From Proud Heritage, Vol. 1 by DCPA, not currently in print.
John Bronaugh Hereford, Jr. was born in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, on February 6, 1841. He was the son of Dr. John Bronaugh Hereford and Catherine Mary Stirling. He spent several years in New Orleans, where he married Elizabeth Johnson Robertson, a great-grand-daughter of General James Robertson of Tennessee, on March 19, 1861. During the Civil War he fought with the Confederate Army in the battles of Bull Run, Manassas and Gaines’ Mill, where he was wounded.
John and Catherine had four children before moving to Dallas in 1872, and two additional children were born in Dallas. The six Hereford children were 1) Mary Chinn (called “Mamie”), 2) John Bronaugh III, 3) Anna Lobdell, 4) James Stirling, 5) Felix Senette, and 6) Catherine Stirling. A short time after coming to Dallas, the family moved to Glen Rose in Somerville County, where John B. Hereford, Jr. was engaged in mercantile pursuits for several months, and then returned to Dallas and resumed the same line of work at 603 Main St. He served as city secretary from 1875 through 1880. In 1877 he became a partner with Judge J. D. Kerfoot in the firm of Kerfoot and Heteford, Fire Insurance Agents. He later was Special Agent for the Royal Insurance Co. until his death in 1898. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Dallas.
Elizabeth Robertson Hereford was a writer of stories and poetry. A copy of her book Rebel Rhymes, published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in 1888, is in the Dallas Public Library. She died in 1904 and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
The family owned four homes in “The Cedars” at 205, 207, and 211 Cadiz (now the 1600 block) between Browder and Ervay Streets, and around the corner at 228 Browder. All have been razed since R. L. Thornton Freeway was built.
John B. Hereford, III was born in New Orleans in 1866. He came to Dallas with his parents, was graduated from Texas A & M in 1887, and in 1888 married Hattie Ford, daughter of Richard W. Ford of Shreveport, Louisiana. He became Special Agent for Guardian Assurance Co. of London in 1891 and in 1894 became Special Agent in Dallas and North Texas for Liverpool, London & Globe Insurance Co., and was an organizer and president of the Texas Fire Prevention Association from 1900 to 1904. He was later General Agent in Charge of the Texas Department of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company and had offices in the Wilson Building. John and Hattie had a home in the 3300 block of Oak Lawn Avenue, which has been razed, and later a Dutch Colonial home in Highland Park at the northeast corner of Beverly Dr. and Fairfield across from the Dallas Country Club, since razed and replaced. John died in 1916; Hattie in 1958. John and Hattie had three children. Their two sons died young; their daughter, Josephine, married C. M. Markham, a Dallas insurance agent.
James S. Hereford, born in New Orleans in 1870, also came to Dallas with his parents. He married Annie Reynolds and was in the insurance business until his death in 1935. James and Annie had three children. His son Jimmy Hereford, who married Elizabeth Ann Tenison, was an agent for Southwestern Life Insurance Co. in Dallas until his death.
Felix S. Hereford was born in 1877 in Dallas at the Cadiz Street residence. He graduated from Virginia Military Institute as a civil engineer, but entered the insurance business with his father and brother. For 34 years beginning in 1906 he was a Special Agent for the Hartford Fire Insurance Co. In 1918 he married Kate Hooe, who was the sister of Lida Hooe and Dodie Hooe, prominent early teachers and supervisors in the Dallas Public Schools. The Felix Herefords lived at 3918 Bowser in Oak Lawn and were members of the Oak Lawn Methodist Church. They had one child, Emily, who married Russell Surles, Jr., a Dallas architect. Felix died in 1940; and Kate died in 1978 at the age of 98. They are buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park.
By Emily Hereford Surles, Dallas
