From Proud Heritage, Volume I by DCPA, currently out of print.
Considering the ease with which we travel today, it is difficult to understand how, or even why, our ancestors were so mobile. Surely the hardships they endured, riding and driving ox carts and covered wagons, camp ing out on the trail, hostile elements encountered, and the amount of time involved, were discouraging. But travel they did, and by all accounts, quite extensively.
Since we are certain of the localities in which they lived in Missouri, and we know that a few of the men were stockmen, we feel safe in assuming that at least some of the trips to Texas were made on the old Sedalia Trail. Starting (or ending, depending on the direction of travel) at Sedalia, Missouri, it tracked due south for about 30 miles passing through Warsaw. There, it began to veer slightly west, but continued south through Hickory, Polk and Greene Counties, to pass midway between Springfield and Carthage and on through Lawrence County. It left Missouri just south of Seligman in Barry County and entered Arkansas at or near Gateway, Arkansas, where it turned more westward to pass between Fayetteville and Huntsville and on to what is now Van Buren and nearby Fort Smith. All vestiges of safety were left behind at Fort Smith, as the Trail then tracked almost 100 miles through Indian Territory, leading directly to the Texas border at the Red River and old Preston Station. There, it turned due south to Dallas County, where my ancestors left the Trail and settled. The Tr-ail continues on south through Waco, Texas and beyond.
Sarah Ann Paralee Rupard was born in Polk County, Missouri, on 23 June 1865, to John D. Rupard and Elizabeth Fisher Rupard. She was the eighth of the ten children raised to maturity by Mr. and Mrs. Rupard, who were married in Polk County, Missouri, 24 April 1849. John was the first child of Erasmus Rupard and Nancy Nall, who were married 23 March 1820, in Williamson County, Tennessee, and was born 27 September 1825, in Tennessee. He died 23 August 1875, and at present it is not known where he is buried.
Elizabeth Fisher was the first-born child of John Fisher and Margaret Barbour. She was born 3 November 1828, in Barren County, Kentucky, and died 11 November 1907, and is buried at Oakland Cemetery in Dallas, Texas.
Sarah Ann was first brought to Dallas County by her parents in 1866, at just over one year of age. John D. and Elizabeth came in company with several others of both the Fisher and Rupard families. Two of Elizabeth’s brothers, Robert H., and Thomas Barbour Fisher and their families, preceded John D., and Elizabeth, as records indicate they arrived in 1864. Robert had purchased property located about seven miles north of Dallas, which he farmed and on which he had built and operated a grain mill. Thomas B. and wife, Mary E. Murray, and children settled first in Richardson and lived there about 16 years, after which time he bought the A. McCommas farm on old Greenville Avenue, nearer to Robert. He also bought part interest in Robert’s mill. Thomas was County Commissioner of Precinct #1, in 1892.
From all indications, they were successful in their endeavors. Another of Elizabeth’s brothers was James Isaac Fisher, who came to Dallas County with the group of families in 1866. He married Caroline Beeman, daughter of John Beeman and Emily Hunnicut, early pioneers of Dallas County, on 28 November 1867, in Dallas County. Though family tradition has held that Fisher Road, in North Dallas, and old ‘Fisher Station’ (or community) were named for one or more of the distinguished Fishers, local records do not confirm the information. It is known that many of both the Fisher and Rupard families owned land in the White Rock and east Dallas area, and also, many farmed and lived on land belonging to others. Cox Cemetery is located in the same proximity and a multitude of both families’ ancestors are buried there.
Sarah Ann Paralee Rupard made several trips back to Missouri for visits before she married George Benjamin Erickson, a farmer, on 5 September 1888, in Rockwall County, Texas. George was born 12 December 1857, probably in Tennessee, and died 18 September 1903; he is buried at Chisholm Cemetery in Rockwall County, Texas. His marker indicates he was a member of the Woodsmen of the World lodge. George and Sarah had seven children, all of whom lived to maturity and are noted later. Sarah spoke many times of the hardships of travel on the trail in a covered wagon. She recalled that on many occasions they had seen “parties of Indians, but were never bothered.” Her sister, Adelia Anders Rupard married James Harmon Ayers Glenn in Dallas County, Texas on 4 July 1869. They had thirteen children, ten of whom lived to maturity. A family story tells that each time “Delie” was expecting another child, she hitched up the wagon and made yet another trip back to Missouri. No doubt Sarah – “Sallie” went with her more than a few times. Almost all of both families were members of the Baptist Church and very active. Family records and church documents indicate that the founding of East Dallas Baptist Church, located presently on Fitzhugh Street, in Dallas, took place in “Delie’s” parlor.
Sarah and George lived in the east part of Dallas County, Forney and Rockwall in the early years. He farmed and was a ‘mule skinner’, doing what he could to provide a living. Life was austere, at best, as once they lost everything they owned when their house burned to the ground. They had been married only fifteen years when George died of skin cancer. Sarah was 38 years old and was left with seven children, the eldest of whom was fourteen and the youngest, one year. She moved to the city of Dallas and in time bought her home on what was then Kentucky Street, at #4011. She lived there many years, struggling to provide for the children. She did laundry for others, sewing and anything she could to make ends meet. She sold the property in the early 1940’s to her next-door neighbor, Mr. Ben Cabell, who had built his ice cream plant adjacent and needed Sarah’s property to expand.
It is doubtful if Sarah had much, if any, formal education, but she was extremely well self-educated and saw to it that her children attended as much school as possible. She managed her business affairs with a minim urn of assistance and bound the family together with a strength that endures today. Known to many, family and friends alike, as “Aunt Sallie”, she is best rememberd for her gifts of love and service to others. In time of crisis she was always there to cook, clean, tend the ill and hold the hands of the dying. When she died 6 August 1962, at 97, the response from all who loved her was over whelming. She rests at Grove Hill Cemetery, Dallas, Texas.
Her children were: 1) Alma Gertrude who married I. A. Stein, and had no children; 2) Homer Johnson who married Lillian Price and had one child; 3) Willie Frances who married Geo. A. Sawyer and had six children; 4) Edgar Rupard who married Agnes Wilkerson and had three children; 5) Horace Benjamin who married Laura , and had no children; 6) my parent, Eda Elizabeth, “Bessie” who married Jesse Shane Hibbits and had one child; 7) Georgia Beatrice who never married. Sarah was survived by three children, eleven grandchildren and twenty-three great-·grandchildren.
Sources:
- Census and Gravemarker.
- Ann Dowd McCulley, family and research records of marriages, gravemarkers, death records, etc.
- Weldon Harvey, Family Bible of James Inglis family.
- Nall Families of America by Sally Nall Dolphin & Charles Fuller Nall, Pub., 1978, Century Pub. Co., Coeur d’Alene, 10, Library of Congress Catalog No. 79-126334.
- Memorial & Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas, Lewis Pub. Co., Chicago, Ill., Pub. 1892.
- Marriage Records, Dallas County, Texas.
- Mesquite Reflections, complied by the Mesquite Branch of American Association of University Women, Pub. 1976, pg. 88.
- Marriage Records, Rockwall County, Texas. Gravemarkers and City and County Records.
By Sara Hibbits McGee, Great-granddaughter, Mesquite
