William Earl Hittson, Fisher County, Texas

Dora Brady Hittson, daughter of William Earl Hittson, sent this information in a letter to Dr. Jack and Elizabeth Hittson of Rock Wall, TX, prior to the 1986 Hittson family reunion. Elizabeth sent the letter to relatives through her "Hittson Herald, Reunion Issue 1986."

"Little mention is made of my father, William Earl Hittson. He was the second son of John Nathan Hittson. He was born in Callahan County, Texas, near Battle Creek, the sixth child in a family of nine children, January 4, 1868. His early schooling was in a Catholic girls' school along with his sisters. Later, he attended Kemper Military Institute, Booneville, Missouri. He worked in a bank for awhile, but soon returned to ranching.

"He and his older brother, Jesse J. Hittson, filed on some land and homesteaded the Figure 2 Ranch in what was then El Paso County, near Salt Flats. (It has since been divided into Hudspeth and Culberson Counties). That is where I was born June 7, 1910. My father built surface tanks with mule drawn "scrappes" and "fresnoes." It did not rain enough during the five years they lived there to fill the tanks. So naturally that was a disaster. When the time of homesteading was up, he and my mother and three small children drove from El Paso County near Sierra Blanco, to Rotan, Texas, Fisher County, in a wagon. All they possessed was a wagon and a herd of wild broodmares, and maybe a little money.

"He farmed in Fisher County for the remainder of his active life, but never missed a "round up" of cattle anywhere nearby. He was devoted to his widowed sister, Darthulia Beck Millsap. I am her namesake, as Dora is short for Darthulia, and she was always called Dora.

"Although he was only twelve years of age when his father died, he was the first person to the accident. More than once he related to me that his father was driving his horses hitched to a buckboard. He was going very fast because he was trying to overtake another vehicle in which his wife was riding. The wheels of the buckboard hit the railroad track and he was thrown forcefully to the ground. He died instantly. My father went to him immediately and summoned help. His monument is one of the oldest and most prominent in the Riverside Cemetery near Denver, Colorado. The marble for it had to be imported and was very expensive.

"Once when my father's father told him to get on his horse and head up some horses quickly, he became frightened when he saw a big Indian in his path. So, he stopped, and the horses got away. His father jerked him off his horse and gave him a good thrashing. That night his mother reprimanded his father, who apologized because, even though he knew that the old Ute was harmless, his son did not know it.

"He also told me about his father presenting his younger sister and brother with gold watches as a reward for good table manners.

"My Aunt "Jennie" (Salena Virginia) told me that on one of his return trips from Denver to Weatherford, TX, her father brought a big boxful of grown up ladies' clothes to his young girls. They dressed up in them and had great fun wearing them on the train back to their new home near Deer Trail, Colorado. So he had his tender moments, as well as some that were not.

"It took a lot of stamina to live in those days, and I am amazed at how much he (John Nathan Hittson) accomplished in so short a lifetime. He was only 49 years old when he died.

"To the best of my knowledge, I was (and am) the youngest grandchild of Salena and John Nathan Hittson."

/s/ Dora Brady Hittson Smith