Stratton-Stevens-Follin Family Papers

Asa Evans Stratton, Sr., was born on June 13, 1798, in Athol, Massachusetts. He was married four times, and had thirteen children. He married his first wife, Mary Graves Alexander, on March 17, 1824, in Jasper County, Georgia. They had six children: Dorcas Elizabeth (1824-1826), Jane Alexander (1827-1895), Mary Elizabeth (1830-1910), George Henry (1833-1861), James Marshall (1836-1837), and Dorcas Cassandra Rebecca Victoria Stratton (1838-1845). Mary died in 1839. Stratton remarried on February 26, 1843, uniting with Amanda Ann Gibbons. They had two children: Asa Evans Stratton, Jr. (1844-1921), and Sarah Emily Stratton (1847-1924). By 1845, the family had moved to Panola County, Mississippi. Amanda died in 1847. Stratton remarried a third time to Caroline Ann Epps Steger on July 19, 1848, and they had one child: James Thomas Stratton (1849-1910). Caroline died in 1856. Stratton remarried for a fourth and final time on April 30, 1856, to a Mary Jane Chisholm. They had four children: Jesse David Tait (1857-?), Edward Everett (1858-1858), George (1861-1863), and Amanda Ann (1863-?). By 1856, the family had moved to Marshall County, Mississippi.

Stratton died on July 22, 1877, in Luling, Texas, and is buried in Clear Lake Cemetery, in Brazoria, Texas.

Asa Evans Stratton, Jr., was born January 13, 1844, in Panola County, Mississippi. He fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, joining Company S of the 13th Texas Cavalry regiment. He achieved the rank of Sergeant Major. He married Louisa Henrietta Waldmann on February 7, 1867. They had five children: Emily Bryan (1873-?), Florence (1883-1938), Louisa Waldmann, Charles Waldmann (1868-1870), and Berta Amanda (1875-1902). Louisa died in 1895. Asa then remarried in 1904, uniting with Ina Lee Smith.

Asa, Jr., was appointed a county judge of Brazoria County on January 30, 1882. In 1915, he gave a speech to a reunion of Confederate veterans at Camp Robinson Springs, Alabama. This speech was later published as "The Address of Judge Asa E. Stratton, of Montgomery, Alabama." He died on April 28, 1921, in Montgomery, Alabama, and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery.

Asa and Louisa's daughter, Florence, became a well-known journalist in Beaumont in the 1920's. Born in 1883, Florence grew up with her family in Montgomery, Alabama. She was valedictorian of her class at Gray Normal College. In 1905, she moved to Beaumont to live with her sister, Emily, who had married Walter Stevens. Florence taught at Belle Austin's private academy for two years, then began to work for the Beaumont Journal. Around this time, she established two charities, the Milk and Ice Fund and the Empty Stocking Fund. During the 1910s, Florence left Beaumont, but returned in 1920. She became the society, food, and garden editor of the Beaumont Enterprise, and began her most popular news column. In her "Susie Spindletop's Weekly Letter," Stratton wrote of the society news of Beaumont, and the column provides a detailed glimpse of the social life of the booming town. In 1925, she published her book, The Story of Beaumont, which was the first history of the city. She followed it with several other books, O. Henry's Postscripts; Recipes of Famous Women; The White Plume; and Where the Storm God Rides.

Florence lived at 1929 McFaddin Street, and her home is still standing. It was built using bricks recovered from Beaumont's old bell-tower courthouse, and with bricks from her grandfather's plantation in Brazoria. She died in 1938, at the age of 55, following a surgery at a New Orleans hospital.

Asa's daughter, Emily Bryan, married Walter H. Stevens on April 26, 1893.

Walter Herbert Stevens (October 13, 1870 - October 14, 1939) was born to Hennell Stevens and Sarah Blake Rowley, in Texas. His family was originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Hennell Stevens (October 28, 1832 – July 9, 1895) had served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Regular Army Medical Staff Infantry Regiment on August 13, 1862, and was mustered out of service on March 14, 1866. During the war, he was stationed in the southwest, and enjoyed the climate so much that he moved his family to Brazoria County, Texas.

Adolphus and Charles Follin were brothers, born in South Carolina. Adolphus was born in 1814, and worked as a physician. Charles was born in 1812. They lived in New Orleans for a time, but by 1850, they had moved together to New York City. Little else of their lives is known, and it is not clear how their papers were acquired by the Stratton and Stevens families.