Biographical NoteJesse Edward Grinstead was born to William
and Elizabeth (Priest) Grinstead on October 16, 1866, in Owensboro, Kentucky.
When he was one year old, his family moved to Central Missouri, where he
attended a district school for three months a year, from the ages of 8 to 14.
At the age of 18, Grinstead moved with his family to Indian Territory, where he
worked as a printer for a newspaper in Ardmore and then for the
Oakland News. In 1899 he moved to Kerrville in the
Hill Country in hopes of finding a cure for his wife, who was ill. Although she
died shortly thereafter, Grinstead remained in Kerrville, where he became a
prominent citizen and promoter of the area, as well as an active member of the
Masons. In 1900 he bought the Kerrville Paper,
which he renamed the Mountain Sun, and which he
edited for the next 17 years. Grinstead served as mayor of Kerrville from 1902
to 1904, and in 1907 was elected to the state legislature, where he authored a
bill to construct a state tuberculosis sanatorium at Carlsbad. He served as the
chairman of the local draft board during World War I and as a member (and later
president) of the local school board for fifteen years. In 1917 he sold the
Mountain Sun to the Terrell Publishing Company and
dedicated himself to becoming a well-known author of western fiction. His short
stories were published in many well-known pulp magazines of the day, including
Argosy and Frontier.
He authored over thirty western novels, sometimes using the pseudonyms William
Crum Rush, Tex Janis, and George Bowles. His story Scourge of the Little C was produced as the movie
Tumbling River by William Fox in 1928. From January 1921 to December 1925
Grinstead wrote and published Grinstead's Graphic,
a monthly magazine devoted to promoting the merits of Hill Country to area
ranchers, who were suffering though a financial recession. Grinstead married at
two points in his life. He had a son, who served in the armed forces during
World War I. He died in Kerrville on March 8, 1948, at the age of 81.
Scope and ContentsCreative works, correspondence, printed
material, legal and financial documentation, and photographs, 1886-1955 (5 ft.,
5 in.), created by Jesse Edward Grinstead, document the Grinstead’s work as an
author, newspaper and magazine editor, and Mason, and are arranged into two
main series, business and personal. Business records provide the bulk of the
collection (758 items) and are subdivided into Grinstead’s work as author,
editor, and publisher. Manuscripts of Grinstead’s stories (n.d.; 70 items),
arranged alphabetically by title, written primarily for Western-themed
magazines, along with copies of the magazines (1926-1937; 77 items), and his
correspondence with editors, his agent F.M. Holly, and others (1918-1950, n.d.;
492 items) record his career as a fiction writer. Grinstead’s works are divided
into single works and case files. The case files include correspondence
associated with the work. Publishers with whom Grinstead corresponded include:
Adventure (1923-1928; 8 items), Brief Stories (1928; 9 items), Butterick
Publishing Company (1928; 6 items), Dell Publishing Company (1933; 38 items),
Double Day, Page & Company (1924-1928; 226 items), Everybody’s Magazine
(1928; 11 items), Frank A. Munsey Publishing (1919-1933; 93 items), Fiction
House Inc. Publishers (1931-1932; 4 items), and Street and Smith Publishers
(1918-1928; 65 items). Magazines represented are: Ace-High Magazine (1934-1935; 6 items),
All Western Magazine (1932-1936; 19 items),
Argosy (1931-1934; 14 items),
Big Book Western (1936; 1 item),
Blue Ribbon Western(1937; 1 item),
Frontier (1926-1927; 3 items),
Frontier Stories (1927-1932; 20 items),
Lariat (1930, 1937; 2 items),
Real Western (1936; 1 item), Thrilling Ranch Stories (1935, 1937; 2 items),
Western Romances (1933-1935; 4 items),
Western Short Stories (1936-1937; 3 items), and
Wild West Weekly (1928; 1 item). Records
reflecting Grinstead’s role as owner and editor of the Kerrville Mountain Sun
(1900-1921; 27 items) and editor and publisher of Grinstead's Graphic (1920-1940, n.d.; 71 items), along
with financial documentation relating to his work as a publisher for the
Oakland News (1897-1899; 3 items) flesh out the
remainder of his professional life. Correspondence regarding
Grinstead's Graphic documents Grinstead’s
relationship with advertisers and subscribers. Grinstead’s personal papers
(1886-1955, n.d.; 42 items) include correspondence regarding his relationship
with James K. Hackett, a Shakespearean actor, who commended Grinstead’s
skill as a dramatic writer and portrayer of human
character,(1906-1947, n.d.; 24 items), financial documentation
(1886-1924; 7 items), a speech and certificate honoring Grinstead’s membership
in the Masons (n.d., 1 item), and a certificate acknowledging Grinstead’s work
during World War I as chairman of the local draft board (1917, 1 item).