The earliest Green I can trace is Edward Green (b 1655 Charles City Co VA d. 1728 Surry Co VA), who was Jesse Green's gggggrandfather.  The Greens lived in VA until about 1803-9 when Jesse's grandfather, Mastin Green (b: abt 1768 VA) immigrated to NC.  Apparently his brothers moved their families to NC about the same time, as their wills and probate records are found in the Montgomery Co NC public records

The Greens were wealthy cotton farmers.  According to the probate of John Green and the wills of Robert and Joel Green, all of whom were Jesse Green's great-uncles, they had extensive property and material holdings, including an extensive number of slaves, who were apportioned to their children.  Among the records I found was a news article about Joel Green's death, due to an accident at a cotton gin which resulted in lockjaw.  It took him several days to die.

Jesse Duran Green (b. 5 May 1829 NC d. Feb 1925 Garland, TX) married Jeanne Carolyn Greene Green (b. 11 May 1831 -d. 20 Mar 1907 TX?) on 21 Nov 1852 in NC.  Their first child, Franklin, was born in NC but subsequent children, including Betty Green were born in Bradley Co TN, outside of Chattanooga.  The Green's endured the Civil War close to Chattanooga and the nearby Battle of Chickamauga.  One wonders how they lived through the ferocious fighting that occurred in the area.

Jeanne's parents, Pleasant G. Greene (b. 8 Aug 1809 Tryon, Polk Co NC d. 28 Feb 1877 Greenville SC) and Elizabeth  "Eliza" Clifton Greene (b. 1814 Lincoln Co NC d. 24 June 1909 Greenville SC) were born in NC, but moved over the line to Greenville SC between 1840-8, where they are buried.  The only information I had about the Greene's (apparently from Grandmother Betty's Bible) was that their name was spelled with an "E" at the end.  However, census records rarely recorded it that way.  But I lean toward Grandmother Betty's spelling.

Eventually the Greens migrated to Texas.  Jeanne died in 1907 in the Dallas area, and Jesse died in 1925 in Garland TX.

Elizabeth (Betty) Green (b. 7 Sep 1868 Chattanooga TN d. 9 Jan 1952 El Paso TX) and Theodore Albert Odell (b. 23 Dec 1865 IL d. 16 Apr 1938 Balmorhea, TX) were married in the Dallas area.  Their first child, John, was born in Richardson and Jennie in Garland, but the family moved to Aurora in Wise County, northwest of Fort Worth (home of the famous "Aurora incident") and spent many years in the area.  My grandmother Gertie was born there, but a spotted fever epidemic at Aurora emptied the town and when the railroad abandoned plans to pass through Aurora, most of the remaining residents, including the Odells, moved to Rhome.  The rest of the children were born in Rhome, as far as I can tell, except for Clarence, who died young, possibly after they moved to Balmorhea.

Grandpaw Odell was employed as barber and sometime driver of a horse-drawn street car in Fort Worth, but farming was in his blood.  The earliest ancestor I can find for him is Reuben Odle of Green County IL.  Reuben Odle (pronounced 'O-duhl') (b. SC d. 22 Jan 1841 Greene Co, IL) immigrated from SC to KY where he married Mary Davis (b. 1803 KY d. IL) 6 June 1817 Hopkins Co, KY.  In the 1820s they migrated across the Ohio River to southern Illinois, eventually settling in Green County IL, just north of St. Louis on the IL side of the Mississippi, close to Alton IL.  They were farmers and raised 9 children, including Grandpaw's father, Philip Albion Odle.  The Odles changed the spelling of their name around the Civil War.  Philip and two of his brothers mustered into the Union Army at St. Louis, all using the ODLE spelling. Shortly after the war the family began spelling their name Odell.

Philip Albion Odell (b. 18 Dec 1838 Carbondale IL?-d. 29 Apr 1910 Balmorhea, TX) was married first to Hannah Nix in 1858, but the marriage lasted less than a year.  It did, however, produce one child, Alice Maria Odell.

The second marriage was to Emily Hancock Odell (b. 1845 MO-d. 1883 McKinney, TX) on 18 July 1861.  This marriage produced 4 children, of whom Theodore was the eldest, born in Alton IL (b. 23 Dec 1865 IL-d. 16 Apr 1938 Balmorhea,TX).  All of the children were born in IL, but the family immigrated to Texas around 1880.  In just three short years Emily passed away, not yet 40.  It does not appear that Philip remarried after Emily's death.

Emily Hancock was born into an illustrious family, headed by grandfather Benjamin Allen, honored veteran of the War of 1812, who moved to Green Co IL on a soldier's land warrant when there was nothing there, a real 'mountain man' by anyone's definition.  He farmed and raised 10 children.  His second daughter, Sarah, married Armsted Hancock and produced 4 children before Armsted died young.  She married a widower with 9 children, joining her family with his, and produced 2 more children...fifteen in all.  Her second child, Emily Hancock was born in MO, but the family returned to Green CO IL after Armsted's untimely death.  She lived with various relatives, including her grandparents until her marriage to Philip Odell in 1861, when she was 16 and he was 23.
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Dick and Betty Odell and family moved to the Balmorhea area shortly after the turn of the century.  Grandpaw farmed and ran a barbershop out of a tent.  They spent their remaining years in Balmorhea, Grandpaw passing in 1938 and Grandmother in 1952.  Their children spent a very interesting childhood and married local folks.  They gradually drifted away from Balmorhea,