Thomas Abraham Teague, my Great-Great Grandfather

Thomas A Teague was quite a colorful man. He was born in Pulaski, Missouri on Dec. 22, 1836. He grew up in the Ozarks, moving from Missouri to Arkansas in 1850 when he was 14. His mother died not long after the family moved to Arkansas.

Tom moved to Denton, Texas around 1860, when he as 24 years old. A beauty named Phalby Chism Pierce caught his eye and the two of them were married later that year. They welcomed a baby boy, John Bolter Teague, into the world on June 2, 1861. 

Sadly, the Civil War reached them in Texas and Tom was drafted to fight for the Confederate Army. He joined the Texas 15th Regiment as a Private in 1862. As the war raged on Tom found himself with an unorganized group of men on August 25, 1863, in Smith County, Tenn. The Union soldiers captured all of them and Tom was a prisoner of war until 1865 when he decided to enlist in the Union Army. He was 27 years old when his name shows up under the Union Soldiers Service Records, serving with the Sixteenth Calvary of New York.  

Phalby and his son John moved to be closer to Tom. We know this because on July 14, 1865, in Newton County, Missouri, Phalby gave birth to a baby girl whom they named Phalby Jane Pierce.

When the war ended Tom returned with his family in Travis Co. Texas.  Phalby and Tom made a good life for themselves in the beautiful hill country of central Texas. His daughter Marion, son James and daughter America were all born in and around the Austin, Texas area.

As the story goes Tom lived hard and played hard. One night he got into a fight in a local saloon and ended up breaking the other man's neck. Although witnesses said that it was a fair fight, Tom heard that a lynching might be in store for him. He was not going to take any chances to he fled all the way to Globe, Arizona where he went by the name of Tom Rose for a while.  His family joined him in Globe where they lived and eventually had families of their own. 


Phalby died at age 84 on May 31, 1921, as a result of 'Injury to Spine and Fracture of Neck and Left Femur. The Death Certificate does not say how these injuries occurred, possibly a Motor Vehicle Accident. Tom died on December 9, 1925, at the age of 91 of 'Natural Causes, Old Age.' 

They are both said to be buried at Fort Thomas in Arizona. There is no gravestone for either.

Thomas A Teague Draft Registration 

Tom's Confederate Record and his Union Record

Taken Prisoner by the Union Army, August 25, 1863

Fort Thomas, Arizona where Tom and Phalby are said to be buried.

This story and the facts/fiction of it has been told with this Scots Irish woman's way of always making a story a little more interesting for the telling of it. Most of the sources found to add interesting details of Tom and Phalby's life can be found by doing a search for their names on the internet. Ancestry has a lot of the information and the photos that were uploaded by other family members of these two interesting characters.  The information about Fort Thomas is from Wikipedia.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about Thomas and Phalby. 

Three Generations of intricate Family Tree

Suffering

My friend Mary...Beautiful Soul

A few months ago my very best soul sister since high school days commented to me that she feels sad for all the suffering that I have had in my life. She said that she doesn't have suffering in her life. I reminded her that she did have suffering, the loss of her husband in 2001 and she has recently lost a son. The loss of the Love of her life and the loss of her child. To me that is great suffering.

What is suffering? Why does it come into our lives? Why is it that some people seem to have more suffering than others?

The definition of suffering is:
1. to undergo or feel pain or distress
2. to sustain injury, disadvantage, or loss
3. to endure pain, disability, death, etc., patiently or willingly
4. to undergo, be subjected to, or endure (pain, distress, injury, loss, or anything unpleasant)
5. to undergo or experience (any action, process, or condition)
6. to tolerate or allow

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

I have had a life filled with circumstances that brought suffering in the forefront, although I have never thought about these times as 'suffering.' I have just accepted what comes into my life as a lesson to learn from. I don't get stuck in the suffering either, because I believe that even if I don't get the lesson at the time, I will, in thought and retrospection, see the lesson at another point in time.

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
― Rumi

I have found that the above quote from Rumi is so very true. At the moment of great suffering (being wounded) is the moment when the Light enters in and there is peace in that moment. There are lessons to be learned, there is a divine revelation that cannot come in times of joy or complacency, I would not trade those times for anything in the world., for my soul craves the intimacy with the Light more than anything else in the world.

What may be considered great suffering by one person may not be as drastic to another. We each have our own perceptions of what suffering is. To one, another's life may be so filled with sufferings that we cannot fathom how they live through it all. To another, life's sufferings may appear as one or two periods of pain in their life. Yet, if we were to walk in their shoes, we could see the purpose for their sufferings and understand that each one has what their soul needs to grow.

As I think about it, with my own beliefs, I see that souls who are younger seem to suffer less than souls who are older. Young souls are filled with abundant energy and when they come through times of suffering, they wonder why this is happening to them so audibly that those of us who are older hear their cries and know that only a divine intervention can comfort them.

Older souls seem to have a knowingness of why suffering is and what it brings to their lives. They accept and grow. Like Job in the Bible, no matter what comes, they will not stop their spiritual journey. They will continue onward.

That is not to say that older souls move with grace and peace through their sufferings. They cry, they mourn, they react, they ask "why", they cry some more. Then, the reality of what they are going through comes before their eyes and a connection with Spirit carries them forward into a peaceful place from which they can live and move and have their being in.

My life has been full of suffering, yet it has been full of the Light which guides me onward. So I wish that there wasn't so much suffering? Sure I do. I can wish until my heart stops beating, but nothing will change. My only recourse is to accept what comes, live in that moment and go forward, knowing that all is truly as it is supposed to be.

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”
― Kahlil Gibran

Do you hear ME?

Antiguous Acquiesce                                                  

This morning I went out to work in the yard, raking up the dead pine needles from underneath our pine trees. It was a wonderful time to listen to the sounds around me. The call of a quail and the sound of various birds singing their morning songs. The wind blowing gently through the pine trees, and then the still small voice speaking ever so gently to my soul.

Memories flooded into my consciousness....    

My friend Janice, from high school, telling me that she had the best vacation ever with me. My children divorcing me. Need I call her because I don't remember much of my teenage years.

Memories of myself as teenage girl, staying with my cousin Diana, and her husband molesting me. I slept on the couch in fear of him coming in to "watch TV."

The memory of looking at my adoptive mother's family as a young adult and realizing that many of them had the same look about them. I thought about the people I had seen who came from incestuous homes...they all look alike.

Then just as those thoughts came, I moved on to cutting back my pink "buttercups" when I heard the word Antiguous. I have never heard that word before. I looked it up and the only references of it were these:

"We are propelling ourselves in a contiguous direction in a close proximity to an elevated portion of the earth's surface which rises in antiguous proximity to the forward part of our present means of locomotion!" said the colored man in a loud voice.~ Five Thousand Miles Underground Or, the Mystery of the Centre of the Earth

Spanish word Antiguous means Ancient.

The other word I heard was Acquiesce, which I know the meaning of: comply silently or without protest.  I have been doing that my whole life as a human. Yet what does that mean for my ancient Soul, which came here to live and to learn.

It means to accept the events of my human existence and simply live each day in the present moment.

Ancient One

Ancient Soul

Looking out of these eyes

Living this life

Ancient One

Why this time?

Entering this body

Living this life

Ancient One

Antiguous proximity

To the growth of your being.

Living this life

Ancient One

I hear you speaking

Acquiesce sweet one

Live in this life

Ancient One

The ground of Being

Speaking truth

Live in this life

Ancient One

Ancient Soul

I have peace now

Living in this life.

Antiguous Acquiesce

Ancient One give in and go along with your life without protesting,

even if you don't really want to.

Now that does sound like ME!

A letter to my granddaughter Lilly as she turns 13

Lillian Rene Bates

Born January 10, 2005

Entering Into Her maiden Stage of Life

January 10, 2018

The Maiden represents enchantment, inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm, represented by the waxing moon.  

When looking back over the last 13 years of Lillian’s life, to this Crone Gramama of hers, I can say that she has been everything that her Mom and I set intentions for her to be..

I must go back to the beginning though, to tell the story right, and that would be go to a couple of weeks before Mother’s Day 2004. 

I had a dream in which I saw her father, Shan, coming down a hall holding what looked like a baby in his arms. As he got closer and closer, I could see that it was indeed a baby, with bright red hair. Shan enthusiastically said, “Look Mom, It’s a girl!” I woke up thinking that a surprise must be coming, for I very seldom have dreams, but when I do, they come to pass.

On Mother’s Day of 2004 we all gathered at Shan and Susan’s house in Phoenix to celebrate. I had told Marty that I bet that they were going to announce that they were pregnant and that is just what happened. We were all so very happy!!! The months seemed to fly by and everything was going along very well. They chose not to find out if it was a boy or girl, but I my heart, I stood by my dream and wanted to buy all the baby girl things I could. The only glitch was that the baby refused to turn with its head down.  

All we could do was to pray, and I painted her in the womb with her head down with a tiny angel there to encourage her. We waited as the last weeks crept slowly by waiting for her to move on her own. Did she turn? NO. That’s the first indication that she would have some attitude.

We all gathered at the hospital on January 10, 2005 as Shan and Susan were taken back to get ready for the birth. We waited in the Family Waiting Room. It seemed like a very long time but then I heard Shan’s voice.

I got up and rounded the wall, just like in the dream Shan was holding a baby with red hair in his arms. He said, “Look Mom, It’s a Girl!”

From here on out I will be writing to you Lilly.

I was so happy to see you. You would my first grandchild that I would be close enough to be around and to spoil as much as I could! From that day forward, I have enjoyed every minute watching you grow...      

We couldn’t get enough of Lillian time. Such great intentions for your life were made by your mom and I during special ceremonies we would have during the Full Moon and other times when we were together. You were blessed by two very strong and powerful women to grow into an amazingly spiritual girl child, maiden, mother and crone during your own life cycles. Your Mother and I made sure you had a good dousing of spiritual intentions, prayers and good thoughts sent your way.  Know what? They have continued to shine through who you are for the last 13 years.   

                                         What are your thoughts Lilly?

Did you know that blue eyes and red hair forms the rarest combo on earth?

But it makes us more susceptible to the sun, so continue to spread the sun screen on!!! Yes, even through your teen years.

In 2006 you moved to Austin and I didn’t see you again until 2009 when you came back for a visit. You and your Mom were moving back to Phoenix and to my delight you came up to see Grampa and I every other week-end, so we could have some Fun with Lillian time.

Here we are at your 5^th birthday party. Boy was that a fun time!!!It was absolutely the greatest to have you back in Arizona again!

You had so much fun with Grampa playing in the snow and making this snowman.

From Computers        

                                           

To Crafts....

We made the most of your week-ends spent with us. I loved being your Gramama on a consistent basis.

You may be thinking that you can’t see how you were spiritual as a child, but I can attest to the fact that you were a deeply spiritual girl-child. One week-end when you were up here you were playing around on You-Tube finding songs you liked. It was one of your favorite things to do while here. This day you insisted (here is your tenacious side) that you wanted to watch the wolf video instead of the children’s videos you could watch. When I saw that it was done to Nothing Else Matters by Metallica, I though, O Boy, not a suitable one, but I listened to it, and it was okay for you to listen to. 

Long story short you listened to it repeatedly until my Spirit heard perked her ears up. I had been seeking my Crone name (Crone meaning non-child bearing age d woman). Due to your insistence that you watch the wolf video I was given my Crone name of White Wolf Woman. So, see, even at 5 years old, you were very instrumental in giving me my Crone name. That is a deeply Spiritual thing to be able to do. You can watch that video on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOMOlKOCRsk&t=1s

You can read more in depth about how you helped me at http://charlottespeace.blogspot.com/2010/05/i-have-been-questing-for-my-crone.html

You and your Mom moved back to Austin and we’ve only seen you on vacations when we have come to Austin. 

Here is from our visit in June of 2012 when I was back for my 40^th High School reunion.

I just love your smile and those beautiful freckles

This was January 2016 when Grampa and I were back to celebrate all our January birthdays. We were so very impressed with how mature you were and how great you did after your surgery. We were happy that we were there to take care of you afterwards. You were so brave!!! You are a vey special soul!!!

Now, on this, your 13^th birthday, you have crossed into your Maiden years. It means that you are going to continue to grow and find your way in the world. That may mean you and your Mom will disagree about some things, but know that every other ‘Maiden’ on the planet goes through that sort of thing. We all make it through. It is how we make it through that will make the way easier for you.

My greatest hope for you is that you walk in Wisdom each day.

But how do you get to be Wise?

1. Enjoy a lot of experiences and learn from them.
2. Be a sponge. Soak up you experiences and what you have learned as you go through each one. Don’t forget what you have learned!
3. Notice what is right in front of you. You don’t have to travel around the world to gain the experiences to grow wisdom in your heart. There are lessons right in your own back yard, right in your school, right in your everyday dull seeming life. Just look for them.
4.   Meditate. Yes, that thing your Mom and I do. In meditation we learn to let go of everything that isn’t important. We can open our eyes to see a situation how we reacted and chance it to a response next time when faced with a similar situation. It also gives us better understanding of the people in our lives and when we need to truly just let something go. Like the song from Frozen…Let It Go!
5.   Journal. Even if it is just a few lines before bed, jots down how your day was and what you learned from it. You will be surprised when you read it a year from now just how wise you have grown.
6. Cherish those who are your ‘Circle of Friends and Family’ The people you can count on in good times and in rough times need to be truly cherished. Let them now how important they are to you. They may have some wisdom that you can learn from.
7. Trust in yourself. You have everything within you that you need to make it through your Maiden years with joy and peace, love and WISDOM!

 I love you sweet Lilly,

Gramama Matzke