Texas

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

Terry Rangers, Company F

L. M. Stroble, Captain, Fort Bend County, resigned December 1st, 1861; died at LaGrange, Texas, in 1872. W. R.. John, 1st Lieutenant, Fayette County, promoted to Captain June, 1862, wounded September 17th, 1863, at Gorsbyville, Ga., and Bentonville, N. C., in November, 1865. Phoecian Tate, 2nd Lieutenant, Fayette County, resigned in May, 1862. W. N. Tate, 3rd Lieutenant, Fayette County, resigned in December, 1861. A. J. Murray, 1st Sergeant, Fayette County, promoted to Lieutenant July, 1862, absent at close of war. V. T. Coop; 2nd Sergeant, Fayette County, discharged December, 1861. C. D. Barnett, 3rd Sergeant, Fayette County, promoted to … 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 Masterson, Willim

Fort Bend County, County Judge Judge Masterson is a native Texan, born in Brazoria, Brazoria County, on the 13th of August 1871. His father, Thomas Washington Masterson, was named for a distant relative of General George Washington, Thomas Washington being the great-uncle of Thomas W. Masterson, who was also born in Texas. The grandfather of Judge Masterson on his mother’s side was Dr. John G. Chalmers (gan historic name), who was secretary of the Texas navy during the days of the Republic. The mother of Judge Masterson was Annie T. Chalmers. She waft raised by General Thomas Green, being very … Read more

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 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 Andrus, E. P.

Fort Bend County, District Clerk Edgar P. Andrus was born in Richmond, Fort Bend County October the 34th, 1858. His father, Walter Andrus, was also born in Fort Bend: County in 1830, on the east side of the Brazos River, about four miles from Richmond. The grandfather, Williams Andrus, came with the first installment of Austin’s colonists, and his league and labor of land, was located on both sides of the Brazos, the league on the east and the labor on the west, in the bend. When the Mexican army came in 1836, the Andrus family were living on the … 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

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

Biography of Wilkinson, W. M., Gen.

General William M. Wilkinson, the father of Mrs. Jane Long, was a distinguished officer in the United States Army of the war of 1812. When. Aaron Burr, in 1806, was contemplating the conquest and revolutionizing of Northern Mexico, which then included Texas, his base of operations being Blennerhassetts Island, General Wilkinson was ordered with a part of the United States Army to watch his movements, and also the Spanish army who were coming toward the Sabine River to meet Burr’s invasion. Thomas Jefferson was President at this time, and it was the policy of the United States Government to prevent … 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

Biographical Sketch of Bassett, Clem N.

Fort Bend County, Tax Collector Clement Newton Bassett, the present Tag Collector of Fort Bend County, was born in Richmond, Texas, on the 7th of January 1842. His father, Clem N. Bassett, Sr., was a. native of Virginia. and came to Texas in 18361 first stopping on the San Jacinto River at Lynchburg, where he married Miss Julia Lee Beale, also a native of Virginia. This was soon after the battle of San Jacinto, and the young people at once came to Richmond, Fort Bend County, and made that place their permanent home. Mr. Bassett was in the legal profession, … 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

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

Biographical Sketch of Gibson, J. T.

Fort Bend County, Tax Assessor John ‘T. Gibson, the present Tax Assessor of Fort Bend County, was born in the county December 16, 1878. His father, J. A. Gibson, was a native of Mississippi, and came to Texas when a boy, but returned home and came main, at an early day, and settled in Fort Bend County. He married, Miss Caroline Foster of Fort Bend, daughter of the old pioneer, Randolph Foster. She died and Mr. Gibson married his second wife, Missy Tennie Anderson, still living, and who is the mother of the subject of our sketch. J. A. Gibson, … 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

List of the Guard who Escaped from the River

Buster’s company Hockstaff, William Hensley,Hicks A. C. Ridge Hyde Major McQueen Thomas Ransom Gabriel Smith Turner Van Harm Dr. Watson Warren Wilkinson Cameron’s Company John Canty Donnall, Ernest William Ward A. J. Yates Eastland Company Geo. W. Alley M. Ambrose Theo. Bissell Oliver Buckner Clark W. S. Holton Davis Hudson Edward Marlow E. A. Vincent Ryon’s Company Edward Brown J. Buchanan William E. Dresser Ralph Gilpin Moses Kuykendall* Z. Lucas one not remembered Reese’s Company Sidney Calender F. Hancock Virgil A. Phelps George Walton Thomas Warren Guilford West Pierson’s Company Thomas Oldham Owens George Smith George W. Bonnell, was captured … 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 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

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