Aug 12, 1987. He married Edna Estelle (Faulkner) RASCOE b. Dec 20, 1900 d. Feb 17, 1989 on May 20, 1928.  They had one son and resided in Brownwood, Brown, Texas;

9) Minnie Texanna (first born in Texas) b. Nov 7, 1906 d. June 14, 2000. She married Randall Dalton BARNETT b. Feb 16, 1903 d. May 13, 1979 on Oct 15, 1927.  They had one daughter and resided in Brownwood, Brown, Texas;

10) Linwood Ernest b. Feb 8, 1909 d. Jan 9, 1992. He married Lillie Melvertie PRICE b. Apr 3, 1910 d. Mar 10, 1998 on Dec 16, 1930.  They had three children and retired in Coleman County, Texas;

11) Clyde Finley (my father) b. Oct 29, 1915 d. Nov 24, 1999.  He married Willie Augusta MAYES b. Oct 3, 1918 d. May 25, 2004 on Dec 9, 1939.  They had four daughters and resided in Brownwood, Brown, Texas.