Guide to the Hutcheson and allied families papers, 1836-1997; bulk 1920-1949

Biographical Note

Captain Joseph Chappell Hutcheson, Sr. Captain Hutcheson was born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia on May 18, 1842 to Charles Sterling and Mary Hutcheson. In 1861 he graduated from Randolph-Macon College in Boydton, Virginia and immediately enlisted in Co. C of the Twenty-First Virginia Infantry, CSA; he served under General T.J. “Stonewall” Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1862. In July of 1862 he obtained a substitute, John Kohlup, who subsequently deserted. J.C. Hutcheson, Sr. reenlisted in October 1864 and was elected 2nd Lieutentant and subsequently 1st Lieutentant of Company E of the 14th Virginia Infantry Regiment. At the Battle of Dinwiddie Courthouse, March 31, 1865, he was promoted to Captain of Company E. The recording of that promotion has been lost. After the war he entered the University of Virginia and graduated with a law degree and came to Grimes County, Texas, in 1867 to begin his law practice with brother, John William Hutcheson.

Hutcheson relocated to Houston in 1872 and remained for 52 years. His law practice thrived and he was elected to the Seventeenth Texas Legislature in 1880. He drafted the act establishing the University of Texas, was a father for the development of the Houston ship channel and played a leading role in the expansion of trade and commerce of Houston. He served in 1890 as chairman of the State Democratic Convention and was elected twice to the House of Representatives. Hutcheson married Mildred Carrington in 1867 and with her had eight children, five surviving infancy: Elise (Mrs. E.Y. Chapin), Mary, Stella (Mrs. L.M. Dabney), Mildred (Mrs. P.C. Clymer), Katherine, J.C. Hutcheson, Jr., Charles Sterling Hutcheson, Allen Carrington Hutcheson. Mildred C. Hutcheson died in 1883 and Capt. Hutcheson married Elizabeth Palmer Milby in 1886. Their children were Palmer Hutcheson and Rosalie Hutcheson (Mrs. L. Bosworth). He died on May 25, 1924 at his summer home on Signal Mountain near Chattanooga, TN.

Joseph Chappell Hutcheson, Jr. Son of Mildred Carrington and Capt. J.C. Hutcheson, J.C. Hutcheson, Jr. was born in Houston on Oct. 19, 1879. He attended school at Bethel (VA) Military Academy, the University of Virginia, and graduated with a law degree from the University of Texas in 1900. He practiced law in Houston with his father from 1900 to 1918, became chief legal advisor to the City of Houston in 1913 and its mayor in 1917. President Wilson appointed him U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas in 1918 until 1931. He was federal appeals judge for the Fifth Circuit until 1948 when he became chief judge. In 1959 he stepped down and continued on the bench until 1964. President Truman named Hutcheson co-chairman of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Problems of Jews in Europe and Palestine in 1945. In 1905 he married Ann Elizabeth Weeden and they had two children, Mary Pye Hutcheson (Mrs. E.R. Seale) and Joseph Chappell Hutcheson, III. He died in Houston on Jan. 18, 1973.

Allen Carrington Hutcheson Allen C. Hutcheson was born to Mildred Carrington and Capt. J.C. Hutcheson, Sr. on Jan. 23, 1882 in Houston. He graduated from the University of Virginia and also from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons with a Doctor of Medicine degree. As a medical missionary in Nanking, China for 20 years under the auspices of the Southern Presbyterian Church, he was editor of a Chinese medical journal and an administrator and surgeon of Nanking University Hospital. After his return from China, he became Houston’s Health Officer and was instrumental in drawing plans for Jefferson Davis Hospital. In the 1930s he served as school physician for the Houston Independent School District. A.C. Hutcheson married Strausie McCaslin in 1908 and had four children, Mildred Hutcheson (Mrs. Rouse), Henrietta Hutcheson (Mrs. A.K. Schwartz), Allen C. Hutcheson Jr., and J. Sterling Hutcheson. He died in Houston on Nov. 24, 1974.

Scope and Contents

The Hutcheson and Allied Families Papers, 1840s-1997, consist of letters, photographs, printed matter, genealogy records, and personal family materials. The most substantial amount of materials is the correspondence between family members dating to the 1840s and continuing into the 1990s. The genealogy of the Hutcheson family is very detailed and there is much family history on collateral lines. Photographs are mainly of family members, but Allen C. Hutcheson’s mission in China is well documented through numerous photographs and scrapbooks. The printed matter is extensive with many publications by J. C. Hutcheson, Jr.

Restrictions

Access Restriction

This material is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish materials from the Hutcheson and Allied Families Papers must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Hutcheson and Allied Families Papers, 1837-1997, MS 496, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated by Joanne Seale Wilson in January and February, 2004.

Detailed Description of the Collection