Email From Gary Aden to Gary Aden 
Email Dated 6/6/2001 

      "BJ" or "Bud" or "Mr. Allen" as he was known to everyone outside
the family stated that  he was a farm laborer on the 1900 census and a
Foreman of a Road Gang on the 1910 census. His daughters patronized him
with a drenching sounding "Daddy" and I just called the elderly rotund
jolly fellow I knew "Granpa." He was the only Allen in my line
Providence would allow me to know and also the last Allen surname in our
pedigree line as his only son and male heir, Beverly Joseph Earl Allen,
died February  5, 1909 having been born September 5, 1908. Another
infant, Avaline(4/21/1904- 1/21/1905) also died in infancy. His first
wife, Maggie Douglas YOUNG Allen, daughter of John Albert Young and
Margaret Inez HUN(t)SUCKER Young and also the seventh child in her
family, died in 1917 at the age of 37 from "tuberculosis of the lungs"
from which she suffered eighteen months prior to death. In the course of
her terminal illness, she was nursed by Oma Lee Benedict(9/6/1892
Henderson County, Texas- 6/28/1966 Fort Worth Tarrant County, Texas)
whom he married March 18, 1918 as his second wife. The cause of death
contradicts the daughter's explanation that their mother died  of
"Spanish Flu" of World War I(the outbreak of the pandemic was not until
September of 1918). Whether it was the stigma  of tuberculosis or the
fact that they were misinformed is unknown. The Young family were quite
prominent in the Colony, Texas area where  John Young had a general
store and was quite generous to all in need. The family donated the land
for the Colony Episcopal Methodist Church in 1876. In 1994, The Texas
Historical Commission dedicated a Marker at the site just off State
Highway 94 at the site recognizing the pioneering contributions of the
early citizens of Colony, naming John Albert and his wife, Margaret, in
particular. John Albert's service as a Pvt., Co. G, 2nd Louisiana
Infantry provides a foundation for successful application for membership
in the United Daughters of the Confederacy for those in our line who may
be interested. John Albert's old world roots remain unknown. Margaret's
old world roots probably are Swiss and her family ties to early
settlement in the Moore County, North Carolina area are well-
documented. An ongoing mystery is the identification of the father of
both her and her brother, Archibald. Read more about the interesting
aspects of both the YOUNG and HUNSUCKER twigs in those sections. 

      My grandfather's main adult occupation was with the Fort Worth Gas
and Utility Company from which he was retired by the time I spent much
time with him. In retirement, he had several rental houses and a small
farm near Mineral Well, Texas. He lived far below his means in a rundown
frame house with no air conditioning in North Fort Worth with numerous
old rusted car parts dotting the landscape. He boasted of his obvious
health and well-being which he attributed to bountiful quantities of
cow's milk which he consumed during waking hours. His daughters would
cater to his every need if they were around and extolled his
occupational capabilities claiming he once was a photographer and that
he considered becoming a doctor. In retrospect, much of the interaction
between his daughters and him was designed to irritate their stepmother
on their part, but she always seemed unfazed by it. Perhaps, it was the
presence of her mother in the household as well- a very kind and giving
woman- that kept tempers cool while they were growing up, but their
animosity, openly expressed when they were out of earshot, was fairly
intense. When Grandfather died, the disputes erupted into legal quarrels
in spite of a rather well-constructed legally enforceable will.

Grandfather's terminal event was  coronary thrombosis driving back to
Fort Worth from his farm. I don't think his daughters ever forgave me
for not being able to attend his funeral because I  was deeply involved
in a medical internship. It had been shortly after receiving my MD that
the old man's respect shone through in his eyes. Up to then, I don't
think he ever thought I would excel because (1) I once dropped the reins
when I was supposed to be holding a horse my little brother was sitting
(2) I exercised adolescent curiosity and went to the seediest sections
of Fort Worth not knowing he was trailing me and visualizing moral decay
(3) I developed a serious orthopedic problem which he was the first to
notice which caused me to have a very noticable limp (4) I was the
product of a son-in-law who had the "nerve" to take a Texas girl out of
Texas. 

     The daughters, "Minnie", age 15, "Maybell", age 11, and "Bobbie",
age 7, when their mother died bonded tight against the world and their
stepmother. All married men who would eventually use alcohol  for
stress, relaxation and celebration. These men nonetheless were
self-supporting genteel men with conventional values. They all shared
the daughters' perception and evaluation of the stepmother, but would
openly criticize their father's-in-law niggardly contribution to their
education and to his own  grandchildren's Xmas and B-Day gifting. Of
course, this intrusion from outside critics  would then lead to quarrels
with their defending him. And Minnie's husband, Gaylord, the most
intrepid of the lot, resented the old man's Saturday morning visits to
Minnie, who essentially ran their sign company business while he partied
at the Colonial Club, for the purpose of sympathizing with her
complaints of vicitimization at the hands of her alcoholic husband(who
blamed his drinking on her nagging), etc.. 

      Grandfather and I spent a lot of time together, but he never spoke
of anything of substance- his family, his father, his mother, his
brothers, his children, my family, what he believed in- nothing!

Gary Carl Aden 6/5/01