Martha Evers Downs
Martha Evers
Beloved Wife
of
Perry Downs
Died
June 14, 1884
Aged 28 Yrs., 4 Mos., 22 Days
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
Photo taken in 1941.
1. Obituary
DOWNS - In this city at 1:50 p.m. Saturday, June 14, 1884, Martha, wife of Perry Downs, aged 28 years, 4 months, and 22 days. Mr. Downs and his two motherless children have the sympathy of the community in their bereavement. The funeral will take place today from Mr. Down’s residence at 9:30 a.m.
Source: Corpus Christi Caller, 06/15/884
Research by: Msgr. Michael A. Howell
Submitted by: Geraldine McGloin, Nueces County Historical Commission
Transcription by: Rosa G. Gonzales
2. Obituary
At the age of 28 years, 4 months, and 22 days old — Martha E. Downs died at 1:50 p.m. on Saturday, June 14, 1884. she left behind a husband, Perry Downs, and two small children. The youngest, Albert Chester Downs, had only been born the preceding March 19.
Perry was from a family that had migrated from Louisiana (where he was born) and settled in south Texas. His brother Alex Downs married Aseneath Thomas (also buried in Old Bayview Cemetery next to her father I. H. Thomas). Their brother Joseph Downs (died Jan. 28, 1926) was a grocer on Leopard Street in Corpus Christi. Their sister, Roxie Downs, married Isom Thompson Cayce whose father John M. Cayce is also buried in Old Bayview Cemetery.
Subsequent to Martha’s death, Perry who was a well contractor and a track man for the Mexican National Rail Road moved to Realitos, Texas, to open a boarding house and reside in that area for the next 17 years. He was then in Mexico for 3 years before returning to the Falfurrias area where he continued to drill wells with his son Albert Chester. They drilled the first well on the Falfurrias Farm and Garden Tract and also drilled the flowing well that gave Flowella its name. Chester was later county treasurer in Brooks County from 1933 to 1938, and Perry died in San Antonio in February of 1936.
Perry and Martha had married in Jackson County, Texas, on April 28, 1877.
Research by: Msgr. Michael A. Howell
Transcription by: Rosa G. Gonzales