Wednesday, March 7th, 1866

To day I am still at the Crawford house in Galveston. My Cough is a little better. I drove out to the beach in company with Charley Lund and spent a very pleasant day. Capt. J.H. Wootters called around to see me and spent the evening. Weather clear.

Friday, December 23rd, 1864

To day the boys are at work chopping & hauling wood. I assisted Hicks in the mill where we ground 10 bushels of wheat. Capt. John Wootters left for Crockett. Weather changeable and rather warm.

Thursday, December 22nd, 1864

To day Sam* Sharp and the boys again went out hog hunting but without success. Sam however killed a fine deer. I loaned Mother* [Mahala Sharp Hall nee Roberts] 300 lbs of fine dry salt. Capt. John Wootters came out & stopped with me for the night. Hicks ground 12 bushels of wheat. Weather clear and cold, with a hard frost at night.

*This Sam is a 2nd great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog. Mahala is his mother.

Thursday, January 22nd, 1863

To day I rode out in the woods to select some timber suitable to make garden pickets. Hicks still at work on the garden rails. Sam* Sharp still at work on the loom (i.e.) in making the loom for Mother [Mahala* Sharp Hall nee Roberts]. I ground only 2½ bushels of corn. James Wootters stoped to see me. he was on his way to Corsicana. I am busy setting the garden posts. weather changeable & warm with occasional showers of rain.

*This Sam is a 2nd great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog. Mahala is his mother. She is also the step-mother as well as the mother-in-law of JMH.

Sunday, June 10th, 1860

To day I went fishing with Frank Stewart & John Harwell & had good success. Father & the children took dinner with us. James Wootters visited us in the evening. Bill Hicks hauled 3 loads of rails. Weather changable & warm.

On the 7th of June, 1860, was solemnized the marriage of Major Wootters to Mrs. Emily Mildred Long, widow of Col. L. Long, of Crockett. . . .

Sunday, March 11th, 1860

To day in the morning Sam* Sharp, John Wooters and myself went fishing with poor success. In the evening we all went to Crockett to attend Court. Darby split 159 rails. Weather cloudy & rather cool.

*This Sam is a 2nd great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog.

 

Saturday, March 10th, 1860

To day we commenced to plant corn in the old ground with two plows running. In the evening Sam* Sharp & John Wootters came out from Crockett; Weather clear but cold. I paid Bill Hicks in cash $1. on a/c of rails.

*This Sam Sharp is a 2nd great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog.

 

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YAZOO DEMOCRAT [Yazoo City, MS], March 10, 1860, p. 3, c. 1. Our neighbor grows eloquent and witty over a grape vine chair, and talks also of "grape vine committees." She thinks that grape vines are better adapted for the manufacture of chairs and wicker work than for hanging Yankees with. She also hopes that because she happened to be born in the "good old Dutch city of Albany," she may not be made a victim of the "Grape Vine Committee." We have always had our opinion of Yankees, for our own part, and that is, that as long as they behave themselves they are as good as white people, and consequently, we are decidedly opposed to hanging innocent Yankees on grape vines.

Horace Oscar (Toby) Hall (1854-1934)

The Crockett Courier
Volume XIV. Number 13.
Crockett, Texas
April 12, 1934

Mr. Horace O. Hall, citizen of Crockett for nearly 80 years, died at his home at 9:10 Monday night. Mr. Hall was born Sept. 22, 1854 and he would soon be eighty years old. He was a native of Houston Co. His father was the lamented Captain J.J. Hall, one of Houston County's pioneer citizens and planters. The plantation of the elder Hall was at Hall's Bluff on the Trinity River which location bears the Hall's name until this day. The wife of Horace O. Hall died a number of years ago [i.e., Florine Annie Kirkpatrick (1861-1900)].

Mr. Horace Hall was a good citizen and neighbor. Unobtrusive in his disposition, he retired early to the privacy of farm life and by his own seeking was never in the limelight. In the quiet of his country home just outside the city limits he reared and educated his children, who are ::

• James F. Hall of Groveton (1883-1965)
• Horace O. Hall, Jr. of Houston (1896-1983)
• Mrs. Henrietta Walters of Port Neches (1887-1953)
• Mrs. Ruth Hamilton of Dallas (1892-1975)
• Mrs. Mahala Brownlow of Shreveport (1894-1991)
• Miss Susie Hall of Houston (1899-1955)

Most of these, including a daughter-in-law, Mrs. Felix Hall [i.e., Susie Beatrice Loring (1885-1961)] and her two children [i.e., Robert Loring Hall (1914-1981) and Mary Sue Deen nee Hall (1916-2001)] of Tyler, were here for the funeral. Felix Hall (1884-1926) died several years ago.
Funeral services were held in the Glenwood cemetery Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock. Rev. B.L. Pool, the Methodist pastor conducting the services. Mr. Hall was a member of the Methodist Church. Interment in charge was T.J. Waller funeral director followed by a religious service.

Active pallbearers were ::

• C.W. Moore
• H. Long
• J.L. Arledge
• R.J. Spence
• T.R. DewPree
• D.D. Dishough
• J.C. Goolsby
• N.W. Boo...

Honorary pallbearers were ::

• J.R. Foster
• J.W. Shivers
• Dr. T.S. Wootters
• J.E. Monk
• Chas. Hassell
• J.W. Arledge
• Senator Nat Patton
• A.W. Phillips
• J.L. Monk

The Courier wishes to join in extending condolences to the bereaved.

Major James C. Wootters

Throughout the pages of the Hall Journal are multiple mentions of a family by the name of WOOTTERS . . . the first appearance of a WOOTERS occurs on Saturday, March 10th, 1860 when J.M. Hall records the following . . . To day we commenced to plant corn in the old ground with two plows running. In the evening Sam Sharp & John WOOTTERS came out from Crockett; Weather clear but cold. I paid Bill HICKS in cash $1. on a/c of rails. . . . the following information from Google Books describes some of the WOOTTERS individuals . . .

James C. Wootters. Any piece of biographical writing should be both an impression and an interpretation, quite as much as a mere summary of facts. Facts, to be sure, are of use as a wholesome corrective of prejudice or whimsey; but in the condensed narrative of a life there is danger that they may tyrannize. In studying a clean-cut, sane, distinct character like that of the late Major James C. Wootters, interpretation follows fact in a straight line of derivation. There is small need for indirection or puzzling. His character was the positive expression of a strong and loyal nature, and his strength was as the number of his days. His name looms large in connection with the civic and industrial development and upbuilding of the Lone Star state, where he established his home fully sixty years ago and where he made his influence definitely felt during the pioneer era of formative policies and activities, as did he also during the latter days of magnificent and opulent advancement. In a work of the province assigned to the one at hand it is imperative, as a matter of consistency, that an outline of his career be given, marked, as it was, by splendid achievement, and guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity and honor.

Major James C. Wootters was born in Queen Anne county, on the east shore of the state of Maryland, and the date of his nativity was April 20, 1830, so that he was seventy-four years of age when he was summoned from the stage of his mortal endeavors, at his home in the city of Crockett, Houston county, Texas, on the 12th of July, 1904, after a life replete with usefulness and honor. He was a son of Ezekiel C. and Mary (Downs) Wootters, both of whom were likewise natives of Maryland, where the respective families were founded in the colonial era and where the parents continued to reside until their death. In his native commonwealth Major Wootters was accorded excellent educational advantages, and during all the years of his long and prolific life he was a student of books, of men and of affairs, — a man of broad mental ken and mature judgment. A dominating personality was his and he could not long remain obscure or dependent, for action was as the breath of his life in his youth as well as in later years of prodigious achievement. In 1853 he joined the vast concourse of argonauts who were making their way to the newly discovered gold fields of California, and he made the voyage down the Atlantic coast, through the Gulf of Mexico and thence proceeded across the Isthmus of Panama, and secured passage on one of the early vessels transporting the gold-seekers to the New Eldorado. He encountered his quota of dangerous and novel experiences in the wilds and the rude mining camps, but his quest for the precious metal in the placer mines proved of negative order, with the result that he soon set forth for the east. He continued his eastward journey only as far as Texas and arrived at Crockett, Houston county, on the 8th of October, 1853. Little could he have anticipated at the time how great success he was destined to achieve in the great state to which he came as a youth with but meager resources of financial order, but with a full equipment of energy, determination and ambition. For several years he was employed in a clerical capacity by Colonel Long, one of the pioneer business men and influential citizens of Crockett, and in the meanwhile he made careful survey of the situation, manifested great circumspection in his sizing up of resources and opportunities, and finally engaged in the mercantile business on his own responsibility. He soon gained secure status as one of the foremost merchants of the progressive little city, and with its rapid growth and development he not only kept pace but also proved a leader in the forward movements along both industrial and civic lines. He built up a large and important retail mercantile business and with the same he continued to be actively identified until the time of his death, this enterprise having been established by him shortly after the close of the Civil war. Through the business noted Major Wootters formed the nucleus of his really great fortune, but his greatest financial advancement was gained through his extensive and judicious investments in real estate. At the time of his death he was the largest landholder and individual taxpayer in Houston county, as well as one of the largest in the entire state. His estate at the time of his demise included more than thirty-three thousand acres of land, besides much city realty, stock and personal property. The greater part of his land was in Houston coimty, but he also had holdings of valuable order in the counties of Trinity, Henderson, Leon, Galveston, Young, Hall, San Augustine, Jack, Haskell, Wise, Anderson, Montgomery, Angelina and others, — a statement that in a measure indicates the wide scope of his operations and the important part taken by him in the development of the resources of the state. He conducted extensive farming and stock-growing operations and was known and honored as one of the most liberal, loyal and public-spirited citizens of his home county. He had at all times a deep and abiding faith in the great future of the Lone Star state, and he was an influential factor in virtually every progressive movement and enterprise projected in his home county along the line of social and industrial advancement. He was never self-centered but in all of his business activities he had due appreciation of his stewardship and sought to make them definite conservators of general prosperity in the community. He served for a number of years as president of the First National Bank of Crockett, and in a quiet and absolutely unostentatious way he gave liberal support to charitable and benevolent objects and movements, the while his private benefactions were many and timely, even as they were generally known only to himself and the recipients of his sympathetic largess.

Major Wootters had the instinction of being elected the first mayor of Crockett and about a score of years after his original administration, when the old corporation was revived, he was again made the popular choice for the office of chief executive of the municipal government, the affairs of which he administered with discrimination, and with the business-like policies which he had made potent in his private affairs. He was in no sense a politician, but he gave unqualified allegiance to the Democratic party, and he served at one time as representative of Houston county in the state legislature, in response to insistent popular demands. He was most loyal in the supporting of the cause of the Confederacy during the progress of the Civil war and in the latter period of the same he served as a soldier in a Texas regiment, with which he saw arduous service and with which he continued until the close of the war. He and his wife were most zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and he was chairman of the building committee that had supervision of the erection of the present fine edifice of the First Church of this denomination in Crockett.

One of the dominating interests in the life of Major Wootters was his deep and appreciative love for the time-honored Masonic fraternity, of whose history and teachings he was an earnest student and whose exalted precepts he followed in his daily life. For more than half a century he was actively affiliated with Lothrop Lodge, No. 21, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, and of Trinity Chapter, No. 4, Royal Arch Masons. He filled every office in each of these bodies and to many of the official chairs he was elected several times. He was a most regular attendant of the meetings of the lodge and chapter, and his noble character and generous sympathy gained to him a peculiarly intimate place in the regard of the fraternity. This was most effectually shown in the beautiful memorial tribute paid to him by his lodge at the time of his death, — a tribute of appreciation and honor and affection that could have been accorded to none who was not worthy of the same. He was an influential figure in the affairs of Masonry in Texas and received the unique distinction of being made a life member of the Texas grand lodge of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons by the unanimous resolution of that body. This honor has had no precedent or subsequent repetition in Texas and probably in no other state in the Union. This splendid tribute was accorded to Major Wootters as a token of fraternal appreciation of his long and zealous service as a member of the grand lodge, and his liberal and earnest work in promoting and establishing at Fort Worth the splendid home for widows and orphans of Masons. He attended the sessions of the Texas grand lodge and grand chapter with regularity for more than thirty years and for twenty years he served as a member of the finance committee of the latter, having been chairman of this committee at the time of his death. He was lovingly referred to as the corner-stone of the Masonic grand lodge of the state which he signally honored and dignified by his exalted character and services.

On the 7th of June, 1860, was solemnized the marriage of Major Wootters to Mrs. Emily Mildred Long, widow of Col. L. Long, of Crockett. She was born in Louisiana and her maiden name was Emily Mildred Cash. Mrs. Wootters was a woman of most gentle and gracious personality and her memory is revered by all who came within the compass of her influence. She was summoned to eternal rest on the 8th of November, 1898, at the age of fifty-seven years, and her remains rest beside those of her honored husband, Major Wootters, in the beautiful cemetery at Crockett. Of the six children only two are now living — Andrew H. and Robert H., both of whom are associated in the management of the vast estate left by their father. Two of the children, Annie Eliza and Eva, died in infancy. Nannie became the wife of Dr. John Markham, of Decatur, this 'state, and after her death one of her children, John, was reared in the home of his grandparents. Major and Mrs. Wootters. James C. Wootters, Jr., was about twenty-nine years of age at the time of his death; and Mary B. died at the age of about forty years.

Google Books. Bibliographic information. Title -- A history of Texas and Texans, Volume 3. A History of Texas and Texans, Eugene Campbell Barker. Authors -- Francis White Johnson, Ernest William Winkler. Editors -- Eugene Campbell Barker, Ernest William Winkler. Publisher -- American Historical Society, 1914. Original from the University of Michigan. Digitized Jul 29, 2005

John H. Wootters

Throughout the pages of the Hall Journal are multiple mentions of a family by the name of WOOTTERS . . . the first appearance of a WOOTERS occurs on Saturday, March 10th, 1860 when J.M. Hall records the following . . . To day we commenced to plant corn in the old ground with two plows running. In the evening Sam Sharp & John WOOTTERS came out from Crockett; Weather clear but cold. I paid Bill HICKS in cash $1. on a/c of rails. . . . the following information from Google Books describes some of the WOOTTERS individuals . . .

John S. Wootters, M. D., is not only known and honored as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of his native county, but is also a scion of a family whose name has been most prominently and worthily linked with the annals of Houston county for more than half a century. He is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in the fine city of Crockett, metropolis and judicial center of Houston county, and his distinctive prestige in his chosen vocation, together with his status as one of the loyal and progressive citizens of the county that has ever been his home and in which his popularity is of unequivocal order, renders most consonant his specific recognition in this history of his native state. Dr. Wootters was born on the old homestead of his father, on the banks of the Trinity river, in the western part of Houston county, Texas, and the date of his nativity was October 3, 1870. He is a son of . . .

Captain John H. and Berta (Smith) Wootters, the former of whom was born in Maryland and the latter in North Carolina, both families having been founded in America in the colonial epoch of our national history. Captain Wootters was reared and educated in his native state and there continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until, as a young man, he determined to follow the star of empire in its westward course and came to Texas. He established a home in Houston county but soon after his arrival in the Lone Star state he subordinated all personal ambitions to tender his services in defense of the cause of the Confederacy.

He was one of the first of the valiant young Texans to respond to the call of the southern states when the Civil war was precipitated on a divided nation. He enlisted in a company that was organized for service in Virginia and which later became one of the seven companies forming the battalion commanded by Colonel Louis Wigfall. Upon the formal organization of the First Texas Regiment the company of which Captain Wootters was a member became Company I of that regiment, which became a part of Hood's Texas Brigade, which gained fame as one of the most gallant and dashing of the Confederate forces in the long and weary conflict between the north and the south. This brigade has been memorialized in song and story and in the history of the great internecine conflict few commands have been granted greater distinction and honor. The initial official position of Captain Wootters was that of first sergeant of his company, and through faithful service and marked gallantry he soon won promotion through the lieutenancies to the rank of captain of his company, and in this office he ably commanded his men thereafter until the close of the war. In all the splendid forces of the south there was to be found no braver or more gallant soldier than this young Texas captain, and it was his to participate in a number of the fiercest and most sanguinary engagements marking the progress of the great conflict, as he shared in all of the service of his regiment in the commands of Generals Lee and Longstreet. Among the more important battles in which he took part may be mentioned those of Etham 's Landing, Seven Pines, the seven days' battles before Richmond, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Second Cold Harbor, Bermuda Hundred, and the almost continuous fighting during the eight months' seige of Petersburg. At Bermuda Hundred he received a severe wound in the wrist, but he continued with his command until the final surrender of the distinguished and loved commander, General Robert E. Lee.

After the close of the war Captain Wootters returned to Texas and assumed a clerical position in the city of Galveston, where later he engaged in the commission business. In the late '60s he returned to Houston county and purchased a tract of land on the east bank of the Trinity river, which was then a navigable stream, and there he turned his attention to diversified agriculture, and stock-raising, besides which he built up a prosperous business as a merchant, with well equipped general stores in the villages of Daly's and Grapeland.

In 1877 he removed with his family to Crockett, the county seat, for the purpose of affording his children proper educational advantages and also with the view of expanding the scope of his business activities. Here he became associated with his brother, the late Major James C. Wootters, in the mercantile business, and they built up one of the largest and most successful enterprises of the kind in this section of the state, the firm ever maintaining the highest reputation for fair and honorable dealings and for effective service in meeting the demands of an extensive and appreciative patronage. With this business Captain Wootters continued to be actively identified until his death, which occurred on the 21st of January, 1892, at which time he held prestige not only as one of the pioneer merchants of the city of Crockett but also as one of the leading business men and most honored and influential citizens of Houston county.

His elder brother, Major Wootters, survived him and continued the business until he too was summoned to eternal rest. To Major Wootters a special memoir is dedicated on other pages of this work, and to said article reference may be made for further data concerning the business activities of these sterling brothers who played so large a part in the civic and material development of Crockett and Houston county.

Captain Wootters was a man of broad views and mature judgment, his life was guided on the highest plane of integrity and honor, and he commanded at all times the inviolable esteem of his fellow men. His political allegiance was given to the Democratic party, and he manifested his abiding interest in his old comrades in arms by retaining affiliation with Crockett Camp of the United Confederate Veterans, of which he was a charter member and one who held the affectionate regard of his comrades in the same.

He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Crockett, of which he continued a stockholder until his death, and he otherwise gave liberal and timely support to measures and enterprises advanced for the general good of the community. He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity for many years and was a most zealous and devout member of the Baptist church, as is also his widow, who still resides in Crockett. He served with all of consecration as a deacon of his church and also as superintendent of its Sunday school, the while, in a more generic way, his influence and co-operation were ever given in the furtherance of moral and educational movements and all other things representing the higher and truer ideals of human existence. Known and loved for his noble character and unfailing sympathy and kindliness, Captain Wootters left the gracious heritage of an untarnished name and his memory shall long be cherished in the city and county that represented his home for many years.

His cherished and devoted wife, who aided him in making their home one of ideal order, is one of the loved factors in the representative social activities of Crockett, and she has been a most earnest worker in the Baptist church in her home city, as has she also in the D.A. Nunn Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, of which organization she was the first president. A gracious gentlewoman who exemplified the charms of the fine old southern regime, she is held in affectionate regard by all who have come within the sphere of her influence. . . .

Google Books. Bibliographic information. Title -- A history of Texas and Texans, Volume 3. A History of Texas and Texans, Eugene Campbell Barker. Authors -- Francis White Johnson, Ernest William Winkler. Editors -- Eugene Campbell Barker, Ernest William Winkler. Publisher -- American Historical Society, 1914. Original from the University of Michigan. Digitized Jul 29, 2005