Paisanos: A Folklore Miscellany Page: 17

"I REMEMBER THINGS"
Ross Estes
INTRODUCTION
Ross ESTES WAS BORN in 1889 just west of Tioga, Grayson County,
Texas. His parents had come from Kentucky several years before.
Ross has been a farmer, storyteller, practical joker and respected
member of the Tioga community for most of his life. Around 1920, he
farmed sixty-five acres while crippled so badly that he couldn't walk.
For over fifty years he played Santa Claus nearly every year. Now
ostensibly retired, Ross grows a large garden using a horse and plow.
In the last few years he has made many cement tombstones that are
located in cemeteries all over north-central Texas. Once he sold a
team of workhorses to the Aquarena Springs amusement park in San
Marcos to pull their stagecoach. He has owned a horse or a team of
horses since he was fifteen years old.
Annie McBride became his wife while they were both still teen-
agers. The marriage ceremony was performed in a buggy; that was a
fad at that time. They raised their children in the Puritan tradition of
hard work, honesty and self-reliance. In spite of his sense of humor
and flair for pranks, Ross has always been a solid family man. During
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