A. "Dee" Simpson was born in Burnet, Texas, in 1881. His father, a Methodist minister, died when he was eleven and left a surviving family of six in poverty. Dee was able to finish high school only by combining long hours of work with study. After graduation he took a series of inconsequential jobs. In 1913, however, he accepted employment as the chief assistant to the president of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. While visiting Houston on university business in 1917, he had occasion to meet with magnate Jesse Jones. It was a fateful encounter, especially for Simpson, and it marked the beginning of a lifelong association between the two. Simpson moved to Houston the next year, where he was employed by Jones as a clerk in the National Bank of Commerce. A series of promotions followed and in 1934 he was named president of the bank. By then, he had become a much admired and well liked member of the city's civic and business elite, which he remained until his death on Christmas day, 1960. During his career he was either president or member of the board of such national and international organizations as the American Bankers Association, the Foreign Trade Council, Trans-World Airlines, RKO Pictures Corporation, and the Buffalo-Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad. Locally he held similar positions in the Chamber of Commerce, the YMCA, the Houston Public Library, Jefferson Davis Hospital, the University of Houston, the Foreign Trade Assocaition, the Houston Transit Company, and the River Oaks Country Club. In 1958 he was named "Man of the Year" by
A. D. Simpson, Jr., the eldest of the children, majored in architecture for three years at Rice University. During the time covered by his letters (1927-1939), he worked for several different companies in Texas, Louisiana, and Missouri as a draftsman and construction inspector.
Robert Tate Simpson and his wife, Mary Margaret (1917-1946) were married shortly after his graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was trained as an engineer. Thereafter their career was divided between the General Electric Company in New York State and the United States Navy in several locations.
H.L. "Hie" Simpson and Rowena "Neno" Simpson were the two youngest children. Hie was trained as an avaitor during World War II, but it was Rowena who probably came the closest to dying in the conflict. On her return voyage from a European grand tour in 1939, the passenger ship she was on was torpedoes and sunk by a German U-boat.
This collection is of particular value to those interested in family history, women's history, the history of children, psychohistory, and related topics of social history. Although it is composed of photographs as well as an assortment of written and printed material, the core of the collection is several thousand letters, most of which were written to Mr. and Mrs. A. D. Simpson by their children during the years of depression and war between 1925 and 1946. Many of the letters are long and descriptive, and they provide an evolutionary portrait of the lives, emotions, opinions, and careers of an active, expressive, and diverse family.
The correspondence in this collection is, for the most part, arranged according to author, with letters to or from the same person in chronological sequence. Occasional newspaper clippings have been inserted where appropriate.
None.
Permission to publish or reproduce materials from the A. D. Simpson Family Collection must be obtained from the Houston Metropolitan Research Center or the appropriate copyright holder.
A. D. Simpson Family Collection. Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library.
Acquired from the University of Houston in 1977.
Processed by: Howard Beeth, December 1981.