The Doss Letters - Part 1

C. L. Doss, my great-great grandfather, at the age of fifty-three, moved from Barren County Kentucky to the community of Antioch in Johnson County, Texas to teach in a one-room school. A daughter, Fannie, and her husband Will Hall had previously moved to near-by Cleburne, and his third-oldest daughter Molly accompanied him, to be his assistant. He left behind in Kentucky his wife Elizabeth and two young daughters, Sophia and Alice, until he could earn the money to send for them. A grown son Tommie and the oldest daughter Cora and her husband John Hall also remained in Kentucky.

This letter and three to follow tell a compelling story of preparations for the trip by Elizabeth and the girls, and the events that transpired once they reached Texas.

I have the originals of the following letters from C. L to his wife, barely legible after more than 130 years. The misspellings, brackets, dashes, underlines and dotted underlines are by the author; where the text is unreadable I have inserted ellipses (…).

Johnson County, Texas
May 5th 1878

Ma,
I wrote a little letter last night to Alice, intending to put it in a letter Molly is writing [has commenced writing] but believing that she will never finish hers, at least for weeks, unless urged, and wishing mine to go, I have concluded to write a little more and send Alice's in my own.
I neglected to explain to John and Cora why I hadn't written especially to them. I knew what was written to one would be read by all, and of nights during the continuance of the school, I was too tired to write: besides it hurts my eyes to read or write by means of an artificial light. On Saturdays and Sundays it took all the time I could spend from business and company to write four sides of fool's cap home. I have written home every week since I have been out here except one or two weeks after Will and co. came out here (when I thought you would hear from us through them) and perhaps two (might be three) other times. I have written twice to Aunt Martha and twice to Picketts since I have been out here. One time to Aunt M_ (and one time to Pickett's too, I believe) before the school commenced. Aunt M's second letter has been written since of the close of the school. I have had a great deal of other writing to do; I have had to go to meetings for looks (or policy's) sake whenever there has been any need. To Sunday school several times for the same reasons. For the same reason I have contributed to beggars - preachers at different times to amount $1.00. I don't expect any reward hereafter. I did it grudgingly. One was a poor blind preacher.! The other was a poor afflicted brother wishing to establish a high school at ______ at which the orphans were to be educated "without money and without price!" (For the exclusive benefit of the widows and orphans and he was the only one left!)
Crops are doing very well. Will and John finished planting cotton yesterday. Most persons have been done for some time, yet very many say cotton planted now will do better than that planted earlier. Would you think it, Will has cotton six feet high in his field?
Ma, there are organizing in all this country, vigilante committees, or something of the kind. The proposed object is to put down robbery, theft murder, and evil-doing generally. It is feared that as much evil - nay more - will be produced than stopped by it. The Cleburne paper opposes the organization: yet according to Squire J__ H__, "The best citizens are into it." He is violently opposed to it, but talks only "confidentially." One violently opposed to it, he says, will be considered as belonging to the proscribed class. Capt. McL. thinks the uprising will be productive of good.
Let me hear as soon as practicable what you can do there, and how much money you will be obliged to have.

Pap

In the margin is written:

Jim A - has at last found a good situation and will work till he can get means to come home on.

The people have been laying by corn for a week or ten days. We have been having potatoes, strawberries and the like as long.