James Odell GARRETT
Transcriber: Jan Shelfer
Surnames: GARRETT, BRANDON,
CORNELISON, GRIFFITH, OWEN, HARGROVE, JACKSON, CAMPBELL, WATSON, POOLE, REVIS,
HUDSON, CAMP, THOMAS, VARNADO, EWING, WALLER, SIMS, CAUTHEN, BAIN, PAXON, PARKS,
BOYD, MITCHELL
James Odell Garrett, b. November 17, 1848 in Anderson County, Texas, d. October
11, 1927 in Grand Prairie, Dallas County, Texas and buried in Garrett Cemetery
in Falls County, Texas-was a son of Thomas McKissick and Linea Frances
(Brandon-Cornelison) Garrett-both natives of Tennessee who settled in Texas in
1840-and on Blue Ridge (present-day Stranger) in 1850 after Thomas had come in
1849 to build the family home. James Odell's father died before his fourteenth
birthday, and he had the responsibility of helping his mother with the farming
and stock, and with the five younger brothers and sisters. He inherited 80 acres
from his father's estate, but repurchased some of his father's holdings in later
years. As a young man of twenty-one, he was a Deacon in the
Methodist-Presbyterian Union Church at Stranger when it was organized in 1869,
and later became an Elder in the Fairview Cumberland Presbyterian Church at
Coit-just past the Falls County line, in Limestone County, Texas a few miles
from his home.
On August 7, 1870 in Falls County, James Odell married first to Martha Ann
Griffith (called "Mattie"), b. 1852 in South Carolina, d. 1878 when her fourth
child was born-a daughter of Leonard Lenore and Sarah (Owen) Griffith who came
to Falls County in the late 1860's and settled on Blue Ridge in the Stranger
Community. Martha Ann and her parents were members of the Baptist denomination,
and her parents were charter members of the new Blue Ridge Missionary Baptist
Church organized in 1869 at Stranger.
James Odell Garrett farmed and ranched in the Stranger community on Blue Ridge
until his retirement, and he was one of the first school trustees of the
Stranger schools-both of Union School taught in the church building, and later
in the Stranger School two-story building.
The four children of James Odell and Martha Ann (Griffith) Garrett were:
Thomas McKissick Garrett, II, b. and d. 1872 and buried in Stranger Cemetery.
Leonard Lenore Garrett, b. August 23, 1874 at Stranger, Falls County, Texas,
married Lucy Carrol Hargrove.
Sarah Frances Garrett, b. & d. 1876 and buried in Stranger Cemetery, was named
for her two grandmothers.
James Odell Garrett, Jr., b. & d. in 1878, and said to have been buried in the
same grave with his mother in the Stranger Cemetery.
On January 6, 1880 in Bremond, Robertson County, Texas, James Odell Garrett
married second to Elizabeth Ann Jackson, b. February 22, 1857 in Parker County,
Texas, d. January 22, 1939 in Waxahachie, Ellis County, Texas and buried in
Garrett Cemetery by her husband-a daughter of Dr. Thomas and Elizabeth ("Betty"
Campbell) Jackson who had married September 24, 1843 in Audrain County,
Missouri, and moved to Parker County, Texas in 1851, and subsequently to
Bremond, Robertson County, Texas ca 1860. Dr. Jackson owned land situated in
both Robertson and Falls Counties, and did some farming and stock raising in
addition to his medical practice. He was born July 19, 1819 in Tennessee, d.
April 19, 1887 and buried in Garrett Cemetery at Stranger; and his wife,
Elizabeth (Campbell) Jackson, was b. February 14, 1818 in Tennessee, d. June 23,
1893 in Kosse, Limestone County, Texas, and buried by her husband in Garrett
Cemetery at Stranger. A brother of James Odell Garrett-Nathan Willis
Garrett-later married a sister of Elizabeth Ann (Jackson) Garrett. The second
family of James Odell Garrett also lived in the Stranger Community, where all
were born and reared. There were nine children born to the couple:
Ola Mae Garrett, b. November 28, 1880 at Stranger, Falls County, Texas, d. July
7, 1921 in an automobile accident in Dallas, was a talented musician and member
of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Fairview, where she married on
September 21, 1901 to William Franklin Watson, b. March 24, 1876 at Thornton,
Limestone County, Texas, d. June 5, 1952 in Dallas, Texas and buried there in
Crown Hill Memorial Park. After this marriage, the couple moved to Dallas where
he worked for the Continental Gin Company. They had three children: Helen Grace
Watson, b. July 30, 1903-married September 12, 1923 to Oscar Eugene Poole of
Cleburne, Texas; William Franklin Watson, Jr., b. October 20, 1909 who married
March 1, 1935 to Virginia Elizabeth Revis; and Ola Mae Watson (called "Dolly"),
b. May 2, 1912, d. November 22, 1964 in La Mirada, California who married June
6, 1936 in Dallas to Howard O'dell Hudson.
James Willis Garrett (called "Willis"), b. June 21, 1882 at Stranger, d.
December 19, 1904 of diphtheria at age 21 years-had never married. He was buried
in Garrett Cemetery at Stranger.
Robert Lee Garrett, b. April 17, 1884 at Stranger, d. April 14, 1967 in Dallas,
Texas and buried in Garrett Cemetery at Stranger, Falls County, Texas-married
November 8, 1905 to Lula Lee Camp, b. July 23, 1886 at Kosse, Limestone County,
Texas. "Lee" and Lula lived on the Garrett farm until his father moved to Grand
Prairie, Texas in 1918, and thence to Waxahachie, Texas. He was a cottonseed
salesman. They had four children: Fay Louise Garrett, b. June 4, 1908 at
Stranger, is now deceased, and never married; Marjorie Elizabeth Garrett, b.
June 11, 1910 at Stranger who married in Maypearl, Texas on November 3, 1933 to
Richard Hay Thomas; Billy J. Garrett, b. May 6, 1918 at Stranger who married
December 13, 1941 to Willie Ann Watkins, and served in the military during World
War II and now resides in Fort Worth, Texas; and Robert Lee Garrett, Jr., b.
August 20, 1920 in Grand Prairie, Texas who never married and was in World War
II, and is now deceased.
Cloy Lewis Garrett, b. June 3, 1886 at Stranger, d. February 11, 1887 and buried
in Garrett Cemetery at Stranger.
Edward Guy Garrett, b. June 24, 1888 at Stranger, d. August 29, 1966 in Marlin,
Texas and buried there in Hillcrest Cemetery-married October 12, 1911 in Falls
County to Hattie Alma Varnado.
Henry Grady Garrett, M.D., b. August 18, 1890 at Stranger, Falls County, Texas,
d. June 30, 1954 in Dallas, Texas and buried in Greenwood Cemetery, was a
graduate of Trinity University at Waxahachie, and received his M.D. degree at
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. On October 2, 1919, he was
married to Bernice Ewing of Dallas, where the couple settled and he had a
general medical practice. They were members of the North Dallas Presbyterian
Church, and had one daughter, Jeanne Maurice Garrett, b. October 11, 1921, who
married in Dallas to John Averett Waller.
Ross Ewing Garrett, b. September 8, 1892 at Stranger, d. December 18, 1961 in
Lubbock, Texas and became a cottonseed salesman in Waxahachie, Texas, moving in
1939 to Lubbock with his family, where he established the Garrett Feed, Seed and
Grain Company with his son. On September 20, 1916 in Waxahachie, Ellis County,
Texas, Ross married Mittie Floreine Sims, b. April 23, 1897 in Ellis County, d.
January 16, 1944 in Lubbock, Texas and buried there. They had three children:
Charlotte Elizabeth Garrett, b. June 29, 1917 in Waxahachie, d. March 1985 and
buried in Ennis, Texas who married Trammel Lee ("Ike") Cauthen; Jack Ewing
Garrett, b. June 27, 1918 in Waxahachie, Texas-married Jamie Howard Bain; and
Emma Ross Garrett, b. April 23, 1921 in Waxahachie, Texas who married James
Edward Paxon II, of New York, who was stationed in Lubbock in the U.S. Army Air
Corps during World War II.
Stella Irene Garrett, b. October 1, 1895 at Stranger, d. March 7, 1982 in
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas and buried in Llano Cemetery in Amarillo, Potter
County, Texas-married June 6, 1918 in Grand Prairie, Dallas County, Texas to
Jack Loy Parks, b. May 25, 1895 near Rosebud, Falls County, Texas, d. June 4,
1966 in Amarillo and buried in Llano Cemetery there-a son of James Motlow and
Ida Elizabeth (Boyd) Parks. They had two sons, Jack Loy Parks, Jr., and James
Grady Parks.
Sanford Quay Garrett, b. January 22, 1897 at Stranger, Falls County,
Texas-married February 28, 1917 in Blue Ridge, Falls County, Texas to Agnes
Estelle Mitchell.
James Odell and Elizabeth Ann (Jackson) Garrett moved in 1918 to Grand Prairie,
to be near their son, Dr. Henry Grady Garrett, who had established his medical
practice in Dallas. They became active in the Presbyterian Church there, where
he also served as an Elder. After his death in 1927, his widow resided with her
sons in Waxahachie, Texas part of the year, and spent the summers in Stranger
with her youngest son, Sanford-with short visits in the homes of Leonard and
Edward Guy Garrett. She was residing in Waxahachie in the of her son, Ross,
when she died, and was buried by her husband in the Garrett Cemetery at
Stranger.
Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing these bio of these
Falls County Families to this Web page.
"Families of Falls County," compiled and edited by the Falls County Historical
Commission, page 171, column 2.
Member of Falls County Historical Commission
This book can not be obtained from the Falls County Historical Commission.
Contact Theresa Carhart for details.
