JIM WHITLEY

The following bio was taken from page 444 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, Rusk County TX Coordinator

My Rusk County family roots date back to 1850. My grandmother, Sarah Margaret Blair, was born April 16, 1852 at Laneville, Texas. Her parents, Hugh Blair and Sarah Elizabeth (Grigsby) Blair moved from Tennessee to Laneville in 1850. My grandfather, John Henry Whitley, came from Tennessee to Rusk County, Texas in 1869. (For more detailed data I refer to material submitted by Helen Whitley Strader and to the book, Our Wandering Whitleys, copyright 1974 by Helen Whitley Strader and Ruth Whitley Benbow.)

John Henry Whitley and Margaret Blair were married January 18, 1871 in Laneville, Texas. My father, Vincent Webster Whitley, was born April 9, 1881 at Laneville, the fifth of eight children.

My maternal grandfather, Augusta Olsen, born August 23, 1854 in Ogden, Sweden, was a seaman and farmer. He came to Alabama about 1880. My grandmother Molly Holder, was born in Cuba, Alabama, Jan 21, 1865. The couple was married in Alabama. My mother, Elizabeth (Bess) Olsen, was born in Cuba, Alabama on March 11, 1886, the second of eight children. The Olsen family moved to Laneville in October, 1901.

My parents, Vince Whitley and Bess Olsen were married at Laneville on January 23,1906. I was born at Laneville, the second of four children—John Ross, who died at the age of three, Jim Vince, Tom Ben, and Mary Frances.

Our father was a farmer, a clerk and collector for Williamson Brother’s Store and Justice of the Peace for two terms.

We children learned the value of work on the Whitley farm. Cotton was the main crop, along with corn, peanuts, sugar cane, peas, hay, and eighty acres of timberland. We also had two creeks and a lake.

Fishing and hunting were favorite sports with plenty of game and fish. We had fox and wolf dogs, and with our neighbor’s dogs we had about forty hounds ready for a big race every week.

Tom and I enjoyed trapping for game. On one occasion, while setting our big trap (we called the bear trap), I tried to out smart the trap and throw the bait trigger with my foot. Yes, in a flash it caught my foot. My brother heard my call for help and released me. It was a painful but an impressive safety lesson.

I graduated from Laneville High School and received my B.S. and M.A. degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University. All my career of forty-one years in the teaching profession was in Rusk County at Tatum, Compton, Crims Chapel, and Carlisle. I was also Rusk County School Superintendent from 1947 to 1975.

I was in the U.S. Army four years—thirteen months in the European Theater with the 137^th General Hospital Unit.

I am a past president of the Henderson Lions Club and have been a member since 1947, a Mason, a Methodist serving as a member of the board for twenty-five years and teaching the senior youth class for eleven years, a member of T.S.T.A., T.A.S.A., P.T. A., Texas Association of County Superintendents (past chairman), served on the Boy Scouts County Executive Committee for four years, and a member of East Texas Treatment Center board for two years.

While I was teaching at Crims Chapel, I met Grace Sylvia Knudson, a Rusk County Public Health Nurse. We were married August 10, 1945 in Clifton, Texas. She was the daughter of Albert and Amelia Jenson Knudson of Bosque County, Texas. Her great-grandparents, maternal and paternal, came by boat from Norway to Galveston. Then they traveled by sailboat to Nacogdoches, then by covered wagon to Brownsboro, Texas. In 1854 they moved to Bosque County, Texas, among the hills and small mountains. The move was promoted by better land and a more healthful climate.

Interested relatives may refer to a book written by Otis Pierson, Norwegian Settlements in Bosque County, or to the Bosque Memorial Museum for more information on the Knudsons.

Grace Knudson graduated from high school at Clifton College Academy, which has now merged with Texas Lutheran College, Seguin Texas. She is a registered nurse, a graduate of Scott and White School of Nursing, Temple, Texas. She received her public health training at George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee. She worked at Scott and White Hospital for five years, at the State Department of Health for ten years, including four years as a Rusk County Health Nurse, and at Henderson Public Schools for three years.

Grace was also a member of Henderson Business and Professional Women’s Club (now dissolved), and the Forum. She was active in P.T.A. and Camp Fire work, . She was a charter member of the Lioness Club as well as an active member of the First Methodist Church.

Grace and I have one daughter, Elizabeth Anne, who is married to Danny Odom. They have one child, Daniel James, our only grandchild, who shares his grandpa’s name as well as his grandpa’s heart and devotion.

Submitted by Mr. and Mrs. Jim Whitley