Will you be my Valentine?

This is a little after Valentines but I had to share this picture.  Prior to the 10 inch snow event that shut us down for a week with no power or water, I found these two hats on the back of a door in the house.  It was about a week before Valentine's Day and I thought how appropriate to have our very own Valentine story tied to the house.

Of course, I was touched by the sweetness of seeing the man's straw hat and the woman's red straw hat---his and hers ---- and instantly envisioned the two of them walking in the house from working outside and hanging them on the hat rack.  How ever many years later they are still there.

So, of course I had to trail down their marriage story.  Here it is.  Ross Martin and Lena Bell Clayton married in Talpa, Texas on November 22, 1906.  She was 21 and he was 20.  From what I have been able to find Lena was born in Paris, Texas and at the age of 15 she lived in Ballinger which is in Runnels County just slightly west of Talpa where her family still owns land.  This must be how the two ended up in Talpa.

Together Ross and Lena had five children:

•     Yates Marion Martin (born in 1907 and died in 1991)
•     Ross Sullivan Martin Jr. (born 1911 and died 1966)
•     Geneva Elizabeth Martin (born 1913 and died 2000)
•     Juanita Sullivan Martin (born 1917 and died 2002)
•     Ethel Paula Martin (born 1921 and died in 2013)

Now that maybe Spring is around the corner we will be able to get back to the task at hand!