By: Pete Galik as related to him by his mother, Amanda Elizabeth Holland Galik
Editorial Note:
This was written by Pete Galik, 4 November 1998, after readingJon McConal's Fort Worth Star Telegram Column concerning an arm buried in Granbury Cemetery
My Mother, maiden name, Amanda Elizabeth Holland told me this story:
"My half brother, Henry Holland, fell out of a pecan tree and broke his arm
when he was just thirteen years old. He was just a young child and they
amputated his right arm at the wrist, blood poison had set in, gangrene was
what they called it in the old days. Then, just below the elbow and the
last
time they had to cut off right there at the stump (she put her finger on
her
arm over half way up between the elbow and her shoulder). But he didn't
want
any help at rolling a Bull Durham cigarette. He'd hold his paper in his left
hand and tuck it up (the Bull Durham pouch under his right arm pit) and put
that
Bull Durham in there and he'd pull that string (to close the pouch) with his
teeth, he would strike his own match to light his cigarette. He'd lace and
tie
his own shoes and he buttoned all of his own clothes, underwear, shirts and
pants and everything, and I think that's really wonderful. My father bought
him a half moon shaped knife. On the back side of it, on the end of his
knife,
was a five prong fork. He always ate T- bone steaks & did not want anyone
to
help him. He was a pumper for Frisco, the Frisco Railroad Company and
pumped
water for trains, freight and passenger that ran through Granbury, Texas."
He also had a knife with a curved blade, like a half moon, that would fold
up
into a round case that looked like a quarter, he would use it to cut the
ends
off of his cigars.
Amanda tells how Henry died. "He died in a Fort Worth hospital. His wife's
maiden name was Gola Rash, who fried some fish and took it to the hospital.
He
sat on the edge of the bed and ate the fish and fell over backward on the
bed
and died."
Baby grave on left: Infant of J. J. and Margaret Caroline Holland
John J. and Margaret Holland had twins and another baby that died, year
unknown. I do not know who the two baby graves are but I would guess, that
the
twins are buried there.
If you would check out the adult graves, I think that you would find that
Henry's Father, John Jay Snead Holland is resting in the middle grave between his
first wife, Margaret Caroline Tow Holland and his second wife Annie Alabama
Obel Holland. I think that this is unusual.
Mr. Monroe Davis(a city employee who cared for Granbury Cemetery when Jon McConal made his visit) might be surprised to learn that John Jay Holland, among
other things, would dig graves, he made some head stones, and some of the
residents of Granbury would hire him to clean graves for them.
John Jay Snead Holland, William Henry Holland's father, was one of Granbury's early settlers. Snead is the given name of John Jay Snead Holland. He is the son of John
Jay
Holland. I guess they didn't want a JR.
Pete Galik
Middle: Nov. 18, 1895 - Arm of W. H. Holland
Amputated: (the article has Nov. 10 could be, but the year 1975? No way!
Because William Henry Holland was born in 1882)
Right: Infant of J. J. and Margaret Caroline Holland
5851 Larchwood Drive
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70812
GalikP@AOL. com
PLEASE, Stop procrastinating !!! Send biographical notes on your ancestors
to Hood County Genealogical Society:
ancestor@hcnews.com
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