A Twist of Tobacco

That First Post War Christmas 1865 A Twist of Tobacco The snow continued to fall thickly as the buckboard carried them home. Ed and Sam unhitched the horses and took them to the barn. Eli and Watt carried Maggie and Henry into the house. Lizzie went straight to the kitchen to warm the spiced apple cider she had made earlier, and Jack carefully lit the tiny walnut candles on the tree. This was the first Christmas Maggie and Henry could remember a tree being lit with shiny ornaments and their eyes were wide with wonder. Walnut shells have many uses. As tiny beeswax candles or as settings for the Nativity. The lovely Christmas ornament below was purchased in 1972 on our honeymoon. It is the first tree ornament we bought together. Through the years there have been many other decorations. Some stayed and some went the way of old socks.  Silently into the night--(trash can.) But this beauty is wrapped and carefully stored every year. Although the star is tat...

A Christmas Treat for Mack Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house Not a creature was stirring, Not even a mouse, The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there, The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads. Written in 1823, the Clement Moore classic was firmly established by the Civil War. The holiday was more secular in the South than the North but was still basically of a spiritual nature. Celebrated on Christmas Day, not for two months prior, the day would start with Church services. While the women cooked the main meal, the young people would decorate the tree.  Small evergreen trees for a table top were the norm in most homes, adorned with edible gingerbread cookies, bright paper ornaments and perhaps gilded nuts.  The true highlight of the day was the same thing that dominated every other day; FOOD!  As to...

Watch the trailer for this new historical novel by Rita Ownby Holcomb A Twist of To bacco

William Morton Savage Died aboard the USS New Mexico Sept, 7 1919 Not a lot is known about Uncle Bill.  His sister, Alma Blanche Savage was my grandmother. Their father left when they were very small and their mother married a man neither of them got along with.  Bill joined the Navy quite young and served through World War 1 and was assigned to the USS New Mexico.  The New Mexico was the first to have a turbo electrical transmission. A high speed steam turbine powered a set of generators. The generators powered  a set of generators. The generators provided electricity for electric motors which turned the propeller shafts. Wonderful site with many photos of the building and tours of the U.S.S. New Mexico Bill was an Engineman 2nd class and worked in the engine rooms. On September 7, 1919, while docked at San Francisco , with 1000 visitors on board for a tour of the newly appointed Flagship of the Pacific Fleet, a fire started in the ...

Truman Alvin Holcomb and Cora Belle Martin Holcomb and sons: Travis, Willie, Ocie, R.V. and Marvin Dogs un-named "This is a very sad part of our Holcomb history. Here is what my dad told me. By the way, I only saw my father cry twice and the first time was while he was telling me this story. I was about 12 at the time. Then I saw him dabbing his eyes, 15 years later when he took Anna and I to Fairview Cemetery to see Willie's grave. That day he pointed to where it was, but couldn't go in himself. He stood outside the little fence and dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief. Grandpa Holcomb was going to town (I believe to Savoy ). He wanted my dad to go with him so he could help him load the supplies he was going to buy. He was going in a wagon that was pulled by his mule. Dad was 13. Willie wanted to go and I guess it was all right with Grandpa, but Dad did not want him to go because he knew Willie would be his responsibility, and he was going t...

Guy Malcolm Ownby March 2, 1925- April 25, 1980 Find a Grave Memorial The Carpenter by John Conlee Born the 7th of 8 children and raised in rural North Texas , Guy rode his horse, Lady 10 miles each way to see the young girl he would marry as soon as she finished High School.  He joined the Merchant Marine right out of High School and served for a year after they married.  He served aboard the SS Garnet, SS Gold Creek, SS Cape Nunn, SS Tule Canyon, SS Boulder Victory and SS Lindenwood. When he left the Merchant Marine (when they discovered that I was on the way) he tried his had at farming.  Realizing that the rural life wasn't for him, he moved his young family to the city and went to work for Mrs Tuckers Shortening.  His first love was always carpentry and after 12 years in the shortening plant, he decided to be his own boss and opened Ownby's Cabinet Shop which he worked until his health wouldn't allow. When the following indenture fo...

Dateline, Sherman Democrat, October 5, 1927 ............ On September 25, 1927, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. D. M. Taylor, four generations of Ownbys, numbering over 100, gathered for a family reunion, honoring Sam M. Ownby of Woodbury , Tennessee .  It had been 54 years since the brothers and sisters had been together. The Ownby family of eleven were all born in Tennessee prior to the Civil War.  The three oldest boys served in the Confederate Army.  Most of the family came to Texas in the 1870's and early 1880's. The reunion dinner was served on the lawn.  A 42 foot long table had been constructed for the occasion.  The honor guests were seated according to age: *(deceased siblings in italic) Mary Smith Ownby Brown Watterson Knox Polk Ownby - 85 - Whitewright , Texas Edward Dallas Ownby Samuel Mortimer Ownby - 81 - Woodbury , Tennessee Anderson J Ownby (Andrew Jackson) Ownby - 79 - Savoy , Texas Elizabeth Nancy Ownby Taylor - ...