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Descendants of Robert Dukes - June 24, 2003

44. LEONIDAS SHERARD⁵ DUKES (ANDREW JACKSON⁴, ROBERT SHERARD³, ROBERT S.², ..¹) was born 25 Aug 1876 in Mansfield, Tarrant Co, TX, and died 25 Feb 1940 in Fort Worth, Tarrant Co, TX. He married MARGARET ALANZIE HOPSON 30 May 1898 in Mansfield, Tarrant Co, TX by Rev. Tims ³⁵, daughter of JOHN HOPSON and TELITHA BACK. She was born 21 Feb 1878 in Mansfield, Tarrant Co, TX, and died 20 Nov 1914 in Mansfield, Tarrant Co, TX.

Notes for LEONIDAS SHERARD DUKES:
Sources for this family:

Notes of Roberta Dukes Richardson to 1935
Notes of William F. Dukes 60 1983
Tarrant County Marriage Records (orig. certificate)

Lon Dukes studied at Ad-Ran-Jarvis College at Throp Spring, Arkansas in 1893. He was associated with Raleigh Martin as a grocery mercantile broker in Midlothian, Texas in 1898. He sold his interest in the business to his partner in 1901 and moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, where he lived in his father's summer home, Luff, and enjoyed the fisherman's life for a year with his wife and son, Andrew Jackson Dukes II.

In 1903, he moved to Herford, Texas and lived on his father's ranch for 10 years. During this time, he was elected by write-in vote for Constable, but declined to serve.

In 1913, he moved back to Mansfield, Texas to be near his kin and for education of his children. After 1921, he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, to be near Texas Christian University.

Some time after 1924, the family moved to Corpus Christi, where they lived until at least 1935, when they returned to Forth Worth, Texas.
Lon Dukes died of a stroke.

Notes for MARGARET ALANZIE HOPSON:
Maggie Hopson Dukes died of acute appendicitis.

Family records say she was 1/16 Osage Indian and her grandmother was 1st cousin of Daniel Boone. Her grandmother reportedly received many letters from Daniel Boone, two of which were given to A. J. Dukes II. They were stored in the vault at Mansfield Bank at Mansfield, Texas. When Earl Holland, bank president, committed suicide and the bank was found to be short of funds, Dukes looked in the vault box and found the two letters from Daniel Boone missing, as well as a large amount of money.

Maggie won a beauty contest in Mansfield. A vote could be cast by buying $1 worth of groceries. She won an elegant pin-on watch with fancy gold hands and numerals. It was stolen from her closet by a servant.

Children of LEONIDAS DUKES and MARGARET HOPSON are:

88.	i.		ANDREW JACKSON⁶ DUKES, b. 16 Jul 1899, Midlothian, Ellis Co, TX; d. 08 Feb 1984, Ft. Worth, Tarrant Co, TX.
89.	ii.		MATTIE FAYE DUKES, b. 16 May 1904, Dimmit, Castro Co, TX; d. Unknown, Res. Marysville LA 1984; living 1997.

45. ROBERTA DRUSILLA⁵ DUKES (ANDREW JACKSON⁴, ROBERT SHERARD³, ROBERT S.², ..¹) was born 01 Nov 1889 in Mansfield, Tarrant Co, TX, and died 09 Jan 1948 in T. E. Schumpert Sanitarium, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, LA. She married JEWELL MOSER RICHARDSON 23 Sep 1918 in 1st Christian Church; Fort Worth, Tarrant Co, TX, son of JAMES RICHARDSON and MARY MOSER. He was born 21 Apr 1894 in Corinth, Alcorn Co, MS, and died 24 Oct 1969 in Shreveport, Caddo Parish, LA.

Notes for ROBERTA DRUSILLA DUKES:
Roberta Drusilla Dukes, first named "Rodera," was born in 1890, the youngest child of Andrew Jackson Dukes and Martha Virginia Boydstun. Her nearest sibling was her brother, Leonidas "Lon" Sherard Dukes, who was 13 years her elder. Mother was 38 when Rodera was born, and died when she was small.

Roberta was doted on by her Boydstun aunts and led a life of some privilege. When she was very young, the family moved to Lonepine in Mansfield, a large home which had once been a dormatory for a college. The home featured a very large pine tree in the yard. They installed the first bathroom in Mansfield.

From 1899 to 1901, she was educated at Miss Emma Balch's Private School, and from 1902 to 1907 attended the Mansfield Academy, but only September through February. From February through May, she attended Mr. Howard's private School and various rural schools in Flour Bluff Texas near Corpus Christi. The family had a home there, and spent summers enjoying deep sea fishing and other activities.

She said, "Studying was spasmodic with Roberta, due to the urge of her parents to go fishing when ever the weather was suitable. She accompanied her parents in their launch from the 'Sea Side Hotel' to the deep sea fishing grounds, or from their summer home, 'Luff' at Flour Bluff, a fishing village near Corpus Christi. Most of the academic work required of her was from the months of September to February while the family remained in their home, Lonepine at Mansfield...principally in the Mansfield Academy."

Sometime in her childhood, Roberta contracted rheumatic fever, which caused damage to her heart and valves, a condition that would limit her activities the rest of her life.

In 1906, Roberta joined the Christian Church. She stated that the family had belonged to the Christian Church since 1761 (probably her mother's family).

In 1908, she attended music conservatory at Simmons College at Abilene, Texas. The following year, she lived 3 months in New York, NY with a party of students from Polytechnic College in Fort Worth. She traveled on the steamer "Antilles" from New Orleans and studied music and voice under A. Hemphill and Jean DeReske. The group lived near 79th at Riverside Drive in New York.

During the great storm at Galveston, Texas in 1900, when thousands of people were drowned and killed, Roberta and her friend, Frances Ralston, were visiting there, staying in a house near the Galvez hotel. The town at that time had no sea wall, so storms were especially destructive. So many died that there was no time for burials, so bodies were dumped at sea by the hundreds.

They had some notice, and Roberta and her friend, Frances Ralston, busied themselves filling the bathtub and available pots and pans with fresh water. Her father began to worry about her safety in the storm, and as telephone lines were down, went to the train depot and had Mr. Ralston, who was depot agent, wire President Wilson to ask if any ships could land at Galveston. President Wilson wired back that there were battleships offshore, but that they could not land.

A.J. Dukes dispatched his son, Lon, by train to Houston, where he got identification papers to be able to enter Galveston, which was under Marshall law. He met a man there who was the owner of the Galvez newpaper at Galveston, and joined him to meet a boat which was going to Galveston on the bayou. When the boat had reached the Galveston Bay, the water was so rough that they turned back, so they two met it coming back to Houston. They hired a big tug boat for $100 apiece. In the pilot's house, there was barely enough room for the captain, and the two of them, plus the 100 or so other displaced passengers, were forced to make the trip outside, holding on to the iron rails in the storm. They traveled in this manner to the Galveston Bay. On the way, they picked up a party of 21 negroes who had been stranded on an island. One of the men had picked up a pig he found floating in the water and had it under his arm.

The city was under Marshall law, and soldiers immediately questioned them. Lon hired a small boat and he and the publisher first went to the newspaper, pulled up to the 2nd story window, and the publisher went to his building. Then Lon went as far as the boat could get on the streets to Roberta's location. He found her there high and dry, and her building had not been destroyed.

They were able to get a cable back to Mansfield that they were safe. This appeared in the newspaper there. (Story related by A. J. Dukes II, son of Lon Dukes, June 1983.)

She was nearly 30 when she married Jewell Moser Richardson. "Jack" had inquired of his cousin, Minnie Lou Richardson Ball (daughter of David Pearl) about eligible girls in Mansfield, and when her name was mentioned, said, "That old maid?" (Minnie Lou also recalled that Roberta either played or taught piano at the church in Mansfield.)

They were married and led a somewhat itenerate life, moving in 1918 to Prairie View, Texas (near Houston), and then to Plano, Texas, where their son, Jackson, was born. Then in 1919, they moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where they would stay the rest of their lives.

In Shreveport, Roberta and Jack joined Noel Memorial Methodist Church, and Roberta was instrumental in organizing Beta Study Club. She was a city and state officer of the organization. She also helped organize the Delphian Society and held both local and state offices. She was a member of the Tea & Topic Club, Women's Federation of Churches, Missionary Society, Better Homes & Gardens, and the National Doll Club. She was active in PTA and also joined the Pelican Chapter, DAR (National number 280692) on the service of James Boydstun. She was also a member of the Lineage Society.

She doted on her only son, and kept his baby book current until he was an adult and married. She spent many hours making scrapbooks of the family's travels, and even made some for holidays. Roberta was very interested in genealogy and traveled to Virginia and Washington DC in her effort to find information. She planned to write a book on the Boydstuns, but found that Gustine Weaver had written one and instead, wrote a narrative for her family (three books are in my possession -- this is all that remains).

Roberta's death certificate shows she had been in hospital for 2 days when she died of circulatory failure due to acute mitral failure caused by rheumatic heart disease. She also suffered from focal glomerulo nephritis and malignant hypertension. Probably her condition would not have taken her life today. Her attending physician was Henry Gallagher, MD, who delivered her two younger grandchildren and attended to her great grandson, and also her husband when he died in 1972. Informant was Jackson M. Richardson, and all information on the certificate, obtained in November 2000, is accurate.

(Every physician I visit pales in the shadow of Henry Gallagher, who knew his patients and cared about each one of them. He knew his limitations, but was a seasoned family practitioner. I can remember sitting in his office -- where every visit ended, for some discussion -- and looking at the photo of his daughter in her dance costume -- beautiful, lucky Winona to have such a daddy.)

Roberta died intestate, and her estate was probated. An appraisment filed May 13, 1948, in Mansfield, Texas, lists four pieces of property Roberta owned in Texas, being left to her by her father at his death:

1. Lots one to 10, block 44, Mansfield, and improvements $9,500. This was the property where the McKnight home stood that A.J. Dukes traded for Lonepine in order to be "closer to town." Jewell Richardson tore the old house down and built three rental houses on the property.

2. Section 30, block M-7, Castro County, TX $22,960. This is the farm in the Panhandle.

3. Farm, Milton Gregg and Samuel Mitchell Surveys, $7,605. Tarrant County, TX. This is the land south of Fort Worth which was farmed for years by Roy Clack. The city spread, making the land more valuable as commercial real estate. Part of the property was sold by Jackson Richardson many years after he inherited it from his father to Pier One, who maintained a warehouse. Other parts of the property were sold to an individual who defaulted on the payments. The purchaser also failed to pay taxes on the property, and an auction was forced to recover the taxes. There were no takers. In 1999, I am not aware of any further transactions. The property is owned by the county. It is unsuitable for building, as the substrata of the ground is soft.

4. Lot 20, Block 2, Mansfield, TX, and improvements thereon. $2,000 This may be the building and lot on which A.J. Dukes and William S. Poe had a hardware business together. The location indicates that it is either in downtown or close to it. In 1985, the location was occupied by a Western Auto store.

In addition to the land, Roberta possessed a total of $1,939.72, held in banks in Fort Worth and Hereford, Texas, which was her one-half of community property. She also had one-half community interest in one-half equity in 30 registered Hereford cows, two bulls, twenty-six calves, two mares, two geldings, totaling $3,500. In addition, farm equipment valued at $1,500 under the same 1/4 interest. The total of her state was $48,334. From this, the federal government extracted $595.72 in income tax for the last quarter of 1947, and Texas administration consumed $75.

Heirs listed were her husband and son, Jackson. Her husband inherited for life 1/3 of the estate, with Jackson inheriting 2/3. Inheritance tax paid by Jackson was $154.92.

Notes for JEWELL MOSER RICHARDSON:
Cecil Binford, who is a niece of "Jack" Richardson's described him as: "Brown eyes, light brown hair, great kidder and great sense of humor. Very generous but plenty of temper."

Jewel Moser Richardson was the 18th child of James Lafayette and Mary Elizabeth Moser Richardson, born 21 April 1894 in Corinth, Alcorn County, Mississippi. He graduated from Corinth High School in May 1911. He was a telegraph operator for four years with the Illinois Central Railroad and with Iron Mountain Railway and later with the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company. He attended college in 1914-1915 at Chillicothe, Missouri.

In 1916 and 1918, he was in Texas with the Southern Pacific Railway Lines as a telegraph operator and an agent. He was stationed at Mansfield, Texas, 1916-1917, also stationed at Bremond and Prairie View, Texas.

He became a Mason in the Blue Lodge at Mansfield, Texas in 1917; became a Master Mason at Hempstead, Texas, in 1918, and Rose Croix at Houston, Texas, in 1919. 32nd Degree and Shrine at Hella Temple, Dallas, Texas. (MRB note: I remember the Shrine ring my grandfather wore. It had a fairly large diamond and the design around it was worn nearly smooth from wear.)

He was married to Miss Roberta Drusilla Dukes of Mansfield, Texas, in the church parlors of the First Christian Church at Fort Worth, Texas, the Rev. T. Anderson officiating, on 23 September 1918. Witnesses were Andrew Jackson Dukes Jr., nephew of the bride; David P. Richardson, brother of the groom, and Thomas Byrd of Ennis, Texas (assumed to be a friend of Jack's?). (When the Tarrant County, Texas, clerk of court was clearing out old records, they gave original marriage records to the Mansfield Historical Society as well as other societies. Beryl Steele Gibson sent me the original marriage license/certificate for Roberta Dukes and Jack Richardson)

(Letter from Beryl Steele Gibson, Mansfield Texas Historical Society 25 March 1983: "By the way, the church in Fort Worth where your (grandparents were) married is an historic landmark. It has survived every attempt at demolition, and it is a beautiful structure." MRB note: I visited this church a year or two later and photographed the historical marker as well as the church parlor.)

Jewell and wife and infant son, Jackson Moser, 3 months, moved from Plano, Texas to Shreveport, Louisiana in about December of 1919. Jewell's brother, James Solomon, was going blind and needed help in his business.

(Story as related by A. J. Dukes II, son of Lon Dukes, June 1983: "An old boy wanted to get out (of business) before a lawsuit started over advertising and he told Jack, 'For $3,000 I'll sell you my 1/3 interest in this place on credit.' So Jack just bough it. Soon as he started in, another partner wanted to get out, so Jack bought his 1/3 on credit for $3,000. Then the woman who owned the other 1/3, she wanted to get out and she sold her part to Jack for $3,000. So he owned $9,000 for a place that was about to go broke and didn't have any money."

"He went to sell advertising and got a 5 year contract with Cities Service in 5 states and he got a 5 year contract with Sherwin Williams in 5 states and he got a lot of other advertising. He was quite a salesman. He went down to the courthouse and talked them into letting him put up an electric sign there and advertise on the top of the building. He told (a car dealer) that if they'd buy (the advertising) he'd buy a Lincoln and let the sign pay out the payments on the Lincoln. So Jack bought him a new Lincoln every year and let the charges on the sign on top make the payments.

"So he put the (business) over and was making big money, doing pretty good and a fella came and wanted to buy him out and he sold out, seems like it was $125,000, and he and Aunt Roberta took a trip around the world.

"Anyway, Jack signed a contract with them that he'd stay out of the business against them but then he went to selling something else, some kind of advertising, and came up here to Fort Worth and he saw that someone had the idea of leasing the land right at the end of a bridge and putting telephone posts up and raising a sign up. They'd never used that in that part of the country. So he went to work the last year before his (5 year) contract was up and leased the property at the foot of all these bridges, got contracts on them, and then put up his signs. The day his 5 years was up he hired him a crew and went putting up these big signs. B&B saw what he was doing so they rushed out to lease some of these places and found that Jack had them all leased. So they came along and gave him another $25,000 for all his leases. Course he signed another contract that he wouldn't start up a new business again. Well, he didn't but he bought a half interest with Stone and that was Stonerich. Not a new business, just bought into an old one. Down in East Texas from Dallas east, it was East Texas Advertising, and in Oklahoma they had another name of it. He did that so people would think they were doing business with a local company, not some fella up in Shreveport."

He served as secretary/treasurer of B & B Systems, Inc. for several months, becoming sole proprietor in about 1920. In October 1923, he sold the business to Mr. Glen McFaddin & Company. It was an outdoor advertising concern (billboards).

In the summers of 1924 and 1925, the family traveled extensively in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, with Jewell's mother, Mary Elizabeth, accompanying them on the trips. In 1927 and 1928, he was field engineer forthe North American Service Company, an outdoor advertising company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. In May 1929, Stonerich Service Company of Shreveport, Louisiana, was incorporated, with Charles R. "Charlie" Stone as president of the company, and Jewell as secretary/treasurer. The two were equal shareholders in the company. The Texas Service Company, a similar business, was organized in 1931 and merged with Stonerich in 1933.

From February 12 to August 15, 1938, Roberta, Jack and Jackson took a tour around the world, visiting many countries. They embarked aboard the President Harrison around the Atlantic coast line and up the Pacific Coast as far as San Francisco, and then "across the seven seas." They disembarked at Naples, Italy, for a tour of continental Europe. They returned to New York on the SS George Washington. Roberta was hospitalized in New York as a result of her ever-present complications from rheumatic fever.

In the 1950s, Jack retired and his son, Jackson became secretary/treasurer and operator of Stonerich Service Company. Their primary client was Cities Service Oil Company, and they maintained bill boards for the company throughout the south. Cities Service ceased to exist under that name in the 1960s and Jackson himself retired.

Jack enjoyed trips to the Panhandle of Texas both to hunt and oversee the harvest of crops grown on the section of land first owned by Roberta's father, Andrew Jackson Dukes. He stayed in a cabin called "Screwie Louie," but I have forgotten why it was named this. The address was Route 3, Jumbo, Texas. The cabin later burned down. He always sent a telegram for my birthday from this location.

We, as children, called our grandfather, "Cornpone." The story is that Anne, the oldest, called him "grandpa," but as she was young and he was hard of hearing, he said, "Cornpone?!" and the name stuck. We saw Cornpone regularly, and always at Christmas. He always came to the door saying, "Christmas is a-comin' Chillun!" carrying a box of Whitman's Sampler candy and presents for all of us. I don't remember what gifts he made to Mother and Daddy, but each of the children received a $100 savings bond, and Anne and I each received a sterling demitasse spoon. Mine were in Gorham's Strasbourg pattern, and I kept the pattern as an adult.

Cornpone built a house he and Roberta called "The Jewel Box" on a corner lot at 205 Herndon Avenue in Shreveport, Louisiana, and lived there from 1919 until he died in October 1969. He stayed briefly in a nursing home near his home prior to his death. His second wife, Virginia, lived in the home a few years until her death from cancer. The house went to her nephew, or so I was told.

The neighborhood was a fine middle class one, and the schools were good. It was a good place to grow up for Jackson, with plenty of friends nearby. It was close to the church they joined in 1930, Noel Memorial Methodist Church.

Christmases were spent in Corinth, Mississippi, where the huge Richardson family would convene. This occurred until the death of Mary Elizabeth Moser Richardson. After that, the family pretty much went their separate way, with only a few of them in contact. I knew only a few of them, and then by mail only. I'm told that Cornpone, even as a full-grown adult of about 6' tall, would sit on his mother's lap.

My grandmother died when I was small, in January 1948. Cornpone told me that he sat by her grave until the angels took her away. I like to think of them together again in my grandmother's family plot there in Mansfield. I like to think they are young and happy once again.

My memories of the house are spotty, as we spent little time in it. We were uncomfortable around the critical and stern Virginia. The front of the house had a porch with arched eyebrows which led into the living room, a room that was generally forbidden to children. The only recollection I have of the living room is a letter opener which had elephants on the handle, growing from small to large, and windows behind a sofa.

The house was built on a hill, making the back 2 stories and the front only one. On the back of the house was an entry to the basement, where Cornpone and his friends played cards and dominoes. We were allowed there and liked to shuffle the cards with the automatic card shuffler. It always smelled wonderfully of cigar and pipe.

Stairs went up to the second story of the back of the house and led into a porch/room used for relaxing and playing solitaire. Entering the house, there was the kitchen and adjoining that, a breakfast room. I remember eating lunch under the scrutiny of Virginia and being terrified of doing something wrong. I suppose the breakfast room opened to the dining room or living room, but I have no memory of it, nor do I remember seeing bedrooms or a bathroom.

The last time I saw "The Jewel Box" was in about 1995 and its neighborhood had deteriorated. The house was occupied, and in good repair, but was greatly changed. Its beautiful, mature pine trees, under which many an afternoon was spent sitting, drinking coffee, watching the world go by, were gone. I don't think I will return.

Daddy saw Cornpone nearly every day, I think, downtown at the bank and for coffee. Sometimes they met in Daddy's office, which was built as a replica of the Magazine House in Williamsburg, Virginia. I never quite understood what business took them there, but perhaps it was just the visiting. And of course, we saw Cornpone every Sunday at church after Sunday School. We would all meet in the basement of the church where the Men's Bible Class was held. Daddy and Cornpone attended this class (which was also eventually attended by women, too). Mother attended another class.

Smoking was still permitted everywhere in that day -- the 1950s and 1960s, and the room was always blue with smoke -- pipes, cigars, cigarettes -- and the coffee pots emitted their fragrance. I loved the smell of the Men's Bible Class. Cornpone favored light-colored suits, and I remember in particular his having a seersucker suit and wore brown and white wing-tip shoes. Sometimes the shoes were white with little holes all over. He would show me his pocket watch and tell me that there was a bug inside making the ticking sound. He also played games with me with his package of Camels, although I don't remember the game.

I regret not having been able to spend more time with Cornpone to experience the "great sense of humor" described by Cecil Binford.

Towards the end of his life, Cornpone became somewhat senile, and had suffered a back problem. After he was released from the hospital, he came to live for a few months in the office in our back yard. He was happy there, I think. He had a 24 hour nurse and liked sitting on the porch smoking cigarettes and cracking pecans. He would watch Robby playing in the yard. He always seemed glad to see us, and I think he knew us, but was disoriented at times. Our family doctor, Henry Gallagher, came to visit often, even though Virginia had dismissed him.

Virginia was difficult and played havoc with us all. One day, after she had left in a tiff, Cornpone said, "Who was that witch?" He was never as happy with Virginia as with Roberta, but could not bear the loneliness after she died.

Mother always prepared a meal tray for him and took it out back to him. Once he remarked, "I don't know how in the world you run this plantation without any niggers!"

In October 1969, my sister called to tell me Cornpone had fallen in the nursing home and was dead. Daddy drove all night from Canyon, Texas, where they lived, to attend the funeral. Mother's parents had called with the news. Virginia had not bothered.

(SSN 433-18-5563)

Child of ROBERTA DUKES and JEWELL RICHARDSON is:

90.

JACKSON MOSER⁶ RICHARDSON, b. 01 Sep 1919, Plano, Collin Co, TX; d. Unknown, Res Houston, TX 1999.

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