  Martha Clark Lankford 26 April 1826 - 31 August 1903 w/o William T. Lankford  The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, September 6, 1903 pg. 4 MRS. MARTHA DEGRAFFENREID Another of the Pioneers Passed Over the Road Aunt Martha Degraffenreid, as she was known to every old settler in the country, died at her home east of Denison, Monday morning, and was laid to rest in the home burial grounds, the Langford [sic] cemetery, Monday afternoon. She had been in poor health for several years, and quite feeble for the past 6 months, and yet the news of her death comes as a shock to her many old friends, few of whom knew of her sickness. Aunt Martha was not given to complaining and the few friends who saw her but the day before her death did not realize the end of the journey was so near, though she told them calmly that the turning in the road where earthly life ends and eternity begins was almost reached. She was reconciled to the great change and faced the inevitable calmly and hopefully saying only, "I want rest." Mrs. DeGraffenreid was among the first settlers of Grayson county, she and her first husband, William Langford [sic], settling on the Langford farm so far back that it was unsafe to leave the house unarmed to attend to the stock or get a supply of fire wood. Many were the thrilling stories she could tell of hair-breadth escapes from the Indians, who at that early day infested all the border counties. In the stern school of pioneer life, the young wife and mother learned well the lessons that guided her later years, and made of her life a noble one in its helpfulness and self sacrifice. The entire pathway of her 78 years is made beautiful by kind acts and unselfish deeds. After her own children had passed to homes of their own, there was never a time that her hospitable roof did not give shelter to one or more orphaned or homeless children, whom she educated and trained in the right, and though the patient hands are folded and the big heart stilled in death, remembrance of her will not soon pass. Nor was the helping hand extended to those only who shared her home, but for miles around, wherever there was sickness or distress, there could Aunt Martha be found counseling, advising, helping, giving of her strength to those less fitted to bear the ills of life; many burdens were lifted, many hearts, encouraged. It cannot be said of her, "The evil men do live after them, the good is interred with their bones" for so long as a single inhabitant of Grayson county survives, will she be revered for her kind and noble deeds. Mrs. DeGraffenreid was 3 times married, first to Wm. Lankford, by whose side she passed through the trying times of the early days in Texas, and by whom she had 4 children, Mrs. Fannie Campbell, and the first wife of Dr. J.L. Jones, and Archibaly and James Lankford, the latter only surviving his mother. She next was married to a Mr. Morris, a widower, from whom she was divorced, not, however before she had gained the lasting love of the step-children. Lastly she married Mr. DeGraffenreid, who died a few years later. For the past 10 years, Mrs. DeGraffenreid has made a summer trip to Oklahoma overland, at first to look after her claim there, later, finding the life so near to Nature's heart, beneficial, she continued to make trips and to visit relatives who had a claim near hers. She was stricken with her last illness while on this trip to the new country, and returned home but a few days before her death. She realized that the journey, marked by so many vicissitudes was drawing to a close, and calmly and patiently awaited the end. Guided by that wisdom, for which she was characteristic, she had long since arranged her affairs, proving for each and all who had claims upon her. With nothing to divide her attention peacefully as a little child, she found that rest for which she had so longed.   Lankford Cemetery Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |