A Brief Account of the Hetherington and Broughton Families

Compiled by Charlie Tillery

John Charles Hetherington was born at Claiborne, Alabama, October I8, I868, and was the oldest child of John M. and Margaret Ann Hetherington. His parents lived at Claiborne for a few years, and then moved to Monroeville. Charles Richard Broughton had given the young family a piece of land, perhaps about 200 acres, and a house was built on this farm. John lived here until he was seventeen years of age, and no doubt went to school at Monroeville, visited in his grandparents’ home, hunted and fished along the nearby creek, and learned to work on the farm. In 1885 the Hetherington family sold their holdings in Alabama and moved to Reagan, Texas. A farm was purchased about one mile south of Reagan, and John spent the remainder of his boyhood helping to produce cotton and corn and other crops to provide a livelihood for the growing family.

Even after he was twenty-one years of age, he remained a member of the household. He was about thirty years of age when I became old enough to remember him. He had bought a good farm, and operated it through his own efforts and with the labor of hired hands and renters. This farm is located about the center of Tarbox, on the east side of the road. He had a nice horse and buggy, and a wagon and teams and plow tools and planters. He took excellent care of his equipment. I remember watching him wash and grease his buggy, preparatory to attending Sunday

School and Church at the Reagan Baptist Church, of which he was to be a member for more than sixty years. He was a good barber, and on Saturday afternoons and rainy days would cut hair for the neighbors and their children on the front porch of the Hetherington residence for ten or fifteen cents a head. He owned a shot gun and was an excellent shot when it came to bringing down a partridge on the wing or a squirrel out of a tree, but was not so intensely interested in hunting and fishing as were his two younger brothers. He was considerate of his parents and brothers and sisters, and was conscientious in doing right and in refraining from doing wrong. He tended strictly to his own business, and avoided trouble of any sort. He was a patient and a humble man. I believe he was incapable of a mean or cruel act, or of taking unfair advantage of anyone. He had a kind, friendly disposition, a spontaneous laugh, and a real love for his occupation of fanning, in which he was very skillful.

John C. Hetherington married Frances Emma Tanner November 21, 1906, at Reagan, Texas. She was born June 21, 1888, at Reagan, Texas, and was the daughter of Spence Monroe Tanner, a native of Georgia, and Ada Kessire Shaunfield, who was born in Alabama. A short time after the wedding John Hetherington and his wife moved into a new house built on his farm for his bride largely by himself, as he was not only a skillful farmer, but a better than average carpenter.

John Hetherington and his wife were industrious and thrifty and they prospered. He became the owner of a good size block of bank stock in the Reagan Bank, and was a member of the Board of Directors of this bank for many years. He was one of the first farmers of his community to own an automobile. In the late 1920’s he and his family bought the William Snell homestead in Reagan, and moved into the old Snell residence. It was his intention to tear this house down and to construct a new modern house. But the depression hit, prices of farm products became extremely low, and he was never able to build the new home. He and his· family continued to live in the old Snell house, and he made a crop year after year on the farm in Tarbox.

Frances Emma (Fannie) Hetherington was an excellent wife all through the years and looked after his needs and his health and the welfare of their children, and helped in conserving the profits from the farm. The accomplishment of which they are most proud no doubt is the rearing of three fine boys.

John C. Hetherington never made a trip back to his birth place in Alabama, although I am sure he never forgot his childhood, or his childhood friends and relatives. I am sorry that I did not talk to him before it was too late about his early memories. He died July 18, 1950, in his eighty-second year, rounding out a long life of honest labor and clean living.

To him and his wife, Frances Emma, who still spends part of her time in Reagan, were born three sons, as follows:

Archie Herbert Hetherington was born September 24, 1908, at Reagan, Texas. Archie was named for Brother Arch Walker, a very close boyhood friend of John C. Hetherington. John assisted his friend in obtaining his training for the Methodist ministry, and Arch Walker performed the wedding ceremony for John, and officiated at his funeral when both had passed their eightieth birthdays. Archie Herbert married Vida Elizabeth Sessom December 24, 1934, at Belton, Texas. Vida E. Sessom was born June 14, 1915, at Temple, Texas. They live on the John C. Hetherington farm in Tarbox, and Archie is a decorator and live-stock farmer. Their children are: Frances Elizabeth, born July 6, 1940, and Dan Herbert, born August 28, 1945.

Andrew Monroe Hetherington was born July l, 1912, at Reagan, Texas. He married Irene Sigred Nilsson May 12, 1935, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in which city she was born November 15, 1914. They live at 2021 N. W. 12th Street, Oklahoma City, and have one child, Donald Melvin Hetherington, born December 14, 1941. Andrew was inducted into the Army in November, 1943, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was stationed at different times at Camp Abbott, Oregon; Camp Shelby, Mississippi; Fort Lewis, Washington; Camp Beale, Marysville, California; and Diesel School, Atlanta Ordnance Depot, Atlanta, Georgia. He was on Okinawa from April, 1945, to March, 1946, with the l48 lst Engineer Maintenance Company. He was discharged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in March, 1946. He returned to Oklahoma City, and re-entered his occupation of decorating.

John Arthur Hetherington was born April4, 1915, at Reagan, Texas. He married Obelia Marks June 10, 1939, at Bremond, Texas. She was born at Rogers, Texas, March 23, 1917. They reside at 2504 N. W. 39th Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and have three children: Shirley Gale, born June 13,1943, Harry Dwayne June 13, 1947, and Linda Kay born July 27,1947 and died July 28, 1947 and Linda Kay, born August 22, 1950. Arthur was inducted into the army in 1943, assigned with the Army Airforce and served 2 and half years in England and France and Germany. He now works at Tinker Field, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as an Aircraft Servicing Flight Electrician. At this time (June, 1952), John C. Hetherington has five living grandchildren and one deceased.