The story goes that Roy's grandfather, Robert A. Terrell's orchard lay in a direct path of the proposed railroad being built in Kaufman County, Texas. Robert was grateful enough to get rail service he offered the property to the Railroad Company free of charge. The company grateful for Mr. Terrell's attitude built a town nearby and gave it the name of Terrell.
James Robert Terrell and Mary Broyles were married in Terrell and settled in nearby Royse City where Roy was born November 13, 1886.
There were eight children born to the J.R. Terrell family, seven of which grew to maturity: William H., Mae, Ed, Broyles, Roy, Myrtle and Vesta.
The Terrell's spent a few years in Stonewall County struggling with a farm and a limited cattle operation.
In December of 1905, after J.R. had investigated the new settlements on the Plains, the Terrell's moved to Crosby County and settled on a section of land one mile south of the Farmer School house.
At the time of the move, Roy was 18 years old. He enrolled at the Farmer School for his last year of high school.
T. Detwiler was the only teacher for about twenty students from first through high school grades.
Roy bought his first land from his father for $4.00 an acre before he enrolled in Seth Ward Methodist College at Plainview in 1909.
He got a job working with the Demont Nursery, selling fruit trees from farm to farm to pay his living expenses and tuition.
In 1909 he made his rounds in a horse an buggy. Before the 1910 term he bought a "Flying X-Buzzard" Harley-Davidson motorcycle, which was the first cycle registered in Crosby County.
The cycle enabled Roy to cover more territory than he had the previous year. His route covered all the North Texas Plains, including Canyon, Amarillo and Jerico, to name a few. The most profitable territory was Dickens and Motley County. The largest shipment was a railroad car load which was sent to Roaring Springs.
The enterprising adventure with a fruit tree catalogue provided Roy with a college education, a new cycle and twenty-eight head of cattle.
After completing his schooling he lived with his brother, Broyles, in the Robertson community, where they farmed individual farms and built up their individual holdings as well as partnership property.
They were unable to farm all the property by themselves so part of it was rented out on the third and fourths and part on the halves (landholder furnished the teams, tools and blacksmith work and tenant furnished the labor.)
They started their farming operation with four head of bronc mules and a walking sod plow. The gathered their first Kaffir corn crop with a sled rigged with a sharpened saw blade that clipped the maize stalks with either Broyles or Roy's hand tying the stalks together to make bundles. Thus began a lifetime partnership adventure in the agriculture industry on the South Plains.
The Methodists organized a Sunday School in the old Robertson school house and Roy was appointed Sunday School superintendent. His duties brought him in contact with all the members of the community as well as the young lady that would become his wife, Mabel Robertson, daughter of W.M. "Fiddler" Robertson and Olivia Waldrip.
Roy called on Mabel first in a buggy. Later he bought a new motorcycle that had a seat on the side and he called on Mabel on the cycle. She didn't really care for the cycle much but she went along like a good sport.
On October 19, 1916, they were married in the Methodist parsonage in Slaton by Rev. Pipkin.
Mabel had been attending school in Slaton where she was boarding with her sister, Myrtle Forest, who was teaching in the Slaton school. Her brother, Bryant, bought her a light blue crepe wedding dress from a store in Post and she selected a few other things in Bassett's Store at Crosbyton.
Roy sold his cycle to Frank McLaughlin, a Lorenzo banker, and bought a Model T Ford car two days before he was married.
Roy traded Cliff Westerman some cows to build a two room box and strip house where they set up housekeeping and built on to it as their family grew.
The Terrell's have four sons, William Alfred, R.B., Marvin and Allen Ray. The boys attended school in Robertson until 1926 when the Terrell's moved to Lorenzo.
June 14, 1926 Roy accepted the job as city secretary for the town of Lorenzo. He wound up working for thirteen years for the city.
He served six years as county commissioner earlier in life during the time when a person would have to drive to Ralls, Crosbyton then south to get to Kalgary or else go by horseback from Robertson. He engineered the first bridge that crossed the White River between Kalgary and Spur. During this time the county got their mechanized equipment through Roy's road funds. His was the only precinct that had enough funds to pay the freight on some army surplus machinery that was available to the county government. The whole county used the machinery.
Roy served four years on the he county agricultural committee and served as chairman three years out of the four.
"In the days you didn't have to sign an agreement that you would run for a job, they just put your name on a ticket for mayor." The next thing I knew they had my name on the ticket for mayor.
He was elected and served for two years and then four years on the City Council.
The Terrells are now retired and live in a new home in Lorenzo where they have spent most of their days.
Roy is a charter member of the Lorenzo Lions Club and is now an honorary member of the Crippled Children's Camp at Kerrville.
He has been a Mason fifty yeas and he and Mabel have supported Cal Farley's Boys' Ranch for over 35 years.
Mrs. Terrell has been active in WSCS of the Methodist Church and has held almost every office in the organization. She is a past Worthy Matron of the Order of Eastern Star and currently is serving as Chapter Mother in the Idalou O.E.S.
Published in Lorenzo Examiner, date unknown
Once Upon a Plain by Wayne and Sydna Wallace
LORENZO (Special) — Services for Mrs. Mabel Martha Terrell, 76, who died Saturday, will be at 3 p.m. today in the First United Methodist Church here.
Officiating will be the Rev. James Futch, pastor, and the Rev. Bruce Parks, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Denver City.
Burial will be in Lorenzo Cemetery under direction of Carter Funeral Home of Ralls.
Mrs. Terrell moved to the Lorenzo area in 1899, and was married to Roy J. Terrell in Slaton in 1916.
She was a native of Colorado City.
Mrs. Terrell was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Lorenzo, the Order of Eastern Star, and the Crosby County Joy Club.
Survivors include her husband; four sons, Will Alf, Fort Worth, R.B. of Ralls, Marvin of Lorenzo and Allen Rae of Lubbock; a brother, Bryant Robertson of Abilene; two sisters, Mrs. R. E. Parchman of Lorenzo and Mrs. Lee O. Allen of Brownfield; seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
Published in Lubbock Avalanche Journal, September 8, 1974
Record provided by Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum
transcribed by Linda Fox Hughes
LORENZO (Special) — Services for Roy J. Terrell, 96, of Lorenzo will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday in First United Methodist Church here with the Rev. Bruce Parks, district superintendent. Plainview, officiating, assisted by the Rev. Jerry Klaverweiden.
Burial will be in the Lorenzo Cemetery with Masonic graveside services under direction of Carter-Adams Funeral Home of Ralls.
He died at 2 a.m. Sunday in Inez Retirement Center in Lubbock after a lengthy illness.
He was a native of Royce City and was a retired farmer. He married Maybell Martha Robertson Oct. 15, 1916 in Slaton. She died Sept. 7, 1974.
He was a member of the First United Methodist Church.
He was a charter member of the Lorenzo Masonic Lodge No. 1144; a charter member of the Lorenzo Lions Club; a commissioner of Precinct 4 in Crosby County for four years; city secretary for Lorenzo for 13 years; a member of the Lorenzo city alderman for two years; mayor of Lorenzo for a year; and the ASCS committee of Crosby County for five years, serving as chairman for three of those years. He moved to Crosby County in 1898.
Survivors include four sons, Will Alf of Fort Worth, R.B. and Allen Rae both of Lubbock and Marvin of Lorenzo, a sister, Vesta Stansell of Long Beach, Calif.; seven grandchildren; and eight great grandchildren.
Published in Lubbock Avalanche Journal, January 24, 1983
Record provided by Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum
transcribed by Linda Fox Hughes
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