Mary Anne Ramsey Robert Emmet Ramsey
1850-1871 1852-1905
Ella Minerva Ramsey McBurney
William Alexander Ramsey
1854-1935 1856-1920
Clara White Ramsey Alexander Frank Taylor Ramsey
1858-1938
1861-1932
1854-1935
William Alexander Ramsey
1856-1920
William Alexander Ramsey was born on 29 Jul 1856 in
Jackson, Miss. He signed his name either Willie or W. A. Ramsey.
According to the 1870 US census listing, William was 'deaf and
dumb.' One of William's great great granddaughters through his
daughter, Mary Euphina, called 'Euphie,' remembered her
grandmother commenting that both William and his wife Mary,
called Mollie were deaf. None of their children were, but they
all learned to sign to communicate with their parents. In the
1880 US census before his marriage in 1881, William was listed
as a farmer. (For the first time, AM's occupation was noted as
nurseries.) I have several letters written by Willie to his
father and brother. The handwriting is nice, but the grammar is
a bit strange. In a letter he wrote his father in Apr 1895 he
said, "sorry to hear that you was suffered much with your head
and heart disease." He also talked about having to drive his
stock two miles to a creek because his water was nearly out, but
that his "corn and oat look pretty good." In the 1900 census for
Lampasas Co., Tex, he was living with his wife, Mary and
children Euphie, William Murray and Oliver 'Ollie' Frank Ramsey.
He wrote a letter to his brother, FT Ramsey in Jan 1901 in which
he said, "I have not news much to write. My shop still pretty
good." I don't know what shop that refers to or if it
might be a euphemism for his life. In 1909 the family was
living in Zephyr, Brown Co., Tex, like Ella, and tragedy struck.
The infamous Zephyr Cyclone swept through the town and killed
many people including Mollie and Ollie who was only 14. WA later
married Ida Churchill, but they didn't have any children.
William died in 1920.
Clara White Ramsey Alexander
1858-1938
Clara White Ramsey was born on 5 Aug 1858, also in Jackson,
Miss. (FT was the only child born in Texas.) In 1881 she married
William E. Alexander in Burnet Co, Tx. (She had a brother named
William Alexander and she married a William Alexander!) In The
Descendants of William and Ann Taylor, he was described as a
farmer who with Clara and their children, Bessie M, Ella M. and
William D. Alexander, lived in Bertram, Burnet Co., Tex. The
1910 US census for Burnet Co. noted that Clara had given birth
to six children only three of whom survived. I have two
poem/songs Clara wrote, one signed and dated 1877. I also have a
letter she wrote FT in 1896 thanking him for the check he'd sent
her. (In 1895 FT sent documents to all his siblings saying on or
before the death of AM Ramsey, FT Ramsey would pay $200 for
his/her undivided interest in the homestead of their deceased
mother. I assume FT was consolidating and taking full control of
the nursery and its property.) In the 1896 letter Clara said the
check couldn't have come at a more needy time and "if it wasn't
for debts, wouldn't it be nice." She reminded Frank that they
owed him for a cow they'd gotten from AM, that she didn't think
she'd be able to get down to get the organ he must have offered
her nor the bureau that she "could make such good use for in our
bed room this winter that I can think of nothing else but
wanting it." Clara died in Burnet Co., Tx in 1938. I have not
been able to communicate with anyone from her line. Her daughter
Ella married a Mr. Smalley and had a son, Francis J. Smalley who
was the representative for Clara's line with the Ramsey-McBurney
Association and lived in Austin, but I haven't been able to
contact any of his descendants.