Grayson County TXGenWeb

Ida was born in 1870 in Illinois, the daughter of Anthony Pate and Emma/Evaline Robertson Pate. Anthony Pate, born around 1804 in Tennessee, was a teamster; he was living in St. Clair County, Illinois by the mid-1840s and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, living there 1852 - 1862. By 1862 the family is living in Meredosia, Morgan County, Illinois, which is on the Illinois River.

In October 1875 the Pate family moved to the newly settled town of Denison, Texas. It is believed that Anthony Pate died by June 1876 when his wife purchased a tract of land on PawPaw Creek (which later became 501 S. Armstrong). Anthony & Emma's daughter, Emma Pate Howard Caldwell died in 1892 and soon afterwards, the mother, Emma Pate, died in late February 1893. Within a year, Ida is adjudged insane and taken to the asylum.

The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, February 25, 1894
pg. 4
LOCAL CONDENSATIONS
Friday, February 23 - Ida Pate was adjudge of unsound mind by the county judge yesterday. She was taken to the asylum today.

The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, March 11, 1894
pg. 4
Ida Pate, a girl residing in southwest Denison was escorted to Sherman Tuesday by an officer on a warrant charging her with insanity.

Older daughter, Lizzie Pate McDonald, a widowed seamstress, was hit and killed by a Katy train in September 1905.

The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, September 3, 1905
pg. 1

WOMAN KILLED
Mrs. Lizzie McDonald, a woman aged about forty years, was run over by an M.K. & T. train Thursday morning and received fatal injuries. The accident happened between Hull and Munson streets.
She was found lying by the track by people in the vicinity who brought her to the M.K.&T. branch hospital, where she died shortly before 9 o'clock. Her left leg was crushed and she received internal injuries.
How the woman came in that section of town is unknown. She was never able to give any information. She has resided in Denison many years and was well-known to a certain element. Her husband, Tom McDonald, is dead. She has a son whose whereabouts is unknown.