An Update on Peter H. Hutson: Did He Run a Hotel?

This week I have been working on Hutson family, specifically, Peter Hayden Hutson. There is much discussion on what his first name was. Some say Payton.  However, all of the documents I have found either list his name as P. H. or Pete. He was known in the Gustine, Texas area as “Uncle Pete.”

I wrote about Pete back in 2014 when I participated that year in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. That post is here. Since I wrote that post, I have learned a little more about him.

On 13 April 1905, P. H. Hutson purchase a piece of property from R. L. Selman and his wife, Julia P.  This piece of property was located in Gustine, Comanche County.  He paid initially $350 and secured three notes to be paid in 1906, 1907, and 1908, which totaled $400. The land was two acres.[1] R.L. Selman was Pete’s wife, Sarah’s brother, Robert Louis  (1855-1931). The interesting thing about the land, was it wasn’t filed until 27 December 1919. So the next task is to try to figure out: What prompted the need to file the deed?

Comanche Co TX Deed, v. 111, p. 283

This is also the same piece of land that the Thomas N. Johnston children owned an undivided 1/10th of, that Thomas asked the court permission to sell. See this blog post for more details on the guardianship.

Now from newspaper accounts I found in the Comanche Chief and The Pioneer Exponent that are found at the wonderful website The Portal To Texas History, I encountered hints to what the land was used for. The first was a 1910 news item:

About ten days ago a stranger blew into Gustine supposedly looking for a business location. While here he secured about $50 from local people for checks against a Gatesville bank to which he signed M. Carleton as his name. These checks have been returned unpaid. He got out of town last Saturday, forgetting to settle with the Hutson Hotel for accommodations while here. A warrant for his arrest has been issued and officers are making an effort to capture the plausible gent.[2]

There is no mention of Pete or his wife, but it would be a coincidence if there was another Hutson who ran a hotel.

The second item in 1914:

“We, the undersigned citizens of Comanche County, Texas, through ourselves and others have in the last three weeks made a most careful and thorough investigation as to which one of the three candidates that are representative of the Progressive Democratic Administration of President Woodrow Wilson and William J Bryan, and who can be depended upon to vote for the principles and policies of President Wilson’s administration, as between Judge Hunter, Mayor Milam, and Judge James W. Swayne, each of whom are in line, with the Democratic Administration, and have become thoroughly satisfied that Judge James W. Swayne, of Fort Worth, Texas is the strongest and most available man for the voters who want to elect a Democrat in line with President Wilson, to concentrate their votes on…[continues like this for seven more paragraphs…][3]

At the end was a list of gentlemen who signed the above document along with their occupation. P. H. Hutson was listed as hotel man.

On the 1910 census record for this time period, he was listed as a farmer. No other member in the family, including Sarah, his wife, had an occupation.[4] Perhaps he farmed and she ran the hotel. There is a hint to this at an online tree, Ancestors of Charles Wayne Hutson and Rose Elaine Walser, where Peyton (Peter) Hutson & Sarah Helena Selman’s family group sheet are shown with their children. There are links to their parents as well. He was listed as a farmer, and Baptist. She was listed as hotel owner and Baptist.[5] There was no source for these comments.

Is it possible that the land was purchased from Sarah’s brother and wife in order for Sarah Hutson to run the hotel? Sarah died 26 September 1916.[6] Three years seems a long time to wait between her death and the filing of the deed.

The next task to help solve the mystery is to figure out who owned the land and when it was later sold. It will involve the need to visit the County Recorder’s office to view the later indexes, or hire someone to do that.[7] I sure would love to visit Comanche County, so will put that on my list of things to do. I would also plan to visit the Comanche County Museum, and the various libraries in the county.

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[1] Comanche Co, Texas, Deeds, v. 111, p. 283, digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 21 Mar 2020).

[2] Pioneer Exponent, 18 Nov 1910, p. 7, digital image, The Portal to Texas History (https://texashistory.unt.edu/).

[3] “To the Voters of the 12th Congressional District of Texas,” Comanche Chief, 17 Jul 1914, p. 6, col. 3&4, digital image, The Portal to Texas History.

[4] 1910 U.S. census, Comanche Co, Texas, Justice Prec 1, ED 5, family 357, Pet K Hutson,  digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Apr 2011) citing NARA T624, roll 1541.

[5] Ancestors of Charles Wayne Hutson and Rose Elaine Walser  (http://sites.rootsweb.com/~txtttp/txhis/f1098.htm#f13830 : accessed 26 Mar 2020).

[6] "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org ), Texas Department of Health Bureau of Vital Statistics, no. 17663, Mrs Sallie H. Hutson, 1916; FHL 2,051,689.

[7] On FamilySearch, the indexes only go up to 1921. The guardianship sale was in 1926. 

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