Ima Hogg: The Governor's Daughter (Volume 20) (Fred Rider Cotten Popular History Series) - Softcover

Bernhard, Virginia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0876112459 ISBN 13: 9780876112458

Publisher: Texas State Historical Assn, 2011

Synopsis

Texas legend has it that James Stephen Hogg, Governor of Texas from 1890 to 1894, named his daughters Ima and Ura, but that is only half-true: there never was a Ura. Ima had three brothers, Will, Mike, and Tom. Ima Hogg, who was born in 1882 and died in 1975 at age 93, became a legend in her own right, and this book is her story. It is also the story of the extraordinary bond between a father and a daughter.
James Stephen Hogg, who worked his way from a hardscrabble life in the piney woods of East Texas to the Governor's Mansion in Austin, was a giant in Texas politics, both literally (standing six feet three inches tall and weighing close to 300 pounds) and figuratively, as the champion of the "little people" against big business in the 1890s. He adored his daughter, and after his wife, Sallie Stinson Hogg, died of tuberculosis in 1895, Ima and her father drew even closer. Jim Hogg, a widower in his 40's with four children--Will, 20; Ima, 13, Mike, 10, and Tom, 8--left politics to practice law in Austin, and Ima became the "sunshine" of her father's household.
While Ima attended the University of Texas and then studied music in New York City, ex-Governor Hogg pursued business interests, and was one of the early investors in the Texas oil boom after the Spindletop gusher in 1901. He was not a rich man when he died in 1906, but the old plantation he bought in Brazos County near West Columbia would eventually produce oil that would make Ima and her brothers wealthy.
The Hogg children lived well, but they also devoted part of their time and money to the enrichment of the educational and cultural life of Texas. Will gave generously to the University of Texas, his alma mater, and to many other institutions, such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Houston YMCA. “Miss Ima,” as she was known (she never married), founded the Houston Symphony, served on the Houston School Board, established the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, and restored several historic Texas buildings, including the house at the Varner-Hogg Historic Site, which had been her father's beloved country home. In 1966 she gave her own house, filled with the priceless Early American art and furniture she had collected, as the Bayou Bend Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Thousands of people visit Bayou Bend every year, and this book describes its history, as well as that of an extraordinary Texas woman.
 

Ima Hogg: The Goverrnor's Daughter is number 20 in the Fred Rider Cotten Popular History Series.

 

About this title

From the Back Cover

It makes an outstanding contribution to Texas history . . . R--Texas Historical Commission.

Ima Hogg: The Governor's Daughter received the Texas Historical Commission Award for Best Local History Publication of 1984.

A fine introduction to a woman who has been called Houston's Alice Roosevelt Longworth and to one of Texas' most interesting families.S --Dallas Morning News.

The book is more than just the life of the governor's daughter. Bernhard provides a concise history of the entire Hogg family: a welcome addition, since the ponderous history of her father is out of print.S--The Houston Review.

A delightful biography of this important lady who contributed so generously to Houston and Texas.S --Beaumont Enterprise

About the Author

VIRGINIA BERNHARD is Professor Emerita of History at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Her publications include the historical novel A Durable Fire (1990), Firsthand America (1991), and Slaves and Slaveholders in Bermuda, 1616-1782 (1999).  A previous edition of Ima Hogg: The Governor's Daughter won the Texas Historical Commission's award for best local history.

About this edition

• Publisher: Texas State Historical Assn
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0876112459
• ISBN 13: 9780876112458
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144