Mrs. Onie Otis, Daughter of Texas Pioneer Succumbs

Mrs. Onie Otis, 84, whose parents were among the early Texas pioneers, died at 1:45 o'clock this morning in a local hospital where she had been confined for the past week.

She was the widow of C. F. Otis, who died a number of years ago. She had resided for many years with her sister, Mrs. J. W. Dickinson at 1009 South Morris street.

Mrs. Otis was the daughter of Mabel Gilbert, a native of Tennessee and a steamboat captain before coming to Fannin county in the spring of 1837. He was a member of Fannin county commissioner's court but was often absent from its sessions because of Indian campaigns. In January 1839 he helped lay out a road from Rocky Ford crossing to Daniel Montague's plantation on Red River.

Gilbert received his unconditional certificate to his Fannin county land in May, 1841. He and Jonathan Bird helped establish Bird's Fort in Tarrant county in 1840 and in the fall of 1841 Gilbert moved his family to the fort. In the spring of 1842 he decided to join John Neely Bryan, who was making a settlement at the present site of Dallas.

He made two cottonwood dugouts in which he paddled and drifted his family and goods 50 miles down the West Fork of the Trinity river, arriving at Dallas in March, 1842. He was the first navigator on the headwaters of the Trinity and his wife was the first white woman to settle in Dallas county.

Bryan built the Gilberts a log cabin at the foot of present Main street in Dallas, where they lived until 1844. In March, 1845 Gilbert was back in Fannin county and built a horse-operated mill near Bonham. His first wife died and he married Mrs. Rachel Allbright Freeman. They were the parents of eight children, including Mrs. Otis.

In 1856 Gilbert settled in Wichita county along the Red river. By May, 1857, Indian raids drove him east to Montague county, where he lived until late 1859 or 1860. He was back in Wichita county by Sept. 30, 1860 when his daughter, Hettie, was born. She was the first white child born in Wichita county. In 1862 he again retreated to Montague county where he remained until 1867. He returned to Wichita county for the third time and died there of pneumonia on March 1, 1870.

Mrs. Gilbert moved to Cooke county, where Mrs. Otis was born on Oct. 12, 1870 after her father's death. She was the eighth child born of the marriage.

Mrs. Otis is survived by her sister, Mrs. Dickinson, and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be conducted at 10 a. m. Friday at Vernie Keel chapel with Dr. John Poe Hensley, pastor of Whaley Memorial Methodist Church, officiating. Interment will be at Fairview cemetery.