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Letter of James A. Ware
to his Grandsons
By Judy C. Ware 2016
Original Letter
property of James and Judy Ware
James A. Ware
(Ex Presiding Judge
Court of Appeals)
Austin, Texas
November 28, 1894
My Dear Grandsons Charley and the Dude,
I have for a long time intended to write to you both –
I now discharge my good intentions.
I am still at the soldier’s home and am very comfortably situated. In fact, I have nothing to do but eat
and sleep and think of you five boys.
I wish you all five (how earnestly I cannot explain) to grow up and be
useful men and to redeem my memory of man’s faults by your own individual worth
as men and members of families which have been always patriotic, reproachless
and always gentlemen. In my relation
to you as your grandfather, I have the right to demand this of you and shall as
long as life is spared me. I am not
well today. I was feeling
particularly (ill?) this morning and going up the stairs to mail some books to
you and Ray, I tripped and fell on the stone floor – was not seriously hurt but
have not felt the same since and am not able to write as much as I would like. You must both write to me often. You, none of you, say anything about
Glassell. I want to know about him. I only know him as the chubby little
urchin who could not talk and would roll over me and seemed to think I was to be
made use of that way - and his grandpa for that purpose only. . . so with the
Dude.
I am writing in the office of an old college mate and a
lifetime friend. It is a great
pleasure to meet them and talk over old times and our present condition and the
fervor with which a man shakes your hand as he whom you have known for a
lifetime and when he shakes yours, will repay in boyhood the efforts to a right.
Your affection grandfather,
J.A. Ware
P.S. I will go
off in a few days somewhere to spend a week.
JAW
The Honorable James A. Ware
Photo property of James and Judy ware
Concerning this letter:
The five boys that James Ware was referring to in this
letter were:
Robert Ray Elliott, born June 1884 (age 10)
Frank Glassell Elliott, Sr. born 1887 (age 7)
Joel Wallace Elliott, born 10 July 1892 (age 2)
Charles Dean, born February 1, 1884 (age 10)
James Somerville Dean,
born December 27, 1885 (age 9)
Charley and the Dude =
The Dude” refers to James S. Dean, both sons of his daughter Eudora
and her husband, John Dean.
...to mail some books to you and Ray (Ray was
the same age as his cousin, Charley Dean), I tripped and fell on the stone floor
–
...You must both write to me often. You, none of you, say anything about
Glassell. (Glassell was only 7 years
old) I want to know about him. I
only know him as the chubby little urchin who could not talk and would roll over
me and seemed to think I was to be made use of that way - and his grandpa for
that purpose only. . . so with the Dude.
Ray Elliott was the son of Fanny Glassell Ware Elliot
and her husband, Joel F. Elliott.
Their second son was named Frank Glassell Elliott, but was only called
Glassell, as was HIS son.
Glassell Elliott Sr. and Glassell Elliott Jr.
Photo owned by James and Judy Ware
THE CHILDREN OF JAMES A. WARE
AND JANE MORTON SMITH WARE:
1. Frances Glassell Ware, born June 11, 1859 in Corpus
Christi, Texas. She married Joel
Francis Elliott on Oct. 15, 1879.
Photo property of James & Judy Ware
Fanny and Joel had three children: (a)
Robert Ray Elliott (1884-1921) (b)
Frank Glassell Elliott, Sr. (1887
- ) (c) Joel Wallace Elliott (1892 – 1972). Fanny died July 12, 1937.
2. Somerville Ware,
born March 1, 1861 in Corpus
Christi, Texas. He married Ora
Lena Rogers on December 19, 1901.
Photo property of James & Judy Ware
Somerville and Lena had 4 children: (a)
Charles Somerville Ware (1902- 1952) (b)
Sarah Frances Ware (1904- 1991) (c)
William Rogers Ware (1907-1913) and (d)
James Nathan Ware (1915-2000).
Somerville
died June 10, 1921.
3. Eudora
Murray Ware,
born Aug. 20, 1864
in Dickerson’s Bayou, Texas. She
married John A. Dean.
Photo property of James & Judy Ware
Eudora and John had two sons: (a) Charles F. Dean (1884
-1956) (b) James Somerville Dean (1885-1962). Eudora died in 1905.
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