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Beeman
Memorial Cemetery Survey
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Generation No. 1/Lot 1.1 1. JOHN3 BEEMAN (JAMES2, JOHN1 BEAMAN)1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 Notes for JOHN BEEMAN: SEELY'S MILL One of the oldest mills in the County is Seely Mill, which stands on Section 1, Township 10, Range 13. It lately belonged to Judge A. S. Seeley. It is about 40 by 50 feet in ground area, and two and a half stories in height. It is equipped with two sets of buhrs, one for flour and one for corn, and is run by water power, furnished by Apple Creek. The dam is 130 feet wide, and has a fall of 6 feet. The mill is furnished with the picturesque, but clumsy, old-fashion tub wheel. The wheat that J. H. Jones, the miller, can grind in a day, will average about 60 bushels. All the work is custom. The mill was built by John and James BEEMAN, about the year 1821. At first they put up a crude saw-mill, with which they sawed out the lumber for the grist mill. They were the first to run the mill, and did a good business. ___________________________________________ The following information is from "The WPA Dallas Guide and History" pp. 39-40, published by the Dallas Public Library and the Unviersity of North Texas Press, 1992. BEGINNINGS OF SETTLEMENT On April 8, 1842, John BEEMAN, an earlier immigrant from Illinois, came with his family from Bird's Fort, settling eight miles to the southeast on White Rock Creek. Here a half-brother, James BEEMAN, joined him in that year. The BEEMANs planted the first corn in present-day Dallas County. Captain Mabel Gilbert, a former Mississippi River steamboat operator whom BRYAN had known before coming to Texas, brought his family down river in canoes and located south of BRYAN's cabin on the west side of the Trinity. Tom Keenan, a former Texas Ranger from Bird's Fort, and Isaac B. Webb, an immigrant from Green County, Missouri, established themsleves on Mustang Branch, north of BRYAN's place in the same year. These men and their families were, with BRYAN, the founders of the city and county of Dallas. ____________________________________________ THE PRECEEDING NOTE is from p. 186, "The Peters Colony of Texas," by Connor, Seymour V. 976.4 c752p, found in the Genealogy Section of the Dallas Public Library. ____________________________________________ The BEEMAN Family; John, James J., & nephew, John S. [Brother, Samuel came to Texas somewhat later in 1846 with his family from IL] first met John Neely BRYAN about 1840 in Bowie County, TX. BRYAN was passing through on one of his trips to Arkansas & Tennessee. He [BRYAN] was in the habit of stopping enroute at the settlement in Cass County, called "Bryan's Mill", established by a relative - nephew or uncle - named William O. BRYAN [i]. Before arriving at Bryan's Mill, BRYAN stopped off to pass the time of day with the BEEMAN brothers, John and James, recently arrived in TX. BRYAN discussed with them his plans for a trading post in the Cross Timbers, at the Three Forks of the Trinity River. He drew a map of the country for them which they would used later to scout the area. BRYAN at that time had not selected a name for his proposed trading post. He soon went on his way after bidding the BEEMANs "Goodbye." They would not meet again for two years. During those two years many changes took
place. For one thing, the country was somewhat safer for the
colonists since Bird's Fort had been built and established about
twenty-two miles west of John Neely BRYAN's camp-site. One day
in January of 1842, BRYAN rode over to Bird's Fort to invite
the colonists to come over to his camp-site and join with him
in establishing his settlement. Much to his pleasant surprise
he found the BEEMAN family living at the fort. What pleased him
most was the sight of John BEEMAN's second daughter, Sixteen-year-old,
Margaret BEEMAN, who not too much later became . . . . . But it was John, James J.,
and nephew, John S., who . . . . . .to continue our story, the
settlement of Dallas a reality, Fortunately, he was soon befriended by
the representative from Robertson County, Dr. Wilds K. Cooke.
But finding there was little a "man without a county"
could do, John BEEMAN went home in disgust. In due course, though,
after the Legislative session was over, Dr. Cooke presented John
BEEMAN's petition for the creation of the new county. The name
selected was "Polk", but that name had After the Legislature adjourned, John BEEMAN, in ill health himself, sent his son, William H. BEEMAN, on the trip to Franklin, the county seat of Robertson County, to pick up a copy of the Statute of Authorization from Dr. Cooke, a proof that the Legislature had authorized the creation of Dallas County on March 30, 1846. The son, William went alone, riding a fleet Mustang pony. He slept out on the bald prairie one night going and coming, and later, acknowledged that it was a scary experience. (The open country he went through was not exactly the safest place in the world to be in those times!) But he made the journey safely and successfully. The father, John BEEMAN, after his part in the creation and recognition of Dallas County, wanted no further part of politics, nor did his son, William. John died March 12, 1856, only 56 years old. William H. died January 14, 1905, of pneumonia. Previous PARAGRAPHS from Ruth Cooper
in her conversation with her grandmother, Sonoma BEEMAN MYERS. __________________________________________ John and his half-brother, James Jackson, were the first BEEMANs to come to the future Dallas Community from Greene County, IL. They first settled at Bird's Fort (north of Arlington, TX) on the north bank of the Trinity River. Title problems arose regarding the land because General Sam Houston had also promised it to another land developer. At this point John Neely BRYAN persuaded the BEEMANs to move to Dallas. The brothers drove the first wagons into the future Dallas area and named Turtle Creek (an exclusive area of today's Dallas). James hunted buffalo around the White Rock Lake and the Love Field areas. James became a Texas Ranger, an Indian fighter, an explorer, and a farmer. He evidently was a roamer, a pilgrim, and a pioneer! ___________________________________________ He came into Bowie County, TX (Old Cross Roads Camp Ground, near Dalby Springs, Old Boston), on 6 Dec 1840 (rented land on the Stearling Smith farm about 3 miles east of Dalby Springs), and then on to Dallas County in 1842. Their ninth child, John Scott Winfield BEEMAN was born at Cross Roads Camp on May 23, 1841. When Scott BEEMAN was 6 weeks old they moved to their claim in Nacogdoches County (later becoming Dallas County) on White Rock Creek. He settled on White Rock Creek and built the only "block house" in the county (built for protection from potential raiding Indians). Shortly after John BEEMAN settled in Dallas County (1842), he set aside about seven acres of the most beautiful part of his farm for the family cemetery. This site was located in the South part of the John BEEMAN Survey, on a high bluff, inside of what was later the Caroline BEEMAN FISHER Tract: "five chains East of the Clarissa B. Walker (50 acre) Tract, and just South of the Spencer Tract" as recorded in Book 280, pages 446-448, offices of Dallas County Clerk, Dallas, TX. It is presently located (Mapsco 47N) just south of Haskell, off Dolphin Road, at the end of Osage Street, off Mingo on Gault, north of the Jewish (Shearith Israel Park) Cemetery. John BEEMAN's first grandchild, Holland
Coffee BRYAN, born 6 Aug 1844, died 18 Jul 1845, was buried in
this Beeman Family Cemetery. (First born child of Margaret BEEMAN
and John Neely BRYAN). However, before 1845, tradition has it
that several children of transients and perhaps several slaves
had been buried in this cemetery. John BEEMAN died 12 Mar 1856
and was buried in his Many of the BEEMAN grand-children are buried in the cemetery in nameless graves as their markers are gone. Over the years, trespassers have had
no respect for the old cemetery. In the 1930's, a construction
company had a warehouse nearby and used the old cemetery as a
pasture for their stock. It was reported that even that warehouse
had been built over graves. Gravestones have been stolen, broken
and otherwise desecrated and destroyed. Heavy iron fences that
once surrounded the individual In 1939 several of the heirs tried to
do something about this desecration. Finally in 1945, two grandsons
of John BEEMAN; L. C. (Buddy), son of Wm. H., and Ira, son of
Scott BEEMAN, together with other heirs, went on the grounds,
measured the connections, lines and locations of the remaining
gravestones and made a plat. The map (cemetery plat is in the Dallas Library, 7th Floor) is as they hoped to improve this cemetery with a new entrance on "Pepper St". This, however, has never been accomplished. This old cemetery is located in back of the 4600 block of Dolphin Road, located south of Haskell Ave., east on Mingo St., then south on Gault St., and parallel the fence of the old Jewish Cemetery (Shearith Israel Park Cemetery) on to the entrance to the grounds of the Beeman Cemetery, often referred to as the "Old White Rock Cemetery". The leaders of the Beeman Family Cemetery Corp. have all died: L. C. (Buddy) BEEMAN died 12 May 1947
- buried Grove Hill Cemetery James F. CUMBY died 25 Dec 1948 - buried Mesquite Cemetery Ira BEEMAN died 21 Apr 1954 - buried Beeman Family Cemetery There is no "complete" list of interments in the Beeman Family Cemetery. John and Emily are buried in the Beeman Memorial Cemetery, Dallas, TX. John's headstone is the oldest in the cemetery. John BEEMAN has a "Citizen of the Republic of Texas" Plaque on his tombstone. There is a grave of the old slave, Jack, who came to Texas from Illinois with the John BEEMANs. John died in 1856 and Jack not long after. ?Grave marked by a large flat rock? ___________________________________________ Texas Historical Commission Marker inside cemetery John (1799-1856) and Emily Hunnicutt (1806-1892) Beeman brought their family to Texas during its days as a Republic. About 1842 they gained clear title to 640 acres of land, on which they established this family cemetery. One of its first known burials, that of Holland Cofee Bryan, eleven month old son of their daughter, Margaret and her husband, John Neely Bryan, took place in 1845. John and Emily are buried here, as are other family members and early neighbors. An important link in Dallas' history, the Beeman Memorial Cemetery contains more than 100 graves. (1984) __________________________________________ BEEMANS . . . . OF DALLAS, TEXAS "John Beeman, James J. Beeman and Samuel Beeman were brothers. Prior to the year 1813 the Beeman's lived in North Carolina --- thence moved to Illinois. From 1813 to early 1840, the Beeman and Hunnicutt records can be found in Calhoun, Scott, Greene, and Pike Counties, Illinois." PREVIOUS NOTE from "The Beeman Family 1841 - 1949" Dallas Public Library Genealogy |
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1830 FEDERAL CENSUS OF GREENE COUNTY,
IL Pg# Ln# Last Name First Name Filename 32 9 BEEMAN James pg00031 Head of Household White Males White Females Male Slaves Female Slaves Free Male Colored Free Female Colored White Deaf & Dumb Aliens Black Deaf & Dumb
2 19 BEEMAN Samuel 1 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 000019 32 9 BEEMAN James 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 000790 32 10 BEEMAN John 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 000791 46 8 BEEMAN Orman 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
0 0 0 3 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 001161 Greene County, IL 1840 Federal Census - INDEX Census_Year 1840 THIS IS AN INDEX SORTED BY NAME. Pg# Ln# Last Name First Name Filename 129 30 BEEMAN Samuel pg127.txt (Apple Creek Precinct) 129 30 BEEMAN Samuel 1 2 1 1 1 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 signed 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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Dated 2 Dec 1843, TX State Archives, Box 6, Ltr #73 To the Honorable Gentlemen of the Senate
and House of Representatives The undersigned petitioners, Citizens
of the Republic, do respectfully John Beeman & family Samuel Beeman,
single The foregoing list embraces those who
are entitled to the sympathies of William T. Sadler, Executor. On the 21st day of Oct. 1844, made, executed
and delivered to John Beeman And whereas, afterwards, to-wit: On the
11th day if Jan. 1845, Thomas Lagow Now In tender consideration of the above
facts, and by virtue of the authority To have and to hold the aforesaid described tract or parcel of land, together with the improvements thereon and the appurtenances thereunto belonging unto the said John Beeman, his heirs and assigns forever. And the said Wm. T. Sadler, as Executor aforesaid further covenants and agrees with said John Beeman, his heirs or assigns that he will as such executor as aforesaid warrant and forever defend the title to the aforesaid described premises and improvements unto the said John Beeman, his heirs or assigns against the claim or claims of any and all persons whomsoever lawfully claiming or to claim the same or any part thereof by, through or under the said Thomas Lagow, his heirs or assigns. In testimony whereof, the said Wm. T.
Sadler, Executor of the last will and Wm. T. Sadler, (Seal) The certificate of acknowledgement is
in compliance with statute: Previous typed abstract by M. C. Toyer http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/dallas/census/1850/dalfc50a.txt 1850 Census, Dallas, Dallas County, TX p. 100B 406 421 John BEEMAN 50 m Farmer $2600 IL 1850 Dallas Co, TX, Agriculture Census John BEEMAN: 40 improved acres; 600 unimproved
acres; $1000 Cash value of ___________________________________________ John BEEMAN's Land Records can be found
in Deed Records of Dallas ___________________________________________ 1870 Dallas County, TX, Agriculture Census John BEEMAN: 9 acres of improved land;
38 acres woodland; 35 acres unimproved transcribed & edited by M. C. Toyer. Mrs. Margaret BRYAN is now about 78 years of age and is the widow of John Neely BRYAN above referred to as Father of Dallas. She was married to Mr. BRYAN on Feb. 26, 1843, when a part of Dallas County east of the Trinity was a part of Nacogdoches. This was the first marriage of white people within bounds of what is now Dallas County, and John BRYAN, Mrs. Margaret BRYAN's first born, was the first white child of Dallas. He was born Jan. 9, 1846. Editor's Note: The honor of
Dallas' firstborn white child actually goes to Morris ___________________________________________
More About JOHN BEEMAN: Notes for EMILY MANLY HUNNICUTT: _______________________________________________ WFT source for Emily Manly's birthdate
showed June 19, 1806 in South Carolina. An article by Helen J. Sullivan of Dallas,
Texas, in "Proud Heritage, Pioneer In the "Citizens of the Republic
of Texas" by the Texas Genealogical Society, William C. HUNNICUTT and Patience HUNNICUTT,
twin brother and sister, were Emily (HUNNICUTT) BEEMAN (52) is in the
1860 Census, Dallas P.O., Dallas 1167 1166 Emily (Hunnicutt) Beeman 52F
Farmer 6500 1000 SC 1860 Dallas County, TX, Agriculture Census Emily BEEMAN: 60 Improved acres; 580
Unimproved acres; $6400 Cash value of farm; _______________________________________________ Emily is in the 1870 Census, Dallas,
Dallas County, TX, along with C. A. FUGATE ________________________________________________ Emily is in the 1880 Census, Dallas,
Dallas County, TX, living with her son, ________________________________________________ Emily BEEMAN, Dallas County, is listed
in "Confederate Indigent ________________________________________________
Emily and her husband, John, are buried
in the BEEMAN Family Cemetery,
=========================================================== ADDITIONAL NOTES FOR JOHN BEEMAN The following is from an article in the
Dallas Morning News, 2 Jan 1902. In the latter part of the year 1840,
Major John Bird of Bowie County, acting As an inducement to settlers, the Republic of Texas promised to feed them all the first year, or until a crop could be gathered. In this, however, the Government failed utterly, and the pioneers had to rely on their own resources. On the way out the immigrants stopped at Fort English (the present site of Bonham) where they met Major Bird who advised them to take out some corn and beef steers. "As the boys at the Fort are pretty short of rations," he said. Major Bird negotiated with Mr. Bailey English (who was general trader) for five beef steers and a lot of corn, giving his note of $100 for the same. John BEEMAN and Hampton RATTON endorsed the note and RATTON getting killed by Indians, BEEMAN afterwards had it to pay in full. When the party of immigrants arrived at Bird's Fort they found the garrison entirely destitute of provisions having had nothing to eat for a week. One of the Rangers, Riley Cole, had a few days before, picked up the feet of a calf that had been lying out on the prairie for six weeks (the calf having been butchered and eaten at the time) and he boiled these dry and discarded bones into a sort of soup or jelly. This was greedily devoured by the starving garrison and was the last morsel they had until the BEEMANs and their company arrived. Some small attempts at farming were begun at Bird's Fort, but on account of the malarial conditions in the vicinity, caused by a stagnant lake, the pioneers decided to quit the locality and hunt for a more salubrious spot. Editor's Note: Under the Military Road Act of 1840, Jonathan Bird and the other settlers at Bird's Fort were entitled to land in the vicinity of the fort but conflicts with additional land granted to the Texas Land and Immigration Company (Peters Colony) caused Sam Houston to deny the Bird's Fort settlers' claims. Many returned to the settlements in East Texas and a few to what later became Collin County. Only a handful made the move to John Neely BRYAN's outpost in the future city of Dallas.
A short time prior to the immigration of the BEEMANs and their friends, Hamp RATTON and Captain Mabel Gilbert to Fort Bird, a sturdy frontiersman named John Neely BRYAN had pitched his tent upon the banks of the Trinity, about the foot of what is now Main Street of the present City of Dallas. BRYAN, the Father of Dallas, went to Bird's Fort early in the year 1842 and invited the newly arrived settlers to pay his camp a visit, with the view of locating in that vicinity. Here is the account of the late Texas Historian Major John Henry Brown, of this incident: "Late in November, 1841, John Neely
BRYAN, a Tennesseean who had spent some time in the settlements
on Red River, camped alone and erected a tent on the banks of
the Trinity, near the site of the courthouse, and remained alone
until the succeeding spring, except when visited by persons looking
at the country. In the spring of 1842, several other families
having arrived at Bird's Fort, abandoned the fort and moved to
Dallas. Therefore, began in the spring of 1842, when the first
cabin was erected and the families of John BEEMAN and Captain
Gilbert being the first to arrive and relieve the loneliness
of the adventurous and true avant coureur, John Neely BRYAN.
Mrs. Gilbert the first American lady in Dallas County and Mrs.
John BEEMAN Mr. BEEMAN (John, the pioneer father of Wm. H. BEEMAN) asked BRYAN to give his camp a name, so that the new settlement could be designated, BRYAN being a great admirer of George M. Dallas, named the place in his honor. Editor's Note: Descendants
of William H. BEEMAN dispute this account of the naming of Dallas,
After a two or three day visit, BRYAN's guests decided to settle in his vicinity and returned to Bird's Fort for their families. Captain Mabel Gilbert, who had moved to the fort about two months after the BEEMANs, set to work and made two large dugouts from cottonwood trees and into these he loaded his family and household affects, making the trip to Dallas by water. He was formerly a Mississippi River steamboat captain and for this reason he probably preferred travel by water to an overland trip in an ox wagon. The distance from Bird's Fort to Dallas by water is 50 or 60 miles and on account of low water heavy drifts, "the fleet" of Captain Gilbert was ten days enroute. The BEEMANs did not move down until April 1842. Under the laws of the Republic of Texas a section of land (640 acres) was given to the head of a family. Captain Gilbert located his claim two miles west of BRYAN's camp (now Dallas), and John BEEMAN settled on the east side of White Rock Creek, six or seven miles east of BRYAN's place on a tract of land afterwards known as the Lagow League. Editor's Note: Unknown to John
BEEMAN, the Lagow League had already been surveyed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Besides John and James J. BEEMAN, Hamp RATTON, Capt. Gilbert, and Alex W. Webb, who with their families came to Dallas from Bird's Fort in 1842, there were others who settled in the county during that year. They were Thomas Keenan, and family; Preston and Pleasant Witt, twin brothers; and John and Eli Witt and family; John H. Cox and wife, and George Cox from Illinois; Solomon and William Caldwell and their families and their brother, Timothy, from Illinois; Dr. Calder who was killed the following year, by Indians; Wm. W. HOBBS and Wm. Larner and wife from Illinois. ___________________________________________
More About EMILY MANLY HUNNICUTT: Marriage Notes for JOHN BEEMAN and EMILY HUNNICUTT: ________________________________________ WFT and "The Beeman Family 1841-1949" shows marriage date as 18 Jun 1823 in Calhoun County, IL (Greene County, per Illinois Statewide Marriage Index 1763 - 1900). Calhoun County was formed 1 Jan 1825. Calhoun was just west of Greene County, between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Madison County was formed 14 Sep 1812 and consisted of everything north of St. Louis. Greene County was formed 20 Jan 1821 and consisted of later counties Macoupin, Morgan & Scott Counties. Alton became the County Seat of Madison County. The marriage date in the Beeman Family Bible is 19 Jun 1823. ________________________________________ More About JOHN BEEMAN and EMILY HUNNICUTT: Notes for ELIZABETH BEEMAN: __________________________________________ It is believed that Elizabeth was the 3rd wife of James B. BRYAN, brother of John Neely BRYAN. __________________________________________ Elizabeth's first husband was Henry HARTER. She was widowed when they lived in the Murphree Community of Dallas County. __________________________________________ E. CUMBY is listed as Executor for Wm. CUMBY in Case #1240, Dallas County, TX. __________________________________________ "Old Cemeteries of Dallas County", compiled by Willie Flowers Carlisle (Mrs. George F.), Dallas 1948, shows Elizabeth's birth date as 24 July 1824. Her gravestone shows 22 Jul 1824. She and her husband, William CUMBY are buried next to each other in the Beeman Family Cemetery, Dallas, TX. Her marker indicates her age as 61 yrs, 9 mos, 16 dys. __________________________________________ More About ELIZABETH BEEMAN: Notes for HENRY HARTER: ____________________________________________ Henry was the first husband of Elizabeth Beeman. ____________________________________________ Sometime in 1846, the Dallas Tavern opened under the management of Henry Harter. This was the first hotel or inn in the new town of Dallas. William Beeman operated it for several years. James B. Bryan, brother of John Neely Bryan, came to Dallas in 1846, and he is mentioned as running "the inn." ___________________________________________ Henry & Elizabeth lived at one time in the Murphree (Murphee) Community of Dallas County. ___________________________________________ Harry died on a sea voyage, and was buried at sea. From WFT#2:390 Beeman ___________________________________________ More About HENRY HARTER: Marriage Notes for ELIZABETH BEEMAN and
HENRY HARTER: Pam Hooser shows Elizabeth and Harry
married in Dallas County, TX. More About HENRY HARTER and ELIZABETH
BEEMAN: Notes for JAMES BRACKEN BRYAN, SR.: ____________________________________________ "James was a native of Tennessee and a brother of John Neely BRYAN." ____________________________________________ James Bracken BRYAN'S middle name may
be Booker since John Neely NOTE from David Krebeil (Wife is a descendant of JNB) ____________________________________________ "The Beeman Family 1841-1949"
indicates James B. was born at Pendleton, SC. ____________________________________________ Before meeting Margaret BEEMAN, John
Neely BRYAN, James' younger brother, From Ruth Cooper's NOTES ____________________________________________ "James B. came to Dallas County in 1846 where he opened the first hotel in the small village of Dallas. He lived here eight years and then went to California, where he died. He was a native of Tennessee and a brother of John Neely BRYAN, who built the first cabin where the city of Dallas now stands." NOTE from "Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County" p. 692. ____________________________________________ James was appointed Dallas County Treasurer in July 1846 for a 2-year term. He drew the first city map of Dallas. From Ruth Cooper's NOTES James B. was the 2nd husband of Elizabeth BEEMAN. ____________________________________________ "James B. helped his brother, John Neely, with the founding of the town of Dallas, TX. He was County Treasurer in 1847. He was a dentist, mechanic, contractor, and builder and had a mercantile business that burned." "California was offering flattering inducements to emigrants, so after his divorce from Elizabeth Beeman in 1853, he went to California where he married for a third time and had several children. Little was heard from James B. from California. Two reports: One that he died in 1863; the other that he lived to be a very old man, dying in 1904." NOTE: This information was taken from
the "McCubbin" files, Salisbury, Rowan County, NC.
Pam Hooser obtained this info from the Bryan Family file on the
7th floor, Dallas Public Library. 1850 Census, Dallas, Dallas County, TX Page 101B ____________________________________________ J. B. BRYAN is listed as executor for Leonora A. BRYAN in Case #954, Dallas County, TX. ____________________________________________ The Lusty Texans of Dallas indicate James went to California to be in the gold rush of 1850 and was never heard from again. ____________________________________________ May 1854 James B. BRYAN vs A. C. HAUGHT, et al. Debt. The plaintiff's attorney declares that he will no longer prosecute this suit; defendants are to recover costs from the plaintiff, James B. BRYAN. H. R. Morris vs J. R. Fondron. Trespass on the Case. A rule having been entered at a former term of this court requiring said plaintiff to give security and it not being received; it is also decreed by the court that the said defendant should recover of the plaintiff all costs, for which let execution be issued. James B. BRYAN vs John N. BRYAN & Samuel B. Pryor. Debt. The plaintiff by his attorney says he will no longer prosecute this suit and it is ordered by the court that the defendants recover from plaintiff, James B. BRYAN, all costs. ____________________________________________ |
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More About JAMES BRACKEN BRYAN, SR.: Marriage Notes for ELIZABETH BEEMAN and JAMES BRYAN: _______________________________________ Elizabeth BRYAN vs James B. BRYAN. Motion for Alimony. John C. McCoy is appointed receiver.
The defendant, James B. BRYAN is ordered to deliver to the receiver
the notes on the liability of Jonathan E. Jenkins for the rent
of the hotel in the town of Dallas for the present year amounting
to $300. The said McCoy is to collect the rents and distribute
them in the following proportion; Elizabeth BRYAN-$200., James
B. BRYAN-$75.00, the said Jenkins-$25. for improvements. When
present term of renting expires, McCoy shall rent out the hotel
at the best rate and continue to do so from year to year until
the suit for divorce between these parties now pending shall
be determined. Said receiver shall be allowed 10% on all amounts
received and paid out. More About JAMES BRYAN and ELIZABETH
BEEMAN: Notes for WILLIAM CUMBY: William was the 3rd husband of Elizabeth
BEEMAN. William's gravestone shows Wm. CUMBY,
and birth date of 10 Aug 1820; Aged 68 y'rs, 4 mo's, 11 d'ys.
He and Elizabeth are buried in the Beeman Family Cemetery, Dallas,
TX. Samuel Harter BRYAN was raised by William
CUMBY. "Sam" never knew he was not adopted. Wm. CUMBY, deceased; E. CUMBY, Guardian;
Case #1240, Dallas County, TX More About WILLIAM CUMBY: Marriage Notes for ELIZABETH BEEMAN and
WILLIAM CUMBY: Elizabeth's marriage to William CUMBY
was in Scott County, IL (Winchester). More About WILLIAM CUMBY and ELIZABETH
BEEMAN: Lots 8.2, 8.1 ii. MARGARET BEEMAN111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118, 119,120,121,122,123,124,125,126,127, b. 29 September 1825, Calhoun County, Illinois128; d. 06 September 1919, Charlie, Clay County, Texas129,130; m. JOHN NEELY BRYAN131,132,133,134,135, 136,137,138,139,140,141,142, 26 February 1843, Pin Hook (now Paris, Lamar County), Texas143; b. 24 December 1810, Coon Creek, Fayetteville, Lincoln County, Tennessee144; d. 08 September 1877, Austin State Hospital, Austin, Travis County, Texas145. Notes for MARGARET BEEMAN: Margaret BEEMAN source of information. "Memorial and Biographical History,
Dallas County, Texas," "The actual settlement of Dallas County began in the spring of 1842, when the first cabin was erected and the families of John Beeman and Captain Gilbert were the first to arrive and relieve the lonliness of the adventurous and true-hearted John Neely Bryan, who had for five or six months been 'Monarch of all he surveyed,' provided, he neither surveyed red men of the forest nor the raging Trinity on one of its periodic 'spreads.' He entertained them with the best he had - chiefly bear meat and honey - perhaps without recalling the adage about 'entertaining angels unawares.' Yet was verified in this case, for, ere a great while, the lonely son of Tennessee gave his heart and hand to a comely and pure-hearted daughter of Illinois, in the person of Margaret, a daughter of Mr. John Beeman." Transcribed from: "Memorial Biographical
History of Dallas County". "Margaret & Neely were married in a simple civil ceremony at Fort Bonham on 26 Feb 1843, and returned to their log cabin home in Dallas on horseback." Previous information from Ruth Cooper's
notes. Margaret had to be a strong woman in
these early days of Dallas, to say the least. After Bird's Fort was abandoned by the
Republic of Texas, some Previous information from Sam Acheson's
"Dallas Yesterday", p. 63. There are several articles written by Margaret Beeman about life in early Dallas. They may be in the The Dallas Morning News or The Dallas Times Herald archives. DAYS OF DALLAS OF CITY STILL LIVES CROP WHERE DALLAS COUNTY COURT HOUSE NOW STANDS To the News: Reading in the Dallas News of the death of Sister Knight reminds me that I will soon have to travel that road from which no traveler ever returns. It also reminds me of the days of long ago - the coming of the Knight family to Dallas. I am an old citizen of that city, my father's family came there in 1841. I was married there in 1843 to John Neely BRYAN, Sr., the father and founder of Dallas. From reading the News I see there has been many great changes; for instance, the great viaduct that spans the Trinity River, which in early days my husband and I crossed so many times in our little canoe, dug out of a cottonwood tree, and your magnificent buildings that have taken the place of our little rude log cabin, with clapboard roof and puncheon floor. I can't comprehend the change and expect could hardly believe my own eyes. It doesn't matter how long I live, I shall always call Dallas my home. My husband and I lived happily in that lonely log hut, for we had plenty of buffalo, deer and turkey for meat with wild honey for sweets. We ground our meal on a steel mill, raised our corn on the ground where your fine courthouse now stands. We had one Indian pony and a wooden plough, made of the fork of a Bois d'arc tree and the harness was made of buffalo skins. In this way we blasted out the path for the prosperity of the thousands that now enjoy the pleasure of living in that great city. The reason I haven't visited Dallas is that I live with my son, John Neely Bryan, Jr., and have made my home with him and his good wife for over thirty years. He is now almost blind and can't see to read or write, much less travel with his old mother, so I suppose we will remain here for the remainder of our time. Now, Mr. Editor, I will enclose one of my photos so that the people of Dallas can see that the first white woman that ever walked the streets of Dallas still lives and enjoys reasonable health, for one of her age. All kindest regards to the Dallas News and the City and County of Dallas. I remain ever yours, Mrs. John Neely BRYAN, Sr. ------------------------------- Margaret BEEMAN BRYAN (This is an article written by Mrs. John Neely BRYAN and published in the Dallas News.) Margaret (BEEMAN) BRYAN (1825-1919) was the daughter of John and Emily (HUNNICUTT) BEEMAN, and was age 80 years at the time of this interview. This interview was taken from the Dallas Genealogical Society Quarterly, December 1988, p. 234, where it was reproduced.
Times Herald, August 3, 1905 "The most interesting character at the Old Settlers Reunion at Oaklawn Park is Mrs. BRYAN, widow of John Neely BRYAN, the founder of Dallas. Nine years ago Mrs. BRYAN removed with her son, John Neely BRYAN, Jr., from Dallas County to Clay County, and resides on Red River near Thornbury, in Clay County. Her old friends knowing she would be at the reunion came in greater numbers than usual just to meet her again and be for two days more with their dear friend, who, with them in "the used to be" was young when Dallas County was young, before Dallas County was, indeed, for when the first settler came it was a part of Nacogdoches County. Talking to "Times Herald" reporter, Mrs. BRYAN said: "I came with my people, the BEEMANs, from Illinois to Texas in 1840, when I was a slip of a girl of fifteen. We lived at a block house, for that stood where Birdville, in Tarrant County, now stands and where a few families had gathered and built this block house for protection from the Indians who were plentiful those days, almost as the buffalo that roamed at will in great herds over the prairies around where Dallas now stands, and even grazing grass right where the streets of Dallas are now laid off. In 1843, when I was eighteen, I married John Neely BRYAN. There was a man who rode the mail, horseback, from Bonham down into the cross timbers settlements and further on, who was also a justice of the peace, and he married us. His precinct as justice of the peace ran from Red River on down this way, taking in all this section, and I don't know how much farther west. I cannot remember his name, but he was a very handy man in the community, as he could settle legal disputes most anywhere, under a tree or in a house, when there happened to be any around, or he could marry a couple with ease, grace and great willingness, and he distributed the mail through the settlements, and letters were scarce those days, but always welcome visitor, bringing news from the kin folks and friends back in the states. Yes, times were what folks would now call hard, but we didn't mind them. We always had plenty of meat and bread, and most of the time coffee and those who wanted it had milk, too. Mr. BRYAN was a great hand to have plenty of meat in the house, and it was powerful easy to get it. As I said, the buffaloes went in great droves all around us, never out of sight, and deer and turkey were as plentiful as the beeves are out West now. The rivers and creeks had plenty of fish in them, too, and in winter we had the Northern wild fowl and prairie chickens would almost come into the house. Mr. BRYAN always said he would rather eat my bread, my cornbread, than any other sort of bread ever made. Mr. BRYAN founded Dallas by building the first house ever built in the town, a log house close to the river, where the Commerce Street Bridge is now. There was a ferry there in those days when the river was up and a ford in low water. This was just a natural ford, the road up and down the banks first being beaten out, I suppose, by Indians and buffalo crossing back and forth. Yes, Mr. BRYAN was the first settler in what is now Dallas County, and the Overtons were the second family to come. I remember the first time I ever saw Alex COCKRELL's father. He came to our house with some Indians, was dressed like the Indians, and could talk the Indian language. I asked Mr. BRYAN who he was and he told me his name. He stopped in the settlement, that back in the forties, and took up land on Mountain Creek, a headright. I suppose Mr. HORTON lived on Mountain Creek and Mr. COCKRELL married Sarah HORTON. He made quite a fortune and was for some time before his death engaged in milling business. Yes, I know all the first settlers, and when a new family came into the community it was like a nine day wonder; everybody was so glad to get another neighbor and that much more help in case of hostilities from the Indians, which we were always in dread of. In those days everybody knew everybody here and was welcome in everybody else's house. We all neighbored and we all loved one another. People didn't stare at strangers like they were wild animals, but gave them a cordial greeting and welcome, and divided whatever they had with them, helping them along until they could get settled and fixed up. In those early days our house was a general stopping place for people going to and fro through this section. Some of the men who were big in those days in the affairs of the country and some who have become big since, have often been to our house and stayed with us. People didn't charge travelers for staying all night with them in those old times, but were always glad to have them. People didn't lock up their doors and bar their windows to keep thieves out, for there were no thieves or burglars in the country. We slept with our windows up and doors open in the warm weather and never thought of losing anything, and we didn't lose anything unless prowling Indians slipped in and stole a few horses or killed a beef or two on the prairie. Those were good old times, the happiest and best days of all my life. The first great sorrow of my married life was when my first baby died, the first child born in Dallas County, and my son, John Neely, Jr., was the next, the first born in the county to live. The people were all honest, all kind and good hearted, sympathizing with those in distress, helping freely and gladly those in need. If anybody was sick all the community went to help nurse, and when a death occurred everybody physically able, went to the funeral, weeping with the grief-stricken relatives and offering every comfort and sympathy that tender and loving hearts could give. People got closer together in the pioneer days, out on the borders than they do when civilization fills up the country. It may bring its finer churches and school houses and dwellings, its multiplied conveniences and varied needful utilities and its greater wealth of this world's goods, but there seems to come with it fearful dearth of God's love in the hearts of men and sad luck of human kindliness and gentleness. This bois d'arc rocking chair you see
there on the platform, my son and I brought down with us, that
the people in the great Dallas of today might see the kind of
rocking chairs we had in the early days. I do not suppose any
of your fine furniture stores or manufacturers would let that
old chair have standing room in their establishments but it is
dear as life to me. My husband cut the bois d'arc tree and made
that chair with his own dear hands in 1844, sixty-one years ago,
and bottomed it with buffalo hide, tanned by himself, and taken
from the body of a buffalo he had himself slain. He had no turning
lathe to turn the legs and rounds, but he made a bowstring (all
workmen know what a bowstring is) and turned them with that.
It was a fine chair when it was first made, because there were
none finer in all this country, but it looks very uncouth and
rustic and common beside the artistic productions of machinery
and skilled workmen of these times; but do you reckon any of
these artistic and elegant rockers of high price would stand
the wear and tear and rough usage of sixty-one years as this
plain bois d'arc chair, made by unskilled hands, has stood. In the 1880 Census, Dallas, Dallas County, TX, Margaret is living with her brother, Scott and his wife, Bettie, along with Scott and Bettie's family of 4 children: "Annie", "Emma", "Lizzie", & Scott, and Scott's mother, Emily. Transcribed from "The Forgotten
History of the Four Cabins Built by John Neely Bryan", Written
by Barrot Steven Sanders, Library #976.42812.S21FF. The following is a poem written to the wife of John Neely BRYAN, Margaret BEEMAN BRYAN, written to her by her cousin, Rowell HUNNICUTT.
THE OLD LOG CABIN My mind wanders back to my childhood
days, Then we had horses, hogs, cattle, and
all, It is true I lived in a house that had
brick for its walls, Some of those neighbor's names I will
endeavor to recall, And most of them lived in houses that
had logs for their walls, I would love to see a monument erected
in memory of them all, Rowell Hunnicutt From Mrs. W. M. SIMM's scrapbook. Note: Margaret smoked a pipe and Annie Marie LANHAM SEIDENBERG had possession of it until Annie's death. Don't know where it is at the present time. I personally saw the pipe just prior to Annie Marie's death; A. C. Morgan. ================================================== The founder of Dallas, John Neely BRYAN,
was a Tennesse-born Previous information from Sam Acheson's
"Dallas Yesterday" , p. 60. The following are added NOTES for husband, John Neely. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~lpproots/Neeley/john_neely_bryan.htm Debrett's Texas Peerage page 300: Bryan had the distinction of being the first settler in Dallas TX. From his cabin there he plowed the land in his buckskin suit with a bois d'arc fork & crossed the river in a cottonwood dugout. His home was the first post office & courtroom in Dallas, TX. He became a lawyer & served as a Dallas alderman. Born in Fayetteville, TN, in 1810. Married MARGARET BEEMAN, one of the first settlers in Dallas, where he had a famliy. Died in Austin in 1877. 20th century descendents include the
families of Alexander Lut(h)er BRYAN, Robert Alexander WARNER,
Ross Willard BROWN, Minor Lafayette WOOLLEY, Samuel Gayle Deatherage,
Jasper Clark BOX.
History: In March 1861 Texas seceded from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America. During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Dallas served as a supply and storage post for the state. After the war ended, freed slaves flocked to Texas and founded a freedmen's town on the outskirts of Dallas. By 1870, the year Texas was readmitted to the Union, Dallas had a population of about 3000. Dallas grew steadily for the next 30 years. The successful lobbying for two railroads, the Houston and Texas Central in 1872 and the Texas and Pacific in 1873, initiated this growth. As a rail crossroads, Dallas became a regional transport center for products headed to Northern and Eastern manufacturing centers. Cotton became the principal source of income, but the city also attracted merchants and banking and insurance companies eager to exploit available transportation and communication facilities. Throughout this period, business and political leaders forged close ties, thus shaping the character of the city and guiding its economic direction. By 1890 Dallas had 38,067 residents and was the largest city in the state. The Panic of 1893, a national economic crisis, slowed the city's business development. Dallas recovered with the increase in agricultural prices in the early 20th century, and doubled its size with the annexation of Oak Cliff and other areas. In the century's second decade, Dallas began implementing an urban design plan created by George Kessler, a city engineer. The Kessler Plan connected Oak Cliff and Dallas, established greenbelts, and attempted to chart and direct urban growth. Control of the Trinity River also took a high priority. The city built levees and steel viaducts, and in a massive engineering project, the river channel was moved, straightened, and confined for flood control. The Great Depression of the 1930s had a severe impact on Dallas, but the crisis was partially alleviated by the discovery of the East Texas oil fields, which made Dallas a center of the petroleum business. Oil and the booming defense industry during World War II (1939-1945) stimulated growth and helped Dallas to diversify its economy. Dallas won a reputation as a politically ultraconservative city in the 1950s. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza was a shock to the residents of Dallas and moderated somewhat the city's politics. Nevertheless segregation continued in the city, and the flight of white residents from the inner city intensified racial animosities. The city prospered economically with the rising oil prices of the 1970s and the resulting construction boom. The collapse of oil prices in the 1980s, the failure of many local savings and loan institutions, and the resulting collapse in real estate prices caused the city to tumble into an economic depression. Dallas civic leaders launched an economic program that included renovating part of the downtown area and attracting new industries. The city leadership also worked hard at smoothing racial tensions, which remained despite sizable growth in minority populations and improved sensitivity on the part of white leaders. Although Dallas was one of the last major cities to recover from Texas's mid-1980s economic collapse, the strength of its basic economy, its geographic location, and the recovery of the state economy ultimately combined to slow the economic decline in the Dallas region. Contributed By: Robert A. Calvert "John Neely BRYAN opened his trading post along the Trinity River in 1841, five years after the Republic of Texas was born. He talked the John BEEMAN family into moving to (what is now) Dallas (to a spot near White Rock Creek) and married their daughter, Margaret." Previous NOTE from "The Dallas Morning
News", Sunday, June 21, 1998. "John Neely BRYAN founded Dallas, Texas, in 1841. Called Uncle Neely by the family. I was always told that he had a drinking problem, died in an Austin State Hospital & was buried in an ummarked grave there in Austin. He has a Memorial Monument in Pioneer Cemetery in Dallas. John Neely always operated a ferry, mostly free to get settlers, but was officially licensed.....1845, along with William Baker who operated it, although Adam HAUGHT operated the ferry for a little while. Alexander COCKRELL bought Dallas and the ferry rights in April 1853 for $7000. In 1855, when John Neely BRYAN thought he had killed a man, he ran away and spent some time with his friend, Jess Chisholm in the Creek Nation. Then he went on to California, where he saw his brother, James B. BRYAN, at Stockton. John N. BRYAN returned home in 1861." NOTES from Ruth Cooper Letter to Mr. A. Cockrell from John Neely Bryan Creek Nation February 25th 1856 Mr. A. Cockrell Sir I receivd your letter of December the 4th a few days since and I was very glad to get it. I have rec - one from my wife only I am living with Jesse Chisholm in the Creek Nation about 40 miles North of Fort Arbuckle Chisholm is a half Breed Cheroke and an old friend of mine I have don nothing yet to make a living I hav been out on the Plains 3 times to look for the gold mines but did not find them and I think I shall set out again soon but will return hear again I some times think it would be best for me to go into the western part of Texas and make me a new home for I want to see my Family and shall not be satisfied until I am again with them I wish you to write to me and advise me in regard to this course and let me know if it would be safe for me to do so or not I was in a storm some time since and a tree blowed down on my horse and broke him down in the time since which time I have had to borrow I am surprised at Cal Stone and other Atorneys of Dallas for turning against me and I shall meet them yet when they may lest expect it and then I will know the reason why they do so. If I have any friends among the people of Dallas I want you to write who they are Give my love to my wife and children and say I will be with them as soon as I can I shall depend upon you to act for me as well as you can and I hope to live to work and pay you for it Give my Respects to your Lady I remain your Write soon and Direct (This was written with the same spelling
and punctuation as the original letter. From "Dallas News"
5-29-32. The horse which was killed was Neshoba, JNB's horse
that carried him to Texas to found the city of Dallas.) Letter to Mr. Abr. Cockrell from John Neely Bryan Jamestown Col; January 2nd 1858 Sir I received a letter from you which was written in June last and I answerd it at the time of reseption but I have not heard from you since I receivd one from my wife at the same time and have not receivd any since what can be the cause is a mistry to me But I continu to write to my by every mail I hope you will write to me and let me know the cause if any I do not write to any one at Dallas ecept you for I cannot place confidence in any the rest I am not able to come home yet but as soon as I can I shall start home on the mail Roit from hear to El Passo I have worked harder than I ever did in my life but it takes all I can make to pay my Expences and every one hear that I am acquainted with is in the same situation I some times get out of Heart and conclude I will not be able to see my wife and children again The gold mines is worked out so much that men can make but little now and still a mans expinces is the same they wore before the mines foild I am mining now but the watter freeses up and I can make nothing You could not believe that their was in this country and hundreds of them that were almost on the starve but such is the case and their is but few but what eates up at night what he maks in the day it is the hardes country I think on earth I shall be on the way as soon as I can make the money I shall not remain hear one day longer than I can help for I want to see my wife and children when I mention that is the cause for my coming home you know I am in Ernest I want you to see my wife tell her what I have written and say to her that it is not my fault I do not come home Give my love to my wife and children My Respect to Mrs. Cockrell and any others that you know to be my friends if I have any about I remain your friend PS If you write direct your letter thus Col John N. Bryan If letters come hear after I leave I
have friends hear that will send them too me whearever I go I
do not want any more sent to Stocton for their is to minny their
that knows me J.B. Bryan was their not long ago RODE A HORSE FROM SPRINGFIELD TO DALLAS is from an article It is about J. D. HERNDON (wife Josephine
HOBBS) son in law Previous NOTE on the article is from Eulene WILKERSON. There is a Memorial Monument in honor
of JNB in the There has been much discussion about
how Dallas got Austin State Hospital gives the death
date of JNB as There are articles about JNB on microfilm
and/or book form |
|
More About MARGARET BEEMAN: Notes for JOHN NEELY BRYAN: By 1840 American explorers had begun to enter the area. The first to remain was John Neely BRYAN, who arrived in November 1841 with his dog and a Cherokee friend, Ned. Settlers in the area had difficulties with Indians, . . . and many had settled for protection at Fort Bird or Bird's Fort, located near the site of present-day Euless. Previous NOTE from Dallas County Historical
Commission, Dallas County. The following information is from an "Interview of John Neely BRYAN, Jr.", written by W. S. Adair. "My father, who was of Irish descent, was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee, December 24, 1810," Mr. BRYAN continued. "At that time Tennessee may be supposed to be something of a wilderness, but to the frontiersman it had become effete. My father crossed to Arkansas in 1837. He knew the language of several of the Indian tribes, and this knowledge and a wide acquaintance with the Indians enabled him to get into the Government service in connection with the Government trading post at Preston, on Red River, now in Grayson County." "The Indians brought to Preston
the most glowing accounts of the region lying south of Red River
which filled my father with a desire to explore it. It seems
that he was unable to find a white man to accompany him into
an unknown region, inhabited by hostile tribes. He found many
who were interested and who expressed a wish to invade it, but
when the time came it invariably turned out that they had exaggerated
their readiness for the plunge. Finally, in 1839, my father entered
Texas with a single Cherokee companion. He explored the country
for a considerable distance west and south, but selected the
forks of the Trinity for the site of his projected settlement."
The following information is from "The WPA Dallas Guide and History", pp. 38-39, published by the Dallas Public Library and the University of North Texas Press, 1992. "It was in the autumn of 1840 that a young Tennessee-bred lawyer and frontier adventurer from Arkansas, John Neely BRYAN, accompanied by a Cherokee Indian guide and a bear dog, pitched camp on the east bank of the Trinity River, where the city of Dallas stands today. Born of Scotch-Irish stock at Fayetteville, Tennessee, December 24, 1810, John Neely BRYAN was one of the restless, enterprising, and frequently well-educated sons of the Old South who in the pioneer annals of the Southwest are the equivalents of the "voyageurs" and "coureurs de bois" of early frontier history in the North, and of the hunters and scouts who played such a prominent role in the later winning of the West. He had apparently read law in Tennessee in the approved fashion of the day, but when still very young crossed over into Arkansas to recover from the debilitating effects of an attack of the cholera; he lived with the Indians and adopted their mode of life. Little is known of his movements in the years immediately following except that he acquired an extensive acquaintance with languages and customs." A PIONEER PITCHES CAMP "Entering Texas in 1839 from Van Buren, Arkansas, where he had substantial interests--including a share in a coal mine -- BRYAN had been attracted to the Dallas region by visions of profitable trading with the Indians and white settlers who would traverse a projected military highway from Austin to the Red River. This would cross the Trinity River "at or near its three forks." After his preliminary survey in 1840 of the possibilities of a trading post on the Trinity, BRYAN returned to Van Buren, disposed of his holdings there and came again, this time alone, to the Texas site he had chosen, arriving later in November, 1841. He built a rude shelter against the bluff that formed the eastern bank of the river. Around the site of this habitation grew first the village, then the town, and finally the city of Dallas." "Survey of the military road northward had been begun September 14, 1840, by Colonel W. C. Cooke of the Texas army. His party, after great hardships, in mid-October compelted the route to the mouth of the Kiamichi on Red River, crossing the Trinity River near the western end of the present Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe railway bridge in Dallas. This road was staked through the prairies and blazed through the timber. The southern section wa was opened in 1843, and in this year the "citizens at and near the three forks of the Trinity," including BRYAN, petitioned the congress of the Republic for the completion of the road. As a result the northern leg--designated as the Texas Central National Highway, authorize February 5, 1844 -- was opened in 1845, following the Cooke survey from the Trinity to the Red River." "The territory east of the Trinity River was then a part of Nacogdoches County, that on the west Robertson County. As a settler BRYAN received a grant of 640 acres in the former county, comprising a strip along the Trinity River, and adjoining on the east a 4,605-acre tract previously granted to John Grigsby of Houston County. Owing to complications arising out of the proximity of the two grants, BRYAN's title was not finally confirmed by the State of Texas until February 16, 1854, while litigation over the Grigsby grant occupied the courts of the state for many years." "While BRYAN was absent on his return trip to Arkansas, Rangers sent into North Texas by President Lamar to drive out the Indians had largely completed their task. When BRYAN again arrived on the banks of the Trinity, the redskins on whom he had counted as customers had departed." "Consequently, he abandoned his
original idea of a trading post in favor of establishing a permanent
settlement. He learned from friendly Indians remaining in the
vicinity that there were a number of white people twenty-two
miles to the northwest at Bird's Fort (near the present Birdville
in Tarrant County), survivors of a military camp established
in 1840. BRYAN invited these pioneers to join him on the lower
river." In 1925, W. N. Peacock wrote that it seemed "impossible that a city could grow from one log cabin to a great metropolis in less that a century." It would indeed be difficult to list all the players who acted to build Dallas County as we know it. The region was originally home to the Caddo Indians. It wasn't until February 1841 that the Republic of Texas contracted with W.S. Peters and Associates of Kentucky and Ohio to introduce settlers to the area. In November 1841, before Peters colonists arrived, a young Tennessee lawyer and frontier adventurer named John Neely Bryan, established himself at a crossing of the Trinity River, at what is now near the Old Red Courthouse, downtown Dallas, TX. BRYAN, who had spent the previous few
years recovering from cholera, had discovered the location in
1840 while traveling with his dog, "Tubby", and a Cherokee
friend and guide named "Ned". FOLLOWING NOTE from "Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County". "The actual settlement of Dallas
County began in the Spring of 1842, when the first cabin was
erected and the families of John BEEMAN and Captain Mabel GILBERT
were the first to arrive and relieve the loneliness of the adventurous
and true-hearted, John Neely BRYAN, who had for five or six months
been 'Monarch of all he surveyed', provided , he neither surveyed
red men of the forest nor the raging Trinity on one of its periodic,
'spreads'. He entertained them with the best he had - chiefly
bear meat and honey - perhaps without recalling the adage about
'entertaining angels unawares'. Yet was verified in this case,
for err a great while, the lonely son of Tennessee gave his heart
and hand to a comely and pure-hearted daughter of Illinois, in
the person of Margaret, a daughter of Mr. John BEEMAN." According to some sources, he and a partner laid out the town of Van Buren, AR. JNB made his first trip to the future site of Dallas, TX, in 1839. He returned to Van Buren, AR for a while to settle his personal affairs. In November 1841 he was back in Texas. He settled on the east bank of the Trinity River, not far from present downtown Dallas (near the present day Old Red Courthouse). In the Spring of 1842 he persuaded several families (one being BEEMAN) who had previously settled at Bird's Fort (north of Arlington, Texas) on the north bank of the Trinity River, to join him. John BEEMAN and his half-brother, James Jackson BEEMAN, were the first BEEMANs to come to the future Dallas Community from Greene County, IL. Title problems arose regarding the land because General Sam HOUSTON had also promised it to another land developer. At this point, John Neely BRYAN persuaded the BEEMAN's to move to Dallas. The BEEMAN brothers drove the first wagons into the future Dallas area and named Turtle Creek (an exclusive area of today's Dallas). James BEEMAN hunted buffalo around what is now the White Rock Lake and Love Field areas. James became a Texas Ranger, an Indian fighter, an explorer, and a farmer. He evidently was a roamer, a pilgrim, and a pioneer! JNB married Margaret BEEMAN on 26 February 1843, who was a daughter of John BEEMAN. John & Margaret had 5 children. One story has JNB as the founder of Dallas
and that he named it after "his friend, Dallas." The following information is from "The WPA Dallas Guide and History", pp. 42-43, published by the Dallas Public Library and the University of North Texas Press, 1992. TOWNSITE CALLED DALLAS "Confirmation of the naming of the settlement as Dallas by 1843 is also found in the diary of Edward W. Parkinson, who in the summer of that year was a member of the party accompanying President Sam Houston from Washington-on-the Brazos to Bird's Fort, where Houston expected to make a treaty with the Indians. Parkinson wrote:" "I then went on (after leaving the
Houston party) to another settler's cabin on the banks of the
Trinity River, the projected site for a town called Dallas, inhabited
by a man named BRYAN, who had settled in the wilderness previous
to its being chartered for a colony, and who seemed to anticipate
some trouble from the heads of the colony wishing to asume his
lands, a choice spot on the Elm Fork, which he had located previous
to the colonial grant by virture of his headright. He was a hardy
backwoodsman and a sensible, industrious, ingenious, and hospitable
man. He as well as others complained bitterly of the colonial
management, there being no agents or surveyors there to attend
to the immigrants when they arrived or point out the lands available
for them. He informed me there were only about thirty families
spread over a space of as many miles in length and breadth."
Mr. PERRY OVERTON was Here Before Dallas Was Mr. Perry Overton, who has 100 acres
of cotton - September 11, 1898, Dallas Daily Times
Herald, p. The following information is from "The WPA Dallas Guide and History", pp. 40-41, published by the Dallas Public Library and the University of North Texas Press, 1992. "When John BEEMAN joined BRYAN at
Dallas he brought his wife and ten children, including two daughters,
Elizabeth and Margaret, in a covered wagon, the first wheeled
vehicle the village knew. BEEMAN's impedimenta proved a double
attraction for the bachelor pioneer, BRYAN, who first borrowed
his wagon and oxen to go to Preston on the Red River for merchandise,
and later paid court to his younger daughter, Margaret. On his
trip to Preston, BRYAN followed the route, later the old Preston
Road (now State Highway 14), which he had blazed along the western
edge of the Cross Timbers on his first trip to and from the site
of Dallas. On February 26, 1843, he married Margaret BEEMAN.
The couple tilled the land about a second and better habitation
the young husband had erected for his bride, using his Indian
pony and a rude bois d'arc plow. Harness for the horse was made
from buffalo hide, and when necessary, the couple crossed the
river in a canoe hewn from a cottonwood tree. This second cabin
was washed away in a great Trinity River foood in the spring
of 1844, which threatened to destroy the village, and BRYAN and
his wife lived in a tent made of wagon sheets until a new and
larger log house could be erected." Following is Excerpts of William Wald Glover Interview, first published in 1925; copied from a hand written document from the estate of Frances Ida Beeman Cutchinm, granddaughter of W. W. Glover and Julia Lanham and a great granddaughter of John Beeman and Emily Hunnicutt; transcribed by M. C. Toyer. "I have heard it said that the only
people in Dallas down to 1846, when the county was organized,
were John Neely Bryan, J. W. Smith, Adam Haught, J. M. Patterson,
and Colonel John C. McCoy and their families. Col. McCoy told
me when he arrived in 1845, he found John Neely Bryan clad in
a buckskin suit with moccasin shoes, the whole suit and man topped
by a coonskin cap." BRYAN served as postmaster in the Republic of Texas and operated a ferry across the Trinity River where Commerce Street crosses the Trinity River today. In 1844 he persuaded J. P. DUMAS to survey and plat out the site of Dallas and probably helped him with the survey work. Bryan organized Dallas County, in 1846, and was instrumental in choosing Dallas as its County Seat in August 1850. JNB donated the land for the courthouse (present-day Old Red Courthouse). JNB was a lawyer and Justice of the Peace
in Dallas, Dallas County, TX. The following is transcribed from: "A Place Called Dallas, The Pioneering Years of a Continuing Metropolis", by A. C. Greene, pp. 1-4. "In November 1841, a bachelor lawyer from Tennessee, by way of Arkansas, named John Neely Bryan, arrived at a small bluff, above a ford on the Trinity River and built a dugout. His companions were a Cherokee Indian called Ned, a pony named, "Neshoba Tenva", which was an Indian word meaning "Walking Wolf", and a big, 'bear' dog named "Tubby". He probably moved down out of Fort Smith, Arkansas, along the "Texas Road" via Pecan Point and Jonesboro on the Red River." "Bryan had visited the country once before and had come back. He said, to set up a trading post with the Indians who had been pushed out of the Three Forks Area and Bryan found no customers. But his choice of locations was too good to waste; not only was he above high water on the Trinity; he was beside the shallowest, narrowest ford to be found for miles up or down the stream, and already the Texas Republic was surveying two grandly-titled national highways, both of which would pass by his site. So, finding the Indians gone, he turned his promotional talents to city making, and he promptly sat down and sketched off a town, designating a courthouse square and some 20 streets around it. It was the beginning of Dallas." "Bryan was a real promoter. He offered a free town lot to any newlyweds who would join him, and he kept a keg of whiskey for men who would stop and look over the site. He pledged the courthouse square free to the county if there was ever a new county created with Dallas as its seat. He offered free ferry service across the Trinity if Dallas was so designated." "Actually Bryan was doubly lucky;
the Republic did build its national highways, and they brought
hundreds of newcomers past his town, and about the same time
Bryan came to the Three Forks, a more ambitious scheme had gone
into effect; a colonizing effort by a Louisville, Kentucky, group
which named itself the Texas Agricultural, Commercial, and Manufacturing
Company. Because its President and promoter was W. S. Peters,
the Company soon became known, and was universally called, The
Peter's Colony." He joined the gold rush to California in 1849 but returned to Dallas within a year. (Rose Marie Rumbley, in her "The Unauthorized History of Dallas, Texas", says he went to California at least three times and returned every time, penniless.) In 1853 he was a delegate to the state Democratic Convention. On May 6, 1855, Bryan had to escape to Indian Territory (the Creek Nation) because he had shot a man at Haught's Saloon, who had insulted his wife, Margaret, while John was drunk!! The man recovered. However, John did not return to his family in Dallas until January 1859. He personally signed a deed for property in Dallas on January 10, 1859. He evidently traveled on to Colorado and then back to California, apparently looking for gold again. John joined Col. Nicholas H. Darnell's Eighteenth Texas Cavalry Regiment in the winter of 1861 and served with that unit until late 1862, when he was discharged because of his age and poor health. When he returned to Dallas in 1862, he became active again in community affairs. In 1863 he was a trustee for Dallas Male and Female Academy. In 1866 he was prominent in efforts to aid victims of the 1866 flood. He chaired a citizens' meeting that pressed for the completion of the Houston and Texas Central Railway and presided at a rally seeking full political rights for all ex-Confederates. Between 1871 and 1872 JNB was one of the directors of the Dallas Bridge Company that built the first iron bridge across the Trinity. He was getting frail at this time, however he was on the platform at the welcoming ceremonies for the Houston and Texas Central train when it pulled into town in mid-July 1872. In 1874 JNB's mind was clearly impaired.
He was admitted to the State Lunatic Asylum (later the Austin
State Hospital) in February 1877. BRYAN, JOHN NEELY (1810-1877). John Neely Bryan, Indian trader, farmer, lawyer, and founder of Dallas, son of James and Elizabeth (Neely) Bryan, was born on December 24, 1810, in Fayetteville, Tennessee. He attended Fayetteville Military Academy and after reading law was admitted to the Tennessee bar. Around 1833, he moved to Arkansas, where he became an Indian trader. According to some sources, he and a partner laid out the town of Van Buren, Arkansas. Bryan made his first trip to the future site of Dallas, Texas, in 1839. He returned to Van Buren temporarily to settle his affairs, and in November 1841 he was back in Texas. He settled on the east bank of the Trinity River, not far from the present location of downtown Dallas. In the spring of 1842 he persuaded several families who had settled at Bird's Fort to join him. On February 26, 1843, Bryan married Margaret Beeman, a daughter of one of these families. The couple had five children. Bryan served as postmaster in the Republic of Texasqv and operated a ferry across the Trinity where Commerce Street crosses the river today. In 1844 he persuaded J. P. Dumas to survey and plat the site of Dallas and possibly helped him with the work. Bryan was instrumental in the organizing of Dallas County in 1846 and in the choosing of Dallas as its county seat in August 1850. When Dallas became the county seat, Bryan donated the land for the courthouse. He joined the California gold rush in 1849 but returned to Dallas within a year. In January 1853 he was a delegate to the state Democratic convention. In 1855, after shooting a man who had insulted his wife, Bryan fled to the Creek Nation. The man recovered, but although Bryan was surely informed of that fact within months of his flight, he did not return to his family in Dallas for about six years. He traveled to Colorado and California, apparently looking for gold, and returned to Dallas in 1860 or early 1861. He joined Col. Nicholas H. Darnell'sqv Eighteenth Texas Cavalry regiment in the winter of 1861 and served with that unit until late 1862, when he was discharged because of his age and poor health. When he returned to Dallas in 1862, he became active once more in community affairs. In 1863 he was a trustee for Dallas Male and Female Academy. In 1866 he was prominent in efforts to aid victims of the flood that occurred that year. He also chaired a citizens' meeting that pressed for the completion of the Houston and Texas Central Railway and presided at a rally seeking full political rights for all ex-Confederates. In 1871-72 he was one of the directors of the Dallas Bridge Company, the company that built the first iron bridge across the Trinity. He was also on the platform at the welcoming ceremonies for the Houston and Texas Central train when it pulled into town in mid-July 1872. By 1874 Bryan's mind was clearly impaired. He was admitted to the State Lunatic Asylum (later the Austin State Hospital qv) in February 1877, and he died there on September 8 of that year. He was a Presbyterian. BIBLIOGRAPHY: John William Rogers, The Lusty Texans of Dallas (New York: Dutton, 1951; enlarged ed. 1960; expanded ed., Dallas: Cokesbury Book Store, 1965). Lucy C. Trent, John Neely Bryan (Dallas: Tardy, 1936). Cecil Harper, Jr. FIRST DEED When the war between the States opened, he returned to Dallas, a broken man. Enlisting for service, he saw action with General Ben McCullough in North Arkansas, at the battle of Pea Ridge. In a year or two he was mustered out, disabled. Previous NOTE from Lucy Trent's "JNB:
Founder of Dallas". 1860 Census, Dallas County, Dallas P.
O., Precinct #1, p. 311B, 1295, 1300 John BRYAN: 10 acres of improved land; 150 acres of woodland; $600 Value of farm; $12 Value of equipment; 3 Horses; 2 Working oxen; 4 Milch cows; 50 lbs. Butter; 12 Swine; $232 Value of all livestock; 100 bushels Indian corn; $60 Value of slaughtered animals; $54 Value of all farm production. NOTE: In the 1870 Agriculture Census,
it is not known for sure which is John Neely & which is John
Neely, Jr. Capt. John BRYAN is listed in the 1870 list of Subscribers, Stockholders - Dallas Female College. Shares of stock - 6; amount of stock, $300-paid 1870, $225. _____________________________________________ "Many researchers and historians believe that the downtown John Neely BRYAN cabin is an imposter and that at best, it contains only fragments of the original cabin. In any event, the cabin has become a downtown Dallas landmark, known as the John Neely BRYAN cabin. It should be named the Margaret BEEMAN BRYAN cabin, for she did more living in it and in their subsequent homes, than her husband ever did." NOTE from Vivian Castleberry's "Daughters
of Dallas", p. 6. "John Neely BRYAN was many things, but a homebody he was not. He left home many times throughout his marriage to Margaret. Fortunately, Margaret had her family and friends, Sarah and Alexander COCKRELL, to help where needed. In the 1850's, BRYAN began to drink heavily. BRYAN was forced to sell Dallas to Alexander COCKRELL for $7,000, due to heavy debt. If John Neely BRYAN had been able to hold on to his interests, you can only imagine what wealth the family would have had." Comment by Teresa Jordan, Dallas History
Message Board, Thur, 30 Nov 2000, at 11:07 p.m. "Frank COCKRELL, Alexander and Sarah's son, in a history he wrote of early Dallas, described BRYAN in the early 1850's as "gloomy". He added that BRYAN drank heavily, lost his mental alertness and showed only sporadic interest in the town he had founded. Several times he was arrested and brought into court on minor charges". NOTE from Vivian Castleberry's "Daughters
of Dallas", p. 7. JNB Cabin WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO JNB's LOG CABIN? "The little log cabin built by Col. Jno. Neeley Bryan, at his own expense, in which the first courts were held; and the old hat in which Col. McCoy once carried the records of this county, while acting as its district clerk, have both gone to decay. Where the little cabin stood, the finest and most substantial public building in the State has been erected, at a cost to the County of Dallas of nearly $100,000. The little log court house met with a sad fate at the hands of those who had grown weary of its unprepossessing appearance, and who took occasion to conclude a Christmas spree in 1854, by tearing it down and committing its timber to their bonfires. Judge Good was the leader of this festive party, which by the way, have redeemed every species of vandalism involved in the reckless destruction of the old building, by contributing their means and their influence in the erection of the magnificent structure that adorns our public square, and in which blind justice has been duly and formally installed." Previous article from "Directory
of the City of Dallas", 1875, by Butterrfield & Rundlett. "After the Civil War, JNB built a new house for the family on land "at Big Springs" on White Rock Creek. In 1872 he made a trip to Milton, IL, with two of his sons to visit his daughter, Lizzie. Then he started drinking heavily and went to live with JNB, Jr. on a ranch near Llano, TX. His wife, Margaret, left him and went to live with one of their children. JNB, Jr. sent JNB back to Dallas and one of the younger sons tried to take care of him, but by 1877, he was getting violent and refused to sleep in a house." NOTE from "Tolbert's Texas",
Doubleday, Garden City, NY, 1983, pp 89-92. Transcribed from Dallas Court Case #721, the following: "LUNACY for John Neely Bryan" "Edward T. Bryan went to court on 1 Feb 1877 to have his father, John Neely Bryan, committed to the State Lunatic Asylum. The jury agreed: We the jury find, John Neely Bryan, unsound in mind - incapable of caring for himself and destitute of means of support and recommend that he be placed in the State Lunatic Asylum." He was committed 20 Feb 1877. The building
is now used for offices & archives in a complex now called
the State Dept. of Mental Retardation. He died in the Central Building of the State Lunatic Asylum (State Hospital for Nervous Diseases) on 8 (18?) September 1877. He was buried in a nameless grave in Austin, Travis County,TX (The Austin State Hospital Cemetery). JNB, Jr. later wrote the death happened on 14 Sep 1877. There is no record of anyone claiming the body. The asylum cemetery is located between North Loop Blvd. & the 100 block of East 51st Street. The asylum archives show JNB died 18 Sep 1877 of "intemperance". There is no mention of JNB's death in
any 1877 edition of Dallas newspapers, nor in the Sep 1877 issues
of one Austin paper.
More About JOHN NEELY BRYAN: Marriage Notes for MARGARET BEEMAN and
JOHN BRYAN: "Citizens of the Republic of Texas" by the Texas Genealogical Society, in 1977, shows Margaret's marriage date to John Neely BRYAN as 26 Feb 1843. "The Beemans of Texas", Vol. 1, p. 68 indicate the same marriage date. Someone stated this was the first marriage
in Dallas County. (Check this out!!) They could have gone up
toward Fort Inglish (Bonham), TX. Supposedly they posted cash
bond with Agent Hensley, a Peters Colony agent, but where was
he located? Nacogdoches? Here is the historical lowdown on the BRYAN love story. We have good reasons to suspect that BRYAN wanted to get married so he could claim a full grant (640 acres) from the Peters Colony, rather than settle for 320 acres, a single person's claim. Of course, he was handsome, and Margaret was pretty - but Neely had gone a good many years without wanting a wife, years in the wilderness, living with Indians, and acting like a free, irresponsible male. If love was overpowering, why didn't he marry Margaret quicker? Alone in his bachelor tent, even after she moved nearby, he waited a year to pop the question - mighty slow, by frontier standards. Could it have been that BRYAN, believing he had land secured under the Military Road Act, did not start thinking marriage until he realized he needed a Peters Colony patent if he was to have his town? But regardless of motives, the most interesting aspect of the love story is this: Neely and Margaret, it appears, were never officially married. Margaret, August 3, 1905, told the 'Dallas Times Herald': "In 1843, when I was eighteen, I married John Neely BRYAN. There was a man who rode the mail horseback from Bonham down into the Cross Timbers settlements. . . who was also a justice of the peace, who married us. . ." The legality of their informal marriage bothered Neely, and for years the two were said to have a bond marriage - a system on the frontier where a couple gave bond that they would make a legal connection as soon as an authorized official reached their locality. At least two Dallas pioneers, when they arrived on the scene (W. P. Overton in 1844 and John W. "Uncle Jack" Smith in 1845), noted that BRYAN and wife were living under bond to marry. Where does this leave the BRYAN family records that say Margaret and Neely BRYAN were united in marriage February 26, 1843, in Pin Hook (now Paris, Texas) and John William Rogers' "Lusty Texans of Dallas," which states the marriage took place at Fort Inglish on February 23? Well, there can be several conjectures on the disparity of dates and places. First, if Neely BRYAN and Margaret were married as she says, by the mail rider out of Bonham, then the later assumption might be made that, since the mail rider was from Bonham (Fort Inglish), the rites were held there. According to the late Mrs. Maude Rhodes, historian of the Beeman Memorial Association (and a granddaughter of Neely and Margaret BRYAN), in 1941, the BRYAN family papers burned after she had copied the BRYAN family tree. She may have misread Pin Hook as the place of marriage. "Uncle Jack" Smith, at age 83, told 'The Dallas News' yet another version: "A fellow named (Charles) Hensley was agent for Peters Colony, and he being the only officer in these parts, was called in to perform the marriage ceremony, but after it was over BRYAN got frightened that the proceeding was not valid and began to look about for a magistrate to do it over again. He went all the way to Bonham to get him." Of course, Uncle Jack wasn't in Dallas at the time Neely and Margaret say they married (1843); he arrived in 1845. And so did agent Hensley, for that matter. Confusion!!!, confusion! But we have an even stronger indication the marriage was never formalized. In 1854, John Neely BRYAN and Margaret were divorced, and all that was required was a formal Separation Agreement. Why? Because they had never been legally married, so there was no license or other record of the marriage to refer to. In case there are doubters about this sad turn that truelove took for the Mother and Father of Dallas, the document is in Dallas County Deed Record Book "D", pages 398-399. The document never says they were united in holy bonds of matrimony, but only that they had been living together "in the relation as husband and wife." The romantics among us - count me one - will be relieved that despite the final tone of the document, Margaret and Neely eventually made up. Previous article from "The Real Dallas Past" by A. C. Greene __________________________________________ |
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More About JOHN BRYAN and MARGARET BEEMAN: iii. WILLIAM HUNNICUTT BEEMAN166,167,168,169,170,171,172,173,174,175,176,177,178, b. 11 May 1827, Greene County, Illinois179,180; d. 14 January 1905, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas181; m. MARTHA EUNICE DYE182,183,184,185,186,187,188,189, 25 September 1851, Dallas County, Texas190,191,192,193; b. 30 April 1825, Oldham County, Kentucky194; d. 22 May 1912, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas. Notes for WILLIAM HUNNICUTT BEEMAN: Lot
2.1 Dallas, Texas, Jan. 2 (Special correspondence). Three and one-half miles east of the news office, standing in a pretty grove of post oaks, about 30 paces from the track of the Texas and Pacific Railroad, stands the modest home of the two oldest living pioneer settlers of Dallas county ( Mr. and Mrs. William H. BEEMAN. These venerable settlers of the then western wilds of Texas date their residence here from a period prior to the organization of Dallas County, prior to the settlement of Peter's colony, prior to the annexation of the Republic of Texas to the Federal Union. William H. BEEMAN was born in Greene[e] County, Ill. on May 11, 1827. His father John BEEMAN, was a farmer, who moved from Illinois to what is now Bowie County, Texas, in 1840, stopping for a year near Dalby Springs. He was accompanied by his brother James J. BEEMAN and family, and some five years later another brother, Samuel moved to Texas. Including the children born in Dallas County, the total offspring of the three pioneers numbered 24 sons and daughters. Previous portion of article from the Dallas Morning News, 2 Jan 1902. __________________________________________ The First Citizens of This Section of Dallas (Edited and submitted by M C Toyer) Biographical Note: William Hunnicutt BEEMAN was the first son of Dallas pioneer settlers John and Emily Hunnicutt BEEMAN. William was born in Illinois in 1827, and came to Texas with his family in 1840, settling first in Red River County. In the spring and summer of 1841, John BEEMAN and his half-brother James Jackson BEEMAN participated in the militia campaigns to clear hostile Indians from the Three Forks area of North Texas. Later that year, Jonathan Bird and other militia members and pioneer families, including John BEEMAN's nephew John S. BEEMAN, constructed and occupied Bird's Fort near the present day Arlington. In early 1842, they were invited by John Neely BRYAN to join him in his new settlement in what soon became Dallas. Margaret BEEMAN, sister of William, married John Neely BRYAN in 1843. William BEEMAN married Martha DYE in 1851; their union produced 12 children. They lived on the original John BEEMAN land claim on White Rock Creek. William died in 1905 and Martha died in 1912. They are buried in the BEEMAN Family Cemetery near their home, and next to the graves of John and Emily BEEMAN. When the decision was made to form a county in 1846, John BEEMAN traveled to Austin to present the petition to the State Legislature. Because the county was not yet established, the settlement of Dallas still within Nacogdoches County, the Legislature refused to recognize the petitioner from Dallas. The representative of Robertson County, west of the Trinity River, agreed to present the petition and when it was later ratified William BEEMAN, still a teenager, traveled alone 170 miles to Franklin to retrieve the certificate. The original name choice for the county was Polk in honor of then President James K Polk, but that had already been taken. The name Dallas was then selected by the Legislature in honor of Vice President George M Dallas. Dallas County and the City of Dallas share that common name, but most likely were each named for different individuals. This article posted on Jim Wheat's Web Site: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~jwheat/beemanint02.html __________________________________________ Information source on William Hunnicutt BEEMAN "Memorial and Biographical History,
Dallas County, Texas," The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago
(1892), Dallas Public Library, p. 856. #5583: Memorial & Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas, 1892. WILLIAM H. BEEMAN, a pioneer of Dallas county, Texas, was born in Greene County, Illinois, in May, 1827, the third in a family of 10 children born to John and Emily (HONEYCUTT) BEEMAN, natives of Georgia and South Carolina respectively. The father moved to Illinois in an early day, settling near Alton, where he was subsequently married. He was a farmer and millwright by trade, and also ran a ferry and wood yard in Illinois. He emigrated to Texas with horse teams in 1840, having bought 640 acres before starting, of a frontier trader, and located 80 miles from any settlement. The first six months he lived in a fort, and afterward located on land that is now within the city limits. He always made this county his home, and his death occurred in 1850; the mother is still living, residing on Ten Mile creek, Dallas County. William H. BEEMAN was reared and educated in Illinois, and at the age of 14 years came to Texas and aided in opening up the home farm. He commenced life for himself in Dallas, in the carriage and wagon makers' trade, and in 1851 commenced business for himself on Elm Street, which he continued about 15 years. Mr. BEEMAN cleared the land where his three-story brick building now stands, known as Deering Block, on Elm Street. After the war broke out Mr. BEEMAN moved to his farm, where he has 77 acres in a good state of cultivation, having given most of his land to his children. He was married in Dallas County, in 1851, to Martha DYE, a native of Virginia, and a daughter of Benjamin and Sarah DYE, also natives of Virginia. The parents settled in Kentucky in an early day, and in 1847, came to Dallas, where the father died in 1852, and the mother, a few years later. Mr. and Mrs. BEEMAN have had 10 children. The living are: 1. J. E., in East Dallas, 2. Nevada, 3. Addie, wife of Benjamin Say(g)e, of Dallas County, 4. Holly, of East Dallas, 5. L. O., at home, 6. Roxie, also at home. Mr. BEEMAN has seen the complete development
of Dallas County, and rode in the first wagon that ever came
into Dallas. Politically, he is a Democrat, has always taken
an interest in everything for the good of the county, and aids
materially in all public enterprises. He assisted in the organization
of the county, having ridden 140 miles on horseback to see the
judge and get an order to organize. "William H. BEEMAN migrated to the Peters Colony as a single man prior to 1 Jul 1848. He was issued a land certificate by Thomas William Ward in 1850, which he sold unlocated. It was later patented in Dallas County (Robertson Third Class Certificate No. 1726). He is listed on the Census of 1850 (Dallas County, Family No. 421) as a 23-year-old farmer, born in Illinois." PRECEEDING NOTE is from page 187, "The
Peters Colony of Texas" by Connor, Seymour V. 976.4 c752p,
found in the Genealogy section of the Dallas Public Library. THE FOLLOWING NOTES are transcribed from the "Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County", Page #178. Mr. W.(illiam) H.(unnicutt) BEEMAN, while a quiet and retired old gentleman, was one of the most interesting of the old pioneers attending the reunion at Garland. He came to Texas from Illinois with his father (John Beeman) in 1840, and settled in what is now Dallas County in 1842. Mr. (John) Beeman was the first to break the sod for agricultural pursuits in the county in the spring of 1842. It was a plat of 7 or 8 acres about 4 miles east of the City of Dallas. At the same time he erected the second house built in Dallas County, the first being a log structure put up by John Neely BRYAN, the founder of Dallas, a few weeks before, whose cabin stood, Mr. BEEMAN says at the foot of Main Street. Speaking of early life in Dallas County,
Mr. BEEMAN said to a news reporter, "We lived very hard
at first. We had wild meats and bread. I dressed the buckskins
and made my moccasins and clothes, except shirts, for 3 years.
We finger picked cotton, which the women used in weaving clothes
and shirts for the men. For 2 years we beat our meal for bread
on a mortar or ground it in a hand mill. We had to buy corn in
Fannin County." Although Mr. (William) BEEMAN was one of the most active participants in the organization of the County and has been a constant resident of the County, he has never held and never sought office. "When the County was organized in 1846," he said, "I went and got the order from the county seat of Robertson County at Franklin. I rode a mustang and went alone. It was Indian Territory then, and the trip was attended with considerable risk. I camped out each night. When I was returning home one night, on the other side of Richland Creek, I saw a herd of buffaloes gathered in a great herd, which became wild with fright, and I could not tell the roar of the storm from the sound of the moving buffaloes. I sought protection in a skirt of timber close by. "I assisted in building the first ferryboat that was ever put in the Trinity at Dallas. We took two large cottonwood logs, and after digging them out like canoes, we fastened them together with puncheon. This was the floor. We had no rope; buffalo rawhide stretched so that we could not use it, so we took buffalo hair and twisted it into a rope with which we towed the boat. The boat was located at what is now the foot of Commerce Street bridge, and we carried across the river in it all the early settlers of the County." "The Indians used to give us a great deal of trouble. When we came to Dallas County, we left our team of horses at Honey Grove, fearing the Indians would get them if we brought them farther. We drove oxen from Honey Grove to Dallas. Once the Indians made a raid just across the river from Dallas and stole about 18 head of horses. A party of 19 of us followed them to Wise County, and there we lost track of them among the friendly Indians. When we started home, we ran out of provisions and bought some meat from the Indians. It was said to be horse meat, but it tasted good to a half-starved man." "We traveled the next day without anything to eat, and that night I shot a wild turkey on Denton Creek. Nineteen men fed on it and we got up hungry. When we struck Elm Fork, I killed a deer, which we roasted and ate without salt or bread; but fortunately for us, we reached home the next night." "We lived peaceably and enjoyed ourselves those days. We had no trouble. Everybody was honest. I remember the first case of stealing that I ever heard of in the County. A young man was driving sheep down Elm fork to Dallas. On the way down he entered a place and stole a butcher knife and a comb and some other articles. He was overtaken and the parties gave him his choice between a certain number of lashes and prosecution in the courts at Dallas. He said that he would take the lashes, but he wished a thousand rails that he had not committed the theft. That was a common expression of regret those days. To split a thousand rails was a big task. I believe if more of that kind of punishment was inflicted today we would have less stealing." "I remember the burning of Dallas in 1860. I was not in town that day. The fire started on the west side of the square at Wallace Peak's drug store. While the people were at work trying to check it at that point, it broke out on the east side, and then they told me it broke out here and there so fast that they could not keep up with it." "There is no doubt but the negroes fired the town. They said they did, and the two white preachers, whom they said had put them up to it, were whipped and set out of the country." "Just before the fire, Alex. Cockrell had built a 3-story brick tavern. The building was 50 x 100 feet and it was the largest and finest building in all north Texas. It burned. A brick wareroom on the north side of Commerce Street covers the spot where this tavern was built. I kept the first tavern in Dallas in a small house on the north side of the square. Old man Tom Crutchfield rented it, and finally he built the old Crutchfield house on the northwest corner of the square, which was burned several times." "But speaking of the hanging of the 3 negroes for setting fire to Dallas in 1860, when excavations were being made for the Texas & Pacific Railway bridge across the Trinity at Dallas, their bones were unearthed. They were buried there after they were hanged." "I remember the first legal hanging in the County. It was the first trial for murder, and the negro woman, who had split a man's head open with an axe, while he was asleep, was hanged." "I remember when steamboats were on the Trinity. I made the trip on the "Sallie Haynie" from Magnolia to the mouth of East Fork. I am a firm believer in the navigation of the Trinity to Dallas. I think it can be done with the expenditure of a little money in cleaning out drifts and cutting overhanging timber, and I believe that boats can be run here 6 to 9 months each year." "We were subject to many privations and many hardships in the early days. When we left home we did not know but that on our return we would find our families butchered by the Indians or that we ourselves would be shot and killed. A part of the time we were in constant dread and fear and we invited immigration. We welcomed the newcomer and divided what we had with him. We wanted to increase our numbers and help keep back the foe." Mr. (William) BEEMAN married Miss Martha
E.(unice) DYE, near what is now the town of Garland, TX, in 1851.
They have 8 (living) children and a number of grandchildren.
His sister Margaret, who is yet living, was the wife of John
Neely BRYAN. Mr. & Mrs. William Hunnicutt Beeman,
Incidents of the Early Days in Texas -- The First Citizens
of This Section of the State : (This was an interview) William set up residence on White Rock
Creek in 1842. Later he moved east of Fair Park, Dallas County,
TX. 1860 Census, Dallas County, Dallas P. O., Precinct #1 1324 1330 W. H. Beeman 34M Waggon wright
1800 600 IL
Page 314B 1870 Dallas County, TX, Agriculture Census William H. BEEMAN: 20 acres of land,
improved; 60 acres woodland; 10 acres unimproved land; $2600
Value of farm; $26 Value of equipment; 4 Horses; 1 Mule; 2 Working
oxen; 12 Milch cows; 15 Other cows; 50 Swine; $635 Value of all
livestock; 300 bushels Indian corn; 20 bushels winter wheat;
2 Cotton bales; 15 bushels Sweet potatoes; $100 Value of slaughtered
animals; $347 Value of all farm production. http://www.dallasgenealogy.org/witness/witnessbebi.htm District Court Civil Case Papers
Witness ID: 1524 "Memorial and Biographical History, Dallas County, Texas," The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago (1892), Dallas Public Library, p. 856. "Mr. and Mrs. Beeman have had ten
children. The living are: J. E., in East Dallas; Nevada; Addie,
wife of Benjamin Saye (Sage), of Dallas county; Holly, of East
Dallas; L. O., at home; and Roxie, also at home." p. 747.
W. H. is buried in the Beeman Memorial
Cemetery, Dallas, Dallas County, TX. |
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More About WILLIAM HUNNICUTT BEEMAN: Notes for MARTHA EUNICE DYE: Lot 2.2 Mrs. W. H. BEEMAN, whose maiden name was Martha DYE, was born in Oldham County, Kentucky, April 30, 1825. She came with her father Benjamin DYE to Texas in 1842, settling upon Whiterock Creek near the present town of Garland, where her father died a few years later. She was married to William H. BEEMAN in 1851. Twelve children were born to this union, six of whom are now living in Dallas County. Both Mr. and Mrs. BEEMAN though "up in years" are living in the enjoyment of good health and seem contented and happy. They are proud of the distinction of being the oldest living pioneers of the great County of Dallas, and they love to talk over their early days of strenuous yet pleasant pioneer life. They related many interesting incidents of Dallas, and recalled with affectionate regard the names of a number of pioneer friends who have "crossed over the river to rest in the shade of the trees." Previous portion of an article in the
Dallas Morning News, 2 Jan 1902. The 1850 Census, Dallas, Dallas County,
TX, shows Eunice M. (23) born in VA. The 1860 Census, Dallas, Dallas County,
TX, shows Martha (34) born in KY. The 1870 Census, Dallas, Dallas County,
TX, shows Martha E. (45) born in KY. The 1880 Census, Dallas, Dallas County,
TX, shows Eunice M. (55) born in VA. The 1910 Census, Dallas, Precinct #1,
Dallas County, TX, shows Eunice M. (84) widow, born in VA, living
with son, Joseph E. Martha E. BEEMAN is listed as Executor
for Wm. H. BEEMAN (deceased) in Case #2720, Dallas County, TX. More About MARTHA EUNICE DYE: More About WILLIAM BEEMAN and MARTHA
DYE: iv. SAMUEL HUNNICUTT BEEMAN211,212,213,214,215,216,217,218,219, b. 29 May 1829, Alton, Madison County, Illinois219; d. 20 January 1877, Kingsland, Llano County, Texas219; m. MARY ANN WEATHERFORD220,221,222, 223,224,225, 29 August 1860, Dallas County, Texas226,227,228,229, 230; b. 13 September 1844, Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas231; d. 15 January 1934, Kingsland, Llano County, Texas232. Notes for SAMUEL HUNNICUTT BEEMAN: "Samuel H. Beeman migrated to the Peters Colony as a single man prior to 1 Jul 1848, and settled in present Dallas County. He reported to Thomas William Ward in 1850 that he had made no selection of his land. He was issued Robertson Third Class Certificate No. 1627 for 320 acres, which he sold unlocated. It was later patented in Dallas County. He is listed on the 1850 census (Dallas County, family No. 421) as a 21-year-old farmer, born in Illinois." PRECEEDING NOTE is from page 187, "The
Peters Colony of Texas" by Connor, Seymour V. 976.4 c752p,
located in the Genealogy Section of the Dallas Public Library. "The Beeman Family of Texas 1841-1949"
indicates Samuel and Mary had two sons. Samuel (41) Farmer, born in Illinois,
is in the 1870 Census, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas, along with
his wife, Mary (26) MO, and their children: Henderson (9) TX,
Nancy (7) TX, William (4) TX, Clemma (2) TX, and John (3?12)
TX, born in TX. Honey Creek Cemetery is in Llano County,
TX, near the Click Community. It is located on the Click Road,
about one mile from the Honey Creek Schoolhouse. Click Road is
located about 12 miles from Llano and intersects Highway 71.
Take Hwy 71 out of Llano toward Austin, TX, about 12 miles. When
you see the Click Road sign, there is also a sign with Honey
Creek Cemetery on it. Take a right, and it is about a mile off
Highway 71.
More About SAMUEL HUNNICUTT BEEMAN: More About MARY ANN WEATHERFORD: More About SAMUEL BEEMAN and MARY WEATHERFORD: v. ISAAC HUNNICUTT BEEMAN242,243,244,245,246,247, b. 27 September 1831, Calhoun County, Illinois247; d. 28 July 1852, California248. Notes for ISAAC HUNNICUTT BEEMAN: Isaac never married and died in California, at the age of 21 years. NOTE from WFT#2:390 More About ISAAC HUNNICUTT BEEMAN: vi. JAMES HUNNICUTT BEEMAN250,251,252,253,254,255,256,257,258,259,260,261,262,263, b. 20 March 1833, Calhoun County, Illinois; d. 20 June 1905, Bluffton, Llano County, Texas; m. (1) MARY FRANCES NIXON264,265, Bef. 1860; b. 1830, Mississippi; d. 08 October 1882; m. (2) MARY ANN HAMMONS266,267,268,269,270,271,272, 22 August 1861, Dallas County, Texas273,274,275,276; b. 15 October 1840, Alabama277; d. 02 December 1877, Texas; m. (3) MARTHA E. ALLEN278,279,280,281, 26 March 1885, Burnet, Burnet County, Texas282,283; b. 23 November 1846, Georgia; d. 17 December 1919. Notes for JAMES HUNNICUTT BEEMAN: "The Beeman Family of Texas 1841-1949"
indicates James and Mary had one daughter, "Haidee",
and one son "Forest". The dates of birth are from his Bible which was in the possession of Estelle BEEMAN BLUMER, General Delivery, Young, AZ 85554, via Linda HAUGHT ORTEGA, Rt. 1, Box 35F, Globe, AZ 85501 who is descended through James H. BEEMAN & Mary HAMMONS. Previous NOTE from Phyllis Bauer. http://www.dallasgenealogy.org/witness/witnessbebi.htm District Court Civil Case Papers Witness ID: 1231 __________________________________________ More About JAMES HUNNICUTT BEEMAN: Notes for MARY FRANCES NIXON: More About MARY FRANCES NIXON: More About JAMES BEEMAN and MARY NIXON: Notes for MARY ANN HAMMONS: Mary Hammond was the first wife of James
Beeman, according to "The Beeman Family of Texas 1841-1949". More About MARY ANN HAMMONS: Marriage Notes for JAMES BEEMAN and MARY
HAMMONS: The Dallas County Marriage Records Book
shows Mary's name spelled HAMMOX. More About JAMES BEEMAN and MARY HAMMONS: More About MARTHA E. ALLEN: More About JAMES BEEMAN and MARTHA ALLEN: vii. CLARISSA BEEMAN295,296,297,298,299,300,301,302, b. 25 March 1836, Calhoun County, Illinois303; d. 1877, Unknown location304; m. (1) COLONEL DANIEL N. MASON305,306,307, 01 May 1860, Dallas County, Texas308,309,310; b. Abt. 1823, Ohio; m. (2) JAMES M. WALKER311,312,313,314, 03 October 1867, Dallas County, Texas315,316,317; b. Abt. 1826, South Carolina; d. Bet. 1852 - 1925. Notes for CLARISSA BEEMAN: Spelling: Clarissa (Early Marriage Records,
Dallas county, TX, Marriage Book C, Part VII), (Clarisa in the
John Beeman Family Bible) (Clarisa in "Marriages, Dallas
County, Books A-E 1846-1877," p.17). 1860 Census, Dallas County, Precinct #1 1166 1165 Danl Mason 37 m Farmer 775
370 OH Clarissa (34), IL, is living with her
husband J. M. WALKER (43), SC, in the 1870 Census, Dallas, Dallas
County, TX, along with Jonathan (MASON) WALKER (9), son by previous
marriage to Daniel MASON, & James & Clarissa's daughter,
Orrilla (11/12), b. July TX. One source shows her death as 1877. The burial of Clarissa is a mystery. Llano & Burnet Counties and the Texas State Library at Austin have been researched and she has not been found. She is not at Bluffton Cemetery nor any where else in this country unless it is an unknown marker. None of the local historians know of an Indian Burial Cemetery. It just does not exist. My grandfather, Jim (James L. MAXWELL, who was married to Nancy E. BEEMAN) was in charge of moving the graves from Old Bluffton Cemetery to New Bluffton when the lake was put in. He kept meticulous records. I am positive he would have known about his wife's aunt (Clarissa) if she died here. Still looking. Previous NOTE from Eulene Maxwell Wilkerson,
3 Aug 2001 [email protected] More About CLARISSA BEEMAN: Notes for COLONEL DANIEL N. MASON: "The Beemans of Texas" shows
Daniel N. Mason. John Daniel was Clarissa's first husband.
He is listed as Col. Daniel MASON in "Early Marriage Records,
Dallas County, TX, Marriage Book C, Part VII". More About COLONEL DANIEL N. MASON: More About DANIEL MASON and CLARISSA
BEEMAN: Notes for JAMES M. WALKER: James was Clarissa's second husband. James had only one arm. Don't know the details. NOTE from Ben Reavis More About JAMES M. WALKER: More About JAMES WALKER and CLARISSA
BEEMAN: viii. NANCY ELIZABETH BEEMAN325,326,327,328,329,330,331,332,333, b. 26 March 1839, Calhoun County, Illinois334; d. 21 February 1907, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas335; m. WILLIAM W. HOBBS336,337,338,339,340,341, 342, 27 March 1856, Dallas County, Texas343,344,345,346,347; b. 17 July 1833, Alabama; d. 29 November 1918, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas348. Notes for NANCY ELIZABETH BEEMAN: The U. S. Census,1850 & 1880, Dallas County, TX, shows Nancy as being born in Illinois. WFT#2:390 indicates Nancy being born
at (Cross Roads Camp) Bowie County, TX. (Don't think so, as John
& Family came to Texas in 1842 to settle on lower White Rock
Creek - A. C. Morgan) More About NANCY ELIZABETH BEEMAN: Notes for WILLIAM W. HOBBS: "The Beeman Family of Texas 1841-1949"
shows 4 daughters and 1 son; Josephine (Josie), Helen, Florence,
Lennie, and Gaston. Coye Hawpe's Cemetery Survey, Jun 1974,
shows W. W.'s death date as 27 Nov 1918. Gravemarker shows 29
Nov 1918. More About WILLIAM W. HOBBS: More About WILLIAM HOBBS and NANCY BEEMAN: ix. JOHN SCOTT WINFIELD BEEMAN359,360,361,362,363,364,365,366,367,368,369,370,371, b. 18 May 1841, Cross Roads Camp, Bowie County, Texas372; d. 18 January 1930, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas; m. ELIZABETH BOONE MERRIFIELD373,374,375,376,377,378,379,380,381,382, 03 August 1865, Dallas County, Texas383,384,385,386; b. 22 January 1849, Nelson County, Kentucky; d. 13 April 1923, Cedar Hill, Dallas County, Texas387. Notes for JOHN SCOTT WINFIELD BEEMAN: The only living relatives of William H. BEEMAN who were here in Dallas County in 1842, are his brother, J. W. Scott BEEMAN living one mile north of his (Wm. H.'s) residence; James H. BEEMAN, another brother, now living in Burnett County, and sisters Margaret BRYAN and Nancy HOBBS; the former living with her son, John BRYAN, on Red River, sixteen miles north of Wichita Falls, and the latter at Orphans Home, near Dallas. Scott BEEMAN was born in Bowie County, Texas in 1841, being now 61 years old, an unusually old native Texan. He was not a year old when the family moved to Bird's Fort. Hence his life has been spent mostly in Dallas County. Previous portion of article edited & transcribed by M. C. Toyer, from an article in the Dallas Morning News, 2 Jan 1902. |
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"Dallas County (Texas) Archives" website SCOTT BEEMAN, a farmer and stockraiser of Precinct No. 1, was born in Bowie County, Texas, May 23, 1841, the 10th in a family of 12 children born to John and Emily (HUNNICUTT) BEEMAN, natives of South Carolina. The father emigrated from his native State to Calhoun county, Illinois, and thence to Bowie county, Texas, in 1829. In 1841 he came to Dallas county, and took up 360 acres of land, and was the first man to cultivate any soil in this county. His death occurred here in 1856, and his wife still survives, living near DeSoto, at the advanced age of 86 years. Scott BEEMAN
was reared to farm life, and educated in the subscription schools
of this county. He aided his father in opening up and improving
the home farm and afterward began farming on his own account. In
1862 he enlisted in Captain Beard's Company, and 1. Annie, wife of Richard LAGOW of Precinct 4 2. Emma 3. Lizzie 4. Milton 5. Katie 6. Grover 7. Ira Politically, Mr. BEEMAN is a member of the Democratic Party, and socially of the Farmer's Alliance. Dallas County, Texas, 1892, pp. 355-356. - o o o - Has Lived Here ________ Came to Dallas in June, 1841. _______ _______ Only One Ever Built in City. J. S. W.
(Scott) BEEMAN, 5433 St. Charles street, Owenwood, has been a
resident of the territory now embraced in Dallas County since
June, 1841, and is the oldest inhabitant. He is a son of John
BEEMAN, Saw Indians Every Day. "We
went into camp at what is now known as the BEEMAN Cemetery, adjoining
the Jewish White Rock Cemetery, on the south side of the Texas
& Pacific Railroad, about a mile east of the State fair grounds.
For some time, we lived in our tents, and for three years,
kept a guard day and night to keep the Indians from rushing us
unawares. It was said that Indians would never attack a settlement
that had a sentinel. Every day, Indians would appear on the Builds Blockhouse. "In
time, father built a little log cabin, but later erected what
was known on the frontier as a blockhouse, which was a two-story
log cabin, with the second story projecting over the first all
round, . . . . . "I remember when John Neely BRYAN's cabin was not only the only house in Dallas, but the only house in the county. John Neely BRYAN and my sister, Margaret, were married in 1843, and went to live in the cabin. I often visited my sister in her home. The cabin, which is still preserved within the walls of a larger building at the Buckner Orphans' Home, was exhibited at the State Fair of Texas a few years ago, along with the rocking chair which BRYAN carved with his pocket knife. My sister, Margaret, [?Caroline?] died in 1893 [Margaret died 1919, A. C. Morgan]. . . . . "I served three years in
the Civil War. I was a member of Company B, Nineteenth Cavalry,
Parson's Brigade. Our command went forward to stop Gen. Banks,
who undertook to invade Texas through Pays Double Price for Choice Land. "When father picked a place to settle at BEEMAN's Cemetery, he was not aware that he had planted himself right in the center of the Thomas Lagow league. As soon as he made this discovery, he wrote to Mr. Lagow, offering to buy a section of the land. Mr. Lagow replied that if he wanted a section in the middle of the league, he would charge him $1 an acre for it, but if he would take it on the edge of the league, he might have it for 50¢ an acre. But, father insisted on taking the land he hadalready occupied, and he accordingly had to pay $640 for the section. Eighty-Four Years in Dallas. "When
I married, in 1865, I built a log house a few yards north of
the site of my present residence. A few years later, I substituted
a frame house, getting part of the lumber from the White Rock
mill, and (11 Oct 1925, Dallas Morning News, Sec. 5, p. 12, col. 1-5) ________________________________________________ In the "Citizens of the Republic
of Texas", by the Texas Genealogical Society, 1977, page
95, John's name is written, "John Scott W. (Winfield) BEEMAN".
1850 Dallas County, TX, Agriculture Census Jno S. BEEMAN: 13 acres imp(roved); 627
acres unimp(roved); valued at $640; $10 farm implements; 3 horses;
2 milch cows; 3 other cattle; 20 swing; $155 live stock; 4 bus(hels)
wheat; 200 bus(hels) corn; 20 bus(hels) sweet potatoes; 150 lbs.
butter; 3 tons hay; 50 lbs. beeswax & honey; $20 home made
manufacture; $25 value of animals slaughtered. 1880 Dallas County, TX, Agriculture Census Scott BEEMAN: 68 acres of improved land;
68 acres of woodland; $2500 Value of farm; $200 Value of implements;
$450 Value of livestock; $100 Farm wages paid in 1879; 32 Weeks
of hired labor; 8 Horses; 6 Milch cows; 9 Other cows; 300 lbs.
Butter; 6 Swine; 16 acres Indian corn; 150 bushels Indian corn;
9 acres Oats; 360 bushels Oats; 15 acres Wheat; 150 bushels Wheat;
6 acres Cotton; 3 bales Cotton; 100 Cords of wood cut in 1879. NOTE: there are 3 graves on the J. S. W. BEEMAN Cemetery Lot #6 with concrete stones - no names or dates. (This Note is from Coye Hawpe's cemetery survey, Jun 1974) Following this note is a paragraph: The dimensions of this lot on Ira Beeman's map are shown as being 43 feet, 6 inches wide and 71 feet on the south side, 74 feet on the north side. There is a chain link fence which encloses the part of this lot which has gravestones on it; this fence encloses the full width of the lot, but only about fifty feet of the length. there is approximately twenty or so feet on the west end which is not enclosed. this area of the cemetery is that which has been so abominably desecrated; it is possible that many of the graves listed on this lot at one time had stones. (The chain link fence is of recent times as are many of the above stones which are listed.) More About JOHN SCOTT WINFIELD BEEMAN: Notes for ELIZABETH BOONE MERRIFIELD: Spelling of "Bettie" (1880 Census), "Betty" (1860 & 1870 Census, Dallas County). "The Beeman's of Texas", Vol. 1, p. 69, has Betty Boone MERRIFIELD. Certificate No. 155 Name of Deceased: Mrs. Elizabeth B. BEEMAN
More About ELIZABETH BOONE MERRIFIELD: Marriage Notes for JOHN BEEMAN and ELIZABETH
MERRIFIELD: More About JOHN BEEMAN and ELIZABETH
MERRIFIELD: x. SARAH ANN BEEMAN400,401,402,403,404,405,406,407, b. 21 October 1843, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas408; d. 17 April 1867, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas408; m. JOHN M. FUGATE408,409,410,411, 19 December 1860, Dallas County, Texas412,413,414,415,416; b. Abt. 1832, Kentucky. Notes for SARAH ANN BEEMAN: In WFT#2:390 Hunnicutt, it shows Ann Beeman FUGATE, daughter of Ann BEEMAN, who married Harvey LANDERS, b. Pike County, IL, and had no children. Sarah Anne and Infant Daughter (Anne Beeman FUGATE) are buried in Lot #48, the BEEMAN Family Cemetery, Dallas, Texas. "The Beeman Family of Texas 1841-1949", p. 8, says they are buried SE of her parents' graves in the old part of the cemetery. Did not find gravemarkers in the Cemetery Survey in May 1998. (A. C. Morgan, Dallas, TX). However, there are 4 pipes in the ground at this Lot #1 location. Lot #48 is in an overgrown portion of the cemetery located SE of the Thompson/Sypert Lot.
More About SARAH ANN BEEMAN: More About JOHN M. FUGATE: More About JOHN FUGATE and SARAH BEEMAN: xi. CAROLINE BEEMAN424,425,426,427,428,429,430,431, b. 19 May 1846, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas432; d. September 1892, DeSoto, Dallas County, Texas433; m. JAMES ISAAC FISHER434,435, 436, 28 November 1867, Dallas County, Texas437,438,439,440; b. Abt. 1843, Missouri; d. 02 February 1910, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas. The John Beeman Family Bible has Caroline's birthdate as 19 May 1846. "The Beeman Family 1841 - 1949" has birthdate as 11 May 1845 in Dallas, Dallas County, TX. If her age was correct on her marker as 47 years old, her birthdate would best be the Beeman Bible & "The Beeman Family 1841 - 1949" birthdate of 11 May 1845. Caroline is living in the household of Emily BEEMAN, along with her husband, Isaac FISHER, in the 1870 Census, Dallas County, TX. Caroline is buried in the Beeman Family Cemetery, Dallas, Texas. NOTE: The tombstone death date is wrong (3 May 1892). She attended the funeral of her Mother on 3 May 1892 and then died of tuberculosis shortly after the birth of her first grandson, Ernest FISHER, about Sep 1892. More About CAROLINE BEEMAN: Notes for JAMES ISAAC FISHER: In the 1870 Census, Dallas County, Texas, Isaac is shown living in the household (#1744) of Emily BEEMAN, age 63, born in South Carolina. Also, wife, Caroline ELAM FISHER is shown living there with a son, John, age one month, born in May 1870. Issac FISHER: 16 acres of improved land; $15 Value of equipment; 4 horses; 3 Milch cows; 5 Other cows; 10 Swine; $235 Value of all livestock; 200 bushels Indian corn; $60 Value of slaughtered animals; $160 Value of all farm production. J. I. FISHER is listed as Executor for Emily BEEMAN (deceased) in Probate Case #2132, Dallas County, TX. More About JAMES ISAAC FISHER: More About JAMES FISHER and CAROLINE
BEEMAN: |
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1.
U. S. Census, 1850, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas, Microfilm Roll
910, Part 1, p. 200, p. 100B, 406, 421, Line #20, BEEMAN, John
50 m Farmer $2600 b. NC; |
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233.
The Beemans of Texas, Vol. 1, p. 69,
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