Dr. Edwin Thompson Read, a native
of Calhoun County, Alabama, was born December 3, 1858. His father, Rev. Edwin T. Read, was a Baptist
clergyman and was also prominent in public affairs, serving as a member of the Alabama
State Legislature during the War Between the States.
Dr. Read grew up in the county
where he was born. After acquiring his
preliminary education, he was enrolled as a student at the State Normal School
at Jacksonville, Alabama.
Following his graduation, he entered the Hospital College of Medicine at
Louisville, Kentucky, where he specialized in physical
diagnosis. In 1884, he received his
degree in medicine.
His first two years of medical
practice were done in Germania,
Alabama. In 1886, he came to Tarrant County, Texas,
to the home of his sister, Mrs. Sarah Weaver, who lived about five miles east
of Keller.
Two years later, he was married to
Miss Nancy Rebecca (Nannie) Price, born in 1872, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
David A. Price. With the exception of a
few years in Kaufman
County and the White
Settlement Community, the Reads spent their entire married life in Keller.
By continued reading, Dr. Read kept
in touch with the progress of medical science.
He belonged to the Texas State Medical Society and the Tarrant County
Medical Society and was also a member of the Woodmen of the World, the Masonic
Lodge and the Keller
Baptist Church.
Dr. Reed’s tenure in the Keller
community covered a period when it was not unusual for the physician to serve
in the dual role of doctor and nurse, which often meant spending hours, perhaps
an entire night, with a patient who was critically ill. It was on a morning after such an occasion,
when the doctor was in need of rest, that he stopped at the farm home of his
good friend, Dick Blackwood. Here he
found food, shelter and rest for his horse and himself, before returning to
Keller and perhaps to another call for his services. This incident was typical of many
doctor-patient relationships that Dr. Read enjoyed.
Such friendships found expression in
various ways. Only days after the doctor’s
death, Dick Blackwood was the first to pay his bill to Mrs. Read. The payment included a wagon load of fire
wood, a ham and two buckets of lard.
As true with all family doctors,
the delivery of new babies was no small part of Dr. Read’s practice. Evidence of his popularity with the younger
set and their proud parents, is still to be found among men of middle age and
older who bear the name Edwin T.
Dr. Read remained in active
practice until the hour of his death, having written a prescription only
minutes before he passed away in 1931.
His wife died November 19, 1953.
Both are buried in Bourland
Cemetery.
They were the parents of four
children:
1)
Mabel Clare, born May 8, 1889 and died September 12,
1971. She was married May 20, 1907 to
William T. Scott.
2)
Pelham Martha, born January 1, 1892. She was married to A. Belmont Sammons. Their children are Frances, who married
Delvin Brockett, and Patricia Ann, who married Morgan Copeland Jr.
3)
Edwin T. III, born April 23, 1896 and died December 15,
1955. He was married to Lala
Cogsdill. Their daughter is Betty Jean.
4)
Zoe Bernice, born May 19, 1898. She was married to Samuel DeWitt Bass. Their children are J. Roy, born November 10, 1917;
he died at birth; Nancy Lou, who married William E. McBride, and Barbara Read,
who married Kenneth Clarke.
