Anna Laura Bankston Genealogy

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Anna Laura, born May 29, 1854, was the oldest child of Henry and Martha McDonald Bankston of Bright Star Arkansas. She married Newton T. Cothern approximately 1872-74. It is unknown, but suspected he was from the Texarkana region. His parents, like the Bankstons, came there from Georgia. In 1880 this young family was living in Cass County, Texas, as well as some of Newton's brothers, and their families. Mary W., Newton's mother, was living with them. They had three children listed with them on the census. they were; Pett, Molly J., and Lula. Family history says the young Cothern family left Cass County Texas soon thereafter so Newt could find work in the coal mines in Coleville, or Gordon, Texas.

Around April, 1882 the Cotherns had their fourth baby. A little girl named Katie. About one hundred years later, we traveled to Gordon Texas, not seeking coal mines, but rather the grave of the young Anna Laura Cothern. She died a tragic death while my grandmother, Katie Ida was only about 2 years old. We did'nt find the grave, and assume, if we even looked in the right cemetery, it was unmarked. The young Cothern family had no money to buy a stone, and the trauma that followed their loss continued to unfold for many years.

Hoxie Palao Pinto Co Tex
Dec 15 84

Dear Carrie
I wrote to you some time since and received no answer But under the presant circumstances __________________inform you of the sad misfortune of your Darling Sister. Laura Cothern. Who the hand of fate told her She was to live no more in this cold and heartless world.
But to come(?) follow it. She died Saturday Dec 13 84.

(Page 2 - top cut off can't read)
died Saturday at 4 PM the cause of her deth is still unknown. She was well cared for by the Ladies of Hoxie I cut and help make her dress Mamma(?) was there and clothed (scratched through) closed her eyes. If you have her childrens ages _____________________________Mr Cothern dont know any of they children's ages. he talks of trying to keep house. I dont know what he will do
She was interred at the Gordon Grave Yard. A big crowd at the Funeral. which was____terday at three 3 PM

(Page 3 - top cut off, can't read)
She looked very naturel Please let me heare from you on Mr Cotherns acount.
All we can say is (Y?)our looss is her eternal gain
Carrie I would of wrote to your mamma bit did not (know her address, I think, from memory - that part is faded now)

As ever your friend

Mollie Painter
Hoxie Palo Pinto Co (date cut off)
To Miss Carrie Bankston
Bright Star Ark

Newt and Three Children Disappear

Because of family histories, known only through stories handed down, it is believed after this tragic event shook these young lives, Newton Cothern soon left Gordon, Hoxie or Coleville Texas, taking the older three children, Pett, Lula, and Molly with him. The youngest, Katie Ida, still a toddler, was left to be raised by a Gordon Texas couple by the name of Nolan and Emma Deford.
I visited with Lois Smith, the son of Carrie Bankston Smith, many years ago. about Newton, and the Cothern children. He couldn't remember much, but said for a while letters came from the girls in east Texas or the Louisiana border. Eventually the letters stopped. It was said but is still unproven, Pett, the only son, died young. Perhaps still a child. Grandmother told me that as well. And, it was suspected the other two sisters must have died too. But, that is not proven, and I still hope to trace them, although after the letters stopped it is unknown where they might have gone. There ends the saga of Newton and Anna Laura. No more has ever been found about what happened to the surviving Cotherns........But there's more!

The Defords Move to Oklahoma

It was the understanding of my aunt that Katie Ida Cothern and the Defords moved to Cleveland County, Oklahoma , while Katie was still a girl. She believed she must have been young because she went to school there. It was said Nolan came to Oklahoma to make the land run, but a cow kicked him in the leg, and he couldn't. The Defords were relatively well off, and grandmother had said she felt "funny" in school because she was dressed finer than the others. The Defords had no other children. She wasn't told of her past, or that the Defords were not her real parents until she was about fourteen. Several family stories circulated about how she found out. The most feasible was that she was told by someone at school. When she confronted Emma Deford, she first denied it, then tearfully admitted it as truth.

Note: This is an interesting story, but after reading the pension application and widow's pension application for Nolan and Emma Deford, it states they always lived in Texas and they had no property at all. So, at the very least, we know the Defords were not well off at least when they died. However, they are listed in Pottawatomie County OK on the 1900 census.

All of grandmother's life she yearned for her family. She told the story of recalling a stranger who came to see the Defords when she was a little girl. She was playing outside when he came, and was sent away to her room while he visited with her parents. She said she felt a connection when she looked into his eyes, and when he left, watched his carriage out her window until it was out of sight, and that she "longed after him". Whether is was really Newton Cothern or not will never be known. But she thought it was, in her memory.

When Katie became a young woman she met and fell in love with a young man named Asbury Burt. It was told to me the Defords did not approve of him. They eloped on horseback in a romantic quest, and "forded the river" to get married. Soon a relationship must have formed between the new Burt family and the Defords, as some of the Burt "kids" remembered seeing "Grandpa" Deford, and said he would bring "buckets of jellybeans" to them.

When Nolan Deford died no adoption papers could be found for Katie, their only child. Although he had told Katie she and her children would be well provided for after he was gone, they received nothing from his estate. This is what was told to me, and that Emma had died some time earlier. However, a Deford connection contacted me and instead, it was Emma that outlived Nolan by a few years.

Many years later Katie advertised, looking for her family, in "Old Comfort" magazine, or periodical. From this ad came a response from her Aunt Carrie Bankston. Katie and her family traveled to Wetumka Oklahoma, and she met and established a relationship with Carrie Bankston Smith, Perly Evadner Bankston and Lula Bankston Sexton. She never found any of her siblings, if they survived, and died at 93 never having found the ones she sought so desperately.

Katie Ida Cothern and Asbury Brazier Burt

Descendants of Anna Laura Bankston Generation No. 1 1. ANNA LAURA1 BANKSTON (HENRYA, UNKNB) was born May 29, 1854 in AR or TX, and died December 13, 1884 in Gordon, Palo Pinto Cty. TX. She married NEWTON T. COTHERN, son of (UNKN) COTHERN and M. (UNKN).

Children of ANNA BANKSTON and NEWTON COTHERN are: i. PETT2 COTHERN, b. 1876, TX.

ii. L (LULA) COTHERN, b. 1877, AK.

iii. M.J. (MOLLY) COTHERN, b. 1880, Cass Cty.? TX. 2.

iv. KATIE IDA COTHERN, b. April 22, 1882, Gordon, (Palo Pinto Cty) TX; d. November 25, 1975, Shawnee (Pott Cty) OK.

Generation No. 2 2. KATIE IDA2 COTHERN (ANNA LAURA1 BANKSTON, HENRYA, UNKNB) was born April 22, 1882 in Gordon, (Palo Pinto Cty) TX, and died November 25, 1975 in Shawnee (Pott Cty) OK. She married ASBURY BRAZIER BURT May 03, 1898 in Shawnee, (Pott. Cty)OK, son of ALFRED BURT and LUCINDA FRANKLIN.

Children of KATIE COTHERN and ASBURY BURT are:

i. CLAUDE F.3 BURT, b. May 01, 1899, Linden, Pottawatomie Cty., OK; d. January 18, 1964, Shawnee Pottawatomie Cty., OK; m. (1) PEARL (UNKN); m. (2) JUNE (UNKN).

ii. LILLIE BELL BURT, b. June 06, 1901, Linden, Pottawatomie Cty, OK; d. November 15, 1973, Midwest City, OK; m. (1) HENRY BIRD (HANK) CANNON; m. (2) NEATIS BURKETT, 1953, OBU Chapel, Shawnee, OK.

iii. ALFRED NOLAN JOSEPH BURT, b. October 03, 1905, Little, Seminole Cty, OK; d. February 23, 1991, Shawnee, OK; m. JEWEL D. HELM.

iv. LOYD WILLIAM BURT, b. August 10, 1909, Little, Pottawattomie Cty., OK; d. February 16, 1989, Shawnee, Pott.Cty., OK; m. JEWEL GENTRY,

v. LAURA LUCINDA BURT, b. May 21, 1911, Little, Seminole Cty, OK; d May, 1999 OK,m. ROY HOMER MCKINNEY

vi. PAUL BRAZIER BURT, b. August 28, 1913, Little Seminole Cty, OK; d. January 24, 1984 OKma City, OK Cty., OK; m. GLADYS PATRICIA LOWE OK.

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