Escape from Everyday Life

After we returned from the weekend retreat we washed up, packed up, fed animals and took off again Sunday afternoon. We went to Kerrville and visited with Bill and Dink, Charlie's cousin and his wife, then we were off on our adventure. We went ancestor hunting.

We went to Lampasas where we spent the night in the "red-neck motel" with the railroad crew and their grills...

Monday morning was bright and cool. We ate breakfast then headed North on 281 fifteen miles to a spot in the road called Adamsville. There we found a small Baptist church and beside it a sign "Straley Cemetery". We followed a narrow gravel road and at the top of a hill was a peaceful green place of rest. We didn't know where to start, but we quietly and reverently walked among the dead-searching. And suddenly we were there, standing in front of a marker. We had found the final resting place of Charles' great grandfather. The words were barely discernable, but someone had placed a new marker in front of the old one. It read: "Samuel K. Jennings, son of Gordon C. Jennings, who died defending the Alamo". We had found a family treasure, not one that would bring us wealth or fame, but one that connected us with the past. Samuel's wife, Matilda, was beside him and at the foot of their graves were three small ones-children who had died in infancy.

Relunctantly we left that beautiful place and returned to Lampasas. At the courthouse we found the County Clerk and she led us to a hand-written copy of the land title for 160 acres deeded to Samuel by the state of Texas in 1870. She printed out a copy for us-another treasure!

We headed home, our curiousity satisfied for the moment.

This search started when I decided to record for our children and granchildren some memoirs of Charles' life on the ranch when he was growing up. It has become more than one person's story. It's the story of a family. A family that has a proud heritage of heroes and heroines; a legacy to live up to.