Typed by: Jan Shelfer
HETHERINGTON, Sam
Surnames: HETHERINGTON, BROUGHTON, RITTER, ALSTON, BROWN,
RADFORD, SPRADLING, RHODES, STAFFORD, SUITT, CARTER, BRADLEY, MILES, KVETON
Sam Hetherington, b. January 3, 1875 at Monroeville, Alabama, d. December 13,
1951 at Reagan, Falls County, Texas-a son of John Monroe and Margaret Ann
(Broughton) Hetherington. He came to Texas with his parents in 1885, attended
school at Reagan, hunted, fished, and became a skillful farmer. He was a large,
energetic man, capable of doing more work than most men. About 1900, Sam was
married to Rosa Ritter, b. August 17, 1880 in Reagan.
After renting land for several years, Sam bought a farm from W. Z. Burke on the
West side of Fish Creek-near Covington Cemetery. He rebuilt the house, and with
hard work and frugal living, paid for the farm. Rosa was a pretty, petite woman,
who contracted tuberculosis, dying on August 15, 1915. Sam and Rosa (Ritter)
Hetherington had eight children:
Lucy Hetherington, b. September 17, 1901, married Charles Alston on December 31,
1922. Annie Mae Hetherington, b. October 17, 1903, married December 30, 1922 to
Albert Brown and had Ruby Lee Radford, Dalton Brown and Illa Spradling. Benjamin
Franklin Hetherington, b. January 17, 1905, married on September 26, 1931 to
Thelma Rhodes; John Alexander Hetherington, b. November 21, 1907, married Alice
Stafford; Effie Irene Hetherington, b. February 10, 1909, married in
Jacksonville, Texas on September 9, 1928 to Dewey Hopkins Suitt; Bessie Lee
Hetherington, b. January 25, 1911; Lillie Hetherington, b. September 20, 1913,
married April 5, 1939 to Grady Alston; and William Hetherington, b. May 15, 1915
just three months before his mother died, served four years in World War II in
the army.
After Rosa's death, Sam, somehow, kept his family together with the help of his
older children. On February 15, 1917, he married second to Mamie Carter, b.
April 22, 1892-a daughter of Andrew Jackson and Amanda (Bradley) Carter. Mamie
was a young widow with one son. Sam and Mamie had three children, but one
unnamed, died. The other two were: Margaret Leona Hetherington, b. June 27,
1924, married first a Mr. Miles and had two daughters, then married second on
March 16, 1946 in Marlin to Rex Kveton; and Mary Hetherington, b. June 10, 1924,
was a registered nurse at Jeff Davis Hospital in Houston.
Sam Hetherington suffered a stroke and died, and was buried in Covington
Cemetery.
Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart and her volunteers 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 225, column 1.
