Crowford B. Eckols
Crowford B.
son of
E & F. Eckols
May 18, 1890
May 23, 1890
A little time on earth he spent
Till God for him his angel sent.
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
Biography
Little Crawford and his older sister Eugenia are listed as the children of E. and F. Echols. Their parents appear to be Eugene Earl Echols and his first wife Fannie. It should be noted that the last name is spelled variously as either “Echols†or “Eckolsâ€. Eugene was born 23 August 1865 in Gonzales County near Luling to John W. and Laura Harris Echols. He married Mrs. Fannie V. Kelman in Gonzales County in 1887. She had been previously married to Philip Kelman. It seems that shortly after the marriage the young couple was on the move and would have had connection to Corpus Christi while young Eugene was working as a mail agent on the Aransas Pass Railway. Eugene and Fannie lost these first two children (Eugenia and Crawford) during this period and buried them in Old Bayview Cemetery. They would subsequently lose two other children, Alma and Thelma Grace, prior to Fannie’s death on 31 May 1919. Fannie and these children are buried with Eugene in the Kenedy Cemetery #1. In the 1900 census Fannie reports that she had already lost 3 of her 6 children (1900 census of Karnes County, E.D. 63 page 10B). These would be Alma (1891-1898), Eugenia (1888-1890), and Crawford (1890-1890 as he was 2 months old at time of death). At the time of his death Eugene Earl Echols was considered the oldest male resident of Kenedy. It is probably the railroad that brought the couple back to Kenedy as they came to that area a year before the townsite of Kenedy was laid off. Mr. Echols was also an agent for the Hartford Insurance Company for over 50 years, a member of the Rotary Club, a Master Mason in the Scottish and York Rite, a deacon in the Baptist Church, and a collector (like our local John “Red†Dunne) of western curios (guns, relics, animal heads and horns, etc.). He had married Anna Belle Pittman in Kenedy on February 12, 1921 and she too rest in Kenedy Cemetery. The 1920 census of Karnes County (E.D. 160 sheet 14) lists his son Eugene Earl Echols with wife Hilda living with the elder Eugene in Kenedy. However, they later moved to the Robstown area of Nueces County along with the elder Eugene’s son Clyde. There were active here especially in the 1930s and 40s. Younger Eugene Earl Echols later suffered a breakdown in this area in 1947 and was confined for a time at the Veterans Hospital in Waco (Probate Records of Nueces County, vol. 39 pages 62-4). At some point Mrs. Hilda Echols married a Jalufka as she is listed as Hilda Echols Jalufka at the time of her son’s death. That son, Jacob A. Echols, was a sergeant in World War II and died in North Africa on 20 April 1944 (Probate Records vol. 26 pages 254-7). At the time of the death of elder Eugene Earl Echols in 1956 he was survived by his widow, his daughters Vivian Echols McKean of Tilden and Gladys E. Davis of Yoakum; two sons, Clyde G. Echols of Kenedy and Eugene Earl Echols of Dallas
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell