Wiley Fort Stimson (1856-1920)

Wiley Stimson was Aubrey V. Stimson's father. He was born on June 1, 1856 in Wilson Co., Texas, probably Sutherland Springs.  Wiley's father was Logan Stimson, a gunsmith originally from Virginia.  It's likely that his mother was Logan's wife, Mary Dugan, although she seems to have disappeared from public record by the time of the 1860 Census.  Life on the Texas plains was harsh, and perhaps she died in labor.  Wiley had an older sister named Harriet and a younger sister, Mary (or May). 

Wiley, Cornelia, and
baby Leta(circa 1897)

When Wiley was about six-years-old his father remarried a widow, named Mariah Hitchbum. In 1872 the family relocated to Kerr Co, Texas where Logan bought property worth $750.  A few months later Logan died, presumably leaving 15-year-old Wiley in the care of his step mother.  Wiley found work as a nurseryman and farmer in and around Kerrville, Texas, where in 1890 he met and married Cornelia Vaughn, the 20-year-old daughter of settlers from Tennessee.  Later known as "Grandma Stimson", she was to live until 1961.

"Fruit Tree" Ramsey

Wiley's traveling nursery trade kept him constantly on the move in different parts of the state.  At the turn of the century, he found work at the 430-acre Austin Nursery (located in Austin, TX on the present-day site of Ramsey Park).  It was owned by Frank "Fruit Tree" Ramsey who was the probably the foremost horticulturist in the state.  It was here in Austin that Aubrey Stimson was born in 1901.  The family moved to Hereford in Deaf Smith County around the year 1907.  However, by 1910 the Stimsons were living with their children (Leta, Edna, Aubrey, and Winnie) in Kerr County, where they owned a house and small ranch somewhere between Kerrville and Bandera.  It was here that their youngest child, Rupert, was born.

The family lived for a time on a 131-acre farm outside of Center Point, TX, which had been given to Cornelia by her father in 1909.  As part of the agreement they were to pay her siblings an inheritance of $100 a year for the duration of her father's life.  But, due to a terrible drought in 1916-17, Wiley and family were forced to relocate.  On Thanksgiving Day 1917 they moved to a new home in Kenedy, TX, where Wiley operated a small farm and sold tomatoes and watermellons out of his truck.

Congress Ave, Austin, TX  (c. 1901)

Early in 1920 Wiley returned to the Ramsey Nursery in Austin, leaving the family behind in Kenedy to await his call to join him.  When the call finally came, it stated that he had died while sleeping in an Austin boarding house on April 14, 1920.  He had been sharing a bed (as was the custom) with another tenant who had awakened and gone downstairs for breakfast.  When Wiley failed to join him, the man went up to check on him and found him dead.  Wiley Fort Stimson was 65 years old.  Cornelia received word of her husband's death at Center Point, TX, where she was visiting her ailing father, who was himself to die nine days later.