Texas

Biography of Wilshire Bailey

Mr. Bailey was born in the State of Alabama, in the year 1824, and came to Texas with his parents in the year 1835. He married Miss Gage, a daughter of E. N. Gage, in the year 1852. To this union were born 8 children, seven of whom are still living, five girls and two boys. His boys are both married and are thrifty and well to do farmers and tax payers. Four of his daughters are married, their husbands are farmers and stock raisers, are good men, upright and honest in their business relations, and have the confidence of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. J. Martin

J. J. Martin was born in Alabama and reared in the State of Tennessee. He is an octogenarian and has lived in Texas since 1845. He came to Hopkins County 45 years ago. He married Miss Nancy Everett in Cass County, Texas, at the age of 29 years. By this union six children were born. She passed away at the birth of her last child. J. B. and C. D. Martin and Mrs. James Lee are all children of this union. They are all well known citizens of Hopkins County, honest, upright in their dealings. He next married Miss Elvy … Read more

Biography of Glen Hargrave

E. G. Hargrave is a son of Harvey Hargrave, whose name has been mentioned In this history. He was born in the state of Indiana in the year. 1839. He came to Texas with his father in the year 1842. He was, therefore, only three years old at the time. He has been raised in Hopkins County and has lived continuously in the county since 1845. He married Miss M. E. Chapman, daughter of Benjamin Chapman, in the year 1857. This union is a happy one. They have had ten children born to them. Eight of these children are living. … Read more

Biography of Rev. Joe Hooten

Joseph Hooten was born in the State of Tennessee, in the year 1824. He came to Hopkins County in the year 1848 and located in the same section where he has lived all of his long and useful life. He married Miss Manda Strother soon after he came into the county. By this union ten children were born to them, six of these are living. They all live near their parents, their eldest and youngest live at home with their aged parents and are a comfort and a joy to them in the evening of their days. Mr. Hooten is … Read more

Biography of S. G. Coyle

S. G. Coyle was born in Osage County, Missouri, in the year 1882, and came to the state of Texas in the year 1846, and lived in the county in the forks of the Sulphur creek, and looked after stock cattle for Dr. O. S. Davis. He had charge of these cattle until he volunteered to go to the Mexican war. While he was attending these cattle for Dr. Davis a party of ruffians, calling themselves Regulators, came suddenly upon him and gave him instructions to leave the country under the penalty of death. His assistants became alarmed at this … Read more

Biography of Capt. Merrett Branom

Merrett Branom was born in the state of Missouri in the year 1820. At the tender age of nineteen he left his home and came to Texas to seek his fortune, and to make the Lone Star state his future home. Soon after he came upon Texas soil he married Miss Ellen Finley, an old Missouri acquaintance. She was a sister to Ed Finley, who is well known as an honorable, just and esteemed citizen of Hopkins County, and an aunt to our worthy ex-tax-assessor, Dave Finley. By this marriage thirteen children carne to them, six boys and seven girls. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of R. Lindley

R. Lindley was born in Polk County, Missouri in the year 1835. He migrated to Hopkins County with his father Jahu Lindley in 1849 and located on South Sulphur Creek where he was living when he died. Jahu Lindley had a large family but there are only two of this family living at this time: the subject of this biographical sketch and R. J. Lindley, who lives in Decatur, Wise County, at this time. R. Lindley was raised in Hopkins County. At the age of 23 years he married Miss Effie Sayle of Commerce, Hunt County, a lady of excellent … Read more

Biography of J. R. Lindley

J. R. Lindley was born in the state of Kentucky, in the year of 1824. His parents moved into Dade County, Missouri, in the year 1835 when J. R. was only 10 years of age, where he grew up into manhood. Filled with the spirit of adventure and fired by the stories of the wealth of California, he made an overland trip to the Pacific Coast in the year of 1840, traveling with an ox train and being four months on the road. He remained on the Pacific slope for three years, returning to Missouri he engaged in driving stock … Read more

Biography of W. M. Hogsett

W. M. Hogsett was born in the state of Tennessee on the 22nd day of February 1835. At the age of sixteen years he came to Texas with his mother and located near the old Lollar store. His father was a soldier in the Mexican war and died in the year 1846, while he was serving his country as a soldier. At the age of 21 years Mr. Hogsett married Miss Elizabeth Liles, daughter of William tiles then of Sulphur Springs and began to battle with the question of bread and butter. By this union five children were born, only … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Fred W. Conly

Fred W. Conly was born in the state of North Carolina, August 29th, 1828. His father moved to Georgia when he was an infant three year old. He grew into manhood in the state of Georgia, and came to the state of Texas in the year 1852, and stopped in Cass County, where he met Miss Zilpha Peacock, won her affections and married her in the year 1857. By this union one child was born. This wife died very soon, and he afterwards married Miss Mary Hancock and moved into Hopkins County where he has resided ever since. By this … Read more

Biography of Frank Pierce

Frank Pierce is an old time citizen of Hopkins County, he came into the county in the early forties. He married Miss South at an early day and reared a large family in Hopkins County. This family was unfortunate and died in early life. J. K. Pierce, a prosperous farmer and stock raiser and a wealthy citizen of the county, is his son. Frank Pierce Jr. is another son. They had different mothers. In the year of 1848 Frank Pierce was a member of the Grand Jury, during the sitting of the District Court at old Tarrant, John T. Mills … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Green Weaver

Green Weaver, deceased, moved with his family into Hopkins County in the year 1845 and located in the vicinity of where Greenview Church is now situated. He is the father of two sets of children, having been twice married. His first set of children were notorious for the brilliancy of their intellect. They are all dead now. Mrs. Mary J. Moseley is the eldest child of the second marriage, Sam Houston Weaver, who is a well known, respected and esteemed citizen of the county, is his second child, and lives at this time on his father’s head-right. Sam is a … Read more

Biography of Luth Waggoner

Luth Waggoner was born in the state of Missouri in the year 1833, and moved with his parents in the year 1839 to Red River District, Texas, and stopped where Blossom Prairie is located. The family remained there and farmed and raised stock for a period of ten years, and moved to Hopkins County where L. Waggoner has lived all his life. Luth’s father, Solomon Waggoner, had a large family when they came into Hopkins County. There are only two of this family living in Hopkins County at this time, Luth and N. B. Waggoner. Luth married Miss Nancy Millsap … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Miller Green

Miller Green, who lives at Black Jack Grove, is a native Texan. He was born in Red River district in the year 1837. Two years after his birth his father moved into the vicinity of where Greenville in Hunt County is situated. In the year 1854 he moved to where he is now living. In the year 1867 Miller married Ophelia Cole, daughter of Wash Cole, an old pioneer and one of the first who came to Hopkins County. He was highly respected and esteemed by all of his acquaintances. His name is agreeably remembered as that of one of … Read more

Biography of James B. Sparks

James B. Sparks, deceased, father of W. J., John N. and A. W. Sparks and also the father of four daughters, came into Texas in the year 1851. He remained one year in the state and returned to his old home in the state of Alabama, and moved his family to the state of Texas in the fall of 1852. He settled on the county line separating Hopkins from Titus County, on the headwaters of Big Cypress Bayou. Mr. James Sparks’ brothers had moved into the state of Texas as early as the year 1836, and settled on Cypress Bayou … Read more

Biography of R. C. Holderness

Dr. R. C. Holderness was born in the state of North Carolina in the year 1827. In the year 1850 he graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently moved to the state of Arkansas, Calhoun County, where he began the successful practice he has always enjoyed. In the year 1863 he migrated to Hopkins County, where he has lived since in the enjoyment of a lucrative practice. The doctor married Miss Virginia Thomas, an old Carolina lady, in the state of Arkansas. They both came from the same county in North Carolina and migrated to the same … Read more

Biography of Robert Odom

Robert Odom was born in the state of Tennessee in the year 1846, and immigrated to Hopkins County with his father in the year 1850. His father, Jesse Odom, settled nineteen miles southeast of Sulphur Springs and four miles west of Winsboro. The county was new and uninhabited; therefore Robert had not educational training. Growing up amid the wilds of the country, he was surrounded with all the environments common to a pioneer life. At the age of twenty-two years he met Miss Lucinda Lambdin, a Texas girl who was visiting friends in Mr. Odom’s section. He became attached to … Read more

Biography of Serena Millhollin

Serena Millhollin, a daughter of Sam Lindley, known all over Hopkins County as Aunt Serena, gives a graphic account of pioneer life in Hopkins County. She says: “My father was born in the state of Kentucky, and married my mother in the state of Arkansas, and then migrated to the Republic of Mexico and stopped on North Sulphur Creek. [By reference to the first chapter in this history the reader will notice that the territory of Texas once belonged to Mexico.] about where the village of Ben Franklin is located, and remained for only one year and then moved to … Read more

Biography of G. W. Harper

Mr. Harper came to Hopkins County when he was quite a young man, although he had a wife and child. He located on a tract of land where he lived all his life. He was very unfortunate in his married life, having lost three companions during his life. There were twenty-one children born to these three marriages. Out of this large number only three are living. Miss Minerva, the eldest daughter, married Lodwick Vaden, Jr., and lives upon one of the most fertile plantations on South Sulphur Creek. They have a nice, growing family of bright, intellectual children. He and … Read more

Biography of Eli Lindley

John W. Lindley, elder son of Eli Lindley, deceased, gives this thrilling and graphic account of many incidents that occurred within his recollection during his father’s life in Hopkins County. He remembers quite distinctly when his father came into the territory of Hopkins County. J. W. Lindley is sixty-three years of age. He married Miss Nancy Rea, sister to Neal Rea, at the termination of the Civil war. He has raised a large family of healthy children who are respected citizens of the county. Jacob Marion, a prominent businessman of Peerless, is his oldest son. Uncle Eli Lindley married Sallie … Read more