The woman you see below...

The woman you see below Melissa Emma Tubb... was my Great Grandmother.. my Grandpa, Roy Delton Copeland's mother.. She is buried in A.J. Powell cemetery in Hominy Oklahoma beside her husband Henry Thomas and my Grandpa Roy Delton Copeland. I heard my grandpa talk very little of his mother during his life time. In 1917 she was still living in Louisiana and in poor health.. my grandpa had already brought his younger sister Alma to Oklahoma and was sending her to school so "she could make something of herself", as he put in a letter.. Melissa and daughters, May and Ethel came to Oklahoma to live, they lived in Hominy Oklahoma.. Melissa suffered a ruptured appendix and Hominy had no medical facility to perform surgery so Melissa was sent to Oklahoma City on a train. She died after surgery as the result of an infection.

The most interesting story about Melissa is the one about her father... Her mother was Nancy J. Tubb.. and was first married to a man with the surname of Gray, who had been a union soldier. One day shortly before Melissa was born Nancy's two brother's, who had been confederate soldiers ambushed him, killed him and threw him in the swamp. Melissa's parents did not want the baby to carry the surname of a union soldier so they gave her their surname of Tubb. Nancy's parent's were also first cousins who married... this might explain a little regarding their actions! Nancy and Melissa lived with her parents till they died, then they lived with Nancy's sister Fanny Tubb. When Melissa was about 4 years old her mother married William M. Copeland.. he is the oldest brother of Henry Thomas Copeland who would later become Melissa's husband.

This brings something else to mind.. I now know exactly how I am related to Ernest Tubb, the country western singer... Ernest's father was Calvin Tubb, his father was John Brown Tubb Jr, Nancy Tubb's brother... So, my GG-Grandmother was Ernest Tubb's aunt.....