From Proud Heritage, Volume II by DCPA. This hardcover book is available online.
Ross Brand, as A. R. Brand was called, was born in Marion, Alabama, 7 August 1861. He came to the Sachse community in the early 1880s and married Elizabeth, William Sachse’s youngest daughter, on 10 February 1891. They were married by Judge J. T. Swim at Garland, Texas. They moved to Mangum, Oklahoma, where their first two children were born. The primitive frontier of the Indian Territory was not to their liking so they moved back to Sachse and entered the mercantile business known as Brand & Faust. They added a store at Rowlett in 1896. In 1901, both stores were combined at Sachse under the name of Brand and McKenny. Ross was also a partner in the mercantile establishment of Rountree, Brand and Teagarten in Garland which was a victim of the fire that destroyed the Garland business district. He was in the cotton buying business and farming until his death. He was an active member of the Masonic and Odd Fellow Lodges.
Alabama Elizabeth Sachse Brand was born 1 September 1874 in Sachse, Texas. The youngest daughter of William and Martha (Frost) Sachse, she grew up in Sachse. At the age of 16, she went to Dallas to St. Mary’s finishing school making the journey by wagon. She had a large trunk for her clothes which is still in good condition and owned by one of her daughters.
Allie, as she was called, told her family many stories about the slaves owned by her parents and how they loved them. Her father, William Sachse, gave 100 acres of land to the Santa Fe railroad as an inducement for the line to be built through that section and the town which bears his name.
Ross and Allie Brand had the following children:
- W. B., born 18 April1892, died 19 April 1892.
- Leola Ann, born 21 July 1893, died 15 December 1968
- Sidnie K., born 25 July 1895, died 25 August 1960
- Roscoe Sachse, born 31 August 1897, died 5 December 1954
- Tennie Margaret, born 27 June 1899, died 18 December 1990
- Jake Logan, born 20 August 1901, died 13 April1978
- Velma Ovis, born 15 November 1903, died 2 October 1991
- Allie E., born 13 April 1907, died 1909 at age of two.
- Pauline, born 4 August 1908, died 10 November 1978
- Mollie Elizabeth, born 20 October 1913
- William Dwight, born 28 October 1916, died 22 July 1963
- Nona Odell, born 19 June 1919, died 11 November 1975
Ross Brand died 16 December 1932. Alabama Sachse Brand died 6 July 1947 and was buried beside her husband in the Sachse Cemetery. They were both members of the Sachse Christian Church where they belonged almost all their married life.
By Mrs. Jack Grissom, Garland, TX
