HOMES OF 

JACOB & BETTIE KARNES

Jacob Lee Karnes & wife Martha Elizabeth Alice Foster

Jacob & Bettie rented this house in Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas around 1898.  Their last daughter, Winnie Lee, was born in this house in 1899. My grandfather, William Foster Karnes,  finished growing up here.  In 1906, Jacob bought the house for $557.35 to be paid in installments of $10.00 a month.  Jacob died there in 1909.  It was probably one of the original houses built in the area of Corsicana known as the Thorpe Addition.  It was known as the old Thorpe House.  It faced South 28th street.  The lady standing on the porch on the far left is Bettie Karnes.  This picture was taken about 1917.

 Bettie continued to live in the house until 1925, when the decision was made that she needed a new house.  Perhaps it was in bad repair, or just old since we don't know when it was built.  Her daughter, Beulah Benton Karnes Hamilton paid for the necessary supplies, and her son William Foster Karnes, "Foster"  built the new home.  

It was originally a four room one level house.  Bettie was a widow living alone by this time.  The address is 1901 W. 13th street.  

Sometime between 1925 and 1930, Foster added 2 rooms on the second story of the backside of the house.  Bettie lived in the house until about 1937 when she became ill and went to live with her daughter Nellie Allen Karnes Evans, where she died in 1938.  The home was sold after her death.  These pictures were taken in 1987 and the home was still occupied.