Granddaughter of Col. J.B. Wilmeth
Daughter of E. A. Thompson & Ketura Thompson. Her mother, Ketura Miranda Wilmeth Thompson died after giving her birth.
Her father Alex Thompson was away at war when her mother Ketura Maranda Wilmeth Thompson gave birth to a baby girl on Sept 5, 1862. Ketura died shortly after and Princess Annie's grandfather Joe Brice "JB" Wilmeth and two of his sons went in a wagon to pick up his deceased daughter Ketura, the infant Princess Annie and her two brothers John and Joe, ages 4 and 3. They stopped enroute home, which was 2 miles north of McKinney Texas, and buried her Ketrua's body in a beautiful pecan grove which evolved into the historic Pecan Grove Cemetery in McKinney.
JB called the beautiful baby girl his little princess and named her Princess Annie. She was nursed by the slave Mary Chamberlain, who slurred the name to "Sannie", which she went by all her life. Sannie was petted and pampered in the household of JB and Nancy by the slaves, then ex-slaves that stayed on after the war. Bettie, the youngest of the Wilmeth's 12 children was now 12, and a companion for little Sannie. Other cousins lived nearby. Sannie did not learn the arts of weaving, cooking, and housekeeping that the industrious Wilmeth women were noted for.
Stuart (Steve) Hall was born January 15, 1855 on the "Rapid Ann #2", one of his father's steamboats as it plied up and down the Tennessee River. His mother Elizabeth died giving birth, and in order to save the baby, the father, John Wesley Hall, put to shore and installed one of his slaves, Nancy, in his home to nurse and care for the babe. She had a new baby of her own, so the two babies were nursed and cared for together. She remained a part of the household for several years and young Steve adored her. Steve's father remarried when the children were small, but Steve never liked his step-mother. He said she was mean to him, punishing him for everything that went wrong. He longed for the day when he could leave home and go to Texas to live. His uncle Abraham Hall had migrated to Collin County and written glowing accounts about the great country he had found; land 50 cents per acre, woods full of game, streams full of fish. In fact he wrote that "a fellow could actually live off the land, if he were a mind to." He did not. He cleared his land and grew wonderful crops, and prospered.
When Steve was 17 years old, he embarked on the long journey to Texas, going by boat, by stagecoach, any way to get there. When he reached McKinney his uncle put him in touch with Isaac Graves [a friend of the Wilmeths] who had bought a large tract of land where McKinney is now, and was operating a big wheat farm. Sowing by hand, reaping by hand, and threshing kept all the men busy.
Here it was that young Steve Hall came to know the remnants left of the James Boys. These men had fought for the 4 years of the Civil War, side by side with the men who went from McKinney, and were respected as old soldiers by the citizens here. The defeat of the Confederacy was still too hurtful for them to feel otherwise. Frank and Jesse James were cousins of Tuck and Woot Hill who lived in McKinney and their home was always open, as well as the big Graves home where Steve lived. In fact, Isaac Graves set aside two rooms upstairs in his large house, reserved for the James when they wished to get away from Missouri for awhile. With these old Civil War vets being looked upon as heroes by everyone, it is understandable that young Steve would feel flattered when the "Boys" invited him now and then to ride into town for a drink at one of the 23 saloons, thrilling for a young lad. But this cost him dearly later on, causing complications when he met and fell in love with Elder J.B. Wilmeth's granddaughter Sannie whom the grandparents had reared since her mother's death in childbirth.
Grandpa Wilmeth looked with disfavor on any young man seen riding into town in the company of the James Boys. But true love has a way of getting around obstacles. Steve used to tell how he stood beneath the Wilmeth Bridge and proposed to Sannie as she stood ON the bridge, leaning on the railing, supposedly enjoying the scenery. Plans were made and they met in McKinney and were married before anyone was told of the plan. It was Christmas day, 1880 and Sannie was only 18 while Steve was 25. It caused a rift between the Wilmeths and their beloved granddaughter.
The young couple went to live in the little cabin on the Graves Ranch and while Steve worked the wheat with the Graves sons, Sannie learned to cook, something she had never done. They lived happily there for a year. Then they were shocked to see J.B. and one of his sons driving into the yard in a big wagon. "We have come to take you home", Grandpa Wilmeth announced. In a short time all their belongings were loaded into the wagon and the couple became part of the Wilmeth household. They lived in the big Wilmeth home for several years so Sannie could be near the grandparents who were aging and ill. J.B. and Steve developed a good relationship. During this time Roy Hall was born (March 6, 1884) and became his great grandfather's shadow, listening to the tales of long ago and learning many things from the wise old gentleman who had played so large a part in making Collin County.
After living there some years, they moved to a part of the farm they purchased from Wilmeth. The distance was so near the big house, just across the field at back, that Sannie could run in daily to help her grandparents. Roy was free to follow Grandpa around listening to the stories of pioneering, the Civil War, and life in general in a new settlement. These stories helped Roy to write the many stories for the newspaper telling of life in early Collin County.
They told many stories about the great Christmas Trees held at the old Wilmeth School or Church. The entire community helped dress the tree and it was the custom for parents to hang their kid's presents on the tree instead of placing them under. What a sight the tree must have been on Christmas Eve. Covered with big dolls, toy trains, even little red wagons, and best of all, lighted with little red candles clipped to the branches. Dangerous, but there was never a fire, they said....
[Ruth Whisenat, whom I met in McKinney, says her mother used to talk about Aunt Sannie. She said that Aunt Sannie was not a particularly good housekeeper but they all loved to go to her house because she spent time with the children and let them get by with things that others would not! They thought it was more "fun" at her house. She said that Aunt Sannie had charge of the annual Christmas tree decorating at the Wilmeth School which was a most looked-foward-to event in that community. But that Aunt Sannie did not wear underwear. (We hope she meant not the long pantaloons, and not literally nothing!) So when Aunt Sannie would climb the ladder to decorate the tall tree, they would say, "Aunt Sannie, don't climb too high or we will see Christmas!"]
Steve, with Roy on the other end of a cross-cut saw, cleared the farm of the forest that covered it. In a few years it became a rich farming area growing cotton, fruits, vegetables, and filled all the family needs. (The family had grown with births of other children Artie, Ora, Susan, and Nugent.) But Steve was not happy about the railroad that cut a swath right across his pretty farm in 1872. Then in 1907, when the new electric railway called the Interurban cut across it also, it was just too much for Steve. In 1908 they sold the farm and went to far South Texas to live in the new town of Crystal City, later to become the garden center of all Texas. Steve worked as a carpenter building all the new homes for the families who moved there. Sannie was busy with her children. Roy had gone into the army but she still had the younger ones at home. She was always an avid flower grower and had found an ideal place where she could grow anything she wished.
Why the family moved to San Antonio is not clear; perhaps as the children grew up, married, and moved away from home. While they lived there, Sannie died on Dec. 9, 1916 on her 54th birthday from complications of an appendectomy. She is buried in a cemetery there. Steve lived until 1941, but he never got over her death. Sannie had gone everywhere with him, did everything with him. He always called her "my rib."
Roy Hall and his father Steve are buried side by side in Pecan Grove Cemetery, the place where so many years before, JB and sons had stopped to bury the body of Ketura Maranda, Sannie's mother.
----Taken from the recollections of Helen Hall, widow of Sannie's son Roy Hall, and edited by Martha Carroll, gg granddaughter of JB and Nancy Wilmeth.
Obituary, San Antonio Light
December 9, 1916
Mrs. Princess Annie Hall, 54 years old, died at her home, 1632 Hamilton avenue, at 8:40 o'clock Thursday morning. She was a native of McKinney, Tex., and had lived in San Antonio for the last three years. Mrs. Hall is survived by her husband, Stuart Holland Hall, two sons, Roy F. Hall of McKinney and Nugent Hall of San Antonio, and three daughters, Ora Craft of McKinney, Artie Payne of San Antonio and Sue Walker of Crystal City. The funeral will be held at the residence at 10 o'clock Friday morning, with Rev. Hugh McLellan, pastor of the Central Christian Church, in charge. Interment will be made in Roselawn cemetery. The arrangements are under the direction of the Ludwig Undertaking Company.
---Obit provided courtesy of F.A.G. Member #46481386
Daughter of E. A. Thompson & Ketura Thompson. Her mother, Ketura Miranda Wilmeth Thompson died after giving her birth.
Her father Alex Thompson was away at war when her mother Ketura Maranda Wilmeth Thompson gave birth to a baby girl on Sept 5, 1862. Ketura died shortly after and Princess Annie's grandfather Joe Brice "JB" Wilmeth and two of his sons went in a wagon to pick up his deceased daughter Ketura, the infant Princess Annie and her two brothers John and Joe, ages 4 and 3. They stopped enroute home, which was 2 miles north of McKinney Texas, and buried her Ketrua's body in a beautiful pecan grove which evolved into the historic Pecan Grove Cemetery in McKinney.
JB called the beautiful baby girl his little princess and named her Princess Annie. She was nursed by the slave Mary Chamberlain, who slurred the name to "Sannie", which she went by all her life. Sannie was petted and pampered in the household of JB and Nancy by the slaves, then ex-slaves that stayed on after the war. Bettie, the youngest of the Wilmeth's 12 children was now 12, and a companion for little Sannie. Other cousins lived nearby. Sannie did not learn the arts of weaving, cooking, and housekeeping that the industrious Wilmeth women were noted for.
Stuart (Steve) Hall was born January 15, 1855 on the "Rapid Ann #2", one of his father's steamboats as it plied up and down the Tennessee River. His mother Elizabeth died giving birth, and in order to save the baby, the father, John Wesley Hall, put to shore and installed one of his slaves, Nancy, in his home to nurse and care for the babe. She had a new baby of her own, so the two babies were nursed and cared for together. She remained a part of the household for several years and young Steve adored her. Steve's father remarried when the children were small, but Steve never liked his step-mother. He said she was mean to him, punishing him for everything that went wrong. He longed for the day when he could leave home and go to Texas to live. His uncle Abraham Hall had migrated to Collin County and written glowing accounts about the great country he had found; land 50 cents per acre, woods full of game, streams full of fish. In fact he wrote that "a fellow could actually live off the land, if he were a mind to." He did not. He cleared his land and grew wonderful crops, and prospered.
When Steve was 17 years old, he embarked on the long journey to Texas, going by boat, by stagecoach, any way to get there. When he reached McKinney his uncle put him in touch with Isaac Graves [a friend of the Wilmeths] who had bought a large tract of land where McKinney is now, and was operating a big wheat farm. Sowing by hand, reaping by hand, and threshing kept all the men busy.
Here it was that young Steve Hall came to know the remnants left of the James Boys. These men had fought for the 4 years of the Civil War, side by side with the men who went from McKinney, and were respected as old soldiers by the citizens here. The defeat of the Confederacy was still too hurtful for them to feel otherwise. Frank and Jesse James were cousins of Tuck and Woot Hill who lived in McKinney and their home was always open, as well as the big Graves home where Steve lived. In fact, Isaac Graves set aside two rooms upstairs in his large house, reserved for the James when they wished to get away from Missouri for awhile. With these old Civil War vets being looked upon as heroes by everyone, it is understandable that young Steve would feel flattered when the "Boys" invited him now and then to ride into town for a drink at one of the 23 saloons, thrilling for a young lad. But this cost him dearly later on, causing complications when he met and fell in love with Elder J.B. Wilmeth's granddaughter Sannie whom the grandparents had reared since her mother's death in childbirth.
Grandpa Wilmeth looked with disfavor on any young man seen riding into town in the company of the James Boys. But true love has a way of getting around obstacles. Steve used to tell how he stood beneath the Wilmeth Bridge and proposed to Sannie as she stood ON the bridge, leaning on the railing, supposedly enjoying the scenery. Plans were made and they met in McKinney and were married before anyone was told of the plan. It was Christmas day, 1880 and Sannie was only 18 while Steve was 25. It caused a rift between the Wilmeths and their beloved granddaughter.
The young couple went to live in the little cabin on the Graves Ranch and while Steve worked the wheat with the Graves sons, Sannie learned to cook, something she had never done. They lived happily there for a year. Then they were shocked to see J.B. and one of his sons driving into the yard in a big wagon. "We have come to take you home", Grandpa Wilmeth announced. In a short time all their belongings were loaded into the wagon and the couple became part of the Wilmeth household. They lived in the big Wilmeth home for several years so Sannie could be near the grandparents who were aging and ill. J.B. and Steve developed a good relationship. During this time Roy Hall was born (March 6, 1884) and became his great grandfather's shadow, listening to the tales of long ago and learning many things from the wise old gentleman who had played so large a part in making Collin County.
After living there some years, they moved to a part of the farm they purchased from Wilmeth. The distance was so near the big house, just across the field at back, that Sannie could run in daily to help her grandparents. Roy was free to follow Grandpa around listening to the stories of pioneering, the Civil War, and life in general in a new settlement. These stories helped Roy to write the many stories for the newspaper telling of life in early Collin County.
They told many stories about the great Christmas Trees held at the old Wilmeth School or Church. The entire community helped dress the tree and it was the custom for parents to hang their kid's presents on the tree instead of placing them under. What a sight the tree must have been on Christmas Eve. Covered with big dolls, toy trains, even little red wagons, and best of all, lighted with little red candles clipped to the branches. Dangerous, but there was never a fire, they said....
[Ruth Whisenat, whom I met in McKinney, says her mother used to talk about Aunt Sannie. She said that Aunt Sannie was not a particularly good housekeeper but they all loved to go to her house because she spent time with the children and let them get by with things that others would not! They thought it was more "fun" at her house. She said that Aunt Sannie had charge of the annual Christmas tree decorating at the Wilmeth School which was a most looked-foward-to event in that community. But that Aunt Sannie did not wear underwear. (We hope she meant not the long pantaloons, and not literally nothing!) So when Aunt Sannie would climb the ladder to decorate the tall tree, they would say, "Aunt Sannie, don't climb too high or we will see Christmas!"]
Steve, with Roy on the other end of a cross-cut saw, cleared the farm of the forest that covered it. In a few years it became a rich farming area growing cotton, fruits, vegetables, and filled all the family needs. (The family had grown with births of other children Artie, Ora, Susan, and Nugent.) But Steve was not happy about the railroad that cut a swath right across his pretty farm in 1872. Then in 1907, when the new electric railway called the Interurban cut across it also, it was just too much for Steve. In 1908 they sold the farm and went to far South Texas to live in the new town of Crystal City, later to become the garden center of all Texas. Steve worked as a carpenter building all the new homes for the families who moved there. Sannie was busy with her children. Roy had gone into the army but she still had the younger ones at home. She was always an avid flower grower and had found an ideal place where she could grow anything she wished.
Why the family moved to San Antonio is not clear; perhaps as the children grew up, married, and moved away from home. While they lived there, Sannie died on Dec. 9, 1916 on her 54th birthday from complications of an appendectomy. She is buried in a cemetery there. Steve lived until 1941, but he never got over her death. Sannie had gone everywhere with him, did everything with him. He always called her "my rib."
Roy Hall and his father Steve are buried side by side in Pecan Grove Cemetery, the place where so many years before, JB and sons had stopped to bury the body of Ketura Maranda, Sannie's mother.
----Taken from the recollections of Helen Hall, widow of Sannie's son Roy Hall, and edited by Martha Carroll, gg granddaughter of JB and Nancy Wilmeth.
Obituary, San Antonio Light
December 9, 1916
Mrs. Princess Annie Hall, 54 years old, died at her home, 1632 Hamilton avenue, at 8:40 o'clock Thursday morning. She was a native of McKinney, Tex., and had lived in San Antonio for the last three years. Mrs. Hall is survived by her husband, Stuart Holland Hall, two sons, Roy F. Hall of McKinney and Nugent Hall of San Antonio, and three daughters, Ora Craft of McKinney, Artie Payne of San Antonio and Sue Walker of Crystal City. The funeral will be held at the residence at 10 o'clock Friday morning, with Rev. Hugh McLellan, pastor of the Central Christian Church, in charge. Interment will be made in Roselawn cemetery. The arrangements are under the direction of the Ludwig Undertaking Company.
---Obit provided courtesy of F.A.G. Member #46481386
Granddaughter of Col. J.B. Wilmeth
Daughter of E. A. Thompson & Ketura Thompson. Her mother, Ketura Miranda Wilmeth Thompson died after giving her birth.
Her father Alex Thompson was away at war when her mother Ketura Maranda Wilmeth Thompson gave birth to a baby girl on Sept 5, 1862. Ketura died shortly after and Princess Annie's grandfather Joe Brice "JB" Wilmeth and two of his sons went in a wagon to pick up his deceased daughter Ketura, the infant Princess Annie and her two brothers John and Joe, ages 4 and 3. They stopped enroute home, which was 2 miles north of McKinney Texas, and buried her Ketrua's body in a beautiful pecan grove which evolved into the historic Pecan Grove Cemetery in McKinney.
JB called the beautiful baby girl his little princess and named her Princess Annie. She was nursed by the slave Mary Chamberlain, who slurred the name to "Sannie", which she went by all her life. Sannie was petted and pampered in the household of JB and Nancy by the slaves, then ex-slaves that stayed on after the war. Bettie, the youngest of the Wilmeth's 12 children was now 12, and a companion for little Sannie. Other cousins lived nearby. Sannie did not learn the arts of weaving, cooking, and housekeeping that the industrious Wilmeth women were noted for.
Stuart (Steve) Hall was born January 15, 1855 on the "Rapid Ann #2", one of his father's steamboats as it plied up and down the Tennessee River. His mother Elizabeth died giving birth, and in order to save the baby, the father, John Wesley Hall, put to shore and installed one of his slaves, Nancy, in his home to nurse and care for the babe. She had a new baby of her own, so the two babies were nursed and cared for together. She remained a part of the household for several years and young Steve adored her. Steve's father remarried when the children were small, but Steve never liked his step-mother. He said she was mean to him, punishing him for everything that went wrong. He longed for the day when he could leave home and go to Texas to live. His uncle Abraham Hall had migrated to Collin County and written glowing accounts about the great country he had found; land 50 cents per acre, woods full of game, streams full of fish. In fact he wrote that "a fellow could actually live off the land, if he were a mind to." He did not. He cleared his land and grew wonderful crops, and prospered.
When Steve was 17 years old, he embarked on the long journey to Texas, going by boat, by stagecoach, any way to get there. When he reached McKinney his uncle put him in touch with Isaac Graves [a friend of the Wilmeths] who had bought a large tract of land where McKinney is now, and was operating a big wheat farm. Sowing by hand, reaping by hand, and threshing kept all the men busy.
Here it was that young Steve Hall came to know the remnants left of the James Boys. These men had fought for the 4 years of the Civil War, side by side with the men who went from McKinney, and were respected as old soldiers by the citizens here. The defeat of the Confederacy was still too hurtful for them to feel otherwise. Frank and Jesse James were cousins of Tuck and Woot Hill who lived in McKinney and their home was always open, as well as the big Graves home where Steve lived. In fact, Isaac Graves set aside two rooms upstairs in his large house, reserved for the James when they wished to get away from Missouri for awhile. With these old Civil War vets being looked upon as heroes by everyone, it is understandable that young Steve would feel flattered when the "Boys" invited him now and then to ride into town for a drink at one of the 23 saloons, thrilling for a young lad. But this cost him dearly later on, causing complications when he met and fell in love with Elder J.B. Wilmeth's granddaughter Sannie whom the grandparents had reared since her mother's death in childbirth.
Grandpa Wilmeth looked with disfavor on any young man seen riding into town in the company of the James Boys. But true love has a way of getting around obstacles. Steve used to tell how he stood beneath the Wilmeth Bridge and proposed to Sannie as she stood ON the bridge, leaning on the railing, supposedly enjoying the scenery. Plans were made and they met in McKinney and were married before anyone was told of the plan. It was Christmas day, 1880 and Sannie was only 18 while Steve was 25. It caused a rift between the Wilmeths and their beloved granddaughter.
The young couple went to live in the little cabin on the Graves Ranch and while Steve worked the wheat with the Graves sons, Sannie learned to cook, something she had never done. They lived happily there for a year. Then they were shocked to see J.B. and one of his sons driving into the yard in a big wagon. "We have come to take you home", Grandpa Wilmeth announced. In a short time all their belongings were loaded into the wagon and the couple became part of the Wilmeth household. They lived in the big Wilmeth home for several years so Sannie could be near the grandparents who were aging and ill. J.B. and Steve developed a good relationship. During this time Roy Hall was born (March 6, 1884) and became his great grandfather's shadow, listening to the tales of long ago and learning many things from the wise old gentleman who had played so large a part in making Collin County.
After living there some years, they moved to a part of the farm they purchased from Wilmeth. The distance was so near the big house, just across the field at back, that Sannie could run in daily to help her grandparents. Roy was free to follow Grandpa around listening to the stories of pioneering, the Civil War, and life in general in a new settlement. These stories helped Roy to write the many stories for the newspaper telling of life in early Collin County.
They told many stories about the great Christmas Trees held at the old Wilmeth School or Church. The entire community helped dress the tree and it was the custom for parents to hang their kid's presents on the tree instead of placing them under. What a sight the tree must have been on Christmas Eve. Covered with big dolls, toy trains, even little red wagons, and best of all, lighted with little red candles clipped to the branches. Dangerous, but there was never a fire, they said....
[Ruth Whisenat, whom I met in McKinney, says her mother used to talk about Aunt Sannie. She said that Aunt Sannie was not a particularly good housekeeper but they all loved to go to her house because she spent time with the children and let them get by with things that others would not! They thought it was more "fun" at her house. She said that Aunt Sannie had charge of the annual Christmas tree decorating at the Wilmeth School which was a most looked-foward-to event in that community. But that Aunt Sannie did not wear underwear. (We hope she meant not the long pantaloons, and not literally nothing!) So when Aunt Sannie would climb the ladder to decorate the tall tree, they would say, "Aunt Sannie, don't climb too high or we will see Christmas!"]
Steve, with Roy on the other end of a cross-cut saw, cleared the farm of the forest that covered it. In a few years it became a rich farming area growing cotton, fruits, vegetables, and filled all the family needs. (The family had grown with births of other children Artie, Ora, Susan, and Nugent.) But Steve was not happy about the railroad that cut a swath right across his pretty farm in 1872. Then in 1907, when the new electric railway called the Interurban cut across it also, it was just too much for Steve. In 1908 they sold the farm and went to far South Texas to live in the new town of Crystal City, later to become the garden center of all Texas. Steve worked as a carpenter building all the new homes for the families who moved there. Sannie was busy with her children. Roy had gone into the army but she still had the younger ones at home. She was always an avid flower grower and had found an ideal place where she could grow anything she wished.
Why the family moved to San Antonio is not clear; perhaps as the children grew up, married, and moved away from home. While they lived there, Sannie died on Dec. 9, 1916 on her 54th birthday from complications of an appendectomy. She is buried in a cemetery there. Steve lived until 1941, but he never got over her death. Sannie had gone everywhere with him, did everything with him. He always called her "my rib."
Roy Hall and his father Steve are buried side by side in Pecan Grove Cemetery, the place where so many years before, JB and sons had stopped to bury the body of Ketura Maranda, Sannie's mother.
----Taken from the recollections of Helen Hall, widow of Sannie's son Roy Hall, and edited by Martha Carroll, gg granddaughter of JB and Nancy Wilmeth.
Obituary, San Antonio Light
December 9, 1916
Mrs. Princess Annie Hall, 54 years old, died at her home, 1632 Hamilton avenue, at 8:40 o'clock Thursday morning. She was a native of McKinney, Tex., and had lived in San Antonio for the last three years. Mrs. Hall is survived by her husband, Stuart Holland Hall, two sons, Roy F. Hall of McKinney and Nugent Hall of San Antonio, and three daughters, Ora Craft of McKinney, Artie Payne of San Antonio and Sue Walker of Crystal City. The funeral will be held at the residence at 10 o'clock Friday morning, with Rev. Hugh McLellan, pastor of the Central Christian Church, in charge. Interment will be made in Roselawn cemetery. The arrangements are under the direction of the Ludwig Undertaking Company.
---Obit provided courtesy of F.A.G. Member #46481386
Daughter of E. A. Thompson & Ketura Thompson. Her mother, Ketura Miranda Wilmeth Thompson died after giving her birth.
Her father Alex Thompson was away at war when her mother Ketura Maranda Wilmeth Thompson gave birth to a baby girl on Sept 5, 1862. Ketura died shortly after and Princess Annie's grandfather Joe Brice "JB" Wilmeth and two of his sons went in a wagon to pick up his deceased daughter Ketura, the infant Princess Annie and her two brothers John and Joe, ages 4 and 3. They stopped enroute home, which was 2 miles north of McKinney Texas, and buried her Ketrua's body in a beautiful pecan grove which evolved into the historic Pecan Grove Cemetery in McKinney.
JB called the beautiful baby girl his little princess and named her Princess Annie. She was nursed by the slave Mary Chamberlain, who slurred the name to "Sannie", which she went by all her life. Sannie was petted and pampered in the household of JB and Nancy by the slaves, then ex-slaves that stayed on after the war. Bettie, the youngest of the Wilmeth's 12 children was now 12, and a companion for little Sannie. Other cousins lived nearby. Sannie did not learn the arts of weaving, cooking, and housekeeping that the industrious Wilmeth women were noted for.
Stuart (Steve) Hall was born January 15, 1855 on the "Rapid Ann #2", one of his father's steamboats as it plied up and down the Tennessee River. His mother Elizabeth died giving birth, and in order to save the baby, the father, John Wesley Hall, put to shore and installed one of his slaves, Nancy, in his home to nurse and care for the babe. She had a new baby of her own, so the two babies were nursed and cared for together. She remained a part of the household for several years and young Steve adored her. Steve's father remarried when the children were small, but Steve never liked his step-mother. He said she was mean to him, punishing him for everything that went wrong. He longed for the day when he could leave home and go to Texas to live. His uncle Abraham Hall had migrated to Collin County and written glowing accounts about the great country he had found; land 50 cents per acre, woods full of game, streams full of fish. In fact he wrote that "a fellow could actually live off the land, if he were a mind to." He did not. He cleared his land and grew wonderful crops, and prospered.
When Steve was 17 years old, he embarked on the long journey to Texas, going by boat, by stagecoach, any way to get there. When he reached McKinney his uncle put him in touch with Isaac Graves [a friend of the Wilmeths] who had bought a large tract of land where McKinney is now, and was operating a big wheat farm. Sowing by hand, reaping by hand, and threshing kept all the men busy.
Here it was that young Steve Hall came to know the remnants left of the James Boys. These men had fought for the 4 years of the Civil War, side by side with the men who went from McKinney, and were respected as old soldiers by the citizens here. The defeat of the Confederacy was still too hurtful for them to feel otherwise. Frank and Jesse James were cousins of Tuck and Woot Hill who lived in McKinney and their home was always open, as well as the big Graves home where Steve lived. In fact, Isaac Graves set aside two rooms upstairs in his large house, reserved for the James when they wished to get away from Missouri for awhile. With these old Civil War vets being looked upon as heroes by everyone, it is understandable that young Steve would feel flattered when the "Boys" invited him now and then to ride into town for a drink at one of the 23 saloons, thrilling for a young lad. But this cost him dearly later on, causing complications when he met and fell in love with Elder J.B. Wilmeth's granddaughter Sannie whom the grandparents had reared since her mother's death in childbirth.
Grandpa Wilmeth looked with disfavor on any young man seen riding into town in the company of the James Boys. But true love has a way of getting around obstacles. Steve used to tell how he stood beneath the Wilmeth Bridge and proposed to Sannie as she stood ON the bridge, leaning on the railing, supposedly enjoying the scenery. Plans were made and they met in McKinney and were married before anyone was told of the plan. It was Christmas day, 1880 and Sannie was only 18 while Steve was 25. It caused a rift between the Wilmeths and their beloved granddaughter.
The young couple went to live in the little cabin on the Graves Ranch and while Steve worked the wheat with the Graves sons, Sannie learned to cook, something she had never done. They lived happily there for a year. Then they were shocked to see J.B. and one of his sons driving into the yard in a big wagon. "We have come to take you home", Grandpa Wilmeth announced. In a short time all their belongings were loaded into the wagon and the couple became part of the Wilmeth household. They lived in the big Wilmeth home for several years so Sannie could be near the grandparents who were aging and ill. J.B. and Steve developed a good relationship. During this time Roy Hall was born (March 6, 1884) and became his great grandfather's shadow, listening to the tales of long ago and learning many things from the wise old gentleman who had played so large a part in making Collin County.
After living there some years, they moved to a part of the farm they purchased from Wilmeth. The distance was so near the big house, just across the field at back, that Sannie could run in daily to help her grandparents. Roy was free to follow Grandpa around listening to the stories of pioneering, the Civil War, and life in general in a new settlement. These stories helped Roy to write the many stories for the newspaper telling of life in early Collin County.
They told many stories about the great Christmas Trees held at the old Wilmeth School or Church. The entire community helped dress the tree and it was the custom for parents to hang their kid's presents on the tree instead of placing them under. What a sight the tree must have been on Christmas Eve. Covered with big dolls, toy trains, even little red wagons, and best of all, lighted with little red candles clipped to the branches. Dangerous, but there was never a fire, they said....
[Ruth Whisenat, whom I met in McKinney, says her mother used to talk about Aunt Sannie. She said that Aunt Sannie was not a particularly good housekeeper but they all loved to go to her house because she spent time with the children and let them get by with things that others would not! They thought it was more "fun" at her house. She said that Aunt Sannie had charge of the annual Christmas tree decorating at the Wilmeth School which was a most looked-foward-to event in that community. But that Aunt Sannie did not wear underwear. (We hope she meant not the long pantaloons, and not literally nothing!) So when Aunt Sannie would climb the ladder to decorate the tall tree, they would say, "Aunt Sannie, don't climb too high or we will see Christmas!"]
Steve, with Roy on the other end of a cross-cut saw, cleared the farm of the forest that covered it. In a few years it became a rich farming area growing cotton, fruits, vegetables, and filled all the family needs. (The family had grown with births of other children Artie, Ora, Susan, and Nugent.) But Steve was not happy about the railroad that cut a swath right across his pretty farm in 1872. Then in 1907, when the new electric railway called the Interurban cut across it also, it was just too much for Steve. In 1908 they sold the farm and went to far South Texas to live in the new town of Crystal City, later to become the garden center of all Texas. Steve worked as a carpenter building all the new homes for the families who moved there. Sannie was busy with her children. Roy had gone into the army but she still had the younger ones at home. She was always an avid flower grower and had found an ideal place where she could grow anything she wished.
Why the family moved to San Antonio is not clear; perhaps as the children grew up, married, and moved away from home. While they lived there, Sannie died on Dec. 9, 1916 on her 54th birthday from complications of an appendectomy. She is buried in a cemetery there. Steve lived until 1941, but he never got over her death. Sannie had gone everywhere with him, did everything with him. He always called her "my rib."
Roy Hall and his father Steve are buried side by side in Pecan Grove Cemetery, the place where so many years before, JB and sons had stopped to bury the body of Ketura Maranda, Sannie's mother.
----Taken from the recollections of Helen Hall, widow of Sannie's son Roy Hall, and edited by Martha Carroll, gg granddaughter of JB and Nancy Wilmeth.
Obituary, San Antonio Light
December 9, 1916
Mrs. Princess Annie Hall, 54 years old, died at her home, 1632 Hamilton avenue, at 8:40 o'clock Thursday morning. She was a native of McKinney, Tex., and had lived in San Antonio for the last three years. Mrs. Hall is survived by her husband, Stuart Holland Hall, two sons, Roy F. Hall of McKinney and Nugent Hall of San Antonio, and three daughters, Ora Craft of McKinney, Artie Payne of San Antonio and Sue Walker of Crystal City. The funeral will be held at the residence at 10 o'clock Friday morning, with Rev. Hugh McLellan, pastor of the Central Christian Church, in charge. Interment will be made in Roselawn cemetery. The arrangements are under the direction of the Ludwig Undertaking Company.
---Obit provided courtesy of F.A.G. Member #46481386
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