James Mann Hurt, Jr., son of James Mann Hurt, Sr. (1797-1873) and Patsy Marshall (1799-1876) was born in Carroll County, Tennessee on December 15, 1830. He died in Lisborn, Texas ( Dallas County) on April 5, 1903, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Dallas, Texas.

James (Jim), the seventh of twelve children, was raised on his father’s farm in Carroll County, TN. On his farm, near McLemoresville, TN, James Mann Hurt Sr. raised tobacco, corn, wheat and hogs. Before the Civil War, he owned a number of servants. He ran a tan yard and a shoe shop and built the first ice house in the area. He was a pioneer Baptist preacher at McLemoresville and at Shady Grove in Gibson County, Tennessee. James, therefore, came from a religious family that was successful in many endeavors.

James was educated at Bethel College, Jackson, Tennessee and then completed a law course at Lebanon, Tennessee. While there, he met Matilda (Mattie) Louise Douglas (b. 6 April 1839, d. 20 April 1923) from Missouri who was the daughter of William D. Douglas. In 1857, they traveled to Missouri to marry. Upon their return, the steamer boat they were on sank. James caught his new bride by the hair telling her to keep her hands away from him or he would let her go. She complied and he swam to shore with her safely.

Jim and Mattie settled in Sherman, Grayson County, Texas where her family had moved and where Jim began his law practice. He joined the Confederate army during the civil war (service record not available). As recalled by a family member not long after his death, Jim Hurt was considered a man of fine mind, one who looked clear through a subject and could get to the bottom of things. He was remembered as a liberal hearted, kind man. Everybody was his friend. He was elected county District Attorney and then promoted to Texas State Attorney. By the 1880’s James Hurt became a member of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and for a number of years before his death was the presiding justice of the court. His obituary states, “Judge Hurt was regarded as on of the ablest jurists in America and his decisions were regarded as law in practically every court in the United States”. About a year before he died, he bought a country home in Lisborn, TX (at the time about seven miles south of Dallas). It was here that he died.

In 1873, his father, James Mann Hurt, Sr. died. In his will written in 1870, he states “I charge my son James M. Hurt eight hundred dollars as an advancement”. He further states: “It is my will that the ten heirs here mentioned . . . (after taking out the advancement of eight hundred dollars made to James M. Hurt) in the general distribution of the residue of my estate which shall take place immediately after the death of my said wife: Shall all heir equally: Share for Share”.

Issue:

William Douglas Hurt (d. infancy)

Robert Marshall Hurt (b. 8 May 1859, Sherman TX, d. 14 May 1933, Los Angeles, CA). Married on 18 November 1884, Elizabeth McKee Evans (b. 22 June 1859, Toronto, CAN, d. 1948). Children: Earl Evans Hurt and Elbridge Douglas Hurt (b. 1887 – twins); Robert Littleton Hurt (b. 1889); Wilber Torney Hurt (b. 1893) and Isabel Foster Hurt (b. 1897).

Elbridge Seawell Hurt (b. 1860, d. 1932). Married 1) Rosalie Ireland (daughter of Texas Governor John T. Ireland). Children: Anna Penn Hurt (b. 1888) Elbridge Ireland Hurt (b. 1892). Married 2) Laura Burris. Children: Lula Hurt (b. 1900), Zach Hurt (b. 1902), Pierre Hurt (b. 1904), Robert (b. 1906, d. 1906), James Mann Hurt III (b. 1909), Ryder Hurt (b. 1911).

Lula Hurt (b. 1861, d. 1925). Married Pierre Stine. Children: Robert Hurt Stine (b. 1887, d. 1895), James Mann Stine (b. 1890), Mary Stine (d. infancy), Alta Stine (b. 1893), Vincent Stine (b. 1895), Matilda Louise Stine (d. infancy), Lulu Stine (b. 1900), Pierre Stine, Jr. (b. 1904).

---

This information is for personal use only. Please do not copy, distribute, or otherwise publish this data elsewhere. Copyright 1997, Mike Parsons. All rights reserved.