Stuart Holland Hall
STUART HOLLAND HALL
Family history.
Stuart Holland Hall (Steve), was born January 15, 1855, the son of John Wesley and Elizabeth Holland Hall. He was born on one of this father’s steamships that plied up and down the Tennessee River and his mother died at his birth. He survived by being nursed and cared for by “Aunt Nancy Hall,” one of his father’s slaves. He was one of thirteen children his father had by two marriages. When the Civil War came, life was hard for those left at home. He recalled that the only diet the people of the Cumberland Mountains of his area had for more than a year was dried black-eyed peas obtained when a Yankee boat loaded with the peas was captured on the river.
Rumors of plenty that existed in the new land of Texas interested most of the young people of Tennessee and like many others, young Steve set out for the new frontier on December 19, 1874. He stayed with an uncle for a while in Little Rock, Arkansas, then came to Texarkana where he worked for a while in a big saw mill. When a big explosion in the milled some of the workers, he moved on and came to his Uncle Abe Hall’s home near McKinney. He went to work for Isaac Graves and in 1880 married the granddaughter of J. W. Wilmeth, Princess Annie Thompson, and the young couple went to live in the Graves ranch west of town. The next year J. B. Wilmeth gave them land joining his so they could be near him and his aging wife. While their home was being built, their first child, Roy F. Hall, was born in the Wilmeth home. Steve and “Sannie”, as she was called, were the parents of five children, Roy Franklin Hall, Artie, Ora, (now Mrs. J. D. Craft Sr. of 110 Bradley Street in McKinney), Sue Hall Walker now living in California, and Nugent who died following World War I of injuries sustained in the war.
The family cleared the land of its great forest trees and farmed it until 1907 when the newly built interurban track cut through the middle of the farm. No longer happy with the cup up farm, they sold and moved to the newly established town of Crystal City, the winter garden region of south Texas. Once more the family lived in pioneer conditions, helping a new town to get started.
Princess Annie Hall died in San Antonio on her 56th birthday, Dec. 9, 1916 and is buried there. After her death Steve came back to McKinney to live.
Stuart Hall died in 1944 at the age of 89 year. He is buried in Pecan Grove Cemetery beside his son, Roy F. Hall.
Family history.
Stuart Holland Hall (Steve), was born January 15, 1855, the son of John Wesley and Elizabeth Holland Hall. He was born on one of this father’s steamships that plied up and down the Tennessee River and his mother died at his birth. He survived by being nursed and cared for by “Aunt Nancy Hall,” one of his father’s slaves. He was one of thirteen children his father had by two marriages. When the Civil War came, life was hard for those left at home. He recalled that the only diet the people of the Cumberland Mountains of his area had for more than a year was dried black-eyed peas obtained when a Yankee boat loaded with the peas was captured on the river.
Rumors of plenty that existed in the new land of Texas interested most of the young people of Tennessee and like many others, young Steve set out for the new frontier on December 19, 1874. He stayed with an uncle for a while in Little Rock, Arkansas, then came to Texarkana where he worked for a while in a big saw mill. When a big explosion in the milled some of the workers, he moved on and came to his Uncle Abe Hall’s home near McKinney. He went to work for Isaac Graves and in 1880 married the granddaughter of J. W. Wilmeth, Princess Annie Thompson, and the young couple went to live in the Graves ranch west of town. The next year J. B. Wilmeth gave them land joining his so they could be near him and his aging wife. While their home was being built, their first child, Roy F. Hall, was born in the Wilmeth home. Steve and “Sannie”, as she was called, were the parents of five children, Roy Franklin Hall, Artie, Ora, (now Mrs. J. D. Craft Sr. of 110 Bradley Street in McKinney), Sue Hall Walker now living in California, and Nugent who died following World War I of injuries sustained in the war.
The family cleared the land of its great forest trees and farmed it until 1907 when the newly built interurban track cut through the middle of the farm. No longer happy with the cup up farm, they sold and moved to the newly established town of Crystal City, the winter garden region of south Texas. Once more the family lived in pioneer conditions, helping a new town to get started.
Princess Annie Hall died in San Antonio on her 56th birthday, Dec. 9, 1916 and is buried there. After her death Steve came back to McKinney to live.
Stuart Hall died in 1944 at the age of 89 year. He is buried in Pecan Grove Cemetery beside his son, Roy F. Hall.
