Watt Barclay, MD  

The Life and Times of Dr. Watt Barclay of Tyler County

Submitted by Teddy Barclay Pope, Ed. D., Dennise L. Pope and Martha Hood.

February, 2000
 
 

Watt

Dr. Watt Barclay was born 27 August 1897 in Tyler County, TX He died in Woodville in 1959 in TCT. He
is buried at Magnolia Cemetery. Watt Barclay's father was Henry Franklin Barclay b.11 Feb 1868 TCT,
d. 10 Sep 1924 Houston Co., TX, buried at Antioch Cemetery , Ratcliff, Houston Co., Texas. His mother
was Clara Pool Barclay b. 21 Oct 1871. d. 16 Jan 1901 TCT. Buried at Mt. Zion Cemetery, TCT. His wife
was Myrtle M. Miller Barclay. His daughter is Beverly Barclay Collie (Mrs. Dan Collie)

Lineage

Watt's mother was Clara Pool. She was the daughter of Alice Delila Riley Pool Bourn Barclay and Josh W.
Pool. (son of Nancy Duren Pool Frazer and Mr. Pool.) Watt's grandfather and grandmother were Walter
Barclay and Mary Jane Mahaffey Barclay. He was the great grandson of Robert Barclay and Sarah
McKinsey Barclay and great great grandson of Walter Barclay b. Rowan CO NC 1774 and Elizabeth
McQueen Barclay b. 1790 Madison CO Ky. More about these ancestors of Watt Barclay may be found
on the Tyler County Census of 1850.

Watt Barclay is of the Robert b. est 1716 - 1723 and Leah Madison Barkley of Rowan County, NC before
1754 strain, called the Robert and Leah Barkley/Barclay of Rowan CO NC strain Robert Barkley of Rowan
CO was either the first generation in America from Scotland, or the second or third generation, starting in the Jersey Settlement NJ area and migrating into Jersey Settlement, Rowan CO. NC. Watt was in the fifth
generation of Barclays in Texas. His direct ancestor Robert Barclay and Sarah McKinsey Barclay were the
last of the Barclay brothers to arrive in Tyler County, around 1838. The first of the brothers, Anderson Barclay,
of the Peach Tree MT Hope area, arrived in the late 1820's, when Texas was part of Mexico in the pre republic days.

Family of Origin

Watt Barclay was the seventh and youngest surviving child of Henry F. Barclay and Clara Pool, who made
their home in Houston County, Texas. One more child was born to Clara Pool Barclay, a daughter, Nannie
Clara Barclay . She was born in 08 Mar 1900, TCT and died in 20 June 1902 , TCT . She is buried at Mt.
Zion Cemetery., TCT (She is in the 1900 TCT Census)

Brothers and Sisters

Watt Barclay's sisters and brothers who were the children of Henry F Barclay and Clara Pool were: Martha
Jane, Mary Lela, Alice, Laura, Cass Byanker, John Henry Kirby, Will Bower and Nannie Clara. His half
brother who was the child of Henry Franklin Barclay and Lee Barclay was Bert Henry Barclay. His half
brothers and sisters who were the children of Henry F Barclay and Viola Victoria Light Barclay were Lacy
Henry, Eunice and Reagan Mann Barclay. In all, Watt Barclay had eleven brothers and sisters. Watt had
some step brothers and sisters who were the children of his step mother Viola. Their father was John Henry
Poole. They were: Archie, (Ethel) Ruby, Roy and John Dudley Poole

Extended Family

Watt had some double first cousins that were the children of his father's brother James Walter and his
mother's sister Laura Nancy Pool of the MT Zion area who were; Myrtie, Clara, Clyde, Mary, Eula,
James Buck, Joshua Walter, Robert, George Willis, Ora, Lora, Louise and Henry Feagin.

Watt had some Barclay aunts and uncles that were also his cousins. They were the Barclay children of his
mother Clara Pool's mother, Alice Delila Riley Pool Bourn Barclay, and James "Jim" Barclay of Peach
Tree. The Pool children's father was Josh W Pool who died young, before his grandmother married Will
Bourn. They were; Laura, Clara, Frances Ludy, and John Riley Pool. The Bourn son, Willis Daniel Bourn's
father died of yellow fever before Watt's grandmother married James "Jim" Barclay. The Barclay children
of Alice Delila Riley and James "Jim" Barclay were; Josh, Mary Nancy, Ellen, Susan Lela, Hattie, Edna,
James Lacy, Ida, Mabel, Charles Franklin, John Henry and Kirby Barclay. There were seventeen in all.

The closest other kin by blood to Watt Barclay and this branch of Barclays were the Pools, the Rileys and
the Mahaffeys. Many are buried in MT Zion cemetery. Watt's daughter, Beverly Barclay, donated an
additional acre to the MT Zion cemetery after Watt's death.

Houston County

The Henry Barclay family lived in Houston County while Watt was growing up. Watt's mother Clara died
young when Watt was just a few years of age. Watt was given a lot of attention by his older sisters and
brothers who lived in Houston County. In adulthood, he said that they helped raise him. He also had step
mothers who helped raise him, along with his father. When Watt was a young man, his father, Henry F.
Barclay, died.

Watt's Education

After completing his schooling in Houston County, Watt went to college at Stephen F Austin and majored
in Biology. He was a teacher for a while at. He continued his education by going to medical school at the
University of Texas and finally graduating from Tennessee Medical School. He did his internship at St.
Joseph’s Hospital in Houston. He went to Woodville to practice in 1933. Until Tyler County Hospital was
erected, he owned and operated a hospital in Woodville. He was Chief of Staff of the Tyler county hospital
for several years. His brother Bower and his uncles Benjamin Ross and Robert Lee were medical doctors.
R. L.'s son Sam Daniel was a doctor. Watt's half brother Lacy Henry was a school teacher and then a dentist.
His half brother Lacy Henry was a school teacher and then a dentist. They may have been an influence and
of assistance to him in his choice of profession. If for no other reason, than to show that it could be done, and
to challenge him by their own accomplishments.

Watt Barclay married Myrtle Barclay of Houston County, Texas.

Myrtle

Myrtle M. Miller was born in 1904 in Houston County, and died on in 1962 in Tyler County. She is buried at Magnolia Cemetery, TCT. Myrtle Miller’s father was Edwin L. Miller b. 07 September 1865 d. 17 Jan 1935.
He was buried at Magnolia cemetery in Tyler County. Her mother was Estelle C. Conner b. 12 Nov 1877 died
09 Dec 1944. She is buried at Magnolia cemetery in Tyler County. Her parents were married on the 24th September 1901.
Myrtle's mother's parents were John G. Conner and Lucretia Jane Warren. John G. Conner’s parents were William Madison Conner and Eliza Ann Patton, William’s parents were Francis B. Conner and Sarah ???.
Lucretia Jane Warren’s parents were William W. Warren and Lucretia Jane McLemore, William’s parents
were Henry Warren and Charity Etheredge, and Henry’s parent’s were John E. Warren & ???.
Myrtle had two sisters – Edice (HINES) and Blanche (SHAW),
Myrtle went to college and majored in Home Economics. She was a teacher during the time that Watt was in medical school, and after Watt's death.

Watt's Medical Practice

Myrtle had helped Watt by teaching school while he was a student in medical school. Watt and Myrtle had
one daughter, Beverly Barclay (Collie) who was born around 1931 on Woodville. When Watt finished medical school, he looked around for a place to set up his medical practice. At first he practiced in Houston County.
Wanting to return to Tyler County, he set up practice with several other doctors, including his brother Bower Barclay in Tyler County. Their nurse was Nurse Dean.
Later, Watt Barclay had his practice and his own hospital in Woodville. It was next to Watt and Myrtle's
home, across the street from where the automobile dealership is now. Then, it was down from the home of
George and Ida Hayes, where the Hayes had their family business, a service station and grocery store.
Watt's hospital was a frame house next door to his home. It had an entrance office waiting room and nurse's
station, a kitchen, a restroom, a laboratory room, a combination examination room and operating room, and
several hospital bedrooms for patients. In the back was another suite of hospital rooms for Negro patients.
There was an out building for laundry and equipment for the hospital. Myrtle sometimes did the sheets and
towels for the hospital at their home.
All of the usual activities of a hospital were carried on at Watt Barclay's Hospital. Some examples were the
Negro man who was brought into the hospital who had fallen into the timber saw at the sawmill at Cameron.
They thought he was too cut up and had lost too much blood to live. Watt worked on him all night long and
sewed him up. The sawmill employee was carried home the next day. He lived.
Watt hospitalized Mona Vinson Bush of Chester two months before the due date of her baby, who was delivered
at Watt's hospital. Mona said Watt thought she must be eating up everything in sight, because she was getting
so big. Mona said she was having only a leaf of lettuce and a very thin slice of tomato for lunch, and not much
else at other meals. He told her they could lose her, and he was putting her in the hospital where he could keep
an eye on her and keep her off her feet. Watt told Mona that her baby could weight 12 pounds if it went full term. Mona's son Morris Julian Bush was born two weeks later and six weeks early, on Mother's Day of 1946. He
was one of the first babies born to returning veterans after World War II, one of the very first of the so called
Baby Boom generation. Julian married LaVell Miles of Woodville. Julian Bush, who grew up in Chester, died in 1995 of a heart attack while at his home in Pasadena, Texas. He was employed as a teach and football coach.

Watt Barclay's life was intermingled with the advancement of modern medicine and its practice in Tyler County.
He carried medicine in Tyler County from operating on the kitchen table in the homes and on the farms to the
use of the x ray machine and penicillin. If a patients needed more than one doctor for surgery, he brought in a doctor from Beaumont. He was also asked to consult with some other doctors and assist them in surgery in
other counties. If the procedure needed was too complicated or advanced for his hospital, and there was time,
he drove the patient to Beaumont Hotel Due where he operated in their operating room.
There were many occasions of such emergency. One such time was when the woman who was giving birth was experiencing much difficulty. Watt held the baby inside the patient womb with his fist, while he drove the patient
to Beaumont for the delivery, a difficult one. Both the mother and the baby survived and did well.
In the previous generations, and in Watt's own generation, many mothers and their babies were lost in complications of childbirth in Tyler County due to a combination of reasons, such as small young mothers and
large babies, hemorrhaging, lack of sufficient medical help for complicated deliveries for which midwives were
not prepared, and other causes. There were more than a few cases where the mother was buried with the baby
in her arms in the coffin. When Virginia Ford was a young girl and worked in Watt's office, she asked Watt how come so many babies used to die. He said in those days a baby had to be tough to make it out in the country
without modern conveniences.
Besides his medical practice, Watt Barclay, at different times, served as a Major in the Air Force and served
as the Mayor of Woodville. He helped organize the volunteer Fire Department.

Virginia Ford Barclay Ashworth, whose first husband and the father of her children, Walter and Virginia Barclay, was Watt's brother Bower Barclay, told that Watt was known for making mighty good egg nog on New Year's Eve.
Virginia told of him starting out early one New Year's Eve and going out to his Uncle Walter Barclay's place near MT Zion church, several miles off the highway on a dirt road not so far from where Watt's grandparents Walter Barclay and Mary Jane Mahaffey had lived. It was known as a place to get a car stuck bad. When that happened, the only way out of the mud hole was to shove sticks and limbs and pine boughs, or a spread or blanket from the car, up under the tires, and try to drive over them without them popping out. That was hardly a job for one person. The other solution would be to leave the car, as it sure was not going any place, and walk out to the highway for help.
At the old Walter Barclay place, besides Uncle Walter, there would be cousin Myrt Barclay and likely other cousins there visiting. Watt carried them some egg nog. Then he went several other places after that, carrying them egg nog. He wound up before midnight at the fire station, with egg nog for the volunteer firemen. He just barely got home in time to kiss Myrtle Happy New Year's at midnight.
He made some trips out to check on his Uncle Walter, Henry F's brother, in Walter's old age. Walter Barclay's own children came to see him when they could, but it was war time and gas was rationed. There was not enough gasolene available in the cities where they lived for use other than in town, getting to and from work. Out of town trips were rare and not possible more than a few times a year. They were usually made at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother's Day and one time in the summer. People had to patch their tires with what they could, rubber not being available for civilian use. Even a trip from Beaumont to Woodville would always incur one flat tire and likely two, maybe on the same tire. The family would huddle on the side of the road in blankets, waiting, while the father and any brothers changed the tire. Walter Barclay's own children, who all lived in other towns by that time were unable to go to see him anywhere near as often as they would liked to have. Watt helped out by going out and checking on him and staying for dinner in the last years when he was bedridden, and there was just Myrt to be with him. Uncle Walter spent his last days in Watt Barclay's hospital where he died, in 1944. Walter Barclay and Mary J Mahaffey are buried at Mt Zion Cemetery.
In those days, doctors made house calls to patients who were too ill, or otherwise unable to go in to town to see the doctor. When Watt got there, he might find an emergency requiring surgery to be performed at night in the home on the kitchen table by a kerosene lamp for light. Or there might be a baby to be delivered. Electricity was not brought to the farms until 1948. There were also all of the usual illnesses, diseases or other ailments or accidents to be treated.
Ada and Jim Vinson's home was across the street from the Chester High School, next to the David's house, and across from the Karnes and Barnes houses. Having moved into town from the Gulf Pump Station down from the Mt Zion church. Jim Vinson had complained of severe heart pains for hours. Not able to ease him, she and daughter Zelda Seaman and Zelda's husband Clarence Seaman and son Ralph Winston (Beverly Simack, Beaumont) who lived neighbors to the Barclays and the Methodist Parsonage, had sent for Dr. Watt in Woodville. He was not at his office or home, but word was sent to him that he was needed at the Jim Vinson house. Time passed, and finally, Mona Vinson Bush, thinking that her father was dying, had gone out to the car and headed for Woodville to go find Watt and bring him back with her. When Watt finally arrived, he looked at Jim Vinson and said to Ada: "I am going to give him a shot that will either kill him or cure him". With that, Watt left and went on to his next call.
In awhile, Jim Vinson who had been sitting on the edge of the bed, fell back on the bed out cold. Ada was unable to revive him. Ada thought Jim was dead. She walked several hundred yards away in the dark, up to Zelda's house to tell them Jim was dead and to get Zelda and Clarence and Ralph to come help. When they got back to Ada and Jim's house, Mr. Jim was sitting up on the side of the bed. Thereafter, Ada Vinson and her daughters Zelda (C. Seamans), Ruby (G. W. Barclay), Jimmy (G Hayes) and Mona(M. Bush) told of Watt Barclay bringing James "Jim" Vinson back to life. Jim Vinson lived several more years, before he died around 1953 at the Tyler County Hospital in Woodville, Texas. Jim and Ada Vinson and their son, Aldridge, who died as a child of appendicitis, are buried at MT Zion cemetery.
Besides all of his Tyler County patients, all of the Barclays came to see DR Watt for examination, consultation and sometimes treatment. A trip to Woodville by out of town Barclays would likely include a trip by to see Watt every year or so. If it was a Sunday, he would open the hospital and have them come in to check their vitals. He would tell the women to take a short nap during the day to bring their blood pressure down.
If they had been diagnosed with an ailment by their own doctor in their home towns, they might go to Watt for a second opinion. One such occasion was when cousin Louise Barclay Turner had been diagnosed elsewhere with a tumor that was growing increasingly by the week and would have to come out. Surgery was planned. Omar Turner brought his wife Louise to see DR Watt for a second opinion. After examination, Watt came out to talk to Omar and said; "Congratulations, Popa". Omar and Louise, who were raised in the MT Zion area and lived in Overton, TX, were in their forties. They were the parents of adopted daughters Oleda, (Muslewhite) who was grown and had several children of her own, and Betty Jo (Sheffield), who was grown and newly married, the baby son that arrived a few months later, Curtis Ray Turner, was their first child by birth. Omar and Louise were killed in a car accident around 1967 when a train hit their car. Curtis Ray Turner married Dobson and they have three children. Their home is in the town of Richmond, south of Houston, TX.

Watt and Myrtle and Beverly did not get to vacation enough together, the duties of a doctor being such that someone could die while he was away from Tyler County. One of those rare times, around 1948, they went to visit cousin Buck, Lettie Vincent Barclay and son Paul in Meridian Louisana. Josh, George and Ruby, and Louise and Omar had all been visiting together at Louise's home at the Gulf Oil Station at Overton. Their baby brother, Henry Feagin, had come to visit from Kentucky. It was the first time they had seen him in many years, and the last time they were to see him. After the others had gone back to their homes in various cities, Watt, Myrtle and Beverly were visiting at Buck and Lettie's home. Buck had a heart attack, his first. Watt was the one to take him in the hospital. Buck died there, a few hours later that night. Buck and Lettie are buried at MT Zion cemetery. Their son Paul has been deceased several years.

Cousin George W rode up on the bus from Beaumont to Woodville to have Watt take his tonsils out on a Saturday, so George would not have to miss a day of work. Teddy, Watt's cousin once removed, came from Beaumont when she was in college to have Watt perform foot surgery for a planter wart. He examined it while they were at the Barclay reunion and then went over to the hospital and cut it out. The Barclays never even thought about going to doctors in their own cities and towns, if it was some kind of elective surgery and not of an emergency nature.

Many people and organizations were instrumental in the founding and establishment of the Tyler County Hospital. It opened its doors around 1950. One of those persons was Watt Barclay. The Tyler County Hospital has been added on to several times since it opened, but even then, it was a small modern hospital. Watt Barclay's picture may be seen on the walls of its entry hall.

Watt's Other Barclay Activities

Other family responsibilities that Watt Barclay fulfilled were that he served as President of the Barclay/Barkley Historical Society of Texas. During his tenure as president the society purchased monuments and marked the graves of many of the early Barclay pioneers in Tyler County, as earlier markers, which may have been of native rock, wood, or hand made of cement had deteriorated over time. Out of town visitors came as gas rationing permitted, and a dedication ceremony was held when the markers were set. He also served many years as the President of the Barclay reunion, which was held the second July in each year at the Kirkland Springs. Everyone looked forward to the iced down water melons he always brought in the afternoon, after the big dinner that the Barclay women had brought and spread together on the back two picnic tables. They were ready to eat again for that special treat.
Watt's picture is included in a composite of a group of individual pictures of Barclay men and other men that had Barclay mothers that will be featured online on the TCGS Web as well as the national Barclay Bastion online. Other relatives of Watt Barclay who were featured in that picture that was made by the Beaumont Enterprise in 1936 were; Hal Barclay, Lacy Barclay, Walter Barclay, Judge Okay, WW Anderson, Napoleon Bonapart Barclay, Bishop Barclay, Lee Barclay and others.
The timing of that particular picture and the accompanying news article was to tell of the Barclay reunion that had just taken place. It told of special recognition being given to the Walter Barclay family, honor being paid to Napoleon Bonapart Barclay who was the oldest living Barclay, and of a memorial read to John Henry Kirby from Peach Tree who had been a guest of the Barclays many times and had died the year before.
The Watt Barclay family was socially prominent in Tyler County. They were members of the First Baptist Church of Woodville. Watt was a member of the Masonic Lodge. Myrtle Barclay was very active in the Eastern Star for many years, and was a major facilitator for a big Eastern Star convention in Woodville. One time she co chaired some activities with Watt's cousin Josh Barclay's wife Ruthell Barclay. Ruthell's picture was in the paper holding her infant son Walter Phillip Barclay on that, or a similar occasion.

Myrtle was a good cook. She maintained a lovely and comfortable home for her family. She had a lovely yard and a beautiful rose garden to the side of their large brick home.

Beverly

Beverly was a beautiful little girl, and Myrtle dressed her to perfection. Myrtle taught Beverly nice manners and expected good behavior from her. Once, on an Easter Sunday morning when she was little and the First Baptist Church was still meeting in its wooden building, Beverly was dressed to perfection in an Easter Frock, complete with bonnet, purse and gloves, and Beverly misbehaved in church. Myrtle took her out and gave her a good talking to. When they returned, Beverly behaved very nicely. Beverly gave Watt and Myrtle much joy. She was a dignified and refined girl growing up, and she was smart. Myrtle dressed her daughter very well.
Beverly was active in the typical school activites at Kirby High School. She was a member of First Baptist Church and participated in the youth activities there. Her senior year in high school she was selected as the reigning Queen of the 1948 Dogwood Festival. Her picture may be seen in the back issues of the Festival publication.

Beverly met Dan Collie in college and married him soon after. She and Dan made their home in Beaumont where Dan practiced law. They had three children and several grandchildren.
Beverly visited Woodville in 1996 at the open house of her Uncle George W Barclay, the night before his funeral. She looked very much as she did as a girl, of medium height and with a slim figure and short brown hair. She is very attractive and well dressed and is soft spoken with an articulate and refined voice. She was accompanied by one of her daughters, a lovely young woman. Beverly said that since she was an only child and most of the Barclays were gone from Woodville when she was growing up, she did not know very much about them. She did the best she could and named her children Barclay names.

Watt and Myrtle's Death

It was a shock to the people of Tyler County when Watt Barclay had a heart attack at the close of a work day in Woodville. He was admitted to the Tyler County Hospital, but within a few hours was dead. He died much too young. His patients reactions were grief for Dr. Watt and his family, and fear for themselves. Some were sure that they would die soon, because Watt was keeping them alive. A short time before Dr. Watt's death, he had brought in young DR Swearingen as an associate.
Watt Barclay was sorely missed by the people of Woodville, and by his family. For awhile, Myrtle taught school. About two years after Watt's death, Myrtle, died suddenly. Watt Barclay and Myrtle M. Miller Barclay are buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Woodville.

Watt's Legacy

Watt Barclay left a legacy in Tyler County in the lives of his patients, many of whom are still living in Tyler County and some are the babies that he delivered there, both in his own hospital, and then the Tyler County Hospital. He kept a lot of his patients alive for many more years than they expected to live , and they attributed it to DR Watt. The Tyler County Hospital is a legacy of Watt Barclay. The descendants of Watt Barclay and Myrtle Miller Barclay are the major legacy.

Watt and Myrtle's Descendants

The descendants of Watt Barclay and Myrtle Miller Barclay are Beverly Barclay Collie and Beverly and Dan Collie's children and grandchildren

The End

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