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Kilgore House  1524 West Crawford Sarah Ada "Addie"
(S. A.) Kilgore (1845-1908) was actually the wife
of Sandy (S. C.) Kilgore (1838-1902). They came to Texas from Georgia
after the Civil War. There may have been tax advantages to having the
property in her name. Or, since she was likely to outlive him (and she
did), they may have been looking ahead to simplifying the handling of his
estate. In any case, although records may show that S. A. Kilgore purchased
the property, it was actually S. C. Kilgore who opened the brick
kiln and built the house. Before moving to the Gate City, Sandy and Addie Kilgore lived in Ladonia, Fannin Co., Texas where he also owned a brick yard, according to the 1870 Census; their two sons - Ed & Wert - were ages 4 and 2. Denison's first city directory in 1876 lists the Kilgores across town on the west side of Crockett Avenue, between Day and Shepherd streets.  Four years later, in the 1880 Census, they were living in Gainesville, where S. C. operated a brickyard, along with four boarders who worked at the brickyard. In the 1887 City Directory they were back in Denison, but they lived two blocks south of Crawford Street, at 1501 W. Morgan. The brickyard was on the south side of Morgan Street, across from their house. The report of a theft at the "large wood yard of S.C. Kilgore" in The Sunday Gazetteer, December 22, 1889, states that the yard was located southwest of the city; the case was investigated by Deputy Sheriff Bud East.  Between 1887 and 1891, according to the city directories, Kilgore's brickyard moved from the south side to the north side of the railroad track that ran through that part of town. In 1887 it was just south of 1501 W. Morgan.   The Sunday Gazetteer reported on February 16, 1890, that "Mr. S. C. Kilgore has recently finished two fine brick residences on West Crawford street at a cost of $1,500 and $750 respectively." In the same issue it was reported that Kilgore was opening a new brickyard south of Exposition Hall and near the H. & T.C. railway, one of three yards he would be running in an effort to keep pace with builders' demand. The following year the City Directory listed the Kilgore residence as "ss W. Crawford, west of South Maurice ave." That description is consistent with "1524 W. Crawford." But if they lived in that house in the early 1890s, they did not stay there long before they moved again.  At
some time S.C. Kilgore was in a partnership with a Mr. Brown in the
brick business; however, that partnership was dissolved in early
February 1893.  The 1896-97 City Directory lists their residence as 829 W. Chestnut Street.  The 1898-99 City Directory, for which canvased before October 1897, shows that the family had moved into a boarding
house at 118 W. Sears Street by the fall of 1897. S.C. Kilgore's occupation was
listed as carpenter while Wert's was that of a brick layer.
 Approximately
a year later In the fall
of 1898 the residence suffered damage from a fire of unknown
causes. This would have been one of the two residences mentioned
in the February 1890 news article above. If they moved into the
remaining residence on West Crawford street is unknown.
 In
1900 and the decade that followed
they were listed variously at 1500, 1504, and 1523 W. Crawford.
  In
the 1910 Census the sole surviving family member, Wert, was living at 1516
W. Owings. Wert
Kilgore died of tuberculosis in 1919 at age 52. He was, so far as
research shows,
the last of the brick-making Kilgore family in Denison.
Unlike the male members of her family, Addie Kilgore did not make the news in any interesting way until she died. Still, her obituary says that she "was the best known of our pioneers." The obituaries of both Addie and S. C. imply that the couple had four sons. Charlie, aged 20 months, lies in Oakwood Cemetery along with S. C., S. A. (Addie), and W. B. (Wert). His birth and death dates are unknown. The fact that he was buried in Denison suggests that he was born after the family moved there from Fannin County. Ed was buried in the cemetery at Ladonia, not far from where he died. S. C.'s obituary in 1902 says he was survived by two sons. With Charlie and Ed already deceased, that leaves Wert and an unnamed son. Six years later Addie's obituary said that three of her four children were dead. Wert survived her by 11 years, which means that the unnamed son must have died after the death of S. C. in 1902 but before the death of Addie in 1908. The mystery is that the unnamed son is not mentioned in any of the news stories, nor is he listed in any census, directory, or cemetery that I could find. His existence is attested only in the obituaries of his father and mother. The 1929 City Directory records that G.W. Biggerstaff's dairy occupied the lot at 1524 West Crawford Street.  By 1930 C.L. Horn resided at 1524 West Crawford Street and continued to
live there through 1944. [The
Denison Press, September 13, 1937, pg. 1; 1930 Federal Census]
A report of a hit-and-run accident in The Denison Press on November 1, 1946 states that H.H. Griffith lives at 1524 West Crawford street. The wedding announcement for H.T. Jackson and Imogene Darnell in The Denison Press, December 21, 1951 edition stated that the couple had established their home at 1524 West Crawford. We can conclude that the Kilgores spent several years in the neighborhod of 1524 W. Crawford. How many of those years they actually occupied that particular house is open to question.   Biography Index Architecture Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |