John Wingate Truitt cabin undergoes restoration

By Marlene J. Bohr
mbohr@steelcountrybee.com

Ancestry is very important to descendants of John Wingate Truitt. Mr. Truitt built a cabin 1841 near Jenkins that was chosen as an archeological site by the Texas Historical Commission in 2009. Since that time, his relatives have banded together with funds, and the cabin has been under a vast remodeling project to bring it back to its original status.
“The financing is done by a lot of the Truitt cousins,” said Dale Truitt, a cousin from Commerce. “I am a fourth generation Truitt. Most of the cousins living now are third cousins.”
Mr. Truitt said the work is nearly finished on the cabin, and there will be a dedication ceremony sometime later this year.
“Phil Johnston from Jenkins is doing the restoration,” Mr. Truitt said. “He cut the logs and put them in place.
“We have built two pavilions over the cabin to protect it. The first one had a hurricane come through and it laid the pavilion down on the roof of the cabin. We put another pavilion over the cabin again. The cabin is here to stay.”
The cousins meet yearly for a family reunion at South Union Baptist Church.
“There are about 100 cousins that show up for the reunion,” Mr. Truitt said. “No one will be living at the cabin though. It is being restored just as a historical house for the community.”
John Wingate and Elizabeth Truitt built the cabin there because it was near a springs which they called Mandy Springs.
“Mandy was a slave girl who worked for the family,” Mr. Truitt said. “They built the cabin on a hill above the springs. The well is about 80 feet deep.”
John Wingate Truitt was born Dec. 19, 1801, in Worchester County, Md. When he was 37 years of age, he traveled from Alabama to Texas to apply for a head right of 320 acres in Jenkins. He returned to Alabama, but returned, bringing his family back to Texas. The family is listed in the 1840 U.S. Federal Census. The Truitts had eight children, according to descendant Lou Richards.
Descendants said the Truitt cabin was probably built with the help of slaves because Mr. Truitt owned five slaves. The cabin, built of logs, sits on a hill overlooking Farm-to-Market Road 144 near Jenkins.
There were no nails used in building the structure. It has been taken apart log by log. Some logs have been replaced, but the cabin is being put back together as close to that as possible.
The cabin had one fireplace on the east side of the house, according to people who lived there in the 1930s. The cabin consisted of two rooms with an open porch between them. The foundation of the cabin is made of indigenous stone. Notches were cut in the cabin walls for firing ports used by riflemen inside to protect the family from Comanche Indians. The original well is still on the property located about 50 feet north of the cabin.
The present property includes nearly four acres on the north side of Farm-to-Market Road 144 and approximately nine acres on the south side. The cabin sits on the north side.
The Truitts and several descendants are buried in the Clark Cemetery in the Jenkins Community. There is a round seal in front of the monuments of the Truitts.
“The seals at the tombstones for John Wingate Truitt and his wife were placed there depicting they were citizens of the Republic of Texas,” Mrs. Richards said.