Hopkins and Rains County, Texas

Hopkins County and Rains County, Texas

September 15, 2008

Webpage by Paul Ridenour

UPDATE 3/6/2012: I received an email from Shelby Barientos who was going to her grandmother Frankie Ridenour's funeral in Sulphur Springs. She wanted to know if we are related. She gave me some information. I searched the Internet and yes, I connected her and the people in this webpage to my family:

http://www.paulridenour.com/albert.htm

There are several online places where one can get birth certificates, death certificates, and census records - ancestry.com, footnote.com, Mormon records, HeritageQuest, and from microfilm at any good public library.

I could not find my 2nd great grandfather George T. Ridenour's 1991 death certificate at the Dallas Public Library nor at ancestry.com. However, I found it at footnote.com. They had Texas death certificates from 1890 to 1917 and his was the only Ridenour listed.

I received an email from someone stating that the Mormons have added Texas death certificates online. So, on Sunday, September 14, I search for the last name Ridenour and three came up. I recognized one of them. It was of Albert Newton Ridenour who is a son of George Ridenour and a brother of Errol; Ridenour, my great grandfather. The death certificate said he was buried in the Greenview Cemetery in Hopkins County near Sulphur Springs, TX. I did not know that. All I knew was that he was a Presbyterian minister in East Texas. He died in 1952 and even my dad had never met him. I went to the Greenview Cemetery webpage and Albert was not listed among the over 1,200 graves. I also noticed a Farrell Ridenour signed Albert's death certificate. Who is Farrell? I thought it must be his son. I searched the Internet for a Farrell Ridenour and found out he was buried in Rains County in the Clifton Cemetery, which is the county next to Hopkins County. I searched online for the Clifton Cemetery and found Farrell's grave.

Monday, September 15, dad and I were supposed to drive to Houston for a doctor's appointment. Dad canceled the appointment because he thought that everyone would be driving home after Hurricane Ike. Plus, no gas in Houston and power outages. Since that was not going to happen, I called dad on Sunday night and told him to be at my house Monday at 8:30. I would take him on a road trip. He figured it would be a cemetery but that is all he knew. I wasn't sure if we would find Albert's grave but Charles Steger emailed me late Sunday night saying that Albert was indeed buried in the Greenview Cemetery, along with his wife Nora.

I drove my Corvette and even let dad drive it a little bit.

We found everything we were looking for. However, Albert's death certificate states he died in 1952 but his gravestone has 1948.

I took my dad to the Audi Murphy Memorial in Greenville, Texas, since he had never seen it up close. Afterwards, we had lunch at Culver's in Rockwall.

Albert Newton Ridenour's death certificate signed by Farrell Ridenour