Hough, Louisa

Louisa Hough Gieger Evans

Cousin Nalois, asked me to go to Jefferson, Texas, and look for the gravesite of our great-great Grandmother, Louisa. My dad, who died in 1984, had said that she was buried there. (Where he got the information is not presently known.) Sometime in November, I contacted the funeral homes in Jefferson, regarding the records of Oakwood Cemetery. I was told that, indeed the records of burials in Marion County, Texas, did show a person by her name, but the site was not recorded, therefore, the grave is unmarked, and probably un-locatable. In December, I went to Oakwood and walked over the section, finding nothing.

Grandmother Louisa (Hough) (Gieger) Evans was born on 28 February 1831, in Mississippi, the third-child of Zeno and Charlotte (Watts) Hough. Hough is pronounced to rhyme with "rough." The Zeno Hough family started housekeeping in Wayne County, Mississippi, but lived in both Caddo Parish and Livingston Parish of Louisiana, moving back to Jasper County, Mississippi, and finally settling in Smith County. Grandmother Louisa married my great-great Grandfather, Rev. Samuel Gieger, a Baptist minister, in 1850-51, presumedly in Smith County. Gieger is pronounced to rhyme with "bigger." They apparently itinerated among rural Mississippi churches in Jasper, Smith, and Wayne Counties, and probably into Louisiana, as well. Records have not been found to establish their exact whereabouts, except that my great Grandfather. Abraham Martin Gieger, was born in Smith County on 17 November 1851. Other children, Christopher Columbus in 1854, Jesse in 1857, Mary Calsie in 1863, and Cyrenius Zeno in 1866, were all born in Louisiana.

We do not know where Grandfather Samuel died or was buried, however, it was sometime before 13 July 1870, date of the U.S. Census. Widowed Grandmother Louisa was living in Colfax, Grant Parish, Louisiana, when she married a Charles Evans on 15 July 1871 in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. At that time, he had children: James N. Evans, born in 1857; Eliza L. Evans born in 1861: Edward N. Evans born in 1864; Charles F. Evans born in 1866 and John T. Evans born in 1868 all of which are unaccounted for. Another couple, George and Nancy Evans (relationship unknown) were keeping house for him in Colfax. Sometime before June of 1872. the Charles Evans' came to Shelby County, Texas, with my great Grandparents' A.M. and SarahAnn, their two daughters, Mary Blanche and Charlotte Vashti, and Uncle Jesse, Aunt Calsie, and Uncle Cy. Christopher Columbus Gieger is unaccounted for after the 1870 U.S. Census. They farmed on land that they were to pay for out of the first crop, but the land was so poor that the crop failed. In June of 1872, Grandmother Louisa and Charles Evans had a son, whom they named George Something unexplained happened, and Grandpa A.M., moved on to Goolesboro (now, Talco), in Titus County, Texas. Just when Uncle Jesse, Aunt Calsie, and Uncle Cy joined him is not clearly established, but Aunt Calsie, who was married and living in Hamlin, Texas, in 1903 related that she had walked to Goolesboro, carrying all her possessions after they took her baby brother away. I know that they stopped in Jefferson, Texas, for a short period, but moved on to Goolesboro before J.R. Gieger was born on 21 June 1876. Why they all didn't go to Titus County is a mystery. Family tradition says that Grandmother Louisa died, and Mr. Evans returned to Louisiana with his young son, George. This is erroneous, because widowed Grandmother Louisa is listed on the 1880 U.S. Census, as a servant in the home of the John Readhimer family in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a seven year-old son who was born in Texas. Apparently, the Evans returned to Louisiana, and Charles Evans died sometime before 1880, at some place presently unidentified. In order to support herself and young George, Grandmother Louisa went to work for the Readhimers. Since we do not know that she could read or write, it may have been the only work available for a decent woman of her age.

We do not know what happened between the move to Titus County and 16 July 1903, when she died at Jefferson. Young George is listed on the 1900 US Census as a boarder in the home of a Burton Lindsey in Natchitoches Parish Ward 1, and married on the 1910 Census with a wife, Mary, and a daughter, Smithy.

Apparently young George moved out on his own before the 1900 census, after which, let us suppose, Grandmother Louisa decided to go to Titus County to visit her older children. She may have been sick, or knew that she was dying, and wanted to see them for the last time. If some estrangement existed, she may have wanted to straighten it out. Besides, Grandpa A.M. Gieger was her elder child, therefore, it is probable that a special bond existed between mother and son. She died in July 1903, and was buried in Jefferson. By 1903, Grandpa A.M. Gieger was a prosperous farmer, and she had numerous grand-children, most of whom she may have never seen. I think that she was on her way there when she died. From the location of the cemetery section (near the railroad & unmarked), I would guess that she did not have much money. I would also guess that she died suddenly, and alone. All kinds of disease could be contracted, and without the benefit of antibiotics, most were fatal. She may have had cholera or typhoid. She also may have had consumption, which was rampant in that time. Both Aunt Blanche and Aunt Vashti had congestive heart problems, and she would have been 72 years old. Whether or not Grandpa A.M. Gieger knew of her death before she was buried I don't know, but I doubt it. There were no telephones, and Mail was slow. I believe that if he had known, he would have provided for her, or brought her to Goolesboro, even though it would have taken 5-6 days round-trip by wagon. Albeit the railroad went from Jefferson to Mt. Pleasant, the P & MP Railroad did not come to Talco until around 1912-13. I know that Aunt Blanche knew, but she was never one to talk about someone. Equally strange is the fact that family archives contain no correspondence which mentions any of this. If in fact, the person buried in Oakwood is our Grandmother Louisa, we will join in the perpetual-care fund, plus place a marker for her grave.

I have contacted every Evans family in Natchitoches, descendants of the Readhimer family, the respected genealogist, Dr. Granville Hough, and numerous others, without success. I will correspond with Evans, Hough, Lindsey, Readhimer, or Gieger descendants with roots throughout Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. I want to find out about Grandmother Louisa and her two husband's, Rev. Samuel Gieger, and Mr. Charles Evans.

G.A. Gieger, PO Box 40471, Everman, TX 76140, (817) 478-2302, (giegerg@hotmail.com)
(Printed by Southern Genealogist Exchange Quarterly, Vol.34,No.145, March1993, and Nachitoches Genealogical and Historical Association, Fall-1993. Edited and updated - July 1997.
*** Permission to reprint in total is hereby conveyed, provided credit for authorship is cited.