R. V. Wood - Family Histories - Coleman County, Texas

Robert Veitch Wood came to Coleman in June, 1885, having first settled in San Saba. He was born in Lowndes County, Mississippi on November 15, 1860, the son of Robert Kennon Wood and Martha Ann Murray. He received his education in Mississippi. In September of 1882, he went to San Saba to work under his mother's brother, Richard G. Murray, in the mercantile business and, for some years after settling in Coleman, he remained in the mercantile business.

Robert and Anna Tinsley Zivley were married on the 10th of August, 1887 in San Angelo, and made their home for all of their married life in Coleman. Anna was the daughter of John Henry Zivley (see Edwin Jones), a prominent Presbyterian clergyman, and his wife, Mary Frances Wallace Sutton. The Reverend Mr. Zivley organized the Presbyterian Church in San Marcos, Seguin, Lockhart, Ballinger, Coleman, Austin, Sweetwater, and many other towns. Robert Veitch was a leader among the pioneers who settled Coleman, serving from 1894 until 1908 as County Clerk, and then for a further period of 4 years as Secretary of the City of Coleman. Upon retiring from public life, Mr.
Wood became Secretary of the Coleman National Farm Loan Association, an organization which he built into one of the largest in the State of Texas. He was active in the First Presbyterian Chuch until his death on November 6, 1935. Mrs. Wood was the organist in the Presbyterian Church and also a teacher in the Sunday School.

Anna and Robert had five children: Mary, Annie, who died in infancy; Janie, who married Charles G. Cotten; Robert Veitch, Jr.; and Lena (always called Tom or Tommie) married to Jack Holloway of Fort Worth. Of these children, only "Tom" Holloway survives at this writing.

     Robert Veitch Jr., was a graduate of The University of the South at Sawanee and was one of the youngest flying officers in World War I. Following the war, for a time, he was Field Manager of Royal Dutch Shell in Maricabo, Venezuela, returning to Coleman to join his father in the Coleman National Farm Loan Association.

     Mary Wood married in the late twenties Guy Davis, a Presbyterian minister, once President of Daniel Baker College in Brownwood. Mary had been active as a volunteer and greatly interested in the Welfare Home (orphanage) and, during the wedding reception, eleven of the children from "the home" entered and presented the bride with a bouquet of pink roses. Mary and her daughter, Mary Anna (later Mrs. Coit E. Butler) spent many summer holidays in Coleman as did Janie Wood Cotten and her three children, Corinne (now Mrs. James Wilkins of Dallas), Charles Veitch of Dallas, and Janie Wood (Jr.), now Mrs. Robert C. Binnion of Wayne, Pennsylvania.

     The writer recalls both grandparents, Anna and Robert Veitch vividly. She, small, quick witted, brown eyed; he, taller, though just under six feet, blue eyed, white haired, once "the best shot in Coleman County." The best ice cream soda of my entire life was consumed one summer day in Coleman, and I've searched for one like it ever since. The best lime sherbet ever was served at Coulson's Drug Store (my mother's "best" girlhood friend was Kathleen Coulson [Mrs. Douglas Allen). Another best friend was Mrs. Roy Howell, Nadine. My grandmother always had ketsup (a delicacy I don't associate with my own home in Fort Worth) and Hydrox cookies - those cookies and cold milk on a hot summer afternoon were nectar and ambrosia.