Stanley-Nolen Family Cemetery

In Garrison Park in South Austin there is a small family cemetery, the Stanley-Nolen Cemetery. I literally stumbled over this cemetery some time back and found out that I was related to the family interred there. When I told another relative about it, he was surprised. The family had been told that the old cemetery had been covered by one of the streets. When I returned recently, I couldn't find the marker I knew was there, it took a couple of trips to see it again. It is located near the pavilion at the rear of the park not far from the softball fields.
Descendants of the Stanley family mentioned here moved to the community of Andice in Williamson County, Texas. I am descended from William James Stanley who died in Andice in 1877.


The following info is copied from the Austin Genealogical Society website. I do believe there are more than two burials in the cemetery. The info itself mentions at least three. I think it likely there are several, but only two are now evident.


This marker information was transcribed by Billie Blackstock. There are only 2 burials in this cemetery. 

The Stanley Nolen Cemetery is the final resting place of two pioneer families and their descendants. Thomas Edward Stanley born in Darlington Co., South Carolina on January 6, 1805 met and married Holland West Galtin in Tennessee and in 1849 the family settled here 5 miles south of Austin.
Holland West Galtin Stanley who is buried here is the daughter of the sister of Nancy Hanks, Abraham Lincoln’s mother.
Jane Stanley only daughter of Holland Stanley married Thomas Warren Nolen who served as Travis counties first Assessor-Collector. The one remaining marker in the cemetery is that of his brother Mace S. Nolen. The Nolen’s played a prominent part in the development of Austin and Travis County. Sidney F. Nolen served as county commissioner 1894 to 1903 and Henry C. Nolen served as city Alderman from the first ward April 1899 to May 1903 both are grandsons of Holland Stanley and nephews of Mace Nolen.

Historical marker

Harry W. Nolen, son of Henry, was city commissioner from April 1923 until the city manager form of government was installed by the city of Austin in 1926. He also served as superintendent of police and public safety and worked to establish the city manager system.


The Stanley Nolen cemetery was acquired by the city of Austin in 1961 as part of a tract purchased from the Stanley heirs for the development of Garrison Park.

Name	Birth	Death
William Thomas Nolen	September 7, 1849	July 28, 1889
M. S. Nolen	March 6, 1822	January 12, 1872

M.S.Nolen

William Thomas Nolen

Finding Hiram Turnbloood

     After a couple of weeks hiatus, for various reasons, I got back to work on a couple of my writing projects.
     I had a couple of ideas to incorporate into my fantasy novel, and I needed to un-scramble my mystery series.
     You see, I've been planning out a series of mysteries set in a fictional Central Texas small town. I have a main character I like and a few possible story lines figured out. Early on I had great fun planning the town, based on my experiences with many different smallish towns over the years. Thinking of likely places of business and town characters has been interesting.
The program SimCity or The Sims might have been helpful for this process, I expect, but the way I was going, I may have gotten totally distracted by that process and forgotten my purpose of actually telling a story.
     So there I was, willy-nilly popping in characters and coming up with suitable names, with an eye on the whole series rather than just one novel. For this project, I'm actively using the free yWriter5 program I've written of previously. I set up one file for the overall series, treating each projected book as if it were one chapter for purposes of making notes and keeping them organized. Another file is set up for the one novel of that series I'm actively working on. The software has the capability of importing data from one file to the other, such as character files, etc.
     After some time of plugging in new ideas for the series, and working on the selected novel, a couple of things became evident. One, the list of characters in the book was digressing a bit from the list for the series. Two, I was losing track of the relationships of main and peripheral characters. Now, one of the telling characteristics of small towns is the appearance that literally all the old-timers are related to each other in some way. Not totally true, but it certainly seems that way.
     I realized as I went along that I couldn't just randomly establish that character A was an uncle to character B, or that C was an ex-wife of D. Before long that would get me into trouble. In fact,  I was already getting there. It wouldn't be so much of an issue in a one shot novel, but as a reader, I value some consistency in a series. Also, at least one of my projected story lines involved genealogy, so I decided I'd better get straight on it from the beginning.
     As I wrote in my blog on genealogy, I use the P.A.F. program from the L.D.S. folks for my genealogy pursuits. They have evolved a different name for it now, but I still think of it with the original name.
     I set up a genealogy file with that program for my townsfolk. I entered all my established characters into PAF. As I proceeded, I worked out ages and generations, who was related to who, and added a few new characters to round it all out. I actually came up with a few surprises for myself. Like "oh yeah, if this person is that one's aunt, that adds this interesting slant!"
     Yesterday I finished working it all out in the genealogy program. I printed out an alphabetized list of everyone (three columns on both sides of one sheet to save paper.) The list had names and birth dates. I went back to my story software, started correlating/adding new characters and filling in ages I now had established, marking them off the printed list as I went. I had to refer back to the genealogy now and then for relationships. "Oh yes, Susan is Claude's wife."
      I had one name left over.
     Hiram Turnblood.
     Who's that?
     I didn't recognize the name. Not a bad name. In fact, an appropriate name for the older generations of  my townsfolk. I just didn't remember who he was supposed to be. I looked in my original character list. Not there. I turned back to the genealogy program that produced the printed list. Hmm, he's not there either. No Turnblood family names, even. Not only is he not connected to anyone I entered, he does not exist in the program that generated the printout. He's there in black and white on the printout, he just doesn't exist anywhere prior to that.
     Hmmm. Okay, I guess he wants to be included. I added him to the story program character list. I don't know who he is, or what his purpose will be, but there he is. You hear writers talk about characters who take over the story, but this is totally out of left field. I wonder who he'll be.
     Maybe he'll be a Norwegian Bachelor Farmer type. (Prairie Home Companion reference, for the uninitiated.) 
     At least in my fictional world there's no shortage of potential jobs.
     Onward!


The Ultimate Writer's Name Book: A Novelist's, Screenwriter's, and Playwrighter's Resource for Naming Characters

Roots in the Texas Soil.

     I was born in a log cabin. Okay, actually I wasn't. I was born in Georgetown Hospital, Georgetown, Texas August 18, 1950. My Texas roots go back 6 generations or more. One line, my mother's Millard line, goes back to Col. Henry B. Millard, who was a Colonel in the Texas Army in the battle of San Jacinto. Other family lines include, of course, Seward, Adams, Tucker, Stanley, Hunt, and a bunch of others. 
     I've been involved in genealogy, tracing family roots, most of my life. My paternal grandmother, Bertha Mildred Adams Seward sort of got me started. She and two of her sisters-in-law put together a small book on the Seward line back in the '50s. I still have a copy of that. Most copies were individually typed, some hektographed or carbons and semi bound into file folders with a hand-drawn copy of a Seward coat-of-arms on the cover. 
     Williamson County, Texas has a very good society, the Williamson County Genealogical Society, that includes many professional researchers and other resources. I was active in the WCGS for several years, as well as the Williamson County Historical Commission.
Genealogy can be a fascinating, and sometimes riveting hobby. A lot of people seem to think that they can go online, or zip down to the library and "look up" their family tree. It is rarely ever that simple. The only time that actually is productive is if someone very close to you has applied for Daughters of the Revolution, or Daughters of the Republic of Texas membership AND has put it on file AND it is actually easily located. 
     It takes a lot of digging, and luck, and talking to relatives and others who are actively researching. A good genealogical software program is of incredible help. You will be able to share files with others if your program has the capability to use .ged files. Also called gedcoms, they are pretty standard with most genealogical software programs. Current programs also have wonderful tools for adding pictures, documenting discoveries and adding notes. Many will even aid you in generating a book of your files. 
     The main program I use is Personal Ancestor File from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is still a very inexpensive program, sometimes free, with a lot of really good bells and whistles. There are lots of others available, including RootsMagic, Brother's Keeper, and on and on. Whatever looks good to you or works the way you want to work is great. I would definitely recommend the PAF, but if you use anything else, be sure it works with the gedcom files. 
     However you feel about the LDS Church, their genealogy files are extensive, and if you are a serious genealogical researcher you will definitely find a lot for you in their library. They are always very generous in sharing as well.
     One imperative for serious research is good record keeping. Start a log and give every letter, interview, email, book citation or other source of info a number as if you were making footnotes. Sometimes in the moment it is easy to forget, or seem trivial, but it certainly makes it so much easier to track down that information you have filed away. Yes, your software will also usually have a provision to annotate information, but that hard copy log will be invaluable. Trust me!
     How does it work? Perhaps you get a letter from Aunt Sally with information on cousins. You open your reference log, see what the next number in sequence is, make a note in the log of Aunt Sally's letter and the gist of the info. Don't forget to write that number on the actual letter where you can see it before you file it away. Then, in the software, where you actually enter the info, use the same reference number. At a later date someone may ask about the information and you can quickly locate the original in your files. You can do the same with emails, gedcom files, books you consult, and so on. 
     It is also very easy online to begin a family website to present your information for others you are related to. I have one at MyFamily.com. If you are family, let me know and I'll add you.
     The book I would suggest any beginning genealogist get would be Emily Croom's "Unpuzzling Your Past". Emily is a fellow Central Texan and her book is an incredibly thorough introduction to genealogy. Enjoy!

Just Who IS this RainCrow?

Somewhere in here I feel the need to introduce myself so anyone who feels the need can find out a bit about me, or not, as you wish.
I've always loved the opening lines of Steve Martin's "The Jerk", but I won't use it here. I grew up outside a very small town in central Texas, raised by my grandparents. We lived over a gas station/garage and I was pumping gas, doing mechanic and general fix-it work, and entertaining myself from an early age. I read a LOT! We also had some livestock, made and sold handcrafts in the store, and gardened. Hunting and fishing was something I enjoyed often. I graduated from Liberty Hill High School after going through eleven of the twelve grades in the same building.
Electronics was my major when I went to Central Texas College in Killeen, but I changed over to Drafting and Design. For forty years I've been a steel detailer for most of the steel fabricators in central Texas. Along the way I've managed to marry, raise three great kids of my own, and three more who became mine. I have also followed my interests into many areas. In no particular order:
For many years I shot muzzle-loading rifles and pistols competitively. I won a few ribbons, nothing major. I hunted with them as well. I no longer hunt, but I still have the guns. I was a licensed gunsmith for a few years as well.
For 22 or so years I played a Texas Ranger in the annual Sam Bass Shootout in Round Rock, Texas. That got me into:
Theater. Starting in 1981 along with the shootouts, I became involved with Sam Bass Theater in Round Rock. I became an actor with that group, as well as playwright and director. After I moved from Round Rock in the mid-90's, I worked with other local groups including San Gabriel Productions in Georgetown, Way Off Broadway in Leander, and founded Liberty Hill Community Theater in Liberty Hill, where I was playwright in residence.
Writing. I have several successful plays to my credit, most co-written with Barbara Stopp Vance. Several others I did on my own. All are published online on www.scribd.com. I have other plays and two novels in the works currently. (And this blog, of course.) After moving back to Liberty Hill in the mid '90s, I became one of the founders, and eventually one of the first elected trustees of the Liberty Hill Public Library.
Five years ago I began making and playing Native American style flutes. I enjoy playing them and I sell one occasionally. I also got into African and Middle Eastern hand drumming. I've always loved musical instruments, and collect them. I never learned to read or took music lessons, but I enjoy fooling around with them. My most recent acquisition was a set of bagpipes I picked up on Ebay for a very good price. They were damaged, the damage has already been repaired, I can't wait to start practicing with them! (Thank goodness we live in the country!)
Last year I took a Permaculture Design Course in Austin. For much of my life I have been into organic gardening, a long time reader of Mother Earth News, and very much in favor of a do-it-yourself lifestyle. The PDC course went a long way toward putting all those pieces together. I am now a Permaculture Designer. I'll say more about that in another post.
Three years or so ago, I found my partner, Cat Dancing, and moved near McDade, Texas. We are soul mates. She is an artist in Intarsia, a type of wood mosaic art, as well as stained glass, jewelry, and other things. (Another eclectic soul.) We put together our own workshop this year. We share many of the same tools, as well as woods. I with my flutes and other projects, and Cat with hers.
Along with my interest in the Native American flutes, and this RainCrow name I have chosen for myself, I am asked often if I am Native American. I do have some Choctaw blood (I believe). Another of my interests has been genealogy. I was a long time member of the Williamson County Genealogical Society as well as the County Historical Commission. My grandmother's grandmother was Native American and Choctaw seems the most likely tribe. We haven't been able to trace that any further. At any rate, I am proud of the connection, but it certainly isn't enough to legally claim!
The Native American and shamanistic view of the universe has always been a part of my life. I was raised in one of the more fundamental Christian sects. I was very active in that church until I was in my 40's, but at heart many of the subsidiary teachings never really sat well with me. There always seemed to be a lot that just didn't add up. Inside myself I had my own views. I always did read a lot, I learned early on that my views were pagan. For the past several years I have been connected with Tejas Web in Austin. It is a very loosely knit group of eclectic pagans of many varieties who do public rituals and classes together. I rank many of these members among my closest friends and even chosen family now. Along with this has come a renewed interest in the Tarot. Cat Dancing, my partner, is a very accomplished Tarot reader and teacher locally, and my studies with her are ongoing.
I have found many good applications of the Tarot to writing, which I am exploring currently.
We just finished a very good season with the new Sherwood Forest Faire near here in Paige, Texas. This was the first year of a brand new renaissance festival here. Cat and I took the plunge and began building our permanent booth there. It was a very successful opening. Next year look us up. Booth 309, Cat Dancing Creations!
That's my tip of the iceberg for this round. All of it will re-appear no doubt in future posts, as well as the million and one things I didn't mention. I plan to share a lot of what I have learned about most of these subjects and whatever else interests me at the time. Stay tuned!