Lydia Field McCool -- Her Story Continues

Lydia Field McCool suffered great heartache and much loss during the Gainesville Hangings. Both, her husband and father were killed in the fall of 1862. Henry Field, Lydia’s father, was the third man tried by the so-called "Citizen’s Court" in Gaineville and was executed by hanging on October 4th.  Lydia’s husband, William A. McCool, was captured by James D. Young , convicted by a court martial and hanged at Young’s Red River plantation in the later part of 1862, sometime after the Hangings in Gainesville.

Adding to the heartache and stress, Lydia was expecting a child when her father and her husband were hanged in the fall of 1862.  When her new baby boy was born, Lydia named him William after her deceased husband. Little William was born in 1863 in Texas.  It is hard to even imagine the grief, sorrow and fear, Lydia must have felt during this time.  The two men who were her protectors had just been killed by a ruthless mob and Lydia was left pregnant and alone on the Texas frontier.

Sometime after the death of her husband and prior to 1867, Lydia married a man by the last name of Tullis. Lydia had one daughter by this husband and named her Marietta. Marietta was born about 1867 in Texas. What happened to this second husband is unknown, but by 1870 he is no longer in the picture.

Prior to June 1870, Lydia left Texas and moved back to Iowa with her two young children. It would be interesting to know how she traveled from Texas to Iowa with her two young children.  In the 1870 census, Lydia had can be found living in Bellevue, Iowa, with her maternal grandparents, Daniel and Jersusha Potter, and her older sister, Laura Field. Her two children, William McCool and Marietta Tullis, are with her.

About 1876, Lydia married a third time to Robert Coulehan. They had two children, Agnes born 1876 and Lulu born 1884.

The Robert and Lydia Coulehan family can be found living in Bellevue, Iowa in 1880. Lydia’s children from three marriages are living in the household: Agnes Coulehan - age 2, Ettie Tullis age - 13 and William McCool – age 17.

The Coulehan family moved to Boulder, Colorado by 1900. Lydia's daughter, LuLu, is the only child still living in the home. Lydia states that she gave birth to six children and only 4 were still living in 1900.  Lydia and her husband Robert have a boarding house and four male lodgers are living in the home. Lydia’s daughter, Agnes, is living in Denver and working as a stenographer. The 1900 whereabouts of Lydia’s two older children, William McCool and Marietta Tullis is not known at this time and will take further research.

By the time Lydia is sixty-four years old, she is widowed again. She is found living in Long Beach, California with her daughter and son-in-law, Agnes and Claude Blakemore. One of Agnes Blakemore’s sons became well-known in the southern California banking world.

Thanks to a comment left, the burial place for Lydia has been found.  Lydia was buried in the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles,  CA.  A picture of the headstone can be found on FindaGrave.com.  The inscription on the bottom of the headstone reads:

"TO KNOW HER WAS TO LOVE HER"

Any additional information on Lydia and her son, William McCool, would be appreciated. Thanks

Lydia Field McCool "Much esteemed for her modesty, beauty and virtuous refinement"

Lydia Field was the daughter of  Henry Field and Jane Augustine Potter. Lydia was born 12 Dec 1845 in Iowa. She moved with her father and step-mother, Mary Ann Bail, to Texas in about 1856. The family is found living in Cooke County, Texas in 1860. Lydia's father, Henry Field, is listed as a 45 year old shoemaker with no real estate and $800 personal estate value.

When Lydia is 15 years old, she married William McCool (17 Feb 1861 Cooke County, Texas).
According to McCaslin, Lydia allegedly eloped with William McCool and then they settled nearby. McCool "joined William C. Twitty's company during May, 1861, in Gainesville, but never reported for mustering. He paid taxes in 1862 in Cooke County on two cattle, and that summer joined Randolph's Partisan Battalion."

William McCool, along with two others from Randolph's command, A. N. Johnson and John M. Cottrell, were captured by James D. Young. After a confederate court martial presided over by Randolph, all three men were found guilty of treason against the Confederacy and hanged at the Young's Red River home.

Lydia Field McCool lost both her husband and father as a result of Confederate control in Cooke County during the Great Hanging in Gainesville. Lydia's father, Henry, wrote a will the day before he was hanged. Henry Field left to his daughter, Lydia, the following: "three cows and calves also one colt known as the Roan Filley for her own use and benefit."

Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging states this about the McCools:
"William McCool, who was hung with Johnson and Cottrell, was the son-in-law of Henry Fields, who was hung early after the organization of the Court.
Mrs. McCool, the daughter of Fields, is a lady much esteemed for her modesty, beauty and virtuous refinement. She was attached to her husband by the strongest ties of affection. But a short time previous she had secretly abandoned her father's roof, to join her destiny to her bold and determined lover. How sad and melancholly the reflection that she who loved so well could not have loved more wisely. Or why could he not, 'Taste the honey, and not wound the flower.'"
George Washington Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging at Gainesville, 1862, Manuscript Edited by Sam Acheson and Julie, The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. LXVI, January, 1963, No. 3, pages 404.

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