WALTON, ELSIE (BLEDSOE)

                    
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ELSIE (BLEDSOE) WALTON
Mrs. Carter Walton

Across the Fence 

From The Hamilton Herald-News



By Arvord Abernethy 



“Give me three shorts and a long on four, please.” No you are not hearing an order for some drinks on a menu, you would have heard someone giving Mrs. Carter Walton a number to call on the telephone. If you had been here just a little earlier, you would have probably have heard them say, “Give me the Spurlin Store, please”. There were so few phones, at first there was no need for numbers or a directory. Many of the stores did not have a telephone, so D. Atkinson was the messenger boy to call people to the phone for long distance calls. 

Miss Oran Jo Pool wrote an interesting story of the early telephones in Hamilton County in the history book, and she spoke of Mrs. Carter Walton as being the first telephone operator in Hamilton. I knew that the Waltons were the parents of Mrs. Lena (Leo) Rendessy, so I went by the other day and had a nice visit with them. 

Lena had some interesting stories and pictures that related to her mother’s life. Her mother, Elsie Bledsoe, came to Hamilton from Tennessee in 1887 with her parents when she was 12 years old. Mr. Bledsoe was in the construction business and his first work was on the new courthouse that was being built. Elsie remembered her father taking her up on a deck part of the courthouse roof where she could see all over town. 

Going by the pictures in an old photo album of Elsie’s, the young group of Hamilton seemed to have an enjoyable time. They had to make their own entertainment. They would have lots of parties, the girls often having slumber parties. Wouldn’t they call them “Mother Hubbard Parties” due to the nightwear they would go in? Some of those people who later became very prominent in Hamilton life might turn over in their graves if they knew how silly some of the poses they made in those early pictures. 

John L. Spurlin was probably the outstanding merchant and businessman of Hamilton, so each year he would give a big picnic with parade and all. Going by the pictures, tissue paper merchant should have done well. Nearly every merchant would put a float in the parade and it would be highly decorated with tissue paper and flowers. 

The Wool Growers Picnic was held each spring and it had its parade also. In 1894 they started selecting a May Day Queen, so the first one selected was a 19 year old maiden by the name of Elsie Bledsoe. Among the pictures is one of Queen Elsie of the house of Bledsoe, seated in the old bandstand which was in the present Horton Park and surrounded by her attendants. 

Several things happened to Elsie's life about the turn of the century. A young man by the name of Carter Walton came to Hamilton and began working for John L. Spurlin. One day he was at the Spurlin home, which was located where the present telephone office is and was next door to the Bledsoe home. Elsie happened to be looking out the kitchen window when she spied Carter. She cried out, “O, mother, that is the prettiest man I have ever seen in my life”. 

This was the beginning of a beautiful relationship that included their wedding in 1901, the birth of two fine children, Lena and Bledsoe, and the building of a beautiful home at 401 E. Henry, which is now the Ernest Dunn home. Their life was saddened by the death of their 19 year-old son, Bledose, while he was a student at Meridian College. 

Another thing happened about the turn of the century; Sid Ross put in a telephone switchboard in Hamilton and employed Miss Elsie to operate it. Mr. V. F. Weiser had installed a switchboard in Hico, so the two men formed a partnership and connected the two exchanges together. Will Linton was employed to serve as lineman for the new company. 

Mrs. Walton told Miss Pool that one of the big task of operating the exchange was providing electricity for the lines. It required a gallon of water, to which copper sulphate was added, for each mile of the 22 miles to Hico, so you see this was quite a task. And it had to be renewed almost daily. It was also her task to install new telephones. 

There came the need for telegraph service also in Hamilton, so Elsie was employed to operate it also. The telegraph office was located next to one of the several saloons that Hamilton had, and one day they had a real shoot-em-up in the saloon. Pretty soon two men came running to see if she might be hurt by a stray bullet, and they found her under a desk. 

The north side of the square had several saloons on it and it took on a pretty bad name, often being called “Rat Row”. Ladies avoided going over that way, and cautioned their daughters to stay completely away, even if they had to walk completely back around the square. See, we have gone a long ways. Even the telephone service we enjoy today was unthinkable then.

Shared by Roy Ables

ACROSS THE FENCE 


 
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People and Places: Gazetteer of Hamilton County, TX
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Copyright © March, 1998
by Elreeta Crain Weathers, B.A., M.Ed.,  
(also Mrs.,  Mom, and Ph. T.)

A Work In Progress