This is a story about an old couple that showed up in Smithwick when I was just a kid. This story doesn’t involve actual family members. It does include the Smithwick Cemetery and a couple that were a part of … Continue reading Charlie and Minnie Campbell – A Love Story
Back in early 70s Cec had some business to take care of in San Antonio, so he loaded up Bonnie Gay and Nonie and lit out south in Brown Parkers “98” Oldsmobile. With the business out of the way the women folk wanted to go by the Farmer’s Market in downtown San Antonio to get a bunch of fruits and vegetables to take back home. Cec never was much on shopping so he just pulled up on the street and let them out and made the block and parked so he could watch the door for them to come out. … Continue reading Cec and the 3 Card Monte Game
The Faith Family I had always heard of the Faith Family and knew there was a connection with them and Smithwick. Since they were all gone by the time I came along I never knew anything about them.I found this information online. There are references here to them operating a cotton gin in Smithwick and having members of both the Stinnett and Boultinghouse families (both of which I’m related) marrying into that family.It also gives a little insight into the old Jim Cox home that was across the street and where I spent many hours visiting my childhood friend Jim … Continue reading A Cotton Gin In Smithwick
I often talk about all the different cars I drove when I was a kid. I may have shown up to school in a different vehicle just about any day. To say we were in the used car business would be an over statement. Cecil Lewis was an entrepreneur of his own kind back in the day. He dabbled in about anything that made a little money or kept his sons busy. Buying and fixing up used cars was but one of his ventures. In my early days working for Charlie Ulbricht, I watched him do body work out of … Continue reading The Car Business
Kenny and I grew up on the lake and were out on it a lot. We spent a lot of time running up and down Lake Travis in a boat gathering up fish. We weren’t setting out trot lines or dropping hooks in the water either, but that’s a whole other matter we’ll have to get to at another time. I had a little boat that I had bought and had been waiting for Kenny to get in on leave from the Army before I launched it. We put the boat in the water one afternoon at Smithwick. The boat … Continue reading Learning To Water Ski
My grandmother Leona, or Nonie to many people, was the best at remembering everything each of her grandsons ever said. She would always call them Kenny or Ronnie’s sayins. For her they were non stop. I often wondered if everyone … Continue reading Nonie and Her Sayins
If you are thinking about getting married and you both have deep roots in Burnet County, it’s a good idea to look at your genealogy. You never know who your cousins are. In our case my 5th great grandfather and my wife’s 6th great grandfather were one and the same. Of course this isn’t a new discovery, but it’s the first time I’ve diagrammed it out to this degree. Continue reading Looking at our Lineage
I think at 73 years of age, I have finally left a couple of recurring dreams behind. I had these dreams until sometime in the past 10 or 15 years. The first was driving in a car at a high rate of speed between home and town. Home was at Smithwick and town was Marble Falls. Everything would be fine as the car would float along because a turn or dip caused you to let off the gas, but when you topped out at Winn Hill, there was a long curve and a mostly straight stretch down through Mesquite Flats … Continue reading Recurring Dreams
This is a story of one of the greatest car races ever held in Smithwick. His name was Curtis Brown Parker. Brown Parker was how he was known. Brown was the person my Dad looked up to more, maybe than anyone else. Brown was several years older that Cecil Lewis. I believe that Brown help him become a man in more ways than one in his early days in Smithwick, Texas. However in the 1940s Brown and Eula moved to California, the same as a lot of people did during that period of time. Eula was one of the Turkey … Continue reading The Race Was On
Charlie and Minnie were an old couple I’ve written about a lot over the years. They showed up in Smithwick ready to campout down by the river but ended up staying in the Old House, as we called it. This was where my grandparents, Theron & Leona had lived before his passing, and the house where all the Smithwick Lewis Clan had resided for decades. Minnie wasn’t a tidy housekeeper by anyone’s estimation. I guess living in an old farmhouse without a screen door would make it hard to keep things clean. Especially if you had a strong penchant for … Continue reading A Thanksgiving Feast With Charlie & Minnie
Angora Chronicles 