- Bennie Gray Halsted was born in Sweetwater (Nolan County), Texas on 29 March 1907. Nolan County Birth Book 1, Page 23, delivered by R. J. Pope, the Physician in Attendance. Family lore is that Bennie Gray weighed 14 pounds at birth and he was big the rest of his life. He was just a little over two months old when his Father, Robert Gray Halsted sold their house in Sweetwater (Nolan County Deed Book 3, Page 292) and moved the family to a house he bought in Baird (Callahan County), Texas. (Callahan County Deed Book Page 184, dated 6 June 1907 for Lot 3 in Block 6 of the Newlon Addition.) In Baird, Benjamin Gray continued his drayage on dirt moving business as well as running the Halsted Brothers Furniture Store with his younger brother, Benjamin Blount Halsted. It was here in Baird that Bennie Gray started the first grade in the Baird School and was also taught to play the fiddle by his Uncle Benjamin Blount. He also learned from his father to do carpentry work and to handle a team of horses and/or mules. The family attended church regularly at the Baird Church of Christ where R. G. and Mrs. Halsted are listed as members starting in 1907.
In 1917, when Bennie Gray was 10 years old, the Halsteds sold their house in Baird and moved the family to Iberis (Taylor County) Texas where they took over a farm as a share cropper. Their eldest daughter, Laura had married George Price of Baird on 12 November 1912 and they also joined the Halsted family on the farm at Iberis. (See 1920 U. S. Census.) Zula, their second daughter had moved out on her own and was living in the Elm Precinct in Abilene. Their third daughter, Mollie Elizabeth had married Jack Ferguson in August 1916 and were working out on ranch in the area. So Bennie Gray transferred from the Baird Schools to the small school at Iberis. It was at this school, while in the eighth grade that Bennie Gray closed the school by running off a gang of older boys and the teacher with a baseball bat. It was also on this farm that Bennie Gray was dragged by a team of mules for over a mile and was severely injured. He had lower back problems the rest of his life.
But of greater significance it was here that he met his future wife, Alpha Arvilla Ohlhausen. Jessie Lee (Uncle Doc) Ohlhausen had bought a farm in 1916 just west of Iberis and located on the Buffalo Gap Road. They were neighbors and fellow Church of Christ members with the Halsteds when the Halsted moved to Iberis in 1917. Bennie Gray became good buddies with two of Uncle Doc's boys, Vernis and Orlan. When the James Henry Ohlhausen family bought their farm at Hylton in Nolan County about 1919 they eventually brought my Mother, Alpha Arvilla, to live with Uncle Doc's family and go to high school at the Abilene Christian College High School. This occurred about 1923, when my mother was 16, as was my Dad. Family lore is that Mother was brought to Uncle Doc's to get her away from a boy she was chasing. If that was the case it did not work because Uncle Doc's boys, Vernice and Orlan could not wait to introduce their beautiful cousin to their buddy, Bennie Gray. And the rest of the story is the subject of this genealogy, The Family of Bennie Gray Halsted and Alpha Arvilla Ohlhausen. They were married at Hylton (Nolan County), Texas on 15 November 1925, Marriage Record Book 6, Page 1, Record Number 3004. The marriage ceremony was performed by G. B. Sliger, Minister, probably of the Church of Christ.
On 23 December 1941 Ben Halsted bought from S. L. Cheairs and wife, Fannie Cheairs, two acres with a house in Taylor County. Deed Book Vol. 306, page 349. It should be noted that S.L. and Fannie Cheairs were the parents of Dick Cheairs, who married my Mother's Sister, Avinell in 1936. These same two acres with house were sold to Ernest Smith by Ben and Arvilla Halsted on 18 January 1944. Deed Book Vol 321, Page 687. This is the only record of land ownership in Taylor or Nolan counties I could find for Bennie Gray and Alpha Arvilla Halsted.
Bennie (Ben) Gray and Alpha Arvilla (Shorty) Halsted moved to Armstrong County in June 1944 from the Marcus Auld Ranch in Kerr County, Texas. The inducement to make this move of about 480 miles was the bumper wheat crop in the Amarillo area and the urgent need for harvest crews to harvest the wheat. Besides Bennie Gray, and our Mother, there were we four boys, Robert Henry (Bob), Benjamin Donald (Don)(me, the writer), Billy Merle (Bill) and Dorman Doyle. Bob, Bill and I were able field hands and able, hard working field hands were in great demand. We boys were paid $5.00 per day driving tractors - the most money we had ever made. I don’t remember how much Dad was paid. Dorman Doyle, our youngest, was only five years old - too young to harvest wheat at that time. Helen Mozelle, our elder sister was working and in college in Abilene (Taylor Co.), Tx. So there were the six of us that migrated north from the Texas Hill Country to the Panhandle: our Dad, Bennie Gray, our Mother, Alpha Arvilla and we four boys, Bob, Don, Bill and Doyle. Helen Mozelle did come to the Panhandle to help Mom get us settled in the old farm house that we lived in while combining wheat.
Over the years Bennie Gray and Alpha Arvilla Halsted became permanent residents of Claude, Texas and were significant citizens and contributors in the community. Both died in Claude and are buried in the Claude Cemetery. Bennie Gray died at the age of 63 on 17 Dec. 1970 from a massive hear attack while at a business meeting at the Church of Christ. He was the County Sherriff of Armstrong County at the time of his death and about two hundred sheriffs and other law enforcement officers attended his funeral. Alpha Arvilla died 18 July 1985 at the age of 78 in the Palo Dura Convalescent Home in Claude. Their story follows.
Bennie Gray Halsted was born 29 March 1907 in Sweetwater, (Nolan Co.) Tx. While born in Sweetwater, Tx. he actually grew up, lived in and farmed in Taylor County, around Abilene, Texas. His parents, Robert Gray Halsted and Mary Christian (Mollie) Head had moved to Sweetwater from Goldthwaite (Mills Co.), Tx. about 1900 because Sweetwater, with the railroad, would become a transportation center for the area and Robert Gray was in the drayage business. Robert Gray, my Grandfather, was born in Coryell Co., Tx. 22 Jul. 1862 (Coryell Co. is located about 40 miles west of Waco, Tx.). Mary (Mollie) Christian Head was also born in Coryell Co. 4 Feb. 1872. Robert Gray Halsted and Mary Christian Head were married 30 Nov. 1890 in Goldthwaite (Mills Co.), Tx. Robert Gray and Mary Christian both died in Abilene, Tx. and are buried in the Merkel Cemetery, Merkel (Taylor Co.) Tx.
Robert Gray Halsted’s father, Benjamin Robert Halsted was born 14 June 1834 in Conecuh County, Alabama. He married Cinderella Clements Atkins 7 Aug. 1860 in Williamson Co., Tx. Benjamin Robert’s father, Benjamin Hawkins Halsted was born at Fort Wilkinson, Milledgeville, Georgia, where his Father, Jonathan Halsted had been appointed Indian Agent and Factor in 1802. Benjamin Hawkins Halsted migrated from Jones County, Georgia to Brookline, Conecuh, County Alabama in 1825 and then moved on to Grimes County, Texas between 1841 and 1844. Benjamin Robert (Bob) Halsted died in Goldthwaite (Mills Co.), Tx. 2 January 1887 at age 54, and is buried in Center City, (Mills Co.), Tx. Cinderella Clements eventually moved to Sweetwater, Nolan County, Texas and then on to Baird (Callahan Co.), Tx. because two of her sons, Robert Gray and Benjamin Blount lived there. She died 1 Feb. 1920 and is buried in the Rose Cemetery, Baird (Callahan Co.), Tx.
Record of Land Purchase: On 23 December 1941, S. L. Cheairs and wife, Fannie Cheairs sold to Ben Halsted about two acres of farm land, with a house, for the sum of $350.00. Taylor County Record of Deeds, Page No. 349, File No. 6151. This same property was sold by Ben Halsted and wife, Arvilla Halsted to Ernest Smith on 18 January 1944 for $350.00.
World Family Tree Archives: Tree 2214
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![HALSTEAD, Bennie Gray [Halsted]](img/male.jpg)
1907 - 1970 (63 years)
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