Alexander L. Douglass

Born in Lacy, Arkansas, on June 29, 1860, Alexander L. Douglass grew up on his stepfather's farm in Fannin County, Texas. In June 1883 just short of his 23rd birthday, Alex Douglass was operating a mercantile business in Foy, Colling County. (The Sunday Gazetteer, June 10, 1883)  In 1887, the Denison City Directory listed him as a partner with W. H. Parham in Parham & Douglass "groceries, produce and feed" at 304 West Main Street. This was two doors west of the State National Bank. The elegant building next door at 302 West Main had been built in 1884. However, the directory indicated that Alex resided at Kingston, Texas, a few miles northwest of Greenville.

Advertisement, Parham & Douglass
1887 Denison City Directory

On March 1, 1888, Alex married Julia Slack in Hunt County. She was part of a large family headed by her stepfather, William W. McCombs. Alex and Julia had two children—Lois D. Douglass (1889–1954) and William Claude Douglass (1892–1926). These children grew up in Denison. Julia died in childbirth on March 31, 1899, and her third child, the infant daughter Gladys, lived only two months. Both were buried in Greenville, Hunt County.

In the fall of 1888 Alex was hired by the Denison Post Office as a mail carrier.

The couple soon moved to Denison residing at 1200 W. Woodard St.  According to Douglass' 1946 obituary, he recalled delivering mail to the Eisenhower home on the day the future President of the United States was born, October 14, 1890.  Commonly information for annual city directories was compiled the previous fall, as the notice in the September 28, 1890 Sunday Gazetteer makes note of.  And the 1891-1892 Denison City Directory, published mid-October 1890 does not list Alex as a mail carrier, which makes the historians question the fact of Alexander L. Douglass actually being Ike's postman.

By early 1890 Alex was operating his own grocery and feed store at 600 South Armstrong Avenue, corner of Nelson Street in the Sugar Bottom community. It was noted in the March 2, 1890 edition of the Sunday Gazetteer that Mr. Douglass' grocery store was one of the business houses in Denison that would provide the convenience to this customers of selling postage stamps.  The family lived nearby at 1000 West Shepherd Street at the corner of Chandler Avenue.  On Tuesday evening, January 3, 1893, the stock of groceries and store fixtures of No. 103 Main St. belonging to A.L. Douglass were sold at public auction as ordered by the County Court at Sherman.  (The Sunday Gazetteer, Sunday, January 15, 1893, pg.4)

Three years later, in 1896, the Denison City Directory listed Alex as a clerk at Mastin & Hobson, grocers, at 201 West Munson Street. The owners were Albert P. Mastin and Aaron B. Hobson. Alex and Julia continued to live at 1000 West Shepherd.

Just two weeks after Julia's death, Alex changed professions. The 1900 Census listed Alex as a "dry good man." About this time he joined Samuel Porter Clark in forming Clark & Douglass, "merchant tailors, men's furnishers, hats," at 229 West Main. About this time, too, Alex moved from Shepherd Street to 1000 West Chestnut Street. A "merchant tailor" was "a tailor who keeps and sells materials for the garments which he makes." 229 West Main was part of the First National Bank/Ford Building, constructed in the fall of 1891. In 1901 it housed the National Bank of Denison, making it a good place for an ambitious men's clothing business.

Clark & Douglass was located in this building in 1901, just to the right of the awnings on the ground floor.
This was the First National Bank Building, located at 231 West Main Street at corner of Rusk Avenue.
It was built in 1891. Also called Ford Building, after the bank president at the time of construction.
Eventually it housed the Citizens National Bank.
Source of photo: "Art Work of Grayson County" (1895), fig. 11.1.


"Clark & Douglass, Tailors and Furnishers."
Robinson, Frank M., comp. Industrial Denison. [N.p.]: Means-Moore Co., [ca. 1901]. Page 96a.

Perhaps the location did not work out well. The 1905 City Directory had both Alex and the partnership of Clark & Loving listed as merchant tailors at the same address, 221 West Main Street.

Also in 1905, Alex remarried. His marriage to Nora A. Bobcock took place in Platt, Missouri, on August 6, 1905.

Until 1910, Alex continued to work in Denison. Around 1907, Samuel P. Clark left Denison and moved to Dallas. The 1907 City Directory listed Alex in a clothing business, Douglass Brothers, in partnership with his brother, Walter E. Douglass, four years younger, at 211 West Main. 

Alex Douglass

Walter Douglass

Two years after that, Alex alone was running Alex L. Douglass Clothing at that address. He and Nora were living at 625 West Main.

Two records exist for Alex in the 1910 Census, one in Denison and one in Dallas. They were made two days apart. The Dallas record lists Alex as "manager, clothing house." The Denison record indicates that he is a "merchant, clothing." Perhaps he was in transition and had houses in both cities. Soon (1914) he was living in Dallas with his daughter Lola and her husband, Carlos Johanning. Carlos had learned telephone repair working for the MK&T Railroad in Denison for years, but now he was in maintenance with the telephone company in Dallas. Alex reported no occupation after 1910, except for the 1920 Census, when he stated that he was a farmer. By then his wife Nora had died.

In 1925, the Johanning household, including Alex, was back in Denison. The group lived at 526 West Gandy, then with several other families at 920 West Bond. Alex passed away on December 23, 1945, in Dallas. He was buried in McWright Cemetery in Greenville, along with his first wife Julia, the infant Gladys, and son W. Claude, who had died in 1926.

 

 

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