Tag Archives: WP Hobby

Thoughts and Ramblings: Rediscovering Florence Stratton

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A fellow researcher texted me last week to see if I had a couple of articles on Florence Stratton, one from 1975 and the other from 1980. I looked, and I found that I did have the one from 1975, but not the other. Unfortunately, the Beaumont Enterprise issues after 1940 are not available on Genealogybank.com. I believe you can search the Beaumont Journal up to the 1970s, but there are only a few mentions of her there. I don’t know if any other newspaper archive has the Beaumont Enterprise digitized, but if you see one, hit me up! Rediscoveringsetx@gmail.com

Laura Young wrote the article from 1980, which has some good crumbs from the past in it, although it states that the town of Florence in Williamson County, Texas, was named after Florence Stratton. Of course, this isn’t true because the town was founded in 1858, twenty-three years before Florence was born. At the time, I dismissed this and thought that Eunice might have been wrong; but as I reread the article, I developed a different view of what might have happened. The reporter most likely put two and two together and came up with a fractional number because that sometimes happens when you interview someone. I’ve done a few interviews, and occasionally, when you tell them “this, that, and the other thing,” they’ll only use “that” and forget about “this and the other thing.” I do get that there’s a deadline, but get the story right. I will also state that some researchers have also been guilty of this in the past. So, as Bill Quick would often say, you need at least three sources, not one. I’m not perfect, but this is the rule I follow.

As I said, the 1980 article does have some spot-on facts and some nuggets of oral history that researchers and historians can use. The people interviewed knew Florence, so they can give us a behind-the-scenes account of who she was—a phrase she would say, how she wore her hat, or how people reacted to her. This is all of great importance when researching someone who was not in the limelight. I began my journey researching Florence in 2012, and I have a decent database on her life, which allows me to say that she never put herself on a pedestal. Florence made others feel like they were the talk of the town. I guess this is why, initially, I had so much trouble finding anything about her.

Col. R.C. Duff Drives Gold Spike July 1907

The article from 1975 was written by Susan Gilbert, and it has a lot of the same information on Florence’s life as the other article. It has Eunice, her niece, along with others who knew her, telling stories. One thing this article has that the 1980 one doesn’t is that it mentions the railroad station/town (there is even the same photo) but not Williamson County. There is no mention of a location. But we know now, and we have a map to back up this information. I’m not patting myself on the back for finding the map; I’m just saying this out loud to get Mr. Quick’s approval, as I put him on the research pedestal. I only know him through his research and from stories told at the Historical Commission. I guess it’s just a coincidence that my first meeting as part of the commission was a year to the day after he passed away. I didn’t know him personally, but we share some of the same goals for how SETX historical preservation should be done. Everything happens for a reason, and I will fly this flag! (I keep it right beside my Queen’s Park Rangers pennant, even though they lost to Watford 4-0 on opening day. Sigh.)

Visitors in Mrs. Stephens Garden (Lake Carles?) Florence Stratton and Watson Neyland

My research journey began in 2012, and it’s been hard to find details on Florence’s personal life. It took me fifteen months to figure out her birthday, and what about her birth year? It took one mention in the 1900 census and a letter donated to the Tyrrell Historical Library penned by the ten-year-old Emily Stratton, Florence’s older sister, and addressed to her father, Asa, in February 1883. (Asa E. Stratton Jr. was a Texas senator from 1883 to 1884.) At the end of this letter, Emily writes that Florence can say her name. If you read all the earlier research, it states that Florence was born in 1883. I have no idea where that information came from (maybe Eunice, her niece?). I have no idea, but I also have six mentions in Susie Spindletop’s Weekly Letter that her birthday was on the spring equinox, and two mentions when her article came out on March 21 saying that this was her birthday.

After reviewing my database on Florence, I realized that I need to look into her father’s history more. I believe this will explain her friendship with Willie Cooper, the daughter of Sam Cooper. Both Asa and Sam served in the Texas Senate in 1883 and 1884, but Asa Stratton resigned in the latter year. Sam Bronson Cooper was from Woodville, and Asa Stratton was from Brazoria County; their daughters were best friends in their adult years. We can also add William P. Hobby (from Woodville) to this mix because all three were together in the early days. There is a lot of history to uncover here, but since this is the eleventh year of my research, it may take a while.

Speaking of taking a while, Florence penned or played a part in publishing five books. The Story of Beaumont (1923) was her baby and her most popular volume here in SETX, but republishing O. Henry’s articles in book form in 1923 made her at least $10,000 thanks to W. P. Hobby, who owned the Houston Post at the time O. Henry (a.k.a. William Sidney Porter) wrote his columns.

To me, Favorite Recipes of Famous Women, published in 1925, has the best foreword. Florence was mad because some man had published a book called Famous Recipes of Famous Men, and she was determined to set the record straight about the recipes in his book—even at the expense of her dog. But she did give it a military funeral! I always thought that Willie Cooper, Hobby’s first wife, collected the recipes for this book when she lived in the governor’s mansion in Austin. I guess being a first lady has its advantages. Willie was a socialite, and as the daughter of Sam Bronson Cooper, she was pretty good at schmoozing with the elite. I believe most of the recipes were from Willie. However, in the 1975 article, Eunice said that Florence “wrote to persons asking for recipes even though she had never met them.” I guess this is why there are a lot of “motion picture stars” in the book, such as Gloria Swanson and Mary Pickford. But let us give a big shout-out to Mrs. Thomas Edison for her cheese soufflé in ramekins and, of course, to a former congresswoman from Oklahoma for her recipe for boiled potatoes.

Florence Stratton’s next book, The White Plume, was published in 1931 but copyrighted in 1928. I thought this was odd until I found out the reason. The book was cowritten by Vincent Burke, sports editor at the Beaumont Enterprise, and was first published in the July 1928 issue of Bunker’s Monthly. This magazine only lasted about two years. I paid more for it than the original price of five cents, but it answered a big question in Florence’s story.

When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends was published in 1936; it was used as a textbook in this area for years. Florence’s friend Bessie Reid wrote the book, and Florence contributed the foreword. Most know Bessie as the author of the story of Kisselpoo, which was published in the Port Arthur News on July 1, 1923.

It’s amazing just how much you can get out of two articles based on oral history along with eleven years of research. It’s not perfect, but we are getting there. I believe that everyone I mentioned should be researched more, but doing so takes time, money, and the drive to delve into history. I’ll continue to do this, but can I actually get a solid team that doesn’t lose to Watford 4-0 on opening day?

Until next week, Della.

“Thoughts and Ramblings: 1929: Florence Stratton and Family; Louise Stratton; Willie Cooper Hobby.”

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Back in January 1929, Florence Stratton’s new year didn’t begin well. Her sister Louise died on January 9 from pulmonary tuberculosis, then her best friend Willie Cooper Hobby died suddenly from a stroke on January 14. Like Louise, Willie had been ill for a while. There were no more Susie Spindletop’s Weekly Letters for the month of January.

First, I want to get into the Stratton, Stevens, and Stephens families; then I want to talk about Willie. Florence didn’t arrive in Beaumont on her own; she came here because her sister Emily and husband Walter H. Stevens moved here in 1900, as far as I see in the timeline. Both Walter H. and Emily are in the 1900 Beaumont census. Louise is also living with them. This is a trend I see with this family. They always live together. I know that Florence, Emily, and Louise’s mother died in 1895, which might explain why Louise was with her big sister Emily, as Louise was sickly her whole life.

Florence moved to Beaumont in 1903 and took a teaching job here. She had taught in Alabama since graduating as a valedictorian in 1900 from Troy Normal College. Florence began her journalism career in 1907 with the Beaumont Journal and would hone her skills in the coming years. As for the family, they would live their lives and move around into a couple of residences.

Walter Stevens, Florence’s brother-in-law, was a drug clerk at E. L. Clough Drug Store; some kind of partnership must have been in place because he was vice president in 1906–07. It is possible that he bought the store or opened his own because in 1909 he was president of the Stevens Drug Company, which was located in the Perlstein Building. I haven’t researched this. I’m only going on city directories, but I know that he retired from Magnolia Petroleum in 1938 as a caseworker for accidents at the refinery. So that would have ended his business, or he sold it, in 1915. I guess I could ask George W. Carroll, if I had a time machine, because he was vice president. Like I said in the past, historical research is very time-consuming if you want to be accurate.

I don’t know much about Walter’s wife, Emily, except that she was Florence’s older sister, but she gave me the most helpful clue to determine Florence’s birthday. I remember contacting the Brazoria County Historical Commission (BCHC) and asking for some sort of info about Florence Stratton. I had contacted them two years before and did receive a few things on Asa Stratton, Florence’s father, but this time the person on the other end of the phone replied, “Stratton? I have a scrapbook from a Stratton that someone in Conroe, TX, found at an estate sale. It’s here on my desk.”

I asked what the name was, and it was Emily. I visited the BCHC that week and had a great time. But it wasn’t until I had a similar experience with the Tyrrell Historical Library.

At the time, I had been doing research for five years and was spending hours on microfilm on the Weekly Letters. Then, out of the blue, I mentioned something to Bill Grace about Florence Stratton, and he replied, “Oh yeh, there was someone who donated a bunch of letters from the Stratton family six months ago.”

Hmm. He did know that I had spent over three years researching Florence, but I guess something like that slipped his mind—we won’t get into that. I did find two interesting letters though, one from Florence and the other from Emily. Emily’s letter was to her father in February 1883. In it, a ten-year-old Emily said that Florence could say her name. That’s amazing if you consider earlier information that states Florence was born in March 1883.

I will cherish the ten-year-old Emily, along with the person who sent the letters to the Tyrrell Historical Library, for this, because there is only a mention in a 1900 census that Florence was born in 1881, and her birthdate is not problematic because Florence mentioned it six times in her Weekly Letter.

That leaves me to Eunice Stephens, who married Arthur Stephens. She was Emily’s daughter and Florence’s niece. I don’t know what Eunice would think of me; I always try to get the facts straight on her aunt. In Florence’s history, details such as her day and year of birth were just plain wrong. Most of it came from Eunice, but I still can’t blame her because Florence always lied about her age. It’s difficult to do research when you have only one source that throws everything and everyone off. So any research that states that Florence was born in 1883 is wrong. Sorry, Eunice. I’ll shut up now, but I still think you’re awesome for bragging about your aunt and taking care of Florence’s house, which stands catercorner to the McFaddin-Ward house on McFaddin Avenue.

Sam Bronson Cooper

Willie Cooper Hobby was the daughter of Sam Bronson Cooper (SBC). Sam was the reason that Beaumont had a deepwater port. I may get into some of SBC’s history at a later date because it is notable in many respects. In the years that he served as a US representative, Florence was with Willie in Washington, DC. Willie was a bit of a socialite and even attended White House parties. I do know that Florence attended one with her in 1909.

In 1915, Willie married W. P. Hobby and went on to become the first lady of Texas when Hobby was governor from 1917 to 1921. I’ve written before that Florence wrote a book of recipes of famous women. Willie was the source of information for the book during her four years of entertaining at the mansion.

One thing I will note about this time is that Florence basically moved into the mansion and lived with both the governor and the first lady, who were her best friends. She went to all the events that the governor attended. She even went to the inauguration of Álvaro Obregón in Mexico in 1920. Florence had her ways, and I believe she enjoyed her life. She loved family and friends. I’m sure that this week back in 1929 was painful for her, but she survived and did even better things. Stay tuned, Della.

Sam Bronson Cooper:

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/cooper-samuel-bronson

Troy Normal College/ Troy University:  

https://www.troy.edu/about-us/historical-timeline.html

William P. Hobby:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_P._Hobby

Willie Cooper Hobby:  

Willie Chapman Cooper Hobby

Willie Chapman Cooper Hobby

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Throughout my research of Florence Stratton, I have been down many rabbit holes, so to speak. She certainly led an interesting life, which involved many people. And yes, I have files on just about all of them. One person who I can say influenced Florence’s life more than the rest was Willie Cooper Hobby. Their friendship lasted many years, and I’m sure they had many tales that were never told nor graced the pages of any periodicals, but in Willie’s life of fifty-three years, she definitely had a social advantage over most.

Willie Chapman Cooper was born in Woodville, Texas, on June 19, 1876, to Sam Bronson Cooper and Phebe Young. There is little information about her life as a youth, other than that she grew up in Woodville. I do know she attended Kidd-Key College in Sherman, Texas; yet I don’t know the year nor if it was, at the time, a women’s high school or a genuine college. And looking into her father’s endeavors, with the few available records that I have, I can see little information about her until she resided in Washington D.C. in March of 1893, when her father was a congressman. So, let’s delve into his history a bit.

Sam B. Cooper served as the prosecuting attorney of Tyler County for four years (1876–1880), then as a Texas state senator for the next four years (1880–1884). I assume that this is where the friendship of the Stratton and Cooper families began. Florence’s father, Asa Evan Stratton Jr., was a Texas senator from January 1883 to May 1884. In 1885, he was named collector of internal revenue at Galveston. Sam would hold this position until 1888. After an unsuccessful run for district judge in 1889, his next stint in politics came in 1892 as a congressman in the United States House of Representatives. He would serve six consecutive terms for the Second Texas District, before losing to Moses Broocks in 1904. Sam served for one more term, from 1906 to 1908, after defeating Broocks in the next election. So, knowing the political path her father took, it seems obvious to me that Willie would take on the role of a socialite, especially living in Washington and later New York, where her father was appointed to the Board of General Appraisers of New York by President William Howard Taft in 1910.

Throughout her years in Washington, Willie was indeed popular around the social circles and was even invited to the White House a time or two. I know this from a few newspaper clippings and her invitation, which, as I stated in the last article, are in her scrapbook at the Briscoe Center for American History in Austin. As friends do, Florence also tagged along and got to mingle with the elite, or should I say, the world’s hubs, which capitals can be, especially in a thriving country.

On May 15, 1915, Willie married her childhood sweetheart and, at the time, the lieutenant governor of Texas, William Pettus Hobby. Her early years in Washington would play an important part in her life due to her social duties as the lieutenant governor’s wife.

In August of 1917, W. P. Hobby became governor of Texas after the sitting governor, James E. Ferguson, was impeached. Hobby held the Democratic ticket and eventually won the governorship in 1918 after Ferguson ran against him in the primary. Willie shone as first lady of Texas and won the praises of many in her years in Austin. She was highly popular and entertained much, except during World War I, because she felt it inappropriate, according to Dining at the Governor’s Mansion by Carl McQueary. She also wanted to follow government guidelines for food conservation during wartime. In addition, Willie was responsible for making needed repairs and additions to the 60-year-old mansion, such as installing steam heating and adding a bath to one of the bedrooms.

While living in New York, Willie became interested in the women’s suffrage movement, which was a cause most dear to her. I found much evidence of this in my Briscoe Center research and in newspapers from her days as first lady of Texas. In fact, much of her scrapbook dwells on this topic. I also found an ample number of newspaper clippings from this era that show that both Florence and Willie did their part to promote women’s right to vote.

Throughout her life, Willie was always gracious and charming and treated everyone the same, whether servant or dignitary. In her memorial book, there are many references to how she was loved by those who knew and conversed with her. As I wrote at the beginning of this article, Willie was Florence’s best friend, and many years were spent together enjoying social events. From a visit to the White House 1909 to attending the inauguration of Mexican president Álvaro Obregón in 1920, both always seemed to be in good company. In fact, one of Florence’s books, Favorite Recipes of Famous Women (1925), is a compilation of Willie’s recipes when she was first lady from such visiting dignitaries as authors, actresses, and wives of past presidents or foreign leaders.

Willie died in her sleep at her Houston residence on the morning of January 14, 1929, to the shock of most. During the following days, there were many heartfelt condolences sent to her husband, W. P. Hobby, from all across the world. Many of these condolences can be found in a memorial book entitled Tributes in Memory of Willie Cooper Hobby, which was privately published by (I would assume) her husband. Here are a few excerpts:

 

 

I cannot longer wait to tell you how distressed and grieved I am over Willie’s death. Words fail to express the love and sympathy which has gone out from my heart to you all. I just cannot reconcile myself to the fact so grand and useful a woman should be taken.

As I write my thoughts run over the twenty-five or thirty years. Dear Mrs. Cooper and her family are vividly before me. So well do I remember the party I had and Willie, a beautiful young girl there and received the prize. In the years which followed the Cooper family figured in my life. You know how I loved Mrs. Cooper and Willie. Although of late years I saw so little of her I knew she was nearby. She it was who suggested to me to change the name of the Woman’s Reading Club to the Woman’s Club. Some hesitate to mention it to me thinking I would feel hurt but soon as I heard of it I made a motion to make the change.

Beaumont                                                                                                                    Sally Greer

*                               *                               *

 

To me Willie was the embodiment of all the word, “friend,” implies; her charity of thought… the kindliness of her heart and the deep solicitude for her friends… qualities the make one so worthy of admiration and love and for which I feel my life has been enriched for having known her.

Houston                                                                                                                       Edwina Wiess

*                               *                               *

 

We the members of the Woman’s Club of Beaumont, wish to extend to you our deepest sympathy. Mrs. Hobby has been loyal and faithful to our club and our hearts too are full of sorrow. We shall miss Mrs. Hobby but we shall ever hold her in memory and we shall strive to reach the goal of high ideals which she held before us.

Beaumont                                                                                                                     Woman’s Club