Foshee Family Homestead
Gladewater, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built 1890 on site purchased 1884 by William Emmett and Mary R. Foshee. He was a native of Alabama and she was a member of the pioneer Shepperd family of Upshur County. Eight children were born to this couple. Lumber for house was sawed at famous mill of John O'Byrne. Unusual and unique chimney was built of hand-hewn rock which came from banks of stream running through west edge of property. (Family enterprise, Ironrock Oil Company, was named for this special type rock.) Original hallway led from front porch through house to water well, which served family needs. In early 1930's one of first oil wells in the famous East Texas field was brought in here. Ironrock Oil Company is still operating. For many years, William Emmett Foshee served as postmaster. He was also a lumber teaming contractor, farmer and justice of the peace. His wife, Mary, was mother and homemaker to six surviving children. These pioneer parents left rich heritage to succeeding generations who still contribute traditional service to their community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
William Emmett and Mary Foshee bought this Upshur-country land in 1884 and raised their large family in a house built in 1890 from lumber sawn at John O'Byrne's mill, distinguished by a chimney of hand-hewn 'ironrock' from the creek that crossed the property. William wore many hats on the frontier — postmaster, farmer, lumber contractor, and justice of the peace. In the early 1930s one of the first wells of the great East Texas oil field came in on this ground, and the family's Ironrock Oil Company, named for that curious stone, was still operating when the marker was placed.
Why it matters
The homestead ties one pioneer family's story to the East Texas oil boom, one of the largest petroleum discoveries in American history, which transformed the region's economy overnight.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When William Emmett and Mary R. Foshee bought this land in 1884, East Texas was a world of piney woods, small farms, sawmills, and wagon roads. The decades after the Civil War brought railroads into the region, and with them a booming timber industry. Towns grew up around depots and mills, and families like the Foshees combined farming with whatever other work the growing economy offered.
The Foshees built their house in 1890, using lumber sawn at the well-known mill of John O'Byrne. That detail tells you a lot about the era: local timber, cut locally, built the homes of the region. Life on a homestead like this depended on what the land itself provided, from wood for the walls to stone for the chimney to water from the well at the end of the hall.
Forty years later, the region was transformed. In 1930 a wildcat well came in near the Rusk County line, opening what became known as the East Texas oil field, one of the largest oil discoveries in the history of the lower forty-eight states. It arrived in the depths of the Great Depression, and almost overnight, quiet farm communities like Gladewater became crowded boomtowns full of drillers, speculators, and job seekers.
People & events
William Emmett Foshee came to Texas from Alabama, and Mary was a member of the pioneer Shepperd family of Upshur County. Together they had eight children, six of whom survived. That simple fact, recorded on the marker, is a quiet reminder of how often frontier families lost children in an era before modern medicine.
William was a man of many jobs, as rural Texans often were. He farmed. He was a lumber teaming contractor, hauling timber with draft animals in the days when muscle moved the forest to the mill. He served for many years as the local postmaster, an important role that put him at the center of the community's news and correspondence. He was also a justice of the peace, settling the small disputes of everyday life. Mary, the marker tells us, was the mother and homemaker who held the household together.
Their house had a distinctive feature: a chimney built of hand-hewn rock taken from the banks of the stream along the western edge of the property. The family later named its oil business, the Ironrock Oil Company, after that unusual stone. When the oil boom reached Gladewater in the early 1930s, one of the first wells in the famous East Texas field was brought in right here, turning the old homestead into part of one of the great energy stories of the century. The company was still operating when the marker was placed, and the marker credits the later generations of the family with continuing to serve their community.
Its place in the American story
The Foshee homestead captures in one property the shift that remade much of the American South and Southwest: from a rural economy of timber and farming to one powered by oil. The East Texas oil field poured enormous quantities of crude onto the market, and its flood of production played a major part in debates over how oil should be regulated, helping strengthen the role of state authorities like the Texas Railroad Commission in managing production.
The discovery also mattered to ordinary people. Coming during the Great Depression, the boom brought jobs and money to East Texas at a time when much of the country was suffering. For landowning families, oil under the farm could change their fortunes in a single season.
That a family enterprise took its name from the stone of its own chimney is a lovely touch of continuity. It ties the pioneer generation that hand-hewed the rock to the generation that drilled beneath it, showing how American family histories often bridge the frontier and the industrial age within a single lifetime or two.
If you visit
As you approach, imagine the original layout described on the marker: a front porch opening onto a hallway that ran straight through the house to the water well behind it. Arrangements like this were common in warm Southern climates, letting breezes move through the home and keeping the water close at hand.
Look especially for the chimney, the feature the family was proud enough to name a company after. Its hand-hewn ironrock came from the creek bank on the property's western edge, so the house is literally built from its own land. Please respect that this is a family homestead; view it from public areas unless you know it is open to visitors.
Gladewater makes a natural stop on an East Texas oil boom road trip. The surrounding towns, including Kilgore and Longview, each hold pieces of the boom story, from museums to old derricks. Combine this marker with those stops to see both sides of the tale: the pioneer homesteads that came first and the oil rush that changed everything.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · William Emmett Foshee
- · Mary R. Foshee
Related events
- · East Texas oil boom
Themes & tags
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