PATRICK HENRY CONAWAY and MARTHA "MATTIE" ELIZABETH ROEBUCK

Submitted by Dianne Blankenstein

PATRICK HENRY CONAWAY was born in Gordon Co., Georgia. He married MARTHA "MATTIE" ELIZABETH ROEBUCK in Rome, Georgia. PATRICK was in the Hardware and Tinsmithing business with his Father-in-law Robert Willis Roebuck. Their place of business was located between two rivers. PATRICK's son Herbert Conaway told that containers of red paint used for painting barns were spilled over the contents of the hardware store during one flood. A couple of floods virtually ruined their business. Since the merchandise was destroyed they decided to give up and move. They left with thousands of dollars owed to them and moved to Grayson County, Texas, probably about 1891. Herbert Conaway said they came on a train from Rome to Chattanooga to Grayson County - he was still nursing a bottle at the time.

PATRICK's son James Monroe Conaway told how they loaded everything even the stove onto covered wagons to bring down to Texas. They first stopped at Whiteright, Texas, but later moved to Tyler, Smith Co., Texas. Here PATRICK's father-in-law, Robert Willis Roebuck, went into the tinsmith business and PATRICK began farming. At one time the Conaway's were Catholics. They were known to follow the Catholic rules of planting-- on Good Friday, etc.