Effie Bertie Nix (Archibald)
By Cathy Jo Archibald Gillice
Effie was my great-grandmother, the mother of my grandfather, Dan Archibald. I remember, as a preschooler, watching her from her bedroom doorway, as she let her hair down. She usually wore it up on her head but it was very long, which surprised me.
The whole family would go to her house on Sunday, after church services at the Church of Christ, for fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy. One Sunday one of the uncles fell asleep on the couch. I can remember my total fascination with the volume of his snoring!
The cousins visiting great-grandmother Effie.
Kurt Rowley, Cathy Archibald, Teri & Sandy Ervin
To this day when I smell honeysuckle, I envision her front porch. I love that smell. I have many pictures of her taken during my baby and toddler years, but very few of her before that time. (If you have any of her that you want to share I would love to see them).
My brother Tom has the large portraits, in their original old frames, of Effie and Thomas Archibald taken on their wedding day. They are hanging on his wall in Minnesota. They hung in our house when my dad and mom lived in Oregon. Tom got them after dad died.
Thomas John Archibald Jr & Effie Bertie Nix
wedding photo's
The story in a nutshell is this: Grandma Effie married Thomas John Archibald Jr. in a double wedding in the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, Oklahoma, with her sister Nora and her sister's groom Archie Walters. This is the same Archie with whom Tom had a vaudeville act at one time. It is interesting that an Archibald (last name), [often shortened to Archie] was best friends with an Archie (first name). [Note: All of the Archibald’s seem to have been called Archie at sometime in their lives. (I was ‘Archi’ for years before I got married. My friend Laurie Carr Love still calls me Archi)].
I also remember Aunt Nora, Effie’s sister. I was probably about 2 or 3 years old when we went to visit her (possibly even the day the picture below was taken). I sat on her lap and I was so scared that I sat perfectly still for what seemed like hours to me, but it was probably no more than 5 minutes. She was very nice, but to me, a toddler, I thought she was an old, scary stranger. Isn’t it funny the way a kid thinks? I wish I had known enough then to ask great-grandma and her sister questions about their lives...but I didn't even know anything about my own life yet.
Cathy Archibald with Grandmother Effie,
and her sister Aunt Nora Walters
Effie and her husband Tom Archibald lived in El Centro, California and then Huntington Beach, Orange, California with their three children, Dan, Curt and Elsie. Although all of them are gone now, I can still see them through the fuzzy memories of a child. I always had trouble remembering which aunt and uncle was which. I confused my Uncle Curt with Aunt Elsie's husband Fred and Aunt Elsie with Uncle Curt's wife Madge. But I clearly remember that there was a fruit tree growing in Aunt Elsie’s (or was it Aunt Madge's) backyard that had both oranges and lemons growing on it! Oh the joys of Southern California.
Effie comes from a family line that goes back to the original Lee family [through her paternal grandmother, Martha (Hanna or Anna) Lee (1820-1875) who married William Nix (1819-1875)]. William Nix was a Campbellite Preacher.
At a later time I will reveal information about the Lees. This is the Lee family that produced 'Light horse' Harry Lee and Gen. Robert E. Lee. Effie also had several ancestors’ [the Few's, and Short's] that fought in the Revolutionary War.
At a later time I will reveal information about the Lees. This is the Lee family that produced 'Light horse' Harry Lee and Gen. Robert E. Lee. Effie also had several ancestors’ [the Few's, and Short's] that fought in the Revolutionary War.
Our ancestor, John Nix, born 22 Feb 1611, immigrated to America during the 1600's from England. That's 400 years in America! There is a lot of history there, waiting to be revealed. I will cover it in due time.
Effie Bertie Nix’s parents:
Thomas Leonidas (Lon) Nix (father)
DOB: 30 Jan 1849 in Nashville, Davidson, Tennessee
- Interesting note: My brother and I each have lived in Nashville in the past, not realizing that we had ancestors from there.
- Lon was one of nine children.
DOD: 22 May 1924 in Upland, California from cancer of the stomach at age 75.
Profession: He raised cattle and wheat in both Oklahoma and Texas.
Vilona Ara Hart (mother)
DOB: 18 Oct 1859 in Weiland, Texas
DOD: 4 May 1937 in Upland, California from heart failure at age 80.
Personality:
Quite, but if the occasion came up she could be quite fiery. She was religious and strict. She stood 5' tall and she liked to dip snuff.
Quite, but if the occasion came up she could be quite fiery. She was religious and strict. She stood 5' tall and she liked to dip snuff.
They married on 4 Jan 1880 in (the exact town unknown at this time) Hunt county, Texas and lived in Weiland, Hunt, Texas and then Lone Oak, Hunt, Texas from 1880-1886. Then they lived in Navajo, Jackson, Oklahoma near Navajo Mountain. From 1898 through 1903 they lived at McAlester, Pittsburg, Oklahoma. This is where Tom's family (Effie's husband) also lived (see my article on Thomas John Archibald Sr.) Sometime in 1919 they moved to California, because of the “dust bowl” conditions in Oklahoma.
The Nixes had 11 children and when Lon's eldest sister, Frances Calfernia (Fernie) Nix Anderson died, in 1885 they took in her two children to live with them. Jeff Anderson was 17 and his sister, Willie Anderson was 7.
Children of Lon and Vilona; (besides the two Anderson children that were adopted).
1) Nora Lee Nix (married Archie Walters on 2 Jun 1901-double wedding with Effie)
DOB: 7 Oct 1880
DOD: 16 Aug, 1976
Cause of death: Heart failure at age 96
2) Effie Bertie Nix (Married Thomas John Archibald Jr.
2 Jun 1901)
2 Jun 1901)
DOB: 17 Jan 1882
DOD: 16 Dec 1961
Cause of death: heart failure age 78
Personality: Quiet, good cook, pleasant in manner, attractive and very religious (Church of Christ).
3) Ethel Elsie Nix (married Jess McCoy)
DOB: 19 Aug 1883
DOD: 11 Jan 1961
Cause of death: Malnutrition in pregnancy
Personality: very pretty, musically inclined, creative.
4) Beulah Mae Nix (married Fred Volkart)
DOB: 23 Feb 1885
DOD: 9 Feb 1978
Cause of death: phlebitis age 93
5) William Story Nix (married Callie Day)
DOB: 29 Dec 1886
DOD: 9 Apr 1963
Cause of death: stroke age 77
Personality: talked very fast, laughed a lot, pleasant
Occupation: Farmer
6) Thomas Leonidas (Lee) Nix (married Josie Routt)
DOB: 15 Feb 1889
DOD: 30 Apr 1981
Personality: “Nomad” (itchy feet), pleasant.
7) Clarence Sylvester Nix (never married)
DOB: 14 Nov 1894
DOD: 1984
Personality: bachelor, quiet, smiled easily, very nice.
Occupation: Farmer
8) Grace Bertha Nix (married Covert Routt)
DOB: 14 Nov 1892
DOD: Oct 1934
Cause of death: died in a house fire in Portereville
Personality: nice personality, appreciated fine things.
9) Ocie Margarite (married Cecil "Pat" Patterson)
DOB: 16 Jan 1899
DOD: Dec 1984
Persoanlity: Neat and attractive, very concerned about her looks.
10) Durwood Waldo Nix
DOB: 21 Oct 1903
DOD: 2 Dec 1905 in Elgin, Oklahoma, USA
Cause of death: Lockjaw, age 2
11) Jaleska "Jake" Nix
Elsie & Dan Archibld (Effie's children) with her sister Jake Nix (the tall one)
DOB: 28 Dec 1905
DOD: 28 Aug 1927 in Upland, California, USA
Cause of death: enlarged heart
Personality: Quiet, timid, and pretty
Marriage Information:
Effie and Tom Archibald
with Tommy and Betty Archibald
(grandchildren) in about 1934
Effie and Tom met in McAlester, Pittsburg, Oklahoma where they both lived with their parents (per the 1900 US Census records). Effie Bertie Nix married Thomas John Archibald Jr. in a double wedding with Nora Nix and Archie Walters, on 2 Jun 1901 and their children were born in Oklahoma. The family story is that Tom & Effie moved to California because of the “dust bowl” effects in 1919, to El Centro, California. In 1922 they moved to Huntington Beach,CA . In the World War I draft registration records it says that Tom was a traveling salesman. Tom worked in the oil fields in S. CA. He died 25 Mar 1949 in California.
Children of Tom and Effie (Nix) Archibald:
1) Daniel Leonidas (he later shortened it to Leon) Archibald
Daniel Archibald
DOB: 16 Sep 1902 in McAlester, Pittsburg, Oklahoma, USA
DOD: 20 Feb 1992 in Springfield, Lane, Oregon, USA
Dan married:
1) Nancy Kathleen Miller-Darrow 14 Nov 1926 (double wedding with his sister Elsie and Fred Rowley)
2) Ruth Ingersoll 10 Feb 1937
Ruth and Dan Archibald
3) Ethel Florence Tolman (Collingwood, Banker, Smith) 10 Dec 1975. (Ethel was also the mother of Dan's daughter-in-law Bernice, married to Thomas).
Dan's Personality:
He could be gruff at times, usually quiet, always whistled and wore a baseball cap, and he loved to read. He became hard of hearing in later years.
He could be gruff at times, usually quiet, always whistled and wore a baseball cap, and he loved to read. He became hard of hearing in later years.
Occupation: He owned a service (gas) station at one time and always worked on cars.
Physical description: balding, resembled all the Archibald men (since Thomas John Archibald Sr). He had crossed eyes all through his childhood until he was old enough to pay for his own surgery.
Dan Archibald
Children of Dan and Kathleen:
- Betty Jean Archibald
- Thomas Ernest Archibald
Children of Dan and Ruth:
- Daniel Leon Archibald
- Ronald George Archibald
2) Thomas Curtis Archibald (was called Curt)
DOB: 5 Feb 1904 in McAlester, Pittsburg, Oklahoma, USA
DOD: 26 Jan 1991 in Norwalk, Los Angeles, California, USA (age 86)
Occupation: Mortician, owned Norwalk Mortuary for years in Norwalk, California
Physical description: balding, resembled all the Archibald men (since Thomas John Archibald Sr.)
Married:
Doris Lihou
Madge Dennis 9 Jan 1950
Children: no biological, at least one step-child Mel Dennis.
3) Elsie Margaret Archibald (
see her picture above with Dan & Jake Nix)
see her picture above with Dan & Jake Nix)
Married: (double wedding with brother Dan and Kathleen on 14 Nov 1926 )
Fred W. Rowley
DOB: 14 Nov 1908
DOD:
Children of Elsie and Fred Rowley:
1. Robert (Bob) H. Rowley married______________?
DOB: abt 1927
Had two sons:
· Kurt Rowley
· Kenny Rowley
2. William (Bill) Rowley (never married, he did have a longtime partner in Hawaii, where he lived most of his adult life).
DOB: abt 1929
DOD:
Sources:
- Nix Family History (private papers) written by Nora Lee Nix Walters and Elsie M. Archibald Rowley. Reference used: Goodspeed History Genealogy. (Copy in possession of Cathy Jo Archibald Gillice)
- http://trees.ancestry.comestory.com
- https://www.familysearch.org/search
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