John Washington Glover was born in Alabama, March 7,
1847, and came here as an adult. His father died while he was a
young man and he along with three brothers, Jim, Bob, and Gabe Glover
and a sister, Missouri Wilmeth Glover Lamson, came to make their home in
In 1867, when John Glover was 20 years old, he married Drucilla Vaughan,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Jackson Vaughan. Two of their
children, Margaret and James, were born before they came to Texas in
1871. Margaret married Jim Trollinger and five of their six
children are living. James married Ida Jones and they had 10
children, one of whom died early and was the first to be buried in Willow
Pond Cemetery .
With these two children, the couple came to Texas in a covered wagon,
coming from Mississippi, Louisiana and on to Texas. They landed in
Keechi Valley and stayed for a time with Mrs. Glover's parents who had
made the trek a few years earlier. While there, the Indians stole
the team they drove on the trip to Texas, after coming near the house
and waving a red blanket to scare them away from the house. On
another occasion later after the family had settled south of what is now
Mineral Wells, Indians came near their place on the river and tried to
capture their horses but there were several men together and they
shouted and yelled at the top of their voices scaring the group away by
making them think there was a large number of the white men.
John Glover had a blacksmith shop at his home and also a corn mill,
which he operated in addition to his farm. The women cooked on the
open fire and children attended schools, if at all, where the benches
were of split logs, using slates to do their writing and sums on.
The home they built is still standing. This couple died at their
home, Mr. Glover, January 1917 at the age of 69 and Mrs. Glover in 1913
at the age of 65. They are buried in the Willow Pond Cemetery.
After the couple reached Texas, William, their third child was
born. He married Annie Whitley and she is still living in the
Willow Pond community. They had 4 children, two of whom are
living. Robert, the next child was born 1874 and he married Hattie
Autrey. They were the parents of 15 children, including two sets
of twins. Twelve of the children are living and Mrs. Gertrude
Spurlock is their daughter.
The fourth child, Martha (Mattie) was born in 1875. She married
Arthur Adkinns and they have 6 children, all living in and around
The fifth child, Jesse, was born in 1877. He married Bana Hamilton
and four of their five children are living.
Elbert (Ebb) was next and he married Cora Harrington. Seven of
their 10 children are living. Watson, the next child was born 1881
and he married Elnar Autrey and they had 8 children.
The eighth child, Mary Jane, died at the age of 1 year and Laura, the
next child, was born in 1884. She married Will Blocker and both of
their children are living. They have always lived on the Glover
homestead. Another child, the ninth, a son, Ollie, was born in
1886. He married Pearl Christian, and they were the parents of 14
children. He is the only child of the John Glovers that is still
In 1887 the tenth child, Bertha, was born. She married Cal Osborne
and they had 3 children. The last of the children, George, married
Fannie Knight and they had 2 children.
Twins were common in the family, there being a number of them in all
generations. Many of the descendants of the John Glovers live in
Palo Pinto County. Of the 70 grandchildren, 29 live in this
county: of the 197 great grandchildren 81 live here and about 30
of the 80 great great grandchildren live in the county also. Six generations
can be counted in Margaret (born 1869) Glover T. Trollinger's
descendants; John Glover; Margaret Trollinger; Drucie Glover, her son
Roy and children and grandchildren.