In 1915, J.E. (Jack) Brannen traded his interest in a business in Blum, Hill County, TX, to Albert Nickels for farm land near McAdoo.Two older sons, Earl and Huron farmed the land for one year. Then in September of 1916, the other members of the family left Hill County, by car, to join the boys on the farm. Due to tire trouble, when only a few miles out of Dickens, they camped overnight in Croton Breaks. It was here early on the morning of September 12th, that the mother, Blanche Martin Brannen was killed when a pistol, under a cushion laying on the car seat discharged.
Help came from the Waltrips who lived near the scene of the tragedy. They assisted the family into Dickens. Mrs. Brannen was buried in Dickens Cemetery two days later.
Mr. Brannen lived on the farm for one year then opened a small business in McAdoo near the school. He continued to operate this business, and to serve the community as postmaster, until 1922, when he traded his holdings in Dickens County for property in Lamb and Bailey Counties.
He served as trustee of the McAdoo school, held various offices in the Odd Fellows Lodge and was an IOF Grand Chancellor of the state of Texas at the time of his death.
During the second year of his residence in the McAdoo community his father, Joseph (Joe) Brannen, joined the family, moving from Hill County. He was a native of Alabama, served as a Captain in the Confederate army, moving to Texas in 1866.
In 1867, he planted and harvested the first cotton crop ever grown in Cook county. This was his start toward a new life, following the confiscation, by the Federal Government of 1600 acres of land near Bullock, Alabama.
He bought, sold, traded and farmed land in Cook, Freestone, Gonzales and Hill Counties.
He died in 1918, just before his 98th birthday and is buried in the McAdoo Cemetery.
Earl, oldest son of Jack Brannen was killed in a railway accident in 1923, while employed by the Union Pacific railroad as bookkeeper and pay-roll clerk on a construction job in Utah. He was buried in Dickens cemetery.
Huron married a Dickens county girl Muriel. Huron is now retired from Indian Service. He and his two sons, Wayne and Ed, live in New Mexico.
Grace, an Archaeology and history teacher has just retired after 35 years of teaching. She lives in Aztec, NM.
Vesta, a retired school teacher lives in Aztec where her husband E. G. Johnson, owns and operates a collectors shop.
Lucile also married a Dickens County resident, G.W. McLaughlin of McAdoo. All of her children were born in Dickens County and attended school in McAdoo.
Reid, son of Lucile and G.W. McLaughlin, a graduate of McAdoo high school and University of Texas Law School, is a Corporation Lawyer residing in Baltimore, Maryland. He has one son James Reid.
Louise, also a graduate of McAdoo High School, student of Texas Tech, University of Maryland and University of NM, died in 1952, and is buried in Austin, Texas.
Billie, a graduate of Lubbock High School, holds a Masters Degree in Psychology from New Mexico State College. She did graduate work in school and clinical Psychology at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA. She is now working as school psychologist in the Maryland public school system, lives in Annapolis, Md. She has one daughter Jennifer.
Mae Adell attended University of New Mexico, New Mexico State Teachers College at Las Vegas and graduated from University of Texas School of Journalism. She worked on newspapers in Mission and San Antonio, TX, State Highway Department in Austin and in the Foreign and Exchange Student Division of the Federal Census Bureau in Suitland, Md. She has two children, Bruce and Kim and is now living in Pasadena, TX.
Doris, a graduate of Gradwahl school of technology in St. Louis MO, worked in hospitals and laboratories in St. Louis, MO., Clinton, Bloomington and Indiana Poles, IN. She now lives in Portage, IN, and has four children, Michael, Dennis, Kathy, and Barbara.
Theresa, a graduate of Texas University School of Nursing, is now working in Ypsilanti, MI, where her husband is working on a Masters degree preparatory to entering Public Health Service. They hone one son, Mark.
Anna Mae, daughter of Jack Brannen, married J.R. Lenning and after his death, entered Public Welfare work in NM. She is still engaged in this work in the Farmington area. She has three sons, Bill, Jesse and Ed, all of whom live in NM. She later married Robert Hubbard who lived only a few years after their marriage.
Jack works for Sandia CO., in Albuquerque, NM. His wife teaches in the Public schools there. They have one son Jeff, a student in the University of NM.
Blanche is an employee of NM Welfare Service. She has one daughter Michele, and two sons, Ted Jr. and Mike and lives in Aztec, NM, where her husband, Ted Kerkelis owns and operates a motel.
Sue lives in Center Point, Texas, where her husband R.L. Simon, does a little stock farming. She teaches in Kerrville high school. They have one daughter Myrna.
Marguerite lives near Baird, TX where her husband James Snyder, ranches on a small scale. They have two sons, Bryon and James.
(Written by Lucile McLaughlin)Source: History of Dickens County; Ranches and Rolling Plains, Fred Arrington, ©1971
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