Editor's Note: This story is one in a series of articles, some written and some compiled by Teague Historian, Dorothy McVey of Teague. Miss McVey was instrumental in creating the B-RI Railroad and Historical Museum in Teague's old train depot. This article tells the story of Dr. Emmet Headlee, one of the first Doctors in Teague and a man who contributed greatly to the beginning of the town. It is also about his son Dr. Emory V. Headlee who also became a prominent Teague physician. -By Dorothy McVey- Dr. Emmet Headlee was 63 years of age when this picture was made on Christmas 1911. He was born June 8, 1848 at Fenton, Jefferson County, Missouri, the son of Elisha B. Headlee, a Methodist minister and also a medical doctor who served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army. Dr. Emmet Headlee settled in Brewer in 1866 where he bought a 98-acre farm and made a home for himself and his mother. On June 23, 1873, he married Mary Harrison who had attended Fairfield Female College. The old Freestone County community of Harrison Chapel was named for her father. Dr. Emmet Headlee graduated from Louisville, Kentucky Medical College in 1888. He practiced medicine at Brewer and Teague until his death in 1918. His medical diploma and a photograph of his graduating class are now exhibited in the doctor and hospital room of the B-RI Railroad Museum in Teague. His saddlebag filled with medicine bottles is also on exhibit. Dr. Headlee operated a general merchandise store in Brewer and was appointed the first postmaster of Brewer when its post office was established June 30, 1880 in his home. He also served as trustee of the Brewer school. In 1906, Dr Headlee worked tirelessly with the T.&B.V. Railway to secure a division point on their line for Brewer. Due in large part to the energetic efforts, the town of Teague was founded, and the railroad began construction of roundhouse facilities, machine shops, and a depot, and very shortly the new town of Teague became one of the largest communities between Dallas and Houston. Dr. Emmet Headlee became an outstanding civic leader for early-day Teague. In addition to his medical practice, he operated the first drug store in Teague, was a leader in the Methodist Protestant Church, one of the organizers of the First National Bank in Teague, a member of the first board of trustees of the Teague ISD which held its first meeting on May 9, 1907, and was elected treasurer, was an active member of Boggy Lodge No. 739, serving as its secretary for many years and was also the first president of the Teague Commercial Club, which organized in July of 1906. Seeing the danger in the numerous saloons which sprang up in the new railroad boom town of Teague, Dr. Headlee turned his energies against them and worked unceasingly until all were closed and Teague was a safer and more proper place for women and children. During all the years he carried on his medical practice, and like many other country doctors of his day, he performed countless services for the sick knowing that he would never receive a cent for his services. His children vividly recalled one night in the dead of winter when he was called to the far home of a family where four children were deathly sick with both measles and pneumonia. He rode to their aid on horseback spending the entire night tending to their needs and making them as comfortable as possible. But he had been called to their aid too late and the children were gravely stricken. Two of the children died during the night and it was early morning before Dr. Headlee felt that the crisis has passed for the other two. He then rode back to his home through a bitter storm of sleet and snow and when he arrived to his house, dead tired and sorrowful for the children who had died, he was actually frozen to his saddle. This is only one of many stories, which can be told of this great man?s devotion to duty and to his fellow man, but it tells a great deal about the sort of many he must have been. Two of Dr. Emmet Headlee's sons were elected to Teague's first city council on June 1, 1907. Emmet Jerome (Rome) Headlee was Teague's first city secretary and Emory V. Headlee was elected an alderman. Another son, Horace Headlee, lived in Teague his entire life. Despite the handicap of deafness, which befell him in early childhood, he made a fine Christian home with his gracious wife Lillian who was similarly handicapped, owned and operated his own shoe repair ship in Teague for many years. The equipment for his shop has now been donated to the B-RI Railroad Museum by their two daughters, Jane Buttrill and Grace Bailey. Two of Dr. Headlee's daughters, Miss Alta Headlee and Miss Clara Headlee, spent over half a century in the teaching profession here in Teague. Another daughter, Mary, known to most as Dollie, married Sam Partin in 1904 and two of their children Emory Partin and Miss Maude Partin, at the time of this writing, resided in the Dr. Emmet Headlee residence at 420 South 10th Avenue, which is one of Teague's oldest landmarks and was recognized with an official Texas Historical Marker on October 10, 1965. Perhaps Dr. Emmet Headlee's obituary described him best by stating that "Dr. Headlee was a plain man and desired a plain funeral ceremony, so the remains were clothed in a suit of moderate price, placed in a plain casket and conveyed to the cemetery in a farm wagon, drawn by two horses, according to his own request before death." Dr. Emory V. Headlee Dr. Emory V. Headlee was born in Brewer on August 29, 1875, the oldest son of Dr Emmet and Mary Harrison Headlee. He died in Teague at the age of 82 years on January 4, 1958. He attended medical schools in Fort Worth and Memphis, Tennessee, graduating in 1900. He started practicing medicine in Brewer but in 1903, after all the cotton in this area was destroyed by boll weevils and he didn't get enough money to live on, he heard of a small town in Comanche County that needed a doctor so he decided to change his location. He left Teague riding horseback on a Monday morning in 1904, and arrived at his destination at 4 p.m. on the following Friday. Remaining in his new location for only a year, his father wrote him that the railroad was about to be built so he decided to return here in October, 1905, where he lived and practiced medicine the remainder of his life. Dr. Emory V. Headlee, like his father, was active in civic and community affairs. He was elected as an alderman at Teague's first city election on June 1, 1907. He was an active member of Boggy Lodge No. 739, A.F. & A.M., serving as secretary from 1918 until his death in 1958. He was first appointed to that position to fill the unexpired term of his father who had been secretary for 13 years before his death. On October 25, 1957, Dr. Emory V. Headlee became the second member of the local lodge to receive his 50-year membership pin. Marion Webb was the first to get his during June, 1954. On April 30, 1899, Dr. E.V. Headlee married Alice Sims, a member of an old pioneer family, who was born at Cotton Gin. Their only child, Dr. Emmet Vincent Headlee, was born in Teague on January 29, 1900, and was the fourth generation of the Headlee family to become a doctor. He and his wife Marie Sprucil, a graduate nurse, established Odessa's first hospital in 1926. Dr. Emory V. Headlee and his father, Dr. Emmet Headlee and wives are all buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Teague.