The John Fletcher Rountree Family

Information provided by Emma McKinney

John Fletcher Rountree, son of a circuit-riding Methodist preacher, was born in 1858. His parents were Uncle Bobby and Aunt Sally Rountree. He married Bettie Pierce Howard, daughter of John and Joan Howard, natives of Cherokee County. Mr. Rountree did in 1931 and his wife in 1963.

The birthplace of John Fletcher Rountree was a small house located just west of the present Newton-Shank Manufacturing plant, but as the son of a Methodist minister, it was a place of hospitality, for J. F. often said, with humor, that he was nearly grown before he knew that chickens had anything other than wings and necks! A farmer and fruit grower, he raised tomatoes by the acres when Jacksonville was "Tomato Capital of the World." Prior to this era, however, he carried mail by horseback to "Old Kickapoo."

The Rountrees had eight children, four of whom survive and live in Jacksonville. Joe Dee, now retired from the grocery business, married Mack Reagan and they have three children—Merle (Mrs. L. B. McKay of Arlington, Va.), Arthur, who lives with his wife, Dorothy, in Alexandria, Va., and Doris Dunnam of Houston.

Carl Rountree, now retired from operating a service station, married Janie Beatty, and they have two children—Ernest, who resides in Houston and is with Pan American Oil Company, and Janie Belle Gibson, who lives in Jacksonville, being employed as a registered nurse at Nan Travis Memorial Hospital.

Mrs. Emma McKinney has two children—Betty Garner, who lives in Lufkin and is employed by the Lufkin National Bank, and E. L., who with his wife, Carmen, lives in Corpus Christi, where he is with Pan American Oil Company.

Grady Rountree married Allie Murl Nunn and they have two children—Cloe, who is now Mrs. Marshall Harris and resides in Fort Worth, and Grady Lee, a Dallas accountant. Grady owned and operated Rountree Produce Company for many years.

The other four children are deceased. Ola Belle Rountree died at age 4, while Arthur Rountree was killed in a hunting accident at age 16. John F. Rountree, Jr., married Mary Thurman and they had two daughters—Thelma (Mrs. George Womack of Atlanta, Texas), and Miss Verabel Rountree, who makes her home in Jacksonville with her mother, but teaches special education in Brownsville, Texas.

The other daughter, Mrs. Mary Rountree Wheeler, for many years was associated with her sister, Emma, in operation of Jacksonville Flower Shop and the Mary-Em Shop. She was forced to retire several years ago because of ill health, and died in 1971. They built the brick building at 211 East Larissa, where Emma continues to operate an apparel shop.