• General Notes

  Source:Oct 22, 1975 Ray Houpt, Dallas Texas.   Received from Lynda Sumners(Ray Houpt research) by his mother Katie Avo(Agee) Houpt.
  "The following was given to me(Ray Houpt) by my mother, Katie Avo(Agee)Houpt, who is still living but almost 86 years old.  It should explain why the decendents of Nelson H Agee are not included in the main part of this book written by the Rev. James W Agee, published in 1893.  My grandfather, John W Agee was only 5 years old when his father, Nelson H Agee died.  He had one younger brother, James Nelson, and an older brother, Millard, and a sister Martha.  Their mother, Minerva Cooper Agee, had two bachelor brothers who would take her and her daughter in to live with them, but would not take the three  boys.  The Civil war was raging at the time and I am sure it was very difficult for the family.  The boys were passed from aunts, to uncles, to neighbors and according to my mother, my grandfather had no pleasant memories about his relatives.  Finally in 1872, the three youngest children and their mother left Missouri and came to Texas.  They had a small wagon and Mrs. Agee and the daughter rode along with whoever was driving the team.  Either James of John walked alongside.  Millard stayed in Missouri and disposed of the balance of their livestock and property.  Grandfather, being the eldest, found a job paying $5.oo a month and room and board.  It is believed he worker for Col. Goodnight.  He married Katherine Elizabeth Moore on April 1, 1883.  They lived in a dug-out in Stephans or Eastland County and ran cattle on the open range.  In 1889 or 90, they moved to Montague County, seven miles northeast of Nocona.  The original ranch is now part of Lake Nocon and Nocona Hills, a retirement property.  My mother says that to the best of her knowledge, grandfather never again corresponded with any of his Missouri relatives from the time he first left." Minerva was married to her second husband Edwin Garton, when she left for Texas in 1872.  It is unclear whether or not he accompanied them.
  Source:Research: Minerva(Cooper) Agee & Nelson Agee by Jane Rodewald, Oct 1994.
  "On close examination of the "paper trail" left in the life of Minerva Cooper and her husband, Nelson(Ned) Agee during their 10 years and 3 months of married life, I feel I knew them personally.
  Minerva was the youngest of 17 children of David Cooper.  She was from a southern family with southern ways.  The Agees were also southerners.  She and Ned were married in September 1850, soon after her 18th birthday in late July.  Her older brother Henry , a 36 year old bachelor and successful cattleman and farmer was married the same day to her childhood friend, Nancy Stiles, aged 16.  Very likely the girls attnded school together.  Both couples were married in Johnson Co., MO., by Rev. B. F. Goodwin, friend of the Cooper family, neighbor and newly ordained minister of the Baptist faith.  Was it a double ceremony?  I don't know.
  The young Agee family lived in Pettis County, MO and may have rented or simply lived and farmed Ned's fathers land the first few years.  I do not think Ned and Minerva personally owned any slaves but probably used the Agee and Cooper slaves for themselves.  This changed at the death of Minerva's father David in 1853.  She inherited a slave girl Clara and all children she might bear.  By 1856, Ned and Minerva were the parents of 3 children and Ned purchased land from his father(175 acres).  They may have later gotten into financial problems for in 1859 he sold the land.  Medical records from 1856-59, Jan 1, 1861 reveal that a female slave gave birth 2 times.  The family suffered malaria(Agee) and Ned had a serious mowing machine accident in 1858 that had to be medically treated regularly for over 4 months, including draining an abcess.  This had to affect his farming efforts.  On Dec 4, 1859, the 4th baby was born.  Apparently, Minerva needed medical care a few weeks later on Dec 17,18,19(probably childbed fever).  ODD NOTE: The family called for a physician to care for the obstetric needs of the slaves but no record of being called at the birth of any of Minerva's children--Did white women prefer to use female midwives in this Victorian age unless threatened with possible death)?
  Ned ordered 31 matching flooring planks and had them hauled from Tipton, MO(some 30 miles away) on Dec 21, Very likely he put a floor in a back room or extra unfinished part of their house due to the new baby.  No other lumber was ordered so he probably did not build on a room or build an entire structure. 
  Ned was a tobacco user as accounts from the general store reveal.  The family seemed to be struggling financially after the drougth of 1855.  They grew virtually all they ate and clothing was made at home and was of modest, low cost, durable fabric.  Ned owned a pistol and had it repaired in 1859.  Notation is made of buying material for clothing for "workmen" and "work clothes" and shoes for "Wyatt".  Either the Agees or the Coopers or both may have loaned the couple at least one male slave, maybe more, to help Ned on the farm.  Wyatt could be a male child born in 1856 to Clara, Minerva's slave.  The Agees were members of the Christian Church.  Ned's father and Minerva's parents were Reform Presbyterian.  Some family members were also Baptists.  Perhaps since churches were few, all denominations were a bit more compatible than now and these early pioneers were simply happy to have God's word spread no matter the official denomination.
  The war was brewing and Yankees from Kansas were already starting their reign of terror in the area.  Ned and Minerva were pro-confederate.  With all of this Ned who was only 30 years old apparently became ill late in December 1860.  The Doctor was called for him and for the slave woman Clara on December 30, and 31 and left medicine but before the day was out, Ned had died!  Bills for his coffin, velvet lining, and a new suit of clothes includina a pair of gloves for his funeral were all dated Jan 1, 1861.  William Agee(an older brother or uncle) and Franklin Cooper(Minerva's brother) were in Georgetown at the Pettis County courthouse on January 7, 1861, starting probate proceedings on his estate as he left no will,(another indication that his death was very sudden).  Perhaps the slave Clara, and Ned were both struck with a disease of which Ned could not recover.  We continue to guess but I hope to keep searching records, etc. for clues that give a definate answer.  I beleive he was buried in what is now either LaMonte Township or Dresden Township in Pettis County, MO.  The young widow, 29 years old, with 4 small children, certainly could not afford a marker at the time of his death but we hope one of the families provided one or that she later had one erected.  The estate was not settled until a little over 3 years later in May 1864 but part of this may have been due to war complications.  There is a record that rent on the farm was paid for Minerva and the children for 2 years at $65.00 a year--Dec30, 1860 to Dec 31, 1862.  I hope to find her in the 1870 Missouri Census and the 1890 and 1900 Texas Census.  I have reason to beleive that the former slave, Clara and her children stayed with Minerva after the war.  Minervas financial condition changed drastically in late summer of 1865.  Her brother William Orr Cooper died on his way home from the war(Confederate soldier as of Jan 1862).  He was an extensive land owner in Bates and Johnson Counties and a bachelor.  In his will, he left the entire estate to be divided between Minerva and her children and his 2 orphan nephews, sons of another sister, deceased--Juliett Granville Cooper Means who died in 1847.  One of these orphan nephews was killed in the Confederate Army in 1864, unmarried.  William Orr Cooper's will was probated in 1865.  Minerva's money trouble was virtually over.  She was still in Johnson County or the area when her daughter Martha Ann married James McCray in Sept 1860.  By 1876 she was in Texas with her sons.  I found a record of the negro woman,Clara, who was only 5 years younger than Minerva and had always been with the Cooper family had remained with Minerva until the children were mostly grown and she was taken care of financially.  When Minerva decided to leave Missouri, then Clara married and did no go on to Texas.  Others from this area going to Texas about the same time were the McCray family who married into both the Cooper family and the Agee family and who suffered greatly at the hands of the Yankees while in Missouri.  Minerva lived a long life and died at the home of her son in 1908 and is buried in Alanreed, Texas."

Details of Nelson's family with Minerva Cooper