Welcome, all y'all. – Page 5 – Rest your feet and set a spell.

Glendale Cemetery in what was Harrisburg, Texas

From Malcolm McCorquodale III:

I went to Glendale cemetery today. Glendale cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Houston and is located right on the bayou in what used to be called Harrisburg. (Harrisburg was annexed by Houston in the 1920’s. I remember the Judge [Wilmer Brady Hunt] saying that he was born in “Harrisburg” and that not making much sense to me.) This historic cemetery is not usually open, but since today was Memorial Day, it was open despite the threat of inclement weather. There were a few people there and one appeared to be the cemetery archivist. She had record books with documents relating to the cemetery. (I requested a copy of some of the records that appeared to be interesting.)

I found a historical marker on the edge of the cemetery that reads:

SITE OF THE HOME OF

GENERAL SIDNEY SHERMAN

1805 – – 1873

COMMANDER OF THE LEFT WING OF THE
ARMY AT THE BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO
MEMBER OF THE TEXAS CONGRESS,
1842-1843 — BUILDER OF THE FIRST
TEXAS RAILROAD — THIS HOUSE WAS
BURNED IN 1853

Erected by the State of Texas
1936

Just to the North and West, across Brays Bayou, you will find Sherman Street. If you follow Sherman Street to the West a ways, you will see where it intersects with Sidney Street.

History of John Day Andrews and Houston History

The following link opens a biography of our ancestor John Day Andrews who, along with his family, were among the founders of Houston. Many thanks to our cousin Dr. Gary Helm Darden and The Texas State Historical Society.

John Day Andrews (1795-1882)

My mother, Eugenia Flewellen Howard Hunt, spoke of nearly everything mentioned in the article, especially the relationship between the Andrews and Sam Houston. She said that when she was a child her mother would often take her to Glenwood Cemetery after Sunday services at Christ Church (circa 1920) to clean the headstones of many of the people mentioned in the article.

Sperry Hunt
April 4, 2017

Gene Helm and Eugenia Howard circa 1912

Thanks to Gary Helm Darden for these photographs. He wrote:

Continue reading “Gene Helm and Eugenia Howard circa 1912”

Here is story of John D & Eugenia Andrews from a book I have on Houston’s history from cousin Gary

Here is story of John D & Eugenia Andrews from a book I have on Houston’s history. Attached is the front of the book and two paragraphs devoted to their origins and home.

Best, Gary

History of the Clarks, Andrews, Tilghman, Flewellen families from cousin Gary Helm Darden, Ph.D.

Hello Everyone,

I most appreciate this conversation and help with family information. To clarify to all in this conversation my relation to you is that I’m the youngest son of Nancy Clark Ince Darden (1937-2010), the sister of Elizabeth “Betty” Ince Hughston (1934-2015), and they were the daughter of Eugenia Helm Ince (1909-2007), whom we called “Nina.” She was the oldest daughter of Elizabeth “Bessie” Clark Helm (1884-1966). So the names Elizabeth, Eugenia, and Nancy have been carried down for many generations. Sadly, Nancy died of lung cancer in 2010 and Betty died of pancreatic cancer in 2015. I live in New York City and am a university history professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) in New Jersey. It’s a large private university similar to SMU or TCU. My father and brother are all still in Dallas.

I’ll add below what I know, and I apologize if you’ve already heard it or already knew.

Per Sperry’s question –– and as I understand it from my grandmother –– Elizabeth “Bessie” Clark Helm and her sister Nancy Ella Clark (1888-1977) were largely raised by Eugenia “Jennie” Andrews Flewellen (1840-1923), their great aunt, at the house on 410 Austin Street. The girls’ mother Nancy “Nannie” Tilghman Dickinson (1862-1888) died due to complications from giving birth to Nancy Clark in 1888. The newborn Nancy was adopted by one of the sons of Eugenia Flewellen, but Bessie was not adopted and officially remained a Clark. So I assume that’s why Bessie was not in the Flewellen will.

However, I do know that “Aunt Nancy” Howard as she was known to my grandmother, transferred the deed to at least 3 or 4 farms to her sister “Bessie” Helm because, as I was told, Aunt Nancy thought it was only fair given their childhood and upbringing. That land went to my grandmother and was sold off (minus the mineral rights) from the late 1960s and through the 1970s.

Continue reading “History of the Clarks, Andrews, Tilghman, Flewellen families from cousin Gary Helm Darden, Ph.D.”

Gene Helm Ince, Nancy Clark Ince Darden and Elizabeth “Bessie” Clark Helm

Thanks for the photos from our cousin Gary Helm Darden Ph.D.

Gene Helm Ince - Engagement Photo 1933 — Gene Helm Ince – Engagement Photo 1933

Nancy Clark Ince Darden at UT in the late 1950s

Elizabeth "Bessie" Clark Helm as an infant ca. 1884-85 — Elizabeth “Bessie” Clark Helm as an infant ca. 1884-85

“You don’t even know where the library is.”

Sperry and the judge at C.W. Post College Library 1967

My parents visited Robin in Manhattan, and me at college in my freshman year at C.W. Post on Long Island. It was springtime and their anniversary (4/29). In high school I used to tell Dad I needed to go to the library on weeknights, which was not always true, of course. He would say, “You don’t even know where the library is.” He and I reenacted this into a little skit for Mom and the camera that day at college.

Lennie Sherman

This was a print from a painting. According to Eugenia Hunt this is the woman who made or helped to create the battle flag at San Jacinto. She was the wife of [later] General Sydney Sherman. Sherman was second in command at the battle. It is who is credited in Bartletts Quotations as the author of the phrase “Remember the Alamo.” She was the grandmother of Lucy Brady, who married Wilmer Sperry Hunt.

Brady Kiesling on NPR 2/1/2017 regarding Donald Trump and the State Department

On February 1, 2017 National Public Radio aired Ari Shapiro’s interview of very our own (John) Brady Kiesling regarding President Trump’s ban of Muslim refugees from seven majority Muslim countries, and the President’s refusal to seek counsel from the Department of State. Brady was well-known for his 2003 resignation from the State Department in protest over the US invasion of Iraq. Click below to read the text. You can also listen to the interview by clicking on the blue and white arrow on the left of that page.

Listen to Brady’s Interview on NPR 1/1/2017

2003 NPR Interview

“When you are my age you will understand.”

Good stories have clear characterization, character being defines as desire, drive, ability, compassion and perspective all of which change over a lifetime. Here’s a simple example of those changes from my own family history. I’ve been thinking about this lately as I ponder my upcoming knee replacement.

Philo Howard, my mother’s brother, was a frank, funny, energetic man. At sixteen, he ran away to Canada from his home in Houston. There, he lied about his age and joined the Canadian Royal Air Force to fight in WWII, which the US had not yet entered. His whereabouts were determined by my dad’s mother who read an article in the Houston paper listing Texas volunteers. Uncle Philo was returned to the bosom of his family forthwith. Several years later he enlisted in the American Air Corps and flew P-51s over Europe.

My family had a party in Houston in 2003 to celebrate what would have been my late father’s 100th birthday. My uncle, who recently had his pacemaker replaced, couldn’t make the party. He emailed me this tribute to be read at the celebration. My dad, Judge Wilmer Hunt, was nearly twenty-years his senior. To his great sorrow he was denied military service due to his age, very flat feet and a knee injured by my mother. (That’s another story.) The setting of Philo’s account is the rich farmland of eastern Texas in the 50’s. By prison, my uncle was referring to a pea farm, as they were called back then. They were minimum security prisons where inmates grew food for the prison system.

Wilmer was my favorite, because he liked to fish and many times took me along. One time he took me to Kemah and we got in a small skiff and towed [it] out to the middle of the bay for four hours. I was always a little hyper, and I almost jumped out of the boat after about an hour. Wilmer seeing this, started telling me stories. As I remember, this calmed me down a bit and I caught some fish.

Being a Judge he had access to a prison and one near Brazoria had a great fishing pond. He and I went there about three times. It seemed I always ended up having to carry a small Outboard motor from the parking lot to the lake each time. I asked him why, and he said “when you are my age you will understand.”