Person:John Wozencraft (2)

1 1993: John B is mentioned in the diary of his father James Lawrence as Johnny on Nov 12 along with Willie & Lee; Lee is presumably his little brother Robert Lee & Willie could be his older brother James Wm. The way they are mentioned makes it sound as though they could be dead but we know that James Wm & John B died much later than 1866. John B is not listed in the 1860 census of Dalton Whitfield Ga but as he was born in December that seems reasonable. It is possible that he was born in 1862 according to the Young Co Tx 1900 census. Perhaps in Morgan Co as was Lee. James L is listed as a railroad conductor in the 1860 census. It is the beginning of the Civil War. 3 years later the family is living in Morgan Co where Lee is born & possibly John in 1862 & 3 to 5 years later his mother has become deathly ill & he loses her in June 1866 just as the war is ending. He has 9 older siblings & 1 younger brother. His father leaves the family while the mother is yet dying saying he is worried about food for his children so we may surmise that they were not well off. His aunt Sarah Jane Wozen- craft may be living with them at Rehobothville Morgan Co & some of his mother's family were evidently nearby in Madison. His father left in June, his mother died in July & they moved to Rome in November. In December his father apparently went on a drinking binge; but he also seems to have been a religious person. In 1869 at the age of 9 Johnny gains a step-mother who is at 34 the widowed mother of 5. In 1870 he is shown living with Diannah Snellings & Diannah Wozencraft in Madison Morgan Co at the age of 9. His whereabouts between then & 1886 in Tx is unknown, but he married Mary Mildred, 10 yrs his senior in 1884. Members of James Wm's family recall his as Big uncle John. There seems to have been somewhat of a mass exodus of Wozencrafts from Ga in the 1880's; James Wm himself dies in Comanche Co. In 1886 John's 1s child is born in Tarrant Co as are the next 3. It is said that he had an uncle Frank Wozencraft who was mayor of Dallas or Ft Worth; however Thomas B has no children listed with Frank in the name, there is Reese Hamden, John Carr Andrew, James Lawrence, Rufus Leonard & Wm Thomas. John's next 2 children are born in Bastrop Co in 1895 & 1898. Accord- ing to the Gaines Co Record he lived in Yoakum Co before arriving in Seminole where he buys approx 1296 acres east of town. However the 1900 census of Young Co shows him & Millie living there having been married for 16 years.The 1910 census confirms their presence in Gaines Co, Millie has been diagnosed with tuberculosis & is dependent on the drugs of the time. John has become an alcoholic, as has the elder son, & the daughters are raising the younger brothers. In 1911, Millie dies,-L being buried by the community as there is no doctor, undertaker or county official. We are indebted to Bonnie Bower Berger for her memories as their in-town neighbor. After Millie's death John sells his ranch & moves to Lenorah, Martin Co in 1915. There he loses his hard earned money in the Crash of 1929, becomes born again in the 1930's & sees 14 grandchildren born. Sources: Betty Franklin, Juanita Graves, Bonnie Berger, Deed of JB Wozencraft et al County of Gaines Tx;tombstone Seminole Tx, "Martin County Tx, It's Land & It's People 1881-1978; newspaper obituary, Tx State Mortality Schedule 1941-1945, The Gaines Co Record, Diary of James Lawrence Wozencraft. July 1996: Per Lou Pettigrew in Ft Worth: James B Wozencraft & Mary M Morrow married 1 July 1883 in Tarrant Co Tx, page 115 Marriage Book.