Charles and Emma Tullis were native Live Oak County residents whose family roots in Texas reached back before the Republic of Texas and the county itself. Charles, born Oct. 10, 1873, descended from James and Rhoda Creel Beall Winters, who walked from Tennessee to Texas in 1834; James had fought with Sam Houston in the War of 1812 and provided three sons and supplies in the Battle of San Jacinto. Through Winters' daughter, Lillie Ellen, who was widowed by Thomas Adams and later William Cude before marrying Charles O. Edwards, Charles was the grandson of Andrew Mitchell Tullis, who defended against one of the last Indian raids in south Texas in 1872. Emma's Texas lineage began in 1835 with a Mexican land grant obtained by her ancestor John McGloin, who was killed with Fannin in the Goliad Massacre. Part of that property passed to Mary McGloin-Fox and later to her granddaughter Margaret Ellen Dolan, who married Simeon Wise Lewis, owner of a Gussettville general store; their son W.H. Lewis, Emma's father, served as sheriff and tax assessor collector before Charles. Charles took that office in 1909, shortly after his first wife, Jessica Kay, died of cancer, and he and Emma married on Jan. 1, 1913. Known for delivering tax notices without a gun, he served through difficult years that included the county seat's move from Oakville to George West, while Emma assisted him in the tax office until 1922. As founding president of First National Bank of George West, Charles served the bank for thirty-eight years, and his leadership and integrity in banking, ranching, and law enforcement earned him the title "Mr. Charlie." Charles and Emma were buried in St Joseph's Cemetery at Gussettville, established by Irish Catholic pioneers.