Grayson County TXGenWeb
 
Thomas Lewis Napoleon Pilcher
Thomas Lewis Napoleon, son of David Robertson Pilcher and Caroline Boatman Harris, was born September 23, 1856 in Louisville, Winston County, Mississippi.  By 1860, Lewis is living in Wise County, Texas with his mother, Caroline Boatman Harris Pilcher, two half sisters, Elizabeth and Lucinda Harris, and sister, Victoria Pilcher.



The family tale is that his father, David Robertson Pilcher, served in the CSA, enlisting March 10, 1862 in Parker County, Texas.  At the end of the war, David Robertson Pilcher did not return home immediately.  Assuming that her husband was deceased, Caroline Pilcher married Carlos Charles Lumbard in Rusk County, Texas on June 12, 1866.  Sometime after her third marriage, David Robertson Pilcher returned home.  When he discovered that his wife had remarried, he turned and walked down the road. The only known sighting of David Robertson Pilcher after than was that Lewis Pilcher told his son, Bud Pilcher, that he had seen his father once while in Whitesboro.  No records have been found regarding David Robertson Pilcher after his military service.













Lewis Pilcher and Nancy Henry Ingram married January 9, 1879.  They would live the remainder of their lives in the Collinsville area and raise nine out of eleven children to adulthood.  The family resided in the Welch "Hog Town" Community which lies between Collinsville and Tioga.





Lou was a successful farmer. Nannie was a housewife, growing and preserving the family's food.  A granddaughter and a great-granddaughter grew up together, being the same age.  They would go to visit Lou and Nannie.  Nannie would only allow two jars of preserves to sit open on the kitchen table and none could be opened until both were emptied. 


She did serve tea at meals but each glass only got one piece of ice.  The girls said that when the day's work was done, both Lou and Nannie would each sit in their chairs, sitting on opposite sides of the fireplace.  Nannie would take down her hair and, leaning over, would comb her long hair and then tie it up again only to be repeated the next evening.
Family home of Louis Thomas & Nannie Henry Pilcher, located between Collinsville and Tioga, Grayson Co., Texas,
about 1910. Lou & Nannie are pictured with the 9 of their children who grew to adulthood.


Pilcher Family
ca 1940
1st Row (L-R): Thomas Lewis Napoleon "Lou" Pilcher; Nancy Henry"Nannie" Pilcher
2nd Row (L-R): Nora Lillian, Grace Caroline, Doll E., Hazel
3rd Row (L-R): Albert Earl "Jip", William Lee, James "Jim", Frank Owen, General Robertson "Bud"

not shown:

Lewis H. Pilcher
1888 - 1889

Eddie Pilcher
1901 - 1904

Biography Index

Susan Hawkins
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