Terry Rangers, Company G

W. Y. Houston, Captain, killed August 9th, 1862. W. M. Ford, 1st Lieutenant, Bexar County. William Ellis, 3rd Lieutenant, killed at Murfreesboro December, 1862. M. Mitchell, 2nd Lieutenant, died in Nashville, Tenn., December, 1861. D. F. Lilley, 1st Sergeant. Pue Arthur, 2nd Sergeant, promoted to Lieutenant in White’s Battery; killed at Bandera, Texas, in 1880. J. M. Tanquary, promoted to 4th Sergeant. J. B. Brisco, promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. E. R. Tyler, 1st Corporal. Thomas H. Barry, 2nd Corporal. William H. Jenkins, 3rd Corporal, promoted Commissary of regiment. T. Drinkard, 4th Corporal, wounded and arm amputated discharged August 9, 1863. … 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

Biography of Levi P. Brown

LEVI P. BROWN. Especially worthy of note among the active and progressive men who have contributed so largely towards the development and advancement of the agricultural prosperity of Madison County is Levi P. Brown, a well-known farmer of Van Buren Township. A son of the late John G. Brown, he was born on the farm where he now resides, his birth having occurred on October 31, 1857. Born in Rush County, John G. Brown obtained the rudiments of his education in the public schools of his native district, and completed his studies in the rural schools of Madison County, Subsequently … Read more

Escaped at the time of the Surrender at Mier

Whitfield Clark Caleb St. Clair Left wounded at Mier, and escaped. Robert Beale* John Videler Lewis Hays Geo. W. Piland* Nathan Mollen William Rupley Henry D. Weeks Escaped at the village of Salado, and reached Texas. John R, Alexander John Blackburn Rev. Thomas W. Cox William Oldham Escaped from Perote dungeon, July 2d, 1843. Daniel D. Henry Charles R. Reese Killed at Mier. James Austin R. P. Bassett Joseph Berry Dickson Wm. H. Hannon A. Jackson John E. Jones Dr. Isaac W. Towers Calvin White William Hopson Died of wounds received at Mier. Lynn Bobo Hanks Kuykendall* Stanley Locherman Wm. … Read more

Biography of Stafford, William

William Stafford, one of the early settlers of Fort Bend County, was a native of Tennessee, but emigrated from that grand old State to that of Louisiana, where he engaged in raising cane and, making sugar. He was married twice; his first rife was Miss Donald, of Tennessee, and the second Miss Martha Cartwright, of Louisiana. In 1822 he came to Texas as one of the colonists of Stephen. F. Austin and first located near San Felipe, but later settled at what is now known as “Stafford’s Point” on Oyster Creek, in Fort Bend County, fifteen miles east of Richmond. … 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 Cariesman, Horatio

Whose land grant fronts the Brazos River on the west side, where the station of Thompson is now on the Santa Fe road, was born in Virginia in 1792, but moved in early life first to Kentucky and then to Missouri, where he engaged in surveying. In 1818 he married Miss Mary Kinchaloe, and in the fall of 1821 prepared to immigrate to Texas with the Kinchaloe family. They embarked on boats to descend the river, but winter coming on, they held up until the next spring, when Mr. Kinchaloe preceded the party to New Orleans, where he chartered a … Read more

Billy Bowlegs and His Raid on Dr. Braden’s Farm

“Billy Bowlegs” was a Seminole chief, and lived in the swamps and Everglades of Florida, and some might ask, what had, he to do with the history of Fort Bend County. Personally, nothing, but Fort Bend has an old Negro woman living at Old Arcola (Lucinda Lawson), who has some interesting reminiscences connected with the exploits of this famous chief. She belonged to Dr. Braden in Florida, who had a fine plantation not a great distance from the stronghold of Chief Bowlegs, who often made raids on the planters and carried off their stock, and even Negroes. United States troops … 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

Biography of George W. Brown

GEORGE W. BROWN. A prominent and successful agriculturist and stock-raiser of Madison County, George W. Brown is the owner of a well- appointed and well-managed farm in Van Buren Township, his native place, where he holds a position of note among the substantial farmers of his community, his farms being on the G. W. Brown road, about four miles from Summitville. His father, the late John G. Brown, was born in Rush County, but as a boy came with his parents to Madison County, where he grew to man’s estate, Subsequently purchasing land in Van Buren Township, he carried on … Read more

Mier Prisoners, Fate Unknown

W. A. Alexander David Allen George Anderson Alexander Armstrong  James C. Armstrong E. Arthur James Barber Daniel F. Barney T. A. Barney D. H. E. Beasley Thomas W. Bell Bates J. Berry John Dusenbery Samuel P. Bennett Benjamin Z. Boone*  Henry Bridger Ransom Boswell B. F. Bowman John Brenon Gilbert R. Brush James Burke Bush, Zed Isam Captain Claudius Buster William T. Carter T. J. Censeleau Geo. Wilson Clark Charles Clark Wm. A. Compton Thomas Colville Willis Copeland Campbell Davis Stephen M. Coodman Daniel Davis William Davis Thomas Davis W. K. Davis* Dickson Freeman W. Douglas* N. G. Downs William … Read more

Terry Rangers, Company B

John A. Wharton, Captain, Brazoria, County, Texas, elected Colonel of the regiment January, 1862, promoted Brigadier General, October, 1862, Major General, and transferred, wounded twice, transferred to Mississippi Department, and killed in private altercation at Houston, Texas, by Colonel Geo. W. Baylor. Geo. M. McNeil, 1st Lieutenant, Brazoria County, resigned at Oakland, Ky., in 1862. William Henry Shark, 2nd Lieutenant, Brazoria County, promoted. T. J. Bennett, 3rd Lieutenant, Brazoria County, promoted. J. C. Herndon, 1st Sergeant, Brazzoria County. William Groce, 2nd Sergeant, Austin County, Texas, elected 1st Lieutenant January 1st, 1862, resigned April, 1862. E. A. Herndon, Harris County, Texas, … Read more

Biography of Edgar W. Farmer

EDGAR W. FARMER, a railway postal clerk on the New York Central Lines between Cleveland, Ohio, and St, Louis, Missouri, lives on Indiana Avenue, North Anderson, He was born here February 23, 1868. The Farmer family is better known, probably, than any other family in Anderson Township outside of the city of Anderson and ranks among the older ones in the County, Charles M. Farmer (April 16, 1846-June 27, 1910) and Mary L. Cummins Farmer (Nov. 27, 1848- Nov, 16, 1900), the parents of Edgar, moved from Henry County, Indiana, immediately after their marriage and bought two acres of land … 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 Newton Burke

NEWTON BURKE was born in Connersville, Fayette County, Indiana, and died in July, 1907, He was a contractor, a vocation he continued to follow during the best years of his life, A veteran of the Civil war, he participated actively in a number of important engagements, and was honorably discharged at the close of his term of enlistment, after which he took up his abode in Anderson and here plied his trade up to the close of his long and useful life, His widow, who survives him, still resides in Anderson, and is now in the sixty-second year of her … 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

Biography of Charles H. Allman

CHARLES H. ALLMAN. An enterprising and highly successful farmer of Van Buren Township, Charles Allman is a fine representative of the native-born citizens of Madison County, his birth having occurred, September 16, 1883, on a farm lying two miles west of his present place of residence, which is located four miles southeast of Summitville, His father, John Allman, for many years a prominent agriculturist of Madison County, was born and reared in Tipton County, Indiana, 1838. He married Leaner Perry, who bore him ten children, as follows Asbury, Phoebe J., Maggie, Edna, William, John, Cora, Lorenzo, Charles, and Myrtle. Brought … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Jones, Wiley P.

Fort Bend County, Justice Of The Peace, Precinct No. 1. Judge Wiley Powell Jones was born in Fort Bend County, eight miles below Richmond, on October 17, 1843. His father, Henry Jones, came to Texas in 1822 among the first installment of Austin’s colonists, and first settled on New Year’s Creek in what is now Washington County, near Independence. There a brother, William Jones, was born, the first child born in the colony. They lived one year on New Year’s Creek, and then came on down the Brazos River and settled below the present town of Richmond, where the Henry … Read more

Company H

Colonel Frank Terry, commanding, killed at Woodsonville, Kentucky. Second Lieutenant-Robert J. Calder, killed at Moss Creek, East Tennessee. Third Lieutenant W. D. Adams, died on the way home, after resigning his commission in the service. Gustave Cook, promoted to Captain from Sergeant, January, 1862; to Major December, 1862; to Lieutenant Colonel May, 1863; to Colonel May, 1865; Wounded at Farmington, Griswoldville, Bentonville and Shiloh. Robert Hodges wounded at Decatur, Alabama. E. Griffin, captured, but escaped and died in 1869. Jack Adams wounded at Washington, Georgia, in 1864. Addie Autrey killed at Shiloh, April 8th, 1861. Clem Bassett, wounded at Eagleville … Read more

Biography of George T. Beebe

GEORGE T. BEEBE. In the fall elections of 1912, when the voters of Madison County elected George T. Beebe to the office of County treasurer, they voiced the expression of their confidence in his integrity, his absolute reliability and his ability to handle the affairs of one of Indiana’s leading counties, It is generally found that the people of a community are not slow in recognizing true worth in an individual, and the man selected to handle the financial resources of a section is invariably one who has made a success in his private affairs, In the case of Mr. … Read more