The Cal Bolton Family

Facts by Eula B. Bolton Morgan

William Calloway Bolton married Josephine Pickens in the newly incorporated town of Jacksonville on December 8, 1875. Rev. John Adams of the First Methodist Church officiated. The first child was Eula B., born in 1877. She first married C. C. Chapman in 1896 but he died in 1899. Their son, Harold C. Chapman, was killed in France in 1918 during World War I. Eula married James Thomas Morgan in 1901 and they had two children, Josie Louise (Conaway) and James Calvin. Eula still lives in Jacksonville with her daughter, Josie. James lives here and has three children.

The second child, Ottis M. Bolton, was born in 1879 and married Sam D. Goodson in 1898. They had no children and Ottis died in 1926. The third child, Daisy Adele, born in 1884, lives in Longview. She married Thomas D. Campbell and they had two sons, Samuel David and James Atkins, both deceased.

The fourth child is Susie Elizabeth, born in 1891, lives in Marshall. She married Joe O. Edge and their two children live in Marshall. Ruth Edge married Wayne Pierce and her daughter is Barbara (Cunningham) who now lives in Houston. The second child of Joe and Susie is Eileen Edge, who married Ferd Pelz and they have a son and daughter.

William B. was the fifth child, born in 1894, and died in 1957 in League City. He married Ida Leigh Stith in Jacksonville in 1914. Her mother had one of the early hotels here. The William Boltons had two daughters, Violet (Aaron) who lives in Houston and Madge (White) living in Tyler.

The last child of the Cal Boltons is Alice Ruth, born in 1896, and she married Roy G. Boger in 1917. He will be remembered as President of ACI, now Lon Morris College. They had three children—Ruth (Rhoades) living in Crosbyton, Texas, Roger G., Jr., who lives in Washington, D. C, and works at the Pentagon, and Jane living in Port Arthur, who has two children.

Cal Bolton contributed greatly to the prosperity of Jacksonville. He had a brilliant business career and was active in civic and church affairs. He was reared on the farm and his first job in Jacksonville was as a clerk at the Post Office. He later became Postmaster when that office paid only $26.00 a year. He added to his income, at that time, by also being Railway Express agent.

His first business adventure was a retail store selling dry goods. He sold that business and opened a hardware store. In 1900, he founded the First National Bank and served as president for nine years. He later continued as director and chairman of the board.

Continuing in the banking business, Cal founded the First Guaranty State Bank, which later became the First State Bank. Many will remember A. G. Adams, who headed the First State Bank after Cal stepped down as president.

Cal Bolton also served as chairman of the board of stewards of the First Methodist Church. His other interests included Lon Morris College, where he served as chairman of the board of trustees.

Eula Morgan, Cal's oldest child, remembers her happy childhood in Jacksonville. She attended Alexander Collegiate Institute, when it was first moved from Omen, Texas (near Troup), before she married. Dr. Isaac Alexander, head of the Institute, officiated at her wedding to C. C. Chapman. The school was under construction, when Eula attended ACI and classes were held, for a time, in the Methodist Church.

She also remembers the days of the saloons in Jacksonville and she was cautioned by her parents never to go near a saloon. Her daughter, Josie, says her mother cautioned her as a child, "never go into a barber shop."

The Boltons attended the social activities held in the first opera house which was over the present Beall store on Main and Commerce. Many traveling troups entertained there. At Christmas, there was a community Christmas tree every year in the opera house. The gifts were hung on the tree with tags but unwrapped. There were watches, jewelry and what not. The doors were never locked so gifts could be placed when convenient until the big gift-giving party. Later, the opera house was moved from the Ragsdales' building to the building recently sold by the Devereux family across from the fire station. It was demolished and now is a parking area.

Eula reminisced also about the First-Day-of-May picnics. The entire town closed and went to Grandpa's (Canada Bolton) woodland south of town. They would meet at the churches and march to the picnic grounds with all the food imaginable—cakes, pies, hampers and trunks of food.

W. C. (Cal) Bolton and Mrs. Cal Bolton

The Cal Bolton daughters—I. to r., Ottis, Daisy and Eula.

The First National Bank in 1901 and the men who ran it, I. to r., Cal Bolton, president, Joe Douglas, Frank Boles and Frank Collins.