Thomas B. Allen , a son of Alexander Allen and brother of Rufus Perry Allen and William R. Allen, was born in Dekalb County, Tennessee in August, 1839. About 1844 Alexander Allen moved his family to Texas, and by 1850 they were living in Upshur County. They arrived in present-day Bedford, Texas in 1853, and built a large comfortable log home which sat in the grove of old post oaks now standing in the northwest corner of Harwood Road and Oak Grove Lane in Bedford. The home was later purchased by another of our veterans, Wiley Green Cannon. In 1860, Thomas Allen owned one hundred sixty acres of a survey recorded as the “J. Tilton” survey. He was a member of Co. F, Capt. W. G. Welsh’s Co. , 31st Texas Cavalry. His name appears on a regimental return for March 1865, at which time he had been detailed as a beef drover while stationed in Houston County, Texas. For this service he was sent to Paris, Texas. He worked for a time after the war driving cattle to the northern markets. For many years of his life he lived along the west side of Bedford’s McLain Road, not far north of his father’s homestead where the family had settled in 1853. This would have been about where Spargercrest and Cummings Road intersect McLain Road. Allen often told his grandchildren about his war experiences and about things which happened to him on his cattle drives. According to family sources, Thomas was married twice. His first wife died about 1879, and his second wife died in childbirth. In 1897, Allen owned thirty-eight acres of the L. L. McLane survey and seventy acres of the Alexander Allen survey, both in the immediate area of where he died. Thomas B. Allen died about 1917 and is buried in Smithfield Cemetery in an unmarked grave. His death does not appear in the Texas Death Records. Thomas Allen’s children by his first wife included William, Thomas, James, and Bessie. None of his children by his second marriage reached adulthood.
William Riley Allen , a son of Alexander Allen and brother of Rufus Perry Allen and Thomas B. Allen, was born in Dekalb County, Tennessee on February 16, 1834. About 1844 Alexander Allen moved his family to Texas, and by 1850 they were living in Upshur County. They arrived in present-day Bedford, Texas in 1853, and built a large comfortable log home which sat in the grove of old post oaks now standing in the northwest corner of Harwood Road and Oak Grove Lane in Bedford. The home was later purchased by another of our veterans, Wiley Green Cannon. Riley Allen was a private in Co. A, 9th Texas Cavalry. He enlisted on October 14, 1861 at Camp Reeves for twelve months. He was stationed at Fort Gibson [Oklahoma] on December 31, 1861. He was detailed to drive a wagon with saddles, etc. from Des Arc, Arkansas to Texas on April 16, 1862, and was occupied at that task until he again appears on the company rolls for November and December of that year. He is shown present for duty on all surviving rolls for 1863. On the May-June 1864 rolls, he was absent sick in a hospital. Allen married Mary Elizabeth “Molly” Sansom of Bedford on September 17, 1865. She was a daughter of Rev. Samuel D. Sansom, and was born June 28, 1845. She died November 4, 1877, and was buried at Smithfield. Allen patented the 160-acre W. R. Allen survey on May 12, 1863. The northeast corner of his survey was at the present-day intersection of Harwood Road and Forest Ridge Drive. The southeast corner lay at the intersection of Forest Ridge Drive and Morrow St. The west line of the survey runs about where Shady Grove Drive runs today, with its north end about halfway between Springdale and Spring Brook, and its south end about one hundred feet north of Shady Lane. Loma Alta Lane lies about where a portion of the Allen survey’s south line lay. William Riley Allen died near Bedford on June 9, 1884, and was buried in Smithfield Cemetery.
Marcus DeLafayette Arthur , probably born Marquis deLafayette Arthur, was born in Mason County, Kentucky on March 10, 1834. He was the son of James Arthur and Mary (Beall) Arthur. Marcus Arthur grew up comfortably in a slave-owning family. Arthur married Fannie Jane Arnold on September 6, 1858. She was the daughter of Levi Arnold, a Methodist minister. She was born October 30, 1843 in Mississippi, and died in Bedford, Texas on February 9, 1893. By 1860, M. D. Arthur was working as a farm hand on a ranch belonging to his father-in-law in South Texas.
Arthur served as a private in Frederick J. Malone’s Company of State Volunteers, and later in Company E, 21st Texas Cavalry. Official records show he enlisted March 5, 1862 at Oakland, Texas for three years or the war’s duration. He is also shown enlisting March 20, 1862 in Lavaca County, Texas. He had a 60-day furlough beginning September 25, 1863 for sickness. By 1870 the Arthurs and their five children were living at Penninsula (sic) in Matagorda Co., Texas. They first appear in the Tarrant County tax rolls in 1876, when they took up residence in Precinct 3. Family sources recall that the Arthurs had earlier lived in Bedford before moving to Matagorda County, and that they came back to Bedford after living through the disastrous hurricane which devastated the Texas coast at Indianola on September 15-17, 1876. Mr. Arthur’s sister was married to Edward Hovenkamp, one of the pioneers of Birdville, and it seems possible he and Hovenkamp may have originally come to Tarrant County together in the 1850’s. In 1883 Arthur bought a tract of land from Margaret Moody, the widow of Confederate veteran Levin Moody, and in 1884 enlarged it by purchasing a forty-acre tract from one of our Union veterans, Malcolm S. Corse. In Bedford in the 1890’s the Arthurs lived along the south side of present-day Cheek-Sparger Road, a few yards southeast of its intersection with Jackson Drive/Central Drive. M. D. Arthur died on February 1, 1893, only eight days before his wife. Both are buried in Bedford Cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur were the parents of a number of children, including: James Woodberry Arthur; Marcus Jefferson Arthur; William Allen Arthur; Teter Hardyman Arthur; Prince Edward Arthur; Francis Levi Arthur; Steven Thomas Arthur; Benjamin Lafayette Arthur; Annie Bell (Mrs. Arthur) Cobb; and Fannie Mary (Mrs. John) Schiemann.
Harrison Sterling Price Ashby , known in his later years as Stump Ashby, was born May 18, 1848 in Chariton County, Missouri. He served in the Confederate Army in Co. B, 3rd Missouri Regiment, Shelby’s Brigade, Price’s Corps. He also claimed to have served for a time with Quantrell. Ashby later told Oklahoma Pension Commissioners he enlisted in the Spring of 1864 in Missouri and served until the war ended, and that he was a soldier in Co. B of D. A. Williams’s Regiment. When he registered for the Confederate Veterans Reunion in Dallas in 1902, he registered as a veteran of Co. E, 4th Missouri Cavalry. He was a very interesting character, and came to the Methodist ministry in his early twenties after having been, in turn, an actor, cattle driver, farmer, and school teacher. Ashby and his second wife, Amanda Elizabeth Wray, were married about 1880. In the late 1880’s he was removed from the ministry because of his increasing activism in political affairs, his criticism of the Methodist church’s failure to support reforms, and an “alleged fondness for the bottle.” In 1895, Ashby was living in the Smithfield community on the Stephen Richardson survey, on the south side of Little Bear Creek, somewhere in the general area of where Ember Oaks Drive turns sharply southeast and becomes Fireside Drive. By the time of his death in Oklahoma many years later, he was well-known in northern Texas and Oklahoma for his ability to speak extemporaneously on a number of issues, hence his nickname, “Stump.” He has an extensive biography printed in Texas Historical Association, The Handbook of Texas. About 1905, Ashby moved to Oklahoma. In 1910, he was living there with his wife and one child in Antlers Township, Pushmataha County. In that year, Mrs. Ashby said she had given birth to five children, three of whom were still living. He applied for a pension there in 1921, while living at Octavia, LeFlore County, Oklahoma. He died on May 10, 1923, and lies buried beside his wife, A.E. Ashby (1853-1932) in the Octavia Cemetery. More in-depth information on Ashby is found in Frances Kay Cowden, H. S. P. Ashby: A Voice for Reform, 1886-1914 (Norman, Oklahoma: private printing, 1996), a PhD dissertation done for the University of Oklahoma. A copy is housed in the Central Texas Conference United Methodist Records and Archives Collection in Fort Worth. Ashby’s children with his first wife included Sullivan Gaylord Ashby, twins Martha and Mary Ashby, and Ida Ashby. His children in his second marriage included Alice Ashby, Benjamin Franklin Ashby, Louise Cunningham Ashby, and Beatrice Ashby who died in infancy at Smithfield.
Hezekiah Holman Austin , a son of Stephen Blevins Austin, was born in Alabama on August 6, 1843. Around 1845 his father moved the family to Dade County, Georgia, where they remained for many years. Hezekiah enlisted in the Confederate Army in Dade County, Georgia on March 4, 1862, and became a member of Co. D, 39th Georgia Infantry, the “Dade County Invincibles.” He was captured at the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4, 1863, and was paroled on July 8. He is shown in official records absent from the regiment from August 12, 1863 through April 30, 1864. H. H. Austin and his family were members of the large party of settlers who left Dade County, Georgia in September, 1870 and arrived in the Grapevine area on Christmas Day, about three months later. Austin was first married to Sarah Elizabeth Holland. After her death in 1872, he was married at Grapevine, Texas on September 25, 1873 to Sarah Francis Cannon, a daughter of Lewis Asbury Cannon. She was born December 28, 1853 in Trenton, Dade County, Georgia. The Cannons came to Tarrant County about 1870. He was known in the community as Uncle Karr Austin. A biography and photograph appear in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History, 1979. Family members recalled that he often suffered with his feet from the effects of his Civil War service. He died at his home west of Grapevine on November 15, 1913, and was buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. Mrs. Austin was pensioned by the State of Texas for her husband’s Confederate service. His widow died January 23, 1942 in All Saints Hospital in Fort Worth and was buried beside him. H. H. Austin’s children by his first wife included Charles Blevins Austin; Mary Jane Austin; and Synthy L. Austin, who died in childhood. With his second wife, he had an additional seven: Minerva E. (Mrs. Claud) Hendrickson; John Lewis Austin, Virginia White (Mrs. John) Morphis; Clinton Oscar Austin; Hezekiah Clifton Austin; and Frances Iona (Mrs. Chester) McLendon. His obituary in The Grapevine Sunreads: “DIED. It is with sincere regret that we anounce the death of Mr. H. H. Austin, which occurred last Saturday morning about 10 o’clock after an illness of some five weeks from a complication of diseases. Mr. Austin moved to this community from Georgia about 43 years ago, where he has lived up to the time of his death, and was well-known and liked by all. He was a member of the Methodist church, and in his 71st year at the time of his death. He leaves a wife and eight children—four daughters and four sons, all grown. He was laid to rest in White’s Chapel cemetery Sunday morning. Funeral services conducted by Rev. J. A. ____. We extend our sympathy to the bereaved relatives in this sad hour.”
James Scruggs Austin , a younger brother of Stephen Blevins Austin, was born August 29, 1832 in Bond County, Illinois. He was a son of Hezekiah Austin and his wife, Jane (Blevins) Austin. While still a small boy the elder Austin returned south and eventually ended his days in DeKalb County, Alabama. Family sources record that most of James’s life before he moved to Texas in the early 1870’s was spent alternately in Jackson and DeKalb Counties, Alabama. James was married October 10, 1851, probably in Jackson County, Alabama, to Elizabeth L. Beason. In 1895, James Austin was living on the W. Crooks survey south of Big Bear Creek, in present-day Colleyville about where the west end of Adams Court is now located. He died March 5, 1908, and was buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. His gravestone proclaims that he was a Confederate soldier, a Mason, and a professor of religion for fifty-four years. James Austin’s children included Martin A. Austin, John Franklin Austin, Malinda Jane Austin, Nathan A. Austin, Ruby Ann Austin, Lorenzo Dow Austin, Robert Taylor Austin, Stephen Blevins Austin, and Margery E. Austin.
William Rhodes Austin , a son of Stephen Blevins Austin, was born December 17, 1846 in Dade County, Georgia. He enlisted at Gadsden, Alabama in July, 1863, in Co. G, 3rd Confederate Cavalry, and served until May, 1865, when he was surrendered under J. Y. Witherspoon, chief of General Wheeler’s scouts. He married Elizabeth Tatum, (December 1, 1842-March 9, 1911). He, Elizabeth, and their first child came with the wagon train from Dade County, Georgia in 1870. In 1895 he was living in present-day Southlake on the L. B. G. Hall survey, along Shady Oaks Drive about 1/8 mile north of FM 1709. Part of a log barn built by Rhodes Austin stood until 1968 north of FM 1709 at Shady Oaks Drive. He was a blacksmith. Austin was pensioned by the State of Texas for his Confederate service. He died at the home of his son, D. E. Austin, on October 20, 1930, and lies buried beside his wife in White’s Chapel Cemetery. Rhodes Austin was the father of five children: Willie Ella (Mrs. Thomas H.) Hill; Shelton Austin, who died in childhood; Dalton E. Austin; Marvin B. Austin; and Mamie (Mrs. Sandy A.) Wall. His biography appears in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History, 1979. Austin’s obituary in The Grapevine Sun reads as follows: “GRAPEVINE PIONEER DIES W. R. Austin, age 84 years, who had lived in this community for sixty years, died Monday night at the home of his son, D. E. Austin. Funeral services were conducted at the home Tuesday afternoon by Rev. L. Pat Leach of Hillsboro, assisted by Rev. F. L. Willshite, and the body laid to rest in the White’s Chapel Cemetery. Uncle Rhodes, as he was familiarly known to his friends, came to Texas in 1870, in a covered wagon which was one of a large caravan of wagons made up with friends and relatives. He settled with his wife and daughter, now Mrs. Willie Hill of Fort Worth, near the White’s Chapel community, where he conducted a stock farm for a number of years. Later he established a blacksmith shop at Grapevine and enjoyed a good trade. Mr. Austin was born in Trenton, Ga. In 1846. He was a Confederate veteran, having served with “Wheeler’s Scouts: during the Civil War. In 1868 he was married to Miss Betty Tatum of Trenton, Ga. She preceded him in death, having died here in 1911. Mr. Austin professed religion at an early age and joined the Methodist Church; he was a charter member of the White’s Chapel M. E. Church and retained his membership until the time of his death. Uncle Rhodes was not a man to make a show of his church work, but one of the old school who believed in strict honesty and fair dealings with his fellowman. In the words of one of his old friends, “He practiced the Golden Rule.” Survivors are, two sons, D. E. Austin, Grapevine; and M. B. Austin, Aspermont; two daughters, Mrs. S. A. Wall and Mrs. Willie Hill, both of Fort Worth; two brothers, M. M. Austin, Grapevine; and J. B. Austin, Breckenridge; and one sister, Mrs. B. F. Ashburn of Mineral Wells; and a host of other relatives and friends.”
Part of a log barn built by Rhodes Austin stood until 1968 north of FM 1709 at Shady Oaks Drive. He was a blacksmith. Austin was pensioned by the State of Texas for his Confederate service. He died at the home of his son, D. E. Austin, on October 20, 1930, and lies buried beside his wife in White’s Chapel Cemetery. Rhodes Austin was the father of five children: Willie Ella (Mrs. Thomas H.) Hill; Shelton Austin, who died in childhood; Dalton E. Austin; Marvin B. Austin; and Mamie (Mrs. Sandy A.) Wall. His biography appears in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History, 1979.
James Autrey was born August 2, 1828 in Richland County, South Carolina. James was a son of Philip and Elizabeth Autrey. By 1840 they were living in Abbeville County, South Carolina. They must have moved to Georgia about 1849. By 1850, the family lived in Walker County, Georgia. Some time in the late 1840’s James and his wife, Christianity, were married. James Autrey enlisted first in the Confederate service in the fall of 1861 at Knoxville, Tennessee as a member of Barry’s Battery of Tennessee Confederate Artillery, but was later discharged for disability. He again enlisted in the same battery in 1863, but in 1864 was permanently discharged, again for disability. By 1870 he and his wife, Christianity “Christy," were living with their children in Walker County, Georgia near Frick’s Gap. Later in the year 1870 they moved to Texas, and stopped first for a time near Waxahachie in Ellis County. Soon they moved to the Smithfield Community in Tarrant, eventually having many of their old Georgia neighbors as neighbors again, and there they spent the rest of their lives. James tried unsuccessfully to get a pension for his Confederate service. One of the men who gave depositions attesting to his service was his brother, Rayford Autrey.
In 1895, James Autrey was living on the W. D. Barnes survey north of Smithfield in present-day North Richland Hills, in the general area of the intersection of today’s John Autry Road and Red Oak Road. James and his wife were still alive in Smithfield at the time the 1910 census was taken. At that time she told the enumerator she had given birth to twelve children, six of whom were still alive. Both lie buried in unmarked graves in Smithfield Cemetery. Neither James nor Christianity Autrey’s deaths appear in the Texas death records. Their children included William A. Autrey, Elizabeth J. Autrey, Esther L.
Autrey, John Nathan Autrey, McDuffie N. B. “Mack” Autrey, James Sterling Autrey, George Marion E. Autrey, Marshall L. Autrey, Sarah C. Autrey, and at least three additional children whose names have not been discovered.
Rayford E. Autrey , a younger brother of James A. Autrey, was born April 4, 1842 in Abbeville County, South Carolina. By 1850, the family had moved to Walker County, Georgia. He was a son of Philip and Elizabeth Autrey. Rayford first served in the Confederate Army as a member of Barry’s Tennessee Light Artillery
Company. Rayford voluntered July 1, 1862 at Chattanooga, Tennessee for 3 years; some record cards say he enlisted at Knoxville; and some records say he transferred on that day to Second Co. I, Barry’s Co. Tennessee Light Artillery (Lookout Artillery) from Company H of the 26th Tennessee Infantry. He is shown present for duty on most of the surviving rolls of his regiment. He was promoted to corporal on December 1, 1863. He was captured by Union forces on September 2, 1864 at Atlanta, Georgia. The records give conflicting dates for his movements while a prisoner of war. Some say he was forwarded to Louisville, Kentucky on both October 27 and October 31, 1864. He was sent from Louisville to Camp Douglas, Illinois to a military prison there on October 29 (sic), 1864. Autrey became one of the Galvanized Yankees, agreeing to serve with the Union forces in Co. E, 6th U. S. Volunteer Infantry, in which he was a sergeant. Autrey was mustered into Union service on March 25, 1865 at Camp Douglas, Illinois. He had hazel eyes, black hair, a dark complexion, and was 5’8” tall. He was appointed to the rank of sergeant on the same day he enlisted. In July, 1865 he was absent from his company on guard duty on the Overland Stage route between Ft. Kearney and Big Sandy. In October 1865 he was on detached service as an escort for engineering party at the Republican River since October 12. He was promoted to First Sergeant on May 1, 1866, and was mustered out on October 10, 1866 at Fort Kearney , Nebraska Territory. On March 17, 1867 in Walker
County, Georgia, he married Mary Elizabeth Garrett, a daughter of Benjamin Franklin Garrett of Walker County. She was born November 11, 1852 and died February 20, 1918. According to family sources, Rayford and his family moved from Georgia in 1877 and first stopped at Sulphur Springs in Hopkins County. There Rayford contracted malaria which was treated with quinine, measured out on a knife blade. The medicine rendered him blind for a time. Next the Autreys moved to the Arwine community in present-day Bedford where they stayed two or three years. When they finally settled at Smithfield, they lived in a tent until they completed their house with the help of their neighbors. In 1895, Rayford Autrey was living north of Smithfield on the N. A. Roberts survey, in present-day Keller in the neighborhood of Meandering Woods Drive between Silkwood Court and Briar Ridge Drive. He died November 17, 1922, at his home on NW 27th Street in Fort Worth. He lies buried with his wife in Smithfield Cemetery. An obituary appeared for him in the Fort Worth paper, but it did not mention his service in either army during the Civil War. Rayford Autrey and his wife were the parents of fourteen children: Cecilia Ida (Seelie) Hukill; Sarah E. (Sallie) Scott; Martha V. J. (Mattie) Cowart Hedges Perry; William Lee Autrey, Melissa Alice West, Virgil Clark
Autrey, Robert Alexander (Bob) Autrey, Cora Bell Shaw; James Gilbert (Doc) Autrey, Thomas Floyd Autrey, Cecil Elbert Autrey, Guy Buckner Autrey, John Willis Autrey, and one other child whose name has not been found.
John T. Bailey was born in Kentucky on October 11, 1827. In 1852 he and his wife, Florine Samuels, were married. In 1860, he, his wife “Chlorine” Bailey, and their first daughter (born in Kansas) were living in Atchison County, Kansas Territory. There was one John T. Bailey who was a Confederate soldier in the 28th (Randal’s) Texas Cavalry, 1st Texas Lancers. His Compiled Military Service Records give no evidence about his age, wounds, or residence; therefore this may or may not be the John T. Bailey who lived the last part of his life in the White’s Chapel Community. When Bailey registered to vote in 1867, he stated that he had come to Texas about 1861, and to Precinct 3 of Tarrant County about 1865. He patented the J. T. Bailey survey of one hundred sixty acres on January 13, 1873. The north line of the Bailey survey lies along today’s FM 1709/Southlake Boulevard in present-day Southlake. Its northeast corner lies at about the intersection of FM 1709 and Shady Oaks Dr. Its northwest corner lies about 200 feet west of the intersection of FM 1709 and Ginger Court. None of its western, southern, or eastern boundaries correspond to modern-day streets. Its southwest corner lies about 300 feet south of the intersection of Stratford and Dartmouth Streets, and its southeast corner was about five hundred feet east of the intersection of Timberlake and Lakeway East Streets. John T. Bailey died October 9, 1882 and was buried at White’s Chapel. His widow often told her grandchildren that Bailey had died from the effects of an arm wound he had received while in the Confederate army. Florine Bailey was a charter member of the Pleasant Hill Advent Christian Church, formed at the Old Union School House near White’s Chapel on February 7, 1883, and was a member of the Christian church at Bedford at the time of her death. After John’s death, Mrs. Bailey was married to a Pulliam, but her obituary in The Grapevine Sun uses her Bailey surname. In 1895 his widow was living along the western edge of the J. T. Bailey survey, at approximately the center of its west line. This would place her home at about the center of Sheffield Street between Lakeway West and Normandy Drive. She died February 3, 1916, at age 79, from the effects of burns she accidentally suffered. She lies buried in an unmarked grave at White’s Chapel.
John Henry Basden was born in 1835 in Florida, a son of David and Anna Basden. The family moved to Georgia about 1837 and was living in Dade County there by 1840. In 1860, John was a single man working on the farm of Joel Cross in Dade County. He enlisted May 21, 1861 at Atlanta, Georgia as a member of Co. B, 6th Georgia Infantry, also known as the Lookout Dragoons. He was wounded at Sharpsburg, Maryland on September 17, 1862, and was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in October of the same year. He surrendered with his regiment at Greensboro, North Carolina on April 26, 1865. Basden and his wife, Martha Ann, were married October 25, 1865 in Dade Co., Georgia. They came to Texas about 1874. Basden and his wife were charter members of the Pleasant Hill Advent Christian church on February 7, 1883. He died March 29, 1889. After Mr. Basden died, Mrs. Basden lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Lillie and Marion White, on a farm adjoining the White’s Chapel Church. In 1895, Mrs. Basden was living at her home on the J. T. Bailey survey, in present-day Southlake along the south side of FM 1709, near the north end of Woodglen Court. In 1906 they moved into the town of Grapevine, where they remained until 1912 when they moved into Fort Worth. Mrs. Basden was pensioned by the State of Texas for his Confederate service. Known as “Aunt Mattie,” she died August 28, 1928 at the home of her son-in-law, G. M. White, in Fort Worth. She was buried beside her husband at White’s Chapel.
Frank Beaver was born in Germany about 1832, and moved to Texas between 1873 and 1876 from Missouri. Beaver’s wife, Caroline, was born November 30, 1835 in Ohio, and died December 22, 1889; she has a gravestone in White’s Chapel Cemetery. All the Beaver children born between about 1868 and 1873 were born in Missouri. The remainder were born in Texas, beginning about 1876. By 1880, he and his family had settled in Tarrant County, Texas. He lived in the White’s Chapel area at the time the 1890 census was taken. He told the census taker he had served in the Union army from October 26, 1861 until November 30, 1865, in Co. B, 71st Ohio Infantry. He was enlisted as a private, and was a first sergeant at the time of his discharge. In 1895, Beaver lived in the White’s Chapel Community in present-day Southlake along the south side of Continental Boulevard about one-quarter mile west of its intersection with Carroll Drive South. He was pensioned by the federal government for his Union army service. His death does not appear in the Texas death records. His descendants were in this community as late as 1930
James Elijah Blanton was born October 23, 1842 in Tishomingo County, Mississippi, a son of David Blanton and his wife, Susannah (Snow) Blanton. Blanton enlisted in the Confederate service as a private in Co. E, 23rd Texas Cavalry. During the time he was in service, he was usually known an Elijah Blanton. His surviving military records are incomplete, but one record has survived which shows him being given a thirty-day furlough beginning March 3, 1865. On July 14, 1885, Blanton was a presiding officer at the elections of the trustees for the Pleasant Run School. He died February 1, 1919, and was buried in Smithfield Cemetery Blanton’s widow, Sarah Tabitha (Scott) Blanton, filed for a Confederate pension in 1928. She said she was born January 22, 1846 in Missouri, and had been in Texas since about 1858. She and Mr. Blanton were married August 20, 1861 in Tarrant County, Texas. When the 1910 census was taken, Mrs. Blanton said she had given birth to ten children, only six of whom were still living. Three of their children were W. D. Blanton, Ellis Blanton, and Ollie Blanton. At one time there were several Blanton children’s gravestones readable in Smithfield Cemetery, but they have eroded or have been covered over by soil and grass; they included W. P. Blanton (1883-1884) and three other infant graves. Some of the other children included William D. Blanton, Roxana Blanton, John E. Blanton, Effie M. Blanton, and Margaret Blanton.
William M. Blevins was born January 18, 1845 in DeKalb County, Alabama, a son of White’s Chapel area pioneer Jonathan Blevins. Jonathan, his wife Emily (Maxwell), and their oldest children lived in Tennessee until about 1840, when they moved to DeKalb Co., Alabama. About 1859 they moved again, and settled in Dade county, Georgia. William M. Blevins enlisted in Dade County on July 19, 1861 as a private in Co. H, 21st Georgia Infantry, also known as the “Yancey Invincibles.” He was in the regiment from 1861 until May 1864, when he came home “crippled.” He was furloughed to Dade County and was still there when the war ended. Blevins was wounded at Winchester, Virginia on May 5, 1862. He was at Cedar Run, Virginia on August 9, 1862. Official records say he went into the enemy’s lines in Dade County, Georgia on January 1, 1864. He came to Texas in 1871 and settled in the White’s Chapel area. Both he and his wife were pensioned by the State of Texas for his Confederate service. He died in Grapevine at the home of his son-in-law, F. E Rogers on June 24, 1927. His wife, Louisa M. (Tittle) Blevins, was born August 28, 1841 and died January 13, 1929. They are buried at White’s Chapel. They had seven children, including Jonathan A., Sarah E., George L., Richard C., Ollie, Henry M., and Martin Blevins.
James E. Botts was born November 23, 1846 in Alabama (according to census data), to two native Virginian parents. After living for a time in Franklin Co., Alabama he moved to Independence County, Arkansas by 1870, and on to Johnson County, Texas by 1880. He told the 1910 census taker in Tarrant County that he was a Confederate veteran. In 1910, he owned property on the James Cate, G. W. Minter, and R. Worthington surveys. He died October 23, 1929, and was buried in Grapevine Cemetery. His wife, Martha, was born March 7, 1856 and died October 2, 1920. His obituary in The Grapevine Sun says: “J. E. BOTTS BURIED TODAY. Just as we go to press we received the sad news of the death of our good citizen, Mr. J. E. Botts, who died at the Cook Memorial Hospital at Fort Worth at 5:00 a.m. Wednesday. Mr. Botts was born in the State of Mississippi eighty-three years ago, and has lived in the Grapevine community for twenty-five years, coming here from Venus in Johnson County. He was a gallant Confederate soldier and always attended the reunions. He is survived by the following children: Mrs. E. E. Lowe, Grapevine; Mrs. G. A. Russell, Cleburne; Mrs. J. F. Webster, Greenville, and a step-daughter, Mrs. E. G. Harris, Fort Worth; and four grand children. Funeral services will be held at the Baptist Church this afternoon (Thursday) at 2:30 by Rev. Ike Sidebottom of Arlington, assisted by the pastor, Rev. Boyd P. Milburn. Interment will be at the Grapevine Cemetery.”
Felix Grundy Bransford for whom the old community of Bransford and Bransford Road were named, was born September 3, 1828 in Barron County, Kentucky. He was a son of Walter Lee Bransford and his wife, Virginia Pickett Settles. While still a boy, Felix moved with his father’s family to Ray County, Missouri. While still in his teens, Bransford served in the Mexican War in Co. G, Separate Battalion, Missouri Mounted Infantry. Bransford also served as both a private and a sergeant in the Confederate forces. He served for a time in Co. H, 11th Missouri Infantry. He enlisted June 20, 1862 at Ft. Smith, Arkansas for three years or the war. He was also a 3rd Sergeant in Co. H, 2nd Missouri Cavalry during a period which included August 8 – October 31, 1862. He is shown as a 3rd Sergeant in Hunter’s Regiment in November and December, 1862. He was absent for a time on detached service with the ward master transportation department on November 10, 1862. He was discharged for a medical disability on June 1, 1863. At that time he was 6’ tall, had dark hair, blue eyes, a fair complexion, and was a painter by trade. His files in Washington D.C. contain a number of interesting personal papers. Bransford married Sarah Ada Scott in Cherokee Co., Texas on April 22, 1868. She was born December 23, 1849 in York Dist., South Carolina. About 1870 the Bransfords moved to Johnson Co., Texas. By 1873, they arrived in northeast Tarrant County where he opened a general store. He was a member of the Grand Prairie Masonic Lodge, established in 1875 in the Smithfield community; it later was renamed the Smithfield Lodge and still meets today. In 1877 the Bransfords sold three tracts of land in Tarrant County on the A. G. Walker and J. H. Barlough surveys, and the family moved to Newport in Jack County, Texas. Bransford served in the Twentieth Legislature of Texas regular session January 11 through April 4, 1887 and in a special session April 16-May 15, 1887. He represented District 44, which included Clay and Montague Counties. His home was shown as Newport, and his home county was shown as Montague. They moved again, about 1897, to Clay County. He died in Clay County, Texas on October 25, 1898, and was buried in Newport Cemetery just a few yards inside the north line of Jack County, Texas. His wife died August 7, 1915 and was buried beside him. F. G. Bransford’s children included Walter M. Bransford; Cecil Bransford, who died in childhood; Randal Bransford; Minnie Bright (Mrs. E. H. Wright); Felix Moss Bransford; May P. (Mrs. James R.) McDonald; and Gracie M. (Mrs. James R.) Bulls.
Joseph Collin Brownfield was born near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on November 28, 1820. He was the eldest of eleven children born to Bazil and Sarah (Collins) Brownfield, both Pennsylvania natives. He married Martha Schipp in Pennsylvania in 1846. She was born March 7, 1827. He attended Uniontown College, and then taught school for a time. Later he moved to Iowa for four years and then to Missouri for four years, teaching school and trading in both states. In 1859, while still living in Missouri, he bought 560 acres of land in the area where (Smithfield) North Richland Hills is located today. He came to Texas permanently in 1860 and settled first at Dallas, where he again taught school. In 1862 he joined the Confederate Army as a private in Stone’s Independent Rangers, and served mostly in Louisiana. He was captured near the first of June 1862 on the Mississippi River, and was sent to New Orleans with 700 other prisoners. After his release he was sent to Fortress Monroe, then to Petersburg, Virginia, and from there to Richmond, Virginia. Finally, he was sent back to Dallas. His later history dictated for his biography is unclear in meaning, but it seems he did whatever he could to avoid further service. He claimed to have been threatened with death if he did not return to the army, but he never returned, “And the matter was finally dropped. [I] was at this time looked upon as a Yankee.” He settled on his land in the Smithfield area about 1864. One of his children has the oldest readable headstone in the Smithfield Cemetery. A lengthy biography of Mr. Brownfield, apparently written from material he supplied himself, appears in A History of Texas, Together With a Biographical History of Tarrant and Parker Counties…, published by the Lewis Publishing Co. in Chicago in 1895. According to the biography, “Mr. Brownfield has always taken an interest in public affairs, but has never aspired to office. He votes the Prohibition ticket and is in favor of women’s rights. Both he and his family are members of the Universalist Church.” Mrs. Brownfield died May 30, 1895; Mr. Brownfield died May 2, 1905. Both are buried at Smithfield. Mr. and Mrs. Brownfield had nine children: Margaret (Mrs. William) Vancleve; Susan (Mrs. C.) Boone; Emily (Mrs. J. M.) Edwards; Virgil Brownfield; Harriet (Mrs. Elias) Wileby; Joseph Brownfield; William Ellis Brownfield; Mattie J. Brownfield, who died young; and DeFrance Marion Brownfield, who died at age eighteen.
William W. Buckner enlisted on March 4, 1862 as a private in the Confederate Army in Co. D, 39th Georgia Infantry, also known as the “Dade County Invincibles.” On July 4, 1863 he was captured at the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and was paroled on July 8. No official records are to be found after his parole. His wife, Clarissa H. Buckner, was born in 1840 in Tennessee and died in 1895. In 1895, Buckner lived on the M. W. Davenport survey in present-day Colleyville, along the north side of John McCain Road about one hundred yards west of its intersection with Bellemeade Drive. He was a member of the Robert E. Lee Camp of United Confederate Veterans in Fort Worth, appearing on its 1900 membership roll. He has numerous descendants in and around northeast Tarrant County, Texas. In spite of the fact that his headstone records his death date as 1919, his obituary appeared in the Grapevine Sun on January 31, 1920: “Another Pioneer Gone. It is our sad and solemn duty to announce the death of another old pioneer of our community in the person of Mr. W. W. Buckner, which occurred last Sunday morning. He had been in feeble health for a long time previous to his death and his passing away was not unexpected by his many friends and neighbors. Mr. Buckner was born in East Tennessee December 16, 1842, and came to Texas in the fall of 1867. He has lived here continuously ever since. He leaves a wife and four children—three sons and one daughter—T. J. Buckner of Denton county, H. F. and W. R. Buckner of Grapevine, and Mrs. S. J. Wilkinson of Hill county. He served in the Confederate army during the Civil War. His remains were laid to rest in Whites Chapel cemetery, followed to the grave by a large concourse of sorrowing relatives and friends. Rev. E. Newton conducted the funeral services. We extend our sympathy to the bereaved family and friends.”
* James Melvin Buffington lies buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery.
Life dates: April 20, 1842-Feb. 25, 1911. He was in at least two CSA regiments, and then became a galvanized Yankee. Pensioned by the USA.
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Michael Burke , a veteran of the Union army, was living in Bransford in 1890. He was in Co. G, 21st Maryland Infantry, from August 1, 1861 until February 4, 1864. We have found no further record of him in our community. His death does not appear in the Texas death records, and he has no readable headstone in any northeast Tarrant County cemetery.
Joseph Lewis Byas , a son of Abram L. Byas, was the brother of Richard L., Thomas H., and William R. Byas. He was born in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana on April 20, 1841. In 1850 Byas was living with his parents and siblings in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, which had been formed out of a part of Claiborne Parish in 1848. The Byases came to northeast Tarrant County about 1857. Joseph L. Byas told the census taker in 1910 he was a veteran of the Confederate army. He married Mary Elizabeth McGinnis, a daughter of William W. McGinnis. When the Civil War began, Byas was living with his parents on the W. A. Doty survey southwest of Bransford; which survey sat generally in the northeast corner of today’s Precinct Line Road and West Glade Road. Byas patented the J. L. Byas survey of one hundred sixty acres on July 21, 1871. In modern-day terms, this survey sat in Colleyville with its north line corresponding to Tinker Road. It was an irregularly-shaped survey, which from its northeast corner extended south to about Hall-Johnson Road, and it included most of Bluebonnet Hills Cemetery. His last home, which he shared with the family of his son, Anderson Byas, was later owned for decades by the Forsyth family and stood until the 1990’s along the south side of Tinker Road, on property owned today by Redenta’s Garden. The site is still marked by some old red cedars. Joseph died February 19, 1916. Both are buried at White’s Chapel. Mrs. Byas was born August 29, 1844 and died January 2, 1906. A short obituary for him appeared in The Grapevine Sun: “DIED. On Saturday, Feb. 19th, Mr. J. L. Byas died at the home of his son, Anderson Byas, near Pleasant Run. He was born in 1841 and came to Texas when a small boy. He was married to Miss Mary McGinnis June 25, 1862. She died some ten years ago. Mr. Byas has lived near Pleasant Run for forty-nine years. He was a member of the Christian Church for 53 or 54 years. He is survived by one son and two daughters. He had a host of friends, as was evidenced by the large attendance at his funeral. His body was laid to rest in White’s Chapel Cemetery.”
Richard Landus Byas , a son of Abram L. Byas, was born about 1842 in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. He was a brother of Joseph L., Thomas H., and William R. Byas. In 1850 Byas was living with his parents and siblings in Bienville Parish, Louisiana (Bienville having been formed from a part of Claiborne Parish in 1848). The Byases came to Tarrant County about 1857. When they first arrived in northeast Tarrant County, they lived on the W. A. Doty survey southwest of Bransford; which survey sat generally in the northeast corner of today’s Precinct Line Road and West Glade Road. By 1860 Richard owned one hundred sixty acres in Tarrant County in his own right. Richard enlisted in Co. A, 34th Texas Cavalry, on February 10, 1862 at Grapevine, Texas under M. W. Deavenport for twelve months. Richard is shown present in his company on a roll for January-February 1864. Richard has no readable headstone in any northeast Tarrant County cemetery.
Thomas Harold Byas , a son of Abram L. Byas, was born in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana in 1837. He was a brother of our veterans Joseph L., Richard L., and William R. Byas. In 1850 Byas was living with his parents and siblings in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, which was formed in 1848 from a part of Claiborne Parish. The Byases came to northeast Tarrant County about 1857. When the Civil War began Byas was living with his parents on the W. A. Doty survey southwest of Bransford; which survey sat generally in the northeast corner of today’s Precinct Line Road and West Glade Road. Thomas enlisted in the Confederate Army on September 29, 1861 at Camp Moore for one year. He is shown present for duty on a roll dated August 31, 1863. On August 18, 1864 he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant, and is shown as such on a roll dated September 5, 1864. In April, 1865 he had attained the rank of Second Sergeant while serving near Hempstead, Texas. Thomas H. Byas died in 1888. His wife, Lucinda Byas, was born August 27, 1843 and died November 12, 1903. They lie buried at Lonesome Dove.
William R. Byas , a son of Abram L. Byas, and a brother of Joseph L., Richard L., and Thomas H. Byas, was born June 25, 1838 in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. In 1850 Byas was living with his parents and siblings in Bienville Parish, Louisiana (Bienville Parish being formed from a part of Claiborne Parish in 1848). The Byases came to northeast Tarrant County about 1857. When the Civil War began Byas was living with his parents on the W. A. Doty survey southwest of Bransford; which survey sat generally in the northeast corner of today’s Precinct Line Road and West Glade Road. William enlisted in the Confederate Army on January 15, 1862 at Grapevine, Texas. He was in the Confederate General Hospital at Shreveport, Louisiana on March 23, 1864 with rheumatism. By 1880, William R. Byas, his wife (shown as Anna C. Byas in the census), and their children had moved to Comanche County, Texas. He returned to Tarrant County, and served as postmaster of Bransford from December 15, 1884 until November 9, 1886. William R. Byas died December 5, 1889. His wife, Kate, was born May 12, 1848 and died February 6, 1915. They lie buried beside William’s brother, Thomas H. Byas, and his wife at Lonesome Dove.
John Cain was born March 27, 1842 in Georgia. and died March 21, 1935. Buried at White’s Chapel. Member of RE Lee camp in Ft. Worth. Enlisted in Polk Co., TN Co. D, 3rd Tenn. Inf., Johnson’s Division. It appears from the surviving records that there were two men named John Cain who served in Co. D of the 3rd Tennessee Infantry…one as “John Cain” and one as “John A. Cain.” The one who did not settle here was born in Kentucky in 1827. Both men appear in the 1860 census of Polk County, Tennessee, and both men’s military records are available to researchers and more research will be needed to make a determination about which man is the one who later settled here. Both men were captured at the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4, 1863, and both were paroled on July 8. One lived at Grapevine in 1884. In 1895 he was living on the north end of the J. N. Gibson Survey, in present-day Southlake along the south side of Continental Boulevard, a few yards southeast of the intersection of Continental and Carroll Road. His wife, Elizabeth , was born December 10, 1833 and died May 24, 1922. According to the 1910 census, Mrs. Cain had given birth to no children of her own. The 1880 census of Tarrant County shows them with two adopted sons, both of whom were born in Missouri.
Wiley Green Cannon , known here in Tarrant County as Green Cannon, was born in Bedford Co., Tennessee on November 16, 1842. In most of his records in the Confederate army he appears as W. G. or Wiley G. Cannon. He was a member of Co. A, 37th Tennessee Infantry. He enlisted at Knoxville, Tennessee on August 15, 1861 and was mustered in November 3 at Camp Sam Hays, Tennessee. He traveled 203 miles to the regimental rendezvous. He is shown present on the surviving muster rolls of the 37th Tennessee, with only a few exceptions. Between February 25 and March 31, 1862 he was detailed as a teamster. On May 27, 1862 he was ill and was sent to the general hospital. In July and August he was ill at his home in Bedford County. By August 22 he was in a hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was captured at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee on November 25, 1863 and was forwarded as a prisoner to Louisville, Kentucky on December 7, where he arrived on December 8. On December 9 he was sent to Rock Island Prison in Illinois, which he entered on December 11. On April 7, 1864, he signed an oath of allegiance to the federal government was paroled. At the time of his release, he was 5’ 5” tall, had a dark complexion, light hair, and hazel eyes. His widow was pensioned for his Civil War service. He was married in Bedford County, Tennessee on September 30, 1865 to Saphronia Strong Haley (November 19, 1844-March 17, 1922). Green and his family moved from Bedford County, Tennessee to Bedford, Texas about 1873 with the first five of their children. Green Cannon was a charter member of the New Hope Church of Christ (now Bedford Church of Christ) in Bedford in 1874. They bought the old home of Alexander Allen in Bedford at the present-day northwest corner of Harwood Road and Oak Grove Lane. He died at Bedford on January 1, 1903. The Cannon family homestead was sold in 1917. Saphronia “Froney” Cannon was pensioned by the State of Texas for his Confederate service, and died at the home of her son, Arch Cannon, in Euless. Green and Froney Cannon were the parents of the following children: Archibald N. Cannon, John Marion Cannon, Thomas Riley Cannon, Daniel Preston Cannon, William Green Cannon, Walter E. Cannon, Mary M. Cannon, Annie Belle (Mrs. William Rufus) Allen, Adam Euless Cannon, and Fannie Kate (Mrs. Andy) Felps.
Samuel Carter , born March 14, 1838 in York District, South Carolina, came to Texas in January, 1879. According to statements Carter made years later, he was first in Co. H, 12th South Carolina Infantry for three months, then reenlisted in Co. H, 1st South Carolina Infantry and served in it until the surrender. Official records show that he enlisted on August 13, 1861, and surrendered at Appomattox Court House in Virginia with Lee’s army on April 9, 1865. He served as both an infantryman and a sharpshooter. He received a bullet in his side at 2nd Manassas which he carried with him until his death. Carter also fought in the battles of Gettysburg, Sharpsburg (Antietam), Petersburg, and The Wilderness. He was shot in his hand and thigh at Petersburg, Virginia in 1864, and lost most of the use of his right hand permanently. Carter and his wife, E. S., were married April 12, 1867 in York Co., South Carolina. She was born September 4, 1843, and died August 4, 1927 at the home of her son, E. C. Carter, near Smithfield. A physician who examined Carter in 1912 found him to be suffering from the effects of four different gunshot wounds, listing additional wounds received at Gettysburg and Sharpsburg. “…he carries a ball in his left side,” the doctor wrote in Carter’s pension application. Both Mr. and Mrs. Carter were pensioned. Carter died December 15, 1915, and was buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery.
Isaac A. Caruth was born in Wilson County, Tennessee on January 17, 1835. In 1850 he was living with the family of his father, Eli S. Caruth, in Wilson County, Tennessee, where the family was still living as late as 1880. Caruth’s wife, Lucy J. Chandler, was born about 1846 in Tennessee. They were married in Wilson County, Tennessee on September 9, 1856. According to official records in Washington, D. C., Isaac Caruth served first in Co. F, 7th Batallion (Bennett’s) Tennessee Cavalry, and later in Co. G, 9th Tennessee (Ward’s) Cavalry. He enlisted in the 7th Cavalry on December 10, 1861 at Camp Sandy Baines, Tennessee for a term which was to end on October 19, 1862. He enlisted in the 9th Cavalry on September 1, 1862 at Hartsville, Tennessee for a term of three years. He was captured near Lebanon, Tennessee on April 5, 1863, and was forwarded to Nashville on April 7, and on to Louisville, Kentucky of April 19. On April 14, 1863, he was sent from Louisville by train (via Baltimore, Maryland) to City Point, Virginia for exchange, but a notation on his record says simply “not sent.” He was apparently captured again near Buffington Island, Ohio on July 19, 1863, and was forwarded to the prison at Camp Douglas, Illinois from Camp Morton, Indiana on August 17, 1863. He remained in the prison camp until he signed the Oath of Allegiance to the Federal government on May 12, 1865, more than one month after General Lee surrendered in Virginia. At the time of his release, he gave his place of residence as Lebanon, Tennessee. He had a fair complexion, light hair, blue eyes, and was 5’10” tall. Caruth was considered to be an old settler of the Tucker’s Cross Roads community in Wilson County, about 7.5 miles east of Lebanon on the Trousdale Ferry Pike In 1905, Caruth applied to the State of Tennessee for a Confederate pension.. In his pension application, Caruth gave the following account of his service. He said he served in Co. G, Bennett’s Regiment of Tennessee Cavalry, under General John H. Morgan. He enlisted about October 1, 1861. He was discharged in May 1862 at Corinth, Mississippi and reenlisted in October 1862. He fought in battles at Hartsville, Tennessee, Snow Hill, Tennessee; Milton?, Munfordsville, Elizabethton, Muldrow Hill, and Lebanon, Kentucky, and in other skirmishes until he was captured at Buffington, Ohio in May, 1863. At one point he was discharged for having the measles, and was out of service about six months while he recovered. He then re-enlisted and stayed until the end of the war. He said he was at Camp Douglas, Illinois at the war’s end, had been there about two years. He said his wife was 69 years old in 1905, and that all his children were boys. Caruth said Bennet’s Regiment was also known as the 15th Tennessee Cavalry. Caruth bought three pieces of property in the Pleasant Run area on the Hale survey in 1907, and lived there for some time afterward. He told the 1910 census taker that he was a Confederate veteran. His death is not recorded in the Texas death records, and there are no readable Caruth headstones in northeast Tarrant Tarrant County. He may have returned to Wilson County, Tennessee after 1910.
Joseph Harvey Cathcart was born April 22, 1837 near Rock Hill, York Co., South Carolina. Joseph was married first to Sarah Ann Garrison on November 8, 1859. She died at the birth of their last child. He enlisted November 23, 1861 as a private in Co. E, 17th South Carolina Infantry. He was captured near Petersburg, Virginia, on March 25, 1865, and was discharged from the federal prison at Point Lookout, Maryland on June 28, 1865. Joseph and his second wife, Sarah Elizabeth Woods, were married November 11, 1876 in Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina. She was born January 25, 1854 in Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina. Cathcart and his family moved to Texas in July, 1894, and settled near Eddy in McLennan County about 1904. In 1913, Cathcart applied for a Confederate pension while he was living at Eddy. The Catchcarts moved to Grapevine in July 1917, and settled on a sixty-six acre farm just southwest of White’s Chapel Methodist Church. Joseph was a member of the Masonic Lodge for fifty-one years and a member of the Methodist church for seventy-three years. Joseph died June 20, 1928 in the Masonic Home for the Aged in Arlington, Texas. Sarah Cathcart died at the home of her son, L. T. Cathcart, August 20, 1935, and was buried beside her husband in White’s Chapel Cemetery. A biography of the Cathcart family and a photograph of Joseph Cathcart appeared in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History in 1979. By his first wife, Joseph was the father of six children: James Franklin; Willie; Lizzie; Lela; Cecil; and an infant who died along with Sarah Ann Cathcart, its mother. With his second wife, Joseph was the father of Thomas Roshell; Emma Lee; Leonard Thompson; Bessie Ann; Minnie; an infant who was born and died in 1888; John Greage; an infant who was born and died in 1895; and Estelle.
Joseph Milton Cavender , the youngest child of Joseph Cavender, was born February 27, 1836 in Walker County, Georgia. His mother, Joseph Cavender’s second wife, died at or shortly after his birth. The younger Joseph moved to Texas with a married half-sister and her family in 1851, settling first in Bosque County. About 1853 they moved north to Parker County, Texas. At some point in his early life he and a companion named Blackwell made an unsuccessful trip to California to search for gold. Cavender served as a private and a sergeant in Co. E, 12th Texas Infantry (also known as the 8th Texas Infantry and Young’s Texas Infantry). He enlisted January 3, 1862 in either Tarrant or Parker Counties, and traveled 250 miles to the rendezvous at Camp Hobart near Austin, Texas. On April 30, 1862, he was elected Second Sergeant of his company. At some point in August 1862 he was left ill at Daingerfield, but was present for duty in all other muster rolls of the regiment which have survived. On February 20, 1865 while the regiment was at Shreveport, Louisiana, Cavender became so ill that he was given a furlough to go to his home in Parker County. No further record of his service has been found. After the Civil War he moved back to Walker County, Georgia and, on January 9, 1868, married Mary Ann Bryan (1841-1918), who grew up in a comfortable, slave
owning family. About 1872 they moved to Boone County, Arkansas and settled near the town of Bellefonte, where they remained until about 1879. In 1880 they settled on Grapevine Prairie south of Grapevine. Their home stood north of present-day Hughes Road. It was on this farm that Joseph died on October 26, 1902. Mary Ann
Cavender continued to live on the Big Bear Creek farm until 1910, when she moved to North Fort Worth with the family of her married daughter, Ollie Wells. They moved into a home at 2214 North Houston Street, where Mary Ann died on November 25, 1918. She was buried beside her husband in Parker Memorial Cemetery. Michael Patterson has written an extensive history of their lives, “An Oral and Documentary History of the Lives of Joseph Milton Cavender and
his wife, Mary Ann (Bryan) Cavender.” They had the following children: James Claud Cavender, William DeWitt Cavender, Joseph Edgar Cavender, Ruby Emma (Mrs. William J.) Moad; Ruby Ella (Mrs. Joseph H.) Starns, Mary Olive (Mrs. Pleasant Levi) Wells, and Fannie K. Cavender, who died in early childhood. An obituary for Joseph M. Cavender appeared in The Grapevine Sun on October 25, 1902 (which leads us to believe the death date stated on his stone must be incorrect): “Mr. J. M. Cavender, who died on Thursday night of last week, was born February 27, 1836, and was consequently in his 67th year at the time of his death. He was married to Miss M. A. Bryan on January 9, 1868. He joined the Baptist Church when young. Mr. Cavender was an old pioneer, coming to Texas many years ago. He had a host of friends, who will regret to hear of his death. A wife and several children survive him, to whom we extend our sympathy in their sad bereavement.”
Felix Grundy Cavins was born in Indiana on June 7, 1836, a son of Augustus Hubbard Cavins. He is probably the Felix J. Cavins who was a Union private in Co. C, 25th Indiana Infantry. He was married in Posey County, Indiana on May 30, 1867 to Mary Frances Farmer. She had one earlier marriage to a man whose first name was Ewin, and whose last name may have been Price. Her gravestone at Mt. Gilead Cemetery shows her name as Mary M.; she was born February 13, 1849 and died December 31, 1892. According to census data recorded for some of his children, Cavins had arrived in Texas by about 1882, and was in Tarrant County by 1890. While most Union veterans listed in the 1890 census gave some details of their service, at least their company and regiment, Cavins gave no information at all. One Felix J. Cavins of Texas, who may be this soldier, was pensioned by the U. S. Government for his service. Family sources say he died February 11, 1908 at Roanoke in southern Denton County. He lies buried in Mount Gilead Cemetery near Keller, Texas. Cavins was the father of at leaslt eight children: James Cavins, Martin Cavins, Taylor Cavins, twins Nora and Dora Cavins, Albert “Cap” J. Cavins, Augustus Cavins, and a son O. L. Cavins who died in 1889 in childhood and was buried at Mount Gilead.
Presley Henderson Clark was born March 21, 1816. He was a son of James C. Clark and Hannah (Henderson) Clark. Both Presley Clark and his wife, Jane Blakely (Johnson) Clark (1821-1901), were born near Hopkinsville in Christian County, Kentucky. They were married on December 22, 1840. Family sources say the family lived in Christian County, Illinois from as early as 1844, and they were still there when the 1850 census was taken. Presley Clark brought his family to Texas in 1856 and settled first near Birdville. Later they moved to a site near Henrietta Creek about six miles northeast of Blue Mound. While living there, Clark’s son and Dr. B. F Barkley of Birdville were captured by the Indians and held for a time. Presley Clark served for a short time in William McGinnis’s Company of the 20th Brigade of Texas State Militia. He later served as a private in the 6th Texas Cavalry, in which he enlisted September 21, 1861 at McKinney, Texas. The regiment was also known as Stone’s 2nd Texas Cavalry. He traveled sixty miles to the rendezvous, and presented himself for service with a double-barreled gun, a six-shooter, a $100 horse, and a Bowie knife. He was discharged June 13, 1862 in Mississippi. Clark was a member of the Masonic Lodge. He died August 14, 1893. Both Mr. and Mrs. Clark lie buried in Smithfield Cemetery. An excellent biography of Presley Clark’s son, Sterling P. Clark, probably from material he (Sterling) supplied himself, appeared in B. B. Paddock, History and Biography of North and West Texas, 1906 . Sterling P. Clark, was a popular and influential Tarrant County sheriff and merchant. Other children of Preston Clark included Sarah A. E. Clark, William O. B. Clark, Minerva L. Clark, John W. Clark, and Mattie P. Clark.
Robert Cobb was born in Calhoun County, Alabama on November 23, 1841. He was a son of Nathaniel Cobb and his wife, Lurany Teague. Robert was living in Calhoun County in 1860, but was working outside his father’s family. He enlisted on June 4, 1861 at Montgomery, Alabama as a private in Co. H, 10th Alabama Infantry. He is shown present on all the rolls which have survived for his company. He was a corporal when he surrendered with his regiment at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. By 1870 had moved to Dallas County, Texas. His wife, Mary E. Cobb, was born July 23, 1841 and died August 5, 1896. When she married Cobb, she was a widow with a son, T. J. Sheppard (1858-1938). In 1877, Robert Cobb owned 81-1/5 acres of the Jesse Doss survey in the Pleasant Run Community. The 1880 census of Tarrant County records the fact that he had only one eye, perhaps as a result of an injury he received in the Confederate army. He died at his home south of Grapevine on January 25, 1908 and was buried in Parker Memorial Cemetery. He has a short obituary in the Grapevine Sun without any reference to his Civil War service. "Died last Saturday, Mr. Robert Cobb, an old and respected citizen of this community. He leaves a wife and three children to mourn his demise. We extend sympathy to the bereaved ones."
Dr. Lilburn Howard Colley is the man for whom the city of Colleyville is named. He was born at Colley Hollow near Waynesville, Pulaski, Missouri, on September 5, 1843, the son of Cyrus Colley and his wife, Elizabeth (Howard) Colley. Cyrus Colley was a prominent man in the community who served at various times as both County Judge and County Commissioner. Lilburn enlisted in the Union army on July 30, 1864 at Waynesville, Missouri for a term of one year. When he enlisted, he was unable even to write his name. He served as a private and a musician in Co. A, 48th Missouri Infantry. At the time of his enlistment, he was 5’10” tall, had a light complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair. He served first as drummer for the company. He was transferred from his position on June 1, 1865 and became principal musician for the company. He was discharged June 29, 1865 at Benton Barracks, Missouri. After the war, Colley continued to live in Pulalski County until June 1875 when he moved to Chariton County, Missouri. At Salisbury, Chariton County, he was married to Martha Sabrina Fowks on May 19, 1879. She was born September 2, 1860. On October 12, 1880, Colley and his new wife left Missouri and settled first in Parker County, Texas. They also lived in Wilbarger County for a time. In October, 1885, the Colleys arrived in northeast Tarrant County. They settled near the west end of present-day Shelton Drive at its intersection with Bransford Road. Dr. Colley became a respected physician and election official for the Pleasant Run School District. In 1895 Dr. Colley was living in present-day Colleyville at about the intersection of Bransford Road with the railroad and L. D. Lockett Road. He helped many of the area Confederate veterans get their pensions from the state of Texas. In 1900, Colley filed an application for a federal pension based upon his Civil War service. In 1905 they moved to another home which sat on the T. J. Poulson survey south of Glade Road a short distance east of its intersection with Bransford Road. His homesite is now on the campus of Bransford Elementary School. Mrs. Colley died of cancer at her home in Colleyville on February 22, 1914. In 1914 when Walter Couch opened a grocery store in a two-room building near the Colleys’ home, Dr. Colley suggested naming the community Colleyville.Dr. Colley continued to live in his home, but was visiting with his daughter, Ethel, in Wichita Falls, Texas when he died October 26, 1924. Both Mr.and Mrs. Colley are buried along the south fence at Smithfield Cemetery. Dr. Colley’s funeral was conducted by the members of the Smithfield Masonic Lodge, assisted by members of the Keller and Grapevine Lodges. In the 1980’s Dr.Colley was honored with a Texas Historical Marker which now stands in front of the Colleyville Library. Dr. and Mrs. Colley were the parents of four children: Ethel Janett Colley, Thaddeus Constantine Colley, Darius Plutarch Colley, and Cyrus Levi Colley. Like his father, Thaddeus C. Colley became a widely known doctor here. Old-timers here referred to them as “Old Dr. Colley” and “Young Dr. Colley.” As an interesting aside, Walter Couch, in whose store Dr. Colley suggested the name for Colleyville, had an accident about 1899 in which one of his legs was so mangled it had to be amputated. Dr. Colley and another of our veterans, Dr. Riley B. Zachary, completed the amputation on the Couches’ kitchen table. Walter Couch survived the surgery some ninety-three years, and died just short of his hundredth birthday in 1992.
Hugh Lowrance William Collier was born in Henderson County, Tennessee July 24, 1844. He was a son of Henry D. Collier and Elizabeth (White) Collier. Hugh Collier brought the family to Smith County, Texas in or before 1854 and died there in 1858. The family settled in Omen (Old Canton) where some members of the family remained for generations. H. L. W. Collier was one of six brothers who served in the Confederate army. He was a corporal in Co. D, 14th Texas Infantry. He enlisted at Bellview, Texas on March 15, 1862 for a term of three years. On a roll dated October 31, 1862 he was sick in the regimental hospital at Camp Nelson, Arkansas. During some part of November and December he was left sick in a private hospital near Austin, Arkansas. During the first two months of 1863 he was furloughed for sixty days during which time he returned home to Smith County, Texas. On May 27, 1863 at Alexandria, Louisiana he was paid $35 for traveling 350 miles from Smith County, Texas to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. For a time in January and February, 1864, he was again sick in camp. He is shown as present for duty on the rest of the regiment’s surviving muster rolls. When the 1880 census was taken, Collier was still living with his aged mother in Smith County. For several years before 1900 he lived in the Bedford area, probably near his father-in-law Campbell Poynor. When he applied for a Confederate pension in late 1904, he was a resident of Fife, McCulloch County, Texas, where he said he had been living for two years. In 1910, Collier and his family were living in Precinct 4 of Coke County, Texas. Ten years later, in 1920, they were living in Fort Worth at 2611 McKinley Avenue in Fort Worth. Collier died in Fort Worth on December 14, 1935, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Confederate Row. He married Queen Victoria Poynor. No obituary appeared for him in the Fort Worth newspaper.
Charles T. Corbett was born August 24, 1844 in Pennsylvania, shortly after his parents had immigrated to the United States from Ireland. In 1910, Corbett told the census taker he had been born in Ireland in 1844, and that he and his parents had arrived in the U.S. in 1845. Corbett also told the 1910 census taker he was a Confederate veteran. Charles was probably married first to a lady with whom he had a son named Charley, born in Tennessee about 1867. Corbett was next married in Arkansas Co., Arkansas on May 2, 1875 to Mrs. Emma Parker, where they were living in LaGrew Township in 1880. She was born March 1, 1850 in Virginia. They moved to Texas between the spring of 1885 and the summer of 1887. They were living near Bedford by December, 1895, in the vicinity of where modern-day Bedford Road crosses Sulphur Branch. When the 1910 census was taken, Mrs. Corbett said she had given birth to ten children, six of whom were still living. Mr. Corbett died July 17, 1924. There was a persistent story among old-timers in this community that Corbett died from the effects of a snakebite. Mrs. Corbett died March 12, 1926, and both lie buried in Bedford Cemetery. Mr. Corbett’s children with his second wife included Willie G. Corbett, James Corbett, Edward Corbett, Frank Corbett, George Corbett, and Mildred Corbett.
Malcolm Sears Corse was a Union veteran of the Civil War. He was a son of Seth Corse and Harriet (Wells) Corse. He was born September 20, 1837 at Enosburgh, in Franklin Co., Vermont. He and his wife, Nancy Holmes, were maried March 13, 1859 in Sheldon, Vermont. She was born at Enosburgh, VT March 27, 1840. Malcolm enlisted in Co. B of the 1st Vermont Cavalry on October 29, 1861 and was mustered in a few days later on November 19. He was described as 5’4” tall, with a light complexion, gray eyes, and black hair. After his term expired, he reenlisted December 30, 1863. Corse was captured October 7, 1864 at Columbia Furnace, near Forrestville, Virginia, and was sent to Lynchburg, Virginia. From there he was sent to the infamous Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia, where he contracted black scurvy. From there he was transferred to Andersonville Prison in Georgia, where he was eventually parolled on February 15, 1865. He was transferred to Co. E of the 1st Vermont Cavalry on June 21, 1865, and was mustered out of the service the following August 9. By the time of the birth of their third son in June, 1871, the Corses were living at Salina, Kansas. They came to the Spring Garden community in present-day Bedford and Colleyville, where their son, Chancy Henry Corse, Sr., was born April 27, 1875. Corse’s farm in northeast Tarrant County, which he owned from 1877 until 1884, was located in the old Spring Garden Community in present-day Bedford. Its boundaries were, in terms of modern streets, Cheek-Sparger Road on the north, Murphy Drive on the West, Woodpath Lane (and an imaginary extension of it east to Pecan Circle) on the south, and Pecan Circle on the east. In 1884 Corse sold his property in the Spring Garden Community and bought a lot near the court house in downtown Fort Worth. Later still the family moved to the Brambleton (Forest Hill) Community in southeast Tarrant County. Corse was pensioned by the federal government for his service. In 1902 Malcolm and Nancy bought a forty-acre tract in Forest Hill (Brambleton) in southeast Tarrant County. In 1904 they moved onto it, and a part of it is still owned by their descendants. The Corse’s last home sat along the south side of Forest Hill Circle at the Forest Hill Community Bible Church’s daycare facility, at 4600-04 Forest Hill Circle. Mrs. Corse died in Tarrant County, Texas on June 18, 1915. Mr. Corse died April 29, 1923 in the Forest Hill area of Tarrant County, Texas. He and his wife lie buried beside one of their sons in Forest Hill Cemetery in southeast Fort Worth. The obituaries page for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for the day following his death was blurred in microfilming. Malcolm and Nancy Corse were the parents of four children: Elmer C. Corse; Ethel May Corse (who was married successively to Jake Cain, Mike Haggerty, and Thomas Berry); Arthur Malcolm Corse; and Chancy Henry Corse. An interesting account of Mr. Corse’s injuries received during the War are found in an account his wife wrote for his pension application:
“My husband met with an accident the day before Christmas 1879 while we were living in this county about 6 miles south or southwest of Grapevine, TX. He had gone to Mr. Thomas’ gin to see about getting his cotton to take it to town, and while standing on some platform about the gin had a “fit” and fell to the ground a distance of several feet breaking his thigh bone. They told me it was about 10 o’clock in the morning when the accident happened, but it was a bad day, and there were very few about the gin and they were very busy, and they did not bring him home until night. They did not know he was so badly hurt, but layed him on a pile of cotton seed and let him rest there until the rush was over. He did not have a doctor to attend him. We did not know at first that he had broken the bone, but thought it was only a dislocation, and treated it to keep the inflammation down. The gin was about 2 miles from where we lived. My husband was not under the influence of liquor when he was hurt. In those days he did not drink at all. He never did drink until the last few years, and only a little occasionally now. He is troubled with risings in his head, and I think when he drinks now it is to allay the misery. When he came home from the war he had three running sores on his right leg and two on his left. They called it black scurvey. He had it in his head also and was very near crazy with it. He had contracted it in Libby prison. He has been subject to “fits” ever since, with risings in his head. I can tell when they are coming on by the looks in his eyes. He is dangerous at such time; he often falls unconscious, and it was one of these falling fits that he had at the gin. The falling fits come on him suddenly without any warning; but his dangerous spells I can tell in advance by the look of his eyes, and increased hardness of hearing. I am satisfied that the trouble is risings in his head because when they break and run from his ears he gets better. The fractured femur left his left leg 2 ½ inches shorter than his right and caused a considerable limp.”
Carson McKenzie Creecy was born in November 1840 in Giles County, Tennessee, a son of Jesse Jasper Creecy and Catherine (Watson) Creecy. The family was still living in Giles County when the 1850 census was taken. Carson was a private in Co. E, 27th Arkansas Infantry. He also served in Captain Maxey’s Co., 1st Regiment, McBride’s Brigade of Arkansas Infantry. He entered the Confederate service in Marion Co., Arkansas on June 18, 1862 for one year. His regiment was dismounted on July 29, 1862, and his name is shown on a roll dated at Camp Bragg, Arkansas July 31, 1862. He is also shown as a private in Co. E, Shaler’s Regiment of Arkansas Infantry for the period March 11-July 31, 1862. He was promoted to 3rd Corporal in Shaler’s Regiment August 24, 1862. He is last shown present on Shaler’s Roll on February 25, 1863. Carson had a brother named Wesley W. Creecy who served in the Union army. Carson’s first wife was Elvira Agnes Warthem, who was born about 1846 in Alabama. Carson and his wife moved to Titus County, Texas from Arkansas by about 1867. By 1880 they had settled in Tarrant County. Elvira was still alive when the 1880 census was taken. His second wife, Mary, was born in March 1840 in Tennessee. They were married about 1890. When the 1900 census was taken, she said she had given birth to four children, three of whom were still alive. For the last four years of his life, Carson was completely paralyzed, and was cared for by his son, John W. Creecy. Carson died about 1915 and lies buried in an unmarked grave in White’s Chapel Cemetery. At some time in the past his grave was marked with a brick-sized rock marked “C.C.” Carson. He and Elvira had several children, including: Mary C. Creecy, John Walter Creecy, Georgia Creecy, Martha J. Creecy, Lula F. Creecy, Laura B. Creecy, and Jesse L. Creecy.
Augustus Richard (or Richardson) Creed was born in 1835 in Missouri. He was a son of John and Sarah Creed, Tarrant County pioneers who lie buried at Mount Gilead Cemetery near Keller. By 1850 John Creed and his family were living in Clinton County, Missouri. By the time the Civil War began, the Creeds had settled in northeast Tarrant County, Texas between Grapevine and Keller. Augustus Creed enlisted in Co. A, 9th Texas Cavalry, on October 14, 1861 at Camp Reeves. He was on special duty under Col. Jones in May and June, 1864. He was wounded slightly in the arm during Forrest’s Tennessee Campaign in November and December, 1864. As a prisoner he was surrendered at Citronelle, Alabama on May 4, 1865. He was parolled at Jackson, Mississippi on May 13, 1865. After the War he married Martha Jane Rogers, the daughter of Rev. William McKindree Rogers, of the Minter’s Chapel community. Augustus, his wife, and his mother, Sarah Creed, all died within six or seven days of each other in December, 1884, of pneumonia. Gus Creed and his wife lie buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. Augustus and Martha Jane Creed were the parents of at least six children: William Colby Creed, Sarah Francis Creed (who was married first to Grant Hill and second to Bill Mumm), John Oliver Creed, Elihu Washburn Creed, Minnie Ola (Mrs. Elihu W.) White, and Benjamin Fletcher Creed. An interesting oral tradition concerning Creed and his friend, George C. Piersall, was recorded in 1968 by Bemer Creed (it has been slightly edited for punctuation and capitalization): “August R. Creed and George C. Piersall were young men from Missouri and, craving adventure and excitement, joined the [Confederate] Army and served four years during the Civil War. Many times the company was very low on rations, and one day during a lull in battle it seemed each side was taking a rest when these two ambitious boys heard some hogs in the cornfield near their camp. Of course the hogs [were] making the usual grunting noise hogs make when in a corn field hunting for something to eat. Well, the boys thought, now is the time to make a hit with the old man (their commanding officer) by bringing in some fresh meat for supper. They took their guns and slipped out into the corn field, and saw a couple [of] fine shoats. They thought… just what they wanted for supper. But there was a problem…they knew the enemy was only a few hundred yards away. If they shot a hog the enemy would likely open up in reply. Well, in a whisper they talked it over while Augustus was scratching one hog's side. George was ready to knock it in the head with the stock of his gun. They thought this the best and safest way to do it. The aim was right between the eyes. George took a long swing and just at that second the hog raised his head up and got hit square on the nose. The gun went off just back of George’s shoulder. The hoglet out a blood curdling squeal and tore out for home. Needless to say, Augustus and George headed for camp on the double. Just their luck, [they] met the C.O. who said "Here boys, what's all the excitement, who shot and why?" Well, they were nearly out of breath but finally told him why they were out in the corn field and just what had happened. He sort of grinned and turned away and said "sounds reasonable, don’t let it happen again." At the end of the war the boys thought they had done their bit for their country and had enough excitement for a while, went home to Texas, found girls, wooed them and married.”
George Washington Creed , born about 1839, a younger brother of Augustus R. Creed, was killed in action in the entrenchments at Corinth, Mississippi on October 4, 1862. He was a son of John Creed (1812-1894), who along with his wife lie buried in Mount Gilead Cemetery. He enlisted October 14, 1861 at Camp Reeves.
William M. Cross was born July 13, 1840 in Hempstead Co., Arkansas, a son of Tarrant County pioneers Robert and Ann H. Cross, who lie buried in Birdville Cemetery. According to voting registration records made during Reconstruction, the Crosses arrived in Texas from Arkansas about 1853, settled in Tarrant County about 1854, and moved to the Birdville area about 1859. William enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861 at Grapevine, Texas, and served in Capt. J. C. Terrell’s Company of Waller’s Texas Cavalry Regiment. He was officially enrolled August 27, 1862 at Vermilion, Louisiana for three years. He is shown as present for duty on February 29, 1864. His details of service match those of another of our veterans, W. H. White, exactly. Nothing more is to be found in his official records. Cross was a member of the Robert E. Lee Camp of the United Confederate Veterans in Fort Worth, and he received the Southern Cross of Honor in June 1910. He died June 10, 1912, and was buried in Smithfield Cemetery. Cross’s wife, Nancy J., died December 15, 1874 at the age of thirty-one and was also buried at Smithfield.
Alexander Hutchinson Currie was born in Dallas Co., Alabama on October 29, 1837. He was a son of Smith County, Texas pioneers Daniel D. and Mary A. (Goodwin) Curry, and a brother of another of our veterans, Archibald David Currie. In 1849 the family arrived in Texas and settled in Rusk County. In 1851 they removed to the (present-day) Omen Community in Smith County, Texas. Alexander served the Confederacy as a member of Co. E, 14th Texas Infantry, Capt. J. J. Flinn’s Co., Clark’s Regiment. He enlisted March 22, 1862 at Tyler, Texas, and traveled eleven miles to the rendezvous. He enlisted for a term of twelve months.. He was a 3rd Corporal by October 31, 1862. His name appears on a leave list for April 27, 1865, due twenty-seven days. He later told a biographer he fought in the battle of Mansfield, Louisiana, and in the engagements at Spring Hill, Louisiana, and Saline, Arkansas, together with others of minor importance. Alexander married Jane Caroline Stephenson on November 22, 1865. She was born December 21, 1838 and died March 12, 1907. In 1846, Mrs. Currie came with her parents from Alabama via Tennessee to Texas and resided for a number of years in Harrison County. Later they moved to Smith County, where she met her future husband. Alexander and his family had arrived in Tarrant County, Texas by early 1880. In 1882 he settled on the farm near Smithfield where he spent the rest of his life. In 1895, Currie lived on the D. Moses survey in present-day North Richland Hills, south of Rumfield Road and along the east side of Eden Drive, probably between Everglade and Ashcraft Streets. When the 1900 census was taken, Mrs. Currie told the census taker she had given birth to eight children, all of whom were still living: Debbie A. (Mrs. Robert) Tolliver, James Daniel Currie, John Edward Mathis Curry, Mary N. (Mrs. Elmer) Utter, Effie A. Currie, Robert Marvin Currie, Celia Ophella Currie, and Frances Ellen Currie. Mr. and Mrs. Curry were devoted members of the Methodist Church at Smithfield. Alexander died June 2, 1907 in Tarrant County, Texas. He lies buried with his wife in Smithfield Cemetery. Some biographical material, probably dictated by Currie himself, appeared in B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas.
Francis Kincaid Daniel was born July 22, 1838 in Coffee County, Tennessee, a son of James Puryear Daniel and his wife, Anne (Hodge) Daniel. Kincaid Daniel married Malissa Green (b. March 31, 1838 in Tennessee) on October 18, 1859 in Coffee Co., Tennessee. Daniel served the Confederacy as a soldier in Co. D, 23rd Tennessee Infantry. He enlisted August 23, 1861 at Camp Trousdale for ten months. Records show him in a hospital in May-June 1862. He was appointed to the rank of 4th Corporal on February 2, 1863. At one point he is shown owing $2.50 for ten Enfield cartridges. He is shown absent without leave in Wal….towa? Tennessee on September 8, 1863, at which time he owed the Confederate government for one Enfield [rifle] and accoutrements, knapsack, haversack, and canteen. The Daniels lived in Missouri from about 1874 until about 1877, in Kiowa, Kansas about 1878-1880, and in Siloam Springs, Arkansas from about 1881 until about 1890. In 1890, Daniel bought part of the D. R. Teeter survey 1.5 miles north of Bedford along Little Bear Creek. The ruins of their small log cabin lasted until the 1960’s. In terms of modern-day streets, this house sat in Colleyville on the south side of Oak Knoll Drive, and between the south end of Bowman Drive and Little Bear Creek. Unknowingly, Daniels built his home on a prehistoric Indian site which has yielded artifacts from the Paleolithic and Mesolithic Ages. Later he bought more land in the Colleyville area. Malissa died March 28, 1893 and was buried in Bear Creek Cemetery. On October 24, 1894, Mr. Daniel married Mollie Adaline Renden Sutherland. Many of his last years were spent living with his son, Oscar Daniel. F. K. Daniel died December 5, 1910 and was buried beside his first wife at Bear Creek. Francis K. and Malissa Daniel were the parents of eleven children: James F. Daniel; Virginia Daniel; Samuel L. Daniel; William E. Daniel; Mary Frances Daniel, first the wife of Felix McFarland, who died, then the wife of Charles Hoaglin; Isaac Newton Daniel; Martin Alexander Daniel; George Littrell Daniel; Charles Oscar Daniel; Lulu Bell Daniel (whose first husband, John Sutherland, died in 1898, and who then married William Lee Pardue); and Olive May Daniel, who married Malvin Elijah Gibson Blackmon. Biographies of Mr. Daniel and several of his children appear in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History, 1979.
Abner Deatherage was born January 3, 1810 in Tennessee, and was, according to family historians, a son of Abner Deatherage and his wife, Rebecca (Davis) Deatherage. Abner served in one of the Cherokee Wars in the 1830’s they were being forcibly removed from their mountain homes in the Appalachians. His wife applied for a pension in 1893 based upon this service. Abner was married to Mary Almeady Marney in Roane County, Tennessee on May 24, 1839 She was born April 10, 1822. In 1850, Abner and Mary were living in the 20th Subdivison of Roane County, Tennessee. By 1860, they had arrived in Tarrant County. Abner served the Confederacy as a member of the Tarrant County Hussars. In 1880, Deatherage owned 40 acres of the Stephen Richardson survey, a long irregularly-shaped tract which sits generally north and northeast of the center of old Smithfield, in the broad general area where Green Valley Elementary School is located today. A great deal of genealogical research has been done on Abner’s ancestors. He died November 28, 1886, and lies buried in Smithfield Cemetery. After Abner’s death Mary returned to Tennessee. When the 1900 census was taken, she was living there in Meigs County with one of her brothers, Samuel Marney. Mary died in Meigs County, Tennessee on July 6, 1905, and lies buried in the Edgemon Cemetery. Abner and Mary had a number of children, including Parmelia Deatherage, John L. Deatherage, and Angeline Deatherage, who was first married to a Mr. Burnett and later married a Union veteran of the war, Ozias Rumfield. There were probably more Deatherage children, but the loss of the 1860 Tarrant County, Texas census removes one source of learning their names.
Matthew Watson Deavenport was Captain of Co. E, 34th Texas Cavalry, in which many northeast Tarrant County men served the Confederacy. Deavenport was commissioned October 15, 1862 at Camp Allston near Shreveport, Alabama. He resigned his commission August 27, 1863. Deavenport was married in Lawrence Co., Tennessee. He came to Tarrant County, Texas about 1852. On October 10, 1864, he patented a 160-acre tract along the north side of present-day John McCain road, west of its intersection with State Highway 26 and east of Pleasant Run-White’s Chapel Road. Community old-timers in northeast Tarrant County have reported the existence of a Deavenport Cemetery, now obliterated by development and road building, which lay along the west side of Carroll Avenue just north of Primrose Lane. The cemetery at one time held the visible graves of four adults and one child. Mr. J. M. Newton, whose father once owned the property and maintained the plot, remembered reading the name “Deavenport” or “Davenport” on the headstones. Tarrant County deed records show that M. W. Deavenport owned a portion of this survey (Francis Throop #1511) as late as 1877. The road originally curved around the plot which was enclosed by a picket fence on which wild roses grew. In 1936 when Carroll Avenue was widened, the road was straightened and the cemetery was destroyed. The county field survey map shows four graves labeled “Old Pioneer Cemetery.” M. W. Deavenport, his wife, and many family members lies buried in Denton, Texas in the old I. O. O. F. Cemetery. His lengthy obituary in the Denton Record-Chronicle on February 16, 1911 is an excellent one: “MAJOR DEAVENPORT DEAD. FORMER PROMINENT CITIZEN OF DENTON DIED SATURDAY AT WELLINGTON. Pneumonia, superinduced by Old Age, Cause of Death—Body Will be Brought Here for Interment at 2:30 Sunday Afternoon. Major M. W. Deavenport, a former prominent resident of Denton and possessor of many friends and acquaintances through Denton county, died Saturday morning at his home at Wellington, death resulting from pneumonia. The remains will be brought here on the flyer Sunday morning and taken to the home of his son, B. H. Deavenport, on West Oak street, where funeral services were held at 2:30 Sunday afternoon, followed by interment at the I. O. O. F. cemetery beside his wife, who died in 1892. Major Deavenport was a native of Tennessee, having been born in Lawrenceburg of that state on August 25, 1828. He was educated in Lawrence county and in the preparatory department of Dartmouth college in New Hampshire. He took up the study of medicine for about a year, and in July of 1848 was married to Louisa J. Evans, afterwards entering the mercantile business with his father, which he continued until 1852. In the fall of the same year he moved to Texas, and finally settled in Tarrant county, near the town of Grapevine. He was engaged in milling at that place, which he followed for two years. In 1862 he joined the military company organized at Minter’s Chapel. He was chosen Captain of his company, which was the nucleus of a regiment being formed at Fort Washita and afterwards known as Alexander’s Regiment. The commander was Gen. Pike, who was afterwards transferred and General Cooper took command, holding it for a short time only, and being succeeded by General Holmes of the Trans-Mississippi department. Mr. Deavenport was promoted in this regiment to the rank of Major at Newtonia, Mo., in 1863. This year the brigade was transferred to the command of General Kirby Smith, with head-quarters at Shreveport, La. In 1864 Mr. Deavenport resigned and came back to Texas, re-engaging in milling near Grapevine, which he followed until 1873. In that year he moved to Deavenport Mills, near what is now Roanoke. From that place he removed to Denton in 1878 and was in the milling business until 1892, when he moved to Quanah and again engaged in milling there until 1900. Since 1900 he has lived at Wellington, being engaged in the mercantile pursuits and banking, being the president of the Wellington State Bank at the time of his death. He was a member of the Baptist church, having joined near Lonesome Dove near Grapevine, Texas about fifty years ago. He was Superintendent of the Sunday School and very active in church work there for many years. He is survived by four children: B. H. Deavenport, of this city; J. H. Deavenport of Wellington; Mrs. B. E. Green of Ft. Worth; and Mrs. J. M. Strong, of Quanah. Major Deavenport was prominently identified with Denton business interests for many years prior to his removal to Quanah, and was a member of the council and mayor pro-tem for several years. The funeral services of Major M. W. Deavenport of Wellington, and a former prominent resident of Denton, were conducted at the home of his son, B. H. Deavenport, Sunday at 2:30 o’clock, following the arrival of the remains Sunday forenoon. Dr. W. C. Lattimore of Oak Cliff assisted by Rev. Stuckey of the M. E. Church, South, was in charge of the services. Many beautiful floral offerings were sent from friends and relatives in Texas, and the sons and daughters of the deceased were present. The body was interred in the I. O. O. F. cemetery beside that of his wife, who died in 1892. The pallbearers were as follows: Honorary—A. E. Graham, Capt. John Bacon, W. B. Brown, W. F. Egan, G. S. Hammett, C. C. Daugherty, C. A. Williams, G. H. Blewett, J. W. Cook, R. H. Hoffman, J. W. Underwood. Active—Dr. J. P. Blount, G. B. Collins, H. F. Schweer, J. N. Rayzor, J. A. Hann, C. F. Witherspoon, and R. H. Evers. The out-of-town relatives present were: Mrs. B. E. Green, Fort Worth; James Deavenport, Wellington; Mrs. Sims, Wellington; Mrs. Ida Strong, Quanah and children; Clarence Strong, J. M. Strong, Jr., and Deavenport Strong.”
Ransom Lafayette Deen patented a piece of property near Parker Memorial Cemetery. He enlisted in 1861 in Gano’s Mounted Riflemen, 20th Brigade, Texas Stae Militia. He was also private in Co. A, 9th Texas Cavalry. His name also appears on the muster roll of Capt. William Quayle’s Co., the first to leave Fort Worth during the Civil War. He was living on the R. L. Dean survey in at least 1870-1874. This survey lies in present-day Grapevine, and was centered in the vicinity of present day Timberline Drive and Oak Creek Drive. He was born January 30, 1838 in Alabama (he once told a census taker he was born in Florida), and died June 27, 1910 in Grapevine. He lies buried in Grapevine Cemetery. Later in life he moved into the downtown residential area of Grapevine. His wife died about 1903 and if she is buried at Grapevine beside him she has no headstone. His obituary appeared in The Grapevine Sun: “DIED. It is our sad duty to chronicle another visit of the death angel in our midst. Last Monday at about 5 p.m. Mr. R. L. Deen passed away in the 73rd year of his age. He had been in feeble health for a long time previous to his death. His wife preceded him to the grave some seven years ago. Mr. Deen has lived in this community about 53 years, coming here when about 19 years of age. He was a member of the Methodist church and lived a consistent Christian life. He was also a member of the Masonic Order and was buried under the auspices of that order Tuesday evening. He leaves seven children—five daughters and two sons—to mourn his departure, and to whom we extend our sympathy.”
Francis Marion Denney was born about 1839 in Madison County, Arkansas, a son of Burnett Denney and Priscilla (Doyle) Denney. About 1860 Denney left Arkansas and moved to Parker County, Texas where a young lady named Margaret E. Doak was living with her brother’s family. About 1861, probably in Parker County, Texas, Denney was married to Margaret, who was born about August 11, 1840. Denney joined the Confederate army and became a private in Co. F, 19th Texas Cavalry. He enlisted March 31, 1862 at Veal Station in Parker County, Texas for the duration of the war. He was 6’ 1” tall, had hazel eyes, and brown hair. He traveled sixty miles to the rendezvous at Dallas. He furnished his own horse, worth $150, and his own equipment, worth $20. He said he was twenty-two years old in 1862. He was stationed at Camp Stonewall Jackson in Dallas as of June 25, 1862, where he received an enlistment bounty of $30. Family sources say that one of the Denney children was born in Lavaca County, Texas in 1866. In the 1870’s Denney moved to the White’s Chapel area of Tarrant County, to be near the family of his brother, Jasper Denney. The year 1878 was a devastating one for Mr. Denney…his daughter, Della, died at the age of eight months on September 29. His wife, Margaret, and his seventeen-year-old son, Burnett, both died on October 1, at the age of thirty-eight years, one month, and twenty-one days. His daughter, Priscilla, died on November 18. A widower with children to raise, Denney was soon remarried to a lady named Emma A. Only a few months later, his and Emma’s son, Francis M. Denney, Jr., died on May 30, 1880 after living less than one month. In 1880, Denney owned 100 acres of the Hiram Granberry survey in present-day Southlake, a rectangular tract about one mile north-south by one-half mile east-west. Its northwest corner was about where Shady Grove Drive dead ends from the north into FM1709. Continental Drive today forms its southern boundary. Denney may have lived somewhere along White’s Chapel Boulevard between FM 1709 and Continental Drive. In late 1880 or early 1881, Denney and his remaining family left Texas and moved back to Madison County, Arkansas where he died on June 18, 1881. His widow, Emma A. Denney, remarried in 1885. Francis Denney’s other children included Thomas B. Denney, Seanna M. Denney, Rosa E. Denney, and Machie J. Dennie, all of whom were still alive in 1880.
John Driskill was born about 1813 in Illinois, a son of Elias Driskill and Christina (Eaton) Driskill, and a brother of Grapevine-area pioneer William Franklin Driskill. John was married in Illinois about 1838 to his wife, Catherine “Kate,” who was born about 1818 in Kentucky. The Driskills moved from Illinois to Pulaski County, Missouri about 1842. It is interesting to note that in the year 1850 in Pulaski County, Missouri, John Driskill and his family were close neighbors (appearing on the same census page) of Lilburn H. Colley and his family, for whom the town of Colleyville was named decades later. By the beginning of the War, John Driskill had arrived in northeast Tarrant County. He, along with his brother, William F. Driskill, served in Captain William W. McGinnis’s Co., 20th Brigade, Texas State Militia. After the War, Driskill and his family moved to Round Prairie Township, Benton County, Arkansas, where they were living when the 1870 census was taken. By 1880 Mr. and Mrs. Driskill had returned to Tarrant County, where they lived with a married daughter, Mary P. Thomas, and three of her children. There are no readable headstones for either John or Catherine Driskill in northeast Tarrant County. John and Catherine had several children, including: William Driskill, Eliza J. Driskill, Mary Parilla Driskill who married a Mr. Thomas, James R. Driskill, John W. Driskill, George Driskill, and Eliza Driskill.
William Franklin Driskill was born February 22, 1822 in Coles County, Illinois, a son of Elias Driskill and Christina (Eaton) Driskill. It is interesting to note that in the year 1850 in Pulaski County, Missouri, William Driskill and his family were close neighbors (appearing on the same census page) of Lilburn H. Colley and his family, for whom the town of Colleyville was named decades later. William was married at least twice, first about 1848 to Charlotte Davis. Along with his brother, John Driskill, he served in Captain William W. McGinnis’s Co., 20th Brigade, Texas State Militia. He patented the 160-acre William Driskill survey on June 30, 1871. His survey sits in present-day Grapevine and is bounded on the west by State Highway 121, on the south by Hughes Road, and with its southeast corner at the intersection of Hughes Road and Hall-Johnson/Baze Roads. The survey lay in a square, and extended one-half mile north of Hughes Road from its southeast corner. William’s last wife was Mrs. Susanna Hunt McDaniel Gray. Driskill died at his home south of Grapevine on December 9, 1884, and lies buried beside his mother and sister in Parker Memorial Cemetery in the south edge of Grapevine, Texas. His mother, Christina Driskill, died in 1862 and her headstone is the oldest readable monument in the cemetery. William’s descendants continue to use the cemetery today. Family genealogists report that William and his first wife had the following children: William Franklin Driskill, D. J. Driskill, John Eli Driskill, Mary E. “Polly” Driskill, and Luvisa Christina (Mrs. Benjamin Samuel) Day. William and Susannah had at least the following children: George Douglas Driskill, Green Parker Driskill, and Betty Elizabeth (Mrs. William Patilla) Dyer. There is biographical material for several of William F. Driskill’s descendants found in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History.
Samuel George Dyer was born in Georgia about 1833. He was married to Elizabeth Pentecost on January 27, 1857 in Dadeville, Tallapoosa County, Alabama. When the 1860 census was taken, they were living with Elizabeth’s widowed mother in Tallapoosa County. He was working as a house carpenter at the time. Samuel’s marriage record and military records show his name as “Samuel G.,” while the 1860 census records him as “George.” He served as a private in Co. A, 1st Alabama Infantry, the “Tallapoosa Rifles,” having enlisted on February 10, 1862 at Barrancas, Alabama for a term of three years. On April 8, 1862, he was captured at Island No. 10, and was sent to Camp Butler in Springfield, Illinois. On September 23, 1862 he was sent from Camp Butler to Vicksburg, Mississippi to be exchanged. A record made at the time of his exchange says he had been captured at Fort Donelson, Tennessee on February 16, 1862. Dyer’s files in Washington, D. C. contain one original pay voucher for $22…his pay for the period January 1 through February 28, 1863. He was again captured a Port Hudson, Louisiana on July 9, 1863, and was paroled there later that month. He received a clothing allotment on November 10, 1863. On December 2, 1863 he was temporarily on furlough stationed at Meridian, Mississippi. In April, 1864 Dyer was stationed at Fort Powell (state not mentioned in his records). He was captured at Franklin, Tennessee on December 17, 1864, and was forwarded to a military prison at Louisville, Kentucky on January 22, 1865. He spent only a short time at Louisville before he was sent along to Camp Chase, Illinois, where he arrived on January 25. On May 15, 1865 at Camp Chase, Ohio he signed the oath of allegiance to the federal government; his residence was recorded as Montgomery, Alabama. He had a florid complexion, dark hair, blue eyes, and was 5’ 9” tall. He lies buried in Parker Memorial Cemetery in the south edge of Grapevine, Texas beneath a gravestone supplied by the veterans administration, but it contains no dates of birth or death. Some other family members, including one man who is the correct age to have been Samuel’s son, are buried nearby. Samuel’s death date does not appear in the Texas Vital Statistics records. To this point we have discovered no other personal information about him. To this point we have discovered no other personal information about him.
John Staples “Jack” Estill was born October 26, 1845 in Franklin County, Tennessee, a son of Tarrant County pioneers Jefferson Estill and Frances (Staples) Estill. The family came to Grapevine Prairie in November, 1855 from Salem, Tennessee. Jack enlisted in Co. A, 9th Texas Cavalry on October 14, 1861 at Camp Reeves, Texas, and was at Fort Gibson, Oklahoma Territory, on December 31 of that year. He was discharged October 14, 1862, but reenlisted in the same company and regiment on March 1, 1864 at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In the spring of 1864 he was detached on special duty under Capt. Evans as a scout. Estill married Frances “Fannie” Lipscomb about 1867. In 1895, Estill lived in present-day Grapevine along the north side of Hall-Johnson Road, in the vicinity of its intersections with Bentley Court and Parr Road. He died August 24, 1900. An account of his death appeared the next day in The Fort Worth Morning Register. He is the only Civil War veteran who now lies buried in Bluebonnet Hills Memorial Park. At the time the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport was being built, all the graves from the Lipscomb Cemetery (Estill’s original resting place) were moved. Most were relocated to Grapevine Cemetery; a few of the Estills were reburied at Bluebonnet Hills. There are biographies of several of Jefferson Estill’s descendants in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History. Jack and Fannie Estill had eleven children, according to a statement made by Mrs. Estill in 1900. At the time, only seven were still living. They included: Mary M. Estill, Wallace Estill, Dixie Estill, Henry Estill, Charles Estill, Lavinia Estill, Willie Estill, Hugh Estill, and at least one child who died in infancy about 1870.
James Y. Farmer was born about 1846 in Tennessee. In 1850 he was living with his widowed mother, Eliza Farmer, and siblings in Putnam County, Tennessee. By 1860 they were living in Jackson County, Tennessee. Farmer married Mary M. Jacquess, probably in Jackson County. In 1880 the family was still in Jackson County, including a son named William M. Farmer. In 1910, James Y. Farmer and another Confederate veteran, Joseph A. Leverett , were living at Bransford with Farmer’s son, William M. Farmer, on the Smithfield-White’s Chapel Road. Joseph A. Leverett was William M. Farmer’s uncle. Both Farmer and Leverett told the 1910 census taker that they were Confederate veterans. James Y. Farmer’s death does not appear in the Texas vital statistics files, and he has no readable headstone standing in northeast Tarrant County.
George W. Farris was born in Tennessee about 1831. According to information he gave when he registered to vote in 1867, he arrived in northeast Tarrant County about 1854. Farris’s wife, Mary, was born about 1828 in Alabama. In 1858 one of their children died and was buried in Bear Creek Cemetery; that marker is now the oldest readable marker in the cemetery. In 1860, Farris owned one hundred sixty acres of the Levi Franklin survey, which survey sits north of Little Bear Creek and south of Glade Road; its eastern and western boundaries are today’s Euless North Main Street and FM 157, respectively. Farris enlisted January 15, 1862 at Grapevine, Texas under Lt. Crowley for twelve months. He was a Confederate soldier in Co.A, 34th Texas Cavalry. He was left sick at a convalescent camp near Alexander, Louisiana on September 25, 1863. He was in the Confederate General Hospital at Shreveport for debilitis from March 2 through March 4, 1865. Both Mr. and Mrs. Farris were still living in Tarrant County at the time the 1880 census was taken. Farris’s wife, Mary, had a marker at Bear Creek which was readable decades ago when the local D.A.R. chapter inventoried the cemetery. He probably lies buried in an unmarked grave at Bear Creek.
Thomas Fitch was born December 6, 1837 in Tennessee. His wife, Catherine, was born September 10, 1840 and died July 22, 1923. Census data indicate their children were born in Tennessee about 1860-1867, in Arkansas about 1868, in Mississippi about 1872-1875, and in Texas beginning about 1878. In 1895 he lived on the J. G. Cummings survey between Bedford and Euless, in present-day Bedford about one-quarter mile west of FM 157 along the south side of Harwood Road. Fitch told the 1910 census taker he was a veteran of the Confederate army. Thomas died April 19, 1922. Both Mr. and Mrs. Fitch and many of their descendants lie buried in Bedford Cemetery. Catherine Fitch told the 1910 census taker she had given birth to ten children, all of whom were still living. They were: Isaac Fitch, John Fitch, Charles Fitch, James B. Fitch, Mary Jane Fitch Newman, William Reece Fitch, Barney K. Fitch, Samuel T. Fitch, Margaret C. “Maggie” Fitch, and Thomas H. Fitch.
Robert Samuel Flatt was born at Saltillo Springs, Hardin County, Tennessee on August 31, 1843. He was a son of Steven William Flatt and his wife, Rebecca (Stinnett) Flatt. Throughout most of his life he was known as Sam Flatt. After the death of his father about 1855, Robert’s mother moved about 1859 with her children to Titus County, Texas to be nearer a number of her relatives. Flatt enlisted in Daingerfield, Texas on May 6, 1862 in Co. G, 19th Texas Infantry; his enlistment term was three years. He traveled thirty miles to the rendezvous. He is shown present on all the regiment’s surviving muster rolls for 1862 through 1864, with the exception of one period in November 1862 when he was too sick for duty. He was shot through both thighs at the Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana on April 8, 1864, and carried the bullets in his body to his grave. After he recovered enough for further service, he herded cattle for the Confederate army, which duty he was performing in April, 1865 when the War ended. He told pension authorities many years later that he was discharged near Hempstead, Texas about the month of April in 1865. Family sources say he was married April 25, 1867 at Pittsburg, Texas to Mary Elizabeth Ryan, a daughter of Harris and Sarah Ann (Smith) Ryan. She was born at Cason, Morris County, Texas on December 31, 1847. They lived for a time in Grayson County, Texas in the 1870-1872 time period, and moved to Parker County, Texas in 1874. They came to Parker County in covered wagons and lived in their wagons until their cabin could be completed. Their dog turned around and appeared three months later back at their old home in Grayson County. He was a member of the Robert E. Lee Camp of United Confederate Veterans at Fort Worth. Mary Elizabeth died at Springtown on August 13, 1886, and Sam Flatt finished raising their children with the help of a neighbor couple. Flatt was remarried in Parker County, Texas on February 7, 1900 to Lilly Belle Tatum (born October 14, 1857), an accomplished pianist. They had no children. Flatt died October 29, 1921 at Longview, Gregg County, Texas, and was buried at Springtown, near his old Agnes home. About 1907 he left Parker County and settled in northeast Tarrant County, where he remained until about 1919. In 1910 he owned part of the W. W. Wallace survey south of Smithfield along the Fort Worth and Bedford Road. About the month of February in 1919 Mr. and Mrs. Flatt moved to Longview, Gregg County, Texas, where Flatt applied for a Confederate pension in 1920. Mrs. Flatt applied for a pension in 1925. She said she was sixty-seven years old and a native of Somerville, Tennessee. An affidavit in her pension file gives details about some moves she made between Tennessee and Texas in the period 1887-1925. She said she had been living at 202 S. High Street in Longview since 1923. In 1941 Mrs. Flatt was living in Fort Worth with Mrs. Frances M. Green at 2516 Lincoln Avenue. She died August 15, 1942. Sam Flatt and both his wives are buried in the Springtown Cemetery in Parker County. Sam Flatt’s children included William Harrison Flatt; Mary Mayhally (Mrs. Alphred F.) Neill; Nancy Eugenia (Mrs. Thomas Benton) Wallace; Sarah Anne (Mrs. Robert C.) Elbs; Ada Rebecca (Mrs. William Juan) Sides; George Washington Flatt; and Robert Millican Flatt. An obituary for Robert S. Flatt appeared in the Weatherford, Texas Weekly Herald on November 3, 1921: “ FORMER CITIZEN IS BURIED AT SPRINGTOWN. The remains of R. S. Flatt, who died at Longview Saturday afternoon, was received in this city Monday morning and taken to Springtown, where funeral services were held by Rev. C. A. Thorpe with burial in the Springtown cemetery. Mr. Flatt was 78 years of age, and a former citizen of this county. He lived many years at Agnes. He left there in 1907 and located in Fort Worth, where he resided until two years ago when he moved to Longview. He is survived by his widow and five children, as follows: W. H. Flatt, Fort Worth; Mrs. M. M. Neal, Duncan, Okla.; Mrs. T. R. Wallace, Fort Worth; Mrs. R. L. Elbs, Dallas; and Mr. W. J. Sides, Burkburnett.”
Hobson H. Fleming was born in Alabama on September 21, 1835. At the time the 1910 census was taken, he was living on part of the W. W. Wallace survey which he owned south of Smithfield. Fleming told the census official that he was a Confederate veteran. The census also indicates that some of his children were born in Mississippi between about 1862 and 1864 and in Tennessee from about 1868 until about 1874. The family arrived in Texas about 1878. “Hopson” Fleming and his family were residents of Ellis County, Texas in 1880. His wife, Louisa V. Fleming, died in Fort Worth on August 29, 1912. She was born July 17, 1845 in Mississippi. She died in the Polytechnic section of Fort Worth at 819 Essex Avenue, and was buried in Waxahachie. She was the daughter of John Strain and Jane Mc(whorter?). As of 1910, Mrs. Fleming had 3 of 8 children living. Hobson Fleming died at 1100 Bessie Street in Fort Worth in Tarrant County, Texas on December 31, 1914, and was buried at Waxahachie, Texas. The informant was Mrs. Eunice Blevins of Ft. Worth. Fleming’s obituary which appeared in the Fort Worth paper mistakenly identified him as Mrs. H. H. Fleming; the Ellis County death records have a partial entry for him indicating that H. H. Fleming was a male and that he died about the first day of 1915 in Fort Worth.
Reuben M. Folsom was born in Campbell Co., Georgia on July 5, 1838. Folsom served in Co. C, 21st Georgia Infantry. He married Martha M. Bunch, who was born May 5, 1848 in Walker County, Georgia. Folsom had moved to Tarrant County, Texas by 1874. He lived beside Mexican War and Civil War veteran Robert Morrow in 1880, at which time he owned sixty acres of the T. Akers survey, which survey of about 320 acres is centered in present-day Hurst about where the intersection of Mountain View Drive and Chisholm Trail is found. By 1886 the family moved to the Indian Territory, where they appear in the 1900 census in Township 13 of the Cherokee Nation. Folsom is shown as an Anglo-American. By 1910 he was living with his family in Akins Township, Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. He died May 13, 1911 in Sequoyah County. His grave is marked. According to the 1900 census, Martha Folsom had given birth to five children, three of whom were still alive. Those children included Benjamin Ocie Folsom, James Isaiah Folsom, Parthena E. Folsom, and Maggie Folsom.
James Madison French was born July 23, 1843 in Marshall County, Alabama, a son of Lewis Pinckney French, who later became a pioneer in Navarro County, Texas. James served the Confederacy as a soldier in Co. I, 4th Alabama Cavalry. Official records say he enlisted at Guntersville, Alabama on August 1 1862, and is shown present for duty on a roll dated February 13, 1864. His wife's name was Sarah Frances Walker, and they were married on October 17, 1866 in Marshall Co., Alabama. She was born January 26, 1846 in Marshall County, and died January 24, 1937. The widow was pensioned and in 1921 said she had lived near Arlington for 48 years, thus they must have come here about 1873. The widow died in Dublin, Erath County, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. C. R. Wood. James M. French died September 12, 1918. Mr. and Mrs. French lie buried near several of their family members in Bedford Cemetery. They had at least eight children, including Delia F. French, William Bell French, Bettie Elizabeth French, James Henry French, Marquett Ann French, Nettie French, William Hugh French, and Maud French. A newspaper obituary for Mrs. French has survived among the papers of her descendants: “Last Rites Held At Bedford for Mrs. Sarah Frances French. Mrs. Sarah Frances French, known among her many friends here as “grandmother” French, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. C. R. Ward, Dublin, Route ?, at 7:00 Sunday morning. Her death followed a brief illness which put her to bed for four days preceding her death. This illness which at first was not thought to be serious developed into pneumonia. Mrs. French, had she lived until Jan. 26, 1937, would have been 91 years of age. Preparations had been made to have a family reunion and an afternoon reception in her honor. She was born in Marshall county, Alabama on January 26, 1846. In 1866 she was married to J. M. French, who served through the Civil War as a member of Forest’s Brigade. In 1871, Mr. and Mrs. French came to Texas, being members of a large party of immigrants who made the trip in wagons. They settled at Bedford, in Tarrant County, making their home there until the death of the husband in 1918. Since that time, Mrs. French had been making her home with her children and had been here for the past two years with her youngest daughter. She possessed a wonderful memory and it was delightful to hear her tell of the early adventures of the pioneers who blazed the trail in this section. Of her nine children, six survive. These are W. B. French, Spencer, Oklahoma; Mrs. Delia Jameson, Fort Worth; Mrs. Bettie Scott, Hollis, Oklahoma; J. H. French, Hurst; Mrs. Maggie Arwine, Dallas; Mrs. Maude Ward, Dublin. Besides the children, there are 51 grandchildren and 51 great-grandchildren. Two of her nephews are pioneer citizens of Dublin. They are E. R. and W. H. Snead. She had been a member of the Baptist church since early young womanhood and was a charter member of one of Tarrant County’s early churches. She was a remarkable woman, possessed of a keen sense of humor and a rare personality. Her life was a busy one and filled with kind deeds. Besides rearing her own family, she took four orphan nieces and nephews and sent them into the world as good citizens. The body was taken to Bedford Monday morning, where funeral services were held at 2 o’clock in the Bedford Church of Christ, conducted by the Rev. W. J. Cloud of Bunyan and an old time friend, M. H. Moore, superintendent of the Fort Worth School. Grandsons acted as pall bearers and granddaughters as flower girls. Funeral arrangements were in charge of the Higginbotham-Harrell Funeral home where the body lay in state and was viewed by many friends during Sunday afternoon.”
James Alexander Garrett was born February 23, 1847 in Laurens County, South Carolina. He was a younger brother of Rappley Garrett, and was a son of Benjamin and Sarah Garrett. By the time of the Civil War, the Garretts moved to Walker County, Georgia and settled in the neighborhood of today’s Garrett’s Chapel. He vouched for James Autrey’s Confederate service in Autrey’s pension application. James said he enlisted in 1864, but he did not say in what state or regiment. Jim Garrett was married four times and had twelve children, six sons and six daughters. He first came to Texas about 1875, but went back to Georgia about 1879 and stayed until 1894. In 1894, he bought a farm in Tarrant County. In Georgia, Jim was a successful businessman supplying land, lumber, seed and equipment to put in crops. Jim was first married in Georgia to Martha (Mattie) Todd, who died July 20, 1870. They had one daughter, who died two months after her mother. In 1871 he married Neely Tiner, who died about 1878 in Georgia after they had four children: Charles G. Garrett, Estelle Garrett Manley, Benjamin Franklin Garrett, and Eldena Garrett. Jim next married Frances Isabelle Hall, who died in 1894 in Georgia. They had seven children: James Millard Garrett. Samuel Price Garrett, Alice Ilabar Garrett, Daisie Garrett, William Randolph Garrett, Mollie Garrett White, and Lawrence Garrett. James and his surviving children moved to Texas. In Texas he raised cotton and corn, and maintained a fruit orchard. Jim was a charter member of the Grand Prairie (now Smithfield) Masonic Lodge, #455, and of the Smithfield Methodist Church. Jim’s father, Benjamin Franklin Garrett, died in Georgia in 1885 and his mother, Sarah, then moved to Texas to live with Jim’s family. She lived with them until her death in Smithfield in 1911. While back in Georgia on December 28, 1896, Jim Garrett married his fourth wife, Josephine (Josie) Littlejohn LeRoy. They had no children together. Garrett died April 5, 1921 and was buried in Smithfield Cemetery.
Rappley Garrett , a son of Benjamin Franklin Garrett, was born in Laurens County, South Carolina on March 24, 1842. By the time of the Civil War the family had moved to Walker County, Georgia and settled in the present-day area of Garrett’s Chapel. B. F. Garrett died and was buried in Georgia, but his widow and several of his children eventually settled in the Smithfield area of Tarrant County, Texas. Rappley Garrett served several different organizations within the Confederate army, including [1st] Co. H, 26th Tennessee Infantry and J. C. Gordon’s Co. of the 3rd Tennessee Infantry. After his escape from the fall of Fort Donelson, he joined Capt. R. L. Barry’s Co. of Tennessee Light Artillery, in which he spent most of his service. Garrett married Louisa Jane Sparger, born in present-day Sequatchie County, Tennessee on June 12, 1843, the daughter of Samuel Sparger of Walker County, Georgia. They came to Tarrant County, Texas about 1896, and lived in the southwest corner of the present-day intersection of Cheek-Sparger Road and Bedford Road in Colleyville. Garrett died on February 4, 1901. Mrs. Garrett died December 27, 1912 at the home of her son, Richard Garrett, which stood in the southeast corner of the intersection of Highway 26 and Cheek-Sparger Road in Colleyville. Mrs. Garrett was buried beside her husband at the southeast corner of Smithfield Cemetery. They had only two children: Richard Garrett and Mary Garrett, who was first married to Thomas Pinckney Pirkle and then to Isaac Newton Daniel.
Thomas H. Garrett , a son of Smith Garrett, was born February 9, 1835 in Williamson County, Tennessee. In 1850 he was still living in Williamson County with his parents. By 1860 they had moved to Ballard County, Kentucky; and by 1870 Thomas was back in Tennessee in Hickman County. Thomas was one of the founding elders of Smithfield Church of Christ in present-day North Richland Hills in 1888. At the time of the church's founding, Garrett was living on a farm of sixty acres in the J. H. Barlough survey in the southern edge of the town of Smithfield. In 1895, Garrett’s home sat along the eastern side of present-day Smithfield Road, about one-quarter mile south of the railroad crossing, about where Guy Drive intersects Smithfield Road from the west. In 1900, Thomas H. Garrett was serving as Smithfield's postmaster. By 1910, he was retired and J. R. Crane was postmaster. He told the census taker in 1910 that he was a veteran of the Confederate army. He died February 16, 1919 at his home in Smithfield, and was buried in the cemetery there. His wife, Telitha Garrett, was born January 29, 1835 and died January 15, 1928. She lies buried beside her husband in Smithfield Cemetery. Thomas H. Garrett's obituary appeared in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, February 17, 1919. His obituary was a short one: “SMITHFIELD PIONEER, BORN IN 1835, DIES; IS BURIED SUNDAY. T. H. Garrett, a resident of Smithfield since 1877, and who had been married sixty-three years, died at Smithfield Sunday morning and was buried there Sunday afternoon. He was 84 years old Feb. 7, 1919. Williamson County, Tenn. was his birthplace. For many years he was postmaster at Smithfield. His widow, two daughters, and three sons survive.” Mrs. Garrett's obituary appeared in the same newspaper on January 16, 1928, p. 4. His and his wife's double gravestone in Smithfield Cemetery originally had an oval photograph incorporated into it but vandals have broken and removed it. Mrs. Garrett’s obituary in the Fort Worth newspaper also adds a few interesting details: “MRS. GARRETT, PIONEER, DIES AT 98. Mrs. T. H. Garrett, 98, died Monday morning at the home of her daughter, Mrs. B. F. Cloud, 3438 Meadowbrook Drive. Mrs. Garrett lacked only a little more than a month attaining her ninety-ninth birthday, having been born in Tennessee on Feb. 20, 1835. She came to Texas with her husband in 1876, settling in the Smithfield community. Mrs. Garrett resided at Smithfield until the death of her husband about nine years ago, when she came to Fort Worth to make her home with Mrs. Cloud. Besides Mrs. Cloud she is survived by another daughter, Mrs. Charles Henry of Smithfield, and three sons, George Garrett of Houston, Ward Garrett of Kennedale, and Henry Garrett of Fort Worth. Funeral services will be held at the Smithfield Methodist Church Tuesday at 3 p.m., with burial in the Smithfield Cemetery. The body will be at the home of Mrs. Cloud from 9:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Pallbearers will be grandsons of Mrs. Garrett: Bill Cloud, George Cloud, George Henry, Eldon Garrett, Clyde Garrett and Ray Garrett.”
Christopher L. Garrison , a son of John F. Garrison, was a private in Co. E, 2nd Missouri State Militia Cavalry, in the Union army. He was born at Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois about 1844, and in 1850 was living with his parents and siblings in Hancock County. About 1857, the family moved to Missouri and settled in Lindsay Township, Benton County in Township 43 Range 21. Christopher enlisted March 11, 1862 at New London for three years. He furnished his own horse and equipment from November 1-23 and from December 15-31, 1863. He was later transferred to the 13th Missouri Vol. Cavalry. After the War, he married Eliza Jane Johnson on November 25, 1866. By 1880 the family was living in the White’s Chapel area by 1880. In that year his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John F. Garrison, were living with him. He died on October 25, 1884. He lies buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery beneath a military headstone which contains no dates. Garrison had at least one child, and his widow later was remarried to a Mr. Miller. Both Garrison’s widow and child applied to the federal government for pension benefits based upon Mr. Garrison’s service.
John Flavel Garrison was born November 27, 1814 in Warren County, Kentucky. He was a son of Jonathan Edward Garrison and his wife, Anna. His wife was Margaret Washburn, and she was a native of Ohio. They were married March 27, 1843 in Fulton County, Illinois, and they immediately relocated to Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois. Garrison was a private in Co. K, 7th Missouri Infantry, U. S. forces, along with his eldest son. He originally enlisted June 1, 1861 at Rolla, Missouri, but was soon discharged at Larmine Bridge for disability. He re-enlisted, and was sent to the St. Louis hospital on February 2, 1862 because of sickness. He was discharged at St. Louis on June 14, 1864. About 1857 the family relocated to Lindsay Township, Benton County, Missouri. Family sources say he died in Bedford, Texas January 22, 1885; he lies buried beneath a military headstone in White’s Chapel Cemetery beside his son, Christopher L. Garrison. John F. Garrison was the father of at least seven children, including James Martin Garrison, Christopher L. Garrison, Wyatt A. Garrison, Robert Newton Garrison, William Garrison, Frances E. Garrison, and John C. Garrison.
Josiah Gass was born January 1, 1844 (Gass himself once said 1843) in Dade County, Georgia, a son of Milton Gass and Malinda Farmer. He enlisted in the Confederate army in Dade County, Georgia as a private in Co. F, 34th Georgia Infantry. According to official records, he enlisted May 17, 1862. He was captured at Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4, 1863 and was paroled there on July 8. He was captured at Dalton, Georgia on May 13, 1864 and was released at Camp Morton, Indiana on May 20, 1865. He married Katherine Tinker in Dade Co., Ga. June 27, 1868. She was born December 13, 1849 and died February 4, 1934, both in Dade Co., Georgia. Gass applied for a pension in 1902 while living in Dade County, Georgia. One of the physicians examining him said he did not appear to be an aged man and might be able to support himself by manual labor. In his application, Gass said he had lived in Georgia all his life. In his declaration Gass said he was in the prison camp at Camp Morton, Indiana the last year of the war. He wrote, “I was captured near Chickamauga as the army was retreating and taken back north.” He was still living in Dade County, Georgia as late as 1907. He died January 7, 1912, and was buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. His widow, Sarah Gass, applied for a pension in Dade County, Ga in 1914. In her pension declaration in Dade County, Georgia, she said Josiah was a resident of Trenton, Dade County, Georgia when he died. However, he very obviously died here since he has a gravestone with clear dates in White’s Chapel Cemetery, and many of his descendants are here. He was a brother of George Hamilton Guess, who changed the spelling of his last name at the time he moved to Texas.
Thomas Gilroy was a Union veteran living at Bransford in 1890. He was in Co. A, 20th New York Infantry from May 15, 1862 until January 3, 1864. There are no readable Gilroy headstones standing in any northeast Tarrant County cemetery, and Mr. Gilroy’s death does not appear in the Texas vital statistics records.
Daniel Hiram Glasscock was born August 6, 1838, in Anderson County, Republic of Texas. He was the son of Hiram and Polly (Parker) Glasscock. Daniel’s paternal grandfather, Benjamin Parker, and both Benjamin’s parents were among the victims of the Parker’s Fort massacre on May 19, 1836…the one in which famed Texas history character Cynthia Ann Parker was captured. Glasscock came to Tarrant County, Texas about 1852. He enlisted as a private in Co. A, 34th Texas Cavalry, at Grapevine, Texas on January 15, 1862. The enlisting officer was Lt. Hiram Crowley, and Glasscock agreed to serve a term of one year. He is shown in the official records on sick leave beginning February 26, 1863. He served until the close of the war. He was wounded while in the army and his disability hampered his ability to farm for the rest of his life. Glassscock married Nancy Adeline Berry, the daughter of James and Nancy (Brock) Berry. In 1895 his home sat in present-day Bedford, Texas along the south side of Harwood Road, about three-eights of a mile west of Highway 157. Glasscock applied for a Confederate pension in January, 1902, but died March 27, 1902, and was buried on the hilltop in Parker Memorial Cemetery in the south part of Grapevine, Texas. Daniel and Nancy Glasscock were the parents of twelve children, eight of whom lived to maturity. A short biography of the family appeared in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History, 1979. A number of his descendants in this community adopted the surname Glassco. The twelve children included Mary Ann, Lucille, Maude, Frances, Emma, Nancy Ellen, Minnie, Telina Green, Ines, Melia Rachel, Joseph Walter, and Ira Mae Glasscock.
William Glenn was born in Missouri about 1821. He served a term in the United States volunteers during the Mexican War, during which he received a permanently-disabling gunshot wound to the left hand. He was a farrier and blacksmith in Capt. Kinsey’s Co., 1st Regiment (Hays) Texas Mounted Volunteers during the Mexican War, having joined June 15 ,1847 at Buckner, Texas for twelve months. Buckner was at the time the county seat of Collin County, Texas. He was mustered in at Austin on July 3, 1847, and brought his own horse worth $85 and his own equipment worth $10. Glenn was sick in the hospital at Vera Cruz, Mexico for a time and rejoined his company from the hospital at Vera Cruz on December 20, 1847. He was mustered out at Camp Washington, Vera Cruz, Mexico, on April 30, 1848, at which time he was given his clothing allowance from March 4. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted as a private in the 9th Brigade of Texas State Militia. At the time, he and his family were living in Lamar County, Texas. By 1870 the family had moved back to Missouri, but by 1880 they had immigrated to Tarrant County, Texas. Both he and his wife, Nancy (Sims) Glenn, were pensioned by the federal government for his Mexican War service. He was dead by 1900, when his widow was living in the Pleasant Glade Community with one of their sons. He grew to be five feet, seven inches tall and had auburn hair. William Glenn is buried along with several members of his family in Parker Memorial Cemetery south of Grapevine. He and his wife, Nancy E. Sims, lived on a farm on Pool Road southwest of Grapevine. Nancy was still alive in 1900. William Glenn was the father of several children, including White Hill Glenn; John W. Glenn; Julia (Mrs. Kit) Walker; Andrew Glenn; Susan (Mrs. William) Joyce; Samuel Glenn; Mary (Mrs. Lynn) Boland; and Rosana Glenn. A short biography of Mr. Glenn appeared in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History, 1979.
Samuel Glover was a Union veteran of the Civil War. He was born in Hamilton County, Tennessee about 1846, and was eighteen years old when he enlisted at Harrison, Tennessee on August 26, 1864 for a term of one year. He served as a private in Co. E, 5th Tennessee Infantry. He was mustered in at Cleveland, Bradley County, Tennessee. His original enlistment paper, complete with his signature, is still in his file at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. At the time of his enlistment, he had blue eyes, light hair, a fair complexion, and was 5’ 7” tall. He had his right ankle broken while in service. He was mustered out of the service at Nash-ville, Tennessee on July 12, 1865. He owned parts of the C. B. McDonald and J. H. Freeman surveys in 1890. Surviving records would suggest that he died in the period 1890-1892. His widow, Jennie Glover, began receiving a pension for his service in 1892. Neither he nor his wife have a readable headstone standing in any northeast Tarrant County cemetery.
George Hamilton Guess began life as George Hamilton Gass, but changed his name later in life after he moved to Tarrant County, Texas. Some family sources say his name was George Henry Guess. He was born about 1842 in Dade Co., Georgia, a son of Milton Gass and Malinda Farmer. His widow, Amanda, was born in Dade County, Georgia . George served in Co. A, 3rd Confederate Cavalry. W. R. Austin and H. H. Austin vouched for his service, saying they were in the same regiment with him. Guess was married first to Malinda Parisada Tinker. They came to the White’s Chapel area about 1875. He was married second to Amanda Jones, widow of Jim Cross. She and George were married January 19, 1883 in Tarrant County. In 1895 George Guess was living on the R. Eads survey in present-day Southlake on the east side of Carroll Lane at about its intersection with Southlake’s Main Street. In 1899, he owned eighty acres of the R. Eads survey. He died October (his widow’s pension application says November) 17, 1911, and was buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. His widow applied for her pension as Amanda Gass, but her tombstone says Guess She was sixty-three years old when she applied, and had lived in the Grapevine area for thirty-eight years. Mrs. Guess died October 30, 1915.
Monroe Taylor Gulledge was born March 29, 1848 in Georgia. He was a member of the Robert E. Lee Camp of United Confederate Veterans in Fort Worth. At the time of the Civil War, he was living in Dooly County, Georgia. His wife’s name was Margaret Alice Zant, and she was born in 1850 in Georgia. She and Monroe were married in Dooly County, Georgia on February 14, 1871. He was still living in Georgia as late as about 1876. In 1880 he was living with his wife and children in Precinct 4 of Stephens County, Texas. He was involved with the building of the court house in Shackelford County, Texas. A statement in his obituary suggests he settled in Tarrant County around 1898. He died at his home in Fort Worth at 3124 Avenue J on April 19, 1928. He was buried beside his wife in Smithfield Cemetery Gulledge’s obituary appeared in the Fort Worth Record-Telegram on April 20, 1928: “Monroe Gulledge Dies at Home Here. Monroe T. Gulledge, 80, a resident of Tarrant County 30 years, died at 3:15 p.m. Thursday at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. R. M. Currie, 3124 Avenue J. He is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Currie and Mrs. H. A. Wofford and Mrs. W. A Barr of Dallas; four sons, T. W., O. Z., and E. E. Gulledge of Fort Worth, and H. C. Gulledge of Purcell, Okla., three brothers, John Gulledge of McKinney, C. J. Gulledge of Carrolton, and G. G. Gulledge of Shawnee, Okla.; and three sisters, Mrs. Sallie Payne of Carrolton, Mrs. Hattie Smart of Wellington and Mrs. Jane Bramblett of Kress. Funeral services will be conducted at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Diamond Hill Methodist Church. Rev. W. S. P. McCullough, pastor, will officiate, assisted by Rev. David Irwin of Hillsboro and Rev. J. M. Scott of Smithfield. Burial will be at Smithfield.”
John Haire was born about 1847 in District 8, Baker County, Georgia. He was a son of Roger Haire. In 1856, the Haires’ home area was taken out of Baker County and became a part of newly-formed Miller County. According to a statement he made while a member of the United Confederate veterans, John was living in Baker County, Georgia when he enlisted in May, 1864 in Co. A, 29th Georgia Battalion. Official records say he enlisted July 15, 1864 at Bainbridge, Georgia for the period of the War. He surrendered with his regiment at Tallahassee, Florida on May 10, 1865, and was paroled at Albany, Georgia on May 18, 1865. He was a member of the Robert E. Lee Camp of United Confederate Veterans in Fort Worth. John Haire and Mary Louisa Lowe, a daughter of Calvin Lowe, were married about 1870 in Miller County, Georgia, and they were still living there with their children when the federal census was taken in 1880. Mrs. Haire was born January 5, 1850 in Georgia and died June 9, 1905. Family members say the Haires came to Texas from Colquitt, Miller County, Georgia in 1883. One of the daughters often told of walking behind the wagon on the trip from Georgia to Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Haire were charter members of Pleasant Hill Advent Christian Church on February 7, 1883. A family history in the Grapevine Area History suggests he and his wife may have been living in Collin County, Texas in 1888. John Haire ran a cotton gin at the present-day southeast corner of FM 1709 and Davis Boulevard. He was alive on January 19, 1922 when he was awarded the Southern Cross of Honor. He lies buried at White’s Chapel Cemetery. His gravestone contains no dates, and his death date does not appear in the Texas death records.
Rev. Andrew Jackson Hallford was born in Cole County, Missouri on July 18, 1835. He was a son of James P. and Sarah (Medlin) Hallford. He came to Tarrant County in the mid-1840’s with his parents as part of the Missouri Colonists, and was baptized at Lonesome Dove Baptist Church in 1849. He married his cousin, Dizanna Foster, on June 3, 1858. On January 15, 1862 at Grapevine he enlisted as a private in Co. A, 34th Texas Cavalry, under Lt. Hiram Crowley. He was ordained to preach on the battlefield in Louisiana in 1864. A stone found for Mrs. Hallford in years past but not found in 1980 when Mrs. Cushman inventoried the cemetery showed her birth date as 1840 and her death date as March 17, 1875. Hallford was pastor of at least thirty-four churches, including Pleasant Run Baptist Church. According to his own statement, he assisted in the conversion of more than three thousand people. He died near Grapevine on April 15, 1890, and was laid to rest in Lonesome Dove Cemetery beside his wife, who had died in 1875.
John Halpin was a veteran of the Union army living in Bransford in 1890. He served in Co. A, 27th Masssachusetts Infantry from August 1, 1861 until October 10, 1865. He was lame for the rest of his life from a dislocated heel he suffered while in service. His death does not appear in the Texas Death records, and he has no readable headstone standing in northeast Tarrant County, Texas.
* J. R. Harbison lived along present-day Continental Drive west of Pleasant Run-White’s Chapel Road. Descendants remember that he was a Confederate soldier, that he lived in the area about 1900, and that he is believed to be buried around Grapevine.
STEPHEN T. HARMON was born August 31, 1845 in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, to a Kentuckian father and a South Carolinian mother. Stephen’s parents and older siblings lived in Alabama until about 1837, when they moved to Mississippi. In 1850 and 1860, Stephen appeared in the census with his widowed mother, Nancy Harmon, and his siblings in Oktibbeha County. He was probably the Stephen T. Harmon who was a private in the Confederate army in Co. F, Perrin’s Battalion of Mississippi State Cavalry. Stephen, his wife, Martha, and their infant son James E. Harmon appear in the 1870 census of Oktibbeha County. Stephen and Martha were married about 1869. They came to Texas and settled near Grapevine in 1878. In 1890, he owned parts of the Thomas Easter survey and the A. Foster survey. In 1895 he lived in the northeast corner of the Thomas Easter survey, in present-day Grapevine about where Park Boulevard and Wall Street intersect. Harmon told the 1910 census taker he was a Confederate veteran. Mrs. Martha J. Harmon was born November 7, 1844 and died July 28, 1917. His obituary which appeared in The Grapevine Sun said: “DIED. Mr. Steven Harmon, one of our community’s oldest and most honored citizens, died at the home of his son, Tom, in Grapevine Sunday evening, September 12, 1915, at 6:30 o’clock. Mr. Harmon moved to this community from Mississippi in 1873 and settled near Grapevine where he made his home until the time of his death. For some time he had been in failing health, and for sixty days before his death he suffered greatly. He is survived by his wife, two sons, and two daughters, all of whom reside in this community. A large crowd attended his funeral, the service being held at the Baptist church, C. B. _____, assisted by Rev. Kornegay, conducting the service. He was buried in the Grapevine Cemetery. The Sun voices the sentiment of the entire community in expressing its sincere sympathy to the surviving members of Mr. Harmon’s family.”
Bryant Harrington , a twin brother of Ryan Harrington, was born in Hardin County, Kentucky on April 29, 1829. A son of David Harrington, he moved to Grundy Co., Missouri with his parents about 1843. After his father died about 1846, his mother took the family back to Kentucky for one year, after which they moved back to Missouri. Ryan and Bryant, along with three of their brothers, went to California to try their luck in the gold fields, leaving their home in Missouri on their twentieth birthday, April 29, 1849. They reached Sacramento, California after five months, sold their teams, paired off, and Bryant and Ryan began mining. After a time of unsuccessful work, they took passage from San Francisco down the Pacific coast to Central America, and crossed the Isthmus of Panama. They returned to their old home farm in Hardin County, Kentucky, where they farmed and attended school for one year. In December, 1855, they decided to move to Texas. They first stopped at Dallas, where they bought a frame building and began taking tintype photographs. Before long, they sold their shop and moved further west to Palo Pinto County, Texas, where they already had a brother and married sister ranching. Beginning about 1859, they went to work for the Butterfield-Crocker Company, taking turns driving and guarding stage coaches from Old Boggie, Oklahoma through Texas to El Paso and to Monterrey, Mexico. In February 1860 Ryan and Bryant started on foot with one pack pony to Mexico to buy stock for the Palo Pinto County land. Since the Indians were becoming so troublesome, they later decided to sell their stock and move east of the frontier line. Harrington wrote that he “was conscripted in the Confederate army in 1861, and entered Colonel James Loving’s regiment; was mostly on frontier duty, but also taught school considerably; was variously engaged about this time, driving cattle, fighting Indians, teaching school, etc.” In 1870 both he and his brother were living in the Pleasant Glade Community. Later he removed permanently to Dallas County and settled on Grapevine Prairie in the Estelle community, not many miles east of his Tarrant County home. Harrington was first married in Parker County, Texas on February 9, 1863 to Mary Ann Waugh. She died on January 11, 1864 in Parker County, leaving him with a daughter, Sarah Alice, who grew up to marry Arthur Birch and move with him to Montague County. He patented the one hundred sixty-acre Bryant Harrington survey on January 31, 1871. It sat in present-day Euless, with its north boundary Glade Road and its west boundary State Highway 121/FM 157. Surveyed in a rectangle, it stretched about one half mile east and south from Glade and FM 157. In later years he moved further east. In February, 1871 he was married a second time, to A. M. Lucetta Woods (November 8, 1841-April 27, 1907). Bryant and Lucetta had four children: Archibald Woods Harrington, Susanna Luvonia Harrington, Bryant Mack Harrington, and William Ryan Harrington. Bryant was a member of the Estelle Masonic Lodge, No. 570. Bryant Harrington died November 30, 1895. He and the second Mrs. Harrington lie buried in the Harrington Family Cemetery the old Estelle Community in far-west Dallas County, adjacent to the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport property. Many other interesting details, supplied firsthand by Bryant Harrington himself, may be found in his biography which appeared in Lewis Publishing Company’s 1895 History of Dallas County, Texas.
Ryan Harrington , a twin brother of Bryant Harrington, was born in Hardin County, Kentucky on April 29, 1829. A son of David Harrington, he moved to Grundy Co., Missouri with his parents about 1843. After his father died about 1846, his mother took the family back to Kentucky for one year, after which they moved back to Missouri. Ryan and Bryant, along with three of their brothers, went to California to try their luck in the gold fields, leaving their home in Missouri on their twentieth birthday, April 29, 1849. They reached Sacramento, California after five months, sold their teams, paired off, and Bryant and Ryan began mining. After a time of unsuccessful work, they took passage from San Francisco down the Pacific coast to Central America, and crossed the Isthmus of Panama. They returned to their old home farm in Hardin County, Kentucky, where they farmed and attended school for one year. In December, 1855, they decided to move to Texas. They first stopped at Dallas, where they bought a frame building and began taking tintype photographs. Before long, they sold their shop and moved further west to Palo Pinto County, Texas, where they already had a brother and married sister ranching. Beginning about 1859, they went to work for the Butterfield-Crocker Company, taking turns driving and guarding stage coaches from Old Boggie, Oklahoma through Texas to El Paso and to Monterrey, Mexico. In February 1860 Ryan and Bryant started on foot with one pack pony to Mexico to buy stock for the Palo Pinto County land. Since the Indians were becoming so troublesome, they later decided to sell their stock and move east of the frontier line. Family oral history records several details of his service during the Civil War, fighting both Union soldiers and Indians. Ryan settled in Tarrant County in 1865, and in 1866 married Mary Lousetta Witten, the daughter of Samuel Cecil Holiday Witten, one of Colleyville’s earliest pioneers. By 1870 both he and his brother were living in the Pleasant Glade Community. Ryan was a Justice of the Peace for several years. He died of stomach cancer on August 19, 1884 and was buried in Witten Cemetery on present-day Jackson Drive in Colleyville. Mary died about 1890 and was buried beside him. Ryan and Mary were the parents of seven children: Mary Jenetta, Susannah, Paulina, Ryan W., Bryant, William, and Archibald. His and his wife’s graves were finally marked by Andrew Sylvester, an Eagle Scout who lived beside the cemetery, in 2004.
* David Sylvanus Harris lived for many years in the Pleasant Glade Community.
His home, in modern terms, sat on the south side of Glade Road about one block east of
present-day State Highway 121. The site is still marked by a huge old post oak tree. In
later years, the site was the home of Jesse Rogers. He was born in Kentucky, and came to
Texas in 1853, settling first in Dallas County. He moved to Tarrant County in 1871. He last
lived at 1227 Clinton Avenue in Fort Worth. He enlisted in Dallas in Co. G, 31st Texas
Dismounted Cavalry and served until the end of the war. He was shot through the body at
Bayou Fordouch on Sept. 29, 1863. He enlisted May 14, 1862. A photocopy of his discharge is
in his file in Austin, the original having been returned many years ago to his granddaughter,
Mrs. R. L. Emerson, in Fort Worth. He died in Tarrant County on Feb. 10, 1915. He was
married in Dallas County on November 4?, 1855 to a daughter of Hamilton McDowell, one of the
Peters Colonists. Late in his life, he and his wife moved to Fort Worth. They lie buried
in Mount Olivet Cemetery in north Fort Worth. His obituary appeared the day after his death
in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
James Hensley was born January 15, 1837 in Coles Co., Illinois, a son of Jacob G. and Nancy (Driskill) Hensley. James was their eldest child. When James was about eleven years old his father died in Pulaski County, Missouri. His mother then married a man named Joseph J. A. LaQuey. James left home about 1852 and never returned to his mother’s family. He went to Kansas, and there married Aggendeccah Kirksey, a daughter of John Kirksey. James, his wife, and their first child came to Texas from Kansas in 1858, and James worked raising mules. He enlisted in the Confederate Army in Co. C, Griffin’s 21st Texas Infantry on March 10, 1862 in Tarrant County, Texas under Capt. Evans, and traveled 230 miles to rendezvous in Houston. He was sick at home November 29, 1862, and was sick in General Hospital at Beaumont beginning on June 18, 1863. He was discharged September 1, 1863 by the Board of Surgeons. His last home site, pointed out to this writer many times by his grandmother who knew Mr. Hensley, is in present-day Grapevine a few feet east of the access road on the east side of present-day State Highway 121 about where Champagne Drive heads east from the access road. A number of the old post oaks which stood in his yard are still there. A biography of the Hensley family and a photo of James and his first wife appear in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History. After his first wife died, James was married on September 20, 1879 in Tarrant County to Virginia Jackson. After Virginia died, he married Rebecca Jane Lucas (March 28, 1849-December 1, 1914), who lies buried in Arwine Cemetery in Hurst. James and his first two wives are buried at Parker Memorial Cemetery. James Hensley died July 9, 1914 at his home south of Grapevine. He has a brother buried beside him who was a Union soldier. A small note appeared in the Grapevine Sun under the column of “Glade News.” It said: “Died last Thursday morning at 5 o’clock James Hensley, at his home and was buried the same day at five o’clock in the afternoon at Glade Cemetery. Quite a crowd followed the remains to its last resting place. We extend our sympathy to the sorrowing relatives.” James Hensley was the father of at least nine children, including: John Henry Hensley, Nancy Priscilla Hensley, Julia Aggendeccar (Mrs. Milton Monroe) Deaigh, Mary Cassandra Hensley, Amelia Catherine (Mrs. Dan) Booth, Ida Susannah (Mrs. Orren Will) Millson, Ada Frances (Mrs. Samuel H.) Sparger, Emma Goodman (Mrs. Edgar Guinn) McBride, and Ella Jane Hensley.
William Harrison Hensley was a Union veteran of the Civil War. He was born in Cole County, Illinois (some sources say Pulaski County, Missouri) about 1843, a son of Jacob Hensley and his wife, Nancy (Driskill) Hensley. William enlisted August 11, 1864 at Lebanon, Missouri for a term of twenty months. He was a private in Co. L, 16th Missouri Cavalry. He had hazel eyes, dark hair, and a fair complexion. He was 5’ 11-½” tall. He was mustered out July 1, 1865 at Springfield, Missouri. When he left the service, he owed the US for one gun sling at 16 cents, one cap pouch at 40 cents, one haversack at 45 cents, and his bedroll was torn. Hensley married Mary Ann Hendricks, who was born in 1844 in Kentucky. He died April 28, 1880 near Grapevine, and lies buried near his brother, Confederate veteran James Hensley, in Parker Memorial Cemetery south of Grapevine, Texas. He has an upright government marble stone which indicates his Union service. His widow applied for a pension based upon his Civil War service. According to an affidavit in her pension file, she had four children, including John Harrison Hensley, Lillie Hensley, Elvin Hensley, and Maude Jane Hensley, who married John Columbus Hopkins.
John Washington Higgins was born February 5, 1841 at Kingston, Roane County, Tennessee. He enlisted at Trenton, Dade Co., Georgia on May 20, 1861. He served as both a private and a 2nd Sergeant in Co. B, 6th Georgia Infantry, also known as the “Lookout Dragoons.” He fought in the battles of Seven Pines, Cold Harbor, Second Manassas, South Mountain, Maryland; Sharpsburg, Ocean Pond, Florida; Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Fort Sumpter, Siege of Yorktown, Williamsburg, Mechanicsville, White Oak Swamp, James Island, S.C.; Battery Wagner, the Siege of Petersburg, and others. He was transferred to the sea coast just after the battle of Chancellorsville in May, 1863, and returned to Virginia in May, 1864. He received two slight wounds at the Battle of Drewry’s Bluff, but did not leave the field. Just after the Seven Day’s Battles he was promoted to 2nd Sergeant. Higgins was captured at Fort Harrison, Virginia on September 30, 1864, and was finally released at Point Lookout, Maryland, on June 27, 1865. Mamie Yeary’s 1912 classic, Reminiscences of the Boys in Gray, 1861-1865, contains the following account by Higgins: “An 8-inch mortar shell dropped in our company on the 27th of June, 1864, and killed Robert Stewart and wounded eleven others, two others besides myself escaping. In the battle of Drewry’s Bluff four of us were behind a small tree, ten inches in diameter, and all were wounded except myself. In the battle of Ocean Pond I had the bark knocked off of a tree into both eyes. I shifted my position and lay down behind an old stump, when a ball came through and struck me in the breast, but had spent its force and did not hurt me. I could relate many other narrow escapes, but this will be enough.” Higgins married Loisa J. Hale in Georgia (in the 1880 Dade County, Georgia census her name is shown as July L.). When they came to Texas, they settled first for a time in Johnson County, then came to the White’s Chapel community and bought a farm later owned by William P. Mitchell. In 1895, he lived on the H. Granberry survey in present-day Southlake, north of Big Bear Creek along the east side of White’s Chapel Boulevard, a few yards northeast of the intersection of White’s Chapel and Continental Drive. He was a member of the Robert E. Lee Camp of United Confederate Veterans at Fort Worth, and received the Southern Cross of Honor in 1908. His wife, J. Louisa (Hale). Higgins, was born July 24, 1836 and died April 23, 1919. Higgins named one of his sons Albert Sidney Higgins after Confederate general Albert Sidney Johnston. Higgins died February 23, 1924, and was buried at White’s Chapel. Higgins’ obituary in The Grapevine Sun contradicts some of the statements he himself made: “Pioneer Citizen Dies. John W. Higgins was born in Hamilton County, Tennessee Feb. 5, 1841, lived in Georgia for a time, and came to Tarrant County, Texas in 1881. He was one of the early settlers of this section. He was active in the civil life of our county. He served as commissioner of Precinct 3 for 8 years. His wife, J. L. Higgins, died April 23, 1919. Three sons and two daughters survive. They are Bob Higgins, Ed Higgins, Sid Higgins, Mrs. Harriett Blevins, and Mrs. Matilda Brown. One other son, James Gordon, died in childhood and there are ten living grandchildren. Mr. Higgins served with distinction in the civil war under General Robert E. Lee in the 8th Georgia Regiment, Company B. He died at the home of his son, Ed, February 24, 1924. Age 83 years and 18 days. After services held at the White’s Chapel church by Rev. C. O. Hightower, Pastor of the Grapevine Methodist Church, his body was laid to rest by the side of the remains of his wife in the White’s Chapel Cemetery.
Alfred Madison Hightower was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee on January 8, 1825 (some sources say 1824). He was a son of Hugh M. Hightower and his wife, Delia (Hicks) Hightower. When Alfred was about two years old, his father moved the family to Montgomery County, Illinois, where Alfred grew to manhood. They first lived in the town of Hillsborough, but about 1838 moved to a farm outside town but still in Montgomery County. On July 19, 1846 in Montgomery County, Alfred married Sarah J. Grantham, a daughter of James Grantham and Frances (Sights) Grantham. Sarah was born in Kentucky on August 27, 1824, and moved with her parents to Montgomery County about 1830. About 1854 Alfred and his family left Illinois to move west, but stopped for about four years in Laclede County, Missouri because of his wife’s ill health. About 1858 they continued their journey, and finally settled in the present-day Smithfield area about 1858. Hightower was opposed to secession but joined the Confederate forces when the question was decided by the Texas Legislature. He was a member of several different military groups at various times, and the official records and his own recollections made years later are sometimes at odds. On August 19, 1861 in Tarrant County, Alfred joined Capt. William Quayle’s Company of mounted riflemen in Col. William Sims’ Regiment of Texas State Troops. At his enlistment, he agreed to use his own horse (valued at $175), and his own weapons. On August 20, this company was the first to leave Fort Worth to fight in the Civil War. By September 5, they were stationed at Camp Reeves in Grayson County, Texas. On October 14, they officially became a part of Co. A, 9th Texas Cavalry. On March 25, 1862 Alfred was appointed wagon master of his company, but soon became ill and was discharged from the service on July 17, 1862. At the time of his discharge, he was 6”1” tall, with a dark complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair. On August 11, 1863 he reenlisted for a term of six months as a private in Co. H, 2nd Cavalry, Texas State Troops. About 1894 Alfred supplied some biographical information which was included in the History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Tarrant and Parker Counties. The portion of his biography which deals with his Civil War service is as follows: “…When the War came on he enlisted in the Sixth Texas Cavalry, which was consigned to the Trans-Mississippi Department. A year later his command was dismounted in Arkansas and ordered across the river to Corinth [Mississippi] in which battle he participated. He was also in the battle of Holly Springs, and continued in the Army of Tennessee about six months, after which he recrossed the Mississippi. Soon afterward, he was detailed as a recruiting officer, and later raised a company, of which he was Captain, and with his company entered the Tenth Texas Regiment and remained on duty until the close of the war. At the time of the surrender he was at Dallas, and from there returned home. During all his service, he was neither wounded nor captured, but on one occasion had his horse killed under him…” As a mounted rifleman in Arkansas, he fought at Elkhorn Tavern. In 1870 Hightower moved his family to Kansas, taking a herd of six hundred cattle with him. On September 27, 1878, his wife, Sarah J. Hightower, died. It seems likely she was buried in Kansas, even though her name and dates appear on the same stone with Mr. Hightower at Smithfield. Alfred later was remarried in Kansas to Pomelia V. Ridgeway, the daughter of C. W. Ridgeway. She was born in 1848. About 1880 Alfred decided to move back to Texas. In his later years, Alfred was a well-known figure here, raising cattle, horses, and sheep. He stood tall, weighed over two hundred pounds, and wore a size thirteen shoe. He spoke with a heavy Scottish or Irish brogue. Alfred and his wife were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Alfred joined the Grand Prairie (Smithfield) Masonic Lodge in 1885. Two of his sons were also active in the Lodge. In 1894 Alfred’s second wife, Pomelia, died and was buried in Smithfield Cemetery. Alfred survived until April 10, 1897 (some records say April 9), and was buried beside her. Family tradition indicates he was killed by a team of runaway mules while on a trip to Arlington, Texas. His grave is marked with a Texas State Historical Marker, erected in the early 1980’s by a group of the students at Smithfield Junior High School. Alfred’s house continued to stand into the 1980’s, and with many additions and renovations, was last occupied by his grandson, Guy Meacham. In terms of modern-day landmarks, the house sat in North Richland Hills west of Smithfield Road about one hundred yards from the spot where Newman Road intersects Smithfield Road from the east. It is still a hilltop with several old surviving post oaks. Alfred and his first wife were the parents of: James Harrison Hightower; Daniel Hughmac Hightower; Sarah Jane Hightower, first the wife of Eli Smith and then the wife of A. B. Clark; Melvina Ellen Hightower, the wife of T. Harvey Wagoner (Wagner); Mary Elizabeth Hightower, the widow of Sion P. Thrower; Joseph Q. Hightower, and Catherine Texana Hightower, the wife of William C. Meacham. Alfred and his second wife were the parents of three children: Alfred Ernest Hightower, Frank Gilbert Hightower, and Pomelia Virginia Hightower, who married Charley Hopkins. More information on Alfred and his family may be found in the application papers for Hightower’s historical marker on file with the Tarrant County Historical Commission.
Daniel Hughmac Hightower , a son of Smithfield pioneers Alfred M. Hightower and Sarah (Grantham) Hightower, was born in Montgomery Co., Illinois on June 21, 1848. About 1854 the Hightowers left Illinois and moved to Laclede County, Missouri, where they remained until 1858 when they settled near the community which would later be known as Smithfield. Daniel married Mary S. Brown in Tarrant County on December 29 1867. Hightower was active in the Methodist Church, and was a member of the Smithfield Conference in 1886-1887. For many years he worked as a merchant in Keller and Fort Worth, before becoming a farmer. He was a member of the Robert E. Lee Camp of United Confederate Veterans in Fort Worth. He died January 3, 1917, and lies buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Fort Worth, Texas. His obituary appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Hightower. The funeral of Dan H. Hightower, 68, was held Thursday afternoon from the residence in Riverside and interment was made in West Oakwood. Rev. J. H. Baldridge of the Riverside Methodist Church officiated. The Masons had charge of the services at the grave. He is survived by four sons, A. L., W. L., H. W., and D. J. of Fort Worth; one stepson, J. W. Tipton, Fort Worth; and one daughter, Mrs. L. P. Jones.”
James Harrison Hightower, a son of Smithfield pioneers Alfred M. Hightower and Sarah (Grantham) Hightower, was born April 6, 1847 (some sources say April 16) in Montgomery County, Illinois. About 1854 the Hightowers left Illinois and moved to Laclede County, Missouri, where they remained until 1858 when they settled near the community which would later be known as Smithfield. James enlisted in 1863 in Tarrant County as a corporal in Co. A, Leonard’s Cavalry Company. When he became eighteen years old he joined the regular service in Capt. J. C. Terrell’s Company of cavalry, and was on furlough at home at Smithfield at the time the war ended. For most of his life he worked as a farmer and stockman, but also did a considerable business as a carpenter, builder, and contractor. He served two terms as a commissioner of Tarrant County. He was a longtime member of the Grand Prairie Masonic Lodge, #455, and was a member of the Robert E. Lee Camp of United Confederate Veterans in Fort Worth. James’s first wife, Elizabeth Calloway, was a native of North Carolina who came to Tarrant County with her parents in 1859. She and James were married on May 2, 1865. Elizabeth Hightower was born June 14, 1850 and died September 17, 1882. She and Mr. Hightower had four children: Hugh M Hightower, Halceon C. (Mrs. Loma B.) Brown, Sarah E. (Mrs. W. H.) Cloud, and Louis A. Hightower. On June 15, 1884 Mr. Hightower was married second to Cynthia A. Boyd, a native of Tennessee and daughter of Dr. Joseph B. Boyd, who served as both Treasurer and Tax Collector of Tarrant County at various times. Cynthia A. (Boyd) Hightower was born November 11, 1863 and died November 19, 1927. James H. Hightower died August 20, 1923, and lies buried between his two wives at Smithfield. A biography of Mr. Hightower, probably prepared from material he dictated, is to be found in B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas.
* Eli Allen Hill , born June 23, 1839 in Lawrence Co., Alabama. Died July 12, 1886 and was buried in Mt. Gilead Cemetery. Enlisted February 14, 1862 in Capt. A. Faulkner’s Co., 16th Texas Cavalry. Was church clerk of Mt. Gilead Baptist Church for a time in the late l870’s.
* John Henry Hill , born December 14, 1836 in Lawrence Co., Alabama. Died November 28, 1885 and was buried in Mt. Gilead Cemetery. Was in a Texas Cavalry Regiment during the war and in the 59th Illinois Infantry during Reconstruction. See if this man was also a Galvanized Yankee.
* Peter Hindbaugh , not sure of spelling of the name, was a one-armed Confederate veteran who taught school in Bedford after the war. Oral history sources in the 1930’s recalled that he was buried in an unmarked grave in Bedford Cemetery.
* Charles Boardman Hogue , some family sources say his middle name was Boden, was born in Union Co. Arkansas on November 25, 1846. He was a son of James M. and Margaret (Vines) Hogue. Hogue served in Co. K, 19th Arkansas Infantry, and was surrendered in May, 1865 in Camden, Arkansas. He moved to Texas in the fall of 1865, and settled in Tarrant County in 1870. Hogue married Angeline Victoria Rourk in Titus County, Texas on December 26, 1876 (some sources say 1877). He died December 3, 1926, and lies buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. Mrs. Hogue died July 20, 1928. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hogue were pensioned by the State of Texas for his service.
William Mitchell Howard was born in Lawrence Co., Tennessee on January 5, 1844. He was the son of Samuel H. and Barbary (Ratliff) Howard. He was a member of Co. A, 23rd Tennessee Infantry, having enlisted on August 23, 1861 at Camp Trousdale, Tennessee. Only a few muster rolls of his regiment have survived, but he is shown present for duty for the last two months of 1861 and for May-June, 1862. Howard came to Texas in 1876, settling first in Denton County. He married Alleather Celesture Franks on December 16, 1879. She was born in Lawrence County, Tennessee on August 25, 1860. About 1900 they sold their Denton County land and moved to a farm in the White’s Chapel Community along Carroll Road. He applied for a Confederate pension in 1919, but it was not allowed because he had too much personal property to qualify. Later in life he sold the farm and moved into downtown Grapevine. Mr. Howard died in Grapevine on March 11, 1922, and was buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. Mrs. Howard died in 1932 and was buried beside her husband. William and Alleather Howard were the parents of seven children: Della May (Mrs. H. Frank) Keller; William Edward Howard; Alva Lee Howard; Olin Owsley Howard, Carl Brydie Howard; Velma Celesture (Mrs. W. M.) Hardin; and Clifford Franks Howard. A biography and family photograph of William M. Howard’s family appeared in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History, 1979.
James Cinatus Hudgins (some sources also give his middle name as Cincinnatus or Cincinnati), a son of northeast Tarrant County pioneers El Nathan Hudgins and his wife, Sarah (Proctor) Hudgins, was born in Jackson County, Alabama on April 25, 1845 (some family sources say 1846). He came to Texas from Belfant, Alabama with his parents in 1854. They settled first for a time at Birdville before moving permanently to the Grapevine area. James served as a private in Co. A, 34th Texas Cavalry. James enlisted on Grapevine Prairie in Tarrant County on July 16, 1863. His records which survived the war are quite sketchy, but one roll survived for January and February, 1864, on which he is shown present for duty. Two of his brothers also served in the Confederate army but died in service. Hudgins’ wife, Electra (Gideon) Hudgins, said she and her husband were married in Parker County, Texas on December 5, 1872. She was born in Georgia on January 14, 1854, and came to Texas with her parents about 1857. In her 1913 pension application, she said her husband enlisted in 1862 and served until the end of the war in 1865. He died April 17, 1908, and was buried at White’s Chapel Cemetery. By 1913 Electra Hudgins was living in North Fort Worth at 2220 Ross Avenue. She died in Fort Worth at the home of her daughter, Eunice Hudgins, on March 2, 1932. She was buried beside her husband at White’s Chapel. James C. and Electra Hudgins were the parents of eight children, including John Nathan, Molly, Lucian Gilbert, Clarence, Charlie, Eunice, Reagan, and Thomas Berry. They have many living descendants in northeast Tarrant County.
William Letchworth Hurst , born in Claiborne County, Tennessee on June 1, 1833, was one of at least thirteen children of Wiley Thompson Hurst and his wife, America (Plank) Hurst. The City of Hurst, Texas was named for him. Hurst married Mary Lynch (born October 15, 1835 in North Carolina) in March, 1856. He was a private in Co. H, 61st Tennessee Mounted Infantry, having enlisted at Sycamore, Claiborne County, Tennessee on October 3, 1862. He was mustered into the Confederate service at Henderson Depot, Tennessee on November 10, 1862. On the regimental rolls for March and April, 1863, he is shown sick in a hospital at Jackson, Mississippi. He was captured at the fall of Vicksburg in 1863, and was paroled and released on July 8. His name appears on a receipt for clothing on September 26, 1863. In December, 1863 the regiment got horses and spent the rest of the war as mounted infantry. He was captured on December 12, 1863 near Tazewell, Tennessee and spent the rest of the war in military prisons in Kentucky and Illinois. He was sent from the prison at Louisville, Kentucky on January 17, 1864, entered the prison at Rock Island, Illinois on January 20. On March 6 1865, he was paroled and released from Rock Island. Many oral traditions have survived among the Hurst descendants concerning the War years. Mrs. Hurst made two sets of uniforms for her children, and they showed themselves in the appropriate colors whenever soldiers were in the neighborhood. After Mary learned her husband had been captured, she and the children went to Missouri to stay with relatives until the War ended. When Hurst was released, he rode on horseback to Missouri to retrieve his family. In 1870, he and his wife and children joined other families who had migrated to eastern Tarrant County from Claiborne County, Tennessee. They first stopped on the “Widder Daniels” place near Euless, and then lived for a time on Dr. W. C. Dobkins farm on the Barnard Survey. Later still they moved to the William O. Yantis survey in Bedford. In 1895 he lived in present-day Bedford on the M. W. Wilmuth survey, in the general area of Sierra Springs Drive southeast of Bedford Road. Many of the post oaks which stood around his home there are still alive. In 1903 he granted a right-of-way across his property for the Rock Island rail line, and the stop there was named in his honor. By the time of his wife’s death on February 21, 1908 he had moved to present-day Hurst, and was living within the rectangle now bounded by Pipeline Road, Bellaire Drive, Pecan Street East, and Brown Trail. He lived there until the death of his daughter, Evie, in 1920. After that time he lived with his children in their homes. At the time of his death on June 26, 1922, he was living with the family of his son, Hous Hurst, in Hurst along present-day Highway 10 (on land now occupied by Hurst Lumber Company, at southeast side of the intersection of the Highway and Norwood Drive). Two or three days before his death he was able to jump into the air and click his heels. He lies buried with his wife and several of his children in Bedford Cemetery. He was the father of fourteen children and the grandfather of more than one hundred. Many of his descendants still live in the area today. His grandson, Bill Souder, was Mayor of Hurst for many years. An extensive oral history of his life was written in 1980 by Mike Patterson from interviews with his surviving grandchildren. Copies of his biography are available at the Hurst Public Library and the Bedford Public Library. Uncle Billy Hurst’s children were: Missouri Ann (Mrs. George Washington) Hoffman, Nathan Booneville Hurst, Mahlon Stableton Hurst, Melissa Frances “Frank” (Mrs. Benjamin M.) Brown, Jefferson D. Hurst, Sophia Jane “Soph” (Mrs. Alfred) Conner, Emerson Ethridge Hurst, James Houston “Hous” Hurst, Evie Bell Hurst, Wiley Thomas Hurst, Hyram Sol Hurst, America Belle (Mrs. James H.) Souder, William Ceal D. Hurst, and a stillborn infant. An obituary and photograph of Uncle Billy Hurst appeared in theFort Worth Star-Telegram: “HURST FUNERAL IS TO BE HELD WEDNESDAY. Funeral services for W. L. Hurst, 89, pioneer settler of Tarrant County, who died sudddenly at his home in Hurst at 5 p.m. Monday, will be held from the Hurst Baptist Church at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Burial will be in the Hurst Cemetery. Hurst was born in Eastern Tennessee in 1833, and while a young man took Miss Mary Ann Lynch of Kentucky as his wife. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate army and served under General Vaughn in the battle of Gettysburg, where he was taken prisoner. In 1870 he and his family drove to Texas and Tarrant County in a covered wagon and settled within a mile of where he died. When the little town was founded near his farm, it was named Hurst after the old settler. For 20 years it was his custom to celebrate his birthday with a family reunion and community barbecue at his farm. During the World War, Hurst took an active part in raising Red Cross funds and selling Liberty bonds. He is survived by four sons, M. S. Hurst, J. H. Hurst, E. E. Hurst and W. C. Hurst, all of Hurst; two daughters, Mrs. Milton Souder of Hurst, and Mrs. M. Huffman of Farmer; two brothers, Jim Hurst and J. H. Hurst of Tennessee, and 100 grandchildren. Hurst’s death was unexpected. He died of heart failure while sleeping and only a few hours previous had apparently been in his usual good health.”
Christopher Columbus Hustead , born in Illinois on January 21, 1842, arrived in Dallas County, Texas with his parents in 1845. He was the son of Harrison and Prudence Hustead. He enlisted in Co. C, 6th Texas Cavalry. Official records say he served from Jan. 18, 1862 until the end of the war. According to his own statement in his pension application, he “was shot in right leg in a cavalry fight at Lovejoy Station in Georgia. Was shot both above and below the knee, and my right leg was amputated about six inches below the hip joint.” He surrendered in Mississippi at the close of the war. Hustead and his family moved to Tarrant County about 1873. He was a charter member of the Robert E. Lee Camp of Confederate Veterans in Fort Worth. In 1895 the Husteads were living southwest of Smithfield in present-day North Richland Hills, west of Rufe Snow Drive, north of Loop 820, east of the railroad, about one thousand feet west-southwest of the intersection of Boulder Drive and Industrial Park Boulevard. When he applied for his pension in 1909, they were living near Kennedale. Mr. Hustead died on August 30, 1919 and lies buried in Smithfield Cemetery. Mrs. Alice A. Hustead was also pensioned. She was born in Louisiana about 1861, and moved to Tarrant County about 1872. She said she and her husband were married in Tarrant County, Texas on December 29, 1880. In 1919 she was living near Mansfield. She died at her home near Mansfield on February 25, 1931, and was buried beside her husband.
* James Barnett Jack was born in Georgia in1845 and came to Texas in May, 1866. He came to the White’s Chapel community about 1901. He applied for a Confederate pension in 1911. In his application he said he served two years in Co. B, 2nd Regiment Georgia State Troops, and was “attached to the main army when the enemy crossed into the state at Chattanooga.” He said he was discharged at Columbus, Georgia about April 10, 1865. His application originally showed Grapevine, Texas as his residence, but that was later lined out and Olney, Texas was substituted. He wrote a letter to the pension board dated November 13, 1912 from Polytechnic (Fort Worth), but the “Polytechnic” was also later lined out and replaced with “Olney.” One man who made an affidavit for Jack said he had known him before the war in Webster County, Georgia. James B. Jack died in Tarrant County on November 8, 1929, and lies buried beside his younger brother, John W. Jack (1854-1934) in White’s Chapel Cemetery.
James Morrow Jobe was born in Marshall Co., Alabama about 1844, the son of Grundy M. Jobe and his wife, Martha Elizabeth (Morrow) Jobe. When the 1860 census was taken, the family lived in Madison County, Alabama. Jobe served in the Confederate army as a corporal in Co. H, 49th Alabama Infantry. He enlisted at Vienna, Alabama on January 9, 1862 for a term of twelve months. He was captured at Port Hudson, Louisiana on July 9, 1863, and was paroled a few days later on either July 12 or 13. His files contain no other details about his service. Jobe was married as a young man to a wife named Mary, but she apparently died at a young age. By the time the census was taken in 1880, Jobe and his family were living in Precinct 4 of Tarrant County, Texas. His father was dead by 1880, when his mother was living with his family at Smithfield. In 1895 James M. Jobe was living southwest of Smithfield on the L. C. Walker survey in present-day North Richland Hills, about 1/8 mile east southeast of the intersection of Highway 26 and Harwood Road. His family in 1910 consisted of himself, his mother, and three sisters. James died February 17, 1925, and is buried at Smithfield. One Mary J. Jobe who died February 7, 1925 lies buried beside him; this individual has no death record in the Texas vital statistics files. His mother, Martha E. Jobe (1823-1914), also lies buried in the family plot at Smithfield.
George Thomas Johnson was born in Greensboro, Georgia on October 19, 1839. He told his comrades in the Robert E. Lee Camp of United Confederate Veterans in Fort Worth that he enlisted at Boston, Texas in 1861 in Co. E, 15th Texas Dismounted Cavalry. He took part in battles in Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee under Generals Bragg, Johnston, and Hood, and was captured at Atlanta. He was a prisoner of war at Camp Douglas in Illinois, and was discharged from prison in June, 1865. In his pension application he said he enlisted in Co. E, Phillip Crump’s Battalion in March 1862, and that the battalion was later reorganized into the 15th Texas at Corinth, Mississippi. Later still the regiment was reorganized and called the 32nd Regiment Texas Dismounted Cavalry. Johnson’s wife, Louise, had earlier been married to a Mr. Harris with whom she had children. In her pension application in 1913 she said she was sixty-seven years old, born in Bath County, Kentucky, and had lived in Texas about 40 years. She said her husband’s command was raised in Red River Co., Texas. A comrade in arms wrote of him, “He was in Co. E of 1st Texas Battalion of Cavalry, afterwards organized as the 15th Regiment owing to conflicts in the CS War Department we were finally organized and called the 32nd Texas Regiment of Dismounted Cavalry. Our service commenced in March 1862 in Arkansas and closed at the Battle of Spanish Fort.” His gravestone in Bedford Cemetery records his death on February 22, 1904; in his wife’s pension application she said it took place on February 6. Both Johnson and his wife were pensioned by the State of Texas for his service. Mrs. Johnson died at the home of her son-in-law, Mahlon Hurst, on October 8, 1918, and she lies buried at Arwine Cemetery in Hurst. Her gravestone says simply “Grandma Johnson,” and records her birth date as May 18, 1851. Her monument shows her death date as September 27, 1928. This “Grandma Johnson” is clearly the same woman whose obituary appears in the Arlington newspaper in 1918, because she is buried with the Mahlon Hurst family and descendants identify her as the widow of George Thomas Johnson who died in 1904 and is buried at Bedford. More research is needed to make some sense of these discrepancies.
* Benjamin Franklin Jones was born November 3, 1839 in Morgan Co., Illinois. He was a son of Lewis Westmoreland Jones and his first wife, Elizabeth M. Lingle. B. F. Jones came to Tarrant County with his father’s family from Illinois in 1852 and settled in what would later become the Smithfield community. He patented the 160-acre B. F. Jones survey in present-day North Richland Hills on September 24, 1859, a tract about one mile north-south and a little less than one-quarter mile wide. Its western boundary was today’s Precinct Line Road. Its southwest corner was along Precinct Line Road about halfway between Martin Drive and Mid-Cities Drive. Its northwest corner was about where Weeping Willow Drive intersects Precinct Line Road. He was a soldier in Co. E, 12th Texas Infantry (also known as the 8th and Young’s Texas Infantry). He enlisted January 3, 1862 at Camp Hobart, and is also shown in surviving Confederate records as having enlisted in Tarrant County and Parker County. He was detached for duty at the Confederate arsenal at Tyler, Texas on September 19, 1862 and was detached at Little Rock, Arkansas as a gunsmith on November 19, 1862. He was on detached service as a wagon maker at Little Rock, Arkansas in the rolls for December, 1862, and again appears as a wagon maker on detached service on the rolls for January and February, 1864. He is last shown as a gunsmith on a roll dated April, 1865. Jones was married first to Henrietta (or Harriett) E. Manning (1849-1909), and later to Mary Archer. Jones’s first wife may actually have been named Manring, since one Nancy Manring (1797-1893) lies buried next to them in Smithfield Cemetery. In the 1870 Tarrant County census his occupation is shown as gunsmith. B. F. Jones served as postmaster of Bransford from October 17, 1882 until October 8, 1884. In 1895 his home was east of Smithfield, along the survey’s western boundary along the east side of Precinct Line Road about where it intersects with Winslow Court and Toni Drive. He died in 1923, and was known in later life in the Smithfield Community at various times as both Ben Jones and Frank Jones.
Lewis Westmoreland Jones was born in Christian County, Kentucky on June 1,
1817. He moved with his parents, Lewis Westmoreland Jones, Sr. and Frances (Bobbitt) Jones,
to Morgan County, Illinois about 1829. L. W. Jones Jr.'s paternal grandfather, Samuel
Jones, was a veteran of the American Revolution. After his mother died about 1832, L. W.
Jones Jr. went to work for wages as a farmhand, which he continued to do until about 1837. He
was married to his first wife, Elizabeth M. Lingle, in Illinois in 1837. They settled on a
rented farm where he also worked as a brick maker and bricklayer. In 1852 he left Illinois
and settled in Tarrant County, Texas near what would later become the Smithfield community.
There he homesteaded a 284-acre tract where he was still living in 1895. In November, 1853
Jones built a cabin on his claim and moved into it. He lived there until 1856, when he rented
his farm and moved to Birdville, Tarrant County. Birdville at the time was the county seat of
Tarrant County. There he and a partner opened a shop for building and repairing cabinets, and
doing other general types of woodwork. He patented the 284-acre L. W. Jones survey in
present-day North Richland Hills on March 24, 1857. Today’s Rufe Snow Drive marks the
eastern boundary of the survey. The southeast corner sat at the intersection of Hightower
Drive and Rufe Snow Drive. His house sat in present-day North Richland Hills about two miles
from the center of the Smithfield community, probably about where Foster Village Park now
sits south of Starnes Street and between Village Street and the eastern loop of Meadowlark,
much closer to Meadowlark and Village. Jones's first wife died in 1859 while they were
living at Birdville. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Jones moved back to his farm
at Smithfield. He was elected Justice of the Peace for his Precinct in 1856, and as such was
exempted from going to the Confederate army. He did serve in the Texas State Troops for a
while, however, until the war widows and other non-combatants left at home petitioned him to
come home and tend to some of the needs of the community which were left wanting from the
absence of so many of the men. He continued to serve as a Justice of the Peace until 1890.
Jones and his second wife, Mrs. Sally M. (Hawkins) Chaney, were married in 1862. She was
born August 14, 1831 and died January 13, 1900. For four years after the Civil War he was
also a Notary Public and a County Coroner. Jones was one of the founding three elders of
Smithfield Church of Christ. At the time of the church's founding in 1888, Jones was living
on his farm of 130 acres in the L. W. Jones survey, about 1.9 miles west-northwest of the
church house; in that year he also owned 60 acres of the W. T. Jones survey. He was still a
Notary Public in 1895. At the time of his death in Smithfield on November 26, 1895, he had a
comfortable home and a farm with seventy acres under cultivation. . His home place in 1895
was on his survey, which he had patented in 1857. Several of Jones's descendants maintain an
active interest in their ancestor and his family. An extensive biography of Jones, apparently
done from material he supplied himself, appeared in the History of Texas, Together with a
Biographical History of Tarrant and Parker Counties..., (Chicago, Ill.: Lewis Publishing
Co., 1895), pp. 250-252. Jones and his first wife were the parents of nine children:
William Thomas Jones; Benjamin F. Jones; Nancy Annie (Mrs. Benjamin) Murphy; Frances
Catherine (Mrs. Newton J.) Moore; Elizabeth Jane (Mrs. J. Judson) Newton; Mary Louisa (Mrs.
James M.) Goodman; Lewis Crittenden Jones; James Henry Jones; and Samuel Lafayette Jones.
Jones and his second wife had four children: Sally Isabella (Mrs. Louis) Brown; Laura Delila
(Mrs. James Anderson) Winn; Stephen Westmoreland Jones; and John M.. Jones.
Norvel L. Joyce , a son of James and Miranda (Granberry) Joyce, was born in Mississippi on July 28, 1846. Joyce came to Texas with his parents and other extended family members in December, 1851, and settled quite near the home he occupied in 1916 when he applied for his Confederate pension. Joyce said he enlisted in Tarrant County and was sworn in at Dallas in January, 1864. He served in Capt. William Hardeman’s Regiment of Texas (also shown as Capt. Welch’s Regiment) Cavalry, which was incorporated into Hardeman’s Regiment “when we got to Arkansas.” He originally served in the cavalry, then was dismounted at Harrisburg, Texas on April 5, 1865, he recalled. “Always a private, never drew a cent of money or a garment of clothing during the war,” he wrote in his application. Joyce married Lucy Bradley on April 21, 1867. She was born August 27, 1834 and died April 13, 1901. After her death he married a widow, Sarah A. Ellison. In 1895 he lived on the A. A. Freeman survey in present-day Southlake, along the west side of Peytonville Road about one-quarter mile north of its intersection with Ten Bar Lane. Joyce died at his home between Grapevine and Keller on August 17, 1919. Norvel Joyce had no children. He lies buried beside his first wife and near his parents in Mount Gilead Cemetery near Keller, Texas
Jefferson B. Karr was born in Virginia on January 16, 1836, a son of James William Karr and Barthena (Smith) Karr. Census records suggest that the family moved from Virginia to Cole Co., Missouri in the late 1830’s. By 1850, they are shown in the census there. Jefferson married Elizabeth Jane Trimble in Cole Co., Missouri on February 12, 1861. Karr vouched for Robert Morrow’s service in Morrow’s Confederate pension application. In an affidavit he made supporting his neighbor Robert R. Riggins’s pension application, Karr said he (Karr) had served nearly one year in Co. C, Hill’s Regiment, Parson’s Brigade of Missouri troops. He said he had known Riggins long before the war, and that he had been his neighbor in Tarrant County, Texas. The Karrs came from Missouri to Texas about 1873, and had settled in Tarrant County by 1880. In 1899, Karr owned eighty acres of one of the W. W. Wallace surveys. Mrs. Karr told the 1900 census taker that she had given birth to five children, three of whom were still living. Karr died January 24, 1915, and lies buried in Smithfield Cemetery. His wife, Elizabeth (November 17, 1840-January 6, 1918), lies buried beside him. Four of their children were: Indiana, James, Barthem (a female), and Elizabeth Karr.
Isaac Thomas Keller was born May 27, 1847 in Bedford County, Tennessee, a son of J. W. C. Keller. Isaac’s widow, Tennessee Forrest (Haley) Keller, told the pension board he had served in Co. D, 23rd Tennessee Infantry for six months. Mrs. Keller was born in Bedford County, Tennessee on March 16, 1862, and was the daughter of a pioneer settler from Bedford County, Tennessee who settled in Tarrant County, Texas, Edward Taylor Haley (1819-1894). Tennessee Haley married Isaac Keller on March 12, 1882 in Tarrant County. In 1899, Keller owned fifty-four acres of one of the T. Akers surveys. Keller’s gravestone in Bedford Cemetery gives his death date as November 15, 1924; his wife gave his death date in her pension application as November 15, 1925. Keller’s funeral was conducted by Foust Funeral Home in Grapevine. Their records show he died at his home near Grapevine of heart failure complicated by influenza. His funeral was held on November 16 at 2:30 p.m. He was a retired farmer. Milton H. Moore conducted his funeral service. Dr. E. C. Bechtol was the family physician. Mrs. Keller died in Tarrant County on October 2, 1930. Isaac and Tennessee Keller were the parents of three children, all born in Tarrant County, Texas: Maggie Keller (b. September 2, 1885), Mamie Keller (b. July 14, 1891), and John W. Keller (b. October 24, 1898).
Isaac Means Kimzey was a Union veteran of the Civil War. He was born at Pinckneyville, Perry County, Illinois, on October 5, 1846. His parents were James Campbell Kimzey and his wife, Catherine (Brown) Kimzey. Kimzey enlisted in the Union army on February 25, 1864 at DuQuoin in Perry County, and served as a private in Co. D, 13th Illinois Infantry. His enlistment document says he was 5’6” tall. During the entire time of his service his regiment operated in Arkansas. Kimzey was mustered out of the army on August 31, 1865 at Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Kimzey kept his revolver, sabre, and accoutrements when he returned home. He was first married to Jannet R. Craig in Perry County, Illinois on October 26, 1868. She was born about 1852 in Perry County. As late as 1870, he was still living in Perry County, Illinois and was working as a blacksmith. He was living at Baird in Callahan County when the 1890 census was taken. He lived the last part of his life along the west side of Pool Road, between Hall Road and Highway 26, southwest of Grapevine. When the 1920 census was taken, he was living in Tarrant County, Texas and was working as a retail grocer and merchant. Kimzey was pensioned for his Civil War service. He died of malaria and chronic bronchitis at his home near Grapevine on October 29, 1926. His funeral was held at Bedford, with M. H. Moore officiating. Kimzey’s second wife survived him. She was Maude Mae Jones, who was born November 25, 1873 in Belvedere, New Jersey. She was the daughter of a native New Yorker, John A. Stevenson. She died at the Hurstview Home in Hurst, Texas on January 321, 1965. Her funeral was held at Colleyville Church of Christ on February 2. She was buried beside her husband in Bedford Cemetery. Mrs. Kimzey said she moved to Texas about 1900. Her last address was Rt. 2 Box 522, Grapevine
Samuel D. King was born in Missouri in 1844. When he applied for a pension in 1901, he said he was “partially raised in Tarrant County,” and that he had lived in the Smithfield area for several years. With so many other northeast Tarrant County men, King served in Co. A, 9th Texas Cavalry. His compiled military service records say he enlisted October 14, 1861 at Camp Reeves for a term of twelve months, that he traveled one hundred fifty miles to rendezvous with the rest of the regiment, and was at Fort Gibson [Oklahoma] on December 31, 1861. He was sick in camp on the rolls for May-June 1862, and was detailed as a pioneer at some time during the months of September and October, 1862. He was away from the regiment while sick in a hospital at some point between May and August, 1863, and appears absent under arrest from October 6, 1863. King was captured near Union City, Tennessee on March 16, 1864. He was received at Camp Chase, Ohio on April 22, 1864, and was sent to City Point, Virginia for exchange on February 25, 1865. There he was paroled. He was furloughed from Jackson Hospital in Richmond, Virginia on March 9, 1865 for thirty days. In old age he claimed to suffer from rheumatism contracted during the war from exposure and exertion. Mrs. Margaret M. King said she and her husband were married December 1, 1886 in Wood Co., Texas (there is no record of the marriage in Wood County). About 1897, they lived in the Polytechnic section of Fort Worth. King died October 13, 1922 at 3542 Fitzhugh Street in Polytechnic, at the home of his son-in-law, A. P. Clark. His obituary appeared on page 24 of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on the same day he died. Mrs. King died at her daughter’s home in Fort Worth on March 6, 1936. They lie buried in Smithfield Cemetery. Both Mr. and Mrs. King were pensioned by the State of Texas for his Confederate service. Mr. King’s obituary was as follows: “KING. S. D. King, 78, died at his home, 3542 Fitzhugh Street, at 2:30 a.m. Friday. He is survived by his wife and one daughter, Mrs. Lula L. Clark, of Fort Worth. The body will be taken to Smithfield by the Harveson-Cole Undertaking Company for burial.”
John Harvey Lamkin was born January 29, 1819 in Franklin County, Alabama. He was a son of Ezekiel Lamkin and his wife, Elizabeth (Couch) Lamkin. He married Synthia Louisa McCain, who was born November 16, 1821 in Lawrence Co., Alabama. During the war he was detailed to drive freight wagons from Fort Worth to Vicksburg, Mississippi. Family sources say he spent time in Tippah Co., Mississippi in the early 1840’s, and he appears in the Upshur County, Texas census for 1850. Census records suggest he probably arrived in Texas about 1848 or 1849. Family sources say he was in Wise County by 1856, when he named a son David Waggoner Lamkin. Lamkin was a member of the Masonic Lodge. He died August 18, 1870 in Tarrant Co., Texas, and was buried in Mount Gilead Cemetery near Keller. Mrs. Lamkin died in Parker County, Texas on March 19, 1917, and lies buried in Bethesda Cemetery there. John Lamkin’s tombstone was recently moved from Mount Gilead to Bethesda Cemetery in Parker County, Texas, between Weatherford and Mineral Wells, and was placed beside his wife’s grave there. The Lamkins had at least seven children, including John Hill Lamkin, Ezekiel Elijah Lamkin, James Harvey Lamkin, Mary Louise Lamkin, Nancy Jane “Nan” (Mrs. James Henry “Bud”) Carr, David Waggoner Lamkin, and Susan Elizabeth Lamkin.
* Jeremiah Green Lehew was born August 31, 1841. He enlisted May 20, 1861 in Co. I, 18th Tennessee Infantry and later in Co. A, 4th Tennessee Cavalry. He was captured near Atlanta July 30, 1864. Captured at Ft. Donelson, Tennessee on Feb. 16, 1862 and exchanged Nov. 10. Was a 3rd Sgt during part of his service. Captured at Auburn, Tennessee Jan. 21, 1863, paroled at City Point, VA Feb. 18, 1863. Lehew was paroled on May 3, 1865 at Charlotte, NC. He and his family kept the paper and eventually sent his original parole to Austin in 1916, where it may still be found in his pension file According to his CMSR, he was mustered in at Camp Trousdale, Tennessee on August 7, 1861 for a term of 9 months and 13 days. He was present on most of the surviving rolls of the company. He was sick and sent to the hospital at some time during March or April, 1863. He was promoted to 3rd Sergeant on Sept. 26, 1862. On January 20, 1864 he was on duty at Dalton, Georgia, and was captured on July 30th of the same year at Atlanta, Georgia. He is also shown in the records as Green Leyhew. Lehew married Rachel Scott (July 25, 1854-Nov. 28, 1927) in Ellis County, Texas on May 4, 1879. They moved to Tarrant County about 1903. Descendants report that Green Lehew and his wife lived for several years in present-day Colleyville along the east side of Highway 26, on a hill known later as the Louis White Place, between Brown Trail and Felps Drive. Jeremiah died March 3, 1906. Mrs. Lehew applied for a pension in 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Lehew lie buried in Smithfield Cemetery. His gravestone records that he was a member of the United Confederate Veterans. She died in Fort Worth at the home of her daughter, Texas Hulsey, at 3426 Fitzhugh Street. Mrs. Lehew’s obituary in the Fort Worth Record-Telegram lists her survivors as three sons: A. S. Lehew, T. J. Lehew, and F. M. Lehew, all of Fort Worth; seven daughters: Mrs. M. J. Harvey of Sudan, Texas; Nannie Daniels of Grapevine; Emma Fitch of Arlington; Mrs. M. E. Cooper, Mrs. Ollie Lee, Mrs. Tennessee Rogers, and Mrs. Texas Hulsey, all of Fort Worth.
Joseph Allen Leverett was born November 10, 1842 in Polk County, Georgia. Some family sources suggest that he may have been born in Paulding County, and that in the 1850’s his father, Burrell Leverett, moved the family to Polk County. Joseph enlisted in Polk County on July 25, 1861 as a private in Co.D, 20th Georgia Infantry. He was captured at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, and was imprisoned at Point Lookout, Maryland. He took the oath of allegiance to the federal government on February 2, 1864 and became one of the “Galvanized Yankees,” joining Co. A, 1st United States Volunteer Infantry. Leverett’s records as a Union soldier are extensive. He was enlisted in the Union army on January 23, 1864 at Point Lookout, Maryland. At the time, he had gray eyes, brown hair, a light complexion, and 5”10” tall. He was appointed Lance Corporal on June 23, 1864. His records say he deserted at Red Wood, Minnesota on September 29, 1864. He was apprehended at Henderson, Minnesota on October 2, 1864 by Captain McCree and was confined under sentence of court martial at St. Paul, Minnesota. He rejoined the company from confinement at Fort Snelling on August 11, 1865. He was finally mustered out at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on May 10, 1866. On May 15, 1864 he was absent from duty because he was on Provost Guard at Norfolk City. From November 1864 into June 1865 he was under arrest at Fort Snelling, Minnesota awaiting trial by court martial. On June 16, 1865 he was released from arrest and detailed as a cook at Fort Snelling. On August 11, 1865 he was released from cook’s duty and was returned to regular service. From November 1865 into February 1866 he was on duty as a teamster. An interesting list of equipment is included in Leverett’s records after he left his post: One Enfield Rifle and gun sling, one cartridge box and brass plate; one card box, belt, and plate; one bayonet scabbard, one waist belt and plate (buckle); forty rounds of ball cartridge and [percussion] caps; one tompion; one haversack; one knapsack and pair of greatcoat straps; one cap letter; one figure, one bugle, one eagle, one pair ___ sealer; one canteen and strap, and one cap box and pick. By 1880 he was living near his father’s family in Travis County, Texas. Leverett’s wife’s given name was Frances. In 1910, Joseph lived at Bransford in Tarrant County on the Smithfield-White’s Chapel Road with his nephew, William M. Farmer, and with Mr. Farmer’s father, James Y. Farmer, also a Confederate veteran. After leaving Bransford, Joseph moved to Bridgeport in Wise County, where he lived on Stephens Street in 1920. He lies buried beneath a federal military gravestone in the Old Town Cemetery in Bridgeport. The stone contains no dates of birth or death. His death does not appear in the TexasVital Statistics records.
Robert Looper was a Union veteran of the Civil War. He was born December 14, 1845. When the 1890 census was taken, he was shown with a Keller address. He enlisted January 28, 1864, as a Union private in Battery K, 2nd Missouri Light Artillery and was mustered in the next day at Springfield, Missouri for a term of three years. During May and June, 1865, he was on daily duty as a teamster. He served until November 24, 1865, when he was mustered out at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri. He died on January 27, 1897, and lies buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. No other pioneer Looper headstones are readable in northeast Tarrant County.
James Knox Polk Lowe was born in Dade Co., Georgia on December 22, 1843, a son of Jefferson Lowe and Louie/Louiza Gaughan. Lowe himself once said the date was December 22, 1842. He served in Co. D, 39th Georgia Infantry, having enlisted at Trenton, Georgia in 1862. His first battle was at Baker’s Creek, Mississippi. His last battle was at Jonesboro, where he was paroled. He surrendered near Blackstock, North Carolina with a part of Johnston’s army in April 1865. Lowe moved to the White’s Chapel area in 1869. He was married first to Bettie Wilkinson who died in 1872, a sister of Benjamin Marvice Wilkinson. His second wife was Columbia Lee Garrett (June 26-1847-March 9, 1923). Lowe and a neighbor, John Bailey, teamed up and had a cotton gin on what is now North White’s Chapel Road. Later, Lowe owned his own gin, which was steam-powered. In 1895, Lowe was living in present-day Southlake along the north side of FM 1709 about one-quarter mile east of its intersection with Byron Nelson Parkway. He may also have lived for a time south of present-day FM 1709 along White’s Chapel Road. A short reminis-cence of Mr. Lowe appeared in Mamie Yeary’s classic book Reminiscences of the Boys in Gray (1912). In addition to information found in his official military records, Lowe furnished these details of his service. He “…was transferred to Vicksburg in the spring of 1863 to assist in the defense of that city, where I was taken prisoner on July 4, 1863. Was paroled and went home, returning to the army when exchanged. Was promoted to corporal in 1863 during the Siege of Vicksburg. Was in the battles of Tazewell, Richmond, Baker’s Creek, siege of Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and the Georgia campaign to Atlanta, and then the campaign under Hood, back to Tennessee at Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville, and then to Greensboro, N. C. where we surrendered.” Lowe applied for a Confederate pension on May 1, 1930, which was granted to him. He died March 17, 1932, and lies buried in Lonesome Dove Cemetery in Southlake, Texas. James and his first wife, Bettie, were the parents of two children: John Andrew Lowe and Louis Jefferson (Luke) Lowe. James and his second wife had five children: the first a daughter who was born dead in 1875; Mary Louize “Mollie” (Mrs. Joe F.) Cross; Willie Lee (Mrs. Noah) Guess; Martha Ann “Mattie” Lowe, and Margaret Missionare “Missie” Lowe. The last two sisters were never married.
* John Wesley Lucas lies buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. July 16, 1845-Dec. 5, 1918. Has a military stone. He served in Co. G, 4th Alabama Cavalry. His death does not appear in the Texas Death Records. Is he buried in close association with anyone else in White’s Chapel Cemetery? There was a JohnW. Lucas living at Seymour in Baylor County, Texas in 1910. Get fuller data on him to see if this could be our man.
Jerome Napoleon Martin was born in Washington Co., Tennessee on November 23, 1837, a son of Alfred Martin, a physician. His death certificate names his parents as J. A. Martin and Sallie Hunt. Jerome grew up comfortably in a well-respected, slave-owning family. He was still a resident of Washington County when he joined the Confederate Army. He served the Confederacy as a soldier ranking from 1st Lieutenant to Captain, in Company G, 29th Tennessee Infantry. Martin enlisted August 21, 1861 at Camp Powell. He was on detached service on December 1, 1861 at Mill Springs, Tennessee to help bring up the “stray sick.” He became a First Lieutenant, was discharged, and then reenlisted November 8, 1862 at Knoxville, Tennessee. He was made quartermaster sergeant on January 1, 1863. Records show he was again a First Lieutenant on August 10, 1863, having been promoted from the quartermaster department on that day. Martin received a furlough on March 7, 1864 for thirty days. His name appears on a roll of wounded at Jonesboro, Georgia on September 17, 1864. He was captured December 17, 1864 at Franklin, Tennessee, and was admitted to the U. S. General Hospital at Nashville, Tennessee on December 26, 1864, having been wounded in the foot and right thigh. The federals sent him to Louisville, Kentucky where he was received on January 8, 1865. He was sent to Fort Delaware, Delaware on January 9, 1865. At the time he was described as having a fair complexion, dark hair, gray eyes, and was 5’9” tall. He was released at Fort Delaware on June 17, 1865 after signing an oath of allegiance to the United States. He was a captain at the time of his release. Martin’s files in the National Archives in Washington contain a large number of original reports, requisitions, etc. in his own handwriting. Martin also served a time in Co. K, 29th Tennessee Infantry. In 1870, Jerome and his wife, Emma, were living in Monroe County, Tennessee, where he was teaching school. By 1880, Martin had moved to Dallas County, Texas, where he was working as a school teacher. A notation in the census looks as if he might have been divorced at the time. Martin was married in Tarrant Co., Texas to Leona H. Rogers on April 6, 1883. She was born in Marion (now Sequatchie) Co., Tennessee on January 24, 1850, and was a sister of Bedford pioneers Layton Thurman Rogers and Martha (Mrs. William M.) Sitton. At some time after their marriage, the Martins moved to Henderson County, Texas, where they were living in 1900. At that time, Mrs. Martin said she had given birth to eight children, five of whom were living. When Martin applied for a Confederate pension, he said he had been in the Bedford area since about 1899, and had been at his present address near Bedford since about August of 1912. In 1910 Martin owned parts of the G. Beeler and M. W. Wilmuth surveys near Bedford, in the general vicinity of where today’s Bedford Road crosses under State Highway 121/183. He was a member of the R. E. Lee Camp of United Confederate veterans in Fort Worth. Also in that year, Mrs. Martin told the census taker she had given birth to eight children, four of whom were still living. Mr. Martin died near Bedford on his birthday, November 23, 1914. Mrs. Martin applied for a pension in 1921, at which time she was living at 1009 E. Hattie St. in Fort Worth. She said she had lived in Texas since about 1880. Martin lies buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in north Fort Worth. Three of their children were William Oscar Martin, John Alford Martin, and Robert R. Martin.
* Robert Eli McCain lies buried in Mount Gilead Cemetery.
Charles Baker McDonald was born in Habersham Co., Georgia on Christmas Day in 1825. He was a son of Andrew McDonald and his wife, Elizabeth (Baker) McDonald. Both Charles’s grandfathers, James McDonald and Charles Baker, were soldiers in the American Revolution. Charles moved with his father, stepmother, and siblings to Pontotoc Co., Mississippi about 1838. About 1842 the group came to Texas, settling in Hunt County, where Charles and his father were Mercer’s Colonists. He was married twice, first on February 21, 1850 in Hunt County, Texas to Frances M. Ruble. Frances was born in Meade County, Kentucky on March 5, 1832. Family sources say she died in 1861 in Tarrant County. Charles and his family settled near White’s Chapel in 1860. In June, 1861 in Tarrant County he joined Capt. William W. McGinnis’s Co. of the 20th Brigade, Texas State Militia. McDonald was elected 2nd Lieutenant. McDonald’s second wife was Mrs. Lucinda C. (Throop) Martin. Lucinda was born March 24, 1836 and died May 19, 1876. Charles patented the C. B. McDonald survey of 160 acres on July 21, 1871. In terms of today’s landmarks, the survey sat in present-day Southlake. Today’s Carroll Dragons’ football stadium property occupies much of the west-central part of the survey. Charles died January 4, 1895 and was buried at Lonesome Dove near both his wives. He has numerous descendants living in Tarrant County today. McDonald’s children with his first wife included Alphy (Mrs. James L.) McDonald; “Olif” McDonald, Virginia (Mrs. Jesse) Human; Della R. (Mrs. James L.) Foster, Wiley A. McDonald; Charles D. “Dolf,” McDonald; and J. B. “Brode” McDonald. With his second wife, he was the father of Cora Cordelia (Mrs. Charles C.) Moore; Cornelius Columbus McDonald; William W. McDonald, who died from wounds received in the Spanish-American War; and Terrell Baker McDonald.
* John C. McGinnis, the eldest child of William W. McGinnis, was born in Lincoln or Dallas County, Missouri on February 24, 1843. Growing up he traveled about in Missouri and Texas with his father’s family. He came to northeast Tarrant County with his father's family in 1860 or 1861. In 1861 John enlisted in Co., D, 9th Texas Cavalry, at Fort Worth, Texas. He was wounded five times in battle, and one of the bullets remained in him the rest of his life. He was granted a furlough while the regiment was at Granada, Mississippi in 1865, and came home to Texas. The war ended while he was on furlough. On September 15, 1905 he was granted a Confederate pension by the State of Texas, at which time he was living at Telephone in Fannin County, Texas. John moved about a great deal later in life. In October, 1915 he was living at Bear, Oklahoma; in March, 1916 in Hughes Co., Oklahoma; in October 1916 at Holdenville, Oklahoma; in November, 1917 he was in Fort Worth, Texas. His address in 1919 was Lamar, Oklahoma. Some time before the Fall of 1919, he was admitted to the Confederate Home of Oklahoma in Ardmore. On October 6, 1919, he and his wife left the home and he asked to he placed on the pension rolls again. In January, 1923 he made application from Coleman, Oklahoma to re-enter the Oklahoma Confederate Veterans Home. He was a member of the Robert E. Lee Camp of United Confederate Veterans in Fort Worth. Both the States of Texas and Oklahoma pensioned him at various times for his Confederate service.
William W. McGinnis was born about 1819 in Franklin Co., Kentucky. He was a son of William W. McGinnis, Sr. and Elizabeth (Lillard) McGinnis. He moved with his parents to Pike County, Missouri in 1835. He married Margaret Ann Wilson on December 30, 1841 in Lincoln Co., Missouri. She was born about 1824 in Kentucky and died before 1880 in Texas. For a time after his marriage, William Jr. and his wife lived near his father, renting land and raising corn and tobacco. After his father died early in 1842, William Jr. sold his tobacco crop in the field, and the McGinnises moved to what was then Niangua County (renamed in 1844 to become Dallas County), Missouri. There their first child was born on February 24, 1843. The McGinnises lived in Dallas County, Missouri for about six years, and by 1850 were living in St. Charles County. By 1852 they had left St. Charles Co., and lived somewhere else in Missouri for a time. By mid-1859, they moved to Texas, and by mid-1860 they were living in Erath County, Texas. When the census was taken in 1860, McGinnis listed his occupation as “doctor.” By June of 1861 they were in northeast Tarrant County, when McGinnis became a captain of volunteers in the 20th Brigade, Texas State Militia. Family sources recall that McGinnis worked at various times as a farmer, shoemaker, doctor, surveyor, school-teacher, and militia captain. He was still alive in 1895 on his farm near where Big Bear Creek crosses today’s Highway 26. In terms of modern-day landmarks, his 1895 home was in present-day Grapevine on the H. Decker survey, south of the railroad track and State Highway 26, about where newly-extended Brumlow Road intersects in a curve with the older part of Pool Road which continues a short distance north. He has no readable headstone in any northeast Tarrant County cemetery. William and Margaret McGinnis were the parents of at least eight children, including: John Caswell McGinnis, Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. Joseph L.) Byas, Scott Jefferson McGinnis, Sarah Elizabeth McGinnis, Missouri A. McGinnis, William C. McGinnis, Virginia Agnes McGinnis, and Erasmus D. McGinnis.
John Caswell McGinnis , the eldest child of William W. McGinnis, was born in Lincoln County, Missouri on February 24, 1843. Growing up he traveled about in Missouri and Texas with his father’s family. In 1861 John enlisted in Co., D, 9th Texas Cavalry, at Fort Worth, Texas. He was wounded five times in battle, and one of the bullets remained in him the rest of his life. He was granted a furlough while the regiment was at Granada, Mississippi in 1865, and came home to Texas. The war ended while he was on furlough. On May 14, 1865 he married Charlotte Keithley. On September 15, 1905 he was granted a Confederate pension by the State of Texas, at which time he was living at Telephone in Fannin County, Texas. He was a member of the Robert E. Lee Camp of United Confederate Veterans in Fort Worth. The State of Oklahoma also pensioned him after he left Texas. John moved about a great deal later in life. In October, 1915 he was living at Bear, Oklahoma; in March, 1916 in Hughes Co., Oklahoma; in October 1916 at Holdenville, Oklahoma; in November, 1917 he was in Fort Worth, Texas. His address in 1919 was Lamar, Oklahoma. Some time before the Fall of 1919, he was admitted to the Confederate Home of Oklahoma in Ardmore. On October 6, 1919, he and his wife left the home and he asked to he placed on the pension rolls again. In January, 1923 he made application from Coleman, Oklahoma to re-enter the Oklahoma Confederate Veterans Home. Both he and his wife died at the Confederate Home in Ardmore, he in 1923 and she in 1941, and are buried there.. John C. McGinnis was the father of at least eleven children, including Sydney W. McGinnis, Dudley J. McGinnis, Dora A. McGinnis, Madison McGinnis, Missouri Eva McGinnis, Malcolm Al Colonel Caswell McGinnis, Lottie E. McGinnis, Ida Maud (Mrs. Braddy) Duke, John Alvin McGinnis, Cora F. McGinnis, and Clara M. McGinnis.
Levin Moody was born about 1828 in South Carolina, a son of Arvin and Margaret Moody. By 1850 Levin, his parents, and siblings were living in Choctaw County, Alabama. Levin Moody, his wife, and children had settled in northeast Tarrant County by November, 1858. In 1860, Moody owned one hundred sixty acres of the Israel Cox survey and sixty acres of the Thomas Allen survey, in present-day Bedford, in the area south of the intersection of present-day Cheek-Sparger Road and on both sides of Central Drive. His widow later sold the property east of Central Drive to another of our veterans, Marcus D. Arthur. He enlisted in 1861 in the West Fork Guards, Tarrant County, 20th Brigade, Texas militia. Moody was one of the founders of the Spring Garden School just after the Civil War. He made his will in Tarrant County on May 19, and died on May 22, 1866. He has an interesting handmade tombstone in the old section of Birdville Cemetery. Moody’s estate files were among the few papers which survived the disastrous court house fire in Fort Worth in 1876, and the inventory of his estate gives us an interesting look into the lives of settlers here just after the Civil War. In the late 1880’s Levin’s widow, Margaret, and children moved into Fort Worth. His widow died of typhoid in Fort Worth on October 8, 1888, at her residence at 1112 Jennings Avenue. One of Levin Moody’s sons was James Frank Moody, a founding member of Oak Grove Methodist Church in Bedford in 1886. Levin and Margaret had a number of other children, including Margaret A. Moody, Barney B. Moody, and Arvan L. Moody.
Milton Moore , along with many members of his family, lies buried in Bedford Cemetery. His wife, Margaret A. (Henley) Moore, was born March. 24, 1834 and died June 16, 1911. The notation about his service in the 1910 federal census very clearly says, “CN,” which might mean he served in the Confederate navy. He patented the Milton Moore survey in Bedford of 160 acres on November 7, 1863. In terms of modern-day landmarks, the survey is bounded on the north by Harwood Road and on the west by Forest Ridge Drive. Its northeast corner is at Central’s intersection with Meadow Park Drive. Moore’s home sat on the east side of Barr Drive at about its intersection with Lincolnshire. The survey’s southern boundary is today’s Bedford Road. Milton Moore was a charter member of the New Hope Church of Christ (now Bedford Church of Christ), founded in Bedford in 1874. Moore served as postmaster of Bedford from April 7, 1891 until April 25, 1893. In 1895, Moore was living in the east central portion of the survey. Moore and a close neighbor, Weldon W. Bobo (1813-1884), are considered by many to be the guiding spirits in the founding of the Bedford community. An obituary for Milton Moore appeared in the Gospel Advocate (Nashville, Tennessee) of April 9, 1914: "Milton Moore was born in Rockingham County, N. C., on February 18, 1828, and died at Bedford, Texas on February 21, 1914, aged eighty-six years and three days. He was reared in Cole County, Mo., whither his father had moved in 1838. After returning from California, where he went to dig for gold in 1850, he married Margaret Ann Henley, with whom he lived for fifty-nine years, and who preceded him to the better land in 1911. He moved to Texas in 1861, and spent three years in the Confederate Army, where he heard the simple gospel of Christ preached by Carroll Kendrick, and where he responded to the second invitation he had ever had. Coming home from the war, he and others established the old Spring Garden Church, two miles north of the town of Bedford. In 1874 the congregation built the present meetinghouse at Bedford and have met there continuously since. His wife, who had joined the Baptist Church during his absence in the army, soon learned the way of the Lord more perfectly and was baptized. To this union were born six children: John M. Moore of Arlington; William H. Moore, who died in 1876; Mrs. John Barr, of Bedford; Mrs. M. H. McKinley, of Fort Worth; J. S. Moore, of Bedford, and the writer. These all obeyed the gospel in youth and are still trying to be faithful. He was buried in the old burying ground near the meetinghouse where he worshipped so long. He had been a great reader, and the Gospel Advocate, which he had taken every year but one since the Civil War, was his favorite paper. Though we are sad at the parting, we are encouraged at the remembrance of the good life that he lived and the hope of the reunion on the other side. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them." Fort Worth, Texas. M. H. MOORE"
Robert Morrow was born December 27, 1820 in Macon County, North Carolina, a son of William and Rutha Morrow. The Morrows later moved to Missouri; census information suggests the move was made in 1837 or later. Morrow married Elizabeth J. Smith in Polk County, Missouri on January 29, 1845. She was born October 15, 1820 in Virginia and died August 8, 1893 in Tarrant County, Texas. Robert served in the Mexican War in Co. K, 3rd Missouri Mounted Volunteers. His pension statement recounts fighting Comanche, Mexicans, Pueblos, and Apaches during his term of service. Morrow has an extensive, interesting Mexican War pension file in the National Archives. In 1850, Robert and Elizabeth were living in Polk County, Missouri with two of their children. By 1860, the family was living in Osceola Township, St. Clair County, Missouri. Robert served for a time in the Confederate Army, first in Capt. Crenshaw’s Co., Col. Coneary’s? Regiment, Rains? Division for about five months, then his unit was reorganized and was in Captain Nolan’s Co., Col. Gail? Thompson’s Regiment of Missouri Troops, under General Joe Shelby. Morrow served two years or more before he was disabled by exposure. Robert and Elizabeth Morrow left Missouri and came with their children to the Bedford area about 1866. He patented the Robert Morrow survey of one hundred sixty acres in Bedford on August 25, 1875. It was an irregularly-shaped tract which stretched basically along today’s Precinct Line Road, generally from Central Drive to about Wade Drive. Its odd, elongated shape was probably dictated by the fact that most of the land in the area had already been patented by that time. By 1880, Robert Morrow’s aged mother, Rutha Morrow, had joined the family here in Tarrant County and was living with one of her grandsons. In 1895, Morrow was living on that Morrow survey, and his home was probably located in present-day Bedford inside the rectangle described by Central Drive on the east, Pipeline Road on the south, Forest Ridge Drive on the west, and Shumac Drive on the north. Robert applied to the State of Texas for a pension based upon his Confederate service, but it was disallowed because he was already drawing a pension of $12 per month for his Mexican War service. Robert’s and Elizabeth’s children included Barbary A. (or Hannah…Mrs. Green B.) Trimble, William R. Morrow, John N. Morrow, Andrew Jackson Morrow, Rutha E. (Mrs. Rufus Perry) Allen, and M. M. Morrow, who married a Mr. Wozencraft. There may have been other children. Morrow died in 1906, and was buried beside his wife in Smithfield Cemetery. After lying in an unmarked grave for nearly a century, he received a marble headstone from the veterans administration about 2001.
Elihu Newton was born January 23, 1845 (some family sources say 1843) in Tennessee, a son of Isaac and Mary (Fitzgerald) Newton. Not long after Elihu was born, his father moved the family to Walker County, Georgia, where they appear in the 1850 census. Family sources also say the Newtons lived during the 1850’s in Hamilton County, Tennessee and Catoosa County, Georgia. According to information Elihu gave when he registered to vote in 1867, he and his family moved to Texas about 1855 and to northeast Tarrant County about 1862. Elihu married Mary White, sister of William H. White and Alexander F. White. Mary (White) Newton was born September 10, 1843 and died September 12, 1923. Newton and his wife were charter members of Pleasant Run Baptist Church on April 7, 1877, and on August 2, 1879 he became the first minister to be ordained by that church. He served in the Texas House of Representatives during the 20th Legislature (Jan. 11, 1887-April 4, 1887 and April 16, 1887-May 15, 1888). With T. B. Maddox of Fort Worth, he also represented Tarrant County in the Twenty-third Legislature from January 10 through May 9, 1893. In 1895 Newton was living in the Bransford Community (in present-day Colleyville) on the J. J. Newton survey, along the west side of Bransford Road in the vicinity of where Beverly Drive intersects it. He died April 21, 1925, and lies buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. Newton’s children included Sarah “Saccie” Newton; Alfred “Fifer” Newton; Annie “Anna” Newton; Clara (Mrs. Sandy) Wall; Lewis Newton; Ada Newton, Leta Newton; and Oscar Newton. His obituary appeared in The Grapevine Sun: “REV. E. NEWTON DIES. Rev. Elihu Newton, who died Tuesday afternoon, April 21st, at the home of his son, Fifer, in Fort Worth, was born in Tennessee in 1845, and at the age of twelve came to Texas with his parents, who settled west of Grapevine between Bransford and Smithfield. He had been a Baptist Minister for 60 years, was converted at the old Mt. Gilead Baptist Church and began active work at once. Bro. Newton enlisted in the Confederate army during the Civil war under Gen. Ganoe of Dallas. After his return, he married Miss Mary White of Bransford. Nine children were born to this union, three of whom survive him, Fifer and Oscar of Fort Worth and Lewis of Wichita Falls. He also is survived by two brothers, Alfred, a Baptist Minister of Arkansas, and Billie of Oklahoma, and 18 grand children and 11 great grand children. Bro. Newton was one of the most widely known and best loved Ministers of Tarrant County, having served as Pastor sometimes two and three different calls at the same place at some 14 or more churches in Tarrant and surrounding counties. His last pastorate with the Grapevine Church was in 1903-1905 and it was through his efforts that the present Baptist Church was built, but before its completion it was necessary for him to leave on account of poor health following an illness from small-pox, and he moved to Ochiltree in August, 1905. When his health was sufficiently recovered he began preaching again, serving as County Missionary of Ochiltree County and organized the Baptist Church at Ochiltree, the first church in the county. He lived in the west about 10 years, moving to Dalhart, Dumas, Tolbert, Vernon, and again to Ochiltree, always doing Missionary work if not a pastor. He then returned to Tarrant County and then to Grapevine where he resided until the death of his wife in Sept., 1923, and then went to make his home with his son, Oscar, of Fort Worth. His last pastorate was with the Pleasant Run Baptist Church. During Gov. Hogg’s administration he served two terms in the Legislature and while in Ochiltree served two terms as County Judge. Funeral services were conducted at the Grapevine Baptist Church Wednesday afternoon, April 23rd [illegible] and interment at the White’s Chapel Cemetery.”
Harkless Ogles was born March 7, 1843. According to his own statement in his Confederate pension application, he was born in Cannon County, Tennessee. He was a son of John Ogles and Margaret (Sherrill) Ogles. This Ogles family appears in the census records for 18650, 1860, and 1870 in Coffee County, Tennessee, adjacent to Cannon County. Harkless Ogles served in Co. I, 4th Tennessee Infantry (afterwards known as the 34th Tennessee Infantry). A comrade of Ogles, W. A. Duncan of Navarro County, Texas, later swore he had served with Ogles for 3-1/2 years and that they served until the war ended. Muster rolls indicate Ogles enlisted at Knoxville, Tennessee on August 5, 1861. They also show that he took the oath of allegiance to the federal government at Manchester, Tennessee on July 28, 1863. Ogles married Sarah Jernigan, who died at or near the time their twins were born, probably in late 1879. In that year, Harkless and his children were living in Bedford County, Tennessee. He moved to Texas about 1899, and to Tarrant County about 1919. He applied to the State of Texas for a Confederate pension in 1921 and told pension commissioners to address him at Roanoke, Texas in care of S. O. Burkleo. His pension application was disallowed. Ogles died February 16, 1922, and lies buried at White’s Chapel Cemetery. His children were: Laura, born about 1866; James, born about 1868; Andrew, born about 1870; William Calvin (Uncle Cal) born in 1871; Rayford, born about 1873; Thomas; Mary E., born about 1877; and twins, Talitha and Tabitha, born sometime in late 1879, perhaps November, 1879.
Bailey P. Payne was born October 7, 1842 in Smith County, Tennessee, a son of Larkin Payne and his wife, Jane (Sutton) Payne. Payne served in the Confederate Army in Co. B, 61st Georgia Infantry, the “Tattnall Rangers.” Official records say be enlisted May 27, 1861 at Atlanta, and was discharged on December 10, 1861. He reenlisted in same organization August 1, 1862 at Chattanooga, Tennessee. Payne told pension commissioners he served until the close of the war, and was a prisoner at the time of the surrender. He also said he served first in the infantry, and was later transferred to General Joseph Wheeler’s headquarters scouts. He came to Texas in November, 1869. Payne married Apolonia Nash, a daughter of Thomas Jefferson Nash, whose home still stands in Grapevine north of Highway 26. She was born September 26, 1849 in Lebanon, Kentucky, and died in Grapevine in 1925. In 1895 Payne lived in present-day Grapevine near the southwest corner of the Ambrose Foster survey, inside the top of the angle formed by State Highway 26 on the northwest and State Highway 114 on the northeast, and probably about 3/8 mile due south of their intersection. He died January 8, 1930 at the home of his son, Larkin Payne, near Grapevine. He lies buried in Grapevine Cemetery. An obituary for him appeared in The Grapevine Sun. He had at least five children, including Cora Lee, Larkin, Elizabeth, Thomas W., and Clint Payne. The last two named died in early childhood, and are buried on their grandfather Nash’s farm in Grapevine.
John P. Phillips was a Union veteran of the Civil War. He was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee in 1824. He may have been a son of Richard Phillips, who was an elderly man living with John’s family in 1875. Some time in the 1850’s in Tennessee he and his wife, Sarah E., were married. She was born in Tennessee in 1826. The family appears in the 1860 Bedford County, Tennessee census, and John was working as a merchant at the time. Phillips served as a private in Co. H, 5th Tennessee Cavalry, having enlisted November 10, 1862 at Nashville for a term of three years. At enlistment, he was 6’2” tall, had blue eyes, and dark hair. For about one year, beginning on December 1, 1862, he was transferred to duty in Company F of the same regiment. He was mustered out of service on August 14, 1865 at Pulaski, Tennessee. He told the census taker in 1890 he served from October 1862 until August 1865. The Phillips family was living in Bedford County, Tennessee in1870, and in Tarrant County, Texas by 1880. In 1890 he owned parts of the Thomas Easter, P. R. Splawn, A. Thompson, and J. B. Fry surveys, in present-day Grapevine in the general vicinity of Grapevine High School and the district’s football stadium. Both John P. Phillips and his wife were pensioned by the federal government for his service. He died in 1891 and lies buried in Grapevine Cemetery beside his wife, who died in 1893. They had a number of children, including: Andrew, Laura, Bettie R., John M., Edward F., Mary E., Albert M., Adna O., and William B. Phillips. There may have been an additional daughter named Mary, born about 1857, who may have died young. Several of these children also lie buried in Grapevine Cemetery.
George Coleman Piersall was born February 15, 1840 in Kentucky. He came to Texas in 1858. He lived with his sister, Mrs. Thomas Higgins, for a time both before and after the Civil War. If his sister, Mrs. Higgins, was still living at the same place in 1895 as he was when the war began, Piersall would have been living with the Higgins family in present-day Southlake somewhere in the vicinity of the west end of Robin Street, south of Dove Road, west of State Highway 114. Piersall enlisted in Confederate service in Co. A, 9th Texas Cavalry, in Tarrant County, Texas. Official records show that he joined the 9th Texas on October 14, 1861 at Camp Reeves, Texas. His service ended January 18, 1865 when he was captured at Iuka, Mississippi. With other prisoners he was forwarded to Louisville, Kentucky on January 27, 1865; he entered the military prison there the next day. On February 1, 1865 he was sent to Camp Chase, Ohio, where he arrived on February 3. He remained at Camp Chase until his release on June 13, 1865. While in the service he was slightly wounded somewhere on the right half of his body. Piersall and his wife, Museleet Drue, were married about 1870. When the 1900 census was taken, Mrs. Piersall said she had given birth to seven children, five of whom were still alive. Mrs. Museleet Piersall was born in Texas on January 21, 1852 and died June 12, 1903. She was buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. In 1918 Piersall contacted the Texas pension authorities and told them he had moved to Oklahoma. At the time, he was living in Gray, Beaver County, Oklahoma with his son-in-law, W. C. Creed. He also told them he was almost completely disabled for further work by his exertions during the war. Piersall died January 20, 1925, probably at the home of his daughter, Mattie Creed, in Oklahoma. Some records in his Oklahoma pension file suggest that he may have died at Liberal, Kansas. Some of the members of the Piersall family who died prior to the time George left Texas lie buried at White’s Chapel Cemetery. An interesting oral tradition concerning Piersall and his friend, Augustus R. Creed, was recorded in 1968 by Bemer Creed (it has been slightly edited for punctuation and capitalization): “August R. Creed and George C. Piersall were young men from Missouri and, craving adventure and excitement, joined the [Confederate] Army and served four years during the Civil War. Many times the company was very low on rations, and one day during a lull in battle it seemed each side was taking a rest when these two ambitious boys heard some hogs in the cornfield near their camp. Of course the hogs [were] making the usual grunting noise hogs make when in a corn field hunting for something to eat. Well, the boys thought, now is the time to make a hit with the old man (their commanding officer) by bringing in some fresh meat for supper. They took their guns and slipped out into the corn field, and saw a couple [of] fine shoats. They thought… just what they wanted for supper. But there was a problem…they knew the enemy was only a few hundred yards away. If they shot a hog the enemy would likely open up in reply. Well, in a whisper they talked it over while Augustus was scratching one hog's side. George was ready to knock it in the head with the stock of his gun. They thought this the best and safest way to do it. The aim was right between the eyes. George took a long swing and just at that second the hog raised his head up and got hit square on the nose. The gun went off just back of George’s shoulder. The hog let out a blood curdling squeal and tore out for home. Needless to say, Augustus and George headed for camp on the double. Just their luck, [they] met the C.O. who said "Here boys, what's all the excitement, who shot and why?" Well, they were nearly out of breath but finally told him why they were out in the corn field and just what had happened. He sort of grinned and turned away and said "sounds reasonable, don’t let it happen again." At the end of the war the boys thought they had done their bit for their country and had enough excitement for a while, went home to Texas, found girls, wooed them and married.” George and Museleet Piersall were the parents of the following seven children: Mattie Matilda (Mrs. William Colby) Creed, Sebrim M. Piersall, Alphoretta Joanne Piersall, George W. Piersall, Joseph W. Piersall, Vannie M. Piersall, and Beulah Myrtle Piersall.
Campbell Poynor was born January 5, 1825 in Bledsoe Co., Tennessee, a son of William Poynor and Elizabeth (Campbell) Poynor. By 1830, Campbell moved with his father’s family to Franklin County, Illinois. In 1839 they moved south and settled near Carrollton in Carroll County, Arkansas. In 1840 they lived there in Osage Township and in 1850 in Carrollton Township. Campbell made his way to Texas in mid-1840 and enlisted as a private in the Mexican War in San Antonio, Texas in 1847. He married his wife, Eliza R. Welch, in Texas on Christmas Day in 1849. Eliza was born in Tennessee on February 16, 1834. In 1850 the Poynors were living in present-day Maverick County, Texas, along the Rio Grande opposite the Escondido River. Probably in late 1852 or 1853 Campbell moved his family back to Carroll County, Arkansas, where they were living and farming in 1860. While living in Arkansas, he served for a time as a conscript in the Confederate army. In 1865, the Poynors left Arkansas and moved to Texas. By 1867, they had settled in Bedford. Poynor was a member of the Grand Prairie Masonic Lodge #455, in the community which would later be known as Smithfield. Campbell’s wife, Eliza (her gravestone clearly says Elizer) died at Bedford on August 18, 1883 and lies buried in Smithfield Cemetery. Campbell was a member of both the Sansom’s Chapel Methodist Church and the Oak Grove Methodist Church, both at Bedford. In 1895 Poynor was living in present-day Bedford near the southeast corner of the W. O. Yantis survey, west of Central Drive, north of Schumac Drive about where Central Park is located today. Poynor was pensioned for his Mexican War service. In 1906, he sold his property at Bedford and moved to live with his son-in-law, Sam H. Eagleton, near Burleson in Johnson County. Poynor once told pension officials he had lived in Bosque, Tarrant, and Johnson Counties in Texas. He died near Burleson on January 19 or 20, 1908, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in North Fort Worth. Mr. and Mrs. Poynor were the parents of a number of children, including: Elizabeth (Mrs. Richard M.) Allen, John Lafayette Poynor, Mary Poynor, Susan A. Poynor, Queen Victoria (Mrs. H. L. W.) Collier, Arizona S. (Mrs. J. B.) Winkler, Mattie Jane (first the wife of D. S. Gray, then of Benjamin F. May), and Eliza C. “Cammie” (Mrs. Sam H.) Eagleton.
Joseph T. Potts , a Confederate veteran, was born about 1839 in Tennessee. In 1910 he lived with another of our Confederate veterans, John Thomas Scott, on the J. R. Doss survey in present-day Euless, west of Euless Main Street, probably in the vicinity of the intersection of Baze Drive and Haydenbend Drive. Potts and Scott were not close relatives, if indeed they were related at all. The census merely reflects that they were longtime friends. Potts has no death record in Texas vital statistics files. He has no readable headstone in northeast Tarrant County.
Henry Marion Prather was born in Adair County, Missouri on November 30, 1842. He was the son of a pioneer Tarrant County gospel preacher, Jeremiah Prather, who died in 1859 Henry arrived in Tarrant County with his parents and siblings on November 7, 1857. He enlisted in Co. E, 12th Texas Infantry, on January 3, 1862 at Camp Hobart near Hempstead, Texas. He was sick in the hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas in December of that year. Henry and his wife, Sarah A. (Curry) Prather, were married about 1869, probably in Tarrant County. She was born November 5, 1851 in Warren County, Kentucky, and died April 19, 1904. Henry died August 24, 1884. Both he and his wife lie buried in Bedford Cemetery In 1895, Mrs. Sarah Prather was living on the Thomas Akers survey in present-day Hurst, in the vicinity of where Grapevine Highway (State Highway 26) and Bentridge Drive intersect today. Henry and Sarah Prather were the parents of at least the following children: Mary Ellen (Mrs. Bob) Lassiter; James Henry Prather; Sarah Emily (Mrs. Samuel H.) Sparger; William Taylor Prather; Florence (Mrs. Alexander) White; and Walter Greenup Prather.
John David Prather was born about 1841 in Adair County, Missouri, and was a son of pioneer gospel preacher, Jeremiah Prather. John D. Prather probably left his mother’s farm to enlist in Co. F, Terrell’s Co., Waller’s Texas Cavalry. He entered the Confederate service on August 27, 1862 at Vermilion, Louisiana for three years. He was detailed to help in caring for the horses by order of General Magruder on a roll dated February 29, 1864. In 1864 he owned 294 acres of the Thomas Akers survey. This survey sits in present-day Hurst, with its western boundary present-day Precinct Line Road, and its northwest and southwest corners being about one-quarter mile north and south of State Highway 26 (Grapevine Highway) respectively. From those two corners the survey stretched east for one mile. Prather was married twice, first to Sarah Jane (Bennett) Akers, the widow of Thomas Akers. His second wife was Mollie Jo Scott. Family sources record that he had three children with his first wife: Sarah (Mrs. Balis A.) Bates; Mary Ellen (Mrs. Martin C.) Racer, and John Hamilton Prather. With his second wife he had at least two children: Marinda and Ada Prather. According to family sources, Prather died in Tarrant County in 1871. No readable headstone for him is now standing in northeast Tarrant County
Jonathan Taylor Prather was a son of pioneer Tarrant Count gospel preacher, Jeremiah Prather, who died in 1859. Jonathan was born in Adair County, Missouri on May 17, 1847. He came to Tarrant County with his parents and siblings on November 17, 1857. Jonathan enlisted in the Confederate army in Tarrant County in May 1862 and served until his company was discharged in 1865. He told pension application officials he served in Company F, Waller’s Battalion, Walker’s Division, under Captain Joseph Terrell. He said he served his entire enlistment in the same command. He was discharged at Bryan Station in Brazos Co., Texas, on the Houston Central Railway in May, 1865, at which time his company disbanded. He and his wife, S. Ellen, were married in Tarrant County on July 4, 1875. When she applied for her pension in 1923, she said she was 72 years old and a native of Missouri. She said she had lived in Texas for sixty-four years. She had lived in Tarrant County for the last sixty years, so she must have come to Texas with her parents about 1863. Jonathan and his wife had only two children, both of whom died young, and both of whom have headstones in Bedford Cemetery. There was one young man whom they unofficially adopted, and who grew to manhood with them. Jonathan first applied for a Confederate pension in 1909, at which time he was living at Smithfield. In 1912 he reapplied, this time giving his address as 2141 Main Street in Fort Worth. Jonathan died at his home in Smithfield on August 20, 1923. Ellen Prather died at the Tarrant County Poor Farm near Fort Worth on February 5, 1928. They both lie buried in unmarked graves in Bedford Cemetery.
James E. Purkerson was born March 1, 1841 in South Carolina to two native South Carolinians. He was married twice. His second wife, Zaney A., was born in Alabama to an Alabamian father and a Georgian mother. She was born February 3, 1849 and died July 28, 1935. They were married about 1887, probably in Alabama. They had only two children, Lawrence P. Purkerson and Mamie F. Purkerson, both of whom were born in Alabama and both of whom came to live with them near Bedford. In 1895 Purkerson was living in present-day Bedford along the north side of State Highway 183, about where Murphy Drive intersects it today. Purkerson told the 1910 census taker he was a Confederate veteran. He died July 5, 1920. He and his wife are buried in Bedford Cemetery.
Cadwell Walton Raines was a noted historian and State Librarian of the State of Texas. Witten family tradition says Raines came home with G. W. Witten from the Confederate army, and taught school for a time at Spring Garden before leaving the community. Raines was born September 18, 1839 in Upson County, Georgia, a son of Thomas A. Raines and his wife, Arsadna Jackson. In 1858, after completing his junior year at Princeton University, he moved to Texas and settled at Paris. He was admitted on trial to the East Texas Methodist Conference in 1860. He was opposed to secession, but enlisted in 1861 under Richard M. Gano, and served as a private throughout the war. During that service he met and became good friends with George W. Witten. He was twice captured and escaped, and twice wounded and reported dead. When offered a commission he refused, saying he did not want the responsibility of leading men into battle. After the war he taught school at New Braunfels and Spring Garden, practiced law in a partnership at Canton, was county judge of Van Zandt County, and published newspapers at Wills Point, Mineola, and finally at Quitman. While at Quitman he was elected County Judge of Wood County, where he became friends with James Stephen Hogg, later to become governor of Texas. When Hogg became governor in 1891, he appointed Raines as State Librarian. Raines served two non-consecutive terms at the post. When he assumed office, the State Library was virtually nonexistent. Hogg took a special interest in the library and saw to it that Raines was given $500 per year to collect Texas historical data. Under Raines, the present collection was begun. The election of a new administration caused Raines to lose his post. He authored several important Texas works. Raines was married twice: first to Mary Bowden, and second to Isabella M. Mason of Amarillo, a sister of his old army friend, George W. Witten. Raines and Mrs. Mason were married on December 25, 1901. He died August 2, 1906, and lies buried at Round Rock in Williamson County, Texas. An excellent biography of Raines appears in Texas State Historical Association, The Handbook of Texas.
* Stephen Marion Reynolds is buried in Frankford Cemetery He lived for a time after 1902 in Colleyville with his younger brother, Robinson C. Reynolds, along the east side of present-day highway 26.
Robert R. Riggins was born January 3, 1835 in Missouri. He and his family appear in the census records for 1860 in Vernon County, Missouri. He fought in Company B, 1st Missouri Cavalry. His wife, Catherine, was born in Virginia on October 21, 1840 and died April 1, 1904, only a few days after her husband. By 1870 they had moved to Salt Pond Township in Saline County, Missouri, and by 1880 were again in Vernon County. When Riggins applied for a Confederate pension on July 29, 1899, he said he had been a resident of Quanah, Hardeman County, Texas for 9 months. Reference is made in his pension file to two affidavits made by Tarrant county veterans, Green Berry Trimble and Jefferson B. Karr. Trimble’s is not included in the microfilmed files. Kerr said he had known Riggins long before the war, and also said he “…knew him as a Confederate soldier during the war and he was a good one.” Karr also said he and Riggins had been neighbors for many years in Tarrant County, and that Riggins had lived a long time in Fort Worth. Riggins sent a list of the battles in which he fought (in his own handwriting) to the pension board in Austin, and it remains in his file to this day. Robert Riggins died March 17, 1904, and was buried in Smithfield Cemetery. His death is not shown in the Texas vital statistics files, and there is no indication in his pension file about where he died.
* Robert R. Riggins sent a list (in his own handwriting) to the pension board in Austin, and it remains in his file to this day. Riggins’ death is not shown in the Texas Death Records. Reference is made in his pension file to two affidavits made by Tarrant county veterans, Green Berry Trimble and Jefferson B. Karr. Trimble’s is not included in the microfilmed files. When Riggins applied for a Confederate pension on July 29, 1899, he said he had been a resident of Quanah, Hardeman County, Texas for 9 months. Kerr said he had known Riggins long before the war, and also said he “…knew him as a Confederate soldier during the war and he was a good one.” Karr also said he and Riggins had been neighbors for many years in Tarrant County, and that Riggins had lived a long time in Fort Worth. Riggins fought in Company B, 1st Missouri Cavalry. Riggins was pensioned. He was born January 3, 1835 and died March 17, 1904. Buried in Smithfield Cemetery. Death not shown in the TDR. His wife was Catherine. IN 1860 and 1880 they were living in Vernon County, Missouri.
Thomas Moore Riley , was born July 18, 1844 in Montgomery Co., Illinois. He was a son of Colleyville and Bedford pioneer Jonathan Riley and his wife, Judy (Moore) Riley. His mother was some relation to Bedford pioneer Milton Moore. Thomas came to Tarrant County with his parents about 1856. Thomas enlisted in the Confederate army and served as a member of Co. A, 34th Texas Cavalry. He enlisted July 25, 1862 at Camp Johnson under M. W. Davenport. Riley is shown present for duty on surviving rolls for February-June 1863 and January-February 1864. He worked as a cattle drover for some time after the war. Thomas married Sarah Melinda Goldsmith (the sister of noted north-Texas horse thief John Alison Goldsmith) prior to 1876. Between 1876 and 1880 he and his wife moved to Montague County, Texas and lived about 1.5 miles northwest of Stoneburg. He is shown there in the 1880 census as a stock raiser. He died there April 3, 1896 and is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Montague County. His wife was born February 12, 1856 and died October 16, 1901.
Matthew Pratt Roberts was born May 11, 1846 in Union County, Illinois. He told pension authorities he came to Texas with his parents in 1846. While in our community he lived along the east side of what is now Roberts Road, about one-quarter mile north of Pleasant Glade Baptist Church. Roberts Road in Colleyville was named for him. Roberts was a member of the R. E. Lee Camp of United Confederate Veterans at Fort Worth. He told his comrades in the Camp he had enlisted in Bosque County, Texas. He served in Co. A, Cook’s Heavy Artillery at Galveston. His compiled military service records also show him as serving in Second Co., A, and in Co. L. According to official records, he enlisted July 7, 1862 for the war, at “Hill.” He was shown sick in quarters on a roll for the first two months of l863, and was present on a roll for May, 1864. He was discharged at Galveston in spring of 1865. Roberts came to Tarrant County in the fall of 1881. He was pensioned by the State of Texas for his service, and died at the home of his son, I. G. Roberts, in Fort Worth on May 30, 1921. He lies buried in Parker Memorial Cemetery in Grapevine. He was given a marble memorial stone from the veterans’ administration in the summer of 1980.
Ozias Rumfield was born June 17, 1842 in Perry County, Ohio, a son of Peleg M. Rumfield. He served a term as a private in the Union Army in Co. D, 17th Ohio Infantry. He enlisted on April 25, 1861 at Logan, Ohio and was honorably discharged on August 15, 1861 at Camp Goddard, Zanesville, Ohio. Rumfield was married twice, first to Mary J. Mingus in Hocking County, Ohio on September 1, 1861. She was a daughter of Luther and Anna (Willis) Mingus, and was born June 27, 1844 in Trimble Township, Athens County, Ohio. She died near Smithfield, Texas on April 7, 1883. He married his second wife, Mrs. Angeline (Deatherage) Burnett, at Smithfield, Texas on July 12, 1883. She was a daughter of Abner Deatherage and Mary Almeada (Marney) Deatherage. In her application for the pension due her because of Rumfield’s service, Angeline said she was born July 20, 1861 in Meigs County, Tennessee. It seems more likely, however, that she was born after the Deatherage family arrived in Tarrant County, Texas. Descendants believe the older Rumfield family may have been associated with the Smithfield Church of Christ, formed in the community in 1888. Rumfield filed an application for a pension in 1892 based upon his service. In 1895, Rumfield lived in present-day North Richland Hills, on the western edge of the Ozias Rumfield Survey, along the south side of Rumfield Road about where Eden Drive goes south from Rumfield. He died December 28, 1919 in Terrell, Texas (some records say December 18), and lies buried in Smithfield Cemetery. His widow filed an application for a pension in 1920. Angeline Rumfield died on December 23, 1928. Ozias Rumfield was the father of nine children: Charles Sherman Rumfield; Thomas Rumfield; Georgia Rumfield; William Alva Rumfield; George O. Rumfield; Annie S. Rumfield; Mary Delia Rumfield; and two other children who died young.
Joseph Emanuel Rutledge served as an infantryman in both armies during the Civil War, first as a Confederate, then as a federal. He was born February 16, 1835 in Wayne County, Tennessee. He was first married to Hannah Caroline Lewis in Lawrence County, Tennessee on January 9, 1859. They are shown there with their eldest child in the 1860 census. She was born Sept. 9, 1840 in Tennessee. In the Confederate army, he was a private in Co. B, 54th Tennessee Infantry, in which he enlisted November 30, 1861 in Lawrence Co., Tennessee for twelve months. He is shown absent on a muster roll dated April 30, 1862, and there is no further record of him as a Confederate. In the Union army he was a private Co. G, 10th Tennessee Infantry. Official records show he enlisted July 20, 1862 at Nashville, Tennessee, and he is present on all existing muster rolls until the end of the war. He was on extra duty as a teamster with the quartermaster’s department in July and August 1864, and was absent on duty beginning April 29, 1865 “driving public animals.” He was mustered out June 24, 1865. When interviewed by the federal census taker in 1890, Rutledge said he stayed in the service until July 3, 1865. After the death of his first wife, Rutledge married a widow, Mrs. Rhoda E. (Allen) Henley Acton. She was first married to a Mr. Henley, then to James R. Acton on August 22, 1877 (with whom she was the mother of Bedford old-timer Perry Acton), and then to Joseph E. Rutledge in Tarrant County. She was a daughter of Bedford pioneer Alexander Allen. Rutledge and many of his descendants were members of Oak Grove Methodist Church (established 1886) in Bedford. He is in the photograph of the church group taken about 1890, and is one of the unidentified men whose faces are mostly obscured by the sun behind them. This writer’s grandmother once identified him in the photograph. In 1890 his post office address in northeast Tarrant County was Bransford. According to descendants, Rutledge died June 30, 1903 in Tarrant County, and lies buried in an unmarked grave in Smithfield Cemetery. With his first wife he was the father of several children, including: William Cornelius Rutledge, John Lewis Rutledge, Thomas James Rutledge, Joseph Charles Rutledge, Henrietta (Mrs. William) Flanagan, Ida Mae Rutledge, Lula Pearl (Mrs. Don) Cannon, and Lee Drew Rutledge.
Rev. George W. Sawyer was born October 14, 1834 in Alabama. According to a biography of his son, Benjamin F. Sawyer, printed in 1895, George W. Sawyer was born in Alabama to B. F. Sawyer, a farmer and millwright of South Carolina. George moved with his father’s family from Alabama to Arkansas about 1848. George W. Sawyer was living with his family in Union County, Arkansas in 1860. His mother, born about 1792 in South Carolina, was living with him in 1860. The 1895 history says, “…Rev. Sawyer served through the late war, part of the time running a mill with which he ground grain for the families of soldiers free of toll.” He was first married to Elizabeth Johnson in Arkansas on December 20, 1855. She died in Arkansas in 1865. In 1869 he began preaching, as a Missionary Baptist minister, and continued in that service for many years before he died. He came to Texas in 1877, locating on a farm in Tarrant County and taking charge of three churches. On April 7, 1877 Rev. Sawyer became a charter member of Pleasant Run Baptist Church. Also in 1877, Tarrant County tax records show that he owned 160 acres of one of the B.B.B.&C. Railroad surveys (abstract no. 200). Rev. George W. Sawyer died October 10, 1878 and lies buried in Bear Creek Cemetery in Euless. His widow was Mrs. P. M. Sawyer, who was living with the Melton family in Tarrant County in 1880. She, too, had died by 1895 when Benjamin F. Sawyer dictated his family history information. Rev. Sawyer’s son, Benjamin F. Sawyer, married Emma McKinley, daughter of Pleasant Run Baptist Church charter member H. H. McKinley.
Dr. Augustus Foust Scott was born in 1841 in Tennessee. He enlisted in the Confederate Army twice, and served the first time from December 9, 1861 to December 15, 1862, having enlisted at Camp Trousdale in Co. H, 44th Tennessee Infantry. He was a prisoner for a time and was paroled at Camp Dick Robinson, Kentucky on October 24, 1862. He reenlisted before December 17, 1863 on which date he was captured at Big Springs, Tennessee, and refused for several months to swear allegiance to the Union and thus get a parole. He finally took the oath on April 25, 1864 at Rock Island Barracks, Illinois. Union records show him confined at Rock Island on January 20, 1864. He served as a 4th sergeant at some time in 1864, and possibly earlier. At the time of his parole, his residence is shown as Fairfield, Tennessee, and he had a fair complexion, sandy hair, gray eyes, was 5’10” tall, and was twenty-two years old. He served at various times in the 44th Tennessee in Companies A, B, and D. His wife, Sarah Catherine, was born in 1842 in Tennessee. She and Mr. Scott were married on February 7, 1866 in Bedford County, Tennessee. In 1926 when Mrs. Scott applied for a Confederate pension, she said she had lived in the Bedford/Arlington area for 55 years; thus they must have arrived here about 1871. In 1895 the Scotts lived between Bedford and Euless, in present-day Bedford at about the intersection of Stonecourt and Sovereign Streets, northwest of the intersection of FM 157 and State Highway 183. Mr. Scott died in Tarrant County on July 6, 1907. His widow was pensioned for his Confederate service. Sarah C. Scott died in Tarrant County on June 4, 1936 at the home of her daughter, Kate Scott, near Arlington. Both lie buried in Bedford Cemetery along with many of their descendants.
John Thomas Scott was born April 29, 1831 at Freedonia, Chambers County, Alabama. He was a soldier in Co. A, 10th Alabama Infantry, and served for three years. Scott was discharged March 10, 1865 at Fayetteville, North Carolina, and was paroled at New York on June 4, 1865. His pension application also gives his regiment as Co. A, 10th Confederate Regiment. Scott’s wife was Catherine Mary “Kate” Thompson, and she was born March 19, 1830 at Columbus, Georgia. She married Scott in May, 1866 in Georgia. They moved to Texas in 1870. In 1895 the Scotts lived on the J. R. Doss survey in present-day Euless, west of Euless Main Street, probably in the vicinity of the intersection of Baze Drive and Haydenbend Drive. In 1910, Mrs. Scott told the census taker she had given birth to ten children, only four of whom were still alive. In 1912 the Scotts moved to Wilbarger County, Texas. Both Mr. and Mrs. Scott were pensioned by the State of Texas for his Confederate service. John T. Scott died May 29, 1930 in Wilbarger County. Catherine M. Scott survived until January, 1933. They are buried in the Eastview Cemetery in Vernon, Texas. The Scotts’ children included Andrew Jackson Scott; Nan (Mrs. G. F.) McCully; Emily Louisa (Mrs. Jesse “Jake”) Rogers; Clara Jane (first married to a Mr. Williams and later to Carl Scott after Mr. Williams’ death); and Mary A. Scott, who died in childhood. An extensive obituary for Scott, complete with a photograph, appeared in the Vernon Daily Record on May 29, 1930: “John T. Scott, Confederate Veteran, Dies. Ninety-Nine Year Old Veteran of Two Wars Succumbs this Morning at Family Home on Mesquite Street Following Lengthy Illness. John T. Scott, 99, Veteran of the Spanish American and Civil Wars, and a long-time resident of Vernon and Wilbarger County, died at his home, 2417 Mesquite Street, at 9 o’clock this morning, following a long illness. Funeral services will be held at 4 o’clock Friday afternoon at the First Baptist Church, with Dr. E. F Lyon, pastor, in charge. He will be assisted in conducting the services by L. A. Foster and Rev. E. L. Moore, pastor of the Federated Presbyterian Church. Interment will be made in East View Cemetery on the lot reserved for Confederate Veterans. Mr. Scott was born in Alabama, April 29, 1831, where he was reared and joined the ranks of the Confederates in 1861, serving four years as a private in the Civil War. He moved to Texas in 1870, settling in Tarrant County where he lived before coming to Wilbarger County in 1912. Mr. Scott engaged in farming for a number of years after moving to this county, and later retired at the family home on Mesquite Street. Mr. Scott served in a number of battles under General R. E. Lee and several other great leaders while in the Confederate ranks. Among battles which he took part in and which he enjoyed telling about mostly was the Battle of Chickamauga, which was fought along Chickamauga Creek near Chattanooga, Tennessee on September 19-20, 1863, between 57,000 federals under General Rosecrans and about 75,000 Confederates under General Bragg. In all of his fighting in both the Spanish-American and Civil Wars, Mr. Scott was only injured one time, and that was sustained from falling off a horse. Mr. Scott was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and has been a faithful member for sixty-five years. Surviving him is a widow who is 100 years old, four children, A. J. Scott, Vernon, Mrs. Emma Rodgers of Vernon, Mrs. Clara Scott of Wellington, and Mrs. Nan McCully of Ft. Worth; one sister, Mrs. Mary Robertson of Alabama, thirty-four grandchildren, thirty-six great grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren. The Underwood Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Pallbearers had not been selected this afternoon.” An article in the same newspaper the next day names the pallbearers, all six grandsons: Tom Scott, Bill Scott, Marion Mashburn, Ruben Rodgers, Sam Scott, and Otis Scott, all of Vernon, Texas. Given Mr. Scott’s extreme age at the time the Spanish-American War was fought in 1898, it seems more likely that he may actually have fought in the Mexican War, which took place in 1846-1848.
Tilford Scott was born in South Carolina about 1833, a son of Silas Smith and Nancy (Swain) Smith. By 1850, Caleb had moved to McMinn County, Tennessee with his parents and siblings. In 1860, his parents appeared in the census of Hamilton County, Tennessee. Caleb’s wife, Lucinda Newton, was born September 18, 1838 in Tennessee. She was a daughter of Isaac Newton and his wife, Mary (Fitzgerald) Newton, early northeast Tarrant County settlers. Lucinda was a sister of another of our Confederate veterans, Rev. Elihu Newton. Census records suggest Caleb and Lucinda were married before they left Tennessee or Georgia and had at least one child before coming to Texas. They arrived in northeast Tarrant County about 1859. Caleb’s family is shown on the indigent list for Tarrant County during the Civil War, establishing that he was a southern soldier. There are at least three surviving records for Caleb Smiths who served as Texas Confederate soldiers. Their records contain no clues to help in determing which one, two, or possibly even three of them are the Caleb W. Smith who lived in Tarrant County. One was a soldier in the 14th Texas Infantry, who said he was thirty-seven years old in 1862. Another was Caleb W. Smith of the 18th (Darnell’s) Texas Cavalry, who enlisted at age thirty-one in 1862 in Dallas County. The third Caleb W. Smith was a private in Co. B, Well’s Btn., Texas Cavalry, who enlisted in 1862 at Trinity Mills, in far-northwest Dallas County, Texas. Caleb W. Smith was one of the founders of Spring Garden School which sat along the Bedford-Colleyville line east of present-day Jackson Drive. He witnessed Levin Moody’s will in 1866. By the time the 1870 census was taken, Smith’s next-door neighbor was Augustus R. Creed, indicating that Smith and his family may have left the Spring Garden area and moved west of White’s Chapel by that time; in 1874 he was living there on the J. G. Allen survey. He and his family are also shown in the census records for 1880 in Tarrant County. Caleb Smith died at some time between 1880 and 1895. In 1895, Mrs. Smith was living in her home on the J. G. Allen survey, in modern-day terms along the line of Keller and Southlake, about one quarter mile north of FM 1709 about where Pearson Lane is intersected by Gray Street and Pearson Crossing. It seems likely that Caleb Smith is buried in an unmarked grave in northeast Tarrant County, possibly in White’s Chapel Cemetery since one of his daughters was buried there in 1883. Lucinda Smith died at Amarillo, Texas on December 12, 1923. Her body was brought back to Tarrant County for burial, and she lies buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. The Smith’s children included Mary M. E. Smith, who married a Mr. Kelly and died in 1883; Mattie M. Smith, N. A. Smith (a female); a female whose initials are not legible in the 1870 census; W. Lee N. Smith (a male), Ora Smith, Alfred M. Smith, and at least two other daughters whose names are not legible in the 1880 census.
Rev. David William Smith was born April 21, 1845 in Golden Grove, Jasper County, Missouri. He was a son of William and Elizabeth Smith (her maiden name was Smith as well). The Smiths moved from Missouri to Fort Worth in 1859, and lived for one year at the spot where Trinity Park now sits. About 1860 they moved permanently to the community which would later become Smithfield. David’s younger brother was Eli Smith for whom the town of Smithfield was named. David Smith served the Confederacy in Co. E, 8th Regiment (Young’s) Texas Infantry, also known as the 12th Texas Infantry. He enlisted January 3, 1862 at Camp Hobart, Tarrant County. He was a 2nd Lieutenant at one point during his service. Another item in his file also shows his enlistment on the same day in Tarrant County, by recruitment officer A. J. Ball, for a term of twelve months. He was shown as seventeen years old on a roll for February 28-June 30, 1862. He was sick on detachment at Tyler, Texas in July-August, 1862, and was sick at Camp Nelson in December, 1862. Smith’s military records file contains several very interesting original documents relating to his medical discharge. He said he was born in Jackson County, Missouri, was 5’10” tall, and had a dark complexion, gray eye, black hair. He got his medical discharge at Camp Magruder, Louisiana on January 14, 1864. His first wife, M. M. Smith, was born February 4, 1845 and died April 6, 1894. Smith married his last wife in Tarrant County in May, 1901. She was sixty-eight years old in 1927, born in Missouri. Her address when she applied for a pension was 1602 Gould Avenue, Fort Worth. She said she had lived in Tarrant County forty-six years. The second Mrs. Smith died October 28, 1929 in Chamal, Tamaulipas, Mexico, at the home of her son, F. Honecker. Mr. Smith was pensioned for his Confederate service. He was a member of the Grand Prairie (Smithfield) Masonic Lodge. He died June 26, 1920, and lies buried in Smithfield Cemetery. His obituary appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on June 27 on page 4. It said simply: “Smith. Funeral services for Rev. D. W. Smith, 75, who died Saturday, will be held from the residence, Stop Haines, Dallas-Fort Worth Interurban, at 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Burial will be in the Smithfield Cemetery at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.” A more complete and lengthy obituary appeared on the same day in The Fort Worth Record: “PIONEER METHODIST PASTOR PASSES AWAY. Rev. D. W. Smith, age 75, a resident of Tarrant county for 61 years, died Saturday morning at his home at Stop-Haines on the Fort Worth-Dallas interurban. He had been an invalid for 13 years. He was born in Golden Grove, Mo., April 21, 1845, the family moving to Texas when he was 14 years of age. The family camped for a year on what is now Trinity Park before moving to what is now known as Smithfield, named after the family. He entered the Confederate army when 16 years old and fought throughout the war. On his return home he became a Methodist minister and gave 23 years of his life to his church. Deceased is survived by his wife, three sons, W. P. of Fort Worth, J. W. of Dallas, C. B. Smith of McKinney; three daughters, Mrs. G. A. Meacham of Clinton, Okla., Mrs. R. S. Clous of Dallas and Mrs. C. J. Knowles of Outlook, Wash.; one step-son, Floyd Honecker of Fort Worth; one half-brother, 30 grandchildren and 17 great-grand-children. Funeral services will be held at the home at Stop Haines at 1 o’clock Sunday, followed by interment at the Smithfield Cemetery at 3 o’clock. The Masons will have charge of the body at the grave.”
William Thurman Sowell was born in Tennessee on December 7, 1838, a son of William and Margaret Sowell. By 1850 he was living with his parents and siblings in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Ten years later, in 1860, they had moved to Wright County, Missouri. William enlisted about July 1, 1862 as a private in Co. A, 8th Missouri Infantry and served until the end of the war. He started out in Tennessee, then moved to Missouri, then to Texas. Some records suggest he also spent some time in Arkansas. He came to Tarrant County about 1884. He attended the 1902 Confederate veterans’ reunion in Dallas, and registered as a resident of Dove, Texas. He was granted a pension by the State of Texas for his Confederate service. He seems to have spent much of his later life living with his married siblings, particularly his sister, Amanda Hemphill (1841-1925). She died only five days before him. He died on March 3, 1925, and was buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery beside Amanda. His obituary in the Grapevine Sun says: “ DIED. William Thomas Sowell, age 86 years, died at his home in Grapevine Tuesday afternoon, March 3rd. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. L. Pat Leach at the White’s Chapel Church Wednesday, after which interment was in the White’s Chapel cemetery. He was the last of five children and was never married. He was converted early in life and joined the Methodist Church at the age of forty years. Quite a number of relatives survive him, among whom are his two nieces, Mrs. W. L. Ratliff of this place and Mrs. F. C. Brown of Fort Worth.”
Harvey Richard Sparger was born October 16, 1833 in District One of Marion
County (now Sequatchie County), Tennessee. He was the eldest child of Samuel and Susan
Sparger. He married Mary Ann Hamilton (born December 16, 1836 in Marion County) on December
21, 1854. She was the daughter of William Hamilton and his first wife, a Miss White. About
1859 Harvey and his new family, along with his parents and all his siblings, moved south to
Walker County, Georgia and settled near Chickamauga. He served as a private and corporal in
Co. K, 12th Georgia Cavalry (also known as the 4th (Avery’s) Georgia Cavalry. For part of
his time in Walker County the family lived in the Cedar Grove neighborhood. Harvey, his wife
and children moved to Tarrant County, Texas in the fall of 1879, and eventually purchased a
farm in the northeast corner of present-day Bedford Road and Cheek-Sparger Road in
Colleyville. While he lived in Colleyville he lived in a log house on the G. W. Teeter
Survey. The house sat a few yards west of Tara Drive about halfway between Cheek-Sparger
Road and Plantation Drive, south. As his children grew and needed more room, the house was
later enlarged. This farm was still in the hands of Sparger descendants when it was
purchased by developers to build the Tara Development along Cheek-Sparger Road. Harvey was
an active member of the Methodist Church, and was one of the founders of Oak Grove Methodist
Church in Bedford in 1886. He died at his home in Colleyville on February 15, 1914, and was
buried beside his father in Smithfield Cemetery. His widow died at her daughter’s home at
present-day 2205 Glade Road in Colleyville on January 25, 1916, and was buried beside him.
Harvey Sparger’s children included Margaret J. (Mrs. Layton T.) Rogers; Mary Elizabeth
Sparger, who died at birth; Mary Alice (Mrs. George W.) Couch; James Thomas Sparger; Samuel
Hamilton Sparger; and Leona H. (Mrs. William DeWitt) Cavender. An extensive history of
Harvey Sparger and his family, drawn largely from interviews with his grandchildren, is
Michael E. Patterson’s An Oral and Documentary History of Harvey Richard Sparger and his
wife, Mary Ann (Hamilton) Sparger.
Thomas Sparger was born in October, 1835 in the First District of Marion
County (now Sequatchie County), Tennessee. He was the second child of Samuel and Susan
Sparger. All the Spargers moved from Marion County, Tennessee to Walker County, Georgia
about 1859. Thomas was a private in Co. E, 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry, enlisting on
March 4, 1862 at Lafayette, Georgia, for three years or the war. He was captured at
Georgetown, Kentucky on November 10, 1862 and sent to Cairo, Illinois on November 18, 1862.
He also appears on a list of prisoners sent by the Provost Marshall to Vicksburg, Mississippi
or Louisville, Kentucky on November 15, 1862. Thomas was captured in the fall of Vicksburg,
Mississippi on July 4, 1863. He was paroled on July 8. Other records show he was paroled at
Camp Morton, Indiana and forwarded to City Point, Virginia, via Baltimore, Maryland, for
exchange of February 26, 1865. This contradicts a statement Thomas himself made saying he
was at his father’s home near Chickamauga at the time of the battle there on September 19-20,
1863. Thomas Sparger married a Confederate widow, Mrs. Elizabeth L. (Mullis) Couch, who
lived on the farm adjoining the Spargers. They were married in nearby Hamilton County,
Tennessee on October 21, 1865. One of Mrs. Couch’s sons by her first marriage to John Couch,
George Washington Couch, is the founder of the large family of Couch descendants in the
Colleyville-Keller areas. During the late 1870’s, Thomas Sparger and his family moved to
Bedford in Tarrant County, Texas, and purchased a large tract of land on the south side of
Little Bear Creek. It comprises most of the modern-day Tara Development in southern
Colleyville. While he lived in Colleyville he lived in a log house on the G. W. Teeter
survey. The house sat a few yards west of Tara Drive about halfway between Cheek-Sparger
Road and Plantation Drive, South. The same house was later enlarged and became the home of
his brother, Harvey R. Sparger, until Harvey’s death in 1914. Thomas and his family remained
on the Colleyville farm until about 1882 when they moved to Erath County, Texas. In 1884
Sparger bought a tract of 140 acres there which had as a portion of its southern boundary the
lot occupied by the church, cemetery, and school at Victor. Sparger’s log house stood
north of the cemetery until about 1975 when it was burned. Thomas, Elizabeth, and two of
their sons moved for a time before 1910 to Childress County, Texas. Elizabeth died in 1911,
and was buried at Victor. By 1920 Thomas and his two bachelor sons had returned to Erath
County. He died on December 24, 1920 while visiting relatives in Colleyville, Tarrant
County, and was buried beside his wife in Victor Cemetery in Erath County, Texas. Thomas
and Elizabeth Sparger were the parents of five children: William Harvey Sparger; John W.
Sparger; Eula Addiline (Mrs. Colwell W. “Collie”) Bailey; Thomas P. Sparger; and Fleetis
Elizabeth (Mrs. Mason Edward) Gallaway.
David L. Stephenson was born January 21, 1834 in Alabama, a son of James and Nancy (Nations) Stephenson. During the early 1840’s the family lived for a time in Tennessee, but soon moved to (Old) Canton…later Omen…in Smith County, Texas. He enlisted in the Confederate Army on March 22, 1862 at Tyler, Texas for a term of three years. He traveled eleven miles to the rendezvous. Stephenson served in Co. E, 14th Texas Infantry. His name appeared as “sick in camp” on a roll dated October 31, 1862. Nothing more is to be found in his compiled military service records. When the 1880 census of Smith County, Texas was taken, he was listed as having a wife named Martha who was a native Texan and twenty-five years David’s junior. They had no children listed in the census. David died February 5, 1886 at the home of his sister, Mrs. Alexander H. Currie, in the Smithfield community. He lies buried at Smithfield. An obituary appeared for Stephenson in Texas Christian Advocate on June 17, 1886: “STEPHENSON.—David L. Stephenson, the subject of this notice, a son of James and Nancy Stephenson, was born Jan. 21, 1834, in Blount county, Ala.; came to Texas with his parents about the year 1847, and in or about the year 1858 professed religion and joined the M. E. Church, South, at Ebel, on this—Starrville—circuit, where he lived a devoted member for near twenty-six years. I knew him well, and the whole of his Christian life. When I was class-leader I held class-meeting with him, when I was an exhorter I held meetings regularly at his church, when I was a local preacher I kept an appointment at his church, since I have been traveling I have been his pastor four years, so I think I knew him well. I have seen him happy, heard him shout aloud the praise of God, but he is gone. On the 5th of February, 1886, at his sister's, in Tarrant county, he passed away. The last words he uttered were: "I am going to heaven." May God bless his aged mother, brothers and sister, and help them meet him in heaven. C. H. Smith.”
John Clinton Tarwater was a pioneer of the Smithfield community. He and his wife, Margaret Boone, were married in Tarrant County, Texas. She was a daughter of Tarrant County pioneer, Daniel Boone. Tarwater lived at Orick, Ray County, Missouri when he enlisted in Co. D, 1st Missouri Cavalry on December 24, 1861. He was captured at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 and was paroled there on July 8. J. D. Bourland of Liberty, Clay County, Missouri made an affidavit dated January 25, 1865 in which he said “John Tarwater went off with the bushwhackers in October 1864 and has continued his depredations with them ever since.” Tarwater’s widow said in her pension application that he was in the service for four years, first in the cavalry and later in the infantry. D. A. Price of Tarrant County said he was raised in Ray County, Missouri and that he knew Tarwater when he (Price or Tarwater?) was fifteen years old, and was associated with him until his death. (David A. Price was born in 1846 and is buried at Bourland Cemetery near Keller.) In 1895, Tarwater lived northwest of Smithfield on the J. Condra survey, in present-day North Richland Hills, probably in Cross Timbers Park, north of Starnes Road, about 1/8 mile west of the north end of Acts Court. Tarwater died on June 22, 1913, and lies buried in Smithfield Cemetery. His widow applied for a pension in 1930 but it was rejected. She stated that she was born April 28, 1848 at Mays? Creek, Osage County, Missouri, that she came to Texas about 1849, and moved to Tarrant County about 1855. She died in 1933, and was buried beside her husband. Some family sources say her family, the Boones, came to Tarrant County from Clay County, Missouri. Several members of the Boone family are also buried at Smithfield. Tarwater’s obituary in The Grapevine Sun says: “ IN MEMORIAM. Death again visited our community and claimed Mr. J. C. Tarwater, an old, well-known and respected citizen. He was born in Orick, Ray Co., Mo., Feb. 21, 1838, and departed this life June 22, 1913 at 11 p.m., being 75 years, 4 months and 1 day old at the day of his death. He was married to Margaret Boone, Feb. 21, 1866, had been married 47 years, 1 month and 1 day. Mr. Tarwater had been in bad health for 2 years, had been bed fast for 4 months, being paralyzed entirely on the right side. He was a member of the M. E. Church for 3 years and regretted not having lived sooner for his Master. Hope this may help his children to live to meet him in the Beautiful Home of the Soul. The community has lost a good man, who was always ready to help in a good cause; the wife has lost a true husband and the children a loving father. He is survived by a wife and 7 children, 3 daughters and 4 sons. The funeral services were conducted at the M. E. Church by Bros. Scott and Bailey. We extend out heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved family and friends. Smithfield, Texas.”
Samuel Houston Thompson was born June 18, 1845 in Marshall County, Alabama, a son of Texas Revolutionary veteran Thomas Jefferson Thompson and his wife, Tillitha (Prentice) Thompson. Houston Thompson was named by his father out of respect for General Sam Houston of the Texas army. Family legend says Houston Thompson was bitten by an alligator in Alabama when he was young. About 1860 Thomas J. Thompson moved the family to Tarrant County, Texas. Sam Houston Thompson married Mary A. Byas, who was born October 26, 1847 and died February 14, 1899. She was a daughter of Abram L. Byas. Thompson patented the S. H. Thompson survey of 158.5 acres on August 14, 1874. It was a square, one-half mile on each side. Its northern border corresponds to today’s Continental Drive from Davis Boulevard on the west to Peytonville Avenue on the east; the southern portion was crossed by Big Bear Creek and included parts of present-day Keller. It extended south for one-half mile from those two points on Continental. The survey directly south of it was patented by Houston Thompson’s father. In 1895, Houston Thompson lived on his survey in present-day Southlake in the vicinity of the southeast corner of the intersection of Continental Drive and Davis Boulevard. He told the 1910 census taker he was a Confederate veteran. Houston Thompson died August 9, 1923, and lies buried at Mt. Gilead Cemetery near his wife and father. Houston and Mary Thompson had eight children: Charlie J. Thompson, Taylor Thompson, William Thompson, Amanda (Mrs. Calvin) Haire, Rosie (Mrs. Harve) Harris; Tillitha (Mrs. Jock) Blevins, Georgia Thompson (married first to Charles Cross, then to Mose Buffington), and Alice (Mrs. Frank) Gandy.
Hardy O. Throop was born July 2, 1839 in Platte County, Missouri. He was the son of two Peters Colonists in northeast Tarrant County, Francis Throop and his wife, Hannah (Medlin) Throop. Hardy came to the Lonesome Dove area with his parents in the mid-1840’s. He was a member of Co. A, 34th Texas Cavalry, enlisting on May 29, 1862 at Grapevine, Texas under Col. M. W. Deavenport, for a term of three years. He was absent on sick leave beginning on December 28, 1862. He is shown as a 2nd corporal on the roll for February 28-June 30, 1863. He is also shown present as a 3rd corporal on a roll for January and February, 1864. He was captured near Yellow Bayou, Louisiana on May 18, 1864, and was received as a POW at New Orleans on May 21. His name appears on a POW roll at New Orleans July 7, 1864. He was transferred from New Orleans and exchanged at Red River Landing on July 22, 1864. No further record of his service has been found. Hardy Throop’s wife’s name was Narcissa E. Throop. Throop died March 1, 1883 and lies buried Lonesome Dove Cemetery. His son was one of the two donors for the land on which Pleasant Run Baptist Church now sits.
* William Alfred Tinker , a son of Jacob Tinker, was born about 1841. By the time of the Civil War, Jacob Tinker had moved his family to Erath County, Texas, where he settled near…. William is shown in the official records as William C. Tinker. He enlisted as a private in Co. D, 31st Texas Cavalry (Hawpe’s Cavalry) in Erath Co., Texas on April 7, 1862. His enlistment was for the term of the War He was at Vermilion, Louisiana on August 13, 1862, and was sick at Harrisonburg, Louisiana on February 20 1864. Nothing futher is found in his Compiled Military Service Records. William Alfred Tinker lies buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery.
David Trimble was believed by his widow, Catherine, to have been a veteran of the Union army. He was born in Kentucky on April 11, 1819. He married Catherine Henley on February 22, 1838 in Cole Co., Missouri. She was born February 22, 1820 in Tennessee. When the 1840 census was taken, the Trimbles were living in Jim Henry Township of Miller County, Missouri. The family appears in the censuses of Cole County, Missouri for both 1850 and 1860. The Trimbles came to northeast Tarrant County from Missouri about 1866. David and Catherine Trimble were among the charter members of Pleasant Run Baptist Church in present-day Colleyville on April 7, 1877. During that year, Tarrant County tax records show that Catherine Trimble was the owner of one hundred thirty acres of the G. W. Teeter survey, in present-day Colleyville, south of Glade Road and north of Cheek-Sparger Road; the survey’s western boundary was [Colleyville’s] Bedford Road. David Trimble died on his wife’s birthday, February 22, 1879, and was buried in Smithfield Cemetery. When the federal census was taken in 1890, his widow told the enumerator David was a member of one Co. H, and that he had enlisted in 1861. No other information relative to his service as a Missuori soldier has been found, although men named David Trimble served in Union regiments in other states. At least one of his sons, Green Berry Trimble, served in a Confederate regiment from Missouri. David’s wife, Catherine, died December 30, 1904. She apparently did not apply for a pension based upon his military service. She lies buried beside her husband in Smithfield Cemetery. David Trimble was the father of at least nine children, including: James Trimble; Elizabeth Trimble; Green Berry Trimble; William D. Trimble; John Trimble; Pierce (or Prince) Trimble; F. M. Trimble; M. N. Trimble; and D. N. Trimble. The last three named were males.
Green Berry Trimble was born in Cole County, Missouri on October 18, 1843, a son of David and Catherine (Henley) Trimble. According to statements when he joined the Robert E. Lee Camp of United Confederate Veterans in Fort Worth, he enlisted in 1862 in Springfield, Missouri. He served as a private in Capt. Henry’s Co., Parson’s Missouri Regiment. For a time he served as Parson’s bodyguard. Not long after he came to Tarrant County with his parents, probably about 1866, Green B. Trimble married Barbara A. Morrow, a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Morrow, Bedford pioneers. Trimble was a charter member of the New Hope Church of Christ (now Bedford Church of Christ) in Bedford in 1874. In 1895 Trimble lived in present-day Hurst about 7/8 mile due east of the intersection of Harwood Road and Precinct Line Road, somewhere in the vicinity of Yates Drive with its intersections with Hillview, Circle View North, and Baker Streets. In 1900, Mrs. Trimble told the census taker she had given birth to four children, all of whom were still living. Green Trimble died on April 1, 1916, and lies buried near his parents in Smithfield Cemetery. His wife, if she is buried at Smithfield, has no headstone. Their children were William M. Trimble, Eliza H. Trimble, Margaret L. Trimble, and Walter L. Trimble.
JAMES E. TURNER was born in Marion County, Missouri on October 23, 1842. He was a son of William Turner and his wife, Mary E. (Mallory) Turner. Both his parents were native Virginians, and after living for several years in Missouri they settled in Dallas County, Texas in 1846. In 1856, they settled permanently in Tarrant County in the Smithfield community. While still young James learned the blacksmith trade, and for thirty years he operated a smithy on his property at Smithfield. In addition to that, he farmed extensively and operated a hardware business at Smithfield. He told his biographer in 1906 that he had served four years in the Confederate Army, and his obituary mentions that he enlisted from Tarrant County. On May 20, 1866, Turner married Mary E. Pascall, a native of Weakley County, Tennessee, who had settled in Kaufman County, Texas with her parents in 1856. In 1871, Turner settled on the farm at Smithfield on which he was still living in 1906. He was a member of the Methodist Church at Smithfield. He died October 20, 1917. His wife, M. E. Turner, was born February 1, 1844. She died March 24, 1928, and was buried beside James in Smithfield Cemetery. James and Mary Turner’s children included Charles E. Turner; Mary A. (Mrs. J. H.) Clark; Sarah E. (Mrs. W. S.) French; William J. Turner, and Lucy R. (Mrs. Walter) Crane. An excellent biography of Turner, probably written from material he supplied, appeared in B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas, 1906. A lengthy obituary mentioning his Civil War service appears in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on the day after he died. A shorter one with no additional information appeared the same day in the Fort Worth Record. The Star-Telegram obituary said: “TURNER FUNERAL AT SMITHFIELD AT 2 P.M. Funeral services for J. E. Turner, who died at his home in Smithfield Saturday morning, will be held at the residence at 2 p.m. Sunday, interment in the Smithfield Cemetery. Turner was 75 years old and had lived in Tarrant County for sixty-seven years, settling in Dallas County with his parents when he was 8 years old. After living in that county for six years the Turners moved to Birdville, where he was sent to school. Mr. and Mrs. Turner were married in Terrell fifty-four years ago. Since his marriage he has been living on a farm near Smithfield. He left his farm to fight in the War Between the States, enlisting in Tarrant County. Surviv-ing are his wife, two sons, C. E. of Mineral Wells and W. J. of Smithfield, and three daughters, Mrs. J. H. Clark and Mrs. W. L. Crane of Smithfield, and Mrs. U. S. French of Republic, Mo.”
Benjamin Joseph Valentine was born in Franklin County, Missouri on March 23, 1835, a son of Eli Valentine. In 1850, Benjamin appears in his father’s family in the census of Franklin County. Benjamin married Martha J. Childers in Franklin County, Missouri on December 10, 1857. She was born about 1839 in Missouri. By 1860, they had two children and were living near his father’s family in the same county. Benjamin served the Confederacy as a member of Co. I, 4th (Bridges’) Missouri Cavalry Regiment. He and several other members of the Valentine family became pioneers of northeast Tarrant County, settling in the Bedford and Southlake areas before 1880. Benjamin settled near Bedford about 1865. Mrs. Valentine was still alive as late as 1880. Valentine was one of the original directors of the Bedford College, chartered on June 24, 1882. In 1895, his home was in present-day Bedford along the south side of Bedford Road where it intersects with Murphy Drive. Valentine lived for a time before his death in Clarendon, Donley County, Texas. When he attended the 1902 reunion of Confederate veterans in Dallas, he registered there as a resident of Clarendon. Mr. Valentine died in Tarrant County on April 19, 1904. He lies buried in Bedford Cemetery near several of his children. The following are their known children obtained from census records: Ellen/Eller L. Valentine, John E. Valentine, Annie M. (Mrs. Charlie) Howard, Allice J. Valentine, and Francis Valentine. There are gravestones at Bedford Cemetery for Benjamin’s daughters named Auran, Lula, Josephine, and Vera.
Andrew Berry Wall was born October 31, 1833 in Georgia, a son of Drewry and Elizabeth Wall. Andrew and his wife, Harriet Martin, were married November 22, 1855 in Murray County, Georgia. Harriett (Martin) Wall was born April l2, 1837. By 1857 they moved to Arkansas and settled near Bentonville. Family sources record that Wall served in the Confederate army, and that their home was attacked and burned by Union soldiers. Harriet and her children lived in a corn crib until the house could be rebuilt. Some time during 1872 Andrew and Harriett Wall settled in northeast Tarrant County and bought a tract of land from Benton Elliott, north of Pleasant Run and south of White’s Chapel. Their original house was built east of Pleasant Run Road, south of Big Bear Creek, and north of present-day John McCain Road. It sat well back from the road in a grove of black hickories. Berry Wall was a blacksmith and a farmer. He was a member of the Grapevine Masonic Lodge #288. They attended Pleasant Run Baptist Church. The Walls spent the rest of their lives in the old home in the hickories. Harriet Wall died December 22, 1880 along with an infant son. Andrew Berry Wall died December 20, 1883. Both lie buried at White’s Chapel. A biography of Mr. Wall and his family appeared in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History, in 1979. Berry and Harriet Wall were the parents of eleven children: Henry Rose Wall; Jonathan Frank Wall; Charles Wall; Sarah Matilda Wall; Mary Margaret Wall; Martha Ellen Wall; Sandy Alexander Wall; Emma Wall; Drew Dred Wall; Joseph E. Wall; and the infant son who died with his mother in 1880
James Perry Warren was born July 7, 1830. According to his Confederate pension application, he lived in north Georgia about seven miles from the Tennessee line when he enlisted in 1862 in Co. F, 4th Georgia (Clinch’s) Cavalry, under Captain Rogers. He remembered he was later transferred to (Georgia) General Walker’s staff and served in his escort until the end of the war. Warren’s official records record say he enlisted on September 17, 1863 in Emanuel County, Georgia for the period of the War. He was allowed $17.40 for the use and risk of his own horse. He was absent on picket duty in May and June, 1864, having no horse since June 11, 1864. His records also state that he signed the oath of allegiance to the federal government on May 9, 1864 at Chattanooga, Tennessee; at the time he was shown as a resident of Hamilton County, Tennessee with a florid complexion, red hair, gray eyes. He was 5’ 9” tall. Warren and his wife, Sarah, were married in Hamilton County, Tennessee on February 24, 1866. She was born July 6, 1840 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In his wife’s pension application she said the family moved to Texas in fall of 1880, and to the Grapevine area in 1881. In 1910, he and his wife were living with the family of his son-in-law, Terrell Baker McDonald near Grapevine. Warren died August 13, 1911 (in her pension application Mrs. Warren said he died on August 14). Mrs. Warren applied for her Confederate widow’s pension in 1913. Mrs. Warren’s marker at White’s Chapel has no death date carved on it. Mr. Warren’s obituary in The Grapevine Sun says simply: “DIED. Mr. James Warren, living about five miles southeast of town with his son, Foster Warren, died last Monday. He was buried Tuesday evening at White’s Chapel.”
William Redding Weathers , was born June 2, 1825, and moved to Texas in 1854. He first enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861 in Ellis County, Texas. He was a member of Captain J. C. Brown’s Company, 12th Texas (Parson’s) Cavalry Regiment. He was discharged in 1863 and in the winter of 1863 went into Co. B, Gould’s Regiment, 23rd Texas Cavalry. According to official records, he enlisted at Camp Hobart near Hempstead on October 28, 1861 for twelve months. He traveled 260 miles to the rendezvous, and supplied his own horse worth $150 and equipment worth $15. According to family sources, he was living at Mountain Peak in Ellis County, Texas in 1868. He moved to Tarrant County, Texas about 1872, and lived near Old Union in northeast Tarrant County. In 1895, Weathers lived on the J. N. Gibson survey in present-day Southlake, somewhere along Brumlow Drive about halfway between Continental Drive and State Highway 26. He applied for a Confederate pension on August 11, 1899, and died later that year, according to family genealogists. Several researchers are interested in him and his family. Some list as many as three marriages and some say he spent some time in Oklahoma before he returned to Texas and died. Weathers has no readable headstone in northeast Tarrant County. There is an M. E. Weathers buried at White’s Chapel, but the dates on that monument are unreadable.
John Franklin Weddle served in the Confederate Army, according to family descendants. He was born in Indiana about 1818. He married Priscilla Ponder. The family was living in Dade County, Georgia in 1850, at which time Mrs. Weddle’s name is shown as Mercilla. They had arrived in northeast Tarrant County from Georgia in the old Spring Garden neighborhood by the time the 1870 census was taken. In that year, he owned a tract of land in present-day Colleyville and Euless which had its southwest corner at present-day Cheek-Sparger Road and Martin Drive. It is roughly bisected south to north by Heritage Drive. Most of it today is still undeveloped and is in the hands of the heirs of his daughter, Mrs. William B. Cheek. John Weddle was a member of the Grapevine Masonic Lodge, #288. He died on March 13, 1876, and lies buried beside his wife in an unmarked grave in Spring Garden Cemetery, along present-day Cheek-Sparger Road about one-quarter mile east of Jackson Drive in Bedford. Priscilla (Ponder) Weddle died November 25, 1884. John and Priscilla Weddle had several children, including William Lee Weddle, Mariah Carolyn (Mrs. William B.) Cheek; Andrew J. Weddle; Ephraim Benjamin Weddle; Sarah A. Weddle, and John Franklin Weddle, Jr.
Alexander F. White was born in 1840 in Garrard County, Kentucky. He was a son of Joseph White and his wife, Sarah (Smith) White. When Alexander was about four years old, his father moved the family to Trenton, Grundy County, Missouri. In October 1858 the family moved again, with Tarrant County, Texas as their goal. In December of that year they settled at Speare’s Grove, south of present-day Keller. Later Joseph moved the family into present-day Colleyville. Alexander White enlisted in the Confederate Army on October 14, 1861 at Camp Reeves, Texas and traveled 150 miles to the rendezvous. He was at Fort Gibson on the last day of 1861. He is shown present on all the surviving rolls of the company. In 1875, A. F. White owned 160 acres of one of the W. W. Hall surveys, located immediately north and northeast of the White’s Chapel Methodist Church. He died in 1899, and lies buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. His wife, M. C. White, was born in 1851 and died in 1878. She lies buried beside him.
Rev. Lewis M. White was born at Nashville, Tennessee about 1837. He came to Collin County, Texas with his family on March 10, 1838, at the age of one year. As a boy of twelve, he appears with his widowed mother and his siblings in the 1850 census of Collin County. White married his first wife, Alvasary G. Hall, in Collin County on September 25, 1859. Allie G. White was born April 22, 1840 and died April 4, 1885; she lies buried in Grapevine Cemetery. White said he enlisted in September 1862 and served until the end of the war. Official records show White enlisted on July 10, 1862 at McKinney, Texas. He was a soldier in Co. C, Martin’s Regiment, 5th Texas Cavalry (Partisan Rangers). At one point, he said he had been elected Captain of Company C, and at one time was detailed to hunt and arrest deserters. Official records show him to have been a lst Lieutenant in Capt. William M. Weaver’s Co., Martin’s Btn., Mounted Partisan Rangers. The regiment was renamed and became the 5th Regiment of TeXas Partisan Rangers. He was promoted to Captain on February 7, 1863. On May 10th or 20th, 1863, he was put on detached service as a recruitment officer by order of General Cooper. He was present with his regiment at Camp Elm Creek, C.N, on June 3, 1864, and at Camp on Sim’s Bayou, May 8, 1865. White said his regiment disbanded near Houston (a comrade said it took place at Richmond, Texas) at the end of the war. At the time, White had been home for about one month because of sickness and was on his way back to the regiment when it disbanded. In 1870 Lewis M. White, his wife, and two children were living in Denton County, Texas, where he was working as a brick maker. On November 6, 1872 when the Trinity (North Texas) Methodist Conference met at Sulphur Springs, Texas, L. M. White was one of eleven applicants admitted on trial to the ministry. He preached in several Methodist churches in the area during the 1870’s and 1880’s. In 1880, he and his family were living in the Grapevine area in northeast Tarrant County. White's Chapel Methodist Church in Southlake, Tarrant County, Texas is named for him. He had some sort of controversy with the Methodist hierarchy and lost his credentials with the North Texas Conference, but apparently went on preaching outside the church's jurisdiction. His second marriage, to Mrs. Henrietta V. Fouts, took place in Collin County on December 16, 1885. Mrs. Fouts was a widow with children, and they had at least three more of their own. In the 1900 census, the wife's name is given as Jennie. Even though he indicated in his pension application that his residence had been Collin County almost exclusively, he seems to have moved around considerably. In 1900, he and his family were living in Fort Worth at 916 Butler Street. In his 1910 application to the State of Texas for a Confederate pension, White said he was living at McKinney, Texas. He died in Texas in 1917, and probably lies buried in Collin County, Texas. His death does not appear in the Texas death indexes. On January 11, 1939 the Department of Charities in Los Angeles County, California inquired of the State of Texas whether or not White’s widow, Henrietta, might be entitled to live in the Woman’s Confederate Home in Austin. The State answered that she was ineligible.
William Henry White was born in Garrard County, Kentucky in December, 1841. He was a son of Joseph White and his wife, Sarah (Smith) White. As a child, he moved to Trenton, Grundy County, Missouri with his parents. He came with them in December, 1858 when they arrived in Tarrant County, settling first at Speare’s Grove south of present-day Keller. A short time later Joseph moved the family into present-day Colleyville. William was a Confederate soldier in Co. F, Waller’s Battalion of Texas Cavalry, enlisting on August 27, 1862 at Vermilion, Louisiana for three years. He was shown wounded and unfit for duty on a company roll dated February 29, 1864. He was last paid to August 31, 1863. When White applied for a Confederate pension in 1916, he gave his enlistment date as July 21, 1862, and his discharge date as May, 1865, when the regiment was disbanded in Grimes County, Texas. Nothing further is shown in his records from the National Archives. In 1872 he married Rebecca Thompson, a daughter of San Jacinto veteran Thomas Jefferson Thompson. She was born February 6, 1858 and died September 12, 1881. White purchased one hundred fifty acres of the Jesse Allen survey, six miles west of Grapevine, west of present-day Davis Boulevard and south of FM 1709. After Rebecca White’s death, William and his children moved in to live with his parents at the old White home in the southwest corner of the intersection of Pleasant Run Road and the Cotton Belt tracks, in present-day Colleyville. The site is still marked by one of the old gnarled post oaks which stood in their yard. William White died December 12, 1920. He lies buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery near his wife and parents. William and Rebecca White had four children: Sally Jane White, Flora White, Alexander Franklin White, and Mary White. Mary and Flora died as infants.
Robert C. Whitley was born in Virginia in February, 1827. In 1850 he appears in the census in Campbell County, Virginia and was a “moulder” by trade. He married Elizabeth J. Falwell, a native of Virginia, born about 1831. They were married about 1848. The Whitley’s arrived in Tarrant County, probably in late 1858 or early 1859. When he registered to vote here in 1867, he said he had been a resident of Tarrant County, Texas for eight years, and a resident of Precinct 2 for three years. One R. Whitley served as a soldier in Co. E, 24/25th Consolidated Texas Cavalry. It has not been determined whether or not this was the same Whitley. In 1899, Robert C. Whitley owned one hundred fifty-four acres of the L. W. Jones survey, eighty-eight acres of the Thomas Sprouse survey, sixty acres of one of the BBB & C Railroad surveys, and a town lot in Keller, Texas. When the 1900 census was taken, Mrs.Whitley told the census taker she had given birth to four children, two of whom were still living. Whitley told the 1910 census taker he was a veteran of the Confederate Army. Robert Whitley died in 1918 and lies buried in Smithfield Cemetery. His death does not appear in the Texas death records. His wife, shown on her headstone as E. H. Whitley, was born June 19, 1834 and died October 5, 1909. Her birth date seems to suggest that she may have been a second wife. Three of the Whitleys’ children were Julie A. Whitley, Charles T. Whitley, and James R. Whitley.
Benjamin Marvice Wilkinson was born in Sherwood, Franklin County, Tennessee about 1844. He was a son of John Batley Wilkinson Jr. and Mary Elizabeth (Jackson) Wilkinson. After he moved here to the White’s Chapel Community he was known as “Long Ben, “to distinguish him from his cousin, Benjamin Monroe Wilkinson “Short Ben,” who was living here at the same time. Long Ben served in the Confederate Army in Co. I, 41st Tennessee Infantry. He enlisted November 26, 1861 at Camp Trousdale, Tennessee for a period of twelve months. He was captured at the Battle of Fort Donelson, Tennessee on February 16, 1862. On August 28, 1862 he was sent by the Union authorities from Camp Morton, Indiana where he had been a prisoner to Vicksburg, Mississippi for exchange. He was discharged from the Confederate Army on November 16, 1862. Long Ben wrote in his pension application that he served in all a total of two years and four months, six months of which were spent in the prison at Indianapolis, Indiana. Later he served for a time in the 3rd Confederate Cavalry. He said he surrendered at Atlanta at the close of the war. He married Nancy Jane Austin, a daughter of Stephen Blevins Austin, on July 26, 1865 in Dade Co., Georgia. She was born December 28, 1844 and died November 27, 1898 in Dade County, Georgia. She lies buried there in Brown’s Gap Cemetery. Wilkinson told pension authorities he moved to Texas in 1867, then returned to Georgia in 1872 (to help settle his father’s estate). Family sources recall that in 1867 he first settled on Crowley Prairie here. He detailed other moves in his pension application, but they are unreadable on the microfilm. He was still there when his wife died in 1898. In 1905 while living in Dade County, Georgia, he applied for a pension, saying he had been living in Georgia that time since 1903. His application was disapproved because he had not been a resident of the state continuously since 1894. He died December 17, 1907 in the Riverside section of Fort Worth. No obituary for him appeared in the Fort Worth newspaper. He lies buried in White’s Chapel Cemetery. He and his wife were the parents of nine children: Mary Elizabeth Wilkinson (who was married in turn to Isaac Craig, Britt Burks, and perhaps Monroe Gulledge; John Austin Wilkinson; Sarah Hettie Ophelia (Mrs. Uriah) Castleberry; William Lewis Wilkinson; James Jackson Wilkinson; Frankie Ann (Mrs. Thomas M.) Cates; Benjamin Joedar Wilkinson; Nancy Jane (Mrs. Charles R.) McCain; and Nellie Lee (Mrs. James) Shaddy. A biography and photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson appeared in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History, in 1979.
Benjamin Monroe Wilkinson was born July 25, 1842 in Sherwood, Franklin Co., Tennessee, a son of Benjamin Monroe Wilkinson, Sr. He served as a 4th Corporal in Company B, 6th Georgia Volunteer Infantry. He came to Tarrant County, Texas from Dade County, Georgia in the early 1870’s and joined the larger group in the White’s Chapel area who had already made the move. He married Mattie Gardenhire (August 8, 1842-15 January, 1899). Some sources give her birth date as 1847. He was known in northeast Tarrant County as “Short Ben,” to distinguish him from his cousin, Benjamin Marvice Wilkinson “Long Ben,” who also lived in the same community at the same time. He moved to California late in life and his family in this community lost track of him. Later still, he returned to the Texas Panhandle. He died December 30, 1934 in Shamrock, Wheeler Co., Texas. He lies buried there in the Shamrock Cemetery. Short Ben was the father of ten children: Ethel L. Wilkinson, Willie M. Wilkinson, Elizabeth Matilda Wilkinson, James Russell Wilkinson, Thomas Monroe Wilkinson, Benjamin Walter Wilkinson, Hettie Mae Wilkinson, Susan Ethyl Wilkinson, and two other children who died in early childhood.
William Franklin Wilkinson was born at Sherwood, Franklin County, Tennessee about 1838. He was a son of Benjamin Monroe Wilkinson, Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth (Taylor) Wilkinson. He enlisted May 20, 1861 in Co. B, 6th Georgia Infantry, also known as the “Lookout Dragoons,” He was elected 2nd Lieutenant on May 20, 1861, and was elected 1st Lieutenant in October, 1862. He was wounded at the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam), Maryland, on September 17, 1862. He surrendered at Greensboro, North Carolina on April 26, 1865. Wilkinson settled in Tarrant County, Texas by 1874. He was married three times: first to Judy Payne, second to a Miss Evans, and third to Nancy Starkey. In 1895 he lived along the south edge of the J. N. Gibson in present-day Colleyville, on the south side of Big Bear Creek on a wooded hilltop (some of the old post oaks survive to this day) in the vicinity of Cole Court. Wilkinson died March 23, 1916 and was buried at White’s Chapel. This writer erected a marble gravestone from the Veteran’s Administration for him in the early 1980’s. Wilkinson was the father of at least three children: Martha Ida (Mrs. Anderson W.) Byas, Willie Wilkinson, and James F. Wilkinson. An obituary for him appeared in The Grapevine Sun on April 1, 1916: “DIED. Mr. William F. Wilkerson died at his home four miles west of Grapevine Mar. 23, 1916, of pneumonia. Mr. Wilkerson was born in Tennessee seventy-seven years ago and saw service as a lieutenant in the Confederate Army. Interment was at White’s Chapel Cemetery March 23rd at four p.m. Rev. W. H. Day officiating.”
Robert Emmett Wilson was born in 1845 in South Carolina. He married Sarah J. McGinnis (October 11, 1842-May 19, 1916). In a statement he made in 1910 in support of a neighbor’s Confederate pension application, Wilson claimed to have served in Capt. J. T. Kanapaux's Co. (Lafayette Artillery) South Carolina Light Artillery from Charleston, S. C. The Wilsons left their home near Senatobia, Tate County, Mississippi in the late 1870’s, and by 1880 were living in Denton County, Texas. About a year later they moved into Fort Worth where Robert bought and operated a livery stable for a time. In 1881 the family moved north to the Jellico community between Keller and Grapevine, and it was there that Wilson spent the rest of his life. His house sat in present-day Southlake on the tall hilltop southeast of the present-day intersection of Southlake Boulevard and Davis Boulevard. He served as postmaster of Jellico from September 5, 1900 until September 15, 1903 when the post office there was discontinued and the Smithfield post office took over its territory. In a biography written by his grandchildren for The Grapevine Area History, published in 1979, they said, “…Bob Wilson bought, developed, and owned Jellico, which consisted of a steam-powered gin, a grocery store, blacksmith shop, a grist mill, and a post office…” After the gin was removed in 1907, he operated a vat for dipping horses and cattle. Wilson was widely known for being able to accurately guess the weight of a horse or cow. In 1910 he told the census taker he was a Confederate veteran. In that year, he owned parts of the J. G. Allen, W. R. Eaves, T. J. Thompson, and P. Allen surveys. Neither he nor his wife were pensioned for his Confederate service. Also in 1910, Mrs. Wilson told census takers she had given birth to three children, two of whom were still alive. He died in 1923, and lies buried in Smithfield Cemetery beside his wife. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson’s children were Emmett Wilson, who died in Mississippi when he was about six years old; Jennie (Mrs. John) McDonald; and Mary Maude (Mrs. William Henry) Brown.
George Washington Witten was born December 29, 1841 in Miller County, Missouri, and came to Texas with his parents and siblings in 1854. He was the eldest child of S. C. H. Witten and his wife, Jenetta (Miller) Witten. George enlisted in Gano’s Squadron of Texas Cavalry at Witt’s Mill in Dallas County on March 6, 1862. While in the army he made the acquaintance of Cadwell W. Raines, who returned home with him and, in later years, eventually married one of Witten’s sisters. Witten was never married. George Witten was drowned while on a cattle drive in Oklahoma on October 2, 1868, while crossing Bird’s Creek. He was temporarily buried, the drive was completed, and his body was taken up and brought back to his home for burial in the Witten Family Cemetery on Jackson Court in Colleyville. He was the third of Witten’s children to be buried there.
Samuel Cecil Holiday Witten was born in Kentucky on September 29, 1819. He moved to Spring Garden, Miller Co., Missouri with his parents when a boy. There he married Jenetta Miller (June 27, 1821-February 27, 1897) on December 24, 1840. Witten brought his family to Texas in 1854 and settled in present-day Colleyville about ¼ mile south of the intersection of Glade Road and Jackson Drive. His family cemetery is still present there on Jackson Court. During the War he was a member of Gano’s Guards, and later he became a member of the Robert E. Lee Camp United Confederate Veterans in Fort Worth. He worked as a farmer, surveyor, and cattleman. He was one of the founders of Spring Garden School along present-day Cheek-Sparger Road. Witten and his family owned large tracts of land in present-day Colleyville, most of which was between Glade Road and Cheek-Sparger Road, west of State Highway 121 and east of Highway 26. Witten’s home sat south of Glade Road about where Jackson Drive and Jackson Court intersect, a short distance west of the family cemetery. In 1890, Witten sold his home here and moved to Corpus Christi, Texas where he died in 1891. He lies buried there in Old Bayview Cemetery. His wife died in Amarillo, Texas at the home of her daughter and is buried there in Llano Cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Witten were the parents of ten children: George Washington Witten; Pinckney Lafayette Witten; Sarah Susannah Witten; Mary Lousetta (Mrs. Ryan) Harrington; Isabella Margaret (first married to a Mr. Mason, lastly to Cadwell W. Raines); Jenetta Josephine (Mrs. William R.) Joyce; Eleanor Victoria (Mrs. David H.) Harris; William Cecil Witten; Samuel C. H. Witten, Jr.; and Gano Price Witten.
William Owsley Yantis was born January 31, 1831 in Kentucky. He was a son of Enoch Yantis (1794-1879) and his wife, Eleanor (Wolford) Yantis (d. 1871), who were pioneers in Collin County, Texas. In 1850, William Yantis was working as a tanner with his older brother, George, in District 2 of Wayne County, Kentucky. George came to Collin County in 1852; his father Enoch waited until 1859 to immigrate. It seems likely that William came one time or the other. Yantis was married twice, first to Angela Tuttle, who was born about 1833 and who died in Texas about 1865. William O. Yantis was sheriff of Tarrant County in 1860-1862. In 1860 he was living on the one hundred-sixty acre W. O. Yantis survey at Bedford, which he patented on July 17, 1860. In modern terms, the survey is bounded on the north by State Highways 121/183, and lays basically west and south from the intersection of Central Drive and the highway. Much of the property is today occupied by the buildings of the Hurst-Euless-Bedford I.S.D. Yantis enlisted in Co. E, 15th Texas Cavalry on February 28, 1862 at Fort Worth. His enlistment term was 12 months. He served in the company both as a 1st Lieutenant and as a Captain. He was not captured with most of his regiment at the fall of Arkansas Post on January 11, 1863, but was “supposed to be in the Trans-Mississippi Department.” He was shown absent sick on the rolls for September and October, 1863. Yantis was discharged for medical reasons on December 1, 1863. By 1870 he and his family were living in Precinct 3 of Hopkins County, Texas. His Compiled Military Service Records file contains several interesting original documents. Yantis died June 30, 1900 (some family sources say 1899) in Hopkins Co., and lies buried there in Reilley Springs Cemetery.
Dr. Riley Bell Zachary was born in January, 1836 in Tennessee.. By 1850, he was living with his widowed mother and siblings in Civil District 23, Wilson County, Tennessee. Zachary was married to his first wife, Malvina, about 1858, and in the 1860 they are shown with a one-year-old son, Eugene. Zachary enlisted in the Confederate army as a private in Carter’s Co., Douglass’s Battalion, Tennessee Cavalry. This regiment was organized in September, 1862 by Nathan W. Carter at LaVergne, Tennessee. It later became Carter’s Co. of Independent Scouts and later still became Co. A, 21st Tennessee Cavalry. In some records they are also referred to as Douglass’s Partisan Rangers. When he attended the Confederate soldier’s reunion at Dallas held April 23-25, 1902, Zachary signed the register as a member of Co. E, 8th Tennessee Cavalry. In the 1870 census of Wilson County, Tennessee, Zachary is shown with a wife named Elvina and an additional child named Mattie, born about 1865. Based upon a statement Zachary made in 1893, it seems likely that he and his family arrived in Bedford about 1878. Zachary’s third wife, Rebecca C., was born September 25, 1852. She died February 14, 1896 in Bedford, and is buried in Bedford Cemetery. Zachary was a well-known pioneer doctor in eastern Tarrant County. In 1895, Dr. Zachary was living in the old town of Bedford, along the south side of present-day Bedford Road, on the T. W. Williams survey, about where E. M. Bilger Boulevard intersects Bedford Road from the south. About 1898 he married his last wife, Eliza J., who was born in Tennessee in May, 1853. She had given birth to two children by one or more previous marriages, but only one of them was still alive in 1900. Dr. and Mrs. Zachary had no children living with them in 1900 at Bedford. He does not appear in the 1910 Texas census index, and his death does not appear in the Texas vital statistics records. He has no readable headstone in northeast Tarrant County