Notes for William Hall Wooldridge: William Hall Wooldridge was the eldest son of John Harrison Wooldridge and Mary Elizabeth "Mollie" Wilkerson's nine children. William, called "Hall," was the second born in September 1881 in Denton, Texas. His parents were born, raised and married in DeKalb Co. Tennessee. Their first child, daughter Mary Etta Wooldridge, was born in Smithville, Tennesse and then the family moved with his maternal grandparents, John Bluford Wilkinson and Hannah Potter-Wilkinson to Denton, Texas, arriving on January 7, 1879. William Hall also had a half-brother, George Harrison (Wooldridge) Young, born in 1873, his father's son from an earlier relationship.
At the time of the 1880 census William's parents, John and Mollie Wooldridge are listed in Denton Co. Texas living next to his maternal grandparents. William's grandfather, William Melton Wooldridge, died in 1885, in DeKalb Co. Tennessee, and his grandmother, Mary Jane Heal Wooldridge, and some of his aunts and uncles (Virginia Etta Shores, Nancy Evelyne Grissom, Joel Tennessee Wooldridge & William Thomas Wooldridge) and their families, moved west to Collinsville, Grayson Co. Texas. About 1889 William Hall's family moved north into Indian Territory where they settled at Leon Township and farmed.
William Hall Wooldridge's elder sister, Mary Etta, married Daniel Curb in 1896 in Leon, Indian Territory. Dan's mother, Frances "Fannie" Jane Christenberry-Curb kept a diary of her families activities and mentioned some members of the Wooldridge family in her diary in several entries including three with Hall Wooldridge between 1899 and 1905: DIARY... January 21, 1899. Hall Woolridge (William Hall Wooldridge) stayed all night. December 14, 1900. Mrs. Woodridge (Mary Elizabeth Wilkerson-Wooldridge) and Etta and Hawley (William Hall Wooldridge) came and stayed all night. Oh, we did enjoy ourselves so much. Little Delos (Curb, son of Mary Etta Wooldridge) came too. He is so sweet. Oct 17, 1905. Hanlly Wooldridge (William Hall Wooldridge) is married to Pearl Marples. married the 8th.
On June 21, 1900 William Hall Wooldridge 18, married his first wife, Rebecca Bell Whittington 19, in Leon, Indian Territory. Rebecca, the daughter of Steven Wayne Whittington and Rebecca Elizabeth Davis, was born in Bright Star, Arkansas, and moved with her family to Texas in about 1887 and then to Leon, Indian Territory in 1897, where the Whittingtons and the Wooldridges were neighbors. The marriage record states:
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, INDIAN TERRITORY, Southern District MARRIAGE LICENSE No. 612 To any Person Authorized by Law to Solemnize Marriage-Greeting: You are hereby commanded to solemnize the Rite and publish the Bans of Matrimony between Mr. W. H. Wooldridge of Leon, in the Indian Territory, aged 18 years, and M. Belle Whittington of " (Leon), in the Indian Territory, aged 18 years, according to law, and do you officially sign and return this License to the parties herein named. Witness my hand and official seal, the 19 day of June A.D. 1900 C. M. Campbell, Clerk of the United States Court. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, INDIAN TERRITORY, Southern District CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE I, J. G. Yorkner a Ordained Minister, do hereby certify that on the 21 day of June A.D. 1900, I did duly and according to law, as commanded in the foregoing License, solemnize the Rite of Matrimony between the parties therein named. Witness my hand, this 21 day of June A.D. 1900. J. G. Yorkner, a Ordained Minister My credentials are recorded in the office of the Clerk of the United States Court in the Indian Territory, Judicial Division, Book A Page 37 Filed and duly recorded, the 23 day of June 1900 C. M. Campbell, Clerk of the United States Court. The marriage record is filed in Carter Co. Oklahoma.
By early the next year Hall and Rebecca were expecting their first child. On October 21, 1901 Rebecca gave birth to a daughter, named Rhonda Vivian Wooldridge. The baby was healthy but Rebecca developed an infection, became very ill, and died at only 20 years of age. Her grieving family and young husband, Hall, buried her at the Leon Cemetery, where her grave is located beside a lovely tall Cedar tree.
Hall's newborn daughter, Rhonda, was raised by his parents, John and Mollie Wooldridge. Four years later William Hall Wooldridge remarried, but Rhonda remained mainly in the care of his parents. Hall and Rebecca's only child grew up, "spoiled" by her own account, among a large family of Wooldridge and Whittington aunts, and uncles, plus six younger half-siblings. Rhonda grew up close to her half-siblings, but her grandmother, Mollie Wooldridge, was the only mother she ever knew. After Hall's remarriage Mollie "just couldn't let her go."
Tragically two of Hall's younger brothers, John Bufford Wooldridge 19, and Ammaca Wooldridge 3, died of typhoid fever within about six weeks of eachother in late 1904. A brief notice appeared in the Leon newspaper expressing the communities' sympathy for the Wooldridge family.
On October 8, 1905, William Hall Wooldridge 24, married Miss Pearl Marple 21, daughter of Thomas Jefferson Marple and Mary Frances Williams, in Leon, Indian Territory. The following year Hall's father, John Harrison Wooldridge, died at age 57. Hall and Pearl became parents of six children between 1907 and 1927; five boys and one girl.
At the time of the 1910 census, "Hal Woldridge" 28 years, is listed in Love Grove, Carter Co. Oklahoma with his wife Pearl and two sons; Elbert and Leo. At the time of the 1920 census "Hall Wooldridge" age 39, with wife Pearl, and five children, are listed in Saint Jo, Montague Co. Texas. His daughter Rhonda, at age 18, was living with first wife Rebecca's parents, Steven and Rebecca Elizabeth Whittington, in Leon, and a few months later she was married to John Nathaniel White. In 1920, Hall's mother, Mollie Wooldridge, was living with his eldest sister, Mary Etta Wooldridge-Curb and husband Dan Curb and their four children in Woodward Co. Oklahoma.
William Hall Wooldridge became a heavy drinker during his life and could be "mean" causing his children to leave home as soon as they were able. Hall and Pearl's sons Leo and John both served during World War II. John Bass Wooldridge, born in 1919, served in Italy during World War II. In September 1945, at the end of the war, John was killed coming home from Italy by falling out of a train. He was buried at Gould Cemetery, Harmon Co. Oklahoma in 1948.
In 1948 Hall Wooldridge was reunited with the family of his half-brother, George Harrison Young. The following is from the research of Mary and Martha Rogers: George's son Herbert Young, (born 1903), brought his Uncle Hall and Aunt Pearl Wooldridge to see his brother Jeff Young's family around August 1948. Jeff's young son, Thomas Leon Young asked, Uncle Hall, "How could you be George's brother since you have a different last name?" Hall replied, "We have the same father but a different mother. My mother (Mary Elizabeth "Mollie" Wilkerson-Wooldridge) accepted George, (he) was like her own child."
Uncle Hall did not talk about his children. Uncle Hall was a heavy drinker. He had ulcerated stomach. Uncle Hall had to drink half a gallon of homogenized milk a day. Uncle Hall's favorite saying was "Ohhh, yes," and pointing his right index finger up in the air. Uncle Hall was liked by all of George's sons and daughters. Aunt Pearl liked to dip. She was a very nice woman.
Around August 1951, Thomas Leon Young and wife Joyce, with Ruby Lee Young-Norton (daughter of George Harrison Young) and her husband Albert Norton, went to visit Uncle Hall and Aunt Pearl in Hollis, Oklahoma. Uncle Hall took Albert and Thomas to see his 160 acre farm land north of Gould, Oklahoma. Since, Uncle Hall retired from farming, one of his sons took over the farming, possibly Leo Wooldridge. After looking at his place Uncle Hall took Thomas and Albert to a bar. Uncle Hall knew everyone in the bar especially the ladies. He could drink his beer.
Albert and Ruby (Young) Norton visited Uncle Hall and Aunt Pearl on a regular basis for ten years.
William Hall Wooldridge, at the age of 78, died October 6, 1959 in Altus, Jackson Co. Oklahoma, and was survived by his wife Pearl. He was buried at Gould Cemetery in Harmon Co. Oklahoma. He and Pearl, who died in 1965, have a double grave marker.
William H. Wooldridge's grave listed in the Virtual Cemetery @: http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/VG/00/00/10/87/59/0000108759/
Census: 1890 Chickasaw Nation Census Family #21830 1900 Census Leon, Chickasaw Nation E.D. 177 Sheet 29A/B 1910 Love Grove, Carter Co. Oklahoma Fam. #219 1920 Montague Co. Texas E.D. 91 Fam. #96 1930 Harmon Co. Oklahoma, Looney township, E.D. 4-, Family #48. Listed as "William H. Wooldridge" 48, owns farm, has radio, age at first marriage 26*, born TX TN TN, Farmer/Cotton Farm. *He was 18 at the time of his first marriage to Rebecca Bell Whittington, and 24 (not 26) at the time of his second marriage to Pearl Marple. Sources: Daughters Rhonda Vivian Wooldridge-White, and Mary Oneta Wooldridge-Duncan. Mary and Martha Rogers
More About William Hall Wooldridge: Burial: October 09, 1959, Gould Cemetery, Gould, Harmon Co. Oklahoma.
More About William Hall Wooldridge and Rebecca Bell Whittington: Marriage: June 21, 1900, Leon, Love Co. Oklahoma (Indian Territory). Record Location: June 1900, filed in Carter Co. Oklahoma.
More About William Hall Wooldridge and Pearl H. Marple: Marriage: October 08, 1905, Leon, Love Co. Oklahoma.
Children of William Hall Wooldridge and Rebecca Bell Whittington are:
+Rhonda Vivian Wooldridge, b. October 21, 1901, Leon, Love Co. Oklahoma (Indian Territory until 1907), d. February 20, 1994, San Diego, San Diego Co. California.
Children of William Hall Wooldridge and Pearl H. Marple are:
Elbert Stanton Wooldridge, b. August 04, 1906, Leon, Love Co. Oklahoma, d. February 08, 1926, McQueen, Oklahoma.
Leo Jefferson Wooldridge, b. June 26, 1909, Burneyville, Love Co. Oklahoma, d. March 29, 1973, Altus, Jackson Co. Oklahoma.
Cleo William Wooldridge, b. February 01, 1910, Leon, Love Co. Oklahoma, d. April 01, 2000, Bakersfield, Kern Co. California.
Mary Oneta Wooldridge, b. May 16, 1913, Leon, Love Co. Oklahoma, d. January 24, 2000, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Co. Oklahoma.
John Bass Wooldridge, b. January 31, 1919, Saint Jo, Montague Co. Texas, d. September 03, 1945, Italy.
William Hall Wooldridge, Jr., b. June 24, 1927, McQueen, Oklahoma, d. April 23, 2001, Altus, Jackson Co. Oklahoma.
William Hall Wooldridge (b. September 06, 1881, d. October 06, 1959)
Notes for William Hall Wooldridge: