William Irwin Halbrook and Odell Holbrook
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: - Van Buren, AR
Other Spouse: Minnie Lodusky Dickson - 7 Jun 1906 - Methodist Church, Brinkley, Monroe, AR
Wife Odell Holbrook
Born: Baptized: Died: Buried:
Father: Holbrook Mother:
Other Spouse: Dunsworth - Bef 1948
Children
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 - Odell Holbrook
FTM BIRT: RIN MH:IF31294
Research Notes: Wife - Odell Holbrook
From William Erwin Halbrook's "A School Man of the Ozarks", p151. "My
second matrimonial venture was partly romantic and partly a matter of
necessity. Teaching at Scotland I took meals with a widow (Odell Holbrook)
who was caring for her decrepti, aged father and his aged, deaf and dumb
sister. This sister had been a mother to this widow, who during her
childhood had lost her mother. The widow had no income except what she
could work out among her neighbors. She was serving as a cook in the
school lunch. As a cook and an industrious and clean housekeeper she was
excellent. She had high ideals and reputable hence the match was
inevitable. "That enabled me to share with my two brothers in the
responsibility of caring for our own mother, blind and in her nineties.
Even though this widow was much younger, her situation and mine justified
the venture. So for some years after our marriage we cared for these
three old people in their last days until the passed beyond. I qualified
for Teacher Retirement income, and no couple have lived happier, conscious
of having discharged as best we could our filial responsibility. "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 Man of the Ozarks",
p33
Notes: Marriage
FTM
MARR: RIN MH:FF9426
Sources
1. Conway County - Our Land, Our Home, Our People.
1 Conway County - Our Land, Our Home, Our People.
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