Marriage License for Susan Hunter and John Ribble
September 13, 1838

Name:	John Ribble
Home in 1840 (City, County, State):	Posey, Washington, Indiana
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5:	1 Edd (1)
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:	1 John (30)
Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19:	1 Susan (19)
Persons Employed in Agriculture:	1
Free White Persons - Under 20:	2
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:	1
Total Free White Persons:	3
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves:	3

1850 census Red River County, Texas - John Ribble family
Below is a breakdown of the census questions

Name:	John Ribble
Age:	28
Birth Year:	abt 1822
Birthplace:	Kentucky
Home in 1850:	Red River County, Texas
Gender:	Male
Family Number:	242
Household Members:	Name:	Age:
	John Ribble	28
	Susan Ribble	28
	Edward Ribble	11
	Ellen Ribble	9
	Washington Ribble	6
	Elizabeth Ribble	4
	John Ribble	11/12

The 1850 census lists John’s age as 28 when he was actually 39; it gives Susan’s age as 39 when she was actually 28. It looks like their ages were just reversed. John was 11 years older than Susan. With the children it gives Edward’s age as 9 when he was really 11. Ellen’s age is listed as 7 when she was actually 9. Harvey Washington would have been 6, but is listed as 4. It gives Elizabeth’s age as 1 when she was really 4. The way it was written it looks like John, Jr. is 11 when he was really 11 months old, which they should have noted as 11/12ths.

The federal government did an agriculture schedule of all farmers beginning in 1850. John’s schedule survives, although there is not one for his father.
Here are John’s responses:

Agriculture Schedule of all Farmers Beginning in 1850 Red River County, Texas
Improved Acres:	15	Acres
Unimproved Acres:	353	Acres
Cash Value of Farm:	$600
Value of Farm Implements:	$ 51
Horses:	2
Milch Cows:	2
Working Oxen:	2
Other Cattle:	11
Swine:	28
Value of livestock:	$137

Their first child, Edward “Edd” Jefferson Ribble, was born on October 02, 1839 in Washington County, Indiana. They had two more children in Indiana. Ellen Ribble born December 12 1841 and Harvey “Harve” Washington Ribble born January 19, 1844. Between 1844 and 1846 the Ribbles moved to Red River County, Texas. John’s parents and all his siblings moved to Texas.

In any mention of Ellen Ribble she was referred to as “afflicted”. The term afflicted was never defined, but it has always been assumed that she has some kind of mental retardation. She would live with her mother for the rest of her life.

On July 2, 1846, John and Susan welcome their second daughter Elizabeth, who went by Lizzie, and was born in Clarksville, Red River County, Texas. They would have three more children in Clarksville. John Ribble, Jr. was born on July 5, 1849, William “Billy” Alexander Ribble, born April 8, 1851, and Thomas “Tom” Jefferson Ribble, born October 27, 1853.

In 1855 John Ribble brought a consignment of flour to the Brazos [River] Indian Reservation, after this trip he built a cabin home on Rock Creek which became part of Jack County when organized the following year. (Carrie J. Crouch, A History of Young County, Texas pg 263)

John built a double log cabin not for from the Brazos River Indian Reservation (BRIR). He already had 8 children and knew he needed a larger cabin. The land he chose becomes part in the Young, Jack, and Palo Pinto Counties in Texas in 1856 when those county lines are drawn. The log cabin was located in Jack County.

John and his father, Joseph, had a grist mill and were wheel wrights. In 1855, John goes to what is now Young County, Texas toward Ft. Belknap and the newly established Brazos River Indian Reservation (BRIR) with a consignment of flour. The BRIR became home to many tribes that were friendly worked would not harm the settlers.

It is not known if he was planning on moving there or if he made a spur of the moment decision to move there, but have he delivered the flour he looked around for a place where he wanted to build a home. He found a piece of land that was not far from the BRIR on a creek called Rock Creek that flowed in the nearby Brazos River. Looking at the land it was very easy to learn why it was called Rock Creek. It was a very rocky area and had some high cliffs down to the creek and river.

He got his family settled into their new home. Then the next spring he returned to Honey Grove to get his father, Joseph, and move him to Rock Creek. He took his oldest son, age 17, Edward with him. When he arrived he found his father sick with typhoid fever. He helped nurse him and contracted the disease himself. Joseph died  on August 7, 1856, and John died on August 25, 1856. They are buried next to each other in Vineyard Grove Cemetery outside Honey Grove.

Joseph Rible (Ribble) and John Rible (Ribble)'s headstones, which are next to each other in Vineyard Grove Cemetery close to Honey Grove, Texas in Fannin County. It is thought that John's mother, Catherine's gravesite is close to Joseph's. No marker just a pile of rocks.

Edward’s aunts and uncles thought he was too young to drive the wagon back himself. His uncle, Dr. Gambill, Susan’s husband, drove him back to his mother on Rock Creek. It took several weeks before Susan Hunter Ribble found out what happened to her husband.

Susan, a new widow, with 8 children from 15 years old to a few months old, and one having an “affliction” decided to stay there and not return to Honey Grove or to her father in Indiana. Elizabeth King Hunter passed away in 1851 and her 74 year old father, Edward C Hunter, had remarried and they had a newborn child. Susan Hunter Ribble decided to stay in the new home on Rock Creek.

The log cabin was in the middle of nowhere, close to an Indian reservation and being in an area where Indians living in Oklahoma or Commanches at the other reservation 60 or so miles away, would come down and massacre or burn out white people or kidnap them. Rightfully so, some of the Native Americans were mad at the way they were being handled.

The fear of Indian raids was one of her son, Bill’s most vivid memories of his childhood days. Several times Susan fled with her children to temporary homes elsewhere, and finally moved temporarily to Parker County. On Rock Creek and the Brazos River by their home were very high rugged cliffs. Below the cliffs close to the water there would be some areas that looked like caves where the rocks jutted out. Many times Susanna would take all her children to the cave like areas and hide from the Indians. Bill would tell a story about how they had to stay extremely quiet and they could see sand and rocks falling into the creek from where the Indians were moving around on top of the cliffs above them. It was hard to explain to Ellen and the babies why they needed to be quiet and still.

Some of the Indian tribes were friendly, however, and Bill recalled many interesting and some amusing incidents. There was a Caddo Indian on the Brazos River Indian Reservation known as “Scabnose John” because he always had a patch on his nose. One cold day Scabnose, who had been indulging in “firewater”, rode up to the Ribble home. He rode up to the chimney and said, “Fire, fire”, whereupon Harvey Ribble invited him to come into the house and warm. When he came in the boys noticed that the Indian had the hiccoughs, but that was soon cured. Pulling a butcher knife from his belt, Scabnose strode over to the fireplace, cut a piece off a coal of fire, tossed it in his mouth and chewed it up. It stopped his hiccoughs. Soon he mounted his horse and rode away, without bothering anything.

One Sunday, Susan took the children to Caddo Village within the BRIR, at the spot known as Gilmore Springs. A man named Church was in charge of the Indians there. He lived in a log cabin, about which were grouped wigwams of the Indians. When the Ribbles arrived at the village, the Indians were all sitting under a brush arbor. With them was a Comanche squaw, who had been captured during a fight between the Caddoes and Comanches a few days previously. She made no effort to escape. After dinner the visitors walked down to the bank of the river, which was full of Indian children. The children, that were too small to swim, were dipped up and down in the water by the squaws.

Most of the Indian women wore clothing similar to that worn by white women, as the government furnished calico for their dresses. In the winter they wore buckskin leggings.

On one occasion four squaws made a visit to the Ribble home. One of them had a buckskin string, ornamented with silver disc, hanging from her braid of hair. The silver pieces were of various sizes, the largest being about the size of a silver dollar. She also had silver rings in her ears. By signs she indicated that she wanted to give her red handkerchief to the baby in Mrs. Ribble’s arms, and tied it around the baby’s head. The Indians could not speak English, so they just conversed with each other. They were with a group camped on the creek for fishing, about 200 yards from the house.

Living was never easy for the residents of this sparsely settled country, and ingenuity was often used to provide variety in their food. In 1857, Bill went with his older brother Harvey for a load of watermelon which their mother boiled down to make molasses. They got the melons at the home of Jack Flint in Sand Valley, where Pickwick is now located. Since this time Possum Kingdom Lake has been built and Pickwick is now at the bottom of the lake. After they moved temporarily to Parker County, their mother often boiled wheat, which they ate with molasses.

The Ribble family stayed at Rock Creek during that summer and fall, but because of increasing danger from the Indians, moved to Parker County in December 1859, just before Christmas. When the Civil War started the three older boys, Edd, Harve, and John went to the army.

Name:	Susan (Hunter Ribble) Cross
Age:	28
Birth Year:	abt 1821
Gender:	Female
Birth Place:	Indiana
Home in 1860:	Jack County, Texas
Post Office:	Salt Hill
Dwelling Number:	607
Family Number:	615
Household Members:	Name:	Age:
	J.H. Cross	48
	Susan (Ribble) Cross	38
	Jacob Cross	2/12
	Edward Ribble	21
	Washington Ribble	16
	John Ribble	11
	William Ribble	9
	Thomas Ribble	6
	James Ribble	4
	Ellen Ribble	18
	Elizabeth Ribble	14
	Ansue Russell	42
	William D Clingan	26
	Jonathan M White	27

Two years after her husband’s death, Susan Hunter Ribble had married Jacob Cross, but they separated soon after moving to Parker County. In 1862, Cross went back to Jack County and, against the wishes of his wife, traded their cattle for horses, making a deal with Charlie Goodnight and Alf Lane. He took the horses to Parker County, and then drove them to Denton County to winter in Big Elm bottom. The following spring, in 1863, the horses ran off and were taken by the Indians.

With the older brothers away in the war, 12-year-old Bill Ribble was the “man of the family” and his mother depended on him for aid in her struggle to provide for her little family. During that trying period the friendship of “Uncle Johnnie” Parker, a cousin of Cynthia Ann Parker, meant much to the family. He had settled on land owned by the Leon County school district, building good houses, and when he moved to a place 15 miles below Ft. Worth, he had Susan and her children move into one of his houses. A man employed by Leon County officials brought suit for possession soon afterward, and 12-year-old Bill was sent to Denton County to get Jacob Cross. He made the trip alone, riding a little roan horse.

In 1864 Harve Ribble got sick and came home from the war. That summer he went with his mother and Bill to their old home at Rock Creek to try to locate some of their missing horses. While there they stayed with some neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Alf Ross. The following year Mr. Ross and his oldest son Ike, and his brother in law, Sid Hightower, were killed by Indians who swooped down upon them while they were working in a truck patch near their home.

Around Christmas of 1865, someone raped Ellen and she became pregnant. On August 18, 1866, she gave birth to a daughter, Alice Elizabeth Ribble. Susan helped her raise the child. Alice married Jefferson Davis Matthews and Ellen lived with her mother the rest of her life.

Sometime between 1866 and 1870, a rabid dog bit her son, John. He suffered a long time with rabies. Eventually, his brothers had to tie him to a four-post bed, a different limb for each post, to protect him and others from his aggressive behavior. Most of the time, he was delirious and not sure what was going on around him. When he had lucid moments he would beg his brothers to shoot him. None of them could bring themselves to kill him, although he was suffering greatly and they knew it. He finally died on March 6, 1870. They lived in Parker County close to the border of Hood County. John was buried in Long Creek Cemetery, which is in Hood County, but the closest cemetery to where his family lived.

The 1870 census was done a few months after John died.

Susan's oldest child, Edward Jefferson Ribble's, wife, Mary Frances Susan Baker Ribble died on May 18, 1971. She had 9 children the oldest was about 9 and the youngest two were twins about 4 weeks old.

In a letter dated June 11, 1871, from John N. S. Baker to his aunt and uncle, he discusses the death of Mary Ribble. "Sister Mary departed this life on the 18th of May leaving two little babes four weeks old. Mother has them, one is a boy and the other a girl. She has two of the other children and the old lady Ribble has the other four." The following is a copy of the first twp pages of the original letter and below that is a transcription of the letter.

 

In January of 1875 while they were living in Parker County, another rabid dog bit James, age 19, and his nephew, William Byla Ribble, age 4, one of Edd Ribble's sons. The story goes that James saw Byla in trouble with the dog heading toward him. James tried to rescue Byla but both were bitten, however, James was able to shoot the dog so he didn't bite anyone else. Byla died quickly, but James lingered for hours. He died after about 15 hours of suffering.

Edd’s second wife, Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Holly Ribble, died on April 19, 1888, after having 9 children the next to were twins born on April 18, 1888. Edd had 18 children.

The picture below was taken sometime in the 1890. Harve died in 1900.

back row l to r: Horace Ribble, next 3 men unnamed sons of either E.J. Ribble, or H.W. Ribble, Eddie (W.A. Ribble's son)
seated row l to r: Jake Cross, Thomas Jefferson Ribble (little boy unknown), Susan Hunter Ribble (Cross) the mother of everyone seated plus Lizzie, Harvey Washington Ribble, Ellen Ribble, Edward Jefferson Ribble, and William Alexander Ribble. Standing between Susan and Harvey is Elizabeth "Lizzie" Ribble.

Susan's sons John and James, who died young, and Tom, are buried in Long Creek Cemetery in Hood County. Harve died in 1900 and is buried in Van Zandt County. Susan, Ellen, Edd, Lizzie, and Bill, are buried at Gooseneck. Jake Cross is buried at the Hawkins Chapel Cemetery in Loving, Texas.

The 1900 census shows Susan and Ellen living next door to her youngest son, Jake Cross, and family.