Pylant Geneology

Story I heard as I was growing up: The Howard family lived in Paoli, Oklahoma and had two good looking girls. A traveling salesman came through town and started courting one of the girls. He married her and took her to Mexico on their honeymoon trip. When they got to the hotel in Mexico, she overheard her husband selling her into white slavery. She left the hotel and walked the streets until she found a Mason. (Her father was a Mason and had always told the kids that if they ever got into trouble to just find a Mason and he would help them.) The Mason put her on a train and took her back to the family in Paoli.

I never knew who the girl was until I met Fufil Carter Howard (named Fufil because she "fulfilled" her mother's desire to have a girl) in 1979. Fufil was the widow of Bee Bryan Howard, brother of Dock Lushell Howard, and lived in Big Sandy, Texas when I met her. She later moved to Hayti, Missouri to be near her daughter. Fufil's daughter was interested in knowing more about the Howard family so Fufil called cousin Irene in Paoli for information. Irene told her I was working on the family history so that's how we got together.

The first time I visited Fufil we were talking about the family and she said, "Have you ever heard the story about ...." and she repeated the story I had heard when growing up. She told me that the person was great-aunt Beatrice who lived in San Antonio. I had heard mention of Beatrice but had never met her.

Paoli is in Garvin county so I wrote the Garvin county clerk for a copy of Beatrice's marriage license. It shows that Miss Beatrice Howard, age 17, married Mr. George D. Blackwell, age 33, in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma on 23 September 1908. There was no record of a divorce in Garvin county.

When Larry and Nancy lived in San Antonio, every time we'd visit I'd call Beatrice but she was never at home. During a visit in March of 1980 I was determined to find Beatrice so I went to her house. She wasn't at home so I knocked on neighbors' doors until I found one who knew what had happened to Beatrice. Said she was in a nursing home, had cut her arm and it got infected and she had to go to the hospital. Told me that Beatrice's daughter, Faye (Mrs. Max) Steckly, lived in the neighborhood. I looked her up and had an informative visit. I didn't know whether to tell Faye the story about her mother so when she went to the store I told her husband and he said that Faye would be interested in hearing it. Told Faye the story and she said that she had never heard anything about her mother being married to George Blackwell and being taken to Mexico to be sold into white slavery. She told me that if she found any interesting family information when she went through her mother's things she'd let me know. Guess she didn't because I never heard from her.

Faye did provide some information about her mother: Beatrice married Jim Sanders and they lived in Fort Worth where he had a store. After Jim died of pneumonia, Beatrice and her two children, Mildred and Jim, moved to San Antonio where her sister Callie and husband lived. Callie had married Jim Sander's father who ran a store on Vine Street. Beatrice worked in the store and that's where she met Perry Stowe. He was back from World War I and courted her on a motorcycle. Beatrice married Perry Walter Stowe and they were married for 56 years. Nancy Beatrice Howard Blackwell Sanders Stowe died 19 April 1980 in San Antonio at age 88.

James Sanders had a store in Fort Worth for 5 to 7 years. When Jim died of viral pneumonia, Beatrice took the children (Jim and Mildred) to San Antonio where her sister Callie and her husband Turner Sanders (father of Beatrice's deceased husband) ran a store. Beatrice worked in the store (on Vine Street). That's where she met Perry Stowe. He was back from World War I and courted her on a motorcycle.