Felix Grundy McConnell (1809-1846)

Washington D.C. September 9, 1846.  -- The telegraph will have apprised you of the melancholy suicide of the Hon. Felix McConnell.  The news sent a thrill of horror through the community, and crowds eagerly hurried to the body which but a short time ago was bounding with the pulses of life.  Oh! Intemperance! how numerous are thy victims.

It appears that the deceased terminated his existence by deliberately cutting the jugular veins on each side of his throat, and by inflicting deep wounds in his sides, with a knife.  Two of the stabs were nearly perpendicular.  The others were glanced off from his bones and made frightful gashes.  His friends say that for about a week past he had relinquished drinking, owing to indisposition, and that the absence of his usual stimulus caused great despondency.  He was in fact suffering the horrors of delirium tremens.

He could not, as has been stated, been in great want of money, for I am told he had not drawn his mileage.  In addition to this, he had his watch and valuable jewelry on his person, besides a sum of money.  A short time before he committed the deed, he called for a pen and ink, for the purpose, it is supposed, of writing to his wife.  A coroner's inquest was held on the body, at his room in the St. Charles Hotel, and a verdict was rendered in accordance with the fact.

Mr. McConnell was born in Nashville, Lincoln County, Tennessee, on April 1st, 1809.  In 1824, he removed to Talladega County Alabama, where his family, consisting of a wife and four children, now reside.  His funeral took place on the 10th, under the direction of the House of Representatives.  = = = published in the Baltimore Sun, 11 September 1846.

Transcriber's Note:  Mrs. McConnell was Miss Elizabeth Hogan, who married Felix in Alabama in 1835.  According to A Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Mr. McConnell worked as a saddler before being admitted to the bar in 1836.  He served in the Alabama House of Representatives and the Alabama State Senate before being elected to the U.S. Congress. 

Margaret Minerva Kirlicks (1859-1890)

This morning at 1:15 o'clock Mrs. Margaret M., wife of William Kirlicks of this city, died at her late home in the third ward after a protracted and severe illness.  She was born on October 11, 1859 and died on April 14, 1890.

All that a loving husband and affectionate relatives could do to prolong the light of life was done, but the remorseless destroyer could not be turned away.  She was only 30 years of age and was one of the lovable characters among the ladies of this city.  Harris County was her birthplace and nearly all her life had been spent in Houston. 

A devoted husband and three loving children bear the brunt of sorrow.  Mr. James Pickens, well known here, was a brother who mourns alongside a sorrowing mother and sister.  The funeral took place this afternoon from the First Baptist Church, and the dear lady was buried at Washington Cemetery.

= = published in the Houston News section of the Galveston Daily News, 14 April 1890.  Transcriber is not a relative and has no further information regarding this family.

Ella Petty McDonald (1849-1890)

BASTROP, TEX. April 4th 1890.  A sad, sad death occurred a few miles below Bastrop, near Upton Station, last week.  Mrs. Ella Petty McDonald, wife of Mr. Tom McDonald, formerly of Hill's Prairie, after several days of severe suffering, passed away, leaving a devoted husband and loving children to try to live without her.

= = published in the Galveston Daily News 5 April 1890.  Transcriber is not a relative and has no further information regarding this family.

Preston Hunt, M.D. (1866-1955)

Dr. Preston Hunt, president of the Texas Medical Association in 1940, died in a hospital in Pampa, Texas, on July 10, 1955.  He was formerly a resident of Texarkana, but had been living with his brother since 1951. 

The son of Jesse Ivy Hunt and Sarah J. Hunt, he was born on February 5, 1866, in Tupelo, Mississippi.  He received his early education in the county schools there, and when he was 21, left home to become a railroad laborer, thus financing his higher education.  In 1890, he moved to Texarkana, where he worked several years in the railway news business.  He completed his first two years of medical school at the Hospital College of Physicians and Surgeons in Louisville, Kentucky and the Medical Department of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.  He received his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Atlanta, Georgia in 1901. 

Returning to Texarkana to begin his medical practice, Dr. Hunt became associated with the Texarkana Hospital, in which he bought a major interest and was a director and treasurer throughout most of his years in active practice.  Upon his retirement, he gave his stock in the hospital to the public, specifying that the institution should be administered in trust by a board of physicians.

He was president and secretary of both the Bowie (Texas) and Miller (Arkansas) County Medical Societies at the time when dual membership in adjoining states was permissible, and was a past president of the Fifteenth District Medical Society and Councilor of that district.  He served six years as a delegate from his county society to the State Association.  Dr. Hunt was a member of the American Medical Association, and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.  During World War I, he was a medical examiner and a member of the Medical Section of the Council on National Defense.

Dr. Hunt was a Knight Templar and a 32nd degree Mason.  He was a member and past president of the Texarkana Lions Club and a member of the Baptist church, in which he was a deacon for more than forty years.  He was a member of the executive board of the Tex-Ark Boy Scout Council for ten years, chairman of the Scout health and safety committee for five years, chairman of the annual council meeting in 1936, a member of the Texarkana District Scout Committee, and a member of the district board of directors for the Texarkana Boy Scout organization.  In 1936, he donated 200 acres of land for the establishment of Camp Preston Hunt and made numerous improvements on the campsite.

Dr. Hunt married Miss Hattie Hutton on January 1, 1914 in Ballinger.  They had no children, and Mrs. Hunt died in 1935 while serving as president of the Women's Auxiliary to the Texas Medical Association.  Survivors of Dr. Hunt include two brothers, the Rev. Claude E. Hunt of McLean and Grover Hunt of Wellington.  He also leaves one sister, Mrs. Sally Filgo of Verona, Mississippi.

= = = published in the Texas State Journal of Medicine, September 1955.  Transcriber is not a relative and has no further information regarding this family.

Kathleen Finnegan Fox (1899-1991)

Kathleen Finnegan Fox, born August 8, 1899 in Houston, Texas, died January 25, 1991 in Wimberley, Texas.  She was preceded in death by her parents William Nicholas Finnegan and Kathryn Sheridan Finnegan, her husband Reuben Lightfoot Fox, four brothers William Jr., John Thomas, Frank S. and Emmett, and two sisters.

Kathleen grew up on Providence Street in Houston's Fifth Ward.  Her father was chief clerk for the City of Houston tax collector.  Her husband also worked for the city as a civil engineer.  She is survived by a sister, Eileen Finnegan of Houston; daughters, Betty Jean Fox Kolenda of Wimberley, Texas and Kathleen Virginia Fox Greaney of Las Vegas Nevada.  She also leaves 11 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.  A rosary will be recited at the Forest Park Lawndale Chapel on January 28th at 7:30pm.  The funeral will be held there at noon on January 29th.  Interment will be at Forest Park immediately following the service.

In lieu of flowers, friends and family may wish to send donations to the William Gillespie Memorial Scholarship Fund at St. Thomas High School, to St. Mary's Catholic Church in Wimberley, TX, or to the Masonic Lodge #1445 in Wimberley. 

= = published in the Houston Chronicle 27 January 1991.  Transcriber is not a relative and has no further information regarding this family.