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William M. Ables is included in the book entitled TEXAS AND TEXANS published in 1909. William M. Abels, father of Blossom banker John William Abels, was born in Attalla County Mississippi on 18 Apr 1841, a son of London and Margarat Carolilne (McFatter) Abels, both of whom were natives of Mississippi and spent their last years in Texas. William M. Abels had two sisters Mrs. Mattie Finley and Mrs. Mary McCuiston, both of Paris TX.
The Abels family came to Texas among the ante-bellum settlers of Lamar county, and William M. spent his youth and early manhood in that vicinity. He attained his education from local schools, and had just about arrived at maturity when the War of the Rebellion came on. He enlisted early in the war in Captain Milton Wood's Company I of the First Texas Cavalry, and saw his first fighting on the prairies of the frontier driving back the hostile Indians and freeing the country from the ravages of the border. His company was part of the army under General Henry McCullough in the state service, but soon after the war between the states had been formally inaugurated the company was mustered into the Confederate forces and went to the Texas coast.
The Texas coast as is well known, was practically immune from attacks from the Federal forces, and these troops therefore had little to occupy them while in that region. In the spring of 1864 the command was ordered into Louisiana, and joined the forces which were fighting General Banks Army along the Red River. Mr. Abels therefore participated in the noted engagements at Mansfield, at Pleasant Hill, Grandicore and at McNutt's Hill near Alexander. At Mansfield he was slightly wounded but continued on duty and finished the short but strenuous campaign at Yellow Bayou, at the head of the Atchasalay River. This was a decisive and one of the notable battles of the war. Following this engagement the army to which he belonged did little but skirmish duty in Louisiana until the spring of 1865, when the regiment was sent back to Texas and on May 23, 1865 was disbanded at Corsicana while under the command of Captain S. C. Gerron.
Soon after the war William M. Abels married Mrs. Lousie Smith, whose maiden name was Gallman, the Gallman family having come originally from South Carolina. After their marriage they moved across the Red River into the lowlands of Arkansas near Dardanell. About 1870, however, he again crossed the river into Texas and located in the vicinity of the present town of Blossom, where for a time he was engaged in agriculture in Lamar County, and subsequently embarked in merchandising and sold goods both Chicota and in Paris, being a merchant of the county seat when his death occurred in 1883.
Mrs. Wm. M. Abels resided in Noble, Texas. She brought up her children in the influence and atmosphere of the Southern Methodist Church, in which denomination, her husband was an official and active worker. Their children were:
1. John William
2. Dr. Jeff Davis who died in Paris, leaving a family by his wife Henrietta Oaks
2. Arra, wife of Dr. Hammond of Honey Grove Texas
3. Harry H., a farmer near Blossom
4. Sena, the wife of Lee McCrum of Noble
5. Thomas A., who died unmarried
6. Verda (my Great Grandmother) who married Dorris Cunningham and is a resident at Noble.
My Great Grandmother was widowed and married Edward Eugene Tudor. They had several daughters including my Grandmother Eddie Lou (Tudor) Bailey.
William Mack Abels was a Mason, and his wife was a member of the Eastern Star. He died 7 Jun 1883 and is buried in the Southwest section of Shady Grove Cemetery in Lamar County, Texas.
©Ron Brothers and Chad Walker, 1999, All Rights Reserved.
July 29, 1999
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