The Ledbetter Diaries

Col. John Jackson Ledbetter Jr. kept personal diaries from September 1928 through 1961. His son William Burl Ledbetter transcribed them in December 2008, preserving a remarkable first-person account of one family’s experience across the Depression, the Second World War, and the rise of mid-century Texas. Several years are missing (1930, 1933, 1950, 1952–53, 1955–56), but the surviving entries fill more than thirty pages.

What follows are selected excerpts, organized by theme.

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The Purpose of Life

In August 1929, while living in Dallas and working as an office engineer, Ledbetter wrote a multi-page philosophical essay in his diary. He was twenty-seven years old.

I have been thinking considerably of late along the lines of success, failure, the purpose of life, religion, etc. In thinking about subjects of this kind one always has a feeling of humility. The mind is so small in comparison to the subject it would grapple with that the thoughts seem to come to a jumping off place, so as to speak or to round a bend and come to a vertical wall of unlimited height and infinite breadth.

Anyone is certain of life. That is, every person is certain that he lives. Or better still, for the purpose of this line of reasoning, I am certain that I am alive. Life was given me with no effort on my part and I have no way of finding out how it came about or exactly what is the purpose of life.

I shall therefore try to become proficient in some line of endeavor that will be a benefit to society and in time depend upon society for those things which I cannot get for myself due to my time being taken up by specialization.

He kept his word. Over the next decade he became both a licensed attorney and a registered professional engineer — while raising two sons and working full-time for the International Boundary Commission.

Depression-Era Life

The Depression touched everything. On May 16, 1932, in El Paso: “Bank failed to open for business.” He filed affidavits with the State Banking Department for the $6.87 in his name and the $20 in his infant son Jack Wallace’s savings account.

In October 1928, after the San Antonio Flood Prevention Department abolished his position, he spent days writing letters seeking engineering work in Dallas, Kansas City, Waco, and Houston. His bank balance: $52.28 after outstanding checks.

Tires cost $7.40 each. His new glasses were $21.00. When his first son needed a Mickey Mouse watch after a tonsillectomy, he noted the expense. Every dollar was tracked.

On Marriage

An evening in August 1929, after visitors Alice and Henry left:

As it occurs to me there are three causes for unhappiness in marriage. First: The failure of one or the other or both to see, recognize, and fulfill their own duties and responsibilities of married life. Second: The desire on the part of one to regulate the details of the other one’s life for the good of the other one as the one sees it. Third: The inability of the one to see wherein he was wrong about a certain point and the other was right.

The Birth of William Burl Ledbetter

September 15, 1934, El Paso:

Took Leonora down town before breakfast and had Plaza Drug fix her a 1-1/2 oz dosage of castor. At 2:00 p.m. took her to Dr. Rennick’s office and he then took her up to Dr. Turner’s office and had an x-ray picture taken of the baby. We then went to the hospital, Hotel Dieu, arriving there at 3:00 p.m. Leonora went into the delivery room at 7:30 p.m. and at 9:31 p.m., a five pound boy, William Burl Ledbetter, was born. Leonora in room 403 Hotel Dieu. Bill was 19-1/2 inches long. Bill’s exact weight was 4 lb, 15-3/4 oz.

For months afterward, the diary became an infant health record of startling precision:

Bill weighed 6 lb 3-3/4 oz gross before feeding and 6 lb 6 oz after feeding, indicating that he got 2-1/4 oz milk. (October 4, 1934)

The Murder of Margaret Ledbetter

On February 3, 1936, a telegram arrived in El Paso: “Margaret had fatal accident shipping body home.” Margaret was Ledbetter’s sister. She had married Rico Dewey and was living near Live Oak, Florida.

Over the following days, the story unraveled through telegrams. First: “Accident Sunday night cause unknown.” Then: “Margaret death caused by self inflicted gunshot wound in her home.”

Ledbetter drove from El Paso to Blytheville, Arkansas — through Dallas, Texarkana, and snow-covered roads — arriving at 11:00 p.m. Rico Dewey was at the house and told his version of events.

On February 28, 1936, Ledbetter filed an insurance claim with Metropolitan Life, stating plainly:

On February 1, 1936 my sister, Margaret Ledbetter Dewey, was killed near Live Oak, Florida. I have been informed that the Coroner’s jury held that her death resulted from a gunshot wound self inflicted… My sister’s husband and mother-in-law are now charged with murder in connection with my sister’s death. I do not believe that the gunshot wound which caused my sister’s death was self inflicted.

On June 10, 1937: “Received from Circuit Court Clerk at Live Oak, Fla, a certified copy of papers relating to R.J. Dewey’s conviction and sentence to 20 yrs at hard labor for Margaret’s murder.”

The Winter of 1937

The most sustained crisis in the early diaries. Starting January 23, 1937, nearly every family member fell sick with overlapping respiratory infections. Ledbetter tracked temperatures obsessively:

Stayed home all day taking care of family. Dr. Dutton came out to the house early this morning and late this evening. Jack had temp of 103 to 104 all day. Bill and Leonora in bed sick; had fever. (January 25)

Dr. Rennick out this afternoon. Said Bill still had moisture on left lung. (February 7)

X-rays showed “unresolved pneumonia” in Bill’s chest. On February 14, Ledbetter loaded the whole family — Leonora, Jack, Bill, and maid Augustina — into the Chevy and drove from El Paso to San Antonio. Then Jack got measles. Then Bill got measles. Jack’s fever spiked to 104.4. Bill developed croup. The crisis lasted nearly three months.

Japan Surrenders

August 14, 1945, Ann Arbor, Michigan:

President Truman announced by radio at 7:00 p.m. that Japan had accepted surrender terms.

Ledbetter had been training at the Civil Affairs School at the University of Michigan, studying Japanese language and culture for deployment to occupied Japan. His classmates left by train for the West Coast. Ledbetter, too ill to join them, was sent to Percy Jones General Hospital instead.

Jack Wallace and Annapolis

In the spring of 1947, Ledbetter’s elder son Jack Wallace — president of the Senior Class at Austin High School — received word from Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson:

Jack W. received wire from Lyndon B. Johnson advising that Duke had withdrawn and that Jack was principal appointee to Annapolis. Jack answered wire accepting appointment. (June 29, 1947)

On July 9, Ledbetter and Jack visited Johnson’s office at the House Office Building in Washington. Four days later:

Went to Annapolis this afternoon and saw Jack Wallace. He was sworn in yesterday as a midshipman US Naval Academy.

Jack graduated on June 1, 1951: “Attended graduation exercises for Class of 1951 in Dalgren Hall US Naval Academy. Jack Wallace graduated and commissioned as Ensign USN. Gen George C. Marshall made principal address.”

The Surgery

By 1951, Ledbetter’s ulcer had defeated every treatment. On March 5, at Brooke Army Hospital, Fort Sam Houston:

About 80 to 90% of my stomach removed this morning by Col Shaeffer, Col. Collins, Maj. Fisher & Maj. Stroud.

Recovery was difficult. Vomiting continued for weeks. The illness that had shadowed him since the 1930s would never fully release its grip.

The Later Years

The final diaries (1957–1961) document a quieter, sometimes troubled life in Austin. Ledbetter maintained law offices at the Austin Hotel and the Austin Club. He played golf at the Austin Country Club, fished on Lake Austin, and tracked the births of his grandchildren with the same precision he had once brought to infant feeding schedules.

On July 19, 1954: “Jack W. Ledbetter called from Norfolk about 5:50 a.m. Reported that son John Jackson Ledbetter II, wt 6 lb 9-1/2 oz born in Norfolk at 4:51 a.m.”

On June 13, 1957: “William Burl Ledbetter Jr. Wt 7# born 6:00 p.m. at St David’s Hospital in Austin, Texas. 20-1/2 in. height.”

His divorce from Leonora was granted on November 6, 1958. He married Neva Clifton Moore in Reynosa, Mexico, on April 1, 1959. The 1961 diary — his last — ends in December. He died on July 19, 1963, at the age of sixty-one.

He is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, Texas, Section PE, Grave 421C.