Big Bend Genealogical Society

The El Paso Herald of the 21st gives the following account of the death of a former citizen of Alpine:

Mrs. Eliza Austin Woodrow Nations, wife of Eli Nations and one of El Paso's oldest citizens pioneer women, died Wednesday night at 8 o'clock. She is survived by her husband, Eli Nations of El Paso and son Joseph H. Nations of El Paso; a daughter Mrs. T. G. Kendricks, of Ft Worth, Texas; two sisters, Mrs. J. C. Kern of Kansas City; and Mrs. Sarah Ardoin of El Paso; four grandchildren, Mrs. Josephine Nations Morfit, now in Berlin, Germany; Mrs. A. B. Urmaton of Edinburgh, Scotland, Mrs. Nelson Studebaker Riely of Kansas City, Mo., and Miss Mary Turney Nations, who is with her sister, Mrs. Morfit in Berlin at school; and two great-grandchildren, Charles Brabison Urmston and Josephine Gregory Morfit.

Mrs. Nations was a native of Texas, having been born in Austin, Travis County, in 1836. She has lived in Texas all her life. Her mother was Sarah Pevehouse or Richmond, Va, and her father Rev. John Woodrow of lexington, Ky, was a pioneer Baptist missionary preacher who came out to Texas among the earliest settlers. Her childhood was spent in Houston, Texas and her telling them of Houston when there was only one store in the place and the Comanche Indian raids were frequent. She saw at one time some white children kidnapped by the Indians on one of their raids.

She was married to Eli Nations, then a young cattleman, on April 1, 1853. Mrs. Nations has seen the growht of the great state of Texas and has been through much of it's exiciting history. A sister who died a number of years ago was the wife of Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas.

Mrs. Nation's husband served on the Confederate side during the Civil War, and she had to endure many of the privations that befell the adherents of the lost cause. About 1888 Mr. and Mrs. Nations came to El Paso and have resided here continuously since.

Mrs. Nations, up to the time of her last illiness, had been a constant nurse for her husband who has been confined to his bed from injury to his hip, the result of a bad fall over a year ago. She contracted the grip a short time ago in a severe form and was unable to recuperate.

The El Paso Times of last Satruday had the following announcement of the death of Mr. Eli Nations who was well and favorably known to many Brewster County Citizens. It says:

Eli Nations, a pioneer of El Paso and one of the best known cattlemen in the southwest, died Friday morning at Hotel Dieu. His grief at the death of his wife, who died last March, and an accident suffered in a fall last February, hastened his end. Mr. Nations was 86 years of age in April.

Eli Nations was born near Birmingham, Ala., in 1826, and when a young man came to Texas, locating in Gonzales County. He was married fifty-seven years ago.

In 1882 he emigrated with his son, J. H. Nations to Alpine, Texas. He continued in the cattle trade and J. H. Nations, as he grew up, gradually took over the active management of the partnership. It was six years latter that he came to El Paso.

During the Civil War he enlised in the Confederate army from Gonzales County.

Eli Nations was always prominent in church affairs. At the time of his death he was a senior deacon in the First Baptist Church of this city and he and his wife always took an active interest in church work. He was not a member of any lodges.

Born in 1884 near San Antonio, , Texas, came to Alpine about 1903 and worked for his brother-in-law, Thomas Dean, who owned the Dean Manufacturing Company. This enterprise made many items from metal, including water taniks and water troughts.

Jim Nichols also acted as a taxi driver taking passendgers to other towns in the area. Later he bought and operated a small ranch in the Glass Mountains. Mr. Nichols was a natural athlete and was a pitcher for the Alpine Baseball team which won most of its games with teams from other area towns.

Mr. Nichols married Martha Elizabeth Johnson in 1915. The couple were active members of the First Christian Church where Mrs. Nichols was the organist. Mr. Nichols died in 1962 and his wife in 1967.

Born in 1859 at Goliad, Texas, married Frances Elizabeth Harris in 1880 at Brady, Texas. The couple came to Murphyville in the early 1880's. He and his wife Frances Elizabeth, reputedly were the parents of the first Anglo-American child born in Alpine. In 1898 Mr. Phelps was elected to the office of County Tax Assessor-Collector and held this office until his death in 1927. Mrs. Phelps died in 1909.

Funeral services for Mrs. Kate Griffith Nevill, 83, pioneer Brewster County ranch woman, were held at 2 pm Tuesday in the First Baptist Church hre with burial in Elm Grove Cemetery.

Mrs. Nevill, who came to Brewster County in 1899, died at 11 p.m. Saturday in Baptist Memorial Geratic Hospital in San Angelo, where she had been a patient for the pat 14 months. Services were conducted by Rev. R. E. Streetman, First Baptist Church pastor, assisted by Rev. R. L. Wittner. David Streetman sang two humns "The Old Rugged Cross" and "In the Garden", accompanied at the organ by Mrs. Paul Voght.

Mrs. Nevill was born Jan 20, 1875 near Hacketville, Lavaca County, Texas, the daughter of Louis M. Grittith and Anna De McKay Grittith. She came to Brewster County in 1899 and on April 6 of that year was married to Robert L. Nevill, who had come to Brewster County as a Texas Ranger in the early 1880s. In 1882, he retired from service with the Rangers, purchased ranchland and engaged in the cattle business. Mr. Nevill died in Alpine May 1, 1914.

Mrs. Nevill took over active management of the Nevill Ranch, about 25 miles south of Alpine, following her husband's death. Shortly after World WarII, her grandson, Neville Haynes, was named ranch manager following his discharge from the Navy. She was an active member and supporter of the First Baptist Church, a member of the Eastern Star, and was an honorary lifetime member of the Pilot Club.

Survivors include two daughters, Mrs. J. J. Oliver of Edinburg and Mrs. E. A. Sullenger of Tucson, who with their husbands were here for the services; a sister, Mrs. Kizzie Mayes of Corpus Christi; a grandson Neville Haynes of Alpine; 2 great grandsons, Joe and Jeff Haynes of Alpine; 9 nieces and 2 nephews.

Out-of-town relatives here for the funeral included 3 nieces, Mrs. Curtis Rambin, Fort Worth; Mrs. Harold Durham, Eastland; Ms. Oden Willoughby and Mr. Willoughby, Bronte; a nephew Tom L. Nevill and sons, John Ed and Robert L. Sonora.