Dr. James Walter Hervey (by his granddaughter Ruth Jasper McGuckin)

Dr. James Walter Hervey (by his granddaughter Ruth Jasper McGuckin)

Dr. James Walter Hervey, my grandfather, was born December 22, 1882, to Albert Gallatin Hervey and Mary Jane Hooton Hervey on the farm of his grandparents, Oney Scyprett Hervey and Mary Elizabeth Murphy Hervey, near Daingerfield, Tx. Walter, as he was known to his family, was the eldest of eight children who were as follows: Maryanna, b. 1885; Florrie Elizabeth, b. 1887; Oney Scyprett, b. 1889; Beulah Laney, b. 1892; William Lester, b. 1894; John Morrison, b. 1898; and Albert Eugene, b. 1908. The family was active in the Harris Chapel Methodist Church in Cass County. By about 1895 they had moved from their farm to Hughes Springs, Tx.

After completing night school, Walter obtained his Teacher’s Certificate. He attended Peniel College in Greenville, Tx., and in May of 1902 was appointed Assistant Pastor of the Shelbyville Circuit of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Gulf Conference. When he arrived at the train station in Shelby County, he traded a typewriter to the Depot Agent for a new saddle and bridle. He was furnished with two horses, but only one was saddle-broken. So he broke the other to saddle and rode them 1,350 miles in 1902. He needed all his skills and energy in this charge and in subsequent charges. In addition to preaching and ministering to his church members, he had to be the carpenter, plumber, painter, gardener, student and teacher. He always did his own property maintenance and gardened until he was 75 years old. It was during this busy time in 1902 that he met his future bride.

He met Mary Gay Caldwell in Shelbyville and it must have been love at first sight, as they were married on January 24, 1903. Mary Gay’s parents were Dr. John R. Caldwell and Martha Ann Crawford Caldwell. Both families were workers in the Methodist Church. Mary Gay heard Walter when he preached his first sermon, which was at the McClelland M. E. Church. She was an exemplary wife and mother and fulfilled the many duties of a pastor’s wife in a faithful manner. Walter and Mary Gay had six children, one of whom died at age three, and they are as follows: Anita, my Mother, b. 1904; Corina, b. 1906; Ralph, b. 1909, d. 1912; Oney Scyprett, b. 1912; Christine, b. 1914; and Evelyn, b. 1917.

During these years, Papa (as his children and grandchildren knew him) continued his education, and he also served as a school teacher most of the time. Papa earned ten college degrees, among them a B. A., B. S., L. L. D., PH. D., and D. D. in Church History. At this time they lived in Exeter, N. H., where he was pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he commuted to Boston University. He had been known previously as Reverend Hervey, but after he received his doctorate, he was generally called Dr. Hervey.

He was an active minister for 22 years and was a Superintendent for another 22 years. When he was appointed Superintendent of the East Texas District in 1908, he was the youngest Superintendent up to that time: twenty-six years old. He served as President of the Evangeline Preparatory School in Basile, La., for three years. During his last year, the school burned, and he almost lost his life in saving books from the Library.

Books were a great love of Papa’s and he had seven or eight thousand volumes. Before he moved south to escape the severe winters of Missouri (at age 75 he said he was getting to old to shovel those several tons of coal each winter) he gave many books to Colleges and Libraries, but still took about 4,000 books to Groves, Tx. He was noted as a widely-read person. My father, who read thousand of books himself, said that Dr. Hervey had read more books than anyone he had ever known—that is was almost impossible to mention a title which he hadn’t read. He read the classics, philosophy, psychology, history, church history, historical novels and the Bible.

He also wrote several books and had them published. His favorite reading was the Bible. He read several chapters every day and planned so that he read the entire Bible each year. He did this all of his adult life, but read special passages at times of great sorrow or happiness, trouble or thanksgiving. He had many Bibles and luckily for his descendants, he wrote notes, underlined passages, saved newspaper clippings in them, made notations about sermons and when and where he used a particular Bible.

I have the Bible which he used in Marionville, Mo., where he was Superintendent of a Methodist Old Folks Home. In this Bible he listed his Hervey and Hooton forbears. It is interesting and comforting to read these notes which he wrote so long ago. It makes me value him from an adult’s point of view.

When I was a child, I valued him because he was the ideal grandfather. They always lived in other states, so when they visited us in Dallas, it was very special. Papa would take us on walks, read to us, tell us stories, slip us cookies and candy before dinner, and let us has sips of his coffee. He had the facility for relating to anyone of any age. He asked us about school, our hobbies, games, toys and friends; and he really listened to our answers. He valued education and Christian principles so very much and encouraged us in both. He influenced many lives and left a powerful legacy for his descendants to emulate.

Ruth Jasper McGuckin