Joseph S. Prosser, born 1828 and
died in 1906, of Scotch descent, was a native of Virginia.
His wife, Lillias Clark Prosser, born 1833 and died in 1907, of Scotch
ancestry, was born on the Island of Jesus in the St. Lawrence River. She was the only child of child of a large
family to be born on the North American Continent. She was the youngest child and when her
parents died, she was reared by an older brother.
Joseph spent his early years at New
Cumberland, Hancock County, West
Virginia, where he worked as a barge builder on the Ohio River. Later,
he became a farmer and moved his family to Georgetown,
Indiana, living in that state until 1882, when
he came to Texas. He lived first on a farm where Texas Christian
University is located
now. Later he bought a farm south of
Keller and settled there.
Three of the five children, Helen,
Jennie and Sadie came with their parents to Texas.
Helen, 1860-1938, became the wife of Oscar Peterson in 1886. One son, Ernest Peterson, was born to this
union. Jennie Margaret, 1864-1947, was a
dressmaker and milliner, being the owner of a hat shop in Keller at the turn of
the century. Sadie Stuart, 1870-1943, a
registered nurse, was graduated from Santa Rosa
Hospital in San Antonio.
She returned to Fort Worth in 1916, where
she was employed at St. Joseph’s
Hospital until retirement. The son,
James Franklin Prosser, 1862-1935, came to Fort Worth
in 1883 and established residence in the elite residential section of East Belknap. His
formal education had been acquired in the common schools of Georgetown,
Indiana, The State University at Bloomington, and Bryant
and Stratton Business College of Indianapolis, Indiana. The typewriter which he brought to Texas was the first in Fort Worth.
Frank Posser’s first employment in Tarrant County
was in the office of the County
Clerk, John F. Swayne. He was appointed County Auditor
in 1899 by the Board of County Commissioners.
He also served more than thirty years as Secretary Treasurer of the
First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth.
In 1893, he was married to Melisse
Fox, a native of Macon, Missouri.
The only child born to them, died in infancy. In 1900, the year of the Galveston
disaster, they adopted a baby boy found floating on a mattress in the flood
waters of Galveston
Bay. The infant was identified by survivors of the
storm. Four years later, he was bitten
by a rabid pet puppy and died as a result of the infection. Both children are buried in the Gregory Family Cemetery
on the Rufe Whitley farm. James Franklin
Prosser and his wife, Melisse are buried in West
Oakwood Cemetery
in Fort Worth.
Anna Elizabeth, the oldest child of
Joseph S. and Lillias C. Prosser, born in West Virginia
in 1856, moved with her parents to Indiana. There she was married in 1881 to Dr. Alexander
Campbell Spencer, born 1846. They were
the parents of four children: Virgil F., Opal V., Jessie Lillian, and Esther
Elizabeth. The first two children died
in childhood. Dr. and Mrs. Spencer and
their two daughters came to Keller in the 1890’s with the intention of
establishing a medical practice, but changed their plans after a brief stay and
returned to Indiana. The mother of this family passed away in 1894
and the father in 1917. Both are buried
in Rose Hill
Cemetery, Bloomington, Indiana. The daughter, Esther Elizabeth died in
1951. Jessie Lillian is the wife of
Lloyd C. Litten and the mother of two children, Mary Frances Litten Trout and
Lloyd S. Litten.
The elder Prossers lived in the
Keller Community until their deaths in 1906 and 1907. Both are buried in Bourland Cemetery. Three daughters, Helen (Mrs. Ella Peterson),
Sadie Stuart and Jennie Margaret are also buried there.
Sources:
Paddock’s History of North and West Texas, Vol. II, page 682
The Keller Kourier, February 17,
1899
Miss Hattie O. Prewett, Fort Worth, Texas
Mrs. L.C. Litten (Jessie Lillian
Spencer) Indianapolis, Indiana
