THE TEXAS HISTORY OF THE
HULEN FAMILY
By Wanda Karr Ellerbee
My great-grandparents, Thomas H. Hulen, Jr. and Mary Elizabeth Heidelberg were
married on May 27, 1868 in Barbour County, Alabama. Thomas was born in 1850
in Alabama and Mary was born December 6, 1845 in Georgia. They had several
children while they were living in Alabama, but by 1879 they were in Limestone
County, TX. My great-grandfather appears on the 1879 tax rolls and my
grandfather, William Wesley Hulen, was born that same year in Limestone County. From my genealogy research, I have been able to ascertain that most of my ancestors
were farmers and mostly uneducated. But it appears they were hard and faithful
workers, sometimes working the land for others; but in some instances, they owned
the land. Thomas H. Hulen, Jr. had many acres to pass through his hands over
a period of several years. It seems as though he would come upon hard times
and then have to sell off some of his land. I have read some of the conveyance
reports on his buying and selling of land, but a conveyance states only facts;
reasons for buying and selling are not stated. I had only one clue from a family
member that seemed to think that my great-grandfather sold all of his land at
one time because one of his sons was in trouble and needed money. My great-grandparents names appeared on the 1880 federal census for Limestone County.
They had five children listed; Ida Maud, Gussie, Carrie, Ella and William, my
grandfather and the youngest at one year old. They later had Belle and Middleton.
By checking the tax rolls for Limestone County, I discovered they were still
in the area around 1890. There were no census records available for 1890
since most of them were destroyed by fire. According to the 1900 census,
they are living in Limestone County. By 1910, my great-grandmother had died
and my great-grandfather then married a lady by the name of Joanna Bowers Medders
and they began living in Mart near Waco, Texas. In 1920 they were still
in the Mart area; he was 70 years of age and apparently retired as there
was no occupation listed. But he did own a home. Previously, his occupation
was always listed as farmer. My great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Heidelberg, died in 1905 in Limestone County
and is buried in a small cemetery by the name of Kirk near Mart, Texas. She died
of heart failure at the age of 58. Not much was known about her, but my mother and
her siblings remember that their dad, William Wesley, sang songs to them in German
that his mother had taught him. She died before my mother was born. Thomas married Joanna Medders in Limestone County in 1909 and later moved to
Mart in McLennan County. He lived there for many years but apparently when he
got too old to take care of himself, he and Joanna moved to Dallas, Texas and
he died there on October 15, 1929. He was almost 79 years of age. He, too,
was buried at the Kirk Cemetery next to Mary. His headstone did not have any
dates, just his name. Later, I paid to have the date of birth and death etched
onto his headstone. His death certificate indicated heart problems also. My grandfather, William Wesley, was born in Limestone County on December 25,
1879. His birthday was the same as his father's who was born December 25, 1850.
Granddad lived in Limestone County in the Mexia/Groesbeck area during his adolescent
years. On February 1, 1897, he married my grandmother, Elizabeth (Bettie) Williams
in Limestone County. Their names appeared on the 1900 federal census living in
Limestone County. He was a farmer; Bettie was a housekeeper. They had two
children by this time, but one has passed away; in 1910 they are living in
Ellis County. They had been married 13 years and had seven children, but only
five are living; a second child died in 1901. My mother was born in this
county at Midlothian in 1912. My grandparents, William Wesley Hulen and
Elizabeth Williams, had fourteen children in total and my grandmother died
giving birth to twins. The twins, possibly a boy and a girl, died on
December 31, 1919; Elizabeth died January 4, 1920. The death certificate shows
pneumonia as cause of death. A family story was that she and the twins were
buried together with holding one in each of her arms. They were buried at
the Venus Memorial Cemetery in Venus (Johnson Co), Texas but there is not
a headstone. It was apparently destroyed many years ago. But in talking
to some of the old-timers in Venus, they have said that they remember my
grandmother's death and the death of the twins. There was a lot of sympathy
from them for my grandfather since he was left with ten children to rear. William Wesley and Elizabeth had been living in the Mart area, but when it came
time for her to deliver the twins, my grandparents and the other children moved to Venus
in Johnson County to be near her parents, George M. and Georgia Ann (Bates)
Williams. Sadly, only a few months later their son, Woodrow, who was about five
years old died. Family members tell the story that my grandfather was holding him
in his arms while they sat under a big tree outside. When Woodrow died, my grandfather
had lost three children and a wife within three months. It is hard to imagine
the pain he must have been feeling. Woodrow was also buried in the Venus Memorial
Cemetery. My mother, Georgia Agnes was only six years old when her mother died.
In talking with Herman L Hulen shortly before his death, he told me that
each of the children stood beside their mother as she lay dying so each
could tell her good-bye. My mother never talked much about her family so
it has been difficult to garner a story of human experiences. On the 1920 census taken shortly after the death of my grandmother, William Wesley
was still in Johnson County with six of his children; Thomas 19, Ira 17, William B 15,
Essie 12, Effie 10, J B 8, and Agnes 6. Woodrow, age about 4, had just recently passed
away. The census was taken in February of 1920. William Wesley remarried in June 1923 in Johnson County, Texas. His second wife,
Lula Devine, died in 1927. She was buried in the Grandview Cemetery in Grandview,
Texas. It has been said that there was much opposition from Lula's family.
I am sure they did not want her taking on the responsibility of that many children.
It seemed that the siblings who were still living did not have a good opinion of
"Miss Lula". She apparently was a very cold and hard woman. Some family members
said that after her death, they found many bars of candy in her trunk; these
were candy bars that my granddad had bought for the children which she would
not let them have. He married a third time in June 1928 to Jennie Lee McKenzie; he and "Miss Jennie"
lived in Johnson County for a short time. In 1930 while they were still in Johnson
County, my grandfather received word that his younger brother in Waco was ill.
On his visit to check on his brother, he went out one evening to a caf� to eat
and while he was there, a man came in and shot the proprietor and two other
people. The owner of the caf� and his waiter died and the other victim was badly
wounded. Although my granddad was questioned that night, he was never called
as a witness when the alleged murdered went to trial. According to the Waco
News-Tribune, the altercation was due to a love triangle; the alleged murderer
was the local barber. By the early 1930s, my grandparents were living in Fort Worth; they had a boarding
house located at 1110 Lamar. My dad had often told stories about Bob Wills and his
wife living at my grandparents' boarding house. He said they would all sit around
at night and "jam" together. In doing my research, I decided to check this out so
I checked the City Directories beginning with 1931 and found that indeed Bob Wills
and his wife were living in the boarding house. The City Directory gives his name
and address as: "Wills, James R., (Edna) musician, Burrus Mills and Elev. Co.,
r1110 Lamar". By 1932, William Wesley and "Miss Jennie" ventured to New Mexico; they settled
near Raton Pass in a little town called Maxwell. Granddad had a ranch and "Miss Jennie"
ran a cafe. They lived in New Mexico until the middle 1950s and then moved back to
Fort Worth. They bought a two-story house at 1203 E Allen next to a church, and
an orphanage was at the back of their home. Again, they rented out rooms but it
seems that mostly it was family who lived there. We had many good times visiting
in their home but I always felt so sorry for the children at St. Teresa�s home.
They would stand at the fence and watch us play and were never allowed to come
across and join in with us. It made me grateful that I had a loving family. My granddad died on March 19, 1957 at the St. Joseph�s Hospital in Fort Worth.
I was a teenager when granddad died, but I can remember that hospital very well.
All of the floors were wooden and the halls were always dark; but there was
something about that hospital that had a warm feeling about it. The nuns took
very good care of my granddad. "Miss Jennie" sold the house on Allen Street and came to live with us in White
Settlement. She was quite a lady who taught my mother and her siblings some of the
finer points of life. She had been a school teacher before she married my granddad.
In her younger years, she had been a very petite woman. For many years she had
her riding habit on display at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. Apparently,
she was quite a horsewoman and she was always proud of the fact that when she
was young she had an 18" waistline. The riding habit proved that. I remember seeing
it one time when I was a teenager. She lived with us for a few years before she remarried. My friends all loved
to come to our house and listen to her tell stories. As stated earlier, she was
quite a lady. She had a very positive impact on my life because she was a strong
believer in showing respect for other people. She died in 1975 after her second
husband had died. In the meantime she had moved back to White Settlement. She
and my grandfather, William Wesley, are both buried in Hillsboro, Texas at the
Ridge Park Cemetery. They are buried on the Menefee plot. Miss Jennie�s mother�s
second marriage was to a man named Menefee. My mother and father married September 3, 1929 in Johnson County. They lived in
the Johnson County area until about 1935, and they then moved to Galveston County.
They moved back to Johnson County by 1940, and later to Tarrant County. I was about
nine months old when we moved to this area and I had a brother who was six and
a sister who was 16 months old. We were living on the Boswell Dairy in Saginaw.
Between that time and 1946 when I started to school, we had alternated between
living on the dairy and living near General Dynamics in White Settlement. We
were firmly settled in White Settlement by the time I started first grade. In
the meantime, my parents had another child, a boy, born in 1944. My dad was a hard worker who always provided for his family well. He taught us
the importance of independence and accountability. Handling money frugally was also
important to him. I have always felt that my dad instilled in us our civic
responsibilities, and my mother taught us our Christian values. I grew up in the
First Baptist Church of White Settlement. My mother and oldest brother, Clarence,
were baptized on the same night, November 15, 1948. I had been baptized on June 25,
1948 when I was eight years old. My mother carried on the Christian traditions
taught to her as a child and passed them on to each of her children. Her method
of teaching was by example. My mother, as her father before her, was very
well-liked and respected by both family and friends. Mother and Daddy have both passed away, she in 1980; with heart problems brought
on by diabetes. Dad died in 1992 due to cancer of the liver and lungs. He lived
actively until the last few months of his life. They are both buried in a family
plot in the Grandview Cemetery in Johnson County. There are several family members
buried in this cemetery from my father's side of the family; his mother,
Martha Jane Ledbetter, his father, William Edward Karr, and his grandfather,
John Henry Karr. John Henry was a Civil War veteran who marched across Texas with Walkers'
Greyhounds. He died in 1909 and is buried in the Grandview Cemetery but there never
was a headstone put down for him. Daddy always reminded us of where John Henry
is buried. About 1993, my brother, Clarence, and I went through procedures with the Veteran�s
Department in Waco to receive a headstone from the government. I did not know until
then that a headstone would be provided free of charge for a veteran. It was shipped
to the Kay Funeral Home in Grandview and installed by a Mr. James Wigington. In 1934, my oldest brother, Clarence, was born in Johnson County. He was born
on a ranch outside of Cleburne. My sister, Claudette, was born in Galveston in
1939 at the John Sealey Hospital while Daddy was there working on the Galveston
Causeway. I was born in 1940 at Aunt Essie and Uncle Floyd Terrell�s house in Cleburne.
The house that I was born in is still in use and is well taken care of.
Ronald was born in 1944 in Fort Worth. After we left Boswell�s Dairy and moved to White Settlement, we first lived
in some apartments called the "whites" as they had white asbestos siding on them.
Shortly after that we moved to the "bricks" in the Liberator Village or more commonly
called "the Village". My dad worked for General Dynamics for about 32 years. His
job provided us with a good living. Each of mother and daddy�s four children graduated from Brewer High School
(1953, 1957, 1958, 1962). My parents had encouraged each of us to finish high school,
but there was never a lot said about a higher education. Neither of our parents
graduated from high school, so to them, the high school diploma was the ultimate. In 1975 my sister, Claudette, graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington.
I was about 40 years old before I stared taking college courses at Tarrant County
Junior College (now TCC). I will leave the bulk of the Karr family history to my brother, Clarence.