Saturday, January 31, 2009

Avant Family Tree


Husband: James Thomas Avant (Avent)
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Birth: 1876 Place: Plainview, Texas
Death: 14 Jan 1941 Place: Red Rock Baptist, Bastrop, Tx
Burial: Place: Red Rock Baptist, Bastrop, Tx
Occupation: Carpenter, Left family and children
Father: Joseph Alphause Avent (1848-1919)
Mother: Caledonia Stevens? (1854-)
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Marriage: 20 Mar 1907
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Wife: Mamie Josephine Stokes
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Birth: 17 Feb 1888 Place: Gonzales County, Texas
Death: 26 Dec 1971
Occupation: Seamtress
Father: Abner Stokes (1852-1926)
Mother: Minnie Bon Riley (1861-1947)
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Children...
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1. F Child: Zella Inez Avant
Birth: 30 Dec 1916 Place: Floresville, Tx
Occupation: LVN
Education: Floresville High School
Religion: Methodist Member of Cleveland, Tx Methodist chruch
Spouse: James Robert Lowe Sr.
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2. M Child: Leonard Avant
Occupation: Res: Corpus Christi, Texas
Education: served in Army Air Force Drafted June 15, 1942
Spouse: Leona Kirchmeyer
Marriage: 13 Jun 1942 Place: Texas
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3. M Child: James Hubert Avant
Birth: 1914
Death: 28 Jan 1994 Place: Corpus Christi, Tx
Occupation: Police Chief Corpus Christi, Texas 35 years service
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4. M Child: Carl Avant (Avent)
Occupation: Res: El Paso, Texas
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5. F Child: Leola Avant
Death: Place: San Antonio, Tx
Occupation: Res: San Antonio, Texas
Spouse: Chester Spears

Last Modified: 22 May 2002


Genealogy notes of Rosa Lowe
Pictured above is Mamie Josephine Stokes and her son Carl

James Hubert Avant 1914-1994


35 Years on police force
Cheif Avant will retire June 30
by Mike Norman
Staff Writer

James H. Avant, who answered a newspaper ad for policemen here in 1941 and then rose through the ranks to serve 5 1/2 years as chief of police will retire next month.
The 63-year-old police chief’s plans were announced to the City Council yesterday afternoon by City Manager Marvin Townsend, who gave Council members copies of a letter in which Avant said he would retire June 30.
Townsend said after the meeting he will name an acting chief of police “probably in the middle part of June.” He said he will advertise “both inside the city and outside” to find a permanent chief.
Avant had been working for Rainbow Bakery here 35 years ago when he noticed a morning newspaper ad saying policemen were needed.
“I sure never thought when I saw that ad that I would someday be sitting behind this (police chief) desk,” he said. “This job has been real good to me.”
The police chief said yesterday he wants to retire because “there’s just some other things I want to do.”
“I’m not doing this because of my health or anything like that. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I want to do this now, so I can do some things while I still have my health,” he said.
Avant is an avid hunter and fisherman. He spends much of his leisure time at his lakeside home near Mathis. He said one of the chief joys there is tending his garden.
He said he wants to be able to spend more time with his wife. “I owe a lot to her. Without her support, my long police career would have been impossible.”
He also wants to spend more time with his family, including two granddaughters, and do “a limited amount of traveling to some places in this country I haven’t seen, and to visit some people I have know for a long time.”
Avant has been the police department’s leading advocate, as well as its administrative head, and said he is proud of the department’s record during the years he served as chief.
“I think we’ve made more progress here in the past five years than has been made in the history of the department,” he said.
Avant was named Acting Chief on Oct. 8, 1970, following the resignation of R. T. Runyan. Four months later, he was officially appointed chief of the department.
The federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, the agency through which federal funds are funneled to local law enforcement agencies, came into its heyday during Avant’s term in office, and his efforts were instrumental in garnering more than $2 million in federal money for the department.
Five specialized bureaus were added with the funds, including the Nueces County Organized Crime Control Unit, the Crime Prevention Unit, Community Relations Bureau, Youth Bureau and a Planning and Research Bureau.
“When these grants first started coming out, a lot of cities held back. I didn’t - I went for all I could get,” he said.
Asked what he considers the department’s most pressing need now, he cited “immediate expansion of the facilities.” He said many parts of the Police Building are overcrowded and the Crime Prevention Unit and stolen property warehouse are housed outside the building.
“I think if we don’t expand our building pretty soon, we’re going to have to start looking for some more outside space,” he said.
Avant had a puzzled look but a quick reply when asked why he first went into police work. “I don’t know,” he said. “I guess it was for the excitement. It took me a couple of years to find out there was more to it than excitement.”
He said he almost didn’t follow though with his application because he was sick the day he was scheduled to take the police exam. “I decided to get out of bed and take it anyway, and I passed,” he said.
A few weeks later, he was hired and traded in a shotgun to buy his service revolver.
He said there was no training for officers at that time. “I didn’t know any law. They just gave me a badge and a uniform and told me to get out there and enforce the law,” he said. “I would just hear people yelling and call that disturbing the peace. People would be staggering down the street and I’d call that drunkenness and when a fight was going on I’d call that disorderly conduct.”
During Avant’s tenure as chief, the Corpus Christi Police Academy, though which local officers are trained, was expanded to provide 17 weeks of training.
Avant has a high school education. Today, there are five men on the police force with masters degrees.
At the time Avant joined the force, there were three “beats”: one on Corpus Christi Beach (then North Beach), one in the central city and one “out south,” which meant the Six Points area. Now there are 11 patrol beats in the city.
“They first put me out on the beach, and I got to like it. Then they sent me out south where I didn’t know anybody or anything. I couldn’t see any sense in it, and I got so mad I almost quit. My partner and I both thought the same way. Then a little bit later they gave me a new partner and I got even madder,” Avant said.
Some of the loudest grumbling heard at the Police Department during the past few years have come from the officers who are mad at Avant and his frequent shuffling of personnel. He has said his policy is to give officers experience in all areas of police work and all sections of the city.
Avant said when he first joined the department police cars were equipped with one-way radios. The police dispatcher cold relay assignments to the men in their cars, but they couldn’t respond.
The police communications system a few years later came to use two-way radios, but for many years it operated with only two channels. As the number of cars grew, the channels became overcrowded.
Shortly after Avant was named to head the department, a federal grant of more than $234,000 was added to $78,000 in city funds to expend the communications system to four channels. Through a later grant, a computer data retrieval retrieval system was tied in so that officers could obtain criminal history information rapidly by radio.
Avant worked in all sections of the police department, but said he liked the patrol section best because he “loved to catch burglars.”
“There were some days when I would rather catch some burglars than eat,” he said.
He rose through the departmental ranks rapidly and was named assistant chief in 1951, only 10 years after he joined the force. He was the first man in the history of the department to hold every rank from patrolman to chief.
Avant was philosophical about his experience on the force. “I think everybody should try to make a mark in this world, even if it’s just a scratch. This has been mine.”
Townsend said yesterday when announcing the retirement to the Council that he tried “vehemently” to get Avant to change his mind about leaving. “I wish he would stay with us a little longer,” the city manager said.
Council members suggested holding a party or dinner to honor both Avant and retiring longtime City Water Supt. Atlee Cunningham. Townsend said he would arrange the event.

Margaret Linnett Lowe Gregory 1922-1989


Lampasas Dispatch Record
Monday, September 11, 1989
Page 5
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Mrs. Gregory

Funeral services for Mrs. Margaret Linnett Gregory, 67, of Lometa were held Friday afternoon in the First United Methodist Church in Lometa with the Rev. Arthur Thompson officiating. Internment followed in Lometa City Cemetery.
Mrs. Gregory died Wednesday in Scott and White Hospital in Temple.
Born June 22, 1922, in Lometa, she had been a resident of that community for most of her life. She married E.G. Gregory on Aug. 17, 1938 in Lometa.
Mrs. Gregory was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Lometa.
Survivors include her husband, E.G. Gregory of Lometa; a daughter, Gloria Nell Cavness of Odessa; a grandson, Gary Allen Cavness of Odessa; a granddaughter, Kimberly Dawn Cavness of Odessa; and a number of nieces and nephews.
Mrs. Gregory was preceded in death by a brother, James R. Lowe, and a sister, Mavis B. Walters.
Briggs-Gamel-Wilcox Funeral Directors had charge of all arrangements.

1981 Lowe Family Reunion at Grove


    Descendants of John and Annis (Husted) Lowe, early pioneers of Haney Valley, gathered for their first family reunion at the home of Mildred Lowe Olson, Soldiers Grove, Saturday, Sept. 26.

    John and Annis Lowe came to Wisconsin in 1864 from Bloomville, N.Y., by covered wagon, with their five children: James Leonard, William Henry, Mary Ann, Frank Thomas, and Merritt Arthur.  One child, Elle Jane, was born later in Wisconsin and died at eight years old of diphtheria.

    They purchased a farm in Haney Valley in 1865 and resided there until their deaths.  The farm was then owned and operated by their sons, William and Merritt (known as Met).  Their son James married and moved to Lometa, Tex.; Frank spent his life near Gays Mills and Mary Ann married Samuel Taylor and lived near Seneca.

    Those who attended the reunion were:

    Ella Brown, june Williams, Inez Lowe, Doris Briggs, and Ida Lowe at Gays Mills; Vergil and Alma Lowe, Millie Olson, Arthur and Nathell Lowe and Soldiers Grove; Winnie Kultgen, Franksville; Hubert and Elsie Garlick, Hanover, Ill.; Horace Garlick, Madison; Frances Collins, Richard Lowe, Aaron Lowe, Readstown; Leland and Estelle Lowe, Brightwaters, N.Y.; Orlie and Anne Baker, Seneca’ Henry and Orpha Zajicek, Mt. Sterling; Raymond and Avis Collins, Stoddard; David, Diane, Darin and Darci Lowe, Janesville; Sharon and Clem Kruck, Milwaukee; Elna Heine, Spring Green.

Zella Inez Avant Lowe - 1916-2003


Inez Lowe was the daughter of James Thomas Avant (1876-1941) and Mamie Josephine Stokes (1888-1971). Records also show the Avant family name as Avent.
“Mrs. Lowe was born on Dec. 30, 1916, in Floresville, Texas, and passed away on Friday, June 6, 2003, in Cleveland, Texas.  Inez and her family have resided in Cleveland for many years where she was a lifetime member of the Cleveland Methodist Church.  She was also a LVN for over 30 years, helping others was her passion.   Through her work she touched peoples lives in many cities, a few of them including Burnett, Texas, Texas Crippled Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, Pasadena, Texas, Cleveland, Texas, and Conroe.  She was preceded in death by her husband, James R. Lowe Sr. in 1975.” - The Courier (newspaper of Conroe, Montgomery County, Texas), Monday, 09 Jun 2003, page 6A, Obituaries.
Her birth certificate shows that Inez was Mamie’s fifth child, but that only three children were still living.

"In the end, you leave what you have and take what you are," Rev. Gerald Manchester.

Children of James and Inez:
1. Son - Still living - TX

 2. Son - Still living - CO

 3. Son - Still living - TX

 4. Daughter - Still living - OK

Source:
• Death Certificate and notice placed in news paper.
• Rosa Faye James Lowe, family genealogist.

Mary Josephine Cravey 1889-1969


Mary Josephine Cravey was born in Ogles, Lampasas County, Texas at 11AM on 19Aug1889. Her father, Robert Cravy, was born in Milam County, Texas and listed himself as a 20 year old farmer on Mary’s birth-certificate. Her mother, Margaret Linnett Cravy was born in Galveston County, Texas and listed herself as an 18 year old housewife Mary’s birth-certificate.

The picture above is of John Orville Lowe and his wife Mary Josephine Cravy Lowe. The child is believed to be James Robert Lowe Sr, so that would make the picture ca 1910.

 “Mary Josephine Cravy like all women of her time seem to be a good mother and wife. Born Aug 19, 1889 in Ogles, Texas. She signed her name as Mrs. John O. Lowe, May to family members and spelt it without the 'e'. The pastor at their wedding wrote it with the 'e', this is the first time I have seem this spelling on any papers.” - Rosa Faye James Lowe

Per the Goldthwaite Eagle-Mullin Enterprise on Thursday, 31Jul1969:
“Funeral services for Mrs. Mary Josephine Lowe of Lometa, were held Saturday afternoon, July 26, 1969, at 4:00 p.m. in Wilkins Funeral Chapel in Goldthwaite. Services were conducted by Rev. Albert M. peterson of Goldthwaite, and Rev. E. C. Marshall of Lometa. Burial was in Lometa Cemetery with Wilkins Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
Pallbearers were Thuman Strunk, Benny Watson, Wm. Morgan Craig, R. C. Tackitt, Tommy Craig, and Jack Cravy.
Mrs Lowe was born August 19, 1889, in Lampasas County, daughter of the late R. C. and Margaret Linnett Cravy. She passed away Thursday, July 24, 1969, in Childress Clinic & Hospital, Goldthwaite.
On October 14, 1907, she was married to John Orval Lowe in Lometa. She was preceded in death by her husband and one son, Orval Wayne Lowe. She was a Methodist.
Survivors are one son, James Robert Lowe, Corpus Christi; two daughters, Mrs Mavis Bessie Walters, Houston, and Mrs Margaret Linnett Gregory, Lometa; one brother, Jack Cravy, Lometa; and four sisters, Mrs. T. L. Thompson and Mrs. John Tibbels, both of Ranger, and Mrs H. A. Goodgion and Mrs. Robert L. Smith, both of Fort Worth.”

Children of John and Mary:
1. James Robert Lowe Sr., 04 Sept 1909 - 28 Nov 1975
2. Mary Lennitt (Lenit) Lowe, ca1918
3. Mavis Bessie Lowe
4. Orval Wayne Lowe

Source:
• Birth certificate.
• The Goldwaithe Eable-Mullin Enterprise, 31Jul1969, page 5, obituary notice.
• Rosa Faye James Lowe, family genealogist.

James Robert Lowe Sr. 1909-1975


James was born on 04 Sept 1909 in Lometa, Texas and was the son of John Orville Lowe and Mary "Mae" Josephine Cravey (1889-1969).
    He suffered from polio as a child which led to the development of a hole in the back of his leg and his having to use crutches for walking (childhood only).  He would sneak out when his parents were not looking and play base ball with the local children.
    James and Zella Inez Avant were married in early January 1938
    After his father died, he opened a bakery in Lampasas County, Texas.
    He would hunt while ridding on horseback in San Sabba County.
    Most of his life he was a carpenter and builder
    James had an old Ford car (Model 'T' or Model 'A') that he used mainly for fishing trips.  He cut the back of the car to create a area for storing his fishing gear.    On one fishing trip the car would not start and this angered him to the point where he pushed the car over the bluff and down toward the river.   For all we know, the car could still be there.
    Played on a farm team of the "Texas League Baseball" in his early twenties.
    Coached a little league base ball team (the "Turtles?") for a few years.
    James was in the United States Army serving in Korea when he broke his knee playing base ball just before he was scheduled to return to the United States.   He served one year, four months, and 24 days.  In Dec. 1936 he was serving in Company I, Ninth Infantry of Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
    He was later recalled into the Army when the United States entered the second World War.  James was in Company E, 5th Regiment of the Army Ground Forces Replacement Depot No.2 (Cavalry).  He served eight months and nine days and received his final discharge was on 23Nov1945 at the ASF Regional Station Hospital at Fort Ord, California.  (Disability?)
    A carpenter by trade
James died at 1:40 p.m. on 28Nov1975 at the Naval Regional Medical Center.  Funeral services were held 3:00 p.m. on Monday at the Clifford Jackson Kostoryz Chapel.  Internment was at Seaside Memorial Park in Corpus Christy, Texas.

Children of James and Inez:
1. Son - Still living - TX
2. Son - Still living - CO
3. Son - Still living - TX
4. Daughter - Still living - OK

Source:
• Oldest and youngest sons of James Lowe.
• Death Certificate and notice placed in news paper.
• Rosa Faye James Lowe, family genealogist.

John Orville Lowe 1855-1931


   John was born about 1855 in Dunn County, Wisconsin while his parents were there temporarily. He was the son of James Leonard Lowe (1835-1907) and Susan Katherine McGee.
    John was an electrician by trade.
    John and Mary "Mae" Josephine Cravey were married on 14Oct1908 in Lometa, Texas. 
    John died at 47 years of age (from “cardio-vascular-renal disease or Brights disease?”) and his funeral service was held at the Lometa Cemetery at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, 02 Nov. 1931.

Children of John and Mary:
1. James Robert Lowe Sr., 04 Sept 1909 - 28 Nov 1975
2. Mary Lennitt (Lenit) Lowe, ca1918
3. Mavis Bessie Lowe
4. Orval Wayne Lowe - Died before 1945

Source:
• Oldest and youngest sons of James Lowe.
• Rosa Faye James Lowe, family genealogist.