 1903 - 1940 (37 years)
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| Name |
Virginia MATCEK [1, 2, 3] |
| Born |
15 Aug 1903 |
, Washington, Texas, USA  [4] |
| Gender |
Female |
| Name |
Jennie Matcek [5] |
| Name |
Virginia Stewart Crain [6] |
| Died |
31 Dec 1940 |
, Milam, Texas, USA [2] |
| Cause: influenza, childbirth |
 |
Senn, Virginia Matcek
death certificate |
| death certificate |
1 Jan 1941 |
| J G Senn of Buckholts |
| Buried |
1 Jan 1941 |
Rockdale, Milam, Texas, USA |
Address:
Oaklawn Cemetery
Milam County
Milam County, Texas |
| Person ID |
I7714 |
An Armstrong & A Heffernan |
| Last Modified |
20 Mar 2019 |
| Father |
Frank MATCEK, b. Jun 1863, , , , Austria , d. Deceased |
| Mother |
Virginia JACKSON, b. 1 Jan 1879, , , Texas, USA , d. 20 Jan 1925, Rockdale, Milam, Texas, USA (Age 46 years) |
| Married |
1894 [7] |
| Family ID |
F6204 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 2 |
James Jarrell SENN, b. 13 Jan 1910, Holland, Bell, Texas, USA , d. 6 Jul 1952, Austin, Travis, Texas, USA (Age 42 years) |
| Married |
20 May 1940 |
, Milam, Texas, USA [9] |
| Children |
| | 1. Ed SINN, b. 30 Dec 1940, , Milam, Texas, USA , d. 19 Dec 1973, Rockdale, Milam, Texas, USA (Age 32 years) |
|
| Last Modified |
26 Oct 2015 |
| Family ID |
F736 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Notes |
- Her death certificate was signed by J G Senn. I think it's supposed to be J J - James Jarrell (Gerald?) Ed's death certificate says her name was Virginia Browder.
I'm guessing the folks in this account are Virginia, her brothers Willie and Clifton and their great-grandmother, Frances "Fanny" Bonner.
See more information on the flood at
http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/milam/history/pg008.htm
63 Dead In Milam Co., S5,000,000 Damage Bailey Turner And H. C. Sullivan Drowned In Floods
Their House in the Forks of Brushy and San Gabriel Swept Away in Monster Flood of Friday Night . . . Known Dead Now Totals Sixty-three
The known dead in the floods of Milam County from Sept. 8 to Sept. 15, 1921, totaled 63 as follows:
Bailey P. Turner, Rockdale; H. C. Sullivan, Rockdale (Body not recovered) Fred Kennedy, Tutner's farm hand; Grandma Bonner, age 85, at Green Camp unknown white woman found in San Gabriel River below Sheckels bridge Maynard Robinson and F. W. Leatherbury, Santa Fe railway offcials, drowned at the Santa Fe bridge on Little River; Roy Cass, white, son of Elijah Cass of the Liberty Hill community; Hardy Huff, Negro boy, on Bailey Turner place; a Mexican at San Gabriel town; twenty-three Mexicans in Laneport community five Mexicans at the Redville gin on Alligator, two miles from San Gabriel Mrs. M. L. Brown and son, Lee, at the Redville gin, Mrs. Lee Brown rescued from a tree top; eleven Mexicans at San Gabriel town; two white children at the Hogue crossing on Brushy; Negro woman and two children at the Lawrence crossing on Brushy, southwest of Thorndale; five Mexicans on the Minor farm; three Mexicans on the Watt farm....
...One of the most thrilling experiences and narrow escapes from death recorded in the floods was that of "Comrade" Ed. A. Green and the two sons and one daughter of Mrs. Minton Arledge, all of whom were caught at the Green sawmill camp in the San Gabriel bottom below Sheckels bridge. A saddening feature of their experiences was found in the death of the grandmother of the children, Mrs. Bonner, who at the advanced age of 85 years was forced to endure the sickening hardships incident to spending a night in a tree, wet to the skin and so weakened by exposure and fright that it was necessary to bind her to a tree, and who finally succumbed and dropped into the raging torrent, to be swept away.
Mr. Green in relating his experiences said that they were not anticipating any high water, and that the water was two or three feet deep when they discovered it about 2 o'clock Friday night. The rise came so rapidly that there was no chance to get out, and it was only an hour or two until they were forced to climb to the roof of the house. About 3:30 a. m. the water reached its crest and they felt the house begin to give way. A large whiteoak tree extended a convenient branch over the shack, and they all climbed into its branches. Just as he lifted the old lady up to one of her grandsons the house floated off about 60 or 70 feet and lodged against some trees. After daylight dawned Saturday the waters fell and the house seemed to settle on the ground, and in settling the current was so divided as to make swimming possible, so Mr. Green and the young people swam to the house where a more comfortable perch was had on its roof. During Saturday, however, another rise came and the house again became dangerous, so they again took to the trees. Mr. Green swam back and forth to the old lady a number of times, trying to make her more comfortable and cheer her up, but he observed that she was getting much weaker and he bound her to the tree with a blanket. Night came on, and some time during the night the grandmother became delirious, untied herself from the tree, and exclaiming " I am gone," allowed herself to drop into the dark waters. The balance of the party spent their time alternately on the roof and in the trees. Mr. Green climbed to the top of the big whiteoak Saturday morning and attempted to signal for help, but could see no help from any direction.
Mr. Green said that during the early hours of Saturday morning before daylight he heard shots and cries from the Bailey Turner place further on down the river, and he felt sure both Turner and Sullivan, his partner, were drowned shortly after that hour.
Sunday morning about 9 o'clock Buck Hillin and another man came to the Green camp in a small boat. They could only carry two passengers so they took the girl and one of the boys, coming back later for Mr. Green and the other boy. Green said that the relaxation from the nervous strain and sleepless hours was so great that both he and the boy lay down on the roof of the shack, which was two or three inches deep in slimy mud, and went sound asleep, sleeping until Hillin came back. During their thirty-six hour vigil in the trees the party had nothing to eat except a five pound can of sugar, and nothing to drink except the muddy river water.
Hillin carried the rescued party to high ground on the other side of the river and went on looking for others who might be similarly marooned. Two or three hours later a rescue party composed of E. V. (Gene) Marshall, Charley See, Martin Whiteley, Henry Seelke and Harry Moody, in two boats, showed up, and brought the Green party across the river, landing them on the hill this side of the Holtzclaw bridge.
The young folks were named Matcek, the girl's first name being Virginia, and Mr. Green said this girl showed unusual grit and vitality. She kept her brothers awake throughout the long hours of the night, frequently slapping and pinching them into wakefulness when to fall asleep meant death.
Cameron Herald, 15 Sep 1921, pg 7
More Than 100 Lives Lost In Valley Lands of Williamson and Milam Counties In Flood
More than 100 bodies of flood and storm victims in the lowlands along the San Gabriel river in and Milam counties have been recovered, according to the correspondent of the San Antonio Express at Taylor, who telephoned a report. The correspondent telephoned the following: "One hundred and nine bodies have been recovered from flooded lowlands along the San Gabriel river in Williamson and Milam counties as the result of more than 20 inches of rain between last Friday anil Saturday mornings, which caused a rise of 40 feet. Most of the dead are Mexican farm laborers." Lists from different towns and communities are as follows: Thorndale, 45 bodies recovered, Mexicans. Laneport, 23 bodies recovered, Mexicans. San Gabriel, 8 Mexicans. Alligator Creek, 5 Mexicans. Roy Bland farm near Taylor, 1 Mexicans. Elm Grove, 29 Mexicans on Jake Bowers' place seven miles southeast of Taylor. Another dispatch to the Express from Rockdale, Milam county, says: "More than twenty families in the Brazos bottoms between Gause and Valley Junction are reported to have been lost. Five persons are known to have drowned on the Ed Green farm in the San Gabriel bottoms. "More than twenty feet of water rose over the roads in the Brazos bottoms and nothing has been heard from the twenty families living there. "Virtually every bridge in Milam county, both railroad and highway, has been destroyed." Property losses will exceed $1,000,000, the report said. Conditions along the Brazos between Rockdale and Hearne are nil- known. Ed Green, the farmer on whose land several were drowned, was rescued after being in a tree 36 hours. Two white boys and a girl were rescued at the same time. The Taylor correspondent said that the rainfall from 3:30 a. m. of Friday to 1 a. m. Saturday was 21.5 inches, the heaviest in the history of the weather bureau, established at Taylor twenty years ago. All wagon and railroad bridges out of Taylor in every direction are gone. Only one train has run since Saturday night. The property loss in the town of Taylor is estimated at $450,000 to $750,000. No lives were lost in Taylor. The two children drowned in Brushy creek clung to a tree for two days and were drowned just as help was in sight. Their names are not known. W. D. Barfield of the county road force was going to their aid when they became exhausted and fell into the water. Six other children in the vicinity were rescued by Barfield. At Hutto, Williamson county, a tornado, accompanied by heavy rains, struck the negro district. Fifteen dwellings and the negro Baptist church were wrecked.
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| Sources |
- [S557] Texas State Birth Index, Senn, Ed.
Virginia Matcek
- [S275] Death Certificate, Senn, Virginia #56898.
- [S275] Death Certificate, Sinn, Ed #101654.
Virginia Browder
- [S275] Death Certificate, Senn, Virginia #56898.
Aug 15, 1903, Washington County, Texas
- [S101] 1910 Milam, TX, ED 51, pg 5A.
Jennie A Maceh
- [S425] Milam Co, Texas Marriage Book, bk 22 pg 552.
Virginia Stewart Crain
- [S1561] 1900 Washington TX, ED 115, pg 3B.
married 6 years
- [S1249] Texas Marriages, 1837-1973, (FamilySearch.org), pg 387, #4011.
Robert Louis Stewart to Miss Virginia Crain, 26 Oct 1934, Milam County, by Leo Harris, JP.
- [S425] Milam Co, Texas Marriage Book, bk 22 pg 552.
James J Senn to Virginia Stewart Crain
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