Fewer than one in forty families today celebrate consecutive annual family reunions. The Truitt family made up of fifth, sixth and seventh generation descendants of John Wingate and Elizabeth Jennings (Robinson) TRUITT, have been celebrating their annual family reunions for more than seventy-five years. The descendants of John & Betsy Truitt, now numbering over 2,000 living cousins plus dozens of friends, met Saturday, June 18th, to fellowship and enjoy their restored 1840 Truitt Republic of Texas, Land Grant, Homestead, followed by a catered lunch and an insightful program.

This annual event was made enjoyable and effective due to the volunteer support and gifts of many. Please tilt your hats to these and their listed contributions for this past calendar year:

Phil Johnston... New Smokehouse door & replaced outhouse of red cedar

Stacey & Kevin Surgeon... flower bed cleaning, hwy. sign erecting, water sealant to smokehouse, well roof & cabin porches, installation of well pulley & bucket, replacement of cabin step caution sign

Holden, Kylie, Stacey & Kevin... full day of setting up registration & displays at cabin & church

Ennice Williams... mowing of increased cabin grounds

Philip Tutton... repair of cabin flag Pole
John Post... gift of vintage double barrel rifle for permanent cabin display

Jennifer Maddox... establishment & maintenance of our Truitt Heritage page on Facebook

Mike Truitt... provided cabin reunion coffee

Hudson Olds... published several insightful East Texas Journal articles

Lou & Robert Richards... repair of memorial marker & flower bed cleaning

Lorraine Schriver... communications & notifications via snail and email

Total expenses for improvements, repairs and grounds upkeep for the Truitt Republic of Texas, Land Grant, Homestead during 2022 exceeded $8,000. This included highway tree removal, grass mowing, planted trees and other nursery landscaping, an added vintage farm implements display, installation of a roadway sign, improvements to the water well display, smokehouse repairs, outhouse replacement, and much more.

By continuing to finance and manage this property, the Truitt Cousins Association will be able to continue guiding the development and improvement of this historic site and acreage into a park which will accurately reflect the 1840 period of time when our frontier forefathers established influence in this location of the Republic of Texas.

Effective sustenance and management, as you must know, is conditional on three important factors – vision, manpower and finance. Allow me to briefly reflect on each of these starting with the later.

The East Texas Communities Foundation for a dozen years has effectively been our collection and investment agency for such purposes. Now it is important that we, the descendants of John & Betsy Truitt, plus the many friends of our newly developed Republic of Texas Frontier Park, get behind the endowed purpose of maintaining and improving this as our legacy for future generations.

Man power for the development and maintenance of the Truitt dogtrot home place up until now has evolved from just a few Truitt Cousins, on to gifted area occupational specialist, i.e. Phil Johnston, Kyle Penney, Hudson Olds and others, and now includes the thought service of our friends and friends of our historical site.

Vision and management of this frontier site are critical for its future and influence to Morris, Titus, Upshur, Cass and other Northeast Texas counties, as well as the entirety of Texas and our nation. This Texas Land Grant homestead reflects the frontier trials, hardships and dreams of not only the J.W. Truitt family arriving from Alabama, but also of hundreds of other neighboring families arriving from Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Virginia, etc. Our future vision for this property must include not only our family descendants, but also reflect the interest of area families and groups. Thus, future board members for this Republic of Texas, Land Grant, 1840 Truitt Homestead Park should consider the inclusion of some non-Truitt descendants who have demonstrated, sacrificed and contributed much to this effort, the likes of which were acknowledged earlier for their 2022 contributions.

Folks, we are all blessed by God to be historical heirs of this 1840 log cabin home place of our great, great, great, great grandparents, John & Betsy Truitt. They are truly a testament to us that they were fifth generation Godly descendants of 1640 Americans - Truitts, Barns, Dales, Evans, Wingates, Henrys, Robinsons, Scruggs, Southalls, Hollands, Merrymans, Fords, Thompsons, Fite/Vogts, Crosses, etc. For these ancestors lived by faith in God’s promise to them in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” For now over eleven generations, our American ancestors have produced God fearing families with strong spiritual witnesses producing pastors, physicians, dentist, college professors, scientist, engineers, school superintendents, principals, teachers, shop owners, farmers, and so much more. Our family has truly been blessed because they have all followed God’s instructions of 1 Timothy 5:8 “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

It is my challenge, that all who have read my “Thanks for the Memories”, will commit to prayer what God would have us and you to provide in our quest forward for our Republic of Texas, Land Grant, 1840 Truitt Heritage Site, for Bert Hervey, John Gongler, Reva Truitt, and I will soon be passing on our batons like Dr. C.S. Truitt, Betty Ruth Bass and so many faithfully have done before us.

God Bless You, my faithful cousins.

Dale Truitt