R.A. MOTLEY 

The following bio was taken from page 323 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

 Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

 Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Texas

 In the early history of Scotland, there lived in the Central Highlands a family named “Motlow” (sometimes spelled “Motley”), which was an old and royal name.

 There was in possession of this Motlow (later named Motley) family an old iron horn or trumpet which had been in the family for many generations, and probably for centuries.  According to a tradition of the family, the horn has been presented to the first Motleys by the leader of the neighboring clan of the Camerons, as a thanks offering for help he had lent him in drawing away an invading party of Norse and Danish Vikings who had passed farther inland than was the custom, and that they were harassing the Cameron Borders.  Thus began the friendship between the Camerons and the Motleys, which was to cement them together during many conflicts of the following generations.

This trumpet, with its significant emblem in its coat-of-arms, was a guarded treasure of the family, and the horn itself was ever borne by the leader when the clan went into combat.  A Motley would clamor to some craggy peak and send its shrieking peals echoing down the glens, and instantly the men of the clan would leave their highland flocks and go to a place of rendezvous, making the woods sound with the cry for arms, and armed with crossbows, ready for the trumpet to sound.  A single peal of the trumpet would strike their enemies dumb with terror.

 Many decades after these events, a young Motley, unused to lowland horses, was thrown by one of them, and as he fell, the trumpet was hurled from his hands, striking a rock and cracking it so that its sound was never the same again.  The enemies jeered at its discordant notes, and the accident seemed to cast a blight on the clan and it dwindled away.  But the Motleys kept the old cracked horn, and it was ever preserved with the heirlooms of the house and its story handed down from sire to son.

 Years afterward, when one of the last surviving Motleys in the early part of the 18^th century abandoned the old family stronghold and moved to Ireland, he carried the old horn with him.  Later, one of the Motleys had an exact copy cast in pure silver to be displayed in their relic halls, and engraved with this verse:

“He who in days of old, heard the iron’s blast, To fiery war-horse hurried fast; But he who hears my silvery peal, Shall better the pen than broad sword wield.”

 Robert Anderson Motley was one of the foremost citizens in the history of Overton. A man of many talents, he was at various times during his life a farmer, banker, merchant, newspaper editor, postmaster, and owner of the only drug store in Overton, Texas for a number of years. He also served as the Mayor of Overton for many years.

 R.A. Motley was born in Rusk County on April 20, 1867, the son of Annie Henderson Motley and Dr. James W. Motley, who served as a surgeon with a Texas Regiment during the Civil War and later represented Rusk County in the Texas Senate.  He finished his education at Hubbard College in Overton, Texas.  Five years of his career was spent in farming, after which he took the editorship of the “Overton Herald” and conducted that paper in the interests of good government and public welfare and as a first class medium for news and advertising.

 In 1886, Motley was appointed Postmaster under President Cleveland’s administration.  His term of office ran for four years, and he then entered the drug business.  In 1912 he organized the First Guaranty State Bank of Overton and served as president until his death in 1935.  While serving his community in the role of banker, R. A. Morley maintained his love of  farming.  He owned several hundred acres of land around Overton and was one of the largest producers of corn and cotton in East Texas.

 During the 1930’s R.A. Motley was instrumental in the development of the East Texas Oil Field.  His encouragement and personal contributions to Dad Joiner and his oil ventures helped make East Texas the focal point of the United States at a time when the rest of the nation was suffering at the depths of the Great Depression.

 The first oil well in the immediate vicinity of Overton was the R.A. Motley No. 1, the picture of which still appears on the checks of the First State Bank, Overton, Texas.  In addition to these contributions to the business development of Overton, Motley served his community in many other capacities.  He served as Mayor of Overton in the 1900’s, and later became president of the Overton school board.  He was also an active member of the First Baptist Church of that city and a Mason and Councellor of the Knights of Pythias.

 R.A. Motley married Ora Barksdale on April 21, 1900, and they had three children: their daughter, Hortense, married S.D. Lloyd, and had two children, Rachel Lloyd Watson of Tyler and Bob Motley Lloyd, attorney in Henderson.  Bob and his wife, Joan, have two sons, Kelley and Donald.

 The Motleys’ second daughter, Nelle, married E.W. Oliver of Tyler, and they have one son, Gene Motley Oliver, who has three sons – Lane Motley, Keith Wesley, and Ryan Mott – by a previous marriage. Gene and his second wife, Anna, have one son, John Christian.  They make their home in Dallas.

 Ruth, the third daughter, is married to John L. Pope, and they live in Overton, where John carries on the banking tradition, serving as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the First State Bank, which was formerly the First Guaranty Bank.  They have two children: Jerry Pope Bynum, who has three sons - Brant, Kirk, and Wes – and makes her home in Tyler; and Rogers Pope and his wife, Joyce, who make their home in Longview with their three children, Jan, Rogers, and Jennifer.

 The Motley family will long live in the history of Overton, because of the contributions made by Mr. and Mrs. R.A. Motley to the growth and development of this proud community.

 Submitted by Mrs. E.W. Oliver