SIX FAMILIES - SIX STORIES - SIX DAYS - ONE TEXAS!
Day 1 — The Hogg Family: Faith & Public Service
Long before Texas became the giant state we know today, a young East Texas lawyer named James Stephen Hogg believed government should serve ordinary Texans—not just the powerful. Born near Rusk in 1851, Hogg became Texas's first native-born governor, serving from 1891 to 1895. He championed public education, the University of Texas, and honest government.
But perhaps his greatest legacy was what he taught his children. Hogg and his wife, Sallie, raised four children with a strong sense of responsibility toward their fellow Texans. Their daughter, Ima Hogg, carried that lesson throughout her remarkable life.
When oil eventually brought the Hogg family wealth, Ima did not simply enjoy it. She helped establish the Houston Symphony, served on the Houston school board, supported education, preserved historic Texas places, and became a pioneer in improving mental-health services.
In 1940, the Hogg children helped establish the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at the University of Texas.
The Hoggs left Texas more than a fortune. They left a philosophy: If Texas gives you an opportunity, give something back to Texas.
TOMORROW: Day 2 of... Six Familes - Six Stories - Six Days - One Texas!
Thanks for viewing. God bless Texas! God bless America! See less
SIX FAMILIES – SIX STORIES – SIX DAYS – ONE TEXAS
Day 2 — The Cullen Family: Education, Medicine & Philanthropy
Texas has always produced people who believed that success carried a responsibility to others. Few demonstrated that belief more clearly than Hugh Roy and Lillie Cullen of Houston.
Hugh Roy Cullen built his fortune in the Texas oil fields, becoming one of the state's most successful independent oilmen. But the Cullen legacy was not measured by the wealth they accumulated. It was measured by what they gave back.
The Cullens became major supporters of the University of Houston, helping establish the young university as a place where working men and women could pursue an education without leaving home. They also gave generously to medical education and hospitals, including Baylor College of Medicine and the developing Texas Medical Center.
In 1947, Hugh Roy and Lillie established the Cullen Foundation, dedicating a substantial portion of their wealth to education, health care, public service and the arts.
Their example continues through generations of Cullen family philanthropy.
The Cullen legacy reminds us that success has its greatest value when it becomes an opportunity for others.
Six Families - Six Stories - Six Days - One Texas!
Day 3 — The Jones Family
Building Texas Through Vision and Service
When we think about the people who helped build modern Texas, the name Jesse H. Jones deserves a place among them.
Born in Tennessee, Jones came to Texas as a young man and built a remarkable business career in Houston. He helped transform the city by financing and developing major commercial buildings, including the famous Rice Hotel, while investing his time and resources in Houston's growth.
But Jones's service went far beyond business. During the Great Depression, he led the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, helping stabilize banks and businesses across America. During World War II, he served as Secretary of Commerce and played an important role in mobilizing America's industrial resources for the war effort.
Jesse and his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones, also believed that success carried a responsibility to give back. Through Houston Endowment, they supported education, medicine, religion, and charitable causes throughout Texas.
Their legacy reminds us that building a great state requires more than making money. It requires vision, service, sacrifice, and a willingness to invest in the people who come after us.
That is part of the Jones family legacy—and part of what helped make Texas great.
Tomorrow, Day 4 - We learn how the MOODY FAMILY prospered Texas.
SIX FAMILIES — SIX STORIES — SIX DAYS — ONE TEXAS
DAY 4 — THE MOODY FAMILY
William Lewis Moody Jr. — Building Texas Through Enterprise & Giving
When we look at the Texas we know today, some family names stand out because they did more than build businesses. They helped build communities.
One of those names is William Lewis Moody Jr. Born in Fairfield, Texas, in 1865, Moody joined his father's Galveston business and went on to become one of the state's most influential financiers and entrepreneurs.
In 1889, he established the Moody Bank in Galveston. He later expanded into insurance, banking, publishing, ranching and other enterprises. His American National Insurance Company became an important part of the family's growing business interests.
But the Moody story is not simply about wealth. It is also about what was done with that wealth. William Lewis Moody Jr. and his wife, Libbie Rice Shearn Moody, established the Moody Foundation in 1942. After his death in 1954, his daughter Mary Moody Northen carried the family's business and philanthropic traditions forward.
The Moody family's support eventually touched education, health care, historical preservation, the arts and communities throughout Texas. That is an important part of the Texas story.
The state's growth was not built only by politicians or oilmen. It was also built by entrepreneurs who created institutions, invested in communities and established philanthropic legacies that continued long after their own lifetimes.
The Moody legacy reminds us that building Texas is not only about what we accumulate. It is also about what we leave behind.
WILLIAM LEWIS MOODY JR. 1865–1954
Texas enterprise. Texas institutions. A legacy of giving.
SIX FAMILIES — SIX STORIES — SIX DAYS — ONE TEXAS
DAY 5 — THE MURCHISON FAMILY
Clint W. Murchison Sr. — Oil, Enterprise & the Expansion of Texas
Few stories better illustrate the explosive transformation of Texas during the twentieth century than that of Clint W. Murchison Sr.
Born in Tyler, Texas, in 1895, Murchison came from a family with deep roots in East Texas banking. That financial background would prove invaluable when he entered the young and unpredictable oil business. In 1919, Murchison and his lifelong friend Sid Richardson entered the Burkburnett oil boom near Wichita Falls as oil-lease traders. They understood something important: the new Texas oil economy required more than wells. It required capital, transportation, pipelines, refining, natural gas and business organization. Murchison became an early major developer in the East Texas oilfield. He acquired extensive leases and built the Tyler Pipe Line to move crude oil to a refinery in Tyler and onward toward Houston. In 1929, he helped establish Southern Union Gas Company.
Then came Delhi Oil Corporation in 1945, which grew into one of America's major independent integrated oil companies. Murchison's vision eventually reached beyond Texas, including major natural-gas development in Canada and the construction of the 2,100-mile Trans-Canada Pipe Lines. But Murchison was never simply an oilman. He diversified into insurance, banking, transportation, publishing, manufacturing, construction and ranching. His business philosophy reflected a characteristic Texas willingness to take risks, build boldly and look beyond the immediate opportunity.
His sons, particularly Clint Murchison Jr., continued the family's business tradition and became important figures in Dallas and American sports history.
The Murchison story therefore belongs in the story of Texas because it represents a crucial transition: Texas was no longer merely a frontier state with enormous natural resources. It was becoming an economic powerhouse.
Clint W. Murchison Sr. was one of the entrepreneurs who helped make that transformation possible.
CLINT W. MURCHISON SR.
1895–1969
He saw opportunity beneath the Texas soil—and built an enterprise above it.
Historical sources: Texas State Historical Association; University of North Texas Libraries; Texas historical resources.
Tomorrow, Day 5 - Elon Musk Story
SIX FAMILIES — SIX STORIES — SIX DAYS — ONE TEXAS
DAY 6 — ELON MUSK
A New Texan — Building Toward the Texas of Tomorrow
Our final story is different.
The first five families in this series belong primarily to Texas history. Our sixth story points toward Texas history still being written. That story is Elon Musk and SpaceX at Starbase, Texas. Musk was not born in Texas. His connection to our state came later. But today, his Texas venture represents something remarkable.
At Starbase in South Texas, SpaceX has established its headquarters and a major center for the development, manufacturing, testing and launching of Starship—the company's next-generation spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket. This is not simply another industrial facility. It represents Texas becoming a major center of the emerging commercial space industry. For generations, Texans looked toward the horizon and asked what could be built next. Oil transformed Texas. Railroads connected it. Banking and industry financed its growth. Entrepreneurs expanded its cities and businesses. Now another generation is looking upward.
The significance of Musk's Texas story is not that every prediction about the future will come true. History rarely works that way. Its significance is that Texas continues to attract people willing to attempt things that have never been done before.
At Starbase, rockets are being designed, manufactured, tested and launched on the Texas Gulf Coast. Engineers, technicians, construction workers and thousands of others are contributing to an industry that could influence transportation, communications, national security and eventually human exploration beyond Earth. That makes Elon Musk a fitting—and very different—final chapter in our six-family story.
The earlier families helped build the Texas we inherited.
Musk and the people working at Starbase represent one possibility for the Texas we are leaving to tomorrow. And perhaps that is the greatest lesson of all:
Texas has never been finished.
The next chapter is still being written.
ELON MUSK A New Texan — Looking Beyond the Horizon
From the oil fields of yesterday to the launch pads of tomorrow.
Historical source: SpaceX, Starbase and Starship information.