Person:Ebaline Wilson (1)

From http://cindyradway.tripod.com/Erath/eramfield.html

EBALINE RAMFIELD Life and Times of a Remarkable Pioneer Woman

Ebaline Wilson was born 23 December 1830, almost certainly in Nicholas County, Kentucky, as her parents John and Kitty Moore Wilson had married there and lived there many years. Ebaline and Robert Standley were married in Nicholas County on 29 November 1848 by Cummins Brown. Her name on the marriage record and other places was given as Evalina, Evaline, etc. ; in fact one might wonder if this is correct because her aunt, Ebaline Moore Pointer’s name was also spelled Evaline at times. However, she did sign her name as Ebaline Ramfield in her later years, so the spelling Ebaline is probably correct.

Ebaline and her siblings were probably brought up in Nicholas County, Kentucky, among their many relatives. We nowadays think that life was safer in the early days and I'm sure that for the most part it was. However, a story related to me by my Aunt Amy May Giesecke Noonkester does show that this was not always the case. She tells the story,

My mother had told me several times that when her mother -- my Grandmother Ramfield and a little friend, each about seven years old, were walking to town, passing by a large building, a man ran out and grabbed the other little girl. Grandmother ran home. The parents of the little girl never did find her. They never knew what became of their little girl. Mother said in those days there were lots of white slavery.

Family legend says that Ebaline Wilson and Robert Standley were first cousins, their mothers being sisters. I accepted this until I began research and I found no Standleys in Nicholas County where John Wilson and Kitty Moore had married in March 1830 and many of their siblings had married in the county. None had married a Standley. Kitty Moore's mother, Nancy, is thought to have been the daughter of William and Nancy Bowman Stan(d)ley, but this is not verified. There perhaps was a family connection further back on which the story of Ebaline and Robert being kin was based. The name Standley was often spelled without the "d". I have never been able to find any information on who Robert Standley's parents were or the names of any of his siblings.

Robert and Ebaline Standley were my great-grandparents and they are found in the 1850 federal census of Nicholas County, Kentucky, living in the household with Ebaline's parents and several of her siblings. Ebaline's father John Wilson was a blacksmith at the time and 23-year-old Robert evidently worked for him as a laborer. Robert and Ebaline were parents of six month old, Kitty. By the 1860 census, all the families had migrated to Bates County, Missouri, and the Standley family now had five youngsters as one was born in Ohio and seven month old Lydia was born in Missouri. The family had still been in Kentucky when Frank was born in 1852 and John in 1853 but Elizabeth was shown to have been born in Ohio about 1857.

Dezaree Stanley (of an unrelated Stanley as far as I know) was a granddaughter of Lydia Standley Balemon who was the child indicated in the 1860 census as being born in Missouri. Dezaree recounts that she was very young when her grandmother told her the stories about her grandmother's father. Robert had come home for a time from the war but he knew that the Union enemy was coming after him, so he went away into the woods and was never heard from again. His family thought that he had been found and killed or else he would come back home. Her grandmother related stories of their destitute condition during the Civil War. Their corn fields were burned by the Union forces and all the food was the parched corn left on the burned stalks. The Union soldiers also turned out their cows and other livestock. The grandmother Lydia told of only having one single dress and that when Ebaline washed the dress that Lydia was sent to bed while the dress was washed and dried.

Elsie Conner Davis, a granddaughter of Elizabeth Standley Conner, said that her grandmother had said that her father was a sniper in the Confederate Army. The Northern Army was killing the Confederates by the hundreds and that he had hid behind a log under a big tree, had raised up and killed a whole nest of Yankee soldiers. His captain yelled for him to get down but just as he started to duck down he was shot and killed. The story goes on to say that he was buried under the big tree and later a small village of Stanleyville was named in his honor. Evidently if the part about the village is true; the place is long gone and forgotten. I had the State Historical Society of Missouri check gazetteers of that era and they did not find a place by that name.

Elsie Conner Davis related,

My Granny said that after her dad Robert went off to war that her mother Ebaline always kept her rifle with her in case those Yankees came up. One child always carried her gun when she went outside to tend the livestock. On the very time that she left her gun was the day they hit. They burned the house by stuffing papers and rags in the cracks and setting them on fire. They left them no clothes, nor food, and then went out and killed all the hogs, cows, and chickens. They rode all over the garden and fields till nothing was left. So there they were -- no home, no clothing, and no food, but they went to a neighbor’s house and stayed a long time. Granny said there were so many times they didn't have half enough to eat. I gathered by what she said that they were a very prosperous family at the beginning of the war. Granny didn't say how many children were there when the Yankees came -- only that they were luckier than some women. Others treated vilely. Their bodies were violated in the foulest way imaginable.

My grandmother, Bob Ann Standley, was born 7 November 1862. Based on her memory of what others told as she was growing up, she was about 6 or 7 months old when her father was killed. She was renamed "Bob Ann" in tribute to her father. Her original given name is unknown. Following the death of Robert Standley, the widow Ebaline married Major M. L. Evans, a much older man, who lived only a short time. Major Evans was a Confederate officer. Later she married Michael Ramfield on 19 December 1866 in Bates County, Missouri. There was a lot of resentment as he was a former Union soldier and every bit a hardheaded Dutchman. Bob Ann was his favorite step-child as she was the baby and treated him well. He was a good man, hard to understand, very independent, and was caught among Civil War prejudices. The family was told to leave Missouri, either by Northern carpet-baggers or by southern sympathizing neighbors -- which is not known. The Kansas-Missouri border had been the scene of many bloody battle and was Quantrill’s land of the War.

Michael Ramfield was born in Germany in 1827. Some think the name may have formerly been Romfeldt. Living in Missouri for a few years, three children were born to the marriage. A set of twins, Christopher and Christena, were born in 1868 followed by Michael in 1870. The Ramfield family left Missouri in 1874 and came first to Travis County, Texas, then later to Erath County where after a time land was purchased from Henry Miller and they came to live in the Millerville community in southern Erath County. Within a few years, the couple signed a deed whereby two acres of their land was provided as a burying ground to be known as "Mt. Zion Grave Yard". The deed was signed on 26 March 1881 at Duffau, Texas, and tragically Michael Ramfield died 29 May 1881 only two months after the cemetery had been deeded. Other family members had already been buried there as much as two years earlier. Ebaline filed for a widow's pension in July 1882. It was several years before any pension moneys were granted to her. She supported her family by traveling around and serving as a mid-wife delivering babies for which her going rate was $ 3 per delivery. Some people paid her -- others could not even afford that amount of money. She finally was awarded a pension benefit by the U.S. government and began receiving moneys in 1891at to what amounted to be about $12 month including retroactive pension moneys.

Ebaline Ramfield was apparently a very active lady. A letter was written to her family on tablet paper in beautiful handwriting. I have found that punctuation and capitalization were rarely used in these old letters, although the handwriting and spelling was often excellent. Surprisingly, many of the signatures looked just alike.

The letter was written to her son Chris Ramfield and family, as follows,

May 17th, 1900 Hico Texas Box 31

Dear son & family

this leaves all well as common hoping this will find you all well I seen Zack yesterday he told us he had just come from your house they fastened on him yesterday eve to stay at home the smallpox was smuggled as chicken pox at the mineral wells till several had it, it turned out to be smallpox old Bro Rucker his son and step-daughter had it bad Andy went to see them last friday eve he found it smallpox raised the excitement there are several cases has been more than a hundred people exposed to it the Health Doctor was around yesterday swearing all that was exposed to stay at home Emma Taylor was exposed Mary Steele but it has been three weeks since Mary was Me and Dora were going to start to Comanche next Saturday now we are faded Will Rouse was at Ruckers lately he is staying at home to tell the truth we dont know who has been exposed for them Thompsons that brought them here went around when they had scabs on them the worst thing for us Hamilton Co has quarantined against Erath Co, it is a big fine for any person to cross the line I and Mike and Andy started yesterday morning to Hico got to where the Duffau road and Hico road there we found the guards had to stop they had strict orders to let no one pass Andy has had them but he had to stop too. We can go there and send for anything we want you can go there if you will miss Erath you can come back here there is a few in Hico been to the wells they have them sworn at home

I will close for want of paper Write soon

From your mother E. Ramfield

Ebaline Ramfield sold her Erath County place near Millerville in 1900 and bought a farm in Somervell County to be near her sons, Chris and Mike Ramfield. This land adjoined the Blue Hole on the Paluxy River, and she liked to fish there when she was able and the weather permitted. I've heard that they built her a chair on which she could sit and fish. When she was in her 80's she caught a 10 lb. yellow catfish and landed it by herself, but did have to call for help to carry it to the house. Some of her grandchildren remember that she sat on a flat rock at the Blue Hole and fished and smoked her clay pipe. The Blue Hole is part of the Dinosaur State Park today. Those of Ebaline's family that used to play and fish there probably didn't attach any particular significance to the dinosaur tracks which are very visible in dry weather in the river bed when the water level is low.

Ebaline died 16 July 1916 according to her Somervell County death certificate of uterine cancer. She was said to have sewed all her clothes by hand, never using a sewing machine. She had made the dress that she was buried in. She had just made the dress but had not pressed it. Her granddaughter Christena pressed it for her to wear in her burial casket.

She was not taken back to be placed beside her last husband, Michael, perhaps because it would have been over a 40-mile trip in hot weather, perhaps because it was at her request that she be buried at Lanham Mill Cemetery. She had left the graves of two husbands back in Missouri and she had been widowed the last time over 35 years.

Much of my story of this remarkable woman are excerpts from "Ramfields and Kinfolks" as published by Novella May Wilson of Glen Rose in 1980. Novella and I worked together on her book and we provided information back and forth over the years.

I only wish that I would have had the opportunity to have known this great-grandmother whose example of a hardy strong-willed pioneer can not be overstated.

Copyright Marilyn Elizabeth Giesecke Mills Ewers, 1999