A letter from Elisabeth Hall Stone[1] to her nephew, Wesley Walker Hall, on the occasion of his graduation from medical school.

Comments by Toxey Ashmore Hall, June 27, 1999.

		Ocean Springs, Ms. 39564 
		May 1, 1993
Dear Wookie,      

	Since I seem to be about the last member of your family who might remember some of the following, I thought I'd better put it down on paper while I have a part of my mind still working.      

	On May 15, 1993, you, Wesley Walker Hall, will become the 5th generation of a medical dynasty of Wesley W. Hall, M.D.'s.  With you will go all the accolades, congratulations, good wishes and prayers of all your relatives who are so proud of you and your outstanding records.  I know of four generations before you who will be keeping an eye on you (some from above !) and lend you the encouragement to fulfill your Hippocratic Oath as they did to help those in need of their care. May God go with you every step of the way.      
	The first of the Hall dynasty, to my knowledge, was your great- great grandfather, Wesley Wyatt Hall [2], who was born November 22, 1850, near Meridian, Mississippi.  He was married to Julia Elizabeth Wright (b. April 12, 1853) with whom he had two children, Amanda and my father, Wesley William Hall, before having a "falling out" with some of his family over, as I was told, a cow! It must have been a doozy of a family row, for, my mother said, he never mentioned any of his family after she knew him. She also told me that he was a very intelligent, high-spirited, dedicated doctor, but inclined to have a quick temper when provoked.      
	He and his family moved to Lumberton about 1880, where they opened a hotel in the middle of town right by the railroad tracks, a most desirable location for meeting the "drummers" (traveling salesmen) who always stayed at the hotel. I have in my possession a large wooden biscuit bowl and board which my grandmother used to make at least a jillion biscuits for her customers while there. I'm sure that my grandmother, who was a rather small, energetic, no-nonsense type of lady, got tired of having him help(?) her and being underfoot,   so she persuaded my grandfather to go to medical school.  It was at the Mobile College of Medicine, in Mobile, Alabama, in 1882 that he was awarded his medical degree and also where he had as a favorite instructor, a Dr. Toxey.  I have been told that my grandfather told Dr. Toxey that, if he passed all his courses, he would name his next son Toxey, in his honor.  Grandma was pregnant at the time so when he was born several months later, he was the first of many Toxey Hall's --He was the only one that I know of who was not given a middle name. Since his birth, there have been many who were named for him - four Toxey Hall's in my family and four in his family.  Of all his namesakes, my brother, Toxey Ellis Hall, was the only one who became a doctor.  Uncle Toxey studied law and became a very popular, well-known district attorney both state and federal, for many years. Ever so often we have run into a Toxey Hall-"Somebody" down here in South Mississippi, but only the eight I mentioned above were relatives.      

After completing his medical education in Mobile, he came back to Lumberton, where he practiced until his death in 1902.  His oldest son, Wesley William Hall, my father, was born on February 17, 1876 in Rose Hill, Mississippi.  He attended high school in Poplarville, Ms., at the Pearl River County High School and college (two years)-where he roomed for several years with Theodore G. Bilbo, [3] a rather small, charismatic young  man. Bilbo studied law and became quite a political force in this state. His was a very colorful, up and down reign of offices, from school teacher to state legislature, to governor's office and  later the 'U,. S. Senate. Through all his ups and downs, he was a died-in-the-wool segregationist, but he and my father kept and cherished their life long friendship. I am told that when Bilbo was governor, he named my father to the State Board of Health, where he was named or elected president of that group. It was during his presidency that the Tuberculosis Sanatorium was built and a plaque, bearing his name, is still on one of the oldest buildings there. It is now an institution for the mentally retarded and handicapped. It was also during my father’s term of office that he, my mother and I (a small child) were invited to spend several days at the governor's mansion, and, many years later, I was shown the "baby bed" (an antique now) that I slept in. My claim to fame!      
My father, Wesley William Hall, your great grandfather, finished medical training at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee in 1900. He was vice president of his class his senior year. He went back to Lumberton where with his father opened the first group of Hall and Hall M.D.’s. It was that same year that he met, fell in love with and married my mother, Carolina Calhoon Ellis in June 1900.   After her husband's death in 1903, Grandma Hall kept home for her youngest son, Lee Davis Hall with whom she lived until he went to W.W.I-THE BIG ONE. After that she shared her time with the sons and daughters - spending a few months with each one.   She was living with my family when my older brother Wesley Whitfield and Louise Wilkinson were married-and I have a picture of her holding Louise's beautiful bridal bouquet. It was not long after that that she died in Bay Springs where she was spending a time (as she called it) with her oldest child Amanda Ryan. She was buried next to her husband in the City Cemetery in Lumberton, Ms.  The third Wesley W. (Whitfield) Hall was my brother, born on July 11, 1906 in Lumberton. When the mill closed in 1915, like so many mill towns, Lumberton became a ghost town. With a wife and two young boys to take care of, my father scouted around for a new location in the Mississippi Delta and moved to Ruleville, MS, just months before I was born in February 8, 1916.  He accepted this offer (office furnished free in the local drug store with the promise of his prescriptions being given to the pharmacist there) where he had been led to believe that Ruleville (30 miles from the county seat, Indianola - a long way to travel on dirt roads) would be named the second county seat of Sunflower County. That was before Bilbo became governor, and I've always been told that, had he then been governor he’d have used his weight in getting it passed through the legislature. The bill did not pass, and my father was disappointed with the young Delta that had been so glowingly described to him and accepted another offer given to him in Gunnison, MS, on the River. Shortly after he and his family, two boys and "Little Sister", moved there, the high school closed and "the boys" were forced to drive to Rosedale, a second county seat of Bolivar County. Daddy, bless his heart, never did get to practice medicine in a county seat - which seemed to hold some attraction for him. Wesley (Son) drove himself, his brother Toxey (or Brother) and two teenagers the twelve miles to Rosedale when he was 11 years old.[4]  My Mother never really liked the Delta – especially living at the bottom of a levee between her and the mighty Mississippi River - which threatened yearly to "break through".  God must have understood her worry about this problem, and "called to rest" one of the older practicing physicians in Shelby- twelve miles east of Gunnison and a fairly good distance from a levee break. It was to Shelby that the family moved in the summer of 1919.   The nucleus of the first hospital was started there when the sign Wesley W. Hall M.D. was first shown. By this time my father had become quite ill, suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and nephritis - a bad combination then that had very few antidotes. Worried about his health - with a possible fatal disease, and the prospect of not being able to send "the Boys" to medical school, he called his two lawyer brothers, Toxey and Lee, to help him to decide about an insurance policy he had. The company had offered him a settlement of $2500.00 or a monthly payment of $300.00 per month for as long as he lived. It was a gamble of course - but not knowing whether he’d live a month longer or many years, he gambled and lost. He lived about 15 years longer. On the advice of his two brothers he took the $2500.00 and had "the boys" build three small rental houses on a lot across "the lake" (really a nice sized ditch but always referred to as shown above). [5]  Both Wesley and Toxey were in their teens - but my father had all the confidence in the world in his boys- and with the help of a carpenter or two, and much advice from my Daddy (supervising every   nail that was driven) - they built, wired, plumbed, roofed all three during the summer months. That was in the early 20's and they are still standing. My father was never a good businessman either. As a wedding present, he gave his sister Mary and her husband, John Summer, a good bit of stock held had for several years in a fairly new soft drink company, Coca Cola. Uncle John took it, went into business, and made a fortune.  
As I said, Daddy thought Wesley especially, could do anything- and when he was hardly more than a kid, he drove all the family except Daddy to visit my mother's father, Rev. Gabriel Ellis, in Seminary, MS, a distance of a little less than 300 miles. My dad never could teach my mother to drive. During the first lesson she had, she went through the back wall of the garage and a little later took down a gate and entire fence! She always said that Dr. Hall yelled at her and that I can believe! 

The Seminary trip was a pilgrimage every summer to visit Granpa Ellis and his wife - when all "the girls" in his family would descend upon them with their children, usually twelve or more, to visit. It was an adventure for us because Granpa's house had no electricity (kerosene lamps for lighting) no running water -(Oh, boy! we got to get water from a well in the back yard that was just  wonderful) and go to the bathroom in a "chic sale" type out house  at the lot down a hill- when nature called. Grandpa had retired from the ministry some twenty or more years beforehand was "superannuated", as it was called, and went to live in Seminary where he bought his first home.  It was in the heart of the Piney Woods section of our state and the air there smelled delicious!  When they were settled in their home, Mother sent them a high-backed, oak rocker which he usually kept on his front porch where he could personally greet and wave to every engineer and train that passed by their place about 4 times daily. I have that rocker now, and it's just waiting to be used by another generation of Hall-Ellis grandchildren, for it has rocked many who have grandchildren of their own.  When we left the Delta each summer to go, Dad admonished Wesley about his driving (a beautiful black T-Model Ford touring car) even though he knew Wesley could take care of any situation that arose.  Mother usually spent most of the night before we left fixing a basket - a big one - of everything from fried chicken, stuffed eggs, potato salad, pimiento cheese sandwiches, and cake and pie to take to Grandpa’s. We always left so early in the morning the moon was usually shining, but we'd gotten into that basket before we had hardly gotten out of town so there was very little left when we reached Seminary. It took all day and usually after dark to get there -  for there were several "punctures" to be fixed, both boys were real good at that - and if it  rained, we'd have to stop - put on chains - and snap in the isinglass  curtains which took the place of windows.  When we'd leave Grandpa always bid us farewell from the front steps of his home- reminding Wesley, "Son, you drive right down the middle of the road”.  I know he was always happy twice over our pilgrimages - once when we arrived, and twice as happy when his brood of daughters and grandchildren left.      
When Wesley was fifteen, he entered Mississippi College - having enough credits to go there without graduating from high school.  He was really disappointed over that for he was Mr. Everything at the high school there in Shelby - president of his class, captain of the ball teams and always had a bunch of girls around who adored him. Daddy felt his health would soon get him incapacitated and wanted him and Toxey to get on with their college work and into medical school.  There was never any doubt into what field they would  eventually go.  Wesley finished Mississippi College in three years - playing baseball with a semi-pro team during the summers-as well as  helping build those houses!  (I think it's a little ironic that some 35 years later, your dad, went in the summer to get some work he needed before entering medical school and it was there he met and later married your mother Anne Lansdell Walker.) When he left Mississippi College he went to the medical school up at the  University in Oxford for 2 years and from there to Tulane in New  Orleans for his last 2 years. That fall he left for an internship in Meridian, Mississippi at the Mattie Hersey Hospital.  After a short time, probably 2 months, Dad's health failed so much he was reduced to getting around only in a wheel chair. Wesley came home to take over or help with the practice there, and the second Hall and Hall M.D.’s, sign went up. He had hardly gotten back good when he started to expand the office adding the first "Hospital” facilities that Shelby ever had. Have you ever known a "Hall" who didn't start remodeling or adding to anything he ever bought? Must be in their blood!  Though he was unable to walk, Daddy seldom missed a day going to the office - where he was always so pleased when some of his older patients would come in, and politely say  "they didn't want to see the 'boy', they wanted the old man to look after them!" Think it sort of rubbed Wesley the wrong way, for by that time he felt he knew everything about the practice of medicine-but it tickled Daddy to feel he was still useful. When your Dad came back to Reno when your Grandfather took over the president's reign of the AMA I think there was a repeat performance of that situation. Guess it  just happens in every, family.  About the time my brother Wesley came back to Shelby for his initial practice the Depression was in full swing.  Before he got there, Daddy got to the place where he couldn't grip the steering wheel of a car, so I was frequently enlisted to drive him to some bed–ridden patient, always, it seemed, at least a mile from the "rock road".  When it rained there was no way a car could pull through the buckshot mud that faced him getting to his patient. The plantation owner would always meet us at his house or the end of the good road with a saddled horse for Daddy to ride farther. To get him up on the horse was quite an undertaking, but he loved it and made it.  He was usually a lot sicker than the patients he went to "heal", so he was certainly dedicated. More than likely, he was never paid for those strenuous visits, and there is just no telling how much money was owed him and my brothers, Wesley and Toxey, during those lean years before they left for greener pastures. I remember an asthma patient who would come to our house often in the middle of the night for a shot that Daddy administered for his relief. For payment he'd bring a dozen eggs, or a chicken - or a side of pork!  How would you like to practice under those circumstances?      

When my brother, Toxey, finished medical school at Emory University in Atlanta, he did an internship at The Hillman Hospital in Birmingham. By the time he finished, he'd married, and he and his wife Adrienne had a precious little curly haired boy to bring back to Shelby. Toxey was to take over so Wesley could finally get to complete his internship and residency.  For several months before he left, Wesley, Toxey, and my Dad practiced together in - Shelby where a sign, proclaiming the Hall, Hall, and Hall M.D." s ,  were in business,     Didn't stay up too long, but Dad had the satisfaction of knowing they both had worked with him. My Father had always dreamed of their becoming a Mississippi Delta type of the well known Mayo Brothers Clinic and Hospital.                   
Toxey's son, Toxey Ashmore Hall (Sonny) came with his mother and father to live with my parents for several years. He was the "apple of their eyes" and made their lives happy ones while he was there.  It nearly broke their hearts when he left with his parents to move to Jackson. I have pictures of him, just learning to walk, holding on to his "Bampaw’s" wheel chair, with my Dad  beaming in adoration of him!      
By the time Wesley had completed his residency at the Baroness Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn., Toxey had been appointed Superintendent of the Mississippi State Charity Hospital in Jackson - the youngest the state had ever had.  It was through the good friendship of Uncle Toxey & Uncle Lee and the Governor of the state, at that time, Hugh White, that this appointment was made.   Having good friends in high places never hurts!     
While he was in Shelby, Toxey did a bit of remodeling and adding to the clinic and hospital there, but it was when Wesley returned that the place really was enlarged.  He had an operating room, drug room (no pharmacists in town at that time) four private rooms, two wards for female and male patients, and nurse's quarters built above the hospital.  Just last year after several other doctors had taken over, enlarged (again) the facilities and operated it for nearly fifty years, the hospital was closed. It was the only hospital between Cleveland and Clarksdale, a distance of about 50 miles, and provided a tremendous amount of good medical attention for the town and the surrounding area.  [6]
My brother, Wesley - your Granddad who I believe you always called "Pappy", was never one to sit still and let others do things that he felt needed to be done. He was always a leader in everything he belonged to - from being president of every organization he either helped establish - or joined.  He was captain of the ball teams he played with when he was just a kid, and an inspiration for those who knew and admired him. He was team physician for many years of both the high school and university players in Reno.  He helped organize the Rotary Clubs in both Shelby and Reno, was active in the Masonic Lodge (was a 32nd degree Mason) and Shriner.   He organized the Jeep Squadron in Reno, a group (starting with one or two jeeps) who helped locate and assist any planes, cars or travelers who were lost in the mountains there. [7]  One of the most touching sights' I remember of Reno was at his funeral when all the jeeps of his squadron (by that time there were many, many of them) led his funeral cortege from the Church up to the cemetery which overlooked the city and was high on a Mountainside.
One of the big events he organized that meant so much to him and the nuns at one of the hospitals there was the annual picnic for the Dominican Sisters, when he carried them up to view the properties they owned up in the mountains.      He was a dominant figure in the American Medical Association, serving in many different posts before becoming President of that organization. He was disturbed over the trend toward socialized medicine that the nation faced- and made quite an impact at that time-twenty odd years ago. If he were here today, I feel sure he'd either be helping Hillary get things better - or trying to do it himself!
I apologize for this very lengthy account of what I know of your ancestors - but there has been a lot of living since the first Wesley W. Hall that I ever heard of came along.  A number of years ago, it was told by both my brothers (they loved to make a good story better even if it meant "embroidering" it a little) that they were direct descendents of Lyman Hall, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Several years and many reports later, it was learned that said Lyman Hall "died without issue". Never heard anymore, after that, of our noted ancestor. [8]                  
Your dad, the 4th Wesley W. Hall (Wilkinson-middle name) was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on July 27, 1939. 1 remember well that day, for my boyfriend (at the time) was drafted into driving Louise (your grandmother) to the hospital in Memphis for delivery!  They were taking no chances on the birth of the most wonderful thing that had ever been born in a small hospital in Shelby! He grew up in Shelby, graduated from high school there and later attended the -University of Mississippi in Oxford for several years. I think he was under the impression that college was for fun and fraternities (Kappa Alpha, especially)- until his Dad showed him a different route if he planned to study medicine. Don't think there had ever been even a second thought of any other field, but it was finally impressed upon him the importance of good grades!  He finished his under graduate work at Mississippi College the summer he met Anne, your Mother.   They were married on July 1, 1961. Their first child, Anna Lansdell Hall, was born in Jackson while he was attending the University of Mississippi Medical School.  He graduated from there in 1964 and left shortly afterward for an internship in Denver, Colorado. The next year he was inducted into the U.S. Navy; after serving for two years, he returned to Denver for his residency, and it was there that you were born, [9] and became the fifth generation of Wesley W. Hall's.       
In counting up the number of doctors- descendents of the first  W.W.Hall – it appears that eight have followed in the footsteps of that first dedicated physician – all Halls but one (my son, R.E. Branch), with two more (Patrick and Ryan Murphy) to continue their studies in that field.
What a proud, happy group of ancestors you have who, I know, are really doing some bragging about, the “children”.
It’s up to you now to carry on the good work of your forefathers, and I feel that you will have an even grater impact on those you treat and serve.  When the first of the W.W. Hall’s started out, I’m sure a microscope, a bunch of medical textbooks, and very few medicines were available.  I’m sure also, that they had a close communion with the Heavenly Physician – for they never would have made it without his help!  Each generation that has followed has been fortunate to have more medical training, better equipment and laboratory assistance than the one before, and with the present day wonders that abound – Nuclear Medicine, laser use, X-rays and all kinds of tests that were never heard of a generation ago, some of those earlier W.W.H.’s would say “Wookie, You’v got a piece of Cake!”
Now may all your dreams and expectations come true, keep up the good work, be happy – and know that we hope for nothing but the very best of everything for you.  Our prayers and love will always be with you!

	(Signed)
	Aunt Liz

Notes:

1.	Elisabeth Hall Stone was the only surviving daughter of Wesley William Hall (Feb17, 1886 – Jan 1, 1937) and Carolina Calhoun Ellis (Nov 27, 1988-Jan 26, 1962)
2.	Actually Wesley White Hall Jr.  No records of a Wesley Wyatt Hall have been found.
3.	Family tradition has it that Wesley William and Bilbo got into some sort of scrape and were expelled late in the school year.  If true, this did not disqualify them from college admission.  See general comment on Hall family folklore.
4.	According to my father, Dr. Toxey Ellis Hall, The car had a “steam whistle”  powered by the exhaust manifold.  As soon as they cleared the edge of town, they would tie down the whistle, and the car could be heard whistling through the swamp for miles.   See general comment on Hall family folklore.
5.	The “lake”  is (I think) a bayou, which runs approximately North-South along the West side of Shelby.  For some reason, it was called “Lake Holmes”, and anything West of it was “across the lake”.  The lake passed along Wesley Whitfield’s back yard.  He was a radio amateur until short-wave radios were seized at the beginning of WW II.  When on the air, he introduced himself as “The Old Country Doctor, broadcasting from the banks of the beautiful Lake Holmes”.  When other “hams” asked him about the lake, he would picturesquely describe the young folks out on the lake in their canoes and sailboats.  Louise used to admonish him that he would be very embarrassed if one of his short-wave buddies ever came to see the lake. See general comment on Hall family folklore.
6.	Handwritten annotation by “Aunt Liz”:  in a visit back to Shelby after having been gone for some twenty years or so,  he learned that two physicians who were practicing there at the time had led the nation in Medicare and Medicaid payments.
7.	The jeep squadron was a unique unit of the Civil Air Patrol  which used four-wheel drive vehicles for rescue in the mountains around Reno.
8.	Wesley Whitfield and Toxey Ellis were very attached to the legend of an unbroken line of Wesley W. Halls MD, from Lyman Hall to the present, each having a different middle name.  This may account for the Wesley Wyatt hall legend.
9.	An otherwise illegible handwritten annotation by “Aunt Liz” indicates that this birthplace is incorrect.
10.	General comment on Hall family folklore.  The Halls, especially those of the past generation, are raconteurs.   In the absence of complete information, they tend to fill the gaps with the fruit of a creative imagination.  The results are entertaining, but create difficulties for serious genealogists.  When dealing with Hall family folklore, look for documentation.  Having said this, I believe Elisabeth’s letter is accurate except as noted.  The errors are quite innocent.