Armelia (Gray) Pierce gave birth to her son Young Pierce Jr. on
July 18, 1859, four months after her husband Young was killed in a Comanche
Indian raid.
In 1861 Armelia married Stephen O'Neal and they had three children.
Young was raised as a brother to these younger O'Neal children. Young Pierce
Jr. grew up in Sugar Loaf working on farms. In the fall of 1882 he joined
the contract threshing crews that moved from county to county working the
harvest. In Brown County he met Roxie Brown daughter of Thomas Early Brown
and they were married in Brownwood March 4, 1883. They had four children,
Amelia, Abia, Ethel and Lewis born at Sugar Loaf.
Young had followed the threshing crews to San Saba and believed this
fertile river bottom country would offer better living. In 1891 Young and
Roxie loaded the wagon and moved to San Saba. The journey took four days.
They settled in China Creek on the San Saba River where Ernest was born
January 31, 1893. In China Creek they built a two story log cabin and
prepared the land for farming. Three more children, Nettie, Eugene and Earl
were born. In 1904 they moved to the Rainey farm on the north bank of the
San Saba River where Dea was born.
In 1905 their first grandchild, Bertha Till, three year old daughter of
Mary Amelia died from typhoid. Someone told Young that if he moved to the
south side of the river his family would be safe. They moved to the
Sanderson place 2 1/2 miles west of San Saba where Gladys was born.
Young had one of the first irrigated farms in the community. Crops were
bountiful until 1922 when the San Saba River flooded the farm. Water was
four feet deep in Young's house. Crops and livestock were lost and topsoil
washed away. By 1929 all of the children except Abia and Gladys were married
and some had moved away. Young's health failed and the couple left the farm
and moved to San Saba. In December of 1936 Young Pierce and his son Lewis
died one day apart and a double funeral was held.
Roxie lived in San Saba until her death in December 1949. Young, Roxie,
Amelia, Abia, Lewis, Nettie, Gladys and many other descendents are buried in
China Creek where Young was the first President of the Cemetery Board of
Directors.
By Eldon Pierce, grandson of Young Pierce and Roxie Brown Pierce.
