Texas Family Secrets Page: 8 of 212
[4], 206 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.View a full description of this book.
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The winner of numerous Gold Star awards for her stories,
Eleanor Monroe was born in Pawnee Rock, Kansas, but grew
up in Liberty, Missouri, where her father's family had resided
forfour generations. She attended the University of Missouri's
School of Journalism. She and her husband, Dr. Stanley Monroe,
moved to Sherman in 1948. They have five children, twelve
grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Pictured also is
the subject of her story, Arminta Jane Burris, with a youthful
Eleanor Monroe beside her.
1. ARMINTA JANE
by Eleanor Monroe
The young woman whose picture was in our family album
smiled at me from out of the past. The soft curve of her mouth
and the gentle look in her eyes gave no hint of the stem, critical
woman I remembered as my great-grandmother.
"Don't bother her," Mama would caution me when I was a
small child.
Ma Burrus, as I knew her, had suffered a stroke that paralyzed
her left side, and she lived with my grandmother, one of
her five daughters. Early on, I learned to give her wheelchair a
wide berth. If I came within her reach, she gave my head a
thump with her silver thimble. Was it because I misbehavedor
was it because my mother was a Yankee from Kansas? Ma
Burrus had no use for Yankees.
She was too old and I was too young for us to communicate;
and when she died, my childhood memories were of a strict and
prejudiced woman. Then, as an adult, I learned my greatgrandmother's
story.
In the days when Ma Burrus was young and she was called
Arminta Jane, she lived on a farm near Blue Springs, Missouri.
Her parents, Samuel and Eliza Kimberlin, had brought their family
of five boys and three girls from Kentucky to Western Missouri
in 1854. Here, the grassy, rolling hills provided good grazing
for livestock, and the fertile soil produced bountiful crops.
3
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Texas Family Secrets (Book)
Collection of stories by forty local writers describing family histories and anecdotes in the Grayson County, Texas area. Each story is preceded by a brief biographical sketch of the author.
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Lincecum, Jerry Bryan & Redshaw, Peggy A. Texas Family Secrets, book, 1997; Sherman, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20209/m1/8/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin College.