Joesph H. Proctor

 

(September 15, 1847 to January 16, 1917)

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Kay knows very little about Joseph Proctor.  However, there are many Proctor descendants in Texas and she hopes to connect to some of them soon.  

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From census information, Joseph H. Proctor was born in Missouri and his father was born in Kentucky.  He did not leave Missouri for Texas until after the 1870 census, marrying in Guadalupe County, Texas, in 1878.  According to his granddaughter, Mary Markey Schmid, he was an ‘interpreter’ (I assume from Spanish to English) for the courts; Kay has found no other evidence of this being the case, and it is unclear how he would have learned Spanish, if he came from Missouri.

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In the 1900 census, the family is shown living in Mills County in the town of Goldthwaite.  Joseph is listed as a ‘wagon yard keeper’.  This is perhaps the ‘camp’ Mary referred to when she claimed that her dad, Andrew Markey, came to ‘the camp’ as a peddler.  On the 1910 census, the family is shown living in San Angelo, Texas, and Joseph’s occupation is listed as ‘laundryman’. 

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Joseph and his wife, Margaret Campbell had 8 children, Lena, Annie, Hugh, twins Peter and Silas, Michael Joseph and Bridget Beatrice.  As this list accounts for only 7 children, Kay believes that perhaps one child died very young. (In several censuses, Margaret says she had 8 children.)  Seemingly, Kay’s grandmother, Annie, married against her parents’ wishes, and thus became estranged from the family.  In later years, she kept up with her youngest sister, Bea, and, in fact, ‘Aunt Bea’ and her husband, ‘Uncle Ben’ (Selle) are Kay’s godparents.

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Kay also believes that the family kept somewhat in touch with Michael Joseph (Joe), who was a musician.  Unfortunately, Kay has never seen a photo of the Proctor family.