52 Ancestors 2020 Week 9: Disasters

In April of 1927 there was a Category F5 tornado that hit Rocksprings, Texas with devastating results.  According to the National Weather Service it was a mile wide and traveled between 35 to 65 miles.  The twister killed around 70 people, injured 200 or more, and destroyed all but about 12 of the buildings in town.  To this day it is ranked as the 3rd worst tornado in Texas history since 1900 when keeping records were started.

Grandma Dorothy Buswell later Lomax was 15 years old when the storm hit.  She told about the school program scheduled for later that night but fortunately the townspeople had not started to gather or more deaths would have occurred.  The school was completely destroyed.  The Methodist church across the street from the Buswell home did not fair well plus the pastor and his wife were killed.

Grandad Eric Lomax was 18 years old at the time.  He told about of the fury of the storm and everything falling down around him in the garage where he worked.

Thankfully none of the Buswell or Lomax family members were seriously injured.  However I don't recall where they lived or how they recovered during the long clean up and rebuilding phase of Rocksprings.  I do know that references to their home town were measured as before the storm or after the storm.

52 Ancestors 2020 Week 9 Strong Women

Mally Sutherland Buswell was an extremely strong woman.  In the third quarter of the 19th century she moved to England leaving all her very large family in Scotland.  At some point she met Joseph Emlyn Buswell in Leicester, England.  It is said that he went to America first then followed by Mally.  They married in San Antonio, Texas February 25, 1884.

She and Joseph lived for a time in a tent in Leakey, Texas where she had two children, Alex and Alice.  Joseph was a surveyor during the time of the Real and Edward's counties boundary changes.

After their move to Rocksprings, Texas her husband died at a young age (38) in 1895.  Mally/Mollie at age 41 was left alone as a single mother.  She must have been an excellent money manager because she owned several rental properties in Rockspring that provided her with a living.

There is much more evidence of her strength, some of which I wrote about a few weeks ago under "Fresh Starts", Week 1.

A brave, strong woman indeed.