"Go West Young Wo(man)!"

There were plenty of men headed west during the United States expansion but you do not hear much about the women. Our dear friend, Lynette Kilgore, is the fourth generation youngest daughter descending from Sarah Standifer Litton. Around 1829, Sarah came to Texas with her widowed mother and five young siblings. Not a grown man around to protect them from what they might encounter on their journey. They were headed to Texas to settle in Stephen F. Austin's "Little Colony". Sometime before 1835 Sarah married John Litton in Texas. She married another six times, all to the same John Litton. Texas changed hands several times and they married each time to ensure their marriage was legal under each new law. That is real commitment. There are several stories written about the Litton's, they were a big part of the beginning of Texas. Sarah and John settled what is now known as Elgin, TX. Originally called Hog Eye. It was named for the only song, "Hog Eye", that a traveling fiddler could play for community dances. The name was supposedly a joke but stuck. John fought in the battle of San Jacinto and is even buried in the Texas State Cemetery. Lynette's burial goals. The couple had fourteen children, all born in Texas! John passed away of acute appendicitis, right before their fourteenth child was born. That child was Janie Litton Harling, Lynette's great grandmother. A newspaper in Missouri, The Nesho Times, wrote an article in 1936 reporting on the celebration of the centennial year of Texas, and honoring Sarah Standifer Litton. The paper wrote, "Hog Eye, where they settled, made a convenient stage stop, and to the Litton Inn came every type of man the frontier had attracted; ranchers, gamblers, adventures, and outlaws. Sarah stayed serenely at her post, puffing on her clay pipe, keeping an eye on her children and seeing that her customers got what they wanted. She went along just as quietly after John died." The puffing on her clay pipe is the best part. Sarah moved away from Elgin after the railroad bypassed the area. She lived with family members for several years and eventually lived in the Confederate Women's Home in Austin, until her death in 1892. It is amazing what Sarah witnessed and lived through during her life. She is what people refer to when they say "you were made from good Texas pioneer stock". The daughters that followed sure did pass down their independent spirit to Lynette!

Five Generations of Texas Women

Sarah Standifer Litton > Janie Litton Harling > Rosa Lee Harling Crawford > Virginia "Ginger" Crawford Kilgore > Lynette Kilgore

pictured left: Sarah Standifer Litton. pictured right: Ginger Crawford Kilgore and her grandmother, Janie Litton Harling. Daughter and great granddaughter of Sarah.