TOMBSTONE TUESDAY: Jessamine “Jessie” McFarland Penfield

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY: Jessamine “Jessie” McFarland Penfield

Jessamine (Jessie) McFarland was born on April 28, 1878, in Sweet Home, Lavaca County, Texas, the sixth of seven children of Dr. Thomas Jefferson McFarland and Caroline Pauline Jayne. Her father, Thomas, a graduate of Tulane Medical School, had served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army. After the Civil War, he settled in Texas, where he built a respected medical practice and remained a staunch supporter of the Southern cause throughout his life. Jessie’s mother, Caroline, had been born in Austin in 1842 during the chaos and fear of a Comanche Indian raid. Her father, Col. Brewster Helme Jayne—a political rival of Sam Houston and former Mississippi state senator—had moved his family to Texas in 1840 after falling in love with Austin. Tragically, just two months after Caroline’s birth, he was killed in an Indian attack, dying on his front porch while cradling his infant daughter. Widowed, Jessie’s grandmother returned to Mississippi, where Caroline later graduated from college and, in 1864, married Dr. McFarland.

By the time Jessie was two years old, the McFarlands had moved to Indianola, where her youngest sister was born. But in 1886, disaster struck: the family home was swept away in the catastrophic hurricane that destroyed the city. They relocated to Port Lavaca, where they put down permanent roots.

Jessie grew up with a love of music, literature, and lively company. She often styled herself “Jessie Jayne,” borrowing her mother’s maiden name for letters or at tea parties with friends. She graduated from Port Lavaca High School in 1896 and enrolled at the Sam Houston Normal Institute (today Sam Houston State University) to earn her teaching certificate. There she met her lifelong friend, Daisy Thorne. Spirited and mischievous, the two young women were expelled twice during their one-year of studies—first for going on a double date with brothers listed on the “do not date” list, and again for “borrowing” a horse and buggy from Huntsville’s Main Street for an impromptu joy ride. Each time, they were sent home by train, only to return with their parents to plead for readmittance. They were reinstated both times, though their second return was labeled a “final warning.”

On June 1, 1897, Jessie graduated with her First Grade Certificate and taught in Port Lavaca for a year. Daisy took a teaching post in Galveston and narrowly survived the devastating 1900 hurricane. She got married among the rubble only days after the hurricane and moved with her husband to Austin. Jessie and Daisy’s friendship endured for the rest of their lives.

In 1904, Jessie married Franklin “Frank” Potter Penfield, a civil engineer she had met while he was surveying land for the Clark Rice and Irrigation Company in Calhoun County. Their wedding, held in the McFarland home in Port Lavaca, was attended by many friends, including members of Sutton Camp No. 1404 of the United Confederate Veterans, of which her father was a member and Jessie served as a sponsor. Frank, a graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio, had suffered a brutal college hazing in his junior year, when he was thrown into water, tied to a tree and left overnight. The event caused him chronic respiratory problems throughout his life and prevented him from serving in the military.

Jessie and Frank had two daughters: Elsie, born in 1906 in Port Lavaca, and Carolyn Jayne, born in 1907 in Nixon. Eventually, the family settled in Houston, where they remained for the rest of their married life.

A gifted pianist—trained by her mother, who had taught all the McFarland daughters—Jessie was said to read music more fluently than most could read words. She was also a talented writer and artist. Her poetry and short stories gained her recognition in Houston’s literary circles, and in 1906 her short story The Rainbow Box was published by the Shortstory Publishing Company as part of a national competition.

Tragedy struck in 1937 when Frank suffered a stroke while traveling by train from his sister’s funeral. He died later that year on October 26, leaving Jessie a widow at the age of 59.

In 1949, Jessie moved to Columbus, Texas, to live with her daughter Elsie. Jessie passed away on June 2, 1954, at the age of 76, surrounded by her daughter and granddaughters. Jessie was laid to rest in the McFarland family plot at Lynnworth Cemetery (now Port Lavaca Cemetery), beside her beloved husband Frank.

Two years prior to her death, Jessie’s granddaughter, Gail Gibson, wrote an English paper about her Grandmother Penfield. Clearly Jessie’s literary talents were passed along to her granddaughter giving us a true sense of who Jessamine McFarland Penfield was. I’ve copied most of the essay here:

"December 9, 1952: The other day in chemistry class in one of our long-winded, off-the-subject arguments, I was asked the question: "Do you believe in reincarnation?" No sooner were the words out of my mouth than I realized that I really did. I do not believe in the full sense of the word, but I do believe that a person's spirit and ideals can be so implanted in a friend, descendant, or even an enemy that the person, in a sense has been reincarnated.

And then I thought of her - as I do a thousand times a day. I did not see her beautiful face, or loving face, or hear her gentle voice. Those are but her tools. I only felt a warmth surge through me that sent my spirits soaring over the monotonous common routine of living. Through her eyes I saw a truer meaning of life.

This person who has had her rebirth in her descendants is my Grandmother Penfield. She first passed her appreciation for beauty and knowledge, and her endless generosity to her daughters, my mother and my aunt. … In my childish mind when I was growing up Grandmother was synonymous with unselfishness, and patience. It was always for someone else not herself. She entertained us with stories from her colorful life, or recited to us from her broad, and abundant knowledge of literature. When she spoke, it was hard to tell whether she was reciting from some immortal writings or just talking to us, for beautiful things had become such a part of her that her very speech was poetry. She told us a thousand times that if we familiarized ourselves with beautiful literature, that the poet's words would soon become ours. There in our young minds, she started an unquenchable thirst for knowledge of literature.

Grandmother is one of the best cooks I know. For in cooking also, she strives for perfection. She will work hours in the kitchen to prepare a dish we like. She is always concerned that we have just the right things to eat, with the same loving concern she drills us on lady-like behavior.

When we were small, her enthusiasms and interest in what we did made us rush to her all through the day, bubbling with reports of our activities. Now I only see her a few times a year. When I see her I throw my arms around her, and then like a child, I sit beside her chair, and tell her all those things that would seem so unimportant to someone else. But Grandmother - she understands and is as enthused as I am.

When Grandmother dies, she will live again and again in her descendants. Many times this idea comes to me and I wonder if this might not be our eternal life. For her spirit shall live on and on. Even though it loses her name, it will continue to grow in men and make them closer to His kingdom on earth. It makes me wonder about death, this 'undiscovered country from whose bound no traveler returns.'" 

The Jessie McFarland Collection in the Thompson Special Collections & SHSU University Archives, Newton Gresham Library, Sam Houston State University