My Grandmother (Lottie Stephenson) first met Frank Turney when he was working for Carruthers who had bought the Wyatt stable in Sonora.
It happened this way: Drs. A.L. & Lark Taylor had three upstairs rooms in a hotel rented for country women who came in town to wait for the baby to be born. When Mrs. George Trainer came in from Ft. Terrett, she had a little girl, Alice. Lottie’s mother looked after Mrs. Trainer and Lottie looked after Alice, usually downstairs.
One day, she and Alice were looking out the window towards the stable watching Frank handle the horses. He saw them and rode up and began talking to little Alice. Of course, this led to talking with Lottie and their becoming acquainted.
Frank was good at breaking horses to pull buggies or hacks. He broke them for everyone, including a team for lawyer Cornell. He happened to ask Lottie to ride out into the country with him, usually behind a wild and rearing team. It was convenient to have someone to open the gates; at least that was an excuse. Eventually, they “got up a case” and were married in 1900. For a short time Frank owned his own stable in Juno.
Frank’s father, at Whon Texas, offered him 50 acres to come there and raise cotton and crops. Lottie picked cotton with one baby being dragged on the sack and another toddling down the row. All the women worked like this, but she got fed up enough to tell Frank she was going back to Sonora. Seems he too was ready too!
short stories 