Franklin County Genealogical Society

Soon after the area opened to settlement after the Texas Revolution the last Indian Massacre in the eastern half of the state occurred on April 10,1841, just east of the town of Mt. Vernon. Settlers from a 70 mile radius gathered together and attacked most of the Indians within a 100 miles, effectively driving the few remaining Indians out of the eastern half of the State.  Ambrose Ripley who lost 8 children in the raid petitioned the Congress of the Republic for his losses in “the defense of the frontiers of the Republic.”

By Carl Newsome, 1988

Waymon Carl Newsome was born January 20, 1911, the son of Thomas Arch and Elvira Elizabeth (Betty) Hildreth Newsome. My object is to record the families of Purley during my early years, say 1915 to 1930. But first the history of Purley.