Jesse Malachi Real

One day in the year 1861 Susan Frances Neal and her sister Menerva Evalina Neal were sitting outside at the family farm in Many Louisiana when two men came riding up. The two men were Richard Real and his young son Jesse Malachi Real, #1. They were traveling with their family, Richard Real, his wife Lucrecia Lewis, four of their seven children, Jesse Malachi #1, b, 1847, Edward (Ed) b. 1852, Thomas b.1853, Missouri America b.1854 and Richard’s 71 year old father Edward Real on a wagon train headed for Texas. The Reals’ were independent types who usually moved on to the next frontier as soon as civilization came too close. They were camped just outside Many, Louisiana near the Neal farm. The Real family had come from Chickasaw / Choctaw Territory, Pontotoc County, Mississippi. They stopped at the farm to buy corn. Susan commented to her sister Menerva that she was going to marry that boy. Her sister told her that she was crazy because she did not even know that boy.

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JESSE MALACHI REAL #1 AND THE PONY EXPRESS

The families arrived and settled in Leon County, Texas. In about 1861, “Young Jesse”, (Jesse Malachi Real #1) as he was called, lied about his age and became a "PONY EXPRESS" rider. He carried the mail from Leon County Texas to the Ft. Worth / Dallas, Texas areas. He also carried the mail from Leon County Texas to Houston County Texas before the stage lines. He had to have the mail in Houston County by 6:00 pm. He would head back to Leon County, at 6:00 am the next morning. He was a true cowboy and an expert horseman. Jesse was riding through Indian country when a renegade war party chased him. He managed to get away but his horse (Old Dan) tripped and fell on him. Young Jesse broke his leg but finished his mail run with the mail along with his scalp. After his pony express adventure Jesse joined the “Frontiers”.

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THE FAMILY OF JESSE MALACHI REAL #1 AND SUSAN FRANCES NEAL

True to her word, in the year about 1865, Susan was 19 years old and Jesse was 18 years old, Susan Frances Neal married Jesse Malachi Real. They had six living children, Marion Francis, Josephine Evaline, Susan Frances, John Luther, Emma Ann and Jesse Malachi Real, #2. They lived in Keechi, Leon County, Texas where their family grew up. They lived on a farm. Susan cooked on a fire in the fireplace.

Their house had a mud roof and a dirt floor. In a few months they bought a cook stove and also a sewing machine. They were the first family to own a sewing machine in that part of the country.

Susan had a spinning wheel she spun thread on to knit socks and stockings. She wove the thread into cloth for making clothes. The thread was made from the cotton they raised. Her work seemed to never end. Her days were long and hard. It was not uncommon for her to still be working after her family was asleep in bed. Her duties, as was all the frontier women, was to have children to work the land. She also produced the family’s food and clothing. She planted, plowed, harvested and cooked the food for her family. She planted, raised, picked, cleaned the cotton and spun it into thread to make the cloth to sew the clothes to clothe her family. She pressed the cottonseed to make cooking oil, margarine and soap. After the oil was removed she ground the seed to make seed meal to feed the cows, horses and sheep. She had to be teacher and nurse for her children, her husband and often for the children of neighboring families when the men and other women shared the work of the homestead. The family raised all their food and had fruit trees. They preserved fruit and put it in large churns and crocks. It would keep for months without spoiling. Susan Frances Neal Real was said to have started labor pains while plowing in the field. She walked back to the house, had her baby, (Jesse Malachi Real, #2) washed up, took her baby and went back to the field to finish her plowing.

Jesse Malachi Real, #1, was a man of many talents. He and his son Jesse, #2 were considered to be the best fiddlers in the family. His life and adventures included being an expert horseman, a pony express rider, and a farmer. He also owned numerous sawmills, J.M. Real Lumber Company, with his son Jesse Malachi Real #2. With his father Richard, he was a wildcatter in the oilfields of East Texas. He was a deeply religious Baptist man. And from what I’ve been told he was a faithful loving husband and father. Maybe that’s why Susan was so willing to pack up and follow him anywhere. Edward Real, Richard Real and Jesse Malachi Real #1 bought and donated land to build and helped to build the first church in Keechi, Leon County, Texas. It was the Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Keechi. They along with Jesse’s wife Susan Frances Neal Real and David Recknor were original charter members of the church. Soon Jesse Malachi Real, #1 and Susan Frances Neal Real decided to move their family, including his parents, Richard and Lucrecia, from Leon County Texas. So, in about 1881 they loaded all their worldly possessions, sewing machine and cook stove, into their covered wagon, tied the milk cow to the back of the wagon and set out on the trail again. There was still a lot of country to be seen. Jesse and Susan bought land in Saron Front, Trinity County, Texas. Jesse was soon back in the sawmill business furnishing timber for the big mill in Saron. After a few years, when the timber became scarce for the smaller mills, the family packed up and moved to Humble, Harris County, Texas. They bought land in what is now part of the old Humble Oil Co. After a brief stay in Harris County, they moved on to Montgomery County, Texas. They lived in Tamina for a while before their move to Waukegan, Texas. From Waukegan they moved to and from Beach, Wigginsville and Fostoria where the Real family owned property.