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| Angela Hendrick ca. 1881 |
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| Veronica Hendrick ca. 1881 |
John Kane Hendrick had emigrated to the United States in 1860 and
joined the Union Army. He worked in espionage. After the Civil War, he was
granted leave to return to Ireland and marry Gertrude Kickham, who was the
niece of Charles Kickham, a famous Irish novelist and poet and a member of the
Fenians. He is said to have based one of his poems and a character in his novel
on Gertrude.
John Hendrick and Gertrude Kickham were married in 1876 and
returned to the United States to live in Stockdale, Texas, with John still working
for the U.S. Army. He was murdered in 1883 by a man posing to be a Catholic
priest.
Gertrude went back to Ireland in 1888 with her three young daughters for
a few years after John’s death, but returned to Stockdale in 1901 and purchased
the Tiner house.
Their oldest daughter Mary Elizabeth married Jessie Gordon Hodges in 1903. The couple moved to Waco, Texas for a short time. Gertrude died in 1904. After the birth of their second son, Joseph Gordon, in 1910, Mary Elizabeth and Jessie moved back to Sutherland Springs to live
with the unmarried sisters, Angela and Veronica. Mary and Jessie Gordon Hodges had
three children. Their daughter, Gertrude, had died in her crib from a rattlesnake bite in 1908. She was only a year old. Their
youngest son died in 1927 at the age of 17 from kidney failure. Their only surviving child, John Hodges, grew up in Sutherland Springs and married Edoleen Riddle in 1938. The couple
moved to Fort Worth and worked for General Dynamics building planes.
Mary
Elizabeth died in 1944. Jessie
Gordon died in 1948. Angela died in 1951, and Veronica in 1967. John Hodges retired
in 1971 and he and Edoleen moved back to the house in Sutherland Springs. He
became ill in 1985 and they moved to Kerrville for treatment. He died in 1986.
Edoleen died in 1994.
The Hendricks and the Hodges owned the Tiner Hendrick house in Sutherland Springs for 93 years.
I am looking forward to transcribing two diaries written by Gertrude Hendrick, one from 1882 while the family was living in Stockdale, and one from 1895 while Gertrude and he girls were living in Ireland. I am sure there will be many more stories to tell.
You can help save the house that the Hendricks and Hodges lived in for 93 years by contributing to Save the Tiner House. The house is set to be demolished at the end of the year, unless we raise the funds to move it.
Help us Save the Tiner House.
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