Veale family influences

Historic records indicate there were four Veale brothers; Jesse, William Penn, Carol, and Christopher Columbus Veale, who initially lived in Palo Pinto and were well-known as game-hunters, which I have written about previously.

The brothers provided game for the small groups of settlers who were ‘forted up’ along the Clear Fork of the Brazos River, at Fort Davis, Miller’s

Valley, Fort Owl Head, and at Picketville, located on what would become the Gunsolus Creek.

(Originally called Duck Creek)

This would have been the 1850s when Comanche Native Americans raids were prevalent and then into the 1860s during the Civil War when Federal troops were withdrawn to serve in the Union or Confederate armies.

At that point, the settlers were left to ‘fort up’ and defend themselves as

best as they could. Subsequently, a Texas Militia was formed to defend the frontier settlers. The men would serve for two or three months at a time and then were able to go home and another group was rotated in place to defend the frontier.

The men were free to return home to tend to their cattle and horses and their families and help defend their homes. Jesse Veale was killed by Comanche Native Americans on Ioni Creek. His family members were led by William Penn Veale, who settled in the LaCasa Valley area along with his brother Carol, who settled in the Wayland community. Carol’s sons, Will and Ray, established a drug store in Breckenridge, at the corner of Walker St. and Breckenridge Ave., where Foundation Park now stands.

John W. and William C. Veale practiced law with their father, Warren Veale, on Walker St. during the 1870s. There is a sign depicting that establishment in a diorama, in one of the former teller windows, at the Swenson Memorial Museum, “William Veale & Sons, Law, and Land

Office.”

John Veale also served as a Stephens County Clerk in the early years of Stephens County history, established in 1876. He was married to Lucey (Crudgington), from another early pioneer family in Stephens County. She was well-known as the first piano teacher in the county, and one of her earliest students was Lula Adelia Black, who later married Warren Veale.

The Veale and Black children were educated at the Add-Ran College, which was a preparatory school and college located in Thorpe Springs, and later it became Texas Christian University(TCU), located in Fort Worth

Warren Veale was a professed Democrat, a Mason, and a talented lawyer, who passed the bar at age 20.

Lula Black was a suffragette, who campaigned for the rights of women to vote, which finally passed in 1918, in time for the 1920 Presidential Election. Lula (Black) Veale also headed the Stephens County Red Cross efforts, which contributed hand-sewn items for the troops during WWI.

She also taught a Sunday School class at 2 p.m. each Sunday until the beginning of WWII. This class was for the combined church youth of

Stephens County, during the period between WWI and WWII. She lived past 100 years of age and served as a role model for women of Stephens County, which paralleled life in the county from 1876 through 1976 and the centennial celebration of the county, along with the bicentennial celebration of the United States that was 200 years old.

Lula (Black) Veale led the parade celebrating those two simultaneous events. Lula Adelia (Black) Veale wrote an extensive history of her life in Stephens County, who arrived in a covered wagon at the age of three, from Palo Pinto County.

One of her childhood memories was about the saloon located on Walker St., close to the original Stephens County Courthouse, built-in 1883 of plank lumber purchased for $27. The saloon was closed when legislation was passed to outlaw the sale of liquor in the county, in 1886. Historic records indicate that one man attempted to re-open the saloon, but the town’s people quickly took action by pouring his whiskey out in the street.

More next week on the Veale influence in Stephens County history.