Warren Ferris’s son Henry was blind the last twenty years of his life. He loved playing the fiddle and entertained his family with Irish jigs and gospel music. Several of his children also played musical instruments. After dinner they would clear the table and sit around it enjoying some homegrown music.
Photo 1 Henry Ferris (1855-1940)
Henry was one of the middle children of Warren A. and Frances Ferris. Born in Dallas on the Ferris homestead, Henry married Sarah Frances “Fanny” Smith in Houston around 1875. They had one child when they moved to Falls County to join an enclave of relatives living in the Brazos River Valley. Henry was very close to his sister Mary Catherine “Kate” Dozier whose family were tenant farmers near Perry, TX. (See earlier profile “From the Brazos Bottoms”) This cluster of kinfolk included the Dozier, Munos, Ferris, and Rutledge families who intermarried.
Cotton, the major crop for sharecroppers, was moving to West Texas where dry-land cotton farming methods successfully increased production.The Ferris family joined this migration westward. First, they moved to Knox County where Henry’s wife died in 1925 and was buried in the Truscott, TX cemetery. Then Henry followed his adult children to Spur, TX in nearby Dickens County. His daughter Alice, a widow with 2 children, married her cousin George Wilburn Rutledge in Falls County in 1907. Wilburn was the son of Henry’s sister Louisa “Lula” Ferris. It was Wilburn Rutledge who led the move to Spur; he was 35 years old. Henry was 73 and blind. With them were Henry’s grown children, Carl Dallas Ferris, Carl’s wife Stella McAnally, members of the McAnally family and Henry’s married daughter Minnie Ferris Jackson with her family.
Photo 2 Lena, Ethel, and Ruby Jackson, Henry Ferris, and William J. McAnally
Spur was a booming town in the 1920’s with two hotels and four movie houses. The Ferris kids went to school in Spur but the family lived on farms outside town, changing locations often to get better land or housing. They supplemented their income by doing carpentry or stonemasonry. During the Depression when cotton prices fell, the Ferrises moved to town. Carl D. worked on building a new football field and a small stone house for the coach. He also built and repaired barns to support his large family of twelve children. Carl’s sister Alice, married to Wilburn Rutledge, had seven children plus those from her first marriage. She was called “little grandma” in the family as she was less than 5 feet tall. A housing shortage in Spur after WWII forced them to live in tents for a time. (Spur is known today for its Tiny Houses).
Jones Football Stadium - Spur, TX
Tiny House in Spur, TX
Henry Ferris was a great storyteller who entertained his grandchildren with tales of his father Warren Ferris and being chased by Indians on the Texas frontier. He was haunted by nightmares about an Indian encounter that occurred when he was twelve years old. There must be truth in the tale to have made such an impact on him. Henry and his father made a wagon trip from Dallas to get supplies. The year was 1867; frontier forts were abandoned by federal troops during the Civil War so the Comanches were emboldened. According to Henry, they were tracked and attacked by Indians, lost their wagon and supplies, and limped back to Dallas on foot. This frightening brush with death dogged Henry the rest of his life, causing him to imagine Indians hidden in the grass. His grandchildren grew up hearing of Warren Ferris who they called “Granddaddy” Ferris.
“Aunt Kate” Dozier remained close to her brother Henry over the years. She visited him in Spur and later in Rotan, TX where he lived with Carl. It appears that Kate was the glue that held the Ferris siblings together. Despite distance and the difficulty of travel, Kate visited Henry a couple of times a year. She also stayed in contact with other family members. Although they scattered across Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, the children of Warren Ferris stayed in touch and helped one another when they could.
“Aunt Kate” Ferris Dozier
Note on back of her photo
Janelle Ferris Berry (1931- ) of Fort Worth, TX and her daughter Kathy Tull who lives next door were the source of many stories about Henry Ferris and his descendants. Janelle is the daughter of Carl Dallas Ferris (1891-1979). Although she has had two strokes, Janelle was able to relate her family memories and furnish some old photos. She related how her father built their home one room at a time. First he would add a porch and then turn it into a room. After several such additions, his wife Stella declared “no more porches.”
Janelle Ferris Berry, granddaughter of Henry Ferris (1931-)
Kathy Berry Tull, daughter of Janelle Ferris Berry, retired from Terrant Co. Sheriff's Dept
Back in 1998, when Land Is the Cry! was published, I included a brief family tree in the Appendix and I stated that Henry Ferris had “no issue”. Janelle Ferris Berry was quick to notify me that that was untrue - Henry had four children and many grandchildren. I am grateful to have the opportunity to correct my error, thank Janelle for notifying me, and say hello to Henry’s descendants, many of whom live in the Fort Worth area.
Susanne Starling