John Worked for the Railroad in Mississippi when some men got into a fight. He tried to stop the fight and was shot, died from wound.
Story about John Newton Strait told to Connie Woodward by Floy Opal Williams Woodward
John Strait was paymaster for the railroad. When Sallie was about
eight years old he took her with him to pay the railorad workers. They were
sent upon by robbers and John Strait killed. Sallie was saved by friends
and they took her home. ( from Floy Williams)After John Strait's death, Clarissa Boyd Strait moved in with her parents.
After the civil war ended, the Boyds and the Straits moved to Texas in
covered wagons. Clarissa's father died along the way and was buried.
Sallie's brothers Harvey and Earnest both took typhoid fever and died
soon after reaching Texas. The family settled in Centerville, in Leon
county. Later moving to Freestone county. It was there that Grandmother
Sallie met and married Grandfather, William Curney Richardson.
Ben enlisted in the Civil War on 06 MAR 1862 in Neshoba County Mississippi. He served three years as a private in Company E, 35th Mississippi Regiment. He had only served two years when he was wounded at the battle of Kenesaw Mt. on 24 JUN 1864. He was shot in the right leg at the knee. The injury escalated to an amputation of the leg up to the hip.
He stayed in the confederate Army and was taken prisoner at the battle of Vicksburg. He was then sent to Lauderdale, Misissippi to await retirement.
After the war, Ben married Cynthia House Avara, whose husband Sylvester Avara was killed in the Atlanta Campaign. Ben and Cynthia moved to Texas and settled in the community of Flo. Ben started farming and was also a delegate for the cotton alliance of the Sand Lake Community.
Dr. Alex was living with the Clark family in Leon Co in the 1870 Census. In 1860 Sumter Co AL he and brother Wm. Curney were living with uncle Wm. Ray. In 1880 they were in Freestone. Alex and brother Andrew owned 153 acres of land about 6 miles SE of Fairfield in Freestone near Keechi Creek which is near the county line but in Freestone. They sold this land to brother Wm. Curney in 1872. I have the deed records on this. They were married in Freestone Co in 1871 according to the Freestone Co Marriage book V-1 Page 313. I really think they lived in a large house on Reunion St. in Fairfield. The house is still there and Wm. Furney lived in it for many years. The last time I was there about 3 years ago the house was being remodeled. In 1872 their 1st child was b. in Freestone. They may have died in Buffalo but they were residents of Freestone. After Alex's other sibling came to Fairfield Dr. Alex had his practice in Dew and his brother Wm. Curney bacame a pharmacist, probably taught by Dr. Alex. Son, Wm. Furney was first the county agent and married the home demonstration agent, Sarah Smith. I have had contact with some of her relatives who live in Palestine. There is a picture of Furney in the Freestone Co Museum. The books also say that the High School in Teague is also named for Furney. He also is given credit for planting the pecan trees around the court house when he was county agent. There are many relatives still living in the area. This last summer I had occasion to work with an oil company leasing mineral rights and contacted the Lane and McAdams family about their mineral rights in Montague county which is where two brothers, Wm. Curney and Alexander settled. Have you seen the report that I wrote several years ago about the Orphans? I have many records that I have not listed in my reports and am just now making entries in the Ancestry file. I have not seen the death certificate. There is a book in the Tyler Library written by Charles Odis Richardson about his branch of the Richardson family. There were three Richardson families in Freestone after the civil war. Two of them are our relatives. (Clois Richardson Jan 29,2010)
