 Rev. James Lafayette Truett 1854 - 1946 James
Lafayette Truett was born in Cherokee Co., N.C. on October 13, 1854. He
was the son of Charles Levi Truett and Mary Rebecca Kimsey. At
the age of 22, he moved to Tennessee and there he married Nancy
Cornelia Cochran (1861 - 1939). After 14 years, they came to
Whitewright, Texas where they lived the remainder of their lives. Both are
buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Whitewright, Texas, Fannin Co.
 CHILDREN OF JAMES LAFAYETTE TRUETT & NANCY CORNELIA COCHRAN
 The Whitewright Sun
Thursday, October 19, 1944 pg 2 REV. J. L. TRUETT HAS 90TH BIRTHDAY by Gladys Ray A North Carolina farm boy who eked out a degree from a college he never saw - who later was co-owner and professor - whose life's dream was switched by a mother's word probably from the United States Senate to the Baptist pulpit - that is Rev. James L. Truett, of Whitewright who Friday celebrated his ninetieth birthday. A resident of Whitewright 53 years, Brother Truett- as he loves to be called - looks back over a long life steeped in service to his fellow man. His passion has been making easier for others the education that he obtained the hard way, and spiritual teaching, without which he believes no education can be complete. This devotion long ago kindled in the Truett home a warmth that continues today to attract a procession from all walks of life. In the home he built 48 years ago, this genial, alert, old man always is ready for a chat with the hundreds of friends who visit him, many of them his former students.  KEEPS UP WITH WORLDStill in tune with the world about him, Brother Truett is interested in current events, and especially World War II. Perhaps this is because of his three grandsons in service and too, because he remembers seeing, as a lad of seven years, his father ride away from the North Carolina hills to serve four years during the Civil War. James L. Truett was born Oct. 13, 1954, on Valley River, North Carolina. Five years later the family moved to Clay County, near Hayesville, to reside for a number of years. Opportunities were few in those days for schooling, which almost was secondary, by necessity, to wresting a living from the soil So the Truett children - seven boys and a girl - went to a rural school two or three months a year, if a teacher chanced to be available. It not, they studied at home. Their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles L. Truett, were ambitions for their children, wanted them to have as much education as possible for the battle of life. In the mother's family were a number of Baptist ministers and leaders, while law was the favorite career on the father's side. The elder Mr. Truett, however, was a farmer. GOT BREAK IN SCHOOLINGIt was sheer luck - at least James thought - that permitted him to accumulate four years of schooling - enough, to get half through elementary school today. Boys of the '70s in North Carolina, however, took what they could get and worked out the rest for themselves, which is what Jim Truett did. At 22 he went to McMinn County, Tenn., to begin a career for himself. There he was to spend 15 years and mold the pattern of life. He became at the same time a school teacher and student, devoting his spare time to his own studies by correspondence courses and avid reading. He received a bachelor of arts degree from a college in Madisonville, Tennessee, through his correspondence and teaching work without ever seeing the college - without ever being in Madisonville. His earliest ambition was to be a lawyer and some day go to Congress, perhaps even the Senate. Rev. Truett learned the requirements for a Tennessee State Bar examination, and almost had plowed through all the necessary books when he went home for a visit. Proudly he told the family of his dreams and of his progress. MOTHER SHAPES DESTINY"No, No, Jimmy. The law is not for you," advised his mother. And that was that. Jimmy was too old then to start disobeying his mother. Back he went to his Tennessee school room. "You know I think mother thought it was intended for me to be a preacher," Brother Truett reminisces. "She named me for her father who was a preacher and she wanted me to be like him, although she never said so in so many words." Still in Tennessee Rev. Truett switched teaching to selling goods in a little country store near Nonaburg. It was just an interlude in a long and colorful career, but Jim Truett to this day is grateful for it. It was near Nonaburg that he met Miss Cordelia Cochran. They were married June 8, 1880, the beginning of a companionship that continued nearly 69 years, until Mrs. Truett's death at Whitewright in 1939. The Cochran family had lived in McMinn County many years and it seemed logical that the newlyweds would settle there for good. Back in North Carolina the Truett family began to hear great tales of Texas. HEAD FOR TEXASFirst to brave the pioneer country was Tom Truett, a brother, who came to Whitewright in the early '80's, was impressed by the place, and started a class in penmanship. When he went back to North Carolina he intrigued the other Truetts with his account of Texas and Whitewright. "That started it," Rev. Truett recalls. "After that we just kept coming, a few at a time until, as the last one, I came to Whitewright in 1891." Quick to interest the new-comer, still an educator at heart, was a new school at Whitewright that was flourishing. It was Grayson College, conducted by Professors Butler, Anderson and Kemp. Rev. Truett bought a quarter interest in the college and hastened back to Tennessee to bring his family to their new home. A professor in the college, Rev. Truett's specialty was grammar. Professor Truett gained renown for his success in teaching fundamentals of the English language "as she is spoke." University of Texas examiners invariably granted Grayson College students entrance credits to the State University. During the 11 years Rev. Truett was connected with the college, the enrollment ranged between 400 and 500 annually. MORE THAN GRAMMARWith Professor Truett, however, academic learning wasn't enough. He believed spiritual training even more important. He found time to talk with his students individually about spiritual things, about Jesus, the master teacher. He is happy today that during the last year with the college, he influenced 62 students to Jesus' way of life. Another crossroads in the life of James L. Truett came in 1903, when he sold his interest in the school to J. F. Greer, after making the decision to devote himself fully to the ministry. At last his mother's dream was coming true. Seven years earlier he had been ordained as a minister in the First Baptist Church at Whitewright. It was at that same church only a few years earlier that a younger brother, George, was ordained. The world still mourns the recent death of Dr. George W. Truett, internationally renowned pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. SPREAD THE GOSPELSo Professor Truett became Brother Truett. His choice was not the elegant church edifices of marble and stone. Instead, he beat a trail to the out-of-the-way places to preach in small churches, schools and brush arbors in North Texas and Southern Oklahoma. Throughout Grayson, Fannin, Collin, Cooke and Hunt Counties in Texas and from the Canadian to the Red River in Oklahoma he held revivals, no community being too small to merit his attention. He was, however, far from the last in the oblivion of the wilderness. Large crowds sought him out to hear his messages. He remembers 94 conversions at one meeting, an outdoor arbor with seats for 1,000 that was overflowed. 50 BAPTIST CONVENTIONSRev. Truett served 28 years as clerk of the Grayson County Baptist Association. After 25 years as secretary of the Texas Baptist General Convention, he was elected secretary emeritus. He has attended 50 annual sessions of the Baptist General Convention. Two daughters, Mrs. Olive Myrick and Mrs. Adah Gillespie, make their home with Rev. Truett. Another daughter, Mrs. Walter C. Johnson, resides in Dallas. There are two sons, Charles Truett, Corpus Christi, and Fred Truett, Fort Worth, a third, Marvin Ray, having died in infancy. His three grandsons in service are Lt. Commdr. Charles Badgett Truett, with a medical unit in the Southwest Pacific; Lt. Frank Johnson, with the marines in New Guinea and Lt. J. B. Johnson, Camp Breckenridge, Kentucky. He has two granddaughters and three great grandchildren. Brother Truett looks back over 90 years that have been eventful - perhaps not in the spectacular sense - but in the living of a life from day to day that is leaving its imprint on an ever widening circle of fellow-men who are happier and better because he came their way.  Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |
