ROBERT JASPER GARRETT
Robert Jasper Garrett, b April 14, 1841 in Houston
County, Republic of Texas, d April 29, 1918 in Marlin, Falls County, Texas and
buried in Calvary Cemetery - was a son of Thomas McKissick Garrett and his first
wife, Margaret Minerva Reed of Giles County, Tennessee. He and his only
surviving sister, Mary Elizabeth, were reared by his father and his step-mother,
Linea Frances (Brandon) Cornelison Garrett. At the age of ten years, Jasper
moved with his family to old Blue Ridge (Stranger) in Falls County, where he
grew up and was educated in the early schools there.
Jasper joined the Texas Rangers under the command of Captain Shapley P.
Ross when Cynthia Ann Parker was recaptured from her Indian family. When the
Civil War was declared, he enlisted in Captain Lang's Company B, Green's
Regiment, but took the measles in San Antonio and returned home. He, later,
returned to Confederate States Army duty, and was in the siege of Galveston.
Jasper's father contracted the measles and died July 2, 1862, leaving an
estate that was not completely settled for sixteen years - although Jasper and
his sister's two sons received over half of the estate and shared equally in the
partition of the other half with his seven half brothers and sisters.
On June 2, 1863, Jasper married Mary (called "Mollie") Smith, b June 16,
1840 in Mississippi, d July 19, 1895 and buried in Stranger Cemetery - a
daughter of Ephraim and Edith (Smith) Smith, whose older children were listed on
the 1855 School Census in Falls County - with their father as the responsible
parent.
Robert Jasper Garrett was a prosperous farmer and rancher. Although he
was reared in the Cumber- land Presbyterian Faith of his own mother and his
step-mother, he became a member of the Baptist de- nomination and was one of the
founders of the Blue Ridge Missionary Baptist Church -later Liberty Baptist
Church, and finally Stranger Baptist Church. He was asked to be administrator of
many estates in the area; and became Tax Assessor and Collector in Falls County,
and was a County Commissioner from 1886- 1887. He was a Mason - attached to the
Kosse, Texas Lodge.
Jasper and Mollie were the parents of fourteen children - all born and
reared at Stranger:
Martha Ann Garrett, b August 29, 1864, d June 12, 1940 -
married May 10, 1888 to James Archer Dunkum, b June 26, 1858 in Virginia, d
September 7, 1931, and had two children.
Mary Elizabeth Garrett, b March 2, 1866, d December 11, 1942 - married in
late 1882 or early 1883 to Robert Ewing Jackson, b February 10, 1859 in Parker
County, Texas, d June 4,1900, and had six sons.
Frances Luella Garrett, b November 1867, d 1956 - married 1887 to Dr.
George P. Reeves, b April 1863 in Giles County, Tennessee, d 1918, and had four
children.
James Thomas Garrett, b November 25, 1869, d January 24, 1931- married
first on October 13, 1891 to Zenobia Ann Cornelison, b April 18, 1873, d
December 9, 1901- daughter of Jesse and Mary Elizabeth (Saxon) Cornelison, and
had five daughters; married second on June 26, 1904 to Harriet Jeanette Beard, b
August 29, 1874, d June 6, 1966, and had three children - two sons and one
daughter.
Gertrude Eliza Garrett, b November 25, 1869 and twin of James Thomas
Garrett, d November 18, 1941 - married December 18, 1890 to Holman Kendal
Hancock, b January 19, 1869, d July 16, 1926 - a son of Samuel B. and Louisa
Jane (Adair) Hancock, and had seven children.
Dora Minerva Garrett, b November 29, 1870, d May 27, 1962 - married
December 12, 1893 to Sanford Jones Stallworth, b April 18, 1870, d September 10,
1933 - a son of Francis Marion and Lucinda (Jones) Stallworth, and had two sons.
Robert Lazarus Garrett, b 1873, d 1928 - married
1899 to Minerva Kendall, b 1881, d 1977, and had two children.
Arrie Ruth Garrett, b August 1, 1874, d December 19, 1969 - married 1893
to Paul Meredith Cluck, b August 1, 1869, d December 15, 1951- a son of Dr.
Nathaniel and Mary Jane Cluck, and had four children.
Joseph Edward Garrett, b March 8, 1876, d March 16, 1961- married
December 12, 1908 to Pearl Lovellette, b May 9, 1882, d July 29, 1977, and had
three children.
Donald Weekly Garrett, b 1877, d in Idaho - date
unknown - married Effie C. Saline, and had one son.
Carlotta Estelle Garrett, b January 10, 1879, d March 14, 1943 - married
February 20, 1901 to Robert Moore, b February 4, 1876, and had two children.
Mae Pearl Garrett, b August 3, 1880, d September
21, 1953 -
married in 1900 to Richard Jackson, b July 5, 1878, d June 17,
1950, and had two children.
Lillie Irene Garrett, b April 1882, d December 1882, and buried in
Stranger Cemetery in Falls County, Texas.
Myrtle Ruby Garrett, b October 10, 1884, d October 19, 1977 - married
1903 to Ernest Conrad Hammond, b February 11, 1881, d April 28, 1954, and had
two sons.
After Mary ("Mollie" Smith) Garrett died, Robert Jasper Garrett was
married second on June 25, 1896 in Brookhaven, Mississippi to the young widow of
William Howell Varnado, b December 22, 1866 in Mississippi, d November 29, 1894
and buried in Stranger Cemetery in Falls County, Texas - Mrs. Lola Angela
(McInnis) Varnado, b March 29, 1871 in Mississippi, d July 18, 1951 in Marlin,
Falls County, Texas and buried in Calvary Cemetery. Jasper and Lola had one
daughter.
Mabel Erma Garrett, b August 4, 1897 - married March 15, 1920 to James
Mortimer Steele, b August 24, 1894, d May 14, 1977, and had two children. In
addition to rearing his thirteen surviving children by his first wife, and his
one child by his second wife, Robert Jasper Garrett also reared the two
daughters of his second wife by her first marriage: Hattie Alma Varnado who
married Jasper's nephew, Edward Guy Garrett; and Lila Rebecca Varnado who
married Edgar Bright Hoover.
Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing the biographies of
these Falls County Families to this Web page.
"Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the Falls County Historical
Commission, page 177 column 2 and page 178 column 1 and 2.
Member of Falls County Historical Commission.
