My Grandmother Martha

Today is the 151st birthday of my paternal grandmother, Martha Woodrum Kirkpatrick, known as Mattie. She was born October 1, 1864 and died August 12, 1918. I am her namesake. I know that she graduated from a Texas Normal (Teachers) College in 1886(?) and taught school in Lewisville, Texas. I’m not sure when she married Dr. David Forrest Kirkpatrick (1861-1939), but she gave birth to my Uncle Tom on July 7, 1897 and to my father, William Davis on June 12, 1902. My father always spoke highly of her and once encouraged me to be a teacher like her. My mother, who also grew up in Lewisville, said that there was a funny story the townspeople told about Mattie’s lack of fashion-consciousness. An active leader in the Presbyterian Church, she once drove her buggy to the local milliner’s and shouted to the store owner: “Nelly, bring me a hat. I’m on my way to a meeting!” In this photo of her house she is seated next to her mother, who was born in 1832. David Kirkpatrick, for whom our son David was named, stands on the right. He was a general practice physician in Lewisville for 50 years.