LETTERS

The Caruth Family

Recently I read portions of the article, “The Caruth Saga,” which appeared in the September issue of your publication.

As one who daily assists individuals involved in research in local history and genealogy, I am rather disappointed in the data set forth in this article because it is most difficult to eradicate errors after they have found their way into print. Such is the case with this article.

John Caruth of the third generation was not married to Catherine Henderson. His first wife and mother of his sons was Catherine Anderson, the daughter of William and Susan (Clayborne) Anderson.

Although I have not had an opportunity to check the deed books and 1849 tax list of Dallas County to determine if Walter and William Caruth were residents at that time, presumably you have already done so. They were not, however, in the state in 1950 at the time of the first federal enumeration. While their father John Caruth does appear on the 1860 census of the county, he did not reside here any period of time. Instead he returned to Kentucky where he died in 1869. Admittedly a copy of his will can be found in the Dallas County deed books due to the fact that he owned property here at the time of his death. The will, however, was proved and recorded in Kentucky. The will of his second wife Emily Stark (Gri-der) Caruth is recorded in Dallas County Will Book C, pages 31ff. She too died in Allen County, Kentucky.

There may be some disagreement about which Caruth brother first came to Texas. Your account states it was William. Another version claims it was Walter.

L.D. Bockstruck, First Assistant

History and Social Sciences Division

Dallas Public Library.



Mr. Atkinson replies: The points you raise are pertinent. I did run across some references to John Caruth’s wife as Catherine “Anderson,” though several others referred to her as “Henderson.” My research was also conflicting on when the brothers took up residence here, on how long John Caruth actually resided in Dallas, and on which Caruth brother arrived first. In all cases, I went to the data I felt most trustworthy. Your clarifications may be entirely correct.



Just finished reading your extremely well-written story on Will Caruth in your equally well-done magazine, which I saw for the first time yesterday.

Although you obviously spent much time and effort in interviews and digging out background material, I felt as if you missed some important points in the “Caruth Saga.”

Having had the opportunity of fishing with Will in Brazil for ten days, as well as visiting with him and his charming Mabel here in Florida, I’ve found him to be a warm, friendly and quietly emotional person – unlike the rather cold, impersonal figure you portrayed in your story.

You failed to bring out that Will is a darned good fisherman who can hold his own with the best rodmen of the world’s waters and has a deep appreciation of nature and wildlife as a whole, not just for a few acres of land in north Dallas.

In other words, I’ve never thought of Will as an “institution” per se. Instead, I’ve found him to be genuine, honest and a friend. I wish this side of Will Caruth could have been brought out.

Herb Allen

Outdoors Editor

Tampa Tribune



Longfellow Pro and Con

“The Lessons of Longfellow Elementary” was interesting and informative. We have owned our home on Emerson since 1947. Practically all of the homeowners in this block have lived here many years and have seen their children grow up and leave for their own homes. One or two families have moved in with small children who are not ready for kindergarten, but usually they move when the actual time comes for these children to attend school. The homeowners have taken a great deal of interest in their homes and they are maintained beautifully. They represent a life-time investment, so we are anxious that the neighborhood be kept up.

We have taken part in practically every election and community activity. I have taught school myself in the D.I.S.D. and for two years at Longfellow.

We have to agree with Mrs. Mary Fields that Longfellow should be closed. For economic reasons and tax reasons it seems to us that her judgment is sound.

There are so very few children east of Inwood attending Longfellow, and it is such a large school for 200 students that it has become a white elephant, and should be sold or leased to a satisfactory tenant. There are two schools west of In-wood which are quite large enough to take care of the present students, the majority of whom live west of Inwood Rd.

There are a few children, both black and white, that will do well wherever they are if they have had some cultural background at home. But tests have shown how low the percentage is in the major subjects at the present time.

The white majority are so mortally afraid of being called racists and wounding the feelings of ethnic groups and liberals, that we do not speak realistically and we do harm to ourselves and others.

Lucy L. Laney Morrison



I was very pleased to see your article on the Longfellow school in the September issue. Perhaps it will create a new interest in a very fine school.

When we moved into the Longfellow district my children were attending a private school. We would not have moved here if they were in public school, because we were told that Longfellow was one of the poorer quality schools in the DISD. We discovered that there are at least ten families in our two-block area with children of elementary school age, but that only one of those families sends their children to Longfellow.

That one family very strongly supported the Longfellow school. For two years they touted Longfellow to such a degree that, with the children in agreement, we decided to give it a chance. We changed schools at mid-term with the idea that “it’s only for a few weeks if it doesn’t work.”

How many paragraphs I could write about that sad, empty, proud school! My daughter had always been an honor student and she continued to work far beyond her grade level. My son became a scholar for the first time since nursery school. But most importantly, they learned to cope in a real situation and to develop their own opinions and make personal judgments as to race without imitating friends or parents.

We have another child who is three and I hope Mrs. Fields does not succeed in having Longfellow closed before she is of school age.

Bette Epstein



Liberalism: What’s In a Name?

Lee Clark suggests in “Where Have All the Liberals Gone” that Dallas liberals have sort of melded into the conservative camp. Perhaps few of us are all liberal -’ or all conservative. The political liberals with whom I worked through the years believed me to be conservative; conversely the conservatives believed me to be liberal. What all of us agreed upon was that the unelected power structure’s control of Dallas was the antithesis of the American ideal. Ms. Clark concludes that I am a bleeding liberal because I am willing to fight for quality education and neutralization of the power structure. Does she know that I advocate withholding a vote from any candidate for Congress who will not pledge to balance the national budget, and that I am an unswerving Russophobe (detente is a mirage!)?

Fight the power structure? You bet! I don’t care whether John Stemmons, Erik Jonsson, and Charles Cullum are conservative or liberal. As long as they attempt to control this community as its “unelected decision makers,” I shall oppose them. I have a responsibility as an American to see that the rights guaranteed by the constitution to me and my progeny are not diminished. I stand with Thomas Jefferson who said, “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

Don Fielding