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Stuart and allied families of Texas collection

 Collection
Identifier: MS 553
Finding aid note: Stored offsite at the Library Service Center and require 24-hour notice for retrieval. Please contact the Woodson Research Center at 713-348-2586 or woodson@rice.edu for more information.

Scope and Contents

The Stuart and Allied Families collection, 1759-2019, contains materials related to the Allen, Stuart, Wells, Weems, Lum, Miller, Red, and Ulmer families. Legal documents reflecting the dissolution of the Allen Ranch, one of the largest estates in southeast Texas and subsequent creation of Houston subdivisions Allendale, Allen Farms, and Lum Terrace are featured. It also includes various newsclippings about, and correspondences to and from, Allen and Stuart family members from the 19th century to the late 20th century. In addition, this collection contains a number of pieces of secondary literature and periodicals given to, or specifically mentioning, members of the Stuart, Allen and allied families. It also features a number of photographs and biographical sketches of members of the families, printed matter, maps, genealogy records, and personal family materials. The genealogy of the Stuart and Allen families is very detailed and there is much family history on collateral lines.

Dates

  • 1759 - 2019

Creator

Access Restrictions

This material is available for research.

Conditions Governing Access

Stored offsite at the Library Service Center and require 24-hour notice for retrieval. Please contact the Woodson Research Center at 713-348-2586 or woodson@rice.edu for more information.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish from this material must be obtained from Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.

Biographical Note

Rosa Lum Allen, 1858-1931, Rosa Lum married Samuel Ezekiel Allen (1848-1913) in 1876, moving from Fort Bend County to his ranch in southeast Harris County after their marriage. The ranch was located on the south side of Buffalo Bayou, now the Houston Ship Channel near its intersection with Sims Bayou. Samuel Ezekiel Allen was the grandson of Ezekiel Thomas, who came to Texas from South Carolina in 1824. Thomas was a member of the Old Three Hundred, the first 300 families to receive title to property in Texas from Mexican government through the auspices of Stephen F. Austin. At the time of Allen's death in 1913 he owned 13,000 acres in Harris County and an additional 10,000 acres in Brazoria County. Mrs. Allen sold 700 acres surrounding her colonial home to Sinclair Oil Company in 1917 for the site of one of the first refineries on the Ship Channel. She moved to 1916 Main Street in Houston. The ranch house was dismantled and rebuilt as a vacation home on Galveston Bay near Sylvan Beach in La Porte. At the request of the Right Reverend Clinton S. Quin she offered the use of her house and bay property to the Episcopal Diocese of Texas for a camp for the youth of the Diocese. In 1921 there were thirty-six campers from Houston, Austin, Galveston, Dallas, and Tyler who attended the first sessions at Camp Allen that starting then was named for her. In 1928 she purchased property on Trinity Bay near Baytown and also provided buildings for the second Camp Allen that was sold many years later to purchase acreage in Grimes County where the camp is now located.

Robert Cummins Stuart IV, 1896-1976, was the only child of Robert C. Stuart III and Rosa Allen Stuart. After his graduation from Harvard College in 1921, he assisted his grandmother in the founding of Camp Allen and with her Trustees Frank Andrews, John T. Scott, and Frank Michaux in liquidating Allen Ranch holdings. The land was divided for industrial, commercial, and residential use. Many streets and subdivisions of southeastern Harris County bear the names of the Allen family because they were once part of the ranch. Robert C. Stuart Park on Sims Bayou in Southeast Harris County near Hobby Airport was named for him. Robert Stuart IV married Frances Wells Stuart in 1930. They were active in Houston philanthropic causes.

Francita Stuart Koelsch Ulmer is the only child of Robert C. Stuart IV and Frances Wells Stuart. She graduated from Kinkaid School (1949) and Wellesley College (1953). In 1958 she entered the graduate program at Rice Institute. She was one of 15 students chosen to be the first graduate students in the History department. In 1959 she married Philip Carleton Koelsch, a Naval Academy graduate and later Rear Admiral. In 2000, seven years after her first husband's death, she married James G. Ulmer. Mrs. Ulmer has been honored for her dedication and contribution to various organizations including her service of 35 years on the Harris County Historical Commission, appointment by Governor William P. Clements to represent the Texas State Historical Association on the Battleship Texas Commission, as a member of the Vestry of Christ Church Cathedral, and as historian for the Garden Club of Houston. In 2005 she received the Distinguished Alumna Award in recognition of her obtaining a Texas State Historical Marker for Kinkaid and writing the first published history of the school. Mrs. Ulmer was appointed an Honorary Trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in 2020. The life-time appointment is in recognition of her continuing service to the Museum, and a "testament fo the Stuart family's indelible connection with and unwavering commitment to the Museum," since its founding in 1900.

Extent

20 Linear Feet (38 boxes + oversize material)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

This collection contains correspondence, newsclippings, photographs, periodicals, books, legal documents, and biographical sketches related to the Allen, Stuart, Wells, Weems, Lum, Miller, Red, and Ulmer families.

Acquisition Notes

This material was transferred to Woodson Research Center in 2010-2019 by Francita Stuart Ulmer. Future accruals are expected.

Related Materials

Philip Koelsch Papers, 1812-2012 (MS 568) https://txarchives.org/ricewrc/finding_aids/00673.xml

George S. Heyer papers, 1952-1989 (2012-006) at the Austin Seminary Archives, Stitt Library, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary https://txarchives.org/apts/finding_aids/00044.xml

(George Stuart Heyer, Jr is the great-grandson of Robert Cummins Stuart II and grandson of Ella Stuart Heyer, sister of Robert C. Stuart III)

Ella Stuart Heyer (Mrs. George) served as the President of the Houston Public School Art League that was instrumental in the founding of The Museum of Fine Arts. She was the favorite aunt of Robert Cummins Stuart, IV. References may be located in Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Houston Art League, Historical Records Scrapbook, 1900-1938, RG19:01.

See control folder for more information on related archives.
Title
Guide to the Stuart and allied families of Texas collection, 1759-2019
Status
Completed
Date
2018
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas Repository

Contact:
Fondren Library MS-44, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston Texas 77005 USA