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Justus
Garfield Puckett and Family Eva
Johnson Puckett Justine Puckett
Early in the twentieth century, two
families named
Puckett—perhaps distant relatives—arrived in Denison, Texas. One group
was
composed of the children of Augustus
Henry "Gus" Puckett (1849–1896) and Mary Jane "Mollie" Church
Puckett (1855–1897). They came
to Texas soon after the deaths of their parents in Maury or Hickman
County,
Tennessee. Gus and Mary Jane's children were:
William Puckett (1870–before 1945)
Emmons Church Puckett (1877–1956)
Annie Snow Puckett (1880–1963)
Justus Garfield Puckett (1883–1945)
Martha E. "Mattie" Puckett
(1886–before 1845)
Robert Archibald "Archie" Puckett
(1889–1950)
John Moody Puckett (1893–1964). Several of these siblings lived in
Nashville prior
to coming to Texas, arriving in Denison between 1903 and 1910. They may
have
come together or separately.
Justus Garfield Puckett Justus Garfield Puckett came to
Denison in 1903,
working in the transportation office of the MK&T Railway.
His obituary
outlines his career in this field. In 1907, the Denison City Directory
listed Justus G.
Puckett, clerk at the MK&T Railway, living at 614 West
Monterey. Boarding
with him were siblings Mattie E. Puckett, operator at Southwestern
Telegraph
& Telephone Company; Archibald Puckett, laborer on
MK&T; and E. C.
Puckett, wiper on MK&T. In 1909, Justus had moved to 905
West Chestnut
Street, where he had as boarders his siblings Mattie E., still a
telephone operator;
and Archibald, driver for Wells Fargo & Company Express. Justus married Eva
Johnson (1884–1949), daughter of the Denison tailor, Adolph
Benjamin Johnson Sr. (1849–1911), and his wife,
Margaret
"Maggie" Dorris Johnson
(1861–1933). Justus and Eva had two children: Alton D. Puckett (1913–1959)
and Justine Puckett
(1922–1997). Eva had a sister, Lottie Johnson
(1886–1958), who married John B. Rockwell
(1869–1928). Rockwell was a watchmaker at L. B.
Moore in Denison for many years. Then, in 1910, he started his own
jewelry store,
Rockwell's. According to an article published on the fiftieth
anniversary of
that store, "The firm was acquired by J. G. Puckett and Adolph Johnson
from Rockwell interests in 1931."
J. G.
Puckett, Denison Jeweler, Dies Thursday [Source: Obituary
from Sherman TX Democrat, January
25,
1945] Denison
— Justus G. Puckett, prominent Denison business man and co-owner of the
Rockwell Jewelry company, died at 6 a. m. Thursday at a local hospital
after an
illness of several years. He had been a patient at the hospital two
days. Mr. Puckett, who came to Denison 14 years ago, was born
in Columbia,
Tenn., the son of Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Puckett. He received his education
in
Nashville, Tenn., and first came to Denison in 1903 as a Katy
transportation
office employee. After residing here a dozen years, he went to Dallas
as chief
clerk in the transportation office, residing there until
1920. He then
moved to Durant, Okla., and became manager of the Southerland Lumber
Company, the
position he was holding in 1931 when he came to Denison and purchased
an
interest in the Rockwell firm. Several years ago, Mr. Puckett suffered
a stroke
and retired from active business. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge,
the
Elks, and was an elder in the First Presbyterian church. Surviving
are the widow; a son, Afton [error;
Alton] D. Puckett, Washington, D.C.; a
daughter, Miss Justine Puckett, Denison; three brothers, R. A. and E.
C.
Puckett, Nashville, Tenn., and T. M. [error; John Moody]
Puckett, Columbia,
Tenn.; and a sister, Mrs. Harry Horton [Annie Snow Puckett], Colbert,
Okla. Funeral arrangements are not complete.
Obituary,
Eva Johnson Puckett [Source:
Denison TX Press, June 10, 1949] Funeral
services for Mrs. J. G. Puckett or 321 W. Morton, who died in a
local hospital Wednesday, June 1, were held at Bratcher-Moore
chapel Thursday afternoon
at 4 o'clock, with the Rev. Edward Bayless, pastor of the First
Presbyterian
Church officiating. Burial was in Fairview Cemetery. Mrs.
Puckett was born in Denison, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. B.
Johnson, and received her schooling in the Denison schools. She was
married in
Denison to Mr. Puckett, who died in 1945. She is
survived by a son, Alton G. Puckett, of Wilmington, Del.; a daughter,
Miss Justine Puckett, three brothers, Adolph Johnson, Charlie Johnson,
and
Harry Johnson, and one sister, Mrs. Tom B. Anderson [Lottie Johnson
Rockwell
Anderson], all of Denison.
Justine Puckett
Justine Puckett was the only
daughter of Justus G.
Puckett and Eva Johnson Puckett. She graduated from Denison High School
in the
Class of 1938. She never married and lived in Denison, Texas, her whole
life. For
many years she worked in the Rockwell's Jewelry store at 220 West Main
Street
and was still working there in 1950. Active in local organizations and
with a
fine sense of humor, she was a favorite with customers. Later she
founded and
operated a children's clothing store in the 600 block of West Main
Street.
Annie Snow Puckett Johnson Horton According to the 1900 Census, William Elmo Johnson Sr.
(1880–?) was a bookkeeper for an oil
company in Denison, Texas, boarding in the home of real estate agent
Joshua E.
Howard and wife Francis at 518 West Woodard Street. (There is no
evidence that
he was related to Eva's family, the Swedish Johnsons who were tailors
in
Denison.) He married Annie Snow Puckett, the sister of Justus G.
Puckett, in
Nashville, Tennessee, on April 30, 1902. They had a son, William Elmo "Willie"
Johnson Jr., born in Nashville in
September of 1903. Recall that J. G. Puckett moved to
Denison in 1903.
Perhaps William and Annie followed him, for the Census of 1910 showed
William,
too, working as a clerk for the railroad there. William and Annie
divorced, for
the 1920 Census found Annie, age 39, and son Willie, 16, living with
her
brother Robert A. Puckett at 513 West Murray Street. Annie was working
as a
saleslady in a dry goods store, and Willie was a clerk for a railroad. Annie soon married Harry A. Horton (1880–1945),
a fireman on the MK&T Railway. He
had an eighth-grade education. By 1925 they had taken over the home at
513 West
Murray. By 1930, Harry had become a locomotive engineer on a steam
railroad. By
that time, Willie had married and divorced and was living with Harry
and Annie
on Murray Street. He was a freight clerk for a steamship company. By 1935, Harry and Annie moved
across the Red River
to Colbert, Bryan County, Oklahoma, where he continued to be a railroad
engineer until his death in 1945. At that point, Annie returned to
Denison. In
1955, she was living at 311 North Fannin Avenue. She died on June 21,
1963, and
was buried with her husband Harry in Fairview Cemetery in Denison.
Robert Archibald "Archie" Puckett In 1907, Archie Puckett at the age
of 18 was a
laborer in Denison, living with his brother Justus and sister Mattie.
Two years
later he was still living with them but now worked as a driver for
Wells Fargo
& Company Express. The Census of 1910 listed an Archie
Puckett in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, single and working as a clerk in a railroad
office.
However, he lived in the home of a brother-in-law, Kelsie C. Owen, and
no other
record of such a relation could be found. In any case, ten years later,
by
1920, he had married Octie Roberts, a
native of Montgomery County, Tennessee, and returned to Denison to work
as an
Express employee. That year his divorced sister Annie and her boy
Willie lived
with them on Murray Street. The 1921 Denison City Directory reported
his
occupation as messenger, American Railway Express Company. The 1930 Census found Archie and
his family in
Nashville, Tennessee, where the City Directory listed him as a
"messenger" for express company. He and Octie had four daughters and
lived in Nashville until Archie's death on June 17, 1950.
R. A. Puckett [Obituary, Denison TX Press,
Friday, June 23, 1950] Funeral services were conducted in
Nashville, Tenn.,
Monday for R. A. Puckett, 60, brother of Mrs. Annie Horton, 2217 West
Bond, who
died there Saturday after suffering a heart attack. Mrs. Puckett
formerly
resided in Denison. He was a retired American Railway Express employee. Other survivors include his widow,
two brothers, E.
C. Puckett, Nashville; J. M. Puckett, Columbia, Tenn., and three
daughters,
Mrs. Walter Summers, Mrs. William McCown and Miss Marguerite Puckett of
Nashville.
Emmons Church Puckett Although Emmons Church Puckett
had been a wiper on
the MK&T Railway in Denison in 1907, he soon returned to
Hickman County,
Tennessee, where he farmed. He married Blanche
E. Church (1888–1966), presumably a
relative of his mother, in Williamson
County, Tennessee, on March 14, 1909. The Censuses of 1910 and 1920
found E. C.
in Hickman County, although in 1920 he was listed as a carpenter with
two
children. In 1930, he and his family were in Calera, Bryan County,
Oklahoma,
farming. This was near the home of his sister Annie Horton. By 1937,
however,
he was a carpenter in Nashville, Tennessee, where his brother Archie
lived. He
died there on April 18, 1956.
 Biography Index Denison 
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