William Irwin Halbrook and Minnie Lodusky Dickson
Husband William Irwin Halbrook
AKA: William Erwin, Willie Halbrook Born: 14 Mar 1878 - Conway County, AR Baptized: Died: Buried:
Father: Wiley Uriah Halbrook 1 Mother: Sarah Elizabeth Woolverton
Marriage: 7 Jun 1906 - Methodist Church, Brinkley, Monroe, AR
Other Spouse: Odell Holbrook - Van Buren, AR
Wife Minnie Lodusky Dickson
Born: Baptized: Died: - Van Buren, AR Buried: - Huie Cem, near Choctaw, Van Buren, AR
Father: James ? Dickson Mother: Martha Lovejoy
Children
1 M James Wiley Halbrook
Born: 1913 - Van Buren, AR Baptized: Died: Buried:
2 F Martha Elizabeth Halbrook
Born: Abt 1917 - Shirley, Van Buren, AR Baptized: Died: Buried:
3 F Hilda Halbrook
Born: Abt 1919 - Little Rock, Pulaski, AR Baptized: Died: Buried:
4 M Quincy Xan Halbrook 1
Born: 1921 - Harrison, Boone County, AR Baptized: Died: Buried:
5 U Halbrook
Born: Baptized: Died: Buried:
6 U Halbrook
Born: Baptized: Died: Buried:
7 U Halbrook
Born: Baptized: Died: Buried:
8 U Halbrook
Born: Baptized: Died: Buried:
General Notes: Husband - William Irwin Halbrook
FTM BIRT: RIN MH:IF21628
from William Erwin Halbrook - "A School Man of the Ozarks"
"Thus I have given as far as I have information the
names of my family, beginning with a great-grandfather
down to and including my own generation. The Halbrooks
and the Woolvertons are just common American stock, no
better and no worse than most of the pioneer generations
of our country who were transplanted on our continent in
an early day. Some have been fairly successful as the world
measures success, some have not. No one has attained to a
position of high distinction and none were notorious crimi-
nals. For them as for other ordinary citizens they exemplify
a stanza from Gray's Elegy:
Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife
Their sober wishes never learned to stray;
Along the cool, sequestered vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way."
Research Notes: Husband - William Irwin Halbrook
Remarried after Minnie Dickson's death. William Erwin Halbrook wrote an
autobiography (and a history of the times) with a chapter on his ancestry.
The book was called "A School Man of the Ozarks" published by The
Press-Argus, Van Burne, Arkansas, February, 1959.
Was of close enough age with his cousin Weck Halbrook to compete in
arithmetic in school (p36 of his book).
William Erwin Halbrook was of such an age that he attended school under
Joseph (Joe) Halbrook, son of Jeremiah Thomas (Tom) Halbrook (p37 of his
book).
"Jesse Koone and I were the only ones that year to finish in the school
[Clinton Academy]. I often told my children that when I graduated from
the academy I was the second best in the graduating class. Jesse always
aoutstripped me. Jesse later quit teaching and took up the study of law.
He was honored as prosecuting attorney, curcuit judge, and assistant
attorney general for Arkansas. "Jesse and I agreed or planned that when
our winter term of school closed in March we would take a trip to Little
Rock. We did so, it was my second trip to the city, and Jesse's first.
We went into all othe offices of the State Capitol. We visited the
legislature in session and saw one legislator strike another over his head
with a cane, they clinched, fell to the floor and were separated. We were
supposed to be living in the backwoods, but I never hgad seen two men
fight until I observed the Solons of Arkansas in their deliberations. (p46
of his book)
Graduated as president of the Licentiate of Instruction (two-year teaching
course) of 1903 from the Peabody Normal (two-year teacher training
department) of the old University of Nashville.
William Erwin was profoundly affected by an appeal at the University of
Nashville "by Dr. J.L.M. Curry, a former governor of Alabama who had made
an outstanding contributioin to public education in his state during his
gubernatorial term. It was told that one of his legislators remarked that
Alabama was too poor to educate her children, to which he retorted that
'Alabama was too poor NOT to educate her children.' So the Peabody board
of trustees made Curry the executive secretary of its fund. "During my
first year the Doctor Curry, against the advice of his physicians, arose
from a sick bed to make his annual visit to the college, whose purpose and
service were on his heart. Leaning on the lectern at chapel he appealed
to us students to dedicate our lives to the rebuilding of the South.
Returning to his bed, he died." (from William Erwin's book, p56).
Became a member of the Arkansas Teachers Association during Christmas week
of 1903. It was later renamed the Arkansas Education Association.
He joined the Farmers Education and Co-operative Union of America at the
Barrens, a neighboring rural school to Choctaw. He was a delegate from
the Van Buren county convention to the state convention. In September,
1906, he was a delegate from the Arkansas convention to the organization
of the national convention. At the county convention in 1906, he
introduced a resolution petitioning the Arkansas legislature to establish
a school for the training of rural teachers. This resolution went to the
state convention and was adopted. The state convention appointed a
legislative committee, and with the combination of the state educators and
the Farmers Union had sufficient prestige to secure its enactment in the
General Assembly of 1907. Teachers College at Conway is the outcome.
Growing our of this same resolution was an idea for an agricultural school
wherein rural boys and girls might work and earn much of their expenses in
securing a hgih school education with the addition of vocational training;
for there were no free rural high schools in the state. The General
Assembly at the same sessio npassed a bill to that effect but it was
vetoed by the governor. It became a campaign platform issue for George W.
Donaghey in his race for governor. After his electio he recommended and
the legislature of 1909 pass the bill providing for them. This was the
beginning of teh colleges at Russelville, Magnolia, Monticello, and
Jonesboro.
"It is of interest that the maiden name of this widow whom I married was
ODell Holbrook. So when she married me she just changed one letter in her
original name, from Holbrook to Halbrook. The tradition of our family, as
I was told by my great uncle, is that back in England the names were
variations in the same family and had the same root. In the Government
Archives we found the name of George Halbrooks, he added the letter 's' to
his name, and had applied for a Revolutionary War pension. He was from
Surry county, North Carolina, where my own great grandfather [William
Halbrook] was born, and was probably his father. When he made his
application he had moved to Gibson county, Indiana. Now my wife's
grandfather, Lewis Holbrook, claimed to have emigrated from White county,
Illinois, which is adjacent to Gibson county. So it is quite likely that
the two families have a common origin, the spelling having been changed
meanwhile.
Sources: Other : Halbrook, William Erwin, "A School Boy of the Ozarks", Ch
14
General Notes: Wife - Minnie Lodusky Dickson
FTM BIRT: RIN MH:IF21634
Research Notes: Wife - Minnie Lodusky Dickson
From Brinkley, Arkansas. She had had courses at Hendrix College when it
was first established, then two years at the Galloway Female Seminary at
Searcy Arkansas.
Her father died while she was attending Peabody College. She met William
Erwin Halbrook at Peabody College (the teachers' college at the University
of Nashville). She graduated in about 1904.
Minnie Dickson's "mother was Martha Lovejoy before she was married, had
some educational accomplishments for her day, and a most active and
devoted member of the Methodist church. She was ambitious for her
children and strove for them to get a college education. The others did
not respond with as much interest in education as did Minnie, who, after
three years in Hendrix and Gallowya was two and a half years in Peabody.
She majored in primary education and minored in music, vocal and piano.
As a primary teacher she was excellent, and as a manager of small children
in teaching and discipline she was superior.
About 1922, "The mother had a nervous breakdown. Physicians for some time
could not agree on her case. Finally it was discovered she had cancer of
the female organs, and an operation was inevitable. ... She apparently
recovered her poise for about a year, then gradually other spells came,
each time of longer duration and worse. We consulted different
neurological specialists but to no avail. We were given some
encouragement by them that in the course of time she might recover, and I
was not apprised of the hazards in her association with her children. But
we were eventually compelled to consign her to the State Hospital for
their safety." The latter must have been about 1926, for their children
ranged in age from 5 to 13. "After their mother had been confined some
ten years the authorities there advised that she was safe and sufficiently
recovered to return to the family. I rented an apartment from an
erstwhile Boone county neighbor, and when I brought her home to it, the
first thing she said was, 'I miss the little children.'" (from William
Erwin Habrook's "A School Man of the Ozarks, p148-150).
The returned to Little Rock, and then to Van Buren county. "In a few
months is was discovered that my wife had developed cancer of the lungs
and she quickly passed away. We laid her to rest where I hope to lie, in
the Huie Cemetery near Choctaw, among neighbors and friends whose
associations had been so dear to us during the happy days of our early
connubial life." (p150-151)
Sources: Other : Halbrook, William Erwin, "A School Man of the Ozarks"
Notes: Marriage
FTM
MARR: RIN MH:FF6196
Sources
1. Conway County - Our Land, Our Home, Our People.
1 Conway County - Our Land, Our Home, Our People.
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