USA > Texas > The history and geography of Texas as told in county names > Part 7
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Soon after his departure from the Brazos his wife and two children died, leaving to his care an infant daughter. He went vigorously to work and before July, 1826, had laid out the town of Gonzales, when settlers began to arrive.
On July 3, during his absence, the Indians attacked the set- tlement, killing three of his men, and Kerr for a time aban- doned the place and moved over on the lower Lavaca River, making his permanent home there, but managing the affairs of the colony. He was a member of the convention of 1832 and 1833 and in 1835 participated in the engagement at Fort Li- pantitian on the west bank of the Nueces River. He was also a member of the Consultation in 1835 and of the Constitu- tional convention of 1836, which declared independence, and was a member of the Third Congress of the Republic of Tex- as. He died at his home on the Navidad River in Jackson Coun- ty, December 23, 1850.
KINNEY.
H. L. Kinney, the founder of Corpus Christi, was born in Pennsylvania in 1813, and came to Texas in 1838. In 1840 he located near the present site of Corpus Christi and went to merchandising. He was elected a member of the First State Constitutional convention in 1845 and represented that section in the Legislature several terms. In 1856 he promoted an ex- pedition to Central America; became a candidate for Governor of one of the states of Nicaraugua; was finally defeated and returned to Texas broken in fortune. He later held several minor offices. He became involved in the difficulties between the "Rohos and Crinolinos" at Matamoros and was killed there in July, 1861.
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THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS
LOVING.
Oliver Loving was born in Hopkins County, Ky., in 1813, and was reared and educated there. He married Susan D. Morgan of Muhlenburg County in that state. In 1839 he came to Texas, located in Lamar and in 1840, removed to Collin County, settling near the site of the present town of Plano, where he engaged in farming and stock raising. All supplies of merchandise and all products of the farm were carried in ox wagons to and from Jefferson, and occasionally to and from Houston, and he was engaged much of his time in hauling freight. In 1850 he hauled supplies for the United States Gov- ernment from Jefferson to Port Belknap (Young County).
In 1855 he removed to Palo Pinto County, locating in a valley named for him, "Loving's Valley." Greatly enlarging his business of raising horses and cattle, some times he sent large herds as far East and north as Illinois, and in 1860 drove the first herd of cattle ever sent to Colorado. During the Civil War he removed his family to Weatherford and furnished from his ranch large supplies of cattle and hogs to the Con- federate Government. In 1866 he formed a partnership with Charles Goodnight and 1867 they started with a herd of steers to New Mexico. While on his way up the Pecos River he was shot by Comanche Indians, and was taken to Fort Sumner, where he died and was temporarily buried. In 1868 his body was removed to Weatherford and reinterred.
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AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES
MAVERICK.
Samuel A. Maverick was born in Pendleton District, South Carolina, in 1803. After attending the preparatory schools of his native state he was sent to Yale College at New Haven, Connecticut, and after finishing the course of study there he went to Virginia and studied law.
In 1835 he came to Texas, lo- cated at San Antonio and was there when the Texas Revolu- tion began. Under Ben Milam he took part in the storming and capture of Bexar. Being famil- iar with the place, he rendered invaluable aid in outlining the course of the storming party. He then adopted San Antonio as his home, and with Juan An- tonio Navarro, was sent as a delegate to the convention which declared independence and framed the Constitution of the Re- public of Texas in March, 1836.
In 1842, during a session of the District Court in San An- tonio, he, with members of the court and other prominent cit- izens was captured by General Woll, who made a raid into Texas from the Rio Grande. He was taken to Castle Perote, on the road from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico, where with a ball and chain he was made to labor on the public works.
After his release from prison he returned to San Antonio, and in 1845 represented Bexar County in the State Constitu- tional convention, afterward serving several terms in the State Legislature. His last public service was to negotiate a surrender of United States property in San Antonio to the Confederate Government in 1861. He died in San Antonio in 1870, leaving a large family surviving him.
"Maverick" has become an American word and as such has
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THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS
been a subject of misapprehension. The irony of fate has in this case an apt illustration in the following statement of Hon- orable George M. Maverick, one of the sons of S. A. Maverick. "Late in the year 1845, Samuel A. Maverick was tempor- arily residing at Decrow's Point on Matagorda Bay. He was a lawyer with a strong propensity to speculation in land.
"During that period, a neighbor becoming indebted to him in the sum of $1,200, paid the debt in cattle, transferring 400 head at $3.00 per head. There was no market for cattle in those days, the hides only being marketable. He did not want the cattle, but it was a case of cattle or nothing, so he took them and left them in charge of a colored family while he returned to San Antonio. In 1853 the cattle were removed from the coast up to Conquista, fifty miles below San Antonio. Here as before, under the distinguished management of the colored family the cattle were left to graze, to fatten and to wander away. Mr. Maverick was absorbed in his real estate business in San Antonio. About one-third of the calves were branded, so that in 1865 the entire plant or brand was esti- mated at only 400 head. To the ingenuous mind the explana- tion is clear, that the branding of 'Maverick's' was 'square.' The neighbors shrewdly surmised that all unbranded calves and yearlings were mavericks, and the lawful property of the first man who could get his brand upon them, this being at that time the only evidence of ownership. About the year 1856 he sold the entire herd, still only 400 head, to A. Toutant Beauregard, a brother of the distinguished Confederate Gen- eral, at $6.00 per head. With the exception of this experience, Mr. Maverick never owned any cattle except probably a few milk cows to supply his domestic wants."
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MENARD.
This county was named for Colonel Michael Branaman Me- nard, who was born in the village of La Prairie, near Montreal, Canada, December 5, 1805. His parents were French.
At the age of 16 he engaged in the northwestern fur trade in the employ of an American com- pany at Detroit. Later he went to Missouri at the solicitation of his uncle, Pierre Menard, then Lieutenant Governor of the Territory of Missouri and an extensive fur trader, and for several years was the manager of his uncle's business. Becom- ing attached to the Indians, he determined to remain among them and was elected chief of the principal tribe of the Shaw- nees, which station he held for several years.
In 1833, Colonel Menard came to Texas and settled near Nacogdoches, where he traded with the Mexicans and Indians. He then became interested with Mckinney and Williams in the construction of a mill and trad- ing post on a small stream flowing into the Trinity River near the present line of Polk County, named for him, Menard Creek.
When the Texas Revolution broke out the Mexicans endeav- ored to incite the Indian tribes on the frontier to overrun and desolate the country. At the solicitation of the Texas Govern- ment, Colonel Menard went among them, and by his personal exertion prevented an invasion and kept them quiet. He was a member of the convention which declared the independence of Texas and framed the Constitution of the Republic.
In December, 1836, at the first session of the First Con- gress, Colonel Menard obtained for the price of $50,000 a grant from Congress for a league of land on which the city of
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Galveston now stands, then unoccupied by a single habitation. He laid out the town and associating himself with a number of other gentlemen, he formed the Galveston City Company and was its first president, and thus launched the enterprise of the Island City with which he was identified from that date until his death.
He represented Galveston County in the Congress of Texas in 1839 and was the author and powerful advocate of the sys- tem of finance by the issue of exchequer bills which failing to pass that session was recommended by President Houston the next session and adopted, and provided a revenue that saved the country.
Colonel Menard was a man of rare intelligence and noble character and of the highest order of enterprise and patriot- ism. He possessed a mind of striking originality, and was most agreeable in business and intercourse. He stood over six feet in height, was of strong muscular build, and possessed undoubt- ed courage. Colonel Menard left a widow, who became the wife of Colonel J. S. Thrasher, and a son, Daniel Menard, all of whom are dead. He died September 2, 1856, of carbuncle. His funeral took place from the Cathedral in Galveston, and his remains were followed to their last resting place in the Catholic Cemetery by almost the entire community.
MONTAGUE.
Daniel Montague was a son of Richard Montague. He was born at South Hadley, Mass., August 22, 1798. He received a good education at his home and chose the profession of sur- veyor and civil engineer.
He left Massachusetts about 1820 and located in Louisiana, where he was a successful surveyor for about fifteen years. Hearing of the fall of the Alamo and the massacre at Goliad, he left his family in Louisiana and hastened into Texas, but finding upon his arrival that San Jacinto had been won and Santa Anna a prisoner, he returned to Louisiana and settled up his business affairs.
In the fall of 1836 he came to Texas with his family and
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settled at "Old Warren" on Red River in what is now Fannin County. He was appointed the first surveyor of the old Fannin land district. As the surveyors were the most hated among all the newcomers by the Indians, his scalp became the special object of their ambition. It became necessary for him to or- ganize the settlers against the Indians and he was engaged much of his time in active Indian warfare. He promptly join- ed the army in 1846, and commanded a company in the Mex- ican War. When not engaged in military service, he was sur- veying lands, locating land certificates in that vast region, ex- tending from Fannin County out as far as the present county of Haskell, and in this way accumulated a large landed estate. At the close of the Civil War in 1865, like many other promi- nent Texas citizens, he took up his abode in Mexico, locating in the valley of the Tuxpan River, where he remained eleven years, when learning of the death of his son, Daniel Ross Mont -- ague, he returned to Texas, aged and feeble, to spend the re- mainder of his days with his only daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Twitty. While on a visit to a friend at Marysville in Cooke County, he was stricken with pneumonia and died December 20, 1876. Throughout his life he was a consistent Christian and active member of the Methodist church.
McLENNAN.
This county was named in honor of Neil McLennan who was born on the Isle of Skye, Scotland in 1788. In 1801 or 1802 he removed to Robeson County, North Carolina, where he lived with his family on a farm until 1816 when he removed to Florida. In 1835 he, with his wife and children, two brothers, and a brother-in-law and one other family procured a schooner and putting their families and effects into it, sailed for Tex- as, landing at the mouth of the Brazos and proceeded up the river to Fort Bend and from there went overland to Robert- son's Colony, and obtained land on Pond Creek.
In 1836, Laughlin McLennan and wife and all his children except two were killed by Indians and about the same time they burned the mother of Neil Mclaughlin, the two children
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THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS
being carried away captives. In 1838, John McLennan Sr., another brother was killed by Indians near Nashville on the Brazos. While returning to the settlements from a survey- ing expedition with George B. Erath, he first saw the valley of the Bosque. He exchanged his Pond Creek place for the certificates which he located on the Bosque River in 1839 and settled there the next year and built the first dwelling, a log cabin, in McLennan County. There he reared his family, living a quiet life, except when engaged in fighting the savages which infested that county for ten years later. He died in 1867.
His son, Neil McLennan, Jr., born in 1828, died in 1893, at Waco, Texas.
PARKER.
The Parker family came from Illinois in 1833 and settled near where the present town of Groesbeck, in Limestone Coun- ty, is situated. They, as usual with the first settlers, built a log fort for protection against the Indians. The little settle- ment, thirty-five in number, of whom only five were able to bear arms, were in their fort when on May 19, 1836, several hundred Comanche Indians came and inquired for a water- hole where they could camp and also asked for a beef.
Benjamin Parker, being then in his seventy-ninth year stepped out to show them the waterhole, and was instantly shot down. The Indians then rushed into the fort, killing Silas Parker, Samuel Frost, and Robert Frost and wounding Mrs. Sarah Parker. They made prisoners of Mrs. Rachael Plummer, and her son, James P. Plummer, two years old, Cyn- thia Ann Parker, eight years old, and John Parker, six years old, and Mrs. Kellogg. The others escaped and after wandering in the wilderness several days reached the Brazos in what is now Grimes County.
Mrs. Kellogg was in capitivity for six months, Mrs. Plum- mer for over a year. A short time after her capture Mrs. Plummer gave birth to a child, the crying of which so annoyed the savages that they killed it in a most cruel manner in her presence. She was then delivered over to an old squaw who treated her in a most cruel manner. She supposed that both
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her father and son had been killed but they, being in the field at work, had escaped.
One day when some distance from the Indian camp, though in sight of it, the old squaw attempted to beat her with a club, but she wrenched the club from the old squaw's hands and with it felled her to the ground. For this act of bravery the Indians patted her on the shoulder and praised her greatly. She received better treatment from this time on, and in time she was sold to a Santa Fe trader, who took her to Missouri, whence she finally made her way back to her friends in Texas. After six years of captivity her son was restored to his peo- ple only to find that both his parents were dead.
Cynthia Ann Parker was among the savages for nearly a quarter of a century and became the wife of a chief. In 1860 she was captured by Captain L. S. Ross (later Governor of Texas). She was sent to the settlements. The venerable Isaac Parker, an uncle, went to the camp and she was identi- fied as the long lost niece. She returned with him and soon learned her native language, which she had forgotten. She died, leaving several children by the Indian chief. Her son, Quanah Parker, after whom the county seat of Hardeman County is named, remained with the Indians and became a chief. Isaac Parker was a member of the Third, Fourth, Sixth, and Seventh Congresses of the Republic of Texas from Hous- ton County. He was also a member of the first State Consti- tutional Convention in 1845. After serving several terms in the Legislature from the region now known as Parker County he died in the early 80's at an advanced age near the city of Weatherford.
For the blood curdling horrors of this tragedy and much interesting data about the subsequent careers of this family see "Border Wars of Texas" by De Shields.
PARMER.
Martin Parmer was born in Virginia and was educated in that state. In 1796 he removed to Tennessee, where he mar- ried Sarah Hardwick and engaged in business in Dickson County.
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THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS
In 1818 he removed to Missouri and settled upon the ex- treme frontier of that territory among the Indians. He was a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of that state and of the First Legislature of the state after its admission into the Union.
He came to Texas in 1825 and located at Mound Prairie (now near Alto in Cherokee County). He soon became one of the leaders in the so-called Fredonian War in 1827. He was among the Indians again six or eight years and then reap- peared in public life as member of the Consultation in 1835, representing Tenaha (Shelby). He was chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1836, representing San Aug- ustine. He died in 1837.
SMITH.
General James Smith, in whose honor this county was nam- ed, was born in Spartanburg District (now county), South Carolina, September 10, 1792, and was reared and educated there. He volunteered as a private soldier at the age of twenty and served un- der General Jackson dur- ing the War of 1812, his last service in that war be- ing in the battle of New Orleans. He returned to South Carolina and in 1816 was married to Han- nah Parker. Three years later he removed to Lin- coln County, Tenn., and en- gaged in farming. He was soon chosen leader of a vigilance committee for the protection of the citizens from Indians and the rough characters of what was then a frontier country. It is related that he was equal to every emergency and that he afforded ample protection and security to the community.
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He came to Texas in 1834 in advance of his wife and chil- dren, who followed in 1835, reaching Texas on January 1, 1836. He settled in Nacogdoches (now Rusk) County on a league and labor (4,605 acres) of land, which he had selected for himself and opened up a farm.
Being desirous of aiding his struggling countrymen, he re- turned to Tennessee early in 1836 and raised a company of seventy-five volunteers from Tennessee and Alabama. He brought his company to Texas and enlisted in the service. He expended his own money for subsistence and transportation and for the mounts, arms, and ammunition of his men, pur- chasing at New Orleans five stacks of arms. After Texas had won independence, his company was mustered out of service.
In August and September, 1836, when many of the soldiers after being discharged, were returning to Nacogdoches in a destitude condition, at considerable expense to himself, he sup- plied their needs. In 1837 and 1838 the settlers in that and adjacent regions were frequently driven from their homes and they always fled to General Smith's residence for subsistence and protection. In 1839 he led a body of troops to aid General Burleson in the Cherokee troubles. In 1841 he was again put in command of troops in what was then the northwestern frontier, and for his valuable services received a vote of thanks from the Congress of the Republic. In 1844, he was com- missioned by President Houston to raise a force of men and ordered to repair to the scences of anarchy then prevailing in Shelby County in the Regular-Moderator War. He assem- bled 500 men and repaired to the scene, and by his prudent and firm conduct the belligerents were induced to lay down their arms and submit to the law.
He enjoyed the close friendship of Houston, Rusk, Hender- son and other leaders of that day. He at one time declined a place in the Cabinet of President Houston. His admiration for Governor Henderson may be seen in the following: When the county of Rusk was created from Nacogdoches in 1843, General Smith's plantation being near the center of the coun- ty, he offered to donate sixty-nine acres of land for the pro- posed county site, provided it should be named Henderson and
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THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS
TOMB OF GENERAL SMITH
provided further that whenever it ceased to be called Hender- son the land should revert to his estate.
After annexation he ceased to take an active part in politics. His farm, adjacent to the town of Henderson, afforded him am- ple income, though for a short period he engaged in merchan- dising, and here he spent the remainder of his days. He died on his farm, December 25, 1855, and was buried with mili- tary honors, General Rusk officiating. His tomb is of mas- sive brick and stone, twelve feet high, and is still standing and his portrait hangs over the Judge's stand in the District Court room of Rusk County.
In politics he was a faithful disciple of Andrew Jackson and in religion a loyal member of the Baptist Church. He has many descendants some of whom have taken a leading part in the different walks of life.
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STARR.
Dr. James Harper Starr in whose memory Starr County was named, was a descendant of Dr. Comfort Starr who came from Ashford, England, to Massachusetts in 1635, and located near Boston. Nicholas Starr, grand- father of Dr. James Harper Starr, after- ward located at Groton, Connecticut, and was one of the citizen volunteers, who fell in defense of Fort Criswold, Septem- ber 6, 1781. The name Nicholas Starr is inscribed on the monument erected on Groton Heights.
James Starr, one of the sons of Nich- olas, was only five years old at the date of the death of his father. Although left an orphan at this early age, he succeeded in obtaining a fair education and es- tablished himself as a machinist and wheelwright. On the 13th of September, 1801, he was married to Miss Shaw, daughter of David Shaw of East Meriden, Conn., and settled at New Hartford where he resided until 1815 and then moved with his family to Ohio and settled near Worthington, where he died July 8, 1824.
Dr. James Harper Starr was born at New Hartford, Con- necticut, December 16, 1809. He had few educational advan- tages but was a zealous student and conducted the farm for his mother, the older brother having left home to engage in other pursuits. An injury to his knee resulted in the loss of the use of this joint and disabled him from the duties of the farm.
He then attended the Academy at Worthington and taught school at intervals about six miles from Columbus. About that time a medical college was established at Worthington. He In attended this college and was one of its first graduates.
the spring of 1832, he went south and located at McDonough in Henry County, Ga., and later located at Pleasant Grove, in the same county, where he practiced his profession.
On the 1st of February, 1833, he was married to Miss Har-
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iet J. Johnson, daughter of Samuel Johnson. He continued in the practice of his profession until March, 1836, when he left with his family for Texas.
When they reached Perry County, Alabama, he heard of the conditions in Texas and suspended his journey. On the 1st of January, 1837, he again started for Texas and arrived at Nacogdoches January 17, 1837. The Indians were at that time harassing the settlers and Dr. Starr joined one of the com- panies organized at Nacogdoches and pursued the savages as far as the Tehuacana Hills.
Dr. Starr's brother, Franklin J. Starr, was afterward in one of those campaigns and from exposure during the cam- paign died July 7, 1837. This deranged the plans of Dr. Starr as he had to take charge of his brother's affairs and look after the family. He then purchased a home in Nacogdoches and lived there for a third of a century. The Indian troubles con- tinued and he kept himself in readiness to repel raids con- stantly, up to the time of the expulsion of the Cherokees and other Indians from that part of the State.
In January, 1838, he was appointed President of the Board of Land Commissioners for Nacogdoches County, a very re- sponsible position at that time.
The Cordova rebellion broke out about that time and Dr. Starr took an active part in supressing it, first as a private then as surgeon in the army.
In May, 1839, he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Lamar. He resigned in the autumn of 1840 and returned to Nacogdoches and resumed the practice of medicine. He was a surgeon in the command organized by General Smith to suppress the Regulator-Moderator War. His interests in land matters soon became so large that he gave up his pro- fession and connected with him in his land business, Nathaniel Amory, and continued with Mr. Amory until the Civil War. After the war he associated with him his son and in 1870 they removed to Marshall, and in 1873 he retired from active bus- iness and died in Marshall July, 1890.
He was an active sympathizer with the Confederate cause. He was appointed Receiver of the Confederate States Court at
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Tyler, and also accepted the appointment as agent of the Post Office Department of the Confederacy and was at the head of the department west of the Mississippi after the fall of Vicks- burg, with headquarters at Marshall.
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