William A. Satterwhite

During the vacation months, William was a farmer.  By the time he was thirty years of age, he had acquired enough work stock and machinery to operate an eleven hundred acre wheat farm near Vernon.  He planted the crop in the fall, then returned to Tarrant County to fulfill his teaching contract.  When the school term ended, he went back to Vernon for the harvest season. 

It was his choice to teach in or near his home community.  As the years passed, many of the teacher-pupil relationships developed into close friendships.  Charlie Harris was one of many devoted pupils who became life long friends. 

While teaching at Lone Elm, William A. Satterwhite returned to Lonesome Dove to visit the F.C. Brown family with whom he had boarded the previous year.  Here he met the new teacher, Emma Hodge, daughter of Robert Gray and Elizabeth Gillispie Hodge of Denton, formerly from Gray’s Prairie in Kaufman County.

The following week, Emma received a letter from William asking for a date at the box supper to be held at Lonesome Dove, which was then a thriving village with a church, a two-teacher school, a lodge hall, cotton gin and general store.  Emma wrote a letter of acceptance.

The box supper was a success financially as well as socially.  Each girl packed a supper for two and included her name in a box, which was wrapped and tied, to be auctioned to the highest bidder.  Sometimes she added a special touch for secret identification to increase the chances of sharing the supper with the man of her choice.  In his letter, William asked Emma to put a rubber band around her box.  Apparently, she did so.

The courtship which began that evening continued through two school terms at Lonesome Dove and a third year when Emma taught a one-teacher school at Lawn in Taylor County.

On May 10, 1906, William A. Satterwhite and Emma Hodge were married at the parsonage of the First Christian Church in Denton.  Dr. Hallum, the pastor, read the wedding ceremony.

Two days later, the young couple went to Vernon to prepare for the wheat harvest.  The following day was Sunday and dinner guests were Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ladd (Annie Price), former residents of Keller.  Having boarded during her teaching years, the bride lacked experience in meal preparation.  Now, more than sixty three years later, she recalls with amusement and deep appreciation, the understanding help she received from her guest, Annie Price Ladd.

Before Christmas of 1906, the Satterwhite’s had returned to Keller, to a farm owned formerly by Ed Bourland and later by the Stephenson family.  For the next ten years, this was their home and the birthplace of two sons.  William A. Jr. was born September 23, 1907 and Woodrow on December 14, 1912.

Both William A. and Emma Satterwhite were interested in community affairs.  She was a teacher and he was superintendent of the Sunday School at the First Baptist Church.  For many years he served as a member of the local school board and also of the Tarrant County School Board. 

Mr. Satterwhite was active in the organization of the Maysonian Club, so named in honor of Will Mays, the local banker.  The purpose of this club was to provide entertainment through dramatic and literary programs, with an occasional debate on a subject of current interest.  Memberships were sold for one hundred dollars each.  For a meeting place, a building was erected on Price Street at a cost of $1,100.

At this point the Maysonians had little money, plenty of dramatic talent, but no curtain for their stage.  Fortunately, Joe Witt, a teenage orphan boy, drifted into town.  Without knowledge of his artistic talent, the Mays family gave him a home.  In return for this kindness, he painted a stage curtain which was moved years later to the Keller School auditorium, when the Maysonian building was remodeled as a residence for Dr. J. A. Jones and his family.

In 1916, the Satterwhite’s sold their farm north of Keller and bought land known as the Nuckolls place, owned later by Tom Tidwell.  The sons continued their attendance at the Keller School, which at the time, was only a ten year system.  In order to have the two last years of high school, it was necessary for them to go elsewhere.

W.A. Jr. had his junior year at North Side in Fort Worth.  He finished his senior year at Canyon, Texas, during a one year residence of the family in that city.  His college work was divided between Texas Tech, at Lubbock and North Texas State University, at Denton.

When the family returned from Canyon to their farm home south of Keller, Woodrow attended the local elementary school.  It was here that an enduring friendship developed between him and Horace Prewett, the son of Jess and Eunice Prewett.  As the boys reached their teen years, their horizons grew broad and bright.  Eventually they gained parental consent to spend their summer vacations traveling.  Equipped with a Model T Ford, a little money and their friendly outgoing personalities, they followed the wheat harvest as far as Western Kansas.  By the first days of September, they returned home with a pocket full of money and cordial invitations from their employers to came back again next summer.

After graduating from the tenth grade at Keller, both boys commuted to high school in Fort Worth.  Their promising future came to a tragic end in a train car collision which took their lives October 11, 1929.  Woodrow was buried in Bourland Cemetery; Horace in Mt. Olivet in Fort Worth.

In the mid 1930’s, the Satterwhite’s moved to Fort Worth, where he was employed as Deputy Tax Collector of Tarrant County, a position he held for fifteen years.  The Fort Worth residence was for only a brief period.

During the next few years, Mr. Satterwhite bought, improved and sold three farms in the Keller vicinity.  These were known as the Stone place and the Oscar Peterson farm, south west of town and the Bourland homestead near the cemetery.  In 1942, he purchased a home at 232 South Elm in Keller.

At this point, Mrs. Satterwhite helped to relieve the teacher shortage by returning to her favorite vocation.  She taught four years at the Florence School, returning each summer to her Alma Mater, North Texas University for refresher courses.  She retired in 1949.

Mr. Satterwhite retired as Deputy Tax Collector in the same year.  He passed away on September 23, 1950 and was buried at Bourland Cemetery.  Mrs. Satterwhite now lives at 1000 6^th Avenue in Fort Worth. 

William A. Satterwhite Jr. was married September 3, 1931 to Gladys Piper.  He spent thirty two years as Assistant Director of Public Works in Fort Worth and retired in 1968.  His wife is a teacher in Helving Elementary School in Fort Worth.  They are the parents of two daughters, Elizabeth and Carolyn.

Note:  Emma Hodge Satterwhite passed away July 14, 1977 and is buried in Bourland Cemetery.

Source:  http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/tarrant/cemeteries/bourland.txt