WILLIAM WITCHER FAMILY HISTORY

The following bio was taken from page 450 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

The Witcher family moved to Rusk County from Georgia before 1900. They began sharecropping, and for many years, this was their way of life. Nathaniel and Delia Pollard Witcher are the parents of eight children: William (Bose) and his wife, Ella J. Hatcher, who are the subjects of this story; Nathaniel II, (Nat), who married Lula Isabel; Hezzie married, first Alberta Hurd, then Anna Gray; Dora, who married Edmon McCoy; Ida, who married Will Jones; Ollie, who married Hershel Adams; Martha, who married Dan Menefee; and one son (name unknown) who left home and never returned. All are now deceased. William Witcher, Sr. was born in 1872 and died in 1961. He was the eldest son of Nathaniel and Delia, but was one of the last to leave home and take a wife. He married Ella J. Hatcher, the daughter of Pomp Hatcher. William was a farmer, but later went into business when he bought the old Knights of Pythias Hall, moved it to his property in Oak Hill, and opened a grocery and gasoline station. His health began to fail, and for ten years he was ailing, and then he died in a Dallas hospital in 1961. Ella J. worked along with William on the farm. She had a keen mind, and seeing the need for teachers, entered Mary Allen Seminary in Crockett, Texas, where she earned a teaching certificate. She first taught in the Harmony Hill Community, then known as Nip ‘n Tuck. Mrs. Julia McKinney and Mrs. Martha Newman were hired to stay in the home and keep the family together while Ella taught school. Ella, who became known as "Mrs. J.," taught for many years at Oak Hill and in the Greenville school. One morning, on March 25, 1945, when on her way to school, she was stricken ill and never regained consciousness. She was buried at Antioch Cemetery on April 1, a Sunday. William and Ella J. had twelve children: Minnie, Daught, Beatrice, Arthur, Douglas, James Cottrell, William, Jr., Christine and Willette. Three children died at birth and the first four named died at an early age. Douglas, the eldest of those surviving, was born in 1904. He grew up and attended school in Rusk County and went to Prairie View Normal Institute to complete high school. After returning home, he married Mattie Betty Borders, daughter of John and Lela Scott Borders. Douglas was a barber and Mattie was a hairdresser. They had one child, Iva Dell, who completed high school at Kilgore Colored High School. There she met and married Cornelius Smith, son of Sponsifield Smith of Kilgore. She and Cornelius had one child, who died in infancy. After Cornelius was discharged from the army with more than fifteen years of service, he returned to his wife and mother-in-law in Los Angeles, California. He died July 15, 1954, and was buried in California. James Cottrell, second son of William and Ella, was born September 21, 1914, at Elderville. He attended Texas College and married Miss Bobbie Barr of Chapel Hill Community. Bobbie attended Chapel Hill School, Pemberton High at Marshall, and received her B.A. degree at Texas College, Tyler, Texas, in 1946. After teaching several years in Rusk County and Kerens, Texas, she and James returned to Henderson, where they operated a cafe known as the Atmosphere Inn. Their children were: Effie Louise, James Albert, Willyestyne, Rodney Fernell, Deborah Jean, Bobby Dewayne, and three others who died young. Stories of the surviving children are told later in this writing. William Jr. was born June 17, 1917 at Elderville. After attending Rusk County Schools, he served in the C.C.C. camp at Jacksonville, Texas, where he continued his schooling. He married Jewell Fuller and was called into the army, where he served in the South Pacific and the Philippines. After his three-year stint, he was divorced and went back to college and obtained a B.A. degree from Texas College. He married, second, Clydia Freeny, daughter of George and Elmina Hill Freeny of Laneville. After teaching school in Avalon, Texas, he lived and worked in Tyler, having retired from his job with Carrier Refrigeration. Clydia completed high school and was a graduate of Madam Sweat’s School of Beauty Culture. She owns her own shop in Tyler. Christine, the oldest surviving daughter of William and Ella, was born January 6,1919 at Elderville. After some schooling at Oak Hill, she entered Central Elementary, Marshall, Texas at a very early age. Being dissatisfied at Central, she went to Terrell, Texas to live with her uncle and his wife, Henry and Jane Orange Hatcher, and attended Burnette Elementary and High School. After returning to Oak Hill, she entered Gregg County Training School at Longview, where she finished among the top five in her class. She attended Butler College and took extension courses from Texas College in 1941. She accepted a job with Rusk County Home Demonstration and Extension Agents, where she learned typing and was afforded an opportunity to study at Prairie View A & M. Here she met W.R. Coss, a student and a native of Laneville. They were married in the home of her parents at Oak Hill. She continued her education, receiving her B.A. degree in 1944, and her M.A. from Prairie View A & M in 1952. She began teaching at the Antioch Common School, then was transferred to Laneville, where her husband was an instructor. Both later taught at New Salem and were sent to teach at Miszner in Henderson after the consolidation of the schools in 1964. The next year Henderson began integrating teachers and she was sent to Chamberlain School. Here she taught for two years, then retired in 1969 because of failing health. Christine received many awards for merit during her career, and is a member of Texas State Teachers Association, American Association of Retired Persons, N.A.M.P., Antioch Baptist Church, Missionary Society, and the senior choir, and has served as a den mother for Boy Scouts. Christine and W.R. Coss had no children, but reared a foster child, Deborah Jean Witcher, as their own. (See W.R. Coss story) Willette is the youngest child of William and Ella Witcher. She was born May 30, 1921 and grew up at Elderville. She attended school at Oak Hill and graduated from Burnette High School at Terrell. She earned a B.A. degree at Texas College in 1944 and began work on her M.A. at a later date, receiving the degree from North Texas State University in 1955. She taught at Oak Hill, then Kaufman, Texas, after which she moved to the Dallas School District, and taught at C.F. Carr, in West Dallas. Here, classes were held in barracks until a new school was finally built, bringing about many changes in administration and faculty. Willette taught there many years, but was transferred to Paul L. Dunbar, then to San Jacinto, from where she retired. Her husband is Eli Howard, son of Peter and Georgia Harris Howard, who lived in the Fredonia Community. Willette and Eli have an adopted son, Eli, Jr., and one grandson, Eli, III. Earlier in this story, the six children of James Cottrell Hatcher were listed. Of these, Effie Louise, now deceased, attended Henderson Colored School, then graduated from Lincoln High in Dallas in 1959. She received a B.A. degree from Huston Tillotson in Austin, Texas, in 1963 and an M.A. degree from Pepperdine University in California. She began teaching in Gary, Indiana, and while there she met and married Amos Tolbert, Jr., lived in Gary for about ten years and died there in 1975. Effie was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and Antioch Baptist Church. James Albert, the oldest of their three boys, was born March 26, 1943 in Henderson. He graduated from the local schools and went three years to the University of Texas, then joined the Navy. He served aboard the Navy submarine tender "USS Proteus," operating out of Holy Loch, Scotland. The "Proteus" provides supplies and repair support for the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. He now works in Dallas as a computer repairman and has not married. Willystyne Hatcher, the second child, was born March 8, 1945 and graduated from Henderson Colored Schools as one of the top five in her class. She received a B.S. in elementary education as a speech therapist in 1968 at the University of Texas. She joined Effie in Gary, Indiana, where she taught for a few years, then moved to Los Angeles to teach while she lived with her aunt, Mattie B. Witcher. She married Walter Perry, of Jacksonville, Florida, but he was killed on the Los Angeles Freeway within their first year of marriage. She continued to live and teach in California, where she later married another Floridian, Wendell Williams, in 1978. They now live in Lakeland, Florida, where they are buying a home. They have no children. Rodney Fernell Witcher, the second son of James Cottrell and Bobbie, was born March 12, 1953 in Henderson. After his mother’s death in 1959, he attended public school in Tyler, where he lived with his uncle, William Witcher. He graduated from John Tyler High with honors and was awarded a National Merit Scholarship through Shell Oil Company. He was in training while working on his studies at the University of Texas, where he graduated in 1975. He married LaVerie Jean McDonald, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George W. McDonald of Texas City. After a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, the couple made their home in Houston. LaVerie Jean is a graduate of The University of Texas, with a master’s degree from the University of Houston, and is chairman of the math department of Paul Revere Middle School in Houston. She and Rodney have a son, Rodney Fernell II, born July 29, 1980. Deborah Jean was born August 31, 1954 in Henderson. She attended school in Henderson, and her sixth grade at Henderson Junior High in 1965 was the first year of integration. She was a good mixer and was fifth vice-president of her Future Homemaker’s Club and was first lieutenant on the drill team. She graduated in 1972 and then attended The University of Texas, where she received a certificate of certification in secretarial office management. She is employed by Fullbright and Jaworski in Houston, and is not married. She was raised by her uncle and aunt, W.R. and Christine Witcher Coss. Bobby DeWayne, the youngest child of James and Bobbie, was born January 5, 1956, in Henderson, where he attended school, graduating in 1974. He was a drummer in the band and played football for a while. He went to The University of Texas and was the recipient of a one-year Lyndon B. Johnson Scholarship. After two years, he moved to Houston and went one year to the University of Houston. He lives with his father in Oak Hill at the present time, planning to attend the University of Texas at Tyler. This is the story of struggle and determination exemplified by the members of the Witcher family whose achievements have made all of them very proud.

By Christine Witcher Coss