: Nancy Laura ETHRIDGE
•Given Name: Nancy Laura
•Surname: ETHRIDGE
•Sex: F
•Birth: 7 May 1865 in Cooke Co., Texas
•Death: 23 Oct 1941 in Thayer, Oregon Co., Missouri
•Burial: Thayer Cemetery, Thayer, Oregon Co., Missouri

•Note:
PALO PINTO, TEXAS. Palo Pinto, the county seat of Palo Pinto Count
y, is on U.S. Highway 180 and Farm Road 4, twelve miles southwest of Miner
al Wells in the central part of the county. Settlers began arriving in t
he area in 1855, attracted by the fertile soil in the Brazos River valle
y. A legislative act of August 27, 1856, formed Palo Pinto County and spec
ified that the county seat, to be named Golconda, be located within five m
iles of the center of the county. The county was organized on May 13, 185
7, and at the first meeting of the county court (held on August 18 of th
at year) steps were taken to have Golconda surveyed and laid out. The Golc
onda post office was established in March 1858. That same year the na
me of the community was changed to Palo Pinto, and the post office was ren
amed accordingly in 1860. The first courthouse cost $300 and was bui
lt in 1857; a two-story jail was erected in 1858. Joseph H. Dillahunty w
as the first postmaster and operated the first general store. Some of h
is early customers included Charles Goodnight and Christopher Columbus Sla
ughter.qv Other enterprises included several saloons, a hotel, and a law f
irm. James H. Baker began the community's first school in 1858. Hardshi
ps caused by the Civil Warqv curtailed most businesses during the 1860s, b
ut during the next decade Palo Pinto became established as a ranching cent
er. The original courthouse was replaced by a native sandstone buildi
ng in 1881. The town was on the Fort Griffin-Weatherford stage line, whi
ch crossed the Brazos at Oaks Crossing. A ferry on the Brazos was replac
ed by a bridge in 1895. James C. Son started the first newspaper in the co
unty, the Palo Pinto County Star, in Palo Pinto on June 22, 1876. The olde
st Masonic lodge in the region was active by that year as well. Palo Pin
to was the county seat and only town in the county in 1880, but that ye
ar it was bypassed by the Texas and Pacific Railway when its tracks were l
aid through the area. Although the town declined somewhat, its 1891 popula
tion was 400, and its businesses included a flour mill, a bank, a hote
l, a gin, and a saloon. In 1940 a new courthouse replaced the 1881 structu
re. The population of Palo Pinto by 1947 had reportedly reached 550. In 19
90 Palo Pinto reported 350 residents and eight businesses; at that ti
me it still was unincorporated. The community sponsors an annual old settl
ers' reunion.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fannie Davis Veale Beck, On the Texas Frontier: Autobiograp
hy of a Texas Pioneer (St. Louis: Britt, 1937). Mary Whatley Clarke, The P
alo Pinto Story (Fort Worth: Manney, 1956). J. C. Koen, A Social and Econo
mic History of Palo Pinto County (M.A. thesis, Hardin-Simmons Universit
y, 1949). Palo Pinto Historical Association, History of Palo Pinto Coun
ty (Dallas: Taylor, 1978).

Father: William Spencer ETHRIDGE b: 2 Aug 1837 in Caroll Co., TN
Mother: Emeline RUTLEDGE b: 8 Nov 1845 in Ipava, Fulton, Ill

Marriage 1 John ROPER b: Abt 1850 in Ireland
•Married: Abt 1896 in Missouri

Children
1. Mary Marie ROPER b: 28 Nov 1897 in Thayer, Oregon Co., Missouri

Marriage 2 David C. FOSTER b: 17 Nov 1854 in Henry Co., Georga
•Married: Abt 1888 in Arkansas

Children
1. Bulah D. FOSTER b: 8 Jun 1891 in Arkansas
2. Homer FOSTER b: Abt 1890 in Arkansas
3. Ralph FOSTER b: 9 Oct 1889 in Myrtle, Boone Co., Arkansas

Marriage 3 JAMES C. JONES b: Bet 1857 and 1858 in Missouri
•Married: 12 May 1907 in Missouri