Hortense LeGory Sweet was the first daughter of Augustus LeGory and Eliza Hortense Wortham.  Because of her vivacious personality she was called "Happy" by her family and friends.

She was born February 25, 1885.  She married Ira Wilbur Sweet 1906.  He was  born June 5, 1869 in Wisconsin.

Ira Wilbur Sweet first attempted to operate a drug store in what was then the Pickwick Hotel lobby, located on the public square in Crockett but he was not successful so the couple moved west to Mertzon.  He died in a San Angelo hospital on August 3, 1916. After the death of her husband, Hortense returned to Crockett with his body, for his burial in the Glenwood Cemetery and to resume her life at her family home on North Fourth Street.  She never remarried.

Hortense supervised the family home for her father and siblings.  She cared for numerous people during the 1918 flu epidemic that struck Houston County with a severe blow.  She was an active worker with United Charities, development of the Glenwood Cemetery and volunteered for Red Cross duties.  Other civic enterprises were the March of Dimes, United Funds, was involved in the Good Roads Campaign in the 1930;s and served on the Centennial Committee for the State and County in 1936 and 1937.  She was a Charter member of O.E.S. Chapter No. 509, David Crockett Chapter of Daughters of the Republic of Texas and an initial member of the Houston County Historical Survey Committee.

An ardent Democrat, Hortense L. Sweet was active in political campaigning and was proud to have received official presidential inauguration invitations from John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

With the death of her father, A. LeGory, in 1930 and the sale of the family home, Hortense moved into the house of a maternal aunt, Loucina Wortham Long on East Houston Avenue.  Along with caring for "Aunt Cina", Hortense enjoyed baking homemade bread and rolls for family, friends and newcomers.  She also shared her household (after the death of Aunt Cina in 1938), with young women from the outlying areas of the county who came into Crockett seeking work and needing a place to live.

Hortense Sweet was honored on her 75th birthday anniversary with a county-wide birthday party.  She died of cancer June 24, 1963, and rests beside her husband in the north sector of Glenwood Cemetery.

Source:  Eliza H. Bishop

Hortense Sweet's home - East Houston Avenue - Crockett