Ima Hogg

Yes. The CooperToons website has been

LAX

For all the 500-plus tributes to celebrities, for all the recounting of history, science, and philosophy, and for all the educational essays dedicated to eradicating ignorance and superstition, it had never paid tribute to the

FIRST LADY
   OF
   TEXAS

... who as all know is Miss¹

IMA
     HOGG

No, this isn't some joke in poor taste. Ima Hogg was one of the most prominent citizens of Texas in the 20th century. Throughout her long life, she was best known for her support and furthering the arts in the Lone Star State.

Ima was born in 1882 to Jim and Sarah Hogg. Jim had worked in the newspaper business and then qualified as an attorney. He soon began getting involved in local politics and then moved up to state offices.

Tragically, Sarah died of tuberculosis when Ima was only thirteen. Her aunt, Fannie, told her she should never marry or she would transmit the disease. Whether it was this absurd advice or simply her preference, Ima never did.

Ima more or less assumed the duties of lady of the house. She did much of the housework (although they did have a maid) and acted as hostess when visitors came. This was frequent as Jim Hogg was an increasingly important man in Texas.

Big Jim - he tipped the scales at 275 pounds (the same as football great Bubba Smith) - was born in the East Texas town of Rusk, a city well-known for its native born citizens of exceptional ability, talent, and intelligence. As a father he gave his children the best advice he could. To his eldest, Will, he said "exercise freely, sweat often." He had two other sons, Tom and Mike, both Irma's junior.

And no - and pardon us if we shout -

IMA HOGG
      DID NOT
     HAVE A
     SISTER
      NAMED
    URA

Despite the extensive documentation that the Hogg children comprised only the three boys and Ima, there are people - even some well-educated Texians - who go into spittle flinging diatribes when insisting on the veracity of this mythical sister. And this hogwash (or is it hoGGwash?) was circulating well before the Internet and was being told even in Ima's lifetime.

Stories of why Jim picked his daughter's particular name are not consistent. In one telling the name is from a poem. Another is that it was simply a reminder that Ima should be proud to be of the Hogg family. But we suspect that Jim just thought it was funny².

In 1890, Jim ran for governor. He kicked off his campaign in Rusk (the city, etc., etc.) and in his announcement he spoke for nearly three hours. He was a staunch Democrat and railed against Big Business which was the Big Railroads and Big Insurance. As most Texans were small farmers and businessmen, he was elected and then re-elected. Since the governor's tenure was limited to two terms of two years, Jim left office in 1895.

Jim liked having Ima with him on his travels. Among other things she kept her dad and his friends on their best behavior. She would even sit at the table and watch Jim's friends play poker. Ima said her dad didn't join in the game nor did he drink during these well-fueled sessions of income leveling. In 1898 she went with her father to Hawaii where they attended the ceremony celebrating the islands' establishment as a United States territory.

Jim didn't leave office particularly wealthy (in fact he had to borrow money just to move out of the governor's residence). However, he set up a law office with his friend James Robertson and like many people who railed against big business he found that maybe big business wasn't so bad after all if you could make some cash at it. So he began to speculate in the oil business. He and his partners formed The Texas Company. The organization prospered and soon you could trust your car to the Hogg who made the Star. Yep, The Texas Company soon changed it's name to ...

Well, never mind.

Big Jim died in 1906 age 51 which was about the median expectancy for the era³. Although his heftiness was a contributing factor so were complications from an injury the year before. He was traveling from West Columbia near their plantation to Houston when the train collided with a string of railroad cars. The collision was not very serious in itself - it was termed a "minor" accident - but Jim was thrown to the floor. He injured his neck which produced an abscess that required surgery. Jim was never well afterwards, and he died at a friend's home in Houston.

Jim's death was a shock to Ima, and it was over a year before Will was able to write that his sister had recovered. But Ima was independent by nature, and Jim had been all for his daughter getting a good education. In 1899 she had enrolled at the University of Texas and she focused on music. Later she would study piano in Europe with Franz Schawenka who was the pianist for Francis Joseph I of Austria as well as with Martin Krause in Germany. Martin was another big name who had himself been a student of none other than the great Franz Liszt. By all accounts Ima was a high caliber player but decided against a concert career although when she got back to Texas in 1909 she did teach piano to select students.

With her musical training Ima was determined to bring culture to Texas. Among her first efforts were in 1913 when she helped set up the Houston Symphony Orchestra, a distinguished ensemble that's still going strong.

Of course this was early 20th century Texas with lots of remnants of the Wild and Wooly days. One early morning she was surprised by what she called a "gentleman burglar". He had entered her bedroom - she called it her boudoir - and when he saw he wasn't alone he politely explained he had gotten into the wrong house by mistake. He beat a hasty retreat without taking anything. Ima wrote to Will about the incident, saying she didn't think the burglar was a bad man.

Another side effect of living where the legacy of the Wild West was part of daily life, the Hoggs - including Ima - were quite open minded about people's private lives being no one else's business. Once there was an investigation about suspicious activities in town, and a grand jury called on Will for advice.

"Mr. Hogg," asked the foreman, "we are investigating a young woman who has a small cottage near your home. We understand she is a widow living alone with one child. Our information is she receives an unusually large number of gentlemen callers, some at quite later hours. Can you throw any light on this situation?"

Will replied that he thought the government taking time to investigate a poor penniless widow was ridiculous. As far as the lady's gentlemen callers, he said, "I don't know how often they drop in, and I don't give a damn." The jury had no further questions.

In 1919, the Hoggs found that there was indeed oil in them there plantations. They struck the bubblin' crude on their land, and it was enough to provide them with $225,000 per month. With her share Ima built a house at Bayou Bend in the Houston area and Will and Mike would spend time there as well. Among other things Ima packed the house with original art works, and in 1957 she donated the house to the state, and it became the basis for Houston's Museum of Fine Arts.

In addition to the arts Ima was particularly interested in furthering mental health for those who needed help. Although she never talked about it, there are indications she had suffered from bouts of depression, with at least one particularly severe episode occurring in her mid-thirties. When Will died in 1930, Ima and Mike donated his legacy - over $1,000,000 - for a fund to help those with mental problems.

For the rest of her life Ima continued to work as a philanthropist, and she loved to travel. In 1975 and at age 93, she was visiting London and had just finished shopping with a companion. As they opened the door to the taxi, it rolled forward and Ima fell to the ground, breaking her hip. She remained calm - calmer than most of the people who ran up to give her assistance. Although the surgery was successful and the prognosis was good, she died five days later on August 19.

References

Ima Hogg: The Governor's Daughter, Virginia Bernhard, Brandywine Press, 1984, 1996.

"Ima Hogg, July 10, 1882 - August 19, 1975", Texas Originals, Humanities Texas.

The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix, Martin Gardner, Prometheus Books, 1985.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

How Many of Me.