Richard Daniel Haynes Sells 200 Acres of His Land (Area R2)
For some reason, in 1910 Richard D. Haynes sold 200 acres (area R2 on the map below) of the land that he and his wife, Mabel Meredith Haynes, owned at the Haynes place for $4,000, as recorded in Book 16, page 323. The land was sold to William J. Clark, and was located at the southwest end of the 367½ acre tract that Richard D. had inherited from his father, Amos W. Haynes. This left Richard D. and Mabel with only 167½ acres of land (area R) on the river end of the Haynes place (reduced to 166½ acres because of the road easements).
For some reason, in 1910 Richard D. Haynes sold 200 acres (area R2 on the map below) of the land that he and his wife, Mabel Meredith Haynes, owned at the Haynes place for $4,000, as recorded in Book 16, page 323. The land was sold to William J. Clark, and was located at the southwest end of the 367½ acre tract that Richard D. had inherited from his father, Amos W. Haynes. This left Richard D. and Mabel with only 167½ acres of land (area R) on the river end of the Haynes place (reduced to 166½ acres because of the road easements).
Richard D. Haynes Land Within the Amos W. Haynes Estate
The teardrop marker shows the location of the Haynes family cemetery
Richard's sister, Blanche C. Haynes Owens, owned the 402.5 acres in areas (B) and (B2), and their brother-in-law, Michael C Whalen and his children owned most of the remainder of the Haynes place (areas J, O, 3, D, and P) in what was then called the Whalen Ranch. (Mary Julia Haynes Whalen had died in 1895.)
According to Haynes family lore, Richard Daniel was a deadbeat and a gambler, and had to sell this land to pay off gambling debts. We have no actual proof of this, but do have sufficient circumstantial and hearsay evidence to suggest that it may be true. I remember that when I was a boy, I once asked my mother about “Grandpa Haynes” (who had died in 1937, three years before I was born). She briefly replied that he was “no good.” But she probably was just passing on what she had heard, because we know that she and my father were living in Henderson County (East Texas) in 1937, the year that Richard D. died. My mother may have never met him. My father, who wasn’t much of a talker anyway, never told me anything about him. My cousin, Meredith Hoffman Johnson, said that she was told that Grandma Haynes had banished Richard D. to sleep in the barn. The 1910 census and 1920 census do show him living at home with Mabel and their children. The 1930 census shows him living by himself, within the Koop Settlement, well outside the Haynes place, unemployed (but "owns" something), whereas Mabel and the kids are back on the Haynes place, with Mabel shown on the census as a renter. So he may have abandoned his family or been shunned by it, but that was twenty years after he sold this land.
In his defense, it is quite obvious that he was raised without any significant male influence in his life. He never knew his grandfathers. His uncles and his father were all dead by the time Richard was 15 years old. As can be deduced from the divorce petition of his mother, Julia E., she and his father, Amos W., had become estranged about a year after they were married, and Richard was not born until several years later, so it does not appear that he was a "love child." Richard, his mother and two sisters were compelled to live by themselves at the Haynes place, about a quarter mile from where Amos lived with his mother, Celia, and his daughter from his first marriage, Mary Julia. Amos moved the group to Port Lavaca for several years, visiting only occasionally. More than likely, nothing much was expected of Richard as he was growing up so he probably did not develop any farming or ranching skills.
When Amos died in 1891, Blanche was 19 and Richard was 15; both too young to be in charge of their land, so they were effectively in limbo for three years while Mary Julia and Michael Whalen ran things. Amos had given all of the cattle to his third wife Jennie, so the land may have produced little or no income during this wait. When Blanche came “of age” and she and Richard received their half of the land from the Whalens in 1894, she was 22 and Richard was 18. Richard apparently had been living in Corpus Christi with his grandmother, Elena Blossman, and a warrant had to be issued to compel him to attend the court hearing in Edna.
Amos’s will had directed that Richard was not to inherit his share of the land until he was 25, so this began another wait, this time for seven years. But Richard did them one better and did not get around to it until 1906, when he was 30. By then, he was married and had two children (including my father), so the eventual transition to being in charge of his own destiny probably occurred not because he wanted it, but because things were getting crowded with both his family and Blanche’s family living together. They decided to separate into two households and separate housing, so Blanche and her husband built their own house on their land out in the prairie.
Incidentally, in 1911, just one year after Richard sold this 200 acres, his sister Blanche sold 217 acres of her land.
According to Haynes family lore, Richard Daniel was a deadbeat and a gambler, and had to sell this land to pay off gambling debts. We have no actual proof of this, but do have sufficient circumstantial and hearsay evidence to suggest that it may be true. I remember that when I was a boy, I once asked my mother about “Grandpa Haynes” (who had died in 1937, three years before I was born). She briefly replied that he was “no good.” But she probably was just passing on what she had heard, because we know that she and my father were living in Henderson County (East Texas) in 1937, the year that Richard D. died. My mother may have never met him. My father, who wasn’t much of a talker anyway, never told me anything about him. My cousin, Meredith Hoffman Johnson, said that she was told that Grandma Haynes had banished Richard D. to sleep in the barn. The 1910 census and 1920 census do show him living at home with Mabel and their children. The 1930 census shows him living by himself, within the Koop Settlement, well outside the Haynes place, unemployed (but "owns" something), whereas Mabel and the kids are back on the Haynes place, with Mabel shown on the census as a renter. So he may have abandoned his family or been shunned by it, but that was twenty years after he sold this land.
In his defense, it is quite obvious that he was raised without any significant male influence in his life. He never knew his grandfathers. His uncles and his father were all dead by the time Richard was 15 years old. As can be deduced from the divorce petition of his mother, Julia E., she and his father, Amos W., had become estranged about a year after they were married, and Richard was not born until several years later, so it does not appear that he was a "love child." Richard, his mother and two sisters were compelled to live by themselves at the Haynes place, about a quarter mile from where Amos lived with his mother, Celia, and his daughter from his first marriage, Mary Julia. Amos moved the group to Port Lavaca for several years, visiting only occasionally. More than likely, nothing much was expected of Richard as he was growing up so he probably did not develop any farming or ranching skills.
When Amos died in 1891, Blanche was 19 and Richard was 15; both too young to be in charge of their land, so they were effectively in limbo for three years while Mary Julia and Michael Whalen ran things. Amos had given all of the cattle to his third wife Jennie, so the land may have produced little or no income during this wait. When Blanche came “of age” and she and Richard received their half of the land from the Whalens in 1894, she was 22 and Richard was 18. Richard apparently had been living in Corpus Christi with his grandmother, Elena Blossman, and a warrant had to be issued to compel him to attend the court hearing in Edna.
Amos’s will had directed that Richard was not to inherit his share of the land until he was 25, so this began another wait, this time for seven years. But Richard did them one better and did not get around to it until 1906, when he was 30. By then, he was married and had two children (including my father), so the eventual transition to being in charge of his own destiny probably occurred not because he wanted it, but because things were getting crowded with both his family and Blanche’s family living together. They decided to separate into two households and separate housing, so Blanche and her husband built their own house on their land out in the prairie.
Incidentally, in 1911, just one year after Richard sold this 200 acres, his sister Blanche sold 217 acres of her land.