Quitman, Wood County
Constructed in 1869 of virgin pine and oak by James A. Stinson, a widower who came to Texas in 1868 from Georgia after having served as a colonel in the Confederate Army. He brought with him his daughter Sallie. He bought extensive timber and farm lands in the eastern area of Wood County; operated a large sawmill which sent lumber throughout the state. Was also known as an early-day scientific farmer. Mrs. Nathan Jones, a widow with one daughter, Mary, became the second wife of Col. Stinson. The had two daughters, Lily and Cliffie, and one son, James F. In the parlor of the house, on April 22, 1874, Sallie Stinson married James Stephen Hogg, who later became the first native-born governor of the state. Col. Stinson was a southern aristocrat, a progressive thinker and a great scholar of government. He probably had great influence on James S. Hogg's ideas on good government. Was a leader in the county and state Grange, an organization which strove to protect rural interests. He was also instrumental in getting enacted into law the bill creating experimental farm, Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Stinson's home was always open to young and old. (1968)