Black Sheep and Scandals

After Inglish shot and killed Pelham Humphries in an argument (see Saturday's blog of 9-7-14), the information gets sketchy and contradictory. Apparently in 1859, Inglish acquired the 4,000 acres of property in a transfer. However, instead of Pelham being the transferring party, the name of William, his brother had been inserted. Yet, according to the family and records back in North Carolina, William never went to Texas. This has caused speculation that Inglish may have forged the land transfer, as well as killed Pelham.

Martha Hamby Greene, Marie, & baby Geneva (my mother)

Some descendant of Pelham Humphries in the North Carolina mountains came across this story, and, in the 1980's, a group got together, called a family meeting, and proposed hiring a lawyer to tap into the funds owed to them from the oil companies spinning off from Spindletop. Rumor had it that some of the oil companies had a trust fund set up for just such a purpose.The possible list of claimants was huge by this time. Since Pelham had no direct descendants, those coming from the branches of cousins, etc. had a claim. Several meetings were held over the next few years. Diligent people worked hard to put together genealogies that would prove their connections.

Clinard Greene's house & family in the early 1900's

My mother's family, the Greenes, were included. From a hard-working relative, I gained a written genealogy, which proved I was related to Pelham Humphries. It also gave me what I considered to be a more interesting bit of information. I am a direct descendant of Israel Boone, Daniel Boone's brother. Can I blame my love of travel and wanderlust on Uncle Daniel? Oh, but that's a story for another day.

Wedding picture of Chilo Greene and Martha Hamby

Nothing ever came of the court case of the current descendants. The crucial events had taken place too long ago. I always thought this would be the case, but I found the family trees, genealogy, and information I found out about my family history much more important.

As a funny footnote, my dad had always pretended to be serious when he joked that he, I, and the Coles were related to Daniel Boone. Well, I was indeed related to the explorer, but it came from Mom's side of my family and not his.