My grandparents, Daniel Charles (D.C.) Allen and Jennie Parker Anderson, lived in Denver City, Texas. Granddad ran a used car lot from his house. Their house sat on the west side in the 900 block of Main Avenue across the road from the lumber yard. They moved to Denver City in 1946 and I remember they were living there when I was born and it is where they died. They are buried in the cemetery at Plains.
The story goes that, when they got married, it was in Midway. They were on one side of the Texas/New Mexico border in a horse and buggy and the minister and congregation were on the other side. The date was July 10, 1910. Their courtship had begun shortly after my grandmother's mother, Anna "Annie" (Parker) Anderson, died in 1908, but they delayed marrying until 1910 in obedience to her father's wishes to wait until the mourning period had been completed.
Granddad, Daniel Charles Allen, was born in 1886 in San Saba County, Texas, the son of Gilbert Daniel Allen and Nancy Louisa “Lou” Catherine Harkey. My Grandmother, Jennie Parker Anderson, was born in 1891 in Anderson County, Texas, the only daughter of William Maitland Anderson and Annie Parker. One of her brothers, W. W. (Wallace) Anderson, the youngest in the family, was Sheriff of Yoakum County in the 1950’s.
During their courtship, Dan bought a beautiful locket to give to her. Well, nice girls did not accept gifts from men. She politely refused the locket which upset Dan - so he threw it across a field. And that is where it remained for several years. Then one day Jennie’s brother, Albert, was playing ball out in that field with some of his buddies. One of the friends found the locket. Since Albert knew the story behind the locket, he made a deal with his friend to get it and took it home to Jennie who was very glad to have it back. Jennie died in 1971 and the locket was given to her oldest daughter.
The children of Daniel Charles Allen and Jennie Parker Anderson Allen were: Helen Allen who married Chester Monroe; Allie M. Allen who married Ed Kornegay; Maitland Gilbert (Charles) Allen who married Billie Faye Thompson; Hazel Allen who married Jack Bales; Cleta Allen who married Cecil Tucker; Dannie Allen who married J. D. Tucker; and Joyce Allen who married L. V. Tucker. The three Tucker boys were brothers. Dannie Allen Tucker died in 1946. Cleta Allen Tucker was a nurse in Denver City for a while. Her husband, Cecil, had a farm west of the town. Charles Allen and his wife, Billie Faye, also lived in Denver City, as did Allie M. Allen Kornegay and her husband, Ed. Allie and Ed later lived in Hobbs, New Mexico.
Jennie was known as the "glue that held the family together" because she loved all of her kin and was like a mother to her younger, motherless, brothers. She was revered by many young family members who grew up in the Yoakum County area.
When Dan died in 1967, Jennie sent his suit to be cleaned for burial. One of the daughters picked it up at the cleaners and they handed her a ring box with a topaz ring in it. That was Jennie’s birthstone. Dan had been sick for several years and was in a nursing home in Seminole when he died. The best the family could figure was that he got sick right before Jennie’s birthday and had already bought her the ring. He had stored it in the pocket of his suit but was taken ill before he could give it to her.
Many fond memories exist of my family’s life in the West Texas area around Yoakum County.
Photo from the Collection of Eddie Lynn Davis
