Submitted by Glenda Hunt Black
Lavina was born March 19, 1844 in Texas and died November 03, 1922, Travis County, Texas. She first married James N. Hamilton in 1863 in Travis County then after his death she married William N. Hessey in 1914.
Aunt Vinnie left her great nephews and great nieces an inheritance when she died. Myrtle Hornsby used her money to pursue her education at Southwest Texas and UT. Mabelle Harn studied piano in Chicago at the Conservatory of Music. Lucille Harn bought a grand piano. Collie Harn bought a car. Mack Hornsby bought a car. Since Dick and Florine Hornsby were underage, their dad Make Hornsby had charge of their money. Dick later graduated from A&M and Florine studied nursing at St. David's Hospital. This information came from Myrtle Hornsby Callan, at age 99.
As the story goes, Aunt Vinnie was quite a gal. She drove up to the downtown bank in her horse and buggy and parked out front. The policeman/security guard explained to her she could not park there. Aunt Vinnie told him that she had parked there for years and intended to do so that day also and would return as soon as she had completed her banking business inside.
Lavina (Vinnie) next to the mule
From a brochure at St. George’s Episcopal Church last revised 7-24-93
“Part of the parish property of St. George’s Episcopal Church is a historic 100+ year old, two story, 2100 square foot farmhouse. Ainsworth-Wright House was moved from its original location in 1977 (Isiah and Nancy Seaton Ainsworth sold the house to Robert P. Wright and his wife Rachel Hamilton Wright. In 1979 it became a Recorded Texas Historical Landmark and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It was moved again to the Jourdan-Bachman Farm.
“The elder Wright was a physician by training, a farmer and surveyor by trade. He is said to have laid out the University of Texas campus and the city of Tallahassee, Florida. He was also something of a land speculator. In 1865 he deeded a tract of land south of the Wright family homestead to his son Robert.
“About the time of the younger Wright’s second marriage to Malvina Earnest in 1874, he began work on a new home showing High Victorian Italianate influence, a somewhat unexpected choice for a Texas farmhouse during the Reconstruction era. Most such structures tended to be modest, vernacular houses reflecting Green Revival symmetry and, occasionally, detailing. The Wright House, however, demonstrates modest but discernible Italianate influence in its massing and detailing that sets it apart somewhat from its contemporaries.
“To begin with, rather than a rectangular, symmetrical plan, the Wright House is a T-shaped structure with double windows in the west projection. In that respect it reflects precedents in contemporaneous architectural books and periodicals which were abandoned after the Civil War. It is therefore a Suburban Villa, albeit a modest one, in what came to be known as the High Victorian Italianate style.
“Little information survives about the Wright’s years in the Wright-Giles House. Robert Wright was listed in occasional early directories, and in his obituary was described as a merchant and farmer. He apparently did not live on the farm regularly, but in 1903 he was depicted in the city directory as living on “East Ave. 1.25 miles north of E. 23rd. He sold the homestead in 1906 and died in his town home at 1207 Sam Jacinto om 1910.
“The new owners of the Wright House were James N. Hamilton (1837-1908) and his wife, the former Lavenia Burdett (1854-1922). Both the Hamiltons and the Burdetts were Travis County pioneers and were apparently connected with the Wrights. Robert Wright’s mother’s maiden name was Hamilton, his wife’s Earnest, and his sister’s married name, Walling. Two of J. N. Hamilton’s nieces were Mrs. Thomas Walling and Mrs. James N. Earnest. The exact genealogical ties are not known, apparently did exist.
“Hamilton enjoyed the East Avenue house for only two years. When he died in 1908, his obituary referred to him as “one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of Travis County and his pallbearers included prominent citizens John H. Robinson, Jr. and Walter Bremond. His widow, “Aunt Vinnie,” lived in the house until her death there in 1922. In 1914 Mrs. Hamilton married her second husband, one William N. Hessey, listed in various city directors as a farmer or retired. At her death, the property was sold.
The next owner was James Bascom Giles and his wife Effie Dean Rogan. He started as a draftsman at the General Land Office and in the 1938 race he was elected Land Commissioner which he served for seventeen years. He was tried and convicted of wrongdoing in regard to the Veterans Land Program. He left Texas.
The Wright House changed hands several times after Giles’ ownership. In 1956 developers traded land owned by the recently founded St. George’s Episcopal Church.”
Oakwood Cemetery, Section 3 Lot 710