Mary Ollie Livingston: A Citizen of Coleman 100 Years Ago

Submitted by Paul Campbell.

Her father, James Thomas Livingston, was born June 25, 1854 in Mississippi. He married Amanda Katherine Dodds. Their daughter Mary Ollie was born in Silver Valley on August 30, 1892. Amanda died on March 25, 1899 at 41 years of age and was buried in the Mount View Cemetery near Silver Valley. J. T. later re-married, then died July 30, 1917 and was also buried at Mount View. According to Mary Ollie’s journal, she started school in 1900 with a teacher named Miss Nettie Huffman. In September 1908 she began to attend school in Coleman, and in 1909 the family moved into the city. In the Coleman Voice newspaper of May 7, 1909 she was listed on the eighth grade honor roll. The 1910 U.S. Census showed Mary Ollie living with her father and step-mother, many siblings, and one boarder in Coleman. She graduated from Coleman High in May 1912, having played girls’ basketball and having been a reporter for the school newspaper, the Algerita. After high school Mary Ollie borrowed money from a family member and went to the State Normal school in Denton, Texas for eight weeks to earn a teacher’s certification in July 1912. Beginning in October that year she taught at Burkett. The Coleman Democrat-Voice newspaper of October 18, 1912 noted that she was one of three teachers in that school and that, “Most every one of the pupils like their teacher now better than they thought they would at first.” Mary Ollie later noted in her journal, “Very successful term with Mr. Booth as principal. Stayed in Burkett home — happy times. Began going with Mr. Oscar during latter part of term.” In 1913 Mary Ollie ended her first year of teaching. She began her second year in October at Burkett and later journaled, “Another successful term with Wrights this year and Mr. Price as principal.” In October 1914 she began her third year of teaching, this time at the Cotton community. Her oldest daughter, Mary Jo, recounted a story her mother had told: “Mary Ollie Livingston taught in several country schools in Coleman County … Once she “whipped” a teenaged boy and his mother sent word that she would whip mother (Mary Ollie) when she caught her. Mother asked the board members what she should do. One man told her not to walk home from the school on the road as was her habit but rather to crawl through the fence into his property and Mrs. Snedegar wouldn’t dare to come there. So she did that and things gradually simmered down, as many things do.” During the time Mary Ollie was a teacher, Carl L. Bradley was a bookkeeper at the Burton-Lingo Company lumber yard in Coleman. Mary Ollie’s step-mother, Mrs. Livingston, had a boarding house for men next to her home. It had a long table where 12 to 15 people could eat, and it was located next to a cotton gin where there was a lot of business that helped her sell meals. Carl was rooming at the boarding house, and he met Mary Ollie there when she was working for her step-mother. The Democrat-Voice of May 8, 1914 advertised the boarding house, “We have arranged to continue in the hotel business. Meals 25 cents; beds either single or double 25 cents. Livingston House, Coleman, Texas.” In June 1914 Mary Ollie noted in her journal that Carl Bradley and her brother, Jesse, were baptized to become Christians, and that she and Carl went to church together for the first time. He called her “Prof”, and she called him “C.L.”. Mary Jo reported about her parents’ engagement, “Daddy gave mother a diamond engagement ring before he was drafted in April, 1918. He had traded "a load of lumber" for the diamond and had it set in this ring.” Also in 1918 Mary Ollie recorded in her journal that she voted for the first time, “Nearly against my wish — though I yielded” in a Texas primary election in July, which was also the first time Texas women had this right, before it became a U.S. national right in 1920. On November 11, 1918 the armistice ending World War I was signed, and Mary Ollie noted that, “pandemonium reigned here.” When he returned to Texas and was honorably discharged in June 1919, C.L. resumed his work with Burton-Lingo Company. He moved to a job with the company in Ranger, Texas in mid-June because of an oil boom there. He and Mary Ollie Livingston were then married in Coleman on October 12, 1919. It was on Sunday night after a church meeting, and the wedding was held in the Livingston home with a record player providing the music. In March 1920 the Coleman Democrat-Voice newspaper carried a Burton-Lingo advertisement that listed C.L. as the local manager. Mary Jo wrote about her father, “My daddy worked … just a few blocks away and could walk to work and home for lunch.” On September 12, 1920 in the front room of their house on North Nueces Street in Coleman, Mary Jo Bradley was born. Her sister, Betty Jean Bradley, was later born in Coleman in December 1924. The Bradley house on North Nueces originally had only one faucet in the kitchen and no bathroom, so they used a privy. For bathing they put a tub in the middle of the kitchen floor. Later in the Coleman newspaper of February 26, 1926 it was advertised as the “best bargain ever offered in Coleman” with five rooms and a bath, to sell for $2750.00 because the family was moving to Brady. Mary Ollie had many friends and family members in Coleman and visited there often in later years.