Martha Jane Henderson-Tucker Biography

Janiece Kratzmeyer Gasewicz
Aug 6, 2016
3 min read

Updated: Apr 15, 2021

Martha is believed to have been the firstborn of John Murphy Henderson and Sarah Elizabeth Garner. She was born on the first day of April, in 1872.

Martha’s family lived around Dandridge, Tennessee--in Jefferson County. I believe they lived in this area until Martha was about eight years old, when the family relocated to Pope County, Arkansas. They sort of disappeared off the radar between 1870 and 1889, when Martha married Stephen on December 29th, of that same year, in Appleton, Arkansas---a little community in Pope County. Ten years into their marriage, around the turn of the century, Martha and Stephen were living in nearby Logan County, in Clark Township. The family had grown by three, with the births of Everette, Gertie, and Goldie. Sadly, Martha and Steve had had three other children by this time, as well---but they did not survive to the year 1900. We know nothing about them at all.

Martha’s parents and two of her younger siblings lived next door. They appeared to be a very close family, moving together as the years followed---and they moved a lot. By 1901, Martha and Steve had moved to Texas, where Edgar and Emmie were born. Then, three to four years later, they moved to Oklahoma, where Houston was born. By 1908, they had moved back to Texas, where they had Beulah. They were living in Wood County, on the road between Quitman and Hainesville---called the Quitman to Hawkins Road---in 1910. The next decade saw them mostly in Texas, as the rest of the children (Ruth, Mary, Sarah, and Pauline) were all born here. In June of 1915, tragedy struck the family. Diphtheria, a highly contagious and sometimes fatal bacterial disease, hit. Beulah Grace and Ruth Inez died one day apart, and were buried in the same grave. Beulah was eight and Ruth was four. As I remember, Martha didn’t have much time to grieve at the time, as some of her other children were sick. I believe I was told she couldn’t even attend the funeral.

In 1920, the family was living in Wood County, but closer to Golden, near what is now known as Calvary Community---more likely called Bellefont at the time. Everette had moved to Houston, where he was working as a mechanic. The rest of the children still lived with Martha and Stephen. Her mother, who had been widowed in 1913, was also staying with them. I have been told that she suffered a stroke sometime in those years. She could not even speak. Martha nursed her back to health, and she was able to regain many of her abilities---including, I believe, speaking. In the early 1920s, Steve was diagnosed with inflammatory heart and kidney conditions. A few years later, he developed prostate cancer. In June of 1926, he went to Dallas where he had an operation, but he died three days later. Following Steve’s death, Martha and her daughters, Mary, Sarah, and Pauline, moved to Grand Prairie, Texas, where they lived as boarders. I’m not sure why they were there, but C.B. Hill (Gertie’s son) once told me that she had stayed with his family some after he was born, in 1932. None-the-less, Martha moved back to the Mineola, Texas, area in 1931. She remarried a J.H. Titsworth in the New Hope community, in the early months of that year. I’m not sure how long their marriage lasted, as J.H. (his name might have been John) appears to have died by 1940. At that time, Martha and Pauline were living in Mineola. In the years following, Martha developed pancreatic cancer. She died on October 6th, in 1946, at Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas. She was 74 years old. She is buried in Concord Cemetery, between Quitman and Hainesville, by Stephen, many of her children, parents and siblings.

Documents

1900 Census: See line 65

1910 Census: See line 78 This tells us that the family rented a home and farmland on the Quitman to Hawkins Road, which I believe is FM 778. Martha's parents, John and Sarah, lived nearby. Stephen and Martha had been married about twenty years at this time, and Martha reported having had 10 children by 1910 but only 7 had survived. We also see that Stephen could not read or write but that the rest of the family could, with the exception of the very young children. We also see evidence of the family's tendency to move, with the varying locations of the children's places of birth. Uncle Everett, Aunt Gertie, Aunt Goldie, Uncle Edgar, Aunt Emma, and Aunt Beaulah are listed in this census record, as well.

1920 Census: See line 54

1930 Census: See line 42

1940 Census: See line 9

Martha is listed as Martha Titsworth

Marriage License and Certificate: See Top Left

Source: Arkansas Marriage records, 1830-1952

Death Certificate