Wardlaw Family
Contributed by
Tommie L. Wardlaw |
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OLDEST HOME IN ELLIS COUNTY AT ITALY. "The above picture represents an old ranch home near Italy, Texas, and is the oldest house standing in Ellis County. It is the old ADDISON WARDLAW ranch house located about seven miles west of Italy, where it has stood for almost one hundred years. Built of logs hewn from native trees which grew along Bee Creek and covered with clapboards with a chimney built of rocks selected from the hills about the place, the old house with few additions such as side rooms stands today as one of the relics of frontier days. Though the builder died many years ago, his children, now on the evening side of life, live in distant parts of the state. The youngest son, Joe Wardlaw, who was born in the old home, is an honored citizen of Italy." (source: unknown newspaper). "Addison Wardlaw had a farm located in the hills on the Milford road three miles south of the Bee Creek school. This farm house was said to have been a stagecoach stop or way station. At one time the mail was brought from Milford to the Wardlaw farm where it was picked up for distribution. Lucy Ann Witten, wife of Patrick Shields Witten, rode a horse to the Station, collected the mail, and carried it to their farm at Bee Creek for further distribution." (ref: Bee Creek, a Ghost Town in Ellis County) |
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Detail of log construction Addison Wardlaw house. |
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Addison Wardlaw 1826/1891 |
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Aminette Wardlaw and Nancy E. (Aycock) Family |
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William Nick Wardlaw and Etta (Oliver) |
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Top row: from left: William Lewis Gilbreath and sons. |
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Addison I. Wardlaw, Sallie Ann (Gilbreath) Wardlaw and sons. |
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Aminette Wardlaw Family |
Robert Aycock
ref: The Italy News Herald, No. 27, 17 Jul 1936 "First Italy Postmaster Still Living Here; ROBERT AYCOCK, Founder of Italy, in 1879 - Still Active. "Born near Marietta, Georgia, on December 20, 1850, Robert Aycock came to Ellis county in 1871 with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Bradford Aycock. In 1879 Robert Aycock and his brother, T. J. Aycock, built the first building in what is now the town of Italy and opened a general mercantile business. A short time after opening the store a post office was established and Robert Aycock was appointed the first post master, a position he held for 19 years. "Mr. Aycock was married in 1883 to Miss Rebecca Agnes Harris, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Peter Harris, pioneer settlers who came out from Tennessee. "Both Mr. and Mrs. Aycock have been blessed with good health and have lived to see the town of Italy grow from the one store of 1879 to a thriving little city known as widely as any town of its size in the Southwest. Mr. Aycock has never aspired for political preferment, though there has been but few of the many years of his life that he has not held some position of trust in his church, his town and in the ranks of the democratic party of which he has always been a staunch follower. "Mr. Aycock was a cousin of ex-Gov. Charles Aycock of North Carolina, while Mrs. Aycock is a niece of the late Civil War Governor of Tennessee, Isham Harris, who was a brother of her father Peter Harris. "Mr. Aycock is at present member of the Ellis County Democratic Executive Committee." |
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Herman Addison "Jack" Wardlaw Father of Tommie L. Wardlaw |
