Nelson Kavanaugh's Associates in the Republic of Texas, Part 3

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

This is a continuation of my examination of the men who signed Nelson Kavanaugh's petition to be allowed to remain in the Republic of Texas.

B. P. Buckner's smudged signature is on the lower left:

Benjamin P. Buckner arrived in the Republic of Texas around 1835. He was chief justice of Harris County, Texas from 1839 to 1847. One of his duties was to conduct the 1845 census of Houston. This was a census that was made in order for Texas to be able to join the United States. At that time Houston had 4, 757 people, of which 607 were qualified voters. 622 were slaves. I've seen no separate count of free blacks. Buckner died in 1875 and is buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston. His tombstone states that he was born in Oldham County, Kentucky in 1801.

M. T. Rodger's signature is below Hunt's:

Mangus T. Rodger's was an attorney. He was the sheriff of Houston from 1844 to 1846. He evidently died young. His wife Ann G. Rodgers was the administratrix of his estate in 1848. Their large house and acreage were advertised for sale in 1851 and 1852.

Robt Wilson's signature was immediately below Hadley's:

Robert Wilson was born 1793 in Talbot County, Maryland. By 1823 he was in Natchez where he was a contractor and in the mercantile business. In 1827 he partnered with William Plunkett Harris and ran steamboats along the Mississippi River and Red River. The following year he joined John Richardson Harris in developing Harrisburg, Texas. He married as his second wife the widow Sarah Reed. He fought in the siege of Bexar. Then in 1836, he was elected to the Texas senate. In 1838 and again in 1844, he ran for president but was defeated both times. He died in 1856 and is also buried in Glenwood Cemetery.

R. Theo Smyth's signature is above Thurston's:

Reginald Theodore Smyth was born about 1820 in Virginia. He was a law partner with Joseph C. Megginson. Their firm was located on Main Street in Houston in 1841. By 1847, they had relocated to Galveston, Texas with R.T. Smyth living in Montgomery. He ran for a judgeship in 1862. In 1866, he was a law professor at Baylor University. By 1880 he was living in Grimes County, Texas. He died in 1900 and is buried in Montgomery County, Texas in the Evergreen Cemetery aks Dobbins Cemetery aka Jacob Shannon Green Cemetery. He shares his tombstone with his wife Clarissa Shannon. It states that he was a circuit judge in Harris County, Montgomery County, and Grimes county.

Nelson Kavanaugh's Associates in the Republic of Texas, Part 1

Nelson Kavanaugh's Associates in the Republic of Texas, Part 2

Merry Christmas, 2019

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019


Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from my house to yours.

You can get your own copyright free greeting here.

Nelson Kavanaugh's Associates in the Republic of Texas, Part 2

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

This is a continuation of yesterday's post that begins an examination of the men who signed the petition of Nelson Kavanaugh, a freed slave, who wanted to be allowed to remain in the Republic of Texas after it had started the process of expelling free blacks.

Memucan Hunt's signature is below Scott's:

Memucan Hunt was born in North Carolina in 1807. In 1834, he removed to Madison County, Mississippi, where he remained for only two years. By 1836, he was in Texas, arriving shortly after San Jacinto. 1837 found him in Washington, lobbying for annexation, which the United States rejected. Under President Lamar of the Republic of Texas, he served as secretary of the navy from 1838 to 1839. In 1839, he became the Texas representative on the joint United States - Texas Boundary Commission. He died in Tennessee in 1856. Hunt County, Texas is named after him.

Daniel Busby's signature is across from Hunt's:

Not much has been found about Daniel Busby. In 1841 he was a constable of a military beat in Houston. By 1843 he was a marshall in Houston. A Daniel Busby, aged 90 to 95 died in Fisher County, Texas and was buried in Roby Cemetery. At this point, I do not know if he was the same Daniel Busby. The Daniel Busby buried in Fisher County was born somewhere in Mississippi about 1811.

T. B. J. Hadley's signature was below Busby's:

After a lot of squinting, I believe this is the signature of Col. Thomas B. J. Hadley. He married Piety Lucretia Smith in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi in 1831. Piety's father David Smith was born in Anson County, North Carolina but died in Hinds County, Mississippi in 1835. Piety's brother Jackson Smith seems to have signed Nelson's other petition. T. B. J. Smith and family moved to Houston in 1840. From at least 1842 to 1846, Col. T. B. J. Hadley was partners with Isaac Applewhite in a law firm in Houston. In 1846, Hadley ran for Probate Judge of Harris County. In 1847, he was a trustee of the Female Institute of Houston along with one N. Kavanaugh. I do think that this is a Nelson Kavanaugh, but sadly not my Nelson Kavanaugh. There will be more on him later. Meanwhile, my Nelson Kavanaugh and Col. Thomas Benjamin Jefferson Hadley would have crossed paths in both Hinds County, Mississippi, and Houston, Texas. The fact that Hadley did not arrive in Houston until 1840 suggests to me that my Nelson Kavanaugh may have returned to Texas from Kentucky in an effort to continue his petition to remain in Texas. This might also explain why he returned to Kentucky for a copy of his emancipation papers - he needed to document that he was a free black for his petition. In 1851, T. B. J. Hadley was operating a hotel in Houston. Col. T. B. J. Hadley was the Chief Justice of Harris County in 1863. His house burned in 1864 and was a total loss.

A. S. Thurston's signature was just above Busby's:

Col. A. S. Thurston of Louisville, Kentucky carried a letter of introduction from George C. Childress to Stephen F. Austin dated 28 October 1836. He served as an Attorney General during Sam Houston's first administration.

Nelson Kavanaugh's Associates in the Republic of Texas, Part 1

Nelson Kavanaugh's Associates in the Republic of Texas, Part 3

Nelson Kavanaugh's Associates in the Republic of Texas, Part 1

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

Back in October, I explored Nelson Kavanaugh's activities in the Republic of Texas. Nelson and I share the same white ancestor, and I only learned of him this fall. Nelson was a barber in Houston when the Republic of Texas decided that it did not want any freed blacks within its borders. There is a small file that contains Nelson's petitions to be allowed to stay in the Republic. As far as I can tell, his two petitions were rejected. In a previous post, I provided one petition comprised of men who had known Nelson Kavanaugh when he was a resident of Clinton, Mississippi in Hinds County. In that petition, those men vouched for Nelson's good character.

What appears to be Nelson's second petition, probably filed in late 1841, is composed of another group of men vouching for his good character. Some of them knew him in Mississippi and some knew him in Texas. It's hard at this point to know which is which.

In terms of researching Nelson Kavanaugh further, I'm floundering a bit, so I decided to research the men in the last petition. In theory, they should have each crossed paths with him in the Houston area or in Mississippi. I've just started researching them, but from what I've seen so far, this is not just a group of early settlers supporting Nelson. They were prominent men in Houston. How did all of them become acquainted with Nelson? My best guess is that he was their barber. This also suggests that Nelson may have been operating in some sort of storefront in Houston. Some of the signatures are hard to read, but one man tends to lead me to another. After researching each man, it should be possible to put together a timeline of sorts.

John R. Reid's signature was midway down the column on the right:

John R. Reid was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in the Republic of Texas in 1839. He was a trustee of the first church built in Houston, which was Presbyterian. He served as a member of the Republic's Congress from 1840 to 1841 but died on 25 December 1841 in Houston. This second document must have been created prior to December 25, 1841.

I. N. Moreland's signature was across from Reid's:

Major Isaac N Moreland was born in Georgia and arrived in Texas in 1834. He served in the storming of Bexar in 1835 and commanded the artillery at San Jacinto. It is thought that he became acquainted with Emily D. West, believed to be the Yellow Rose of Texas while at San Jacinto. Moreland was promoted to major 20 July 1836. He became the law partner of David Burnett in 1837. He died on 7 November 1840 while serving as Chief Justice of Harris County. This pushes the timeline for this document to a date prior to November 7, 1840.

Jame's Reily's signature was above Moreland's.

James Reily was born in Ohio in 1811. After receiving an education at the University of Transylvania in Lexington, Kentucky, he established a legal practice in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1835. However, by the following year, he was in was Texas. He and his family settled in Nacogdoches. He entered into a law practice with Thomas J. Rusk. When Rusk was elected Chief Justice of the Republic's Supreme Court in 1838, they relocated their offices to Houston. By 1839, Reily had changed law partners and was working with James Love. Reily represented Harris County in the House of Representatives in the 5th Congress of the Republic of Texas from 1840 to 1841. He was killed in 1863 during the Civil War. Since this pinpoints Reily's arrival in Houston to 1838, the date for Nelson Kavanaugh's document must fall between 1838 and November 7, 1840.

John Scott's signature is above Reily's:

John Scott was from North Carolina. He served as a representative to North Carolina House of Commons from Hillsborough, in Orange County from 1816 to 1827. Then from 1827 to 1834, he was the Solicitor General of North Carolina. When he lost his reelection to that position, he removed to Texas, leaving his wife and children in North Carolina. In 1839, he was judge of the Second Judicial District. He resigned the midst of misgivings about the legality of his appoint. He then ran for election to the position but lost. Then in 1840 he ran for Chief Justice and lost. Finally, he won the position of the recorder of the city of Houston in early 1842. He died on 4 June 1842.

More to follow...

Nelson Kavanaugh's Associates in the Republic of Texas, Part 2

Nelson Kavanaugh's Associates in the Republic of Texas, Part 3

John Sanders to Laurence Williams, Land Deed

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

In 1809, John Sanders sold 200 acres of land on Spear's Creek in Kershaw County, South Carolina to Laurence Williams. Laurence Williams' wife was Rachel Hogan. Because Rachel might have been related to William and Jemima Hogan, and because two Hogans witnessed the sale agreement, and because Jemima Hogan might have been a Sanders, this deed transaction is worth studying carefully. It would seem that this piece of land was near the 100 acres that Laurence Williams purchased from William Hogan just a few years before.

The first image below shows the deed as it appears in the deed book. The deed in the lower right quadrant is representative of the problem with many of the deeds in this book. The clerk wrote over the record with subsequent notations. It makes one cross-eyed and a bit dizzy trying to decipher these. While this over-writing does not affect the deed between Williams and Sanders, it does affect some of Laurence Williams' later records.

Below is an image of the Williams - Sanders deed transaction, followed by a transcript and commentary.

The State of South Carolina Kershaw District. Know all men by these presents that I, John Sanders of Kershaw District in the State aforesaid planter for and in consideration of the sum of one hundred and forty Dollars to me paid by Laurence Williams of Kershaw District in the State aforesaid, have granted, bargained and sold and released and by these present do grant, sell and release unto the said Laurence Williams all that plantation or tract of land containing two hundred acres situated on Spearses Creek waters of Wateree River and binding N.W. by the widow Sanders' land when Surveyed and all others Vacant land at the time of surveying which was in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three - Together with all and singular the right member, hereditaments and appertainant to the premises belonging or in any wise incident or appertaining To have and to hold all and singular the premises before mentioned unto the said Laurence Williams his Heirs and assigns forever. And I do hereby bind myself, my heirs Executors and administrators that each and every one will not interrupt the said Laurence Wiliams in the peaceful possession of the premises before described. Witness my hand and seal this third day of February in the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nine and in the thirty fourth year of the Independence of the United States of America. Signed, sealed and Delivered in the presence of
Lemuel Hogan }                                       John Sanders
Cordel his x mark Hogan}

State of South Carolina Kershaw District. Personally appeared before me Cordel Hogan and made oath that he saw John Sanders sign, seal and deliver the written conveyance for the uses and purposes therein mentioned and that with Lemuel Hogan in the presence of each other witness ?th the due execution thereof. Sworn to before me this 10th Day of March 1809.
William Langley J. P.                   Cordel his x mark Hogan

In 1809, John Sanders and Laurence Williams were both residents of Kershaw County, South Carolina. I do not know what John Sanders's relationship is to William Sanders or if he was related to Laurence Williams in any way. This tract of land is reasonably close to the tract of land that Laurence Williams purchased from William Sanders since they are both on Spear's Creek. Laurence Williams paid $140 for these 200 acres which was considerably more than the 15 pounds he paid for the 100 acres that he bought from William Sanders. The deed is signed by John Sanders who seems to be literate. Significantly, it was witnessed by Lemuel Hogan and Cordel Hogan. This is the same Cordel Hogan, who could not sign his name when he witnessed the deed between William Hogan and Laurence Williams.

This gave Laurence Williams a total of 300 acres at this point in time.

Cordel Hogan was probably the same Cordel Hogan who was a Revolutionary War soldier, so he was roughly the same age as William Hogan.