TRUELOCK Family

The following bio was taken from page 416 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Gloria Riley

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Grandfather Emanuel Truelock was born in Illinois in 1840. At the age of twelve, after a severe beating from his stepfather, he ran away from home and came to Panola County, Texas. He lived with the Harris family in the Fair Play Community. Emanuel married Cynthia Waldrop, daughter of James Calvin Waldrop. When the Civil War started, he and his father-in-law went to fight. The end of the war found them in Virginia with no way to get home. They asked the man in charge of horses for one each so they could ride home. He told them that he had no authority to give the horses but that at a certain time he would be away from the corral. They took one mule and rode many days from Virginia to their families, then living two and one-half miles from Blossom Hill Community and thirteen miles east of Henderson, Rusk County. Grandfather’s mule worked the farm until it died. To the union of Emanuel and Cynthia four children were born: Luvenia, Almedia, Nannie and Henry. Cynthia died in 1873. Emanuel then married Martha Jane Carlisle and they continued to live on the same place. The couple had nine children: Matthew, Sid, Seath, Tom, Etta, Mandie, Aderia, Sallie and John. Emanuel died in 1889 in Rusk County. His first son, Henry, born January 22, 1862 was my husband’s father. He bought land adjoining Emanuel’s farm, and that land is still owned by his children and grandchildren. Henry married Carnelia Bellew, April 28, 1895 and their union was blessed with eleven children: Emanuel, Luninia, Murphy, Bonnie, Frances, Peggy, Virgia, Ester, Haywood, Fay and Reeves. Our family, James Murphy Truelock and Beulah Gentry were married February 2, 1924. Murphy was born February 8, 1900, and I was born April 17, 1903. Murphy ran away from home at age sixteen and went to the oilfields. At that time the oilfields were raw, wooly and wild, day and night. At night Murphy slept with what little money he had under his pillow and carried it in his shoe during the day. He says that most mornings there would be several dead men scattered about who had been killed during the night. Murphy survived. In 1923 Murphy learned to weld while working for the Texas Company, one of the first companies to weld pipe. Acetylene welding was first used, and later electric welding was introduced. During the years we followed the pipelines, we lived in whatever shelter we could find. We have four children: Juanita, Ima Gene, Kenneth, and Donald. In 1944 we returned to Rusk County and home to the same land Murphy’s father had bought. Murphy didn’t get the education he wished for, but he has done well. He made sure that our children got the education he had missed, and they are all doing well. We are very proud of each one of them. Written by Mrs. Beulah Gentry Truelock