Sterrett Community Contributed by Lt. Col. George H. Carlton (Ret.) [Compiled by Everett Couch several years ago and published as a part of Ellis County History]   Sterrett gets its name from James Sterrett who settled near Ovilla. During the year 1844 he married a daughter of the widow McCormick. In order to get a license he had to go to Franklin in Robertson County. This was the first marriage performed in Ellis County. In 1846 David Mitchell was postmaster at Mitchell's Branch in Navarro County. This was a short distance from Sterrett and later became part of Ellis County [when it was created a separate county from Navarro in 1849.] Isaac Culbertson was one of the early settlers of Sterrett Community and had a store there. Tom Horton married one of his daughters. He and his brother-in-law, Al Culbertson, owned a gin and general merchandise store. The store was a two story frame with the upper story used as a lodge room. Mr. Jim Kemble later built a brick store. Hemp Moffett was an early settler who lived two miles west of Sterrett. His son, Frank, ran away from home on his father's favorite horse and went to Alaska. He finally settled near Chilicothe and lived to be 101 years of age. He was the father of George (Cotton) Moffett, a noted Texas Senator. A daughter of Hemp Moffett married Dr. Charles Simpson. Two miles south of Sterrett was the farm of John M. Harrison who owned and operated a gin at Waxahachie, one of the largest ever in this part of the county. He also operated a large farm and a commissary for the convenience of the farm hands. West of Harrison was a large farm owned by M. T. Patrick and Mr. Patrick. They also had a commissary for the families. One has to remember the black, waxy, mud roads to know how necessary these commissaries were. On the south side of Sterrett was a large farm owned by William Hosford. He paid for the farm by freighting from the coast into Waxahachie and vicinity. He had a large family and at his death Tom Hosford inherited the home place. A grandson of Hemp Hosford held a position of importance at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. According to the U. S. Postal Service, postmasters serving Sterrett were: Isaac Culbertson, April 1890; Thomas M. Horton, May 9, 1892; Cynthia K. Culbertson, March 19, 1898; Charles H. Perry, April 27, 1904; James H. Kemble, February 23, 1907; Edwin W. Kemble April 7, 1910; Hugh N. Buchanan March 16, 1914; Ruth C. Hughes Sept. 9, 1920; Thomas G. Soape, July 17, 1920; Virgil E. McCloud Dec. 23, 1923. The office was discontinued July 31, 1929 and mail sent from Waxahachie. The church register of Sterrett Methodist Episcopal Church South between 1900 and 1914 lists many families including Culbertson, Butcher, Buchanan, Vickery, Hamilton, Hannah, Bennett, Smith, Brooks, Horton, Johnson, Stevens, Chapman, Denton, Reed, Harwell, Norton, Arndell and Reed. Both of my parents' families were living in the Sterrett Community at the turn of the century. My grandfather, William Houston Carlton, sold his farm on Onion Creek south of Waxahachie (purchased from C. K. and Geneva Wheatley in 1898) and bought a farm on Grove Creek about two miles southeast of Sterrett. This 127 acres was a part of the J. F. Stroop Survey, originally purchased by land script by him in 1869. Jordan Powers sold the land to Lumford O. Wilson in 1886, who in turn sold it to James Rogers, J. J. Rogers, Jr. and B. F. Rogers in 1892. My grandfather bought the land from James Rogers in 1904 for $7,232.50. My father, Grover Herbert Carlton, grew up and later farmed there for most of his life. When he married in 1913, he first farmed on Sanger Creek (believed to be the same Mitchell's Branch previously mentioned) and then farmed the land of Dr. Simpson, west of Sterrett. I was born there in 1919 and was about 5 years old when we moved back to the Carlton farm that is now known as the Carlton Estates of Butcher road. My mother's father, George Alexander Butcher, was born in 1866 near Red Oak of Texas pioneer parents. After he married, he bought a farm on Grove Creek about a mile south of Sterrett, when my mother was about a year old. His farm extended east to the edge of the Carlton farm and Butcher Road was named for him. My mother, Ruby Butcher Carlton, who is almost 99, remembers most of the old Sterrett families. [Mrs. Carlton is now deceased - she lived to be over 100 years old.] I went to school with many of the descendants of these families during the 1920s and 1930s. I have many pleasant memories of the Sterrett Community. I remember the brick school where I completed the first seven grades. Miss Jennie Stovall, well known in the genealogical community, was my seventh grade teacher. The cotton gin where I took many wagon loads of cotton is still standing. The stores run by McCloud and Spain were nearby and on a hot day the Orange Crush bought there was refreshing. The Baptist church where Dad taught us to sit quietly during service was also shared by the Methodist and two other denominations. Hosa Rogers was our 4-H leader and served as an inspiration to many youths. I left the Sterrett Community in 1941 to enter the Air Corps and was gone until 1983 when I returned to make my home in Waxahachie. In 1992, I moved to a home not far from where I was raised.   Copyright © 2002-2016, Ellis County TXGenWeb. All Rights Reserved. This page was last modified: Thursday, 01-Jul-2021 13:17:27 MDT