WALTER NEWTON IRWIN

The following bio was taken from page 256 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Texas

Walter Newton Irwin was born in June 1885 to Joseph Anderson Irwin and Martha Louisiana Honeycutt Irwin in the Crims Chapel Community. He lived there all of his life. He was the second of five boys and started to school in the fall of 1893 at Crims Chapel under Professor Regan. Mr. Frank Culp was his next teacher followed by Cousin Claude Crim and sometimes Tilton Irwin. After he finished school at Crims Chapel, Walter attended two Teacher Summer Normals at Henderson and the Farmers Institute. Then he attended Tyler Commercial College in 1908 to take a course in telegraphy. Later he worked in the office of the Santa Fe railroad, then for his cousin, T. J. Armstrong, in his store near Tatum. In 1913-1915 he taught singing schools at Leveretts Chapel and at Crims Chapel for one year.

When Mattie Belle was three, her father died, leaving her mother with three sons and Mattie. The family then moved to Terrell, and later to Koonce, Texas where Mattie attended school for four years. They moved several times and were living in Jacksonville when the mother died in 1909. Mattie was only fifteen years old.

In January 1911 Mattie Belle went to Henderson to live with her Uncle Billy Thompson. She stayed there from April 1911 until November of the same year, when she met my father, Walter Newton Irwin. Mattie Belle and Mae Thompson Holcomb, and Alice Freeman (her maiden name) were at a summer revival at Crims Chapel and Cousin Tilton Irwin was doing the preaching. Walter Irwin was leading the singing, and Uncle Ben Honeycutt introduced Mattie Belle and Walter, and that was the beginning of a courtship, then a wedding, and finally eight children being born in the years that followed. Mattie was saved and baptized during that meeting.

Walter and Mattie Belle were married November 9, 1912 at Uncle Billy and Aunt Sallie Thompson’s home in the Jacobs Community at 3:30 o’clock on Saturday. Mattie Hunt (now deceased) and Mae Thompson Holcomb were the bridesmaids. The couple was married in the front of an open hallway. There was a good crowd there since the weather was pretty. Among those attending were Annabell Armstrong Leath, Ruby Honeycutt Still, Lillie Honeycutt Jacobs, Edgar Armstrong and Tom Armstrong. Cousin Tilton Irwin performed the wedding ceremony. Mrs. Cora Mims made the bride’s dress. Uncle Bill and Aunt Sallie bought the material for it, since Mattie Belle was making her home with them because her mother had died when she was only fifteen years old.

The day before the wedding, Mattie Belle raked the yards with a brush broom so they would look nice. The couple ate supper with Aunt Sallie and Uncle Billy Thompson and went to church that night. They spent the night with Hardy and Mattie Thompson, Mae Holcomb’s mother and father. They went to church the next day, which was Sunday.

The first home of the newlyweds was in the Crims Chapel Community, located where the old Calvin Barber home was between Grandview and Crims Chapel communities. Their first child was a son, Forrest Herbert Irwin, born August 1914. He married Hazel Gray of Oak Hill. The next child was another son, Wilton Revelle Irwin, born in April 1916. He married Jeanette Cooper of the Pleasant Hill Community. Then in July 1922 along came another girl, Ruby Lois, who weighed only a little over two pounds. She married William Earl Hudson of Henderson. Then another daughter, Annie Marie, was born June 1925. She married Alex Aron Ashby of Henderson, formerly of Goodsprings. Another little girl was born – Geneva Jo, August 1928. She married Billy Willard of Henderson. Then another baby boy, Glen Wayland, was born in August 1935. He married Mary Middlebrooks of Henderson.

Walter and Mattie Belle both worked hard and tried, with the help of God, to raise their children right. Walter was a deacon in his church and a song leader. He passed away in February 1968. They had sixteen grandchildren and eighteen great grandchildren. Through December 25, 1980, we all had Christmas Eve dinner together. The grandchildren always looked forward to this, and so did the little great grandchildren. It doesn’t look as if we will have another Christmas like that. Mattie Belle became very ill last spring, and is no longer able to live alone. Their lives mean so much to all of us.

Submitted by Marie Ashby and Ruby Hudson