CHAPTER XIII
In 1855 Volney Cavitt married the eldest daughter of Col. Wm. Craine
Sparks and his second wife; Jane Alexander, Clara Jane Sparks. He took
her home from the wedding in Nagogdoches where she had been born and
where she grew up, to his ranch six miles north east of Wheelock. In
this home the children of this son of Ann and Andrew Cavitt were born.
Back to this place the children loved to come for gathering pecans,
helping look after the cattle and generally revisiting the scenes of
their childhood after they had moved into Wheelock to Grandmother Ann's
big house when she was 80 and needed Vol's help and the company of the
dignified and beloved Clara Jane. The oldest daughter, Cora, was eleven
when pa moved them all to the house on State Street. Grandma was still
active, still erect, still quite her old self except the work about the
place had now got to be more than her years could stand even with the
help of fine and faithful servants.
So it was in 1880 the Volney Cavitt family moved full force into the big
house to which the Clan had come on that long ago day when I had first
met the interesting and forceful people with whom I had aligned myself
for life when I had become the wife of Volney and Clara Jane Sparks
Cavitt's grandson. To this enchanting house each Cavitt occassionally
returned with some dream, some fond remembrances, a wish to recapture
the raptures of childhood in the fine old home built by that sturdy
little woman, Ann Cavet Cavitt....through whose family all the Cavetts
and Cavitts can find kinship.
There had been thirteen Volney Cavitt children. Unfortunately they, like
the Josephus Cavitts, had lost children in early youth or infancy. The
tradition of seven sons repeats itself in this family as it had so often
before in the families of the Clan. Their names reflect the heritage of
beloved names persistently kept alive throughout generations: Sheridan
Alexander, was born in 1858; James Volney, 1860; Belvedere Brocks; 1864;
William Sparks, 1865; Joseph Franklin, 1867; Andrew Sidney, 1871; Samuel
Earl, 1884.
Besides seeing to his farming and ranching interests at his Rumford
Ranch, after he moved to the Wheelock home in 1880, Volney Cavitt was
most often seen at his desk that had been a gift from Gen. Sam Houston
to Vol's mother. Cora Cavitt, daughter of Vol and granddaughter of Ann
Cavett Cavitt, said that the children asked no questions and did not
know what Pa's business was but that she recollected seeing men coming
and conversing earnestly with her father and leaving, often carrying
heavy packages... like saddle bags loaded with silver.
If anyone were in trouble, wanted to establish a new business, or needed
money for a cattle drive before a bank was started at Wheelock, he could
see Vol Cavitt, private banker having connections with the old Farmers
and Stockman's Bank of Waco, Texas. This bank was absorbed by The First
National Bank and all the correspondence from Volney Cavitt was burned
in 1928 according to an official of the present bank.
Vol Cavitt lent money to people of Robertson County during the 1800's.
Among these doing business with him were Jesse Sumpter McLendon and his
brother, Charles H. McLendon who wished to go into business at Millican
in 1865. Jesse Sumpter McLendon married Miss Sally Proctor. Their
children were: Sam, George, Lets, Ab, Hugh and Ralph, possibly related
to Waco families of today.
Dr. Cameron who was a constant companion of the men of the Cavitt
family, came from Scotland and built across the street from the Cavitt
House, later in the history of Wheelock, Texas, there was a rivalry
between the children of the two families. Vol's oldest son, Sheridan
Alexander, called Bud, never wanted the Cameron slaves to best
--
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The most beautiful things in the world cannot be
seen or touched. It must be felt with the heart.
Helen Keller
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Wishes, Wants, and Dreams....a few poetic illusions
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...It is in silence where music lies...
Yanni
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One ought, everyday, to hear a song, read a fine poem,
and, if possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
Goethe
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