Moses Phillip Pipkin (father of Grover Alton) weighed only two pounds at birth.  His bed was a shoe box.  At that time, most babies were born at home where there were no special provisions for one this small.  He lived to be 61 years old.

Moses Phillip Pipkin was born in Georgia in 1870, one of 4 children.  His father, Philip Pipkin, was in the Civil War and came to Texas just after the war ended.  He owned a river bottom plantation in Georgia and had 14 negro families at his service.  They were freed after the war and he sold the plantation and left for Texas with

$30,000.  His father settled near Longview, TX.

Sam and Ace Pipkin were brothers of Moses Pipkin and both Baptist preachers who lived near Houston.

When Moses' father died, he inherited 300 acres near Longview, which he sold for $2.00 per acre.  The mosquitos were very bad in that part of the country and they desired to live elsewhere.  They moved near Alba, TX.   Please note Longview, TX is oil country.

Mary Ammer Lowe was born in Alabama.  The Lowe's came to Texas from Alabama four years after the Civil War.  Mary's father bought 1,000 acres at Smith's Prairie for $1.00/acre.  Smith's Prairie is located 6 miles south of Commerce.  When her father died, she inherited 60 acres of the estate, just south of the old Lowe homeplace (which the Marriott's bought).

It was here on Smith's Prairie that Grover Alton Pipkin was born, one of 10 children.  Of the ten children, only five lived to be adults.

  Brief History - Pipkin