The Dixons

He did not come over in 1492, but he did come to American and it was to begin a new way of life. George Dixon was born in England and at an early age was apprenticed to his uncle, supposedly a printer, but apparently a cruel man. Young George vowed, according to the family story, that if he ever saved enough money he was going to America. Apparently he saved enough money, as he came to America during the Civil War years.

In America, George was in Bureau County, Illinois working at a coal mine and went home with a miner friend for the noon meal one day. At the gate of the friend’s home was the friend’s sister, Adah Belle Higby, and apparently it was love at first sight for George and Adah Belle. They were married in 1872. My Grandmother, Drusilla, was one of the children born to this union. Drusilla was born in Elisabethtown, Pensylvania. Drusilla’s three older siblings were born in Springfield, Illinois and her younger siblings were born in Texas. The exact number of children is not known, but Uncle Stanley, one of Grandmother’s brothers says he was the thirteenth child born to George and Adah Belle.

Texas must have been an intriguing name and interesting place, first as part of a foreign nation, then as a Republic and finally as a state of the United States, as many people headed to Texas during the nineteenth century. George Dixon came by a different method than most, but he came to Texas just the same. I remember my grandmother saying she could recall floating down the Ohio River in a flatboat even though she was only about four years old at the time. This family came down the Ohio and the Mississippi to New Orleans. From there they sailed to Galveston. Leaving Galveston with their belongings in a wagon, the family traveled to Old Waverly where they settled for a period of time but because of sickness and concern for malaria decided to move further north. They traveled across land to Anderson County and eventually on to Henderson County.

George loved to travel. He crossed the Atlantic more than once and according to the birth places of his children, he and his family continued to travel until finally settling in Texas. George claimed to have traveled to all the states in the Union.

I guess one could say that sparks flew across the fence as the Gauntts and the Dixons ended up on neighboring farms. How convenient for one Gauntt lad and one Dixon lass who had eyes for each other. The union in marriage of my grandfather, D. T. and grandmother, Drusilla was until death, as they had been married 63 years when my grandfather passed away. There is probably no way to understand the struggles and triumphs they had during those 63 years. Grandpa Gauntt told me many stories about the land that he lived on and about the times in which he lived. Grandmother expressed to me on more than one occasion how many children she lost, how sick some of them were and how many people she had outlived. She was a woman of great faith in God and this faith always guided her through the difficult times.

Thank goodness for the pioneering spirit embedded within the people of this era. Without that pioneering spirit, the land would not have been settled, defended, cleared and worked. But the land was worked, a living was made and the farm that I knew as a youngster came into being.

Genesis 2:18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." … 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.