Katie Blundell Wetzel - Warren Augustus Wetzel Family Pages

Katie Blundell Wetzel

Katie Isabell Blundell is the daughter of JOHN ADAM BLUNDELL and MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS. When she was born, her father was 71 years old; her mother was almost 39. Her father died when she was a small child, and her mother, a widow woman living on a Confederate Veteran’s Pension of about $100 a month, with eight children, moved around a lot when she was small.

She lived at Crone Siding at the foot of Hall’s Mountain, between Quitman and Winnsboro, nearer Winnsboro. She started school at Coldwater School. GERTIE RAMSEY was her first teacher, who taught all grades. The school and the church were in the same building. It was a one-room, one-teacher school, with a pot-bellied stove in the middle of the room with wooden benches around it.

She attended the third grade at McGee school, close to Perryville. ECKRA CONNELL was her teacher. Here she went to school with Ray Price’s (the Country Music Stars’) father. She remembers seeing an 8-oxen team pulling a wagon load of logs up the road in front of their house. After McGee, she moved back to Coldwater where IDA DIXON was her third grade teacher. Then she went to Vernon School, about 4 miles out of Winnsboro. Miss CALDWELL was her teacher. Then to Little Hope where her teacher was a Mr. JACKSON. He died and a “JOHN” somebody taught them. This was in the 4th grade. She attended Ogburn School in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades. IRENE MONDAY and JOSA SIMON were her teachers. Back then, one could finish the 8th grade, go to Quitman, take a test, and become a teacher. The Ogborn school was a 2-teacher school, also used for a Baptist Church. Katie dropped out of the 8th grade the last of April, 1920, one month short of finishing.

Katie and her family lived at one time in a house in Ogborn in a place which later became the hotel site. They were living there when her father died on 30 June 1908, when she was 4 years and 9 months old. Her brothers worked at the lumber mill, cutting and hauling logs to the mill with oxen.

They lived out of town a ways when she went to school at Ogborn. On her way to school, she passed the Wetzel’s place. Grandpa Wetzel was nearly blind with cataracts, and talked Bible to everybody. He would sit in his chair on the front porch, and Katie would read the Bible to him for hours after she and Buddie married.

One of Buddie’s friends liked Katie and “claimed” she was his girl friend. One day as this friend and Buddie passed the Blundell house, this boy said to Buddie, “My girl lives there, but I’m not going to introduce her to you, because you might take her away from me.” One day Buddie and his sister Lillie were walking down a country lane when they chanced to meet Katie and her brother Bud. It was love at first sight. She remembers, “He was dressed in a brown corduroy suit, boots, and a brown hat pulled down over his red curly hair.” That evening, Buddie told his sister Lille, “I’m going to marry that girl!” To which Lillie replied, “But, Buddie, she’s only sixteen!”

So, on Thursday, March 25, 1920, Katie and Buddie were married. Bennie Cox, who had married Lillie Wetzel on 15 Feb. 1920, went with Buddie to Quitman to get their marriage license. She fibbed about her age. The marriage license was issued 16 Mar. 1920 by C. C. Ferguson, County Clerk, Wood County, by Claude Power, Deputy. They were married by Rev. J. B. Smith witnessed by B. F. Cox and J. B. Smith.

Katie’s mom held a pretty tight rein on her. One time Bud took her to a dance with him and promised he wouldn’t tell. But the next week he got mad at her for something, and told their mother. She wore Katie out!

Katie (Mom) Wetzel died on April 27, 1994 at Arlington Memorial Hospital of a Heart Attack. She was buried April 30, 1994 beside her husband Buddie (Dad) Wetzel at Southland Cemetery in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Katie Isabell Blundell is the daughter of JOHN ADAM BLUNDELL and MARYELIZABETH WILLIAMS. When she was born, her father was 71 years old; her mother was almost 39. Her father died when she was a small child, and her mother, a widow woman living on a Confederate Veteran’s Pension of about $100 a month, with eight children, moved around a lot when she was small.

She lived at Crone Siding at the foot of Hall’s Mountain, between Quitman and Winnsboro, nearer Winnsboro. She started school at

Coldwater School. GERTIE RAMSEY was her first teacher, who taught all grades. The school and the church were in the same building. It was a one-room, one-teacher school, with a pot-bellied stove in the middle of the room with wooden benches around it. She attended the third grade at McGee school, close to Perryville. ECKRA CONNELL was her teacher. Here is where she went to school with THE Ray Price’s father. She remembers seeing an 8-oxen team pulling a wagon load of logs up the road in front of their house. After McGee, she moved back to Coldwater where IDA DIXON was her third grade teacher. Then she went to Vernon School, about 4 miles out of Winnsboro. Miss CALDWELL was her teacher. Then to Little Hope where her teacher was a Mr. JACKSON. He died and a “JOHN” somebody taught them. This was in the 4th grade.

She attended Ogburn School in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades. IRENE MONDAY and JOSA SIMON

were her teachers. Back then, one could finish the 8th grade, go to Quitman, take a test, and become a teacher. The Ogburn school was a 2-teacher school, also used for a Baptist Church. Katie dropped out of the 8th grade the last of April, 1920, one month short of finishing. Katie and her family lived at one time in a house in Ogborn in a place which later became the hotel site. They were living there when her father died on 30 June 1908, when she was 4 years and 9 months old.

Her brothers worked at the lumber mill, cutting and hauling logs to the mill with oxen. They lived out of town a ways when she went to school at Ogburn. On her way to school, she passed the Wetzel’s place. Grandpa Wetzel was nearly blind with cataracts, and talked Bible to everybody. He would sit in his chair on the front porch, and Katie would read the Bible to him for hours after she and Buddie married.

Katie’s mom held a pretty tight rein on her. One time her brother, Andrew Jackson (Bud) Blundell, took her to a dance with him and promised he wouldn’t tell. But the next week he got mad at her for something, and told their mother. She wore Katie out!

Just after Buddie and Katie married, he, his brother Wesley, and Bud Blundell were out on a Sunday, shooting birds with a .22 rifle. The preacher preached on it, and then Buddie wouldn’t ever go back to church.

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KATIE ISABELL BLUNDELL WETZEL

Sept. 13, 1903 – Apr 27, 1994

By: RC Wetzel

Back when Theodore Roosevelt was president of these United States, the year Beatrix Potter introduced “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”; the year of Orville and Wilbur Wright’s memorable first flight on the beach at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina that lasted 12 seconds, and covered 120 feet; the year construction was begun on the Panama Canal, KATIE ISABELL BLUNDELL was born in Wood County near Winnsboro, Texas, on Sunday, 13 Sep 1903, the eighth and last child of John Adam Blundell (b. 5 May 1832, d. 30 Jun 1908) and Mary Elizabeth Williams Blundell (b. 28 Oct 1864, d. 4 Aug 1960). At the time Katie was born, her father was 71 years old, and her mother was 39 years old.

She had 5 brothers and 2 sisters still at home:

1. CHARLES ADAM (Charlie) was 21 years old. (b. 14 Mar 1882, d. 28 Feb 1977)

2. THOMAS MATTHEW (Matt) was almost 17 years old. (b. 12 Nov 1885, d. 25 Jun 1934)

3. ISAAC BENJAMIN (Ben) was 15 years old. (b. 20 Jul 1888, d. 22 Dec 1976)

4. MISSOURI ELIZABETH (Lizzie) was 11 years old. (b. 12 Feb 1892, d. 2 Mar 1982)

5. LOUISE CLOTILDA (Lou) was 8 years old. (b. 28 Aug 1895, d. 22 Sep 1914)

6. PATRICK HENRY (Pat) was 6 years old. (b. 11 Aug 1897, d. 28 Jun 1977)

7. ANDREW JACKSON (Bud) was 2 years old. (b. 21 May 1901, d. 5 Jan 1986)

When Katie’s father died (30 June 1908), she was 4 years and 9 months old and the family was living in Ogburn in a house which was later torn down and a hotel was built on the site. The only vivid memory Katie had of her father, whom she called “Papa”, was when he asked her one day to run across the road from their house in Ogburn to the grocery store and get him some chewing tobacco, which she did. He gave her the tag off it, which was a little metal ear of corn. She has kept it all these years.

Her older brothers worked at the lumber mill, cutting and hauling logs to the mill with oxen. After Katie’s father died, her mother lived on a Confederate Veteran’s pension of about $100 a month. They lived at Crone Siding (train switch) at the foot of Hall’s Mountain between Quitman and Winnsboro in Wood County, Texas. Nearer Winnsboro than Quitman.

Katie started to school at Coldwater School. Her first teacher was Gertie Ramsey, who taught all grades. This was a oneroom, one teacher school, held in a building used as both a school and a church. It had a potbellied stove in the middle of the room, with wooden benches around it.

Katie attended the third grade at McGee School, close to Perryville, about 3 to 3 ½ miles out from Winnsboro on the “Quitman Trail”. Mr. McGee had four girls, and had built the school for the benefit of his own family. Eckra Connell was Katie’s teacher. Here, she went to school with country singer Ray Price’s father. One day all the older boys in school were whipped publicly until blood ran down their backs, over a shredded sweater. She remembers seeing 8 oxen teams pulling wagon loads of logs up the road in front of their house.

After McGee School, they moved back to Coldwater where Ida Dixon was her third grade teacher. When Katie was 11 years old, her sister Lou, who was 19 and had just recently married Herschel Barnhill, died on 22 Sep 1914. Her death made a lasting impression on Katie, for she loved her sister very much. After that, they moved again and she attended Vernon School, about four miles out of Winnsboro, where a Miss Caldwell was her teacher. Then they moved to Little Hope, where a Mr. Jackson was her teacher. He died, and a man she remembers only as “John” became her teacher. This was in the fourth grade.

They moved back to Ogburn about 1916 where she attended the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades at Ogburn School. The Ogburn School was a two teacher school. Irene Monday and Josa Simon were her teachers. Irene had been in Katie’s class at Coldwater. Back then, a student could complete the 8th grade, go to Quitman and take a test. If they passed, they were qualified to teach school. Their school house was also used on Sundays as a Baptist Church.

Katie’s mom held a pretty tight rein on her. One time Bud took her to a dance with him and promised he wouldn’t tell. But the next week he got mad at her for something, broke his promise, and told their mother. She wore Katie out!

The Blundell family was living out of Ogburn a ways when she went to school there. On her way to school, Katie passed the Wetzel place. Mr. Warren Wetzel, who would later become her father-in-law, was nearly blind with cataracts and talked about the Lord to everybody who would listen. After Katie and Buddie were married, Mr. Wetzel would sit in his chair on the front porch and Katie would read the Bible to him for hours at a time.

The Wetzel family had moved from Comanche County to Ogburn back in 1917. At the time, their son Buddie was about 19 years of age. He had stayed on in Comanche County, living with his maternal grandparents, Adam and Margarett Sliger, and working a few acres on their farm with his Uncle Rutledge. In 1918 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and went to training camp with several of the boys he had grown up with. He was issued a uniform and had his picture taken, but World War I ended Nov. 11, 1918, he was sent back home and missed the combat.

In 1919 he decided to visit his family in Wood County. All he had were two horses. The distance was roughly 250 miles. He started out riding one horse and leading the other. Pretty soon he tired of that, and he had them put on a train and they rode the train to as close to Ogburn as they could get.

A boy Buddie knew at Ogburn liked Katie and claimed her as his girl friend. One day as this boy and Buddie were passing the house where the Blundells lived, the boy said to Buddie, “My girl lives there, but I’m not going to introduce you to her because you might take her away from me.” Prior to this time, Buddie and Katie had not met.

One day in early December, 1919, Katie and her brother Bud were walking down the country lane. There they chanced to meet Buddie and his sister Lillie. Katie says, “It was love at first sight. He was dressed in a brown corduroy suit, boots, and a brown hat pulled down over his red curly hair.”

That same evening, Buddie told Lillie, “I’m going to marry that girl.” To which Lillie replied, “But Buddie, she’s only sixteen!” So, at age 16, Katie dropped out of the 8th grade, just short of finishing, to get married. On Tuesday, 16 Mar 1920, she and Buddie went to Quitman to get their marriage license. Katie fibbed about her age, but Claude Power, the Deputy County Clerk, issued them a license anyway. On Thursday, 25 Mar 1920, they were married by the Rev. J. B. Smith. Bennie F. Cox, who had just married Buddie’s sister Lillie on the 15th of February of that year, was witness to their marriage.

On Saturday, 9 Jan 1926, Katie gave birth to her first child, a son. They named me “R C”. She and Buddie were living at Ogburn in Wood County on Mr. Kirkgard’s place at the time. Her brother Bud went to Winnsboro in the snow and sleet after Dr. Taylor who came out and practically spent the night. Katie had a hard time in delivery. Dr. Taylor was paid $20.00 for his services. They bought their first car that year, too. Paid $360.00 for a brand new 1926 Model T Ford Roadster!

In 1927, Katie and Buddie moved to Pine Mills where they rented Mr. George Reed’s place. It was a log house about a hundred yards east of the intersection and just past the sawmill on the left side of the road. There was no well; water was obtained from a spring near the house.

In early 1929, another move, this time into Mr. Reed’s home place, a big old brown house, which in later years burned down. This was the year my grandfather Warren Wetzel died on Friday, 26 Apr 1929 at his home in Ogburn. On Christmas Day 1929 Katie and Buddie worked cleaning a house on Dr. Moore’s place at Redland and moved in right after the first of the year.

In February, 1931, Katie and Buddie moved to a little new house on Mr. Chick Duke’s place. There was no water well on the place, but it had a natural spring a little ways from the house at the edge of a grove of pine trees. Here the wash pot was set up, and the wash tubs were hung up on big nails driven into the trees. The wet clothes would be taken to the house and hung out on the clothes line to dry. They were living there when their second son, Billy, was born on Friday, 1 May 1931. Dr. Coleman, an ex-army doctor, came out from Mineola and charged $20.00 for delivering him.

In early January, 1932, another move. This time to Mr. Orville Goolsby’s place at Hainesville where they would live for the next five years. During those early depression years, they lived, you might say, on $600.00 a year. Buddie would go to the bank in the spring and borrow $600.00 against his upcoming crop. He would buy the seed he needed and have enough left over to get the family through the summer. Then when fall came, he would sell his cotton, pay the bank note, and usually have enough left over to see them through the winter.

On Tuesday, 24 Oct 1933, a third son, Tommy, was added to the family. Dr. Coleman made another trip out from Mineola, and for another $20.00, delivered him.

In July 1934, an evangelist by the name of Robards came to the Baptist Church in Hainesville for a revival meeting. Both Katie and Buddie were saved during that meeting, along with several others in the Hainesville community, including Bob Hasting, Bud and Lorene McDougal, Milton and Nora Adams, Henry Hasting’s wife Mildred, and Orville Goolsby’s wife Iris. They were all baptized in Patton’s Creek by their Pastor, Rev. Leslie Vermillion.

During those Depression years, the family grew most of what they ate. Katie always had a big garden and there was corn, peas, etc. fresh from the field. Buddie worked out when he could. He bought a buck saw and cut down pine trees for pulp wood. Working in those thick pine groves in the hot summertime where there was no breeze was mighty hard work, but it kept food on the table and clothes on their backs. I can remember him coming home evenings with his blue denim jumper white with encrusted salt from his perspiration. Katie did a lot of canning. Their meat came from hogs, chickens, fish and squirrels.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday in 1937, Buddie loaded up their household goods on a truck, had the livestock and farm tools shipped by train, and moved his family out to the Proctor community in Comanche County. The single cab of the truck was rather crowded with the driver, Katie and three boys. Buddie wrapped himself up in blankets and rode in the open back of the truck, nearly freezing to death. At Proctor, they lived in a little house on top of a knoll in the middle of a sandy field until after the first of the year when they could move into a big old two story house on the Purvis place. The upstairs was never used since there wasn’t any glass or covering over the windows up there. The family ate a lot of squirrels while they lived there. Buddie would get up early, take his ax and dog and thirty minutes later he would come in with half a dozen squirrels and Katie would fry them for breakfast. Any left over would be for dinner. Since they lived about five miles out of Proctor and had no transportation, occasionally Katie and the kids would ride with the Purvises’ and attend the Methodist Church. One Sunday when they came home from church, Buddie had shaved his head. Katie cried, but the boys thought it was funny. He had tried to give himself a haircut and got it messed up, so he cut it all off.

On New Year’s Day, 1940, Buddie and Katie moved back to Hainesville where they lived on Mr. Julius Puckett’s place. Once again they could attend church regularly together as a family. On Wednesday, 18 Dec 1940, Dr. Black came out from Quitman and delivered another child for $25.00. They named him “James Owen”, after one of Buddie’s brothers. R. C. was already in the 10th grade at Mineola High School. Buddie worked out some that summer to make some extra money, stacking lumber at the Duke’s sawmill after his crops were laid by.

On Tuesday, 4 Aug 1942, Dr. White came out from Mineola and delivered a fifth child, another boy, for $25.00. They named him “Charles Wayne”. That was the year R. C. had graduated from Mineola High School.

In March of 1944, their oldest son was called into the service for World War II. He went into the U.S. Navy. The rest of the family continued to farm Mr. Puckett’s place until they moved to the Stewart’s place. When R. C. got out of the Navy, he married Rita Lucas of Pennsylvania in Maryland on 24 Jun 1946 right after his discharge, and on 17 Apr 1947, Buddie and Katie became grandparents for the first time when Sandra Ann was born to R. C. and Rita, and great-grandparents when Christine was born to Sandy and Mike on 25 Nov 1971.

On Wednesday, 3 Mar 1948, Buddie and Katie moved from Hainesville to Grand Prairie. Buddie had a job with Bill Trice Carpet Co. near Whiterock Lake in Dallas, laying carpet. They first rented a little cement block house in Twin Airports section of Grand Prairie. They attended the little Twin Airports Southern Baptist church that was just starting up. Buddie was ordained a deacon in that church. On Saturday, 13 Sep 1949, Katie’s 46th birthday, they moved into a little home they bought at 320 S. E. 10th Street in Grand Prairie. They would live in this house until they both died.

In the spring of 1949, Buddie and Katie started riding the bus and attending services at the Calvary Baptist Church in Grand Prairie which they later joined and attended regularly for the rest of their lives. For a number of years Katie taught a class of young ladies in the church. Dr. Earl Kenneth Oldham was their pastor until his death on 9 Mar 1994.

The only time Katie had any serious health problems was in 1957 when she had a back operation. Back surgery was a fairly new procedure back in those days, but the operation was successful and she recovered from it, though she had to wear a back brace for a long while. To show what kind of self sufficient lady she was, in 1991 when she was 87, she got sick. The doctor told her she had double pneumonia and should be in a hospital. She said, “No, I want to go home.” The doctor asked, “But who will take care of you?” She answered, “I’ll take care of myself.” He gave her some medicine. She went home and took care of herself. After her recovery she would say, “Why, if I’d have let them put me in the hospital, I would have died!”

On 17 Jun 1964, Buddie had a heart attack. He recovered somewhat, but was never the same after that. Sometimes he would put on his hat to go for a walk. Unbeknownst to Katie, he would catch a bus and go out to Comanche to visit his cousin Buster McDonald. When he got there, Buster’s wife, Valerie, would call Katie and let her know where he was. He got so stooped over that often he would fall headfirst. He would have mini-strokes, and his health continued to deteriorate until he had to be waited on hand and foot. Katie took care of him like a baby for the last seven years of his life before he died on 5 Jan 1979. It almost got her down, but God’s grace was sufficient.

Katie made 3 or 4 trips to San Diego, California to visit R. C. and his family, the first in June of 1965 when Sandy graduated from High School. Then once up to Denver to visit her grandson Robert and his family. While Charles lived in Albuquerque, she was out there a few times also. That was about the extent of her travels.

On Wednesday, 27 Apr 1994, Katie began experiencing chest pains. She called Billy. He took her to Arlington Memorial Hospital. When she walked out of the house, she didn’t even look back or ask Bill if he had locked the door. She was diagnosed as having had a heart attack. At 9:30 P.M. she quietly went to sleep. The family was gathered outside her room at the time, and the doctor and two nurses were in the room with her. She was 90 years, 7 months and 14 days old. That’s 33,099 days. A great multitude of friends and relatives attended her funeral which was held at Calvary Baptist Church with her new pastor, Dr. Wendell Hiers, preaching the service. Her old pastor for 45 years, Dr. Earl K. Oldham, had preceded her in death on 9 March. It is amazing how many friends this humble woman had made during her life’s journey. At the funeral home, her room was completely filled with beautiful flowers. Her body was laid to rest in Southland Memorial Park beside that of Buddie who had preceded her on 5 Jan 1979. All of her five sons were present. Many of her 17 grandchildren and her 26 great-grandchildren were also present.

Soon will come the close of time, the dissolution of worlds, the final judgment, and after that the unfolding of eternity. As our eyes shall then behold the countless constellations of the redeemed and view the different degrees of glory with which they shine, an index of their deeds below, not faintest among the many that glow with surpassing splendor we, doubtless, shall behold a spirit, who, when here below, was known by the name of KATIE WETZEL, my mother.