Biography of Smith Deaf Smith

Erastus Smith, better known as “Deaf Smith,” was the son of Chiliab and Mary Smith, and was born in New York on the 19th of April 1787. At the age of eleven years he emigrated with his parents to the Mississippi Territory, and settled near Natchez. His parents were strict members of the Baptist Church, and gave him such moral and intellectual training, as the circumstances around them would permit. He first came to Texas in 1817 likely with some of the patriot forces that were constantly arriving at that time in the Province. He soon, however, returned home; but … Read more

Biography of Pleasants, George W.

Austin Colonist George Washington Pleasants was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 30th, 1809, and came from there to Texas in 1830, and first settled at Columbia, and lived there until 1833. There was a great cholera epidemic that year at Columbia, which nearly depopulated the town. Mr. Pleasants had two sisters to die there; one, Fannie, was the wife of Kinchen Davis, and mother of Captain W. K. Davis, father of Judge J. H. P. Davis, of Richmond. Captain W. K. Davis was a Mier prisoner, as will be seen from the account elsewhere of that expedition. After the … Read more

Biography of Little, Walter W.

Walter W. Little was born in Fort Bend County, on the last day of October 1828, in what was then called the Fort settlement in the bend of the Brazos, where Richmond now is. William Little, father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Pennsylvania, but came to Texas from Missouri as part of the colony of Stephen F. Austin in 1821. His headright league was located twelve miles below the present town of Richmond, on the east side of the Brazos River, opposite the league of Henry Jones. In November 1821, the Fort, from which the … Read more

Biography of Jones, Randall, Capt.

Capt. Randall Jones, one of the historic characters of Fort Bend County, was born in Columbia County, Georgia, on the 19th of August 1786. In 1810 he went to Wilkinson County, Mississippi Territory. When the second war with England broke out in 1812 he joined the American army as a private, but such was his energy and gallantry in battle that he received a captain’s commission, which he held until near the close of the war, or, to be more exact, until 1814. During this service he fought the battle with Indians known as the “Canoe Fight.” An extract from … Read more

Biography of Jones, Henry

Henry Jones, one of the “Old Three Hundred” of Austin’s colony was born in Madison County, Virginia, near the “Blue Ridge,” in 1798. In 1817, when but nineteen years of age, he left home in company with his brother, John, and went on a trip of adventure. They came down the Mississippi in a. flat boat to New Orleans, and there laid in supplies and ammunition and returned to the mouth of White River and was here joined by Martin Varner, Creason and two other young men of like temperament as themselves. They now laid their plans -to explore strange … Read more

Biography of Foster, Randolph

“Uncle Ran.” Foster, as he was familiarly known in his old days, was among the first settlers of Fort Bend County, coming with Stephen F. Austin in the first installment. “Uncle Ran.,” however, had been to Texas and camped within the present limits of Fort Bend County prior to the advent of the colonist. He was a native of Mississippi, and married there Miss Lucy Hunter. His league of land was located in. Fort Bend County, nine miles above Richmond, on the east side of the Brazos River. During the time that Austin was with the colonists on the Brazos, … Read more

Biography of Foster, Randolph

In regard to the death of Mr. Foster, the following was published in the Galveston News in August, 1878: Richmond, August 27th. “Editors News: “To enable you to see what a mistake you made in your issue of 25th instant, in your extract from the “Four Counties,” I enclose both what you said and the obituary of Randolph Foster, which by mistake you convert into an obituary of T. M. Blakely, his son-in-law, at whose home Mr. Foster died. “Randolph Foster, as may be seen by the very terse and beautiful obituary as published in the Four Counties, which would … Read more

Biography of Fields, W. I.

Who lived many years in Fort Bend County, and died there, and whose remains rest in her soil, was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, March 2, 1834. In 1855 he went to Howard County, Indiana, and was made a Royal Arch Mason there in 1857. In 1858 Mr. Fields moved to Grayson County, Texas, arriving here in January, but first returned to Kentucky from Indiana before concluding to make Texas his home. During those days the Indians often raided Cook and Montague Counties, and Mr. Fields accompanied several expeditions against them, in which battles were fought of more or less … Read more

Biography of Calder, R.J., Capt.

Veteran Of San Jacinto Captain Calder was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on the 17th of July 1810, and was the son of James H. and Jane E. Calder (nee Miss Caldwell). His father dying when he was very small, young Calder was raised by his paternal uncle, Major James P. Caldwell (a noble and generous man), until he arrived at the age of manhood. From Maryland he, his mother, and Major Caldwell, moved to Kentucky, and from there to Texas in 1832, settling in Brazoria County. Soon after trouble commenced with the Mexican authorities, which culminated in the battle of … Read more

Biography of Austin, Stephen F.

It seems that on account of the long distance and slow transmission of mails in those days, that Stephen F. Austin, busy at New Orleans doing the work his father had entrusted to him, was not aware of the fatal illness and death of his father until some time after that sad event. Where the father, however, laid down the work the son took it up. The application of Moses Austin was approved by General Arredonda at Monterey on the 17th of January, 1821, a few days after the departure of Austin from San Antonio. This action of the Commanding … Read more

Biography of Austin, Moses

For the information of our readers who are not familiar with the early colonial scheme of settling Texas with American colonists when it was a province of Spain, we will give a short sketch of the man in whose brain it originated and the various causes which led to it. Moses Austin was a native of Connecticut, born at the village of Durham in 1767. When a boy he went to Philadelphia, and in 1787 he married Miss Maria Brown. His brother, Stephen, was then at the head of an important house in Philadelphia, and Moses Austin soon after his … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Worthington, R. H.

R. H. Worthington is an old Texan, and one of the good and worthy citizens of Fort Bend County. He was born in Pitt County, North Carolina, on June the 6th, 1826, but came from Alabama to Fort Bend County in 1849. During the great yellow fever epidemic of 1853 he nursed patients almost incessantly, being a member of the Howard Association, organized at that time for the purpose of taking care of the sick. He escaped all of the dangers to life and health while engaged in this laudable work, and still resides at Richmond. His wife, Mrs. Mary … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Wessendorff, T. B.

Fort Bend County, Treasure Tony B. Wessendorff, present County Treasurer, was born in Richmond, Fort Bend County, on the 19th day of November 1872. His father, Anton Wessendorff, came to this County from Hamburg, Germany, when but eighteen years of age and made Fort Bend his permanent home. Here, in the course of time, he married Miss Johanna Janske, was industrious in his habits and made a worthy citizen. When the great civil war broke out between the North and South, he served the Confederacy under Gen. John B. Hood in the famous Fourth Texas Regiment, his captain being Thomas … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Ryon, W. M., Colonel

Mier Prisoner Colonel William M. Ryon, of Fort Bend County, one of the most gallant of the heroes known to Texas history, was born in Winchester, Kentucky, resided for several years in Alabama, and came to Texas in 1837, landing at the mouth of the Brazos, where he clerked, kept hotel, and followed various occupations for a time. In 1839 he was a member of a surveying party that laid off the town of Austin, the newly selected site for the seat of government of the Republic of Texas, and later went to Fort Bend County, and made that his … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Ransom, Henry L.

Fort Bend County, Deputy Sheriff Henry Lee Ransom, the present efficient deputy under Sheriff Peareson, was born in Brenham, Texas, on the 29th of December 1870. His father was a soldier under General Lee, his grandfather having ten sons in the Confederate army. Henry came to Fort Bend County in October 1889, and was living in the county when the war broke out with Spain, and has the distinction of being the only Fort Bend County boy who served in the Philippines. He enlisted August 15th, 1899, in the company of Captain John A. Hulein, Company D, 33rd Infantry Regiment, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Pearson, E. A. Major

Fort Bend County, Sheriff Edward, Adolphus Peareson, present Sheriff of Fort Bend County, was born in Matagorda County, Texas, on the 2nd day of September 1867. His father, P. E. Peareson, was a native of Alabama, but came to, Texas when a child at a very early day and first settled with his parents in Victoria County; married Miss Minnie Rugely in Matagardo County, and came to Fort Bend County in 1867. The Peareson family have had representatives in every war in which the United States has been engaged from the Revolution of 1776 to that with Spain in 1898. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Newell, John D.

Another prominent man of Fort Bend County, came from North Carolina to Texas in 1830, and was a member of the convention in 1833. He was a successful planter, and lived to make forty-five crops in Texas. He died in Richmond, Fort Bend County, in December 1875.

Biographical Sketch of Neel, Adam S.

Adam Sylvester Neel, named for James Sylvester, one of the captors of Santa Anna, was born in Fort Bend County, near Stafford’s Point, on the 25th of August, 1844. His father was William T. Neel, a native of Louisiana, who came to Texas with William Stafford. He was a young man and unmarried at the time, and was not entitled to as much land as heads of families, but located a labor near, Stafford’s Point, at which place he built a home, and afterwards located a league in the west on the Medina River during the Presidency of General Lamar. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of McKnabb, John

Santa Fe Prisoner John McKnabb, one more of those unfortunate ones who accompanied the disastrous Santa Fe expedition in 1841, was a native of Scotland, and came to Fort Bend County in 1837. He was at Austin during the early building of that place, when the Indians harassed the few settlers almost continually. In 1841, when the expedition to Santa Fe was inaugurated, John McKnabb was there, and volunteered, as many other young men did, for the perilous trip, and suffered all the hardships of the long march across the plains and sandy deserts; want of water and provisions being … Read more

Biographical Sketch of McElroy, Charles S.

Mr. McElroy Is one of the old settlers of Fort Bend County who still survives those days of pioneer life, fraught with so much danger and hardships, danger from Indian raids and Mexican invasion, and hardships incident to a new and undeveloped country, where the wilderness had to be subdued, far removed from the necessaries of life, except as they could carve them out in their new homes with the ax and, rude agricultural implements. Sometimes the sole dependence for food was the ripe as the long months went by, waiting for the maturity of some primitive crop, which was … Read more