Wood County History
By LOU MALLORY - Chairperson, Wood County Historical Commission
James Stephen Hogg was the first native-born governor of Texas. During his Wood County years (1868-82), he lived the last two years in Mineola.
During this period of his life, he became friends with Barney Hart, John and Rosa Buchanan, C.W. Raines, George Reeves, and Bill McDonald. These people continued their friendship with Hogg throughout his life and political career.
Hogg was born near Rusk on March 25th, 1851. His parents were Joseph and Lucanda Hogg. He attended the McKnight School and had private tutoring at home until the Civil War. His father, a brigadier general, died at the head of his command in 1862, and his mother died the following year. Hogg and his two brothers were left along with two older sisters to run the plantation.
Hogg went to work for Andrew Jackson, editor of The Texas Observer at Rusk. Jackson taught Hogg to type and hired him early in 1867. By his sixteenth birthday he was eager to learn the printers' trade.
Following this, he moved to Quitman and worked on The Clipper in 1868. In 1872 he established The Quitman News. In Quitman, he married Sallie Stinson on April 22nd, 1874. Included in the wedding party was Sarah Rosalie "Rosa" Patten (1855-1941) who would later marry John Buchanan (1830-1884), who became a state senator.
The Hoggs' first child, Will, was born in Quitman. Hogg was elected justice of the peace, and studied law, then began a practice in 1878. The same year he was elected county attorney. Two years later, in 1880, he was elected district attorney.
The Hogg family then moved to Mineola, as the town was served by the railroad. In Mineola, their only daughter, Ima, was born on July 10th, 1882. While he was in Mineola, Hogg maintained a law office. After he became governor, Hogg Street was named for him.
During his period in Mineola, Hogg became friends with Barnabas "Barney" Hart (1845-1925), an attorney. Hart, a Confederate veteran, had been a law partner of Hogg, Sen. John C. Buchanan, E.A. Tharp and Malcolm Landers. Hart's home, at the corner of Johnson and Kilpatrick Streets, was built in 1906.
Hogg's friends also included Cadwell Walton Raines (1839-1906), publisher of a pro-Hogg newspaper, The Mineola Hawkeye; George Reeves (1854-1934), a city marshal, and William Jesse McDonald (1852-1918), a city deputy. He continued his association with John and Sarah Buchanan, who also lived in Mineola. All were involved in Democratic politics.
In 1884, Hogg's term as district attorney ended and the Hogg family moved to Tyler. While in Tyler, two more sons were born. He was elected governor in 1890 and served from 1891-95.
While governor, Hogg appointed Raines as the state librarian. Raines had lived in Mineola during the early 1880s and had served as county judge from 1886 to 1890. In the early 1880s, Reeves had served as city marshal with William Jesse "Bill" McDonald as his deputy. They worked closely with Hogg who was then district attorney. When Hogg became governor, he appointed Reeves as penitentiary agent for the state.
While Hogg was in Mineola, he introduced McDonald, a grocer and lawman, to Rhoda Isabel Carter. The two married in 1876. Although Hogg prosecuted McDonald in 1878 for carrying a concealed weapon, the two became friends again.
Governor Hogg made McDonald captain of Company B, Frontier Battalion in June of 1891. McDonald later served as bodyguard for President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905 and as a bodyguard for President Woodrow Wilson in 1912. Wilson appointed McDonald marshal of the Northern District of Texas.
In 1892, Hogg appointed Sara Rosalie "Rosa" Patten Buchanan, now a widow, to teach English at Sam Houston State Normal College in Huntsvile. She taught there for 24 years and became the first woman in Texas to be named a full professor at a state college.
For these people, their friendship with Governor Hogg had a lasting influence on their lives, on the city of Mineola and on the state of Texas.
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