The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga
Chapter Twenty-eight
THE LIFE AND FAMILY OF MILAM STEPHEN MUNSON
b. 1869 — d. 1950
SUMMARY
The eighth and last child and sixth son of Mordello and Sarah Munson was named Milam Stephen Munson, born September 26, 1869, at Ridgely Plantation at Bailey’s Prairie. He obtained a law degree from the University of Texas Law School at the age of 18 and practiced law in Angleton. From 1920 until his death in 1950, he was Texas State District Judge in Angleton. In 1901 he married Carrie Diggs, and they lived in the “Judge Munson home” on “Munson Row” for almost fifty years. They raised three sons and a daughter, and these have produced the M. S. Munson branch of the Munsons of Texas.
Milam Stephen Munson
The name Milam in Milam Stephen Munson’s name may have come from Mordello’s half-brother, Robert Milam Caldwell, who was born June 25, 1836, and was always called Milam. His name, in turn, may have come from the Texas hero, Ben Milam, who died at San Antonio in an early battle for Texas independence, just six months before Robert Milam’s birth. The Stephen in Milam Stephen Munson’s name was for family friend Stephen Perry, who in later years left a house-lot at Quintana to his namesake. Sarah Munson was 38 years old when her last child, Stephen, was born, and she had had eight children in eighteen years. Stephen was raised on the plantation with his seven older brothers and sisters and his seven “adopted” cousins.
As with the other children, Stephen received his primary education at home and later at a school taught by Miss Minnie Dewey (later Mrs. Stratton) at the Dewey home near Oyster Creek Station. He attended Southwestern University in Georgetown with brother Bascom and then the University of Texas Law School. Sarah’s diary describes the day that Bascom and Stephen left home for Geogetown. An entry dated September 21, 1882, when Stephen was just 12 years old, reads, “We have all been so busy getting the boys ready to start tomorrow.” On the next day she wrote: “Mr. Munson & Emma and my `darling boys’ left. Oh how I have missed them and especially my Baby Boy. I feel as though I cannot stay home without him . . .even the sheep look sad and his pony little Button was anxiously looking for him this evening. I pray God to Bless my darlings.” On September 26 she wrote: “Tis Stephen’s thirteenth birthday. I wonder how my darling Boy is tonight. So far far away from his Mamma. I wrote to him today.”
Stephen received his law degree in the same graduating class as his two brothers in the spring of 1888, at the age of 18, the youngest graduate of the law school up to that time. Too young to be admitted to the Texas Bar, he returned to Bailey’s Prairie and worked with his father. At the age of 21 he was admitted to the bar and began practice with Lewis R. Bryan in Velasco. In 1901 he married, moved to Angleton, and entered the firm of Munson, Munson & Munson with his brothers Waddy and Bascom.
Carrie Diggs Munson
On April 9, 1901, at the age of 31, Stephen married Carrie Diggs of East Columbia. They built a home on the Munson land in Angleton. This handsome home still stands at 600 S. Walker Street. The house was built on the site of the original Kennedy home which was destroyed in the 1900 storm. Members of the M. S. Munson family occupied this home for about eighty years.
Carrie Diggs was born in East Columbia on April 20, 1876, the daughter of William Harry Diggs from Virginia and Laura Underwood Diggs. William Diggs and his brother-in-law, Joe Underwood, operated the Underwood & Diggs store in East Columbia. Joe and Laura Underwood’s father was Ammon Underwood, who had come to Texas from Massachusetts and built the historic Underwood house, which stands today in East Columbia. One of Joe Underwood’s daughters, Louise, married George P. Munson II. Thus Carrie Diggs Munson and Louise Underwood Munson were first cousins. (See Chapter 15 for the story of the Underwood family).
Milam Stephen and Carrie Munson had five children: Laura Munson, Milam Stephen Munson II, Joyce Munson, Hillen Armour Munson II, and Lewis Underwood Munson. Baby Laura died of typhoid fever while her father was away from home on a business trip, and Carrie packed the baby’s body in ice in the bathtub until her husband returned. Laura is buried in the Munson Cemetery. All of the other children grew to adulthood, married, and have children.
Milam Stephen Munson I was a partner in the law firm of Munson, Munson & Munson from about 1901 until Waddy became county judge in 1913; and with Mr. J. T. Williams in the firms of Williams & Munson, and Munson, Williams & Munson from about 1913 until 1920. In 1920 Stephen was appointed by Governor William Hobby to fill an unexpired term as district judge of the Twenty-Third Judicial District of Texas, which included Matagorda, Fort Bend, Wharton, and Brazoria Counties. Stephen then held this elected judgeship until his death in 1950. He was so popular and respected in this position that he never had an opponent in any election during those thirty years. The old Angleton Courthouse in which he held court is now the home of the Brazoria County Historical Museum.
A letter received by Judge Munson in 1944 reads as follows:
Edinburg, Texas,
April 6, 1944
Judge M. S. Munson
Angleton, Texas
Dear Judge Munson:
Permit me to congratulate you upon having the finest record of any district judge in Texas.
When we first studied statistics, we thought that the 1st, 2nd, and 23rd districts were on a par and that three courts shared top honors equally. However, the revised statistics. . . show that your court has the best record.
Also, I want to thank you for your cooperation and help. We have revised our statistics to reflect the figures you sent us instead of those shown by the Reports of the Texas Civil Judicial Council.
With all good wishes, I am
Very respectfully yours,
L. Hamilton Lowe,
Chairman Com. on Judicial Re-
districting, State Bar of Texas
Milam Stephen Munson died on October 15, 1950, at the age of 81, and Carrie Munson died on January 12, 1965, at the age of 88. Both are buried in the Munson Cemetery at Bailey’s Prairie.
The Descendants of Milam Stephen Munson and Carrie Diggs
Laura Munson
The first child of Stephen and Carrie was daughter Laura Munson, born in 1902. Laura died of typhoid fever in 1905 and is buried in the Munson Cemetery.
Stephen Munson Jr.
The second child was named Milam Stephen Munson II, born June 27, 1904. Also known as Stephen, he went through the Angleton schools and obtained a law degree from the University of Texas. He practiced law all his adult life in Wharton, Texas. He married Betty Burnaby and they have two children: Bettie Joyce and Burnaby Munson. Bettie Joyce married Lt. Ward C. Patton Jr. in Waco upon his graduation from flight school. She has spent her married life in the Midwest, first as a mother and officer's wife, and later as a rural pastor's wife. She and Ward have three children: Joyce Elizabeth Kavanagh, a public health nurse in Colorado, Stephen Michael, a patent attorney in Illinois, and Ward III, a consulting engineer in Wisconsin. Bettie and Ward celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary in 2006 and are enjoying retirement in Appleton, Wisconsin. Burnaby Munson studied chemistry at the University of Texas and the University of Wisconsin, where he received a Ph. D. degree. For many years he has been a professor of chemistry at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware. He is not married. After Betty Burnaby Munson died on November 4, 1946, Stephen married Sarah Estelle Hancock, and they lived in Wharton. Estelle passed away July 21, 1989 at age 77, and Stephen died December 27, 1993 at age 89. Both are buried in the Munson Cemetery.
Joyce Munson
The third child of Stephen and Carrie was Joyce Munson, born March 7, 1907. After high school in Angleton, she attended the University of Texas where she met and married Alton Eugene “Tony” Robertson from Lockhart, Texas. After working briefly in Lockhart and San Antonio, “Tony” Robertson formed his own firm of Robertson, Dewar & Pancoast—a firm which deals in stocks, bonds, and investment banking in San Antonio. Joyce and Tony had two children: Ann Robertson and A. E. “Robbie” Robertson Jr. Joyce Munson Robertson died in San Antonio on March 3, 1985. “Tony” Robertson died the following year, on October 28, 1986. Daughter Ann married Edward Yerger III, and they have four children and three grandchildren. In later years she married John Carter, and she died in California in 1985. Son Alton Eugene “Robbie” Robertson Jr. married first Barbara Lee Huggins and they have two children, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He married second Paula Anne Wells, and they have two children and two grandchildren. Robbie died in Aransas County, Texas, April 6, 1989.
Armour Munson II
The fourth child of Stephen and Carrie, born on March 13, 1909, was named Hillen Armour Munson II. He was named for his uncle Hillen Armour, who was killed just six months after his namesake’s birth. Hillen Armour II graduated from Angleton High School and studied engineering at Texas A. & M. College for two years. Thereafter he returned to Angleton and engaged in cattle ranching for the rest of his life. He married Betty Bingham of Chenango, and they have three children: Hillen Armour Munson III, Betty Munson Gunn, and Mary Diggs Munson Sheeran. Betty and Mary are married, and Betty and her husband, Robert Gunn, have two children and two known grandchildren. Hillen Armour III is not married. He lives at the old Bingham homeplace in Chenango, Texas. Hillen Armour Munson II died of heart failure on November 27, 1969, at the age of 60, and is buried in the Munson Cemetery. Betty Bingham Munson Bryan passed away September 21, 2002 at age 88.
Lewis Munson
The fifth child of Stephen and Carrie was Lewis Underwood Munson, born October 23, 1911. He was the thirty-ninth (approximately) and last of the grandchildren of Mordello and Sarah Munson. Lewis graduated from Angleton High School and attended Schreiner Institute in Kerrville, Texas, for one year. He then returned to Brazoria County where, except for a brief time spent in Boerne, Texas, as ranch manager for his brother-in-law Tony Robertson, he was a part-time cattleman for the rest of his life. He worked for the Freeport Sulfur Company in Louisiana for a short time, then with the Texas Livestock Commission as an inspector in its cattle-fever-tick eradication program. From 1939 till 1972, he was employed by the Dow Chemical Company in Freeport, Texas, as a power-plant operator. After retirement he worked in the Brazoria County tax office as a tax appraiser from 1972 till 1977.
Lewis Munson married Mildred Mottesheard on April 14, 1937. In 1938 they built a house at 305 S. Walker Street, at the corner of Peach Street. They lived in this house until after the death of Lewis’ parents, after which time, in 1971, they moved into the large home at 600 S. Walker Street. Mildred Munson was born on February 9, 1918, and died on April 9, 1977. In 1983 Lewis married Jo Nell Terry, formerly Jo Nell Scarbrough, and they were living near Brazoria, Texas, at the time of Lewis’ death on March 15, 1986, at the age of 74. Both Lewis and Mildred are buried in the Munson Cemetery.
Lewis and Mildred had four sons: Lewis William “Billy” Munson died October 7, 1987 at age 46. Milam Armour Munson died 31 January 2006 in San Augustine, Texas, at age 61. James Stephen “Jimmy” Munson practiced law with his uncle, Milam Stephen Munson Jr., in Wharton, Texas, and passed away there on July 31, 1997 at age 51. Robert Carson Munson passed away in Brazoria County on 30 May 2002 at age 52. All married and among them had five children, including two sons to carry on the Munson name. All four boys are buried in the Munson Cemetery at Bailey’s Prairie.
