HOWARD AND MARY ANNA WHITAKER

The following bio was taken from page 441 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Little is known about the ancestors of Howard and Mary Anna Whitaker. This is their story as told to me by my husband Sam Patrick, a grandson of this couple.

Howard’s parents came to America from England (dates unknown) and settled in Baltimore, Maryland. Howard was born August 7, 1817. He attended medical school and became a physician. His first patient was a sixteen-year-old girl. She died, and he never practiced medicine again.

During the Civil War, Howard went to Mexico, where he met and married Mary Anna Navarro in 1861. Mary Anna was born August 15, 1845. Her parents died of scarlet fever, and she and her brothers and sisters were brought up in a Catholic convent in Mexico.

Howard and Mary Anna came to Henderson on horseback. Here, two daughters, Emma and Ida, were born. Later, the family moved near Longbranch on the Rusk and Panola County line and built a two-story log house with a kitchen extending behind the house. Here they reared their family of six boys and six girls. They never called for medical help, as Howard was a doctor and took care of the family, even delivering all of the babies.

The oldest daughter, Emma, married Bill Hays and had no children. Ida married Webb Kent and had three children. Effie married John C. Patrick, and they had three sons (see their story). Fred married Evie Nix and had six children. Robert (Bob, who served as a County Commissioner in the early 1900’s) married Mamie Harvey and had one child. Minnie, married Gamble Crawford and had no children. Frank, who served as a constable, and who married Sally Giles and they had eight children. Charlie, a twin of Frank, married Leona Dragoo, and had five children. Laura never married. Jennie, married Dean Hornbuckle, and had no children. Albert, married a Miss Crow, and had no children. Rudolph, married Eunice Hays, and they had one child.

The Whitakers who came to America made the voyage on a ship named the Effie Afton. The third daughter of Howard and Mary Anna was named Effie Afton for the ship.

Mary Anna is said to have been able to see Trammel’s Trace from the window of their home near Longbranch.

A granddaughter, Lois Frazier, is living on the old Whitaker place at the present.

Submitted by Carrie Threadgill Patrick