Memorials › George Anderson Nash

George Anderson Nash

13 Nov 1885 – 8 Nov 1959

Birth13 Nov 1885
Death8 Nov 1959
CemeteryBald Prairie Cemetery
Bald Prairie , Robertson County , Texas , USA
Added byAnonymous on 13 Feb 2024
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5138318

Bio

Obituary of George A. Nash (1885-1959) Graveside services were conducted by Minister Oliver Murray at the Bald Prairie Cemetery Tuesday afternoon for George A. Nash who died at his home in Freeport Sunday. Riddle was in charge of the arrangements. Mr. Nash was 73 years of age and was a member of the Church of Christ. He was a native of Brazos County but spent most of his life in the Eaton community. Mr. Nash is survived by his widow, five daughters, seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, one sister and three brothers. ---Published in The Franklin Favorite, Nov 12, 1959 Obituary of Vida Bell McCown Nash (1888-1990) Vida McCown Nash, 101, passed away on April 21, 1990, at the Franklin Nursing Home, Robertson County, Texas. Vida was the daughter of Robert Lewis and Lucy Day McCown, both deceased. She was born August 23, 1888, in Bald Prairie, Texas. The wife of George A. Nash, she spent most of her life as a homemaker in Robertson County, living for a short time in Oklahoma. She is survived by three daughters, Lorena Sanders of Franklin, Betty Brooks of Jasper, and Tillie Scheske of Gonzales, eight grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, George A. Nash, and two daughters, Jettie Sandel and Minnie Dowell. Services were held on Monday, April 23, 1990, in the Blair-Stubbs-McCauley Chapel, Tommy Qualls and Leon Meek of the Franklin Church of Christ, officiating. Pallbearers were Waymond Payne, A.C. Dowell, Glenn Sanders, James J. Scheske, Paul Sanders, and John Dowell. Burial was in the Bald Prairie Cemetery. _____________________________________________________ Additional comments: George Anderson Nash, age 21, of Brazos County, married 18-year-old Vida Bell McCown on Dec. 23, 1906, daughter of Robert Lewis McCown (1853-1925) of Bald Prairie, Robertson County. Vida's mother was Lucy Catherine Day McCown (c1854-c1898), born Alabama, who died when Vida was about age ten and her sister Lula May was about age seventeen. Vida Bell, born 1888, may have received her middle name after a sister of Robert Lewis McCown, who was Martha Isabella "Belle" McCown Reagan (1857-1924). Lula May and Vida Bell grew up at Bald Prairie among cousins and they went to the Bald Prairie Church of Christ, where their grandmother Sarah Caroline Honea McCown was in attendance. Horses and wagons were parked at the church, and those living closer walked to church and joined other walkers along the way. The grandparents of George A. Nash were John Bolin Nash (1806-1880) and Jane Ferguson Nash (1808-1876) (U.S. Census and Find a Grave), married February 2, 1828, who brought their family from Rutherford County, Tennessee to Brazos County, Texas by 1860, when son, William Payton Nash (1851-1939) was nine years old. The John B. and Jane Nash family are found in the Census taken 21 Aug 1850, McCrackins District, Rutherford County, TN, when John B. was age 44, a farmer, and Jane, age 43, with seven children in the household. Rutherford County to the southeast is near Nashville, Murfreesboro the county seat, in middle Tennessee. The John B. and Jane Nash family moved to Texas before 1860. The Census was taken 21 July 1860 for Brazos County Precinct 3, when John B. was age 54 and Jane was age 52, with four children in the household. They lived next door to son Thomas B. Nash, age 30, and wife Zilla W., age 37, born TN and eight-month-old Nancy E. Nash, born Texas. The Post Office was Boonville, the first Brazos County seat from the 1840's to 1866, when the Houston and Texas Central Railway arrived, and nearby Bryan became the county seat. All the Nash family in 1860 were given as born in Tennessee. The children of John B and Jane Nash in 1860 were George W (19), Amanda M (14), William Payton (9), and Sciota S (male, age 7), and married son Thomas B (age 30). George Anderson Nash's parents, William Payton Nash (1851-1939) and Sarah Elizabeth Prestridge Nash (1858-1923) married in Brazos County about 1874 (1880 Census). William Payton and Sarah Elizabeth, and some of the Nash family moved from Brazos County to Rainy (Rainey) Township, Washita County, Oklahoma, after 1900 and before 1910. Rainey in Washita County is north of Hobart, Kiowa County. There was communication before 1900 between the Nash family of Brazos County and the Browning and McCown families of Bald Prairie in Robertson County. William Hopson Browning (1857-1938) married Sarah Parolee McCown (1859-1947) on April 28, 1877, both of Bald Prairie. In 1880 at Bald Prairie, W.H. Browning was age 22, a farmer, born in Arkansas. Sarah Parolee was age 20, born in Texas, her father (John Berry McCown) born South Carolina, and her mother (Sarah Caroline Honea McCown) born Georgia. Their son Benjamin Clarence Browning was age 2 in 1880. Sarah Caroline McCown was age 45 in 1880. Her husband died in July 1864 due to fighting of the Civil War in Louisiana, leaving her a widow with seven children. Her 1911 Confederate Widow's Pension Application states that J.B. McCown came home and died three days later. The family story says he came home on horseback and was wounded. Sarah Caroline McCown and daughter, Elizabeth (Bettie), age 15 in 1880, lived with Caroline's daughter, Isabell "Belle" and husband, John D. Franks, at Bald Prairie. Other family was nearby, including Robert Lewis McCown, age 26, and wife, Lucy Catherine Day McCown, given as age 25 in the 1880 Census. Lucy Day (c1854-c1898), born Alabama, was the daughter of Wiley Day (born c1828/1830 in SC), and in 1870 lived at Wheelock, along the OSR, Old San Antonio Road, and son George Day, age 12, was born 1858 in Texas. Wiley Day, age 50, in 1880 lived at Bald Prairie, with second wife Nancy, age 25, and five children. Probably a brother, James Madison Day (1833-1908, buried Houston County, TX) and wife Julia (born 1833), lived nearby at Bald Prairie. Robertson County marriages gives that Thomas Jefferson Blackmon (1854-1936) married Josephine Day (1860-1946) at the home of Wiley Day, on October 22, 1875. Thomas Jefferson Blackmon was the son of Isaac James Blackmon (1834-1907) and Martha Emaline Honea Blackmon (1834-1923), and Martha Emaline was a sister to Sarah Caroline Honea McCown (1833-1916), all of Bald Prairie. In the 1900 Brazos County Census, William Payton Nash was age 48. His wife Elizabeth, age 42, married 26 years (c1874), and Elizabeth had six children with six living. Next door in 1900, was Benjamin Clarence Browning, age 22 (born 1878), and wife, Mary Nash Browning, age 17 (born 1883), and they were married for one year, without children yet. George A. Nash's sister, Mary Belle Nash (1883-1966) married Benjamin Clarence Browning (1878-1931) in 1899, and he was raised in the Bald Prairie community, son of William Hopson Browning and Sarah Parolee McCown Browning. Sarah Parolee was a sister to Robert Lewis McCown. In the 1900 Brazos County Census, William Payton and Sarah Elizabeth Nash lived next door to Benjamin Clarence Browning (1878-1931) and wife, Mary Belle Nash Browning (1883-1966). Also, next door, brother of George A. Nash, were John W. Nash (1875-1953) and wife Hattie (1875-1904), and they were part of the Nash family that moved to and remained in Oklahoma (burial Hobart, Kiowa County, OK). George and Vida Nash were married Dec. 23, 1906, at Bald Prairie in Robertson County. They decided soon after they married to move to Oklahoma. Oklahoma was Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory before being admitted into the Union in November 1907. The U.S. Census was taken 13 May 1910, Rainy (Rainey) Township (East Half), Washita County, Oklahoma, and George and Vida Nash were renting a farm and they had two daughters, Jettie L., born 1907, and Minnie L., born 1909, both born in Oklahoma. Rainey is north of Hobart, OK. After a few years in Oklahoma, George and Vida Nash returned to eastern Brazos County, near the Robertson County line, where Lorena was born in 1913. In 1920, George and Vida were renting a farm along the Bryan-Macey Road. George's parents, William Payton and Sarah Elizabeth Nash, had returned to Brazos County and were renting a farm along Bryan-Macey Road. Daughter Betty May Nash was born in 1921 and Tillie Nash was born in 1923. By 1930 and 1940, George and Vida were renting a farm about eight or nine miles southeast of Franklin in Robertson County which they called "The OSR Place", along the Old San Antonio Road. They later owned a nice farm in the Eaton community, as I think daughter Lorena told me about year 2003. Aunt Vida told stories of how proud she was of her daughters. She told of how she worked in the home, as well as hard work in the fields. In retirement, they moved to Clute, 505 Billington, to be near family. George died in 1959, age 73. Vida continued to live at Clute. Aunt Vida always was good to respond to letters from her Alford relatives, family of her sister, Lula May McCown Alford, and communication was kept up for many years. She always managed to include a little of the Gospel in her letters, especially from sermons she recently heard. Vida loved to attend the annual Bald Prairie Homecoming, or Cemetery Day as some called it. She came with some of her family as often as she could, where she was happy to see many old friends, and related McCown family, as well as family of her sister, Lula Mae McCown Alford (1881-1918). Vida's grandparents were John Berry McCown (1824-1864) and Sarah Caroline Honea McCown (1833-1916), original pioneers at the Duck Creek community about 1855, south of Bald Prairie, where John B. McCown secured an original Texas Land Grant of almost 160 acres. Sarah Caroline McCown and all her seven children are buried at Bald Prairie Cemetery, next to the Bald Prairie Church of Christ, where Sarah Caroline and other family members went to church. John Berry McCown was buried in July 1864 in the Duck Creek Cemetery, next to a church that stood there. The crossing at Duck Creek was also called Chambless Crossing. The Duck Creek Cemetery was abandoned, and over decades became overgrown. I was told around the year 2001-2002 by a local resident of Bald Prairie who remembered riding by horse by the cemetery when he was a young man that at most there were fifteen graves there, and now there are no gravestones or anything recognizable on the site, after years of cattle intrusion and machine work in the area. It is south of Bald Prairie and on private property to the SW of where the bridges cross Duck Creek on the Easterly to Bald Prairie Road. Bald Prairie was a community where many of the original settlers came from Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and other southern states. The Civil War took a deadly toll of the men in the county, eighty percent did not return, leaving many widows and orphans. Bald Prairie was an isolated community of farmers living considerable distance from the railroads. Cotton was the cash crop. Over the decades, especially after the Civil War, many of the residents had intermarried, which made for many cousins in the community. Bald Prairie School, Bald Prairie Store, and the Church of Christ were central to the community. The children of John B. and Caroline McCown married members of the Bald Prairie community, and this made for numerous relatives that were friends and family of George and Vida Nash. There were two marriages with the pioneer Reagan family, well known in the community. The Milstead, Browning, and Blackmon families were well-known at Bald Prairie. For many years, descendants of the pioneers have met the first Saturday of each June, to renew friendships and visit the cemetery, located next to the current, white frame, historic, Church of Christ building which was constructed about 1890. A community meal was spread under the shade of the building to the north of the church. Three Browning sisters attended the annual Bald Prairie Homecoming each June. I met them in years 2001 to 2004. They were Kathleen Browning Smitherman (1922-2012), Norma Paralee Browning Bruce (1930-2015), and their sister Ruth. Norma shared with me the research she had done on the pioneer J.B. and Sarah Caroline Honea family, and Norma said she interviewed Aunt Vida Bell McCown Nash for some of her family research. Aunt Vida Nash knew many of the stories and residents of the community. The sisters were wonderful to meet, and Kathleen fixed delicious banana pudding for the homecoming day. Kathleen said she remembered the early days when horses and wagons were parked at the Bald Prairie Church for Sunday services. The three sisters were children of Albert Sidney Browning (1885-1965) and Ruby Olivia Whittington Browning (1899-1991). Albert was a brother to Benjamin Clarence Browning (1878-1931), who married Mary "Mollie" Belle Nash (1883-1966), sister of George Anderson Nash, and they are buried at Bald Prairie. The two Browning brothers, Benjamin and Albert, were sons of William Hopson Browning (1857-1938) and Sarah Parolee McCown Browning (1859-1947), all buried at Bald Prairie. ---By Norman Alford, update 6 Nov 2022.

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