Jesse Edward Grinstead | |
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| Member of theTexas House of Representatives from the 99th district | |
| In office 1907–1908 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1866-10-16)October 16, 1866 Owensboro, Kentucky, US |
| Died | March 8, 1948(1948-03-08) (aged 81) Kerrville, Texas, US |
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Jesse Edward Grinstead (October 16, 1866 – March 8, 1948) was an American publisher, editor, poet and politician who in later life became a popular writer ofWestern fiction. Over his writing career Grinstead penned some 30 novels along with scores ofshort stories and articles that appeared in magazines and newspapers. At least two of his stories,The Scourge of the Little C (asTumbling River) andSunset of Power, becameHollywood films. Volumes of Grinstead's works were also published in Britain, Sweden and Spain.[1][2]
J. E. Grinstead was born atOwensboro, Kentucky, the son of William Travis Grinstead and Elizabeth Miranda Priest.[1][2] According to his brother, author Hugh Fox Grinstead, as a young man their father had served as a guard underLt. John James Abert during a U.S. ArmyCorps of Topographical Engineers survey of theAmerican Southwest, had made nine crossings of theGreat Plains as a wagon-master on trips to New Mexico and California, prospected for gold in theSacramento Valley, trekked on foot fromSan Juan del Sur toLake Nicaragua, transported supplies during theUtah War toGeneral Albert S. Johnston's headquarters atSalt Lake City and conveyed the firstthreshing machine toFort Bridger,Wyoming Territory.[3] By 1860 Grinstead's parents were married and living on a farm in or near Long Prairie inMississippi County, Missouri. After the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War Grinstead's family returned to Owensboro for the duration of the war.[1][2][4]
By 1868 Grinstead's family had returned to Missouri to a farm inPettis County, not far from where his grandfather, Jesse Grinstead, had farmed since before the 1840s. In 1884 the family left Missouri to settle inIndian Territory near the town ofOakland where William Grinstead would serve as their firstpostmaster. A few years later, when Grinstead's family relocated toWhitesboro, Texas, he chose to remain behind. He supported himself by working a variety ofodd jobs before finding full-time employment as a printer withThe Ardmore Weekly Courier. In 1893 Grinstead foundedThe Oakland 'Indian Territory' News, the town's first paper. Six years later he moved toKerrville, Texas in the vain hope that the climate there would help alleviate his wife's lung ailment.[5]
Within a year or so he purchasedThe Kerrville News and, inspired by the area's surrounding beauty, renamed itThe Kerrville Mountain Sun.[6] In 1903 he was elected mayor of Kerrville and in 1906 their representative (House District 99) in the 30th state legislature. While serving in theTexas House of Representatives he was instrumental in pushing through legislation that led to the creation of the State Tubercular Sanatorium inCarlsbad. In July 1908 Grinstead failed to winDemocratic support for a second term and was replaced by Sam O'Bryant who prevailed against hisRepublican opponent that November.[7][8] Grinstead also served on the Kerrville school board for many years.[2]
Grinstead sold his interest in theMountain Sun in 1917 to Terrell Publishing to devote his time to writing and other interests. He became a frequent contributor of Western fiction, sometimes under the pseudonyms, Tex Janis, William Crump Rush or George Bowles, to such pulp publications asBig-Book Western Magazine,Thrilling Ranch Stories,Western Romances,Argosy Magazine andFrontier Magazine. Grinstead published some 30 novels over his career along with numerous short stories and articles. Beginning in January 1921 through December 1925 Grinstead wrote and publishedGrinstead's Graphic, a monthly magazine of poetry and local interest stories tasked with promoting the Hill Country[9] during a period of hard times.[5]
The 1927silent filmTumbling River starringTom Mix was based on his novel,The Scourge of the Little C, and his story,Sunset of Power, was adapted for film in 1936 withBuck Jones in the lead role.
In December 1899 Grinstead's first wife, Sarah Frances, died at the age of 27 at Kerrville. The couple had three boys, Edward Everett (1892–1893), Grady Hugh (1894–1974) and Eugene Doyle (1897–1951). In 1900 he married Gertrude Wright (1868–1946), a widow who operated a boarding house in Kerrville. Three children, Jesse H. (1901–1942), Bessie G. (1903–1958), and Pam (1905–1974), soon followed.[5][10][11] By the time of her death in 1940, Grinstead's mother had been considered, at 107, the oldest living person in Missouri.[12]
Jesse Grinstead died at the age of 81 on March 8, 1948, at Kerrville and was interred at Oakwood Cemetery, Whitesboro. At the time Grinstead had reportedly left behind some 100 unpublished works, three of which he had recently submitted for publication.[2]
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