Family Biographies: #2

The next biography is my father’s father’s father.  (Sounds like the Moody Blues, doesn’t it?)

John D. Waring, Sr. was born in Summerville, South Carolina 7th August 1872, the descendant of an early Colonial family; his ancestor Benjamin arrived in Charles Town, Carolina with his wife, family and servants in 1683.  John D. attended school in South Carolina and came to Texas in his early manhood, settling first in the Beaumont area.  Later he moved to Cleburne, where he married Flavia, the daughter of Col. Joseph Hall of that city, on 9 February 1898.  The young couple moved to Dublin, where John D. worked as a bookkeeper for Utterback & Harris.  Their first two children, John D., Jr. (1898–1954, married Frances Carson of Frederick, MD) Marion (1900–1990, married Tom F. Reese), were born during their time in Dublin.  Later the family moved to Hico for a short time, where another daughter, Laura Lu (1903–1993, married David Bruton), was born.  The family finally settled in Comanche around 1904.  A year later their fourth and last child, William Hayne (1905–1996, married Helen Barritt) arrived.

In Comanche John D. first worked for Neely-Harris-Cunningham as a bookkeeper, and in 1906 became partners with Thomas Dunlap to open Waring & Dunlap, an insurance firm.  Several years later he joined with J. R. Eanes & Co., a real estate, abstract, title, and insurance firm, and became a director and officer of the Comanche National Bank in the early 1920s.  After Mr. Eanes’s retirement, John D. remained an active participant in the insurance business until his own retirement in 1944.

Flavia was one of the organizers of the Comanche Study Club and was also active in church, social, and civic affairs.  Her later years were marred by an extended period of illness, and she died 12 April 1936 in Fort Worth.

John D. was a leader in both civic and church affairs, serving as mayor of Comanche as well as on the vestry of Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Church and participating actively in the affairs of the Diocese of Dallas.  He was a member of Masonic Hope Lodge #437, Chapter, and Council.

After his retirement, John D. lived with his daughter Laura Lu in California, where she worked in the scripts division of MGM.  In his last years he lived in Houston with his son Hayne, where he died 8 November 1952 following a long illness.