Sunday, August 23, 2009

James Massey

Dear Mr.. Massey,
 
Lena Maude Massey Mounger (my mother in law)  was born in 1903 in Altoga Collin, Texas to Louis Edward Massey b. 10 Apr 1871 Neosho, Bushy Knobb, Newton, Missouri d. 22 Apr 1948 Farmersville, Collin, Texas and Minnie Augusta Watkins, b. 01 Mar 1875, Cleveland, Bradley, TN, and d. 07 Feb 1906 , Altoga,  Collin, Texas.
 
Minnie Augusta and Louis Edward Massey are buried in the Altoga cem., Collin, Texas, as are Louis's mother and most of his siblings.   They were the children of James W. Massey b. ca 1828 TN, and d. ca. Bet. 07 Jul 1870 - Jun 1880, possibly in Okmulgee Co., or Muskogee, Oklahoma, as he died on the trail somewhere up in OK.  The family tried to find his body but had no luck in doing so.
 
James Massey married Sarah M. "Sally" Adams, in 1857 Clinton, Illinois.  They later mig to Newton, MO and than came to Texas.   They were in Illinois for the 1860 cen. and in Newton, MO for the 1870 cen.   According to the birth places of the children, their could have been some travel to Texas well before they came the last time, but you cannot always depend on the memories of children later in life as to where they were really born.  They were allied to a Richardson family from Illinois and they seemed to travel to Texas with that family a number of times. 
 
Despite my best research I cannot find out anything on the Massey names past James Massey.  I never found where he might have came from in TN.   I have had much better luck with the Adams family than the surname of Massey. 
 
And it could have been spelled a number of ways, and so you cannot go by just one spelling of the name.    The Massey surname is very much known in McKinney, Collin, Texas from the beginning of Collin county.  I have not been able to connect any of the other families to this family. 
 
Sorry to say I think that we are talking about two different Massey families that happened to be in Collin, Texas.  One in West Collin, from McKinney and the other in East Collin, out of McKinney. 
 
My mother in law only had one sib. and she is buried in Blue Ridge, Collin, Texas.  Her mother died from complications of child birth, so the two little ones never knew their mother.  They were strapped with a few bad step mothers during their lives, and most of them in their very young years were not very nice to them.  If it had not been for Louis's sisters I don't know what would have happened to them.    My mother in law was quite sad about their loss of their mother.  She was a very good person and did not like to see any child miss treated because of her treatment in her life time.
 
I hope this helps in some way.  Just sorry I could not give you a connection to your family line. 
 
Sincerely,
Glenda Mounger