Submitted by

Wanda (Copeland) Anderson

Granddaughter

 

 

 

JOAB JACOB "JOE O." AND LAURA CHRISTINE SCARBOROUGH COPELAND

     JOAB JACOB COPELAND was born in Perry County, Tennessee near Hurricane Creek February 16, in 1847. He was the son of JAMES H. COPELAND AND STACY (ANASTASIA) WEBB COPELAND. When he was about 4, in 1851, his family migrated to Washington County, Texas and later settled in Falls County near the Brazos River. JAMES AND STACY COPELAND had several children that came with the family from Tennessee and it is possible some of their descendants are still in the Central Texas area.

     According to Falls County Records Vol. 1 1870, JOAB first married NANCY J. BURNEY on February 2, 1870. Both she and the child died in childbirth.

     Later he married LAURA CHRISTINE SCARBOROUGH ON January 11,1872 in Falls County, Texas. JOE O. and LAURA had 12 children; Seth b. June 4,1874, Cary b. July 3,1876, Fountain b. September, 17, 1879, Infant son b. August 16, 1878 d. August 17,1878, buried in Jena Cemetery, Florence b. April 1882, Powell b. 1883, James b. March 1884, Edna b. October 1886, Homa b. May 6, 1898 d. February 14, 1900, buried in Jena Cemetery, Joe Hal b. February 10, 1889, Laura Christine b. January 1891, and Floyd Ray b. May 1893. All of these children were born in Falls County, Texas. At some point JOAB became known as JOE O. and we do not know when or why.

     LAURA CHRISTINE was born in Drew County, Arkansas May 2, 1854. Her family is listed in the 1850 census of Drew County, Arkansas her father, OLIVER J. SCARBOROUGH b. 10/4/1826 in Alabama and d. 8/21/1862, Drew County, Arkansas. Her mother was REBECCA HOMES BULL b. 6/18/1826, Pike County, Georgia and d. 12/10/1905 in Falls County, Texas. It was after the death of her husband in Arkansas that REBECCA BULL SCARBOROUGH moved with her children to Falls County, Texas.

     LAURA lived until September 25, 1953 and is buried in Crossroads Cemetery near Pittsburgh, Texas. She had lived there with her daughter EDNA and JIM MARTIN for many years. LAURA had reached the age of 99 years when she passed away.

     JOE O. COPELAND served as a private in Company F, 14th Regiment, Texas Infantry, CSA. His name appears on the regiment roles for the month of April 1864, which shows him sick and left near Rake Pocket on March 20, 1865. No record of enlistment or later service has been found to date.

 

     In September 1887, JOE O. COPELAND was a private in CAPTAIN WILLIAM SCOTT’s Company F of the Frontier Battalion. This battalion originally was organized to fight Indians. Later these units were to maintain law and order and in 1901 the Frontier Battalion was organized by the Texas Legislature as the Texas Ranger Force.

     By trade JOE O. was a cotton ginner and carpenter. He built a boarding/rooming house in Temple, Texas, across the street from Kings Daughter Hospital, that he and LAURA owned and operated. This house was still standing in the early 2000's and is located at 303 South 22nd Street in Temple.

     JOE O. was a Mason, member of the E. M. Wilder Lodge in Falls County, Texas. He was initiated on November 15, 1872 passed on February 20, 1874, and raised on March 28, 1874.

     The date of his death is April 15, 1915 in Temple, Texas. He is buried in Jena Cemetery in Falls County, Texas with his two infant children.