Street Family
Street Family , Cabin #13
I consider myself blessed to be a part of the Street Family of Graham, Texas. In 1955, my birth mother made a decision to give me to a family who wanted children but could not have any of their own. W.G. “Bill” and Dorothy Street adopted me and brought me home to Graham. Being a part of the Street family is an honor. Our story is one of adventure, hardship and optimism. I hope you, dear reader, will enjoy my little tale.
I have to thank my mother, Dorothy Street, my cousins, Louise Street Witkowski, Marjorie Street Cummings, and Spencer Street, Jr., my uncle Bruce Street, Sr. my grandmother, Bertha Graham Street, and my friend Dorman Holub for their stories. I especially want to thank Louise for allowing me to use parts of her book, From England to Canada to Texas, The Family History of Some of the Streets from Worcester, England.
It was Samuel Denny Street who brought the Streets to this continent. Mary Street, who helped compile The Street Genealogy in 1895, said this about Samuel Denny Street on page 253:
Samuel Denny Street was a Lieutenant in the Royal Fencible American Regiment, raised by the British government at the time of the Rebellion of the American Colonies, born in Southwark, Surrey, England, May 16, 1752; married February 22, 1778, at Amherst, Nova Scotia, to Abigail Freeman. Mr. Street was bred in the law. At the commencement of the American War he entered the navy under the patronage of Admiral Rodham and went to America, where he joined the army and gaining the confidence of his commander, was employed in all enterprises against the enemy. At the close of the war he received a grant of land in New Brunswick.
Samuel Denny and Abigail Street had twelve children, the seventh of whom was William Henry. William Henry was born April 11 1793, at the family home at Burton, Sunbury County, New Brunswick. He was educated in the public schools and became a merchant in Saint John, New Brunswick’s largest city and important seaport. William Henry was a prominent businessman in Saint John serving as mayor for two terms. He also served in the House of Assembly for 3 years.
His brothers were farmers, preachers, lawyers or served in the East India Company’s service. His sister, Marie Louisa Street married Nathaniel Hubbard, and his brother, John Ambrose Sherman Street, married Jane Hubbard, Nathaniel’s sister. The Hubbard’s and the Street’s land adjoined on the Saint John River, and the families were the best of friends.
On March 15, 1824, William Henry married Mary Bruce of Leith, the port city of Edinburgh, in St. Cuthbert’s Cathedral, Edinburgh. She was a descendant of Robert Bruce and of the House of Kennet. Her father was James Bruce, Esq. and her mother was Elizabeth Petrie.
Mary and William Henry had three sons: James Bruce, Robert Bruce, and Alfred Burnett Lee.
James Bruce was born in 1825 or 1826. He was married in Scotland to Alice Orr, second daughter of Major John Orr and Sarah Boyd, on September 10, 1846, at Dullatur House, Cumbernauld, County of Dunbarton, between Argyll and Stirling. After his marriage, he worked in his father’s business in Saint John. He and Alice had two sons, John Orr Bruce, born in 1847, and Spencer Boyd, born August 3, 1850.
For reasons we do not know, James Bruce, left his young family and went to the United States. The 1851 census had the two boys living with their mother and an Irish servant in Saint John.
James Bruce was living in Albany, New York, at the time of his father, William Henry’s, death in 1875, according to a letter he received from Edinburgh. The letter was from the agent of a judicial factor. There were trusts set up when William Henry and Mary Bruce married-a marriage contract. The estate was to be divided into thirds, with one third belonging to James Bruce. James had the agent send a letter to his older son, John Orr Bruce, with the following proposal:
We have just received from your father a letter in which he requests us to make to you and your brother, Mr. Spencer B. Street the following proposal. He says “please have a letter addressed to my two sons that it is my request to divide the money into three equal shares for our mutual benefit viz. James Bruce Street one third, John Orr B. Street, one third, Spencer B. Street one third and send each man his share. If this is not satisfactory to my two sons then send me the life interest as I never will divide again.”
The boys accepted the offer and the 200 pounds each came at a time when the brothers needed resources on the Texas frontier.
My father used to tell me that you had to be prepared to find the skeletons in the closet when you researched family history. I’d have to say that the story of James Bruce and Alice Orr is the “skeleton” of the Street family. We don’t know why James Bruce left his young family, nor do we know where or when he died or where he is buried. We have letters from Alice to her boys, written while she was very ill in the hospital in Washington D.C. She died in 1862 at the age of 35, and it is not known where she is buried. We don’t understand why she was alone and why she did not receive any assistance from her father-in-law, William Henry, or other family members. William Henry’s second wife was even Alice’s older sister. One can only speculate as to the cause of such a sad family situation.
When Alice became ill, her boys were about 14 and 11 years of age. They were sent to Richmond, Virginia, to live with their Uncle Robert Bruce Street. On January 27, 1862, Alice writes to her boys from a hospital in Washington, D.C. proposing a plan for the boys’ care until she became well enough to care for them again herself:
My beloved boys,
I have been very ill and have only been up today, the first time for a fortnight, two doctors attending me. I am very weak, so much so that everything dances before my eyes and I can hardly see to write. Trouble upon trouble have come upon me lately so that I can hardly bear up against them. But be good kind boys to each other and love one another dearly and we will do the best we can.
I have decided that I shall take you both away from Richmond in about a fortnight. Johnny dear, you will have to work to help us all to get along. How would you like to go to work on a farm for a few months if you can have Spen with you? Write the moment you get this and tell me. Write the very day, remember, as I must decide at once. There are lots of horses and everything and the gentleman works himself. He is just married to a nice young wife; I cannot write more today as I am very weak. The farm is near Portland. (Maine) Now write right away and give my love to Uncle and aunty and Spenny and tell me just what you think. I will write to Robert in a day.Mr. Springer wrote that he was coming to Washington in a day or two. Show this to Aunty and tell her I had not strength to write more today. God bless you my boys, be good and affectionate to each other and think often of poor old Ma who loves you dearly.
Your Mother
Alice Street
Alice died in 1862. The exact date is not known.
The boys both probably stayed for five years with Mr. Forbes, near Paris, Maine. Forbes, was not the guardian Alice had hoped to send her boys to work for. He treated them as slaves. John Orr left for Texas when he was about 20 years old. We know he was in the Jacksboro and Fort Griffin area when Spencer Boyd arrived in 1872. John Orr was a surveyor and was in great demand in this frontier country. Spencer Boyd, on the other hand left Forbes and went to Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, where he worked in a lumber firm and attended Foxcroft Academy for the school year 1867-68.
It was in Dover-Foxcroft that Spencer Boyd met his future wife, Susan Ada Hodgdon, daughter of a farming family of English descent. Spencer decided to follow his brother to Texas to seek his fortune. He promised that as soon as he was settled, he’d send for Susan Ada and they would be married. Spencer went to Texas in 1872 and it wasn’t until June 11, 1878, that he and Susan Ada were married. During those 6 years apart, Susan Ada would dress as if she were receiving a gentleman caller and sit in the parlor to read Spencer’s letters.
Captain B.B. Paddock’s History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas tells about Spencer’s trip:
Mr. Street began his journey to the Lone Star State from Foxcroft, Maine, in 1872, and came by rail to the terminus of the Katy Railroad in the Indian Territory and from there to Sherman and on to Fort Griffin by stage.
It is said that when John met Spencer at the stage, he brought an extra horse for his brother to ride, and that they waited until dark to travel to where John lived so as to avoid trouble with the Indians. Just the year before (1871) The Warren Wagon Train Massacre had occurred northeast of Graham.
By 1878, Spencer felt confident he could support a wife and family. He returned to Dover and married his sweetheart, Susan Ada. He brought his new bride to Graham, Texas, where they stayed with the Jewells family for several months while a house was built for them. This house, at 804 Third Street and the larger home next door, built in 1904 are both listed in the National Register of Historic Places and are occupied by descendents of Spencer Street.
Spencer had entered the buffalo trade in 1872 when he arrived in North Texas, but the year after he married, he sold his oxen and wagons used in transporting buffalo hides and in freighting lumber and supplies from Weatherford and Fort Worth. He sold 39 head of oxen and six wagons to H.C. Dozier on October 7, 1879. Among family papers the two notes were found; the first note was for $700, payable August 1, 1880; and the second for $702.50, payable April 1, 1881. Total price for the wagons and oxen was $1302.50.
The first of Spencer and Susan Ada’s five children was born April 23, 1879, a son named for his father, Spencer Boyd; he was called Boyd. Horace Bruce was born on May 9, 1881; Alice was born on October 14, 1884, Glenn Q. was born on January 18, 1889; and Spencer Orr was born on January 12, 1894, but only lived a little over a year.
No longer in the hide or lumber hauling business, Spencer embarked in the drug store business with J.E. Ryus and F.M. Burkett. Later he partnered with John E. Morrison in the mercantile business of Morrison, Street, and Co. which lasted eight successful years. Spencer then took the lead of the firm of S.B. Street and Co. with Mr. Mabry. When Mr. Mabry retired seven years later, Spencer’s sons became associated with the business.
People who remembered Spencer said that he was very fond of joking. When he would see his neighbor’s children, he would greet them with, “Hello. You’re fine, how am I?” Spencer had an understanding and joyful heart.
He must have been close to his children, as they remembered many stories that he told them of his buffalo hunting and other experiences. He and Susan Ada are described as having been a very distinguished and aristocratic couple. Spencer remained a Canadian citizen during his 38 years in Texas.
On returning from buying spring merchandise in Chicago, Spencer died of a gall bladder ailment while on the Rock Island train near Marion, Kansas, on February 25, 1910. His son, Boyd and his partner, Mr. W.B Alexander of Haskell, were traveling with him. Susan Ada lived until September 3, 1927. They are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Graham, Texas.
The three sons of Spencer Boyd and Susan Ada attended Gem City Business College in Quincy, Illinios. Boyd, being the oldest started working in the family store in 1898. He worked three months as an apprentice with no pay before receiving his starting salary of $25 a month. Boyd wrote of one incident at the store which left a lasting impression:
My first position in the business world was that of bookkeeper and salesman in my father’s dry goods store in Graham, Texas. Many of the sales were on credit, the farmers making their notes and accounts due in October and November, the ranchmen making theirs due in April and May. I became interested in the problems of financial statements and extending lines of credit to those entitled to them. One morning in January a stiff norther blew in, rain turned to sleet, and sleet turned to snow. I was standing inside the front doors of the store watching the snow, when a man on horseback rode up, dismounted, tied the bridle reins to a post and came into the store. I asked him what I could do for him and he said that he would like to buy an overcoat if he could get it on credit. I referred him to my father who was nearby.
The man told my father that he lived in Jack County, had left home early that morning before the” norther” struck; was on his way to Abilene to work on a ranch; that he had a slicker but no overcoat; that he needed an overcoat for such weather; did not have enough cash to pay for it, and would like to buy one on credit. My father told him immediately that he would be glad to sell him one. After he had selected a good, warm coat, my father told him that he would need some good boots, wool socks, a warm cap and gloves for a horseback trip in such a blizzard, and that he would be glad to sell them to him. After being fitted up with these articles, he thanked my father, got on his horse and started riding west. After the man left, I told my father that I did not understand why he would sell a stranger, a man traveling through the country, all those goods on credit, and not even ask him for references.
“Son,” he said, “the reason why you do not understand it may be that you havenever been cold. I have! If he pays the bill, well and good, if he does not, I shall feel repaid in the satisfaction I shall get in knowing that I helped a man in need.” And that was the only payment he ever received, but he considered the bill paid in full.
Boyd, married Mabel Flanagan of Georgetown, Texas. They lived in the family home at the corner of Third and Plum Streets. They had three children, Louise, Marge and Spencer. It is to these three cousins that I am especially indebted for their love of history and for sharing their family stories with me.
Spencer Boyd and Ada’s second son was Horace Bruce, or H.B. He was my grandfather who we called “Daddy Pop.” I’ll go into more detail about him later on.
Susan Ada and Spencer Boyd had one Daughter, Alice. Alice attended Graham schools and took private piano lessons. At the early age of 16 she went to Sherman’s North Texas Female College. Following her schooling, she returned to Graham where she met and married Harry A. Wadsworth, who was employed by her father, and who ran the men’s department at S.B. Street & Co. She and Harry never had children of their own, but were loved by all their nieces and nephews.
Glenn Q. was the fourth child of Susan Ada and Spencer Boyd. He attended the same school as his older brothers in Quincy, but was happy to return home to friends and family. He helped his father and brothers in the dry goods store. He played the trombone in the community band and was chief of the volunteer fire department for several years. He married Faye Wheat, whom he met when she was visiting relatives in Graham. They had one son, Glenn Q, Jr. Faye also worked at the dry goods store and Aunt Alice and Uncle Harry watched after little Glenn Q, Jr. When S.B. Street and Co. closed in 1934, Q worked as bookkeeper for Graham Mill and Elevator Company.
H.B., my grandfather, joined his father and brother in the dry goods store after he completed his education in Quincy. He was in love with the bright eyed daughter of Col. E.S. Graham, founder of the town of Graham, Texas. She, Anna Bertha Graham, was having so much fun that she just never considered settling down with H.B. Several young people from Graham were going to travel to Europe the summer of 1911 and on the advice of Bertha’s friends, H.B. booked himself on the trip. An interesting fact about this trip is that the group traveled aboard the R.M.S. “Olympic,” of the White Star Line. The Olympic was the first of a new class of ships featuring the last word in luxury rather than focusing on speed. Three ships were planned, the Olympic being the first, the Titanic being the second and the Gigantic (later renamed Britannic after the Titanic disaster.) Bruce and Bertha were booked on the Olympic in August of 1911 just eight months before the Titanic disaster on April 15, 1912.
H.B.’s persistence paid off as at the end of the trip, Bertha agreed to marry him. He wrote to his mother with his happy news:
On board R.M.S. “Olympic”
August 15, 1911
My dearest Mother:
We have had a delightful trip over and I have enjoyed the trip more than I can ever tell you and especially the last month.
While in Geneva Bertha and I were out on the Lake and in some way or other I told her that I loved her and she also told me that she loved me and you will never know how happy I was for just think to love one girl ten years and win her when I had all but given her up for lost. So you can easily imagine how happy I have been for the last month. We are to be married tomorrow I do not know at what time as it will all depend upon what time we get through the Custom House, however I will send you a telegram. I know that you will miss me but I will be close so as to run in to see you every day and then you know you have always said that you wanted to see me happily married so your wish has come true. And then you know that I think and have always thought that Bertha is the sweetest girl in the world. Now I know it. So you can see that I consider myself the luckiest man in the world. We will stay in N.Y. for a day or two then will stop in Chicago for a day or two, then home sometime before the 1st. I would have written you all about it before but did not want the news out before we were married. We have not told anyone except Mrs. Graham, Bell and Mrs. Castes. It makes it very convenient having Dr. Mimms along. Hope there is a letter in N.Y. for me. You see now why I wanted the extra hundred. We made 544 knots yesterday that is the longest run but have never run less than 516 knots, the boat is very steady but I don’t suppose I am today. Please don’t show this to anyone out of the family. With lots of love to all from your happy son.
Bruce
H.B. and Bertha set up housekeeping in the William Craig home on Fourth Street. Bertha’s older sister, Bess, had died as had Will Craig, Bess’s husband, leaving three girls in the care of their Grandmother, Addie Graham. H.B. and Bertha moved in with Addie and the girls and helped raise them along with their own five children. They had a full house with twins, Bruce and Boyd, a son, Graham, a daughter, Frances, and another son, William “Bill,” my father. The old Craig house went from seven rooms to 14 as the family grew with Grandmother and the three Craig girls living upstairs and H.B., Bertha and their five children living downstairs.
Everyone who visited that home found it was full of lively activity. Bertha had a cement walk put in all around the house so the children could play with skates and not have to play in the street or wet grass. The old house was torn down in 1955 and replaced with a modern home.
In 1918, H.B. entered the oil business with his brother, Spencer Boyd and Brother-in-Law, E.S. Graham. He participated in the organization of the Allar Company. During the oil boom of the 1920’s, times were good, so H.B. and L.L. Davidson opened a car dealership in Ranger, Texas selling LaSalles and Cadillacs. Later on they had the Chrysler and Buick dealership in Breckenridge; finally opening a dealership in Graham. The partnership dissolved in 1936 and Mr. Davidson moved to Breckenridge to open his dealership while H.B.’s twin sons, Bruce and Boyd, had the Buick dealership in Graham.
H.B. returned to the oil business exclusively and formed the S&S Oil Company with his youngest son, Bill, and the Ibex Company with his twin sons, Bruce and Boyd, and Lester Clark of Breckenridge. Remarkably, H.B.’s grandchildren are all still in the oil business to this day as are the children and grandchildren of E.S. Graham with whom he started the Allar Company.
Even though H.B. left me his business legacy, I remember him for drawing little “face” pictures on my hand and for always having a bowl of lemon drops beside him. My cousin, Bruce, Jr. remembers him playing tricks on the grandchildren by telling them to go searching for treasure in the bushes, but to beware of bears. As the children were searching “Daddy Pop” as the grandchildren called him, would put on furry gloves and grab at their little hands through the bushes sending the children screaming and laughing to their mothers.
My grandmother, Bertha, or “Mother Street,” to us grandchildren, was a magical lady. She had a way of laughing at herself that was disarming. She had a drawer full of treats in her bedroom that good grandchildren could pick from at the end of a visit to her house. She kept toys in a toy closet. She made sure the closet door was a “dutch” door, so the top part would always be open so she could hear her little grandchildren playing and be sure that they were in no danger. “Mother Street” delivered lemon pies to anyone she knew of who might be sick. She thought that lemon pie could just about cure anything. In fact, even the fairies knew where a magical lady lived. For several years in the 1970’s, mushrooms sprang up in “Mother Street’s” back yard in an exact circle. It is said that fairies feel safe and will dance in such a ring.
“Mother Street” loved Halloween. She thought that the children of Graham needed a safe place to celebrate the holiday. Bertha enlisted her children and grandchildren to help her stuff long johns and create spooky characters who were placed all over her home. Once the decorating was complete, her helpers would fill hundreds of treat bags to pass out to the visiting children. On Halloween evening, she’d open her home to all of the children of Graham for tricks and treats.
Life was not always happy for Bertha and H.B. Their charming third child, Graham, was killed along with his cousin in an automobile accident on New Year’s Day, 1935. He was only 21 years old. Tragedy struck again in 1940 when Frances died from complications in childbirth. Her husband, Bill Mitchell, was killed during WWII.
The twins, Bruce and Boyd, were successful in business and were community leaders. They both married and lived out their lives in Graham. Bruce had two children, Virginia and Bruce, Jr. Boyd also had two children, Sandra and Malcolm.
My father was the baby of the family, William Glenn “Bill” Street. He was a mischievous child who loved to play with his cousins, Louise and Marge. He grew into a crafty business man. He married my mother, Dorothy, in 1952, and they adopted me in 1955 and my brother, Glenn, in 1957. Bill was always thinking of new and interesting projects. He encouraged the Boy Scouts to clear the trails up to the top of Stand Pipe Mountain because he thought the view of Graham was pretty from the top and the community needed to be able to see it. His methods were not always conventional, but his desire to do good was always in his mind. My father died in 1990.
My mother, Dorothy, was one of the finest women I have ever known. She was beautiful both inside and out. She was a fine homemaker, but she was a leader in her Church and community too. She sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, worked in the Women’s Society of Christian service, and in the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. Dorothy was well educated, having attained a BS in Home Science from the University of North Texas. After she and Bill divorced in 1979, she became involved in the oil business and served on the Zoning Board in Graham and on the Community Day Care Board. Mother died in 1989.
My brother, Glenn, lives in Irving and is involved along with me in the family oil business and Wildcatter Ranch.
I married Michael Skipper of Fort Worth in 1980 and we have two children, Graham (23) and Emily (18.) Mike is a theatrical producer and director, working in Texas and New York.
There is a history of “giving back” in the Street family. Members of our family have served in leadership positions in both the Church and the Community over the years. It can be an awesome responsibility to try to fill the shoes of those who’ve come before. I think on the struggles of young Spencer who traveled by himself to Texas from Maine to find join his brother becoming a Buffalo hunter and later a businessman and community leader with admiration.
Little did I realize back in 2000, when we started Wildcatter Ranch, that my vision would become more than we ever thought possible. I am so proud of the people here at the Ranch and of the contribution to our community. Mike and I enjoy being on the Ranch and hope to meet you along the trail.
Among some family papers I found this little sentiment that I believe has led the Street family’s actions through the years:
Up to a point a man’s life is shaped by the environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him; then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, this I am today, that I shall be tomorrow. The wish, however, must be implemented by deeds.
Anne Street Skipper (March, 2006)
To see photos and learn more about the historical themes of our rooms, click on a room name below.
