Submitted by: Larry G. Brooks

Cass County was the place my relatives settled in 1855. Solomon O'Dell and Sarah (Childress) O'Dell were my great-great-great grandparents. They moved to Cass County from Henry County, Georgia in the mid-50's and settled near what was to become Harris Chapel Methodist Church. A preacher, grandfather
Solomon preached the first sermon at the newly built Harris Chapel Methodist in 1859 as indicated by a large plaque at the church today.

In 1856, James Hooton, Jr., wife Mary Ann (O'Dell) Hooton (my great-great grandparents) and children also moved from Henry County to settle near Harris Chapel. Grandmother Mary Ann (O'Dell) Hooton was the daughter of Solomon O'Dell and Sarah (Childress) O'Dell. They are all buried at Harris Chapel
Cemetery.

Continuing in the Hooton family tree, my great grandparents were John Hooton and Mary Jane (Griffis) Hooton. They are buried at Harris Chapel Cemetery.

My grandfather, James Ross Hooton was born in Cass County in 1892 and farmed there until 1951. He and my grandmother, Pearl (Collins) Hooton are buried at Veal Switch Baptist Cemetery in Hughes Springs.

My mother was Mary Evelyn (Hooton) Brooks. She was born in 1922 and reared on the family farm south of Hughes Springs. She is buried at Leesburg, Texas in Camp County.

Many relatives of the Hootons and O'Dells still reside in Cass County today.

The information I have is over 20 pages in length and was assembled by an elderly relative in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It is available to anyone searching for information about the Hooton and O'Dell families.