Prairie Pictures


I stood at the close of a winter's day
And watched the sun in majesty lower away
Saw clouds fleecy and white
Turn from rose to pink
Then Mauve, and purple night.


I saw the moon in it's glory of silver light
Cast soft basins across prairie and lake
And listened to a mockingbird
Sing a love song to it's mate.


I gathered prairie flowers in spring
Of many kinds and hues
From off the grassy prairie bed
Where I dwelt with you.


Pictures that no artist's hand can paint
Linger with me still,
Of white faced cattle beside a lake
And a wild stallion on a hill.


Written for and dedicated to Aunt Susan  BowdenWilbanks, who 
knew and loved The prairie

By Susie Dacus

February 16, 1958

Family History By Susie Dacus

My mother was born in a covered wagon
Enroute from Missouri to Texas land
A baby among siblings
In an ox-drawn caravan.

The year was 1867
The State was Arkansas
A family of young pioneers
Bound for the Washita.

A sturdy home in a meadow
With springs of water at hand
Soon the family prospered
As they began to till the land.

They passed many graves on the roadside
In the journey to their new home
They rejoiced that it had not been their lot
To be left on the roadside alone.

Life went well for a few years
Till the father fell ill and low
The buried him by the riverside
In the and they had come to know.

Three months later the wife and mother
Was laid to rest beside him there
A family of young orphans
Was  left for friends to care.

A dove came in thru the window
And perched on the head of her bed
(just before the wife and mother was lain to rest)
She called her children around her
To tell them about heaven, when dead.

By Susie Pierce Dacus 
originally printed in the Hansford County History Book  Vol 1 1973 pg 315
reprinted with permission of Crew Family

Aunt Susie Dacus Allen Pierce Biography My Great Aunt

MEMORIAL TO SUSIE PIERCE DACUS ALLEN AND HENRY (Mutt)

     (Ira) Frank Dacus and his wife, Susie Parrish Dacus were early residents of Hansford.  They came from Alpine. Texas.  He had heard of good land here, so traded his farm in Alpine for land near Old Hansford. Here he farmed for awhile.  He was often called "Mustang Dacus" because of his ability to capture and tame wild horses.  He knew Pat Garrrett and Billy the Kid.  He felt he had a shrewd trader.  One of the stories concerning Frank was on in which he, loving to trade, traded the stove on which Susie was preparing a meal.  She calmly moved her food to an outside location, lit a campfire and continued coking the family's meal. He had traded the stove for a horse.

     Frank's father, John, fought on the side of the Confederate Army. John never swore allegiance to the USA after that war.  It took him two years to get to Boone County Arkansas because he walked home from the north.  He could have ridden on the train in a box car had he sworn the oath of the Yankee.

     Suzie Parrish Dacus came to Texas in her early childhood.  She loved the outdoors and was a hardy, rugged, individualist.  She lived 96 years.  Frank and Susie's children are:  Lena (McCrory), Winnie Pierce(Allen), Della Dacus, Leo Dacus and Henry (Mutt) Dacus.

     They moved to their farm near old Hansford around 1910.  When the railroad missed Old Hansford.  Frank promptly traded his farm for the first hotel in Spearman.  (This hotel has a Texas Historical plaque on it).  It was a place of fun as the teenagers of Spearman congregated in the Dacus kitchen.  Many yarns are still being told with this hotel as the setting.  Some of these teenagers were Chip Martin, Frank Dillow, Eva Cator, Hazel Lowe and Susie Pierce.  This was 1920.

     Old Hansford Cemetery is a place where one can find the names of the pioneers (dates, births, deaths), along with many of their descendants. L.D. Pierce, Sr. and Ora Pierce are buried there.  L.D. was the brother of Rhoda Pierce Wilbanks.  They were born in Cherokee County Georgia before the Civil War.  After Sherman's "March to the Sea," when the Pierce home in Georgia was decimated, the family decided to move to Texas.  At first they settled in Johnson County before moving to Hansford County in 1908.  They loved the land for farming and Hansford County was virgin soil.

     Before moving to Hansford, L.D. Pierce, Sr., married Aqua Ora Finley.  They produced L.S., Jr., Allen, Clem, Geoerge, Sally, Visa, Felix and Susan (Susie)…who were at one time residents of Hansford County.

     Rhoda Pierce married Manny Wilbanks and they also produced many residents of Spearman and Hansford County.

 

            My mother, Susie Pierce loved Hansford County, it's history and its people.  Her family's first home in Hansford County was a half dug-out. They were one of the first families to put up barbed wire fences to the annoyance of the ranchers.  They were nestlers and loved the land to farm.  Susie often described the prairie country.  She said that for miles you cold see only the grasses of the prairie, no fences.  Many of her poems published in "Prairie Profiles," were her memories of childhood and Hansford .  A volume of these poems are in Hansford County Library for all residents to share.

 

             Susie Pierce married Henry Dacus in Feb 1924.  Henry Dacus died June 10 1963.  They had two children.  Mary Lee and Patsy Ruth Cacus who grew up in Spearman during the Depression years, both having been born in the 1920's.  Susie married Cleston Allen in December of 1966.

            I Mary Lee Dacus Crew can remember the fun of the Spearman Schools, the dust storms and being poor.

            Henry Dacus was a long time employee of R W Morton, Ford Dealer of Spearman.  I remember the Fords of the 1930's very well, and those of the WWII years.  I can remember the thrill of being one of the first to see the new Fords each year.

Another thrill I experienced was the Day that Lindbergh landed at Spearman.  My father came to school to get my sister and I see to see this historic even. R W Morton's gas pump was used to supply lindbergh with fuel to get airborne again.  Just think--Lindbergh had found Hansford County Also.

             I Graduated from Spearman High School in 1942 and went on to college, and in my senior year there I met and married a Yankee from New York June 1 1945.  He was a handsome Air Corps Pilot stationed at Amarillo Field during WW II.

Patsy Dacus married George Adamachak.  Their son was George Patrick. He married Jo Helen Godby of Dumas.  They produced a son John Ray Adamchak in 1977.

 

            Mary Lee Dacus Crew and William L Crew produced Mava Johann in 1952.  Mava married Daniel C Riehle in Deep Park Washington in 1974.  The have 2 children  Peter William born May 4 1976, and Jeramiah Daniel Born Nov 18 1978.  They will probably never know the prairie of Hansford County, except through their great grandmother's poems.  "Prairie Looking Glass"  "Prairie Sunset" " Hog Killing Time"  all printed in her book "Prairie Profiles"  They may visit Old Hansford Cemetery as I have and try to dream up images of their ancestors, Pioneers of Hansford County. they will not find Susie Parrish Dacus nor Ira Frank Dacus for they are buried in another prairie cemetery in the town of Portales NM.

            Susie Pierce Dacus Allen and Henry Dacus are buried in Memorial Park Amarillo, Texas, along with their daughter Patsy Ruth Adamchak, and their grandson George Patric Adamchak---the prairie for them.

 

By Mary Lee Dacus Crew 
Hansford County History book Vol 1 1973 pg 315
reprinted with permission of Crew Family