Genealogy Wylie » Fletcher Otho Head (1877-1909)

Personal data Fletcher Otho Head 

• He was born in the year 1877 in Hardin County, Texas.
• He died on November 24, 1909 in Hardin County, Texas ql, he was 32 years old.
• He is buried in Hooks Cemetery, Kountze, Hardin County, Texas.
• A child of George W. Head and Roxanne Arline
• This information was last updated on July 20, 2012.

Household of Fletcher Otho Head

He had a relationship with Maude Delona Coe.

Child(ren):

1. Hardy Henry Head  1905-1956 
2. Otho Head  
3. Bryant Head  
4. Valley Head  
5. Elm Head  

Notes about Fletcher Otho Head

I wrote a brief article on Fletcher Otho Head in 2006 that, once edited and revised, will be part of a book I am planning to write on the George W. Head family descendants. Here is an edited copy of the article:

Our Fathers Before US: Fletcher Otho Head

My great grandfather was apparently a rather tough fellow. Raised in the aftermath of the Civil War, life was hard in the south. His father, George W. Head, had come to Texas from South Carolina sometime before 1871, and family tales say he was a slave owner. He married a lady from Georgia named Roxie Arline. When the family came to Texas they settled in a wilderness so thick and spooky that it still bears the name “The Big Thicket”, and were part of that pioneering generation that didn’t let a few snakes, gators or bears get in the way of making a living. Fletcher was born in 1877 and lived a life of which we know very little. Tales from the region are filled with legendary bear hunters and hard men and women cutting a living from the timber. Railroads were cut into the thick forests and fortunes were made.

As an adult, Fletcher must have been a respectable member of the community, for records show he was at one time the Postmaster General of Hardin County, and a tax assessor. He apparently had an entrepreneurial spirit about him, for in the days before Spindletop boomed in the area, the oil seekers were already drilling and producing Texas’ fine black gold around Saratoga and Batson, and in many other small logging communities in Hardin County. He decided to build a hotel and store in the piney woods at the end of a well traveled road to serve the transients who came to work the oil patch, and in 1904 the Bragg Hotel was in business. In the book “Hardin County History” published by the Hardin County Historical Society, the Bragg Hotel is described as “a two story, nice looking building that attracted a lot of people”. It was named after General Braxton Bragg of South Carolina, who was also a Civil Engineer and a surveyor for the Santa Fe Railroad.

The hotel became quite well loved, but not due to the hard work or hospitality of my great grandfather, for he died young at the age of 32 in November of 1909, and the hotel was sold to a Ms. Margaret McClean in 1910, whom maintained the hotel as a fine place for boarding. Some of the McClean legacy is preserved in the form of stories and recipes in the book “Boardin’ in the Thicket” by Wanda A. Landrey, and I am grateful to Ms. Landry for her assistance in tracking down info on my great grandfather.

There is a supposed “Ghost Light” legend along the road leading to where the old Bragg Hotel once stood, and it is to this day a popular place for thrill seekers to go, hoping for a glimpse of the light. The hotel took its last paying guest in 1968, and burned in later decades, but folks still go to see the light. The Hardin County Ghost Road is marked by a sign placed on either end, and is a popular attraction. It is interesting that we have two “ghost lights” somewhat loosely attached to our family history, the other one is on my wife’s maternal side up in Gurdon, Arkansas, and that one is considerably more famous.

So my great grandfather, Fletcher Otho Head, is still mostly a mystery to me. What I know of him comes through books and research, for he died young and family memories of him are almost non-extant. I am sad to say I don’t even have a photo of the man.

Fletcher left his wife behind, Maud (Maud Delona Coe, who has been listed on census roles as “Maudy Head”), and his children, Hardy Henry Head, my grandfather, and Vallie Head, W. Otho Head, Bryant Head and Elm Head. Jessie Head died in infancy.

My great grandmother Maudy apparently took care of her mother in law, Roxie, for she appears on census roles as living with the family in 1910.

So there’s all I know of my great grandfather, a hotel builder, storekeeper, postmaster and tax assessor, and a fellow who lived in the deep dark Big Thicket and died young, of what I do not know. What can we learn from him for our own family? Well, we’ll need to do some reading about the life and times of the Big Thicket during the turn of the century. The oil boom had a great influence on the Head family even until today, for my grandfather, father and myself all have made a living in professions related to the oil industry. We look to Great Granddad Fletcher Otho with wonder and amazement, inspired by the kind of grit it would take to carve out a living and to raise a family in the dense wilderness ripe with Yellow Fever and all sorts of bug-borne illness. And we admire the determination to be a builder and founder, a contributing servant of the area, and we are proud.

Written by Scott. M Head, son of Hardy Eugene Head, grandson of Hardy Henry Head, great grandson of Flethcer Otho Head and Maud Coe, Great great grandson of George W. Head and Roxie Arline. Actively seeking leads on this family line, photos, Bible records and local historical information.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/head/messages/3040.html

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Timeline Fletcher Otho Head

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