Ernest William Gaines
1894 - 1977
ERNEST
WILLIAM GAINES was born Feb 15, 1894 in De Leon,
Comanche Co., TX, in the home of his maternal grandmother Sarah Francis Gaines
Huddleston and died Nov 7, 1977 in Wichita
Falls, TX. He married LOUELLA BAGGETT Dec
29, 1913 in Comanche Co., TX, daughter of SAMUEL
BAGGETT and SIDNEY MCLAUGHLIN. She was born Mar 10, 1893 in Burleson Co.,
TX, and died Mar 23, 1990
in Electra, TX.
Children of ERNEST GAINES and LOUELLA BAGGETT are:
i. CLYDE ERNEST GAINES, b. Sep 9, 1914, Comanche Co., TX; d. Mar 9, 1915, Comanche Co., TX.
ii. CHESTER EARL GAINES, b. Jan 15, 1916, Callahan Co., TX; d. Oct 6, 1992, Midland, TX.
iii. ETHELENE GAINES, b. Jan 10, 1919, Electra, TX.
iv. GERALD CORBETT GAINES, b. Jun 14, 1921, Electra, TX; d. Jun 4, 1942, Prisoner of War Camp O'Donnell, PI
v. ROY MARVIN GAINES, b. Aug 19, 1922, Electra, TX; d. May 9, 1987, Electra, TX.
vi. DORIS JEAN GAINES, b. Nov 15, 1928, Electra, TX; d. Sep 22, 2002, Wichita Falls, TX.
After Ernest was born, he lived with his mother, Minerva
Jane (Evans) (Thomas) Gaines and her daughter from a former marriage, Bonnie
Lee in the home of Sarah Francis
& Wiley Huddleston.
Wiley and Sarah had come from Coal Hill, Johnson Co., Arkansas to Comanche County, TX with their four children, Sarah’s child with James Evans, Minerva, and Minerva’s daughter Bonnie Lee. This was truly a blended family.
Ernest continued to live in the Huddleston home with his mother, until he was about a year old, and his mother married Arthur T. Haile in 1895.
Again Minerva’s life took a turn when on July 24, 1895, she ran away with the son of a wealthy land owner and married him in Eastland, Texas. His name was Arthur Thomas Haile. Arthur’s family was very unhappy with the fact that their son had married a woman twice married and with two children by two fathers.
Minerva and “Art” Haile began to farm in Comanche County until about 1910 when they relocated to Brown County and began to farm there. Minerva and Art would have six children; Thomas Cecil b: Sept 11, 1896, Roy Lee b: Apr 4, 1898, Seth Marvin b: Feb 4, 1900, Ira b: Jan 31, 1902, Dessie Pearl b: Aug 30, 1903 and Otis Eugene b: Jun 11, 1905. They were all born in Comanche Co., TX
Soon after the birth of Otis Eugene, Arthur Haile ran out on his family. Minerva never heard nor saw him again. Barely thirty years old, broke, with eight young children (their ages were 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 & 16), she found herself alone. Imagine how lost and alone she must have felt.
There was nothing like welfare for needy families in those years, so Minerva and the children were on their own, with nothing or no one to help, no homeless shelters, nothing but back breaking work.
Roy Haile, one of the sons, once remarked that he went to school for two days in the first grade, when his mother pulled him and the other children out of school so they could work in the fields and make a living.
Work they did. Minerva and the children did any kind of work available, she took in washing, and they grubbed up trees and cleared land, worked in the cotton fields and did any work they could find.
Arthur Haile’s family, who were fairly well off, did not ever offer any real help. They were well able to help, but chose not to do so. Art’s father, Thomas Haile did let Minerva live in a house he owned, however they stayed only a short time, because they had to move to find work. Her mother’s family, the Huddleston’s were very poor and could only offer minimal help.
Minerva worked hard all her life and never remarried (can you blame her). In her later years she lived with her daughter, Dessie Pearl (Haile) Polk in Abilene, Texas.
It was in her daughter’s
home that cancer took Minerva on February 28,
1959 at the age of 83 years 8 months and 21 days. Such a hard, hard life
this woman lived. Her death certificate states she died of heart disease, but
her family has always said she suffered with cancer for several months before
she died.
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Ernest never had a relationship with his father, Henry Benjamin Gaines and didn’t know his half-brothers, from Henry’s other families. As a child, Ernest used the last name Haile and it wasn’t until after the death of his father Henry, was he was acknowledged as a legitimate son of Henry. It was a family legend that upon Henry’s death, a lawyer contacted Ernest and told him that his father had died and that he had been bequeathed a wagon and team.
This legend is proven to be untrue, because when Henry died in 1911, without a will, and his estate (which included 640 acres of farm and ranch land) remained unsettled until 1915, when most of his surviving adult children agreed to divide $900 between the six of them, each family accepting $150, and promised to give up any right to the real estate. ($150 in 1915 dollars would be equivalent to $2,650 in 2004)
This document is found in “Bills of Sale,” Vol 134, page 340, Brown Co., TX
The State of Texas
County of Brown
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that we;
Rebecca Reed and husband J.A. Reed of Armstrong Co., TX
Ernest Gaines and wife Lula Gaines of Callahan Co., TX
Martin Gaines and wife Eddie Gaines
Lee Gaines and wife Rosa Gaines
Harry Gaines and wife Ollie Gaines
And
Lewis Gaines of the County of Brown and State of Texas ,
For and in consideration of the sum of Nine Hundred and no/100 dollars, to us paid by H.J. (Henry Jeff) Gaines (editor note: “Jeff” is Henry’s son with his first wife, Lila) and M.J. (Mary Jane “Mollie”) Gaines (Henry’s third wife), receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, have granted, sold and conveyed and by these presents do grant, sell and convey unto the said H.J. Gaines and M.J. Gaines, a semme sole, in equal portions of the County of Brown and State of Texas, all their undivided interest in and to all that certain lot or tract of land situated in the County of Brown, and State of Texas, being 640 acres of land out of the B. Simms survey, No. 158, section number 9, abstract number 840, said 640 acres of land herein conveyed being described by metes and bounds as follows:
(The document goes on to describe the location of the land)
To have and to hold the said above described premises together with all and singular the rights and appurtenances thereto in anywise belonging, unto the said H.J. Gaines and M.J. Gaines their heirs and assigns forever, and we do hereby bind ourselves our heirs, executors and administrator to warrant and forever defend, all and singular the said premises unto the said H.J. Gaines and M.J. Gaines, their heirs and assigns, against every person whomsoever lawfully claiming or to claim the same or any part thereof.
Signed by all parties on September 15, 1915 , in Brown County , Texas .
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There is some confusion in this transaction, because Jeff Gaines was a grantor in this transaction, although he was a brother or half-brother to the people receiving money to settle the estate.
I can only assume that Jeff, who never married, lived on the farm with his father and his third wife Mary Jane (always called Mollie). After Henry died, Jeff continued to farm and helped his stepmother to raise her five children who ranged in age from four to fifteen when Henry died.
Another document found in the Brown County courthouse, is an agreement dated April 20, 1914 (a year before the final agreement with all the children) in which (Lila) Lee Gaines and Rebecca Frances Gaines Reid (son and daughter of Henry & Lila Gaines), agree to accept $300 (about $6,000 in 2005 dollars) from Jeff and Mary Jane Gaines as settlement to any claim Lee and Rebecca might have against the personal estate of Henry B. Gaines. The agreement reads in part …
… in consideration for the sum of $300 to us paid by Jeff Gaines and Mrs. Henry B. Gaines, from receipts of sale of some real estate made by Henry B. Gaines during his lifetime to William Wooldridge, we agree to settle all claims which we now have against the personal estate of our deceased father …
Therefore Lila and Rebecca received an additional $150 each, for their share of the personal estate of their father.
Henry’s children with Mollie; Maggie 19, Martha Jane 17, Nancy Novella 15, Hattie Mae 13 & James Carrey 10, were all living at home with their mother at the time of this settlement, and did not receive any money.
In 1915, land was selling for an average of $12 per acre, so the value of Henry Benjamin Gaines’ 640 acre farm was worth $7,680, ($145,000 in 2005 dollars) plus the value of the house and improvements. It would appear that the division of the estate was something less than equitable.
At least the Gaines family acknowledged that Ernest William Gaines was the legitimate son of Henry, and should share in the inheritance.
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In 1941, Ernest Gaines purchased the house where he and his family had lived on the Magnolia ( Mobile ) oil lease outside of Electra, TX, and had it moved to 800 N Electra St. , Electra , TX
800 N. Electra Sreet
Electra, Texas
Photo taken 2000
Editor’s note: During the relocated of this house the front porch was not adequately secured, and as the house was lifted onto the trailer, it broke loose, fell and killed one of the workmen.