Ima Hogg - Early Years

Early Years

Ima Hogg was born in Mineola, Texas in 1882 to Jim Hogg and Sarah Ann "Sallie" Stinson. She was the second of four children, including brothers William Clifford Hogg (1875–1930), Michael Hogg (1885–1941), and Thomas Elisha Hogg (1887–1949). The Hogg family had long been active in public service. Her great-grandfather, Thomas Hogg, served in the state legislatures of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Her grandfather, Joseph Lewis Hogg, served in the Congress of the Republic of Texas and helped to write the Texas State Constitution. At the time of her birth, Hogg's father was the district attorney of the Seventh District in Texas. His term expired in 1884, and the family moved to Tyler, where he practiced law. Two years later, Jim Hogg was elected Texas Attorney General and the Hogg family moved to the state capital, Austin, where Ima began attending kindergarten. When Jim Hogg was elected the first native-born Governor of Texas four years later, Ima accompanied her mother and elder brother to the swearing-in ceremony and inauguration ball in January 1891, thus witnessing the first inauguration in the newly erected Texas State Capitol. The family moved into the Governor's Mansion. Built in 1855, the building was in poor condition, with cracked walls and dilapidated furnishings. Ima and her siblings were expected to help renovate the building to a liveable state—she was required, among other things, to pry chewing gum from the furniture and door moldings.

Hogg and her younger brothers were rambunctious. She recalled that they particularly enjoyed sliding down the banisters in the Governor's Mansion. Hogg's parents allowed this to continue until Thomas cut his chin, after which Jim Hogg nailed tacks along the center of the railing to curb the activity through fear of bloodied posteriors; the holes from the tacks remained visible in the banister for many decades after the Hogg family moved from the home. Hogg's mother attempted to teach her ladylike skills such as needlework, but Hogg claimed that she "never had the patience to succeed". Her mother also encouraged Hogg to learn German. Hogg and her siblings were frequently taken to the Millet Opera House in Austin to enjoy the performances.

The children liked animals, and their menagerie included dogs, cats, birds, raccoons, opossums, rabbits, a Shetland pony and a parrot. The children once used their animals to conduct a circus on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion. Hogg charged each visitor five cents, but was forced to return the money when her father discovered the scheme. In later years, the family added a bear, a horse, a fawn, cockatoos, and two ostriches named Jack and Jill to their collection of animals. In response to a challenge from her brothers, Hogg once mounted one of the ostriches, but was thrown from its back after one of the boys hit it with a slingshot. Ima and her ostriches later became the protagonists of a picture book, Ima & the Great Texas Ostrich Race, by Margaret Olivia McManis and Bruce Dupree.

Her mother never regained her strength after Thomas's birth, and for the remainder of her life was a semi-invalid. Ima accompanied her to several health spas during their years in Austin. In 1895, Sarah was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and on the recommendation of her doctor, she and Ima moved to Colorado, where they lived with Jim Hogg's elder sister, Martha Francis Davis. Sarah Hogg died in Colorado on September 25, 1895.

Davis accompanied the family to Austin and spent several months caring for Hogg and her brothers. Davis, who had lost her husband to tuberculosis and watched her son fight the disease, believed that Hogg must have contracted the disease from her mother. Davis instructed Ima to never marry so as not to pass on the illness. By the end of 1895, the children had been enrolled in a boarding school in San Marcos. The following year, they returned to Austin to live with their father. Although the family employed a housekeeper, Hogg was considered the lady of the house and supervised the housecleaning as well as the education of her younger brothers. In 1898, Hogg accompanied her father to Hawaii, where they met Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani and watched the ceremony that delivered Hawaii to the United States. The two were scheduled to sail to Seattle, but Hogg refused to board the ship. Sobbing, she begged her father to make other arrangements because she "had an awful feeling". He relented and they instead sailed to California, where they learned that their original ship had been lost at sea with no survivors.