The G. A. McKee Family
By Kathryn Bone Chatfield
The first nursery in East Texas was founded by Dr. F. L. Yoakum, president of Larissa College, who was a botanist and nurseryman, as well as an educator. His nursery enterprise was continued by one of his Larissa College pupils, Gustavus Adolphus McKee, Sr., and in turn by his sons, G. A. (Dolph) McKee, Jr., and Sam R. McKee.
G. A. McKee, Sr., also operated a flour and grist mill, combined with a wool-carding machine, which had been built in 1872 by his father, J. H. McKee. Around the turn of the century, G. A. McKee, Sr., moved his nursery into Mt. Selman. Beside the home he built he planted extensive ornamental grounds, with trees and shrubs from all parts of the world; and complete with a fountain provided by water pumped from a well. He was a pioneer in wholesale and retail sales of plants. He propagated roses, magnolia, pecan and peach trees, and many other plants which thrived in this area. Mr. McKee's nursery was one of the larger businesses of the area, and provided employment for many young men.
G. A. McKee, Sr., married Virginia Hannah Ewing, daughter of Samuel W. Ewing. Their two sons, Sam R. and John Earl, married daughters of the Gilbert Gilchrists. Harvey married Lena, a sister of Sam D. Goodson, longtime Jacksonville businessman. Mittie married Henry Carlton, postmaster of Mt. Selman for many years. Lutie married Bennett Watkins, who had come for employment at Mr. McKee's nursery. He was an educator, and for many years served as the [junior] high school principal in Austin. The youngest son, G. A. McKee (born October 6, 1880) married Nevie Bone, daughter of Dr. R. D. Bone. G. A. McKee, Jr., lived in his parents' homeplace for several years before moving to Jacksonville. For over 50 years, he conducted a wholesale nursery business, with properties near Jacksonville and Mt. Selman.
For over 30 years he was a member of the Jacksonville Rotary Club, and also a devoted Texas A. & M. Ex-Student. A lifelong Presbyterian, "Dolph" sang bass in the church choir until he was in his 80s. Nevie, his first wife, died in 1933, and in 1945 he married a friend from his youth, the former Esther Love, originally of Hubbard. For a number of years she owned a dress shop in Jacksonville. G. A. McKee, Jr., died in Seal Beach, California, on December 31, 1966, at the age of 86, and is buried in the McKee family plot at Larissa.
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G. A. (Dolph) McKee followed his father in nursery business with extensive plant properties near here. Died at 86 years, 1966. |
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Displayed at Jacksonville Public Library, this 100-year-old mill wheel, engineered and built by Nat McCormick, erected by J. H. McKee about 1872. The plant where it was used consisted of flour and grist mills and a carding machine for preparing wool. Power was obtained by damming a creek formed by a spring. G. A. McKee operated plant for a number of years. |
Additional Information (not from the Jacksonville centennial
book)
Information provided by John Watkins; grandson of G. A. McKee Sr.'s son, John
Bennett Watkins.
August 14, 2004
"G.A. McKee Sr. was my great-grandfather. My grandfather, after whom I was named, was John Bennett Watkins, who married Lutie McKee. By the way, he was a Junior High School principal (not High School) in Austin for 25 years. My dad, who bore the family name as Gustav McKee Watkins, was a professor and one time dean of agriculture at Texas A&M.
It's also interesting that Uncle Dolph's second wife Esther was Esther Love. If she's the same one, my grandfather's brother A. Flint Watkins courted her unsuccessfully for some time when the lived in Tehuacana. I had no idea there was a connection!
Back to Cherokee County & environs, Uncle Flint and my grandfather both worked in the McKee nursery. Both found true love: Bennett married Lutie. Flint fell in love with the roses and later became proprietor of the Dixie Rose Nursery in Tyler, until he retired sometime around 1950. So he too carried on the family tradition in this way. His grandson, also John Watkins, is a dentist in Lindale.
No Watkins other than Uncle Flint ever lived in Cherokee County to my knowledge, but his father Archibald S. Watkins, spent a number of years in a place called Wildcat (now extinct) just south of the present town of Cross Roads in Henderson County."
Compiled by Greg Smith. If you have any materials you'd like to contribute, please email me.