William H. Humphries Home

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the William H. Humphries Home in Van Zandt County. Now settle in, because this is the kind of story Texas was built on, one family and one frame house at a time.

Sometime in the early 1890s, a great wave of Mississippi families made their way to Edgewood, Texas. Not a trickle, mind you. A migration.

And riding that wave were William Henry Humphries, born in 1862, and his wife Molly, born in 1867. They came looking for something, and from what the record shows, they found it. William wasted no time.

He opened a general store. He acquired many acres of farmland. And he planted himself so firmly in that growing community that he became a recognized business leader.

The man had ambition and the follow-through to match. Then came the house. Between 1893 and 1894, William built a frame Victorian residence right there in Edgewood, and that is the home we are talking about today.

Now a house is just lumber and nails until people fill it up with living, and the Humphries filled it up considerably. Molly became a hostess of some standing, welcoming civic groups and church groups through those Victorian doors, again and again. The home was also where the couple's two sons, James Eldridge and Shelton Cullen, lived their younger years.

William passed in 1917. Molly carried on until 1945. What they left behind was a household, a reputation, and a residence that still stands as a marker of what that Mississippi migration brought to Van Zandt County.

One family's story, framed in wood, built to last.

What the marker says

William Henry (1862-1917) and Molly (1867-1945) Humphries joined a large migration of Mississippi families to Edgewood in the early 1890s. Humphries opened a general store, acquired many acres of farmland, and became a business leader in the growing community. He built this frame Victorian residence in 1893-1894. Here Molly was often hostess to civic and church groups. The home was also occupied by the Humphries' two sons, James Eldridge and Shelton Cullen. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1976