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William Yates and his wife Laura Ann and their small
son, Henry arrived in Palo Pinto County very much like most settlers
moving in, in the 1870's, did, by covered wagon, leading a spare horse
or two and driving their cattle. They had lived for a few years
after their marriage in Lamar County where Mr. Yates had been deputy
sheriff, but now it was time to move on for a farming country is no
cattle country, hence the move west, heading for the western plains.
Before arriving at Nelson Springs in Palo Pinto County, where they were
to camp for the night, the young wife became ill, a doctor was called
from Palo Pinto and while preparations were being made to move the
patient to the home of a nearby resident, where better care could be had
than in a camp, she died. It seemed impossible to travel further
with a 10-month-old child under the circumstances, so father and son
stayed in Palo Pinto, boarding with a Mrs. Bonar, who would care for the
child during the day.
In 1880 Yates married Harriet Elizabeth Crowley, who had come to Texas
from Mississippi with her widowed mother, Elizabeth Towers Crowley,
after the Civil War. She had been in the county since 1875.
Their children were Olen, who died in California in 1931; Martha (Mrs.
R. B. Rawls), who lives in Fort Worth; twin daughter, Marie (Mrs. T. J.
Yandell) of O'Donnell and Nan (Mrs. M. S. Lane) of Lubbock, Elizabeth
(Mrs. Morris) of Fort Worth, and Alma (Mrs. James A. Hart) of Mineral
Wells. Twelve grandchildren are also descendants of the couple as
well as 18 great-grandchildren.
He lived in Palo Pinto County, buying land in the western edge of the
county and dealing in cattle, horses and mules until 1903, when he sold
out and moved to Caddo, Stephens County. He retired after his
wife's death in 1917 and moved to Mineral Wells where he died in
1928. His son Henry died in New Mexico in 1938.
A cap and ball pistol which Yates carried while he was deputy sheriff is
in the possession of members of the family. He wore the gun until
the law prohibiting the wearing of "concealed weapons" was
passed and although his life had been repeatedly threatened during his
tenure as an officer, he refused to get a permit to wear it, and laid it
aside. The last man that was "shot" with the pistol was
the late Alex Cardwell of Palo Pinto. He and Olen Yates were
cleaning the guns at the Yates ranch one night when the gun went off
accidentally and he was slightly wounded in the flesh of his leg.
While it was not serious, the boys probably thought of the time as one
of their worst experiences.
Of Huguenot ancestry, the family belonged to the Presbyterian
Church. Their hardships were very much like those of their
neighbors on the frontier.
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