Husband Samuel Benton
Born: Abt 1720
Died: Abt 1770
Buried:
Marriage: Abt 1750 - North Carolina
Other Spouse: Unknown *UNKNOWN - Abt 1742 - NC
Wife Francis Kimbrough
Born: Abt 1720
Died: Abt 1800
Buried:
Children
Husband Samuel L. Benton Sr.
Born: Abt 1786 - Hillsboro, Orange Co., NC
Died: 28 Sep 1846 - St. Augustine, TX
Buried: - San Augustine City Cem., San Augustine, TX
Father: Jesse Benton
Mother: Nancy Ann Gooch
Marriage: 21 Mar 1808 - Williamson Co., TN
Wife Mary Hunter
Born: 1792 - Williamson Co., TN
Died: Abt 1850 - TX
Buried:
Children
1 M Samuel L. Benton Jr.
Born: Abt 1815
Died:
Buried:
2 M Jesse Benton
Born: Abt 1820
Died:
Buried:
3 M Benjamin Franklin Benton
Born: 29 Apr 1827
Died:
Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Samuel L. Benton Sr.
BENTON, SAMUEL L., SR. (1786-1846). Samuel Benton, Sr., Republic of
Texasqv congressman, was born in 1786 in Hillsboro, Orange County,
North Carolina, the son of Jesse and Ann "Nancy" (Gooch) Benton. He
was the brother of Thomas Hart Benton, United States Senator from
Missouri from 1821 to 1851, and the father of Benjamin Franklin
Benton.qv Samuel Benton was married March 21, 1808, to Mary Hunter,
born in 1792. The ceremony was performed in Williamson County,
Tennessee, the place of her birth. Benton served in the War of 1812
as a first sergeant in the Tennessee Militia. He returned to
Williamson County at the end of the war in 1815 and remained there
until 1826, when he moved his family to Carroll County, Tennessee.
He moved to Texas in January 1836 from Missouri. He and his wife,
four of their children, and his brother Jesse, Jr., settled in San
Augustine. Samuel Benton received a headright certificate for a
league and a labor now in Sabine County. In the fall of 1836 he
joined Capt. Thomas H. Barron'sqv Company B, Texas Rangers,qv which
was commissioned on November 1 and discharged on December 31, 1836.
Benton represented Sabine County in the House of Representatives of
the Fourth Congress, where he served on the finance, public lands,
public printing, and claims and accounts committees. In 1840 the
census listed him as owner of eight slaves and 4,615 acres. By 1841
the Bentons were residents of San Augustine County, Texas. Benton
died on September 28, 1846, and was buried in the San Augustine City
Cemetery. He was survived by his wife and nine children. Six of
their sons served in the Civil War,qv and only two survived. Mary
died in 1865 and was buried beside her husband.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Muster Rolls of
the Texas Revolution (Austin, 1986). Mary Smith Fay, War of 1812
Veterans in Texas (New Orleans: Polyanthos, 1979). Louis Wiltz Kemp
Papers, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
Alma Cheek Redden, A Chronicle of Pioneer Families: The Bentons and
the Taylors of the North Carolina Backcountry (Greensboro, North
Carolina: Acme Printing and Typesetting Company, 1969). Harriet
Smither, ed., Journals of the Fourth Congress of the Republic of
Texas, 1839-1840, to Which Are Added the Relief Laws (3 vols.,
Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, n.d.). Texas House of Representatives,
Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congresses,
1832-1845 (Austin: Book Exchange, 1941). Gifford E. White, ed., The
1840 Census of the Republic of Texas (Austin: Pemberton, 1966; 2d
ed., Vol. 2 of 1840 Citizens of Texas, Austin, 1984).
McXie Whitton Martin
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Husband John Berger
Born: Abt 1890
Died: Abt 1950
Buried:
Marriage: Abt 1925 - TX
Wife Mary Frances Jones
Born: 17 May 1890 - Celeste, Hunt Co., TX
Died: 5 Nov 1956 - Abilene, Taylor Co., TX
Buried:
Father: William J. Jones
Mother: Mary Pauline Gooch
Other Spouse: Tom Haggard - Abt 1912 - TX
Children
General Notes: Wife - Mary Frances Jones
Mary Jones was a daughter of Mary Pauline Gooch, and a niece of William Elijah Gooch.
Husband Francis Berry
Born: Abt 1763 - VA
Died: After 1850 - Caldwell Co., TX
Buried:
Marriage: Abt 1815
Wife Sarah Elizabeth Neal Teal
Born: Abt 1790 - SC
Died: After 1860
Buried:
Children
1 M James Berry
Born: Abt 1820 - Missouri
Died:
Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Francis Berry
In 1847 Sam married Lourahama Berry Neal, daughter of Francis and Sarah Berry, early settlers
of DeWitt's colony.
BERRY. The Berrys were among the earliest permanent DeWitt Colonists. Elizabeth Berry is thought to be the widowed sister or sister-in-law of Francis Berry. The fate of her and family as listed in the 1828 census is currently unknown. According to land title documents, Francis Berry arrived with wife and total family of six on 12 May 1825 and the two families are assumed to have arrived together from Missouri. Francis Berry arrived with children John and Esther Berry and John and Elizabeth Oliver. John Oliver and Betsy Oliver were grown children (or son and spouse) of his wife by a previous marriage. The labors of land granted to Francis Berry and to widowed daughter, Esther Berry House, were located in the cluster of homesteads between the south border of the Gonzales town tract and the Guadalupe River that also included choice lots owned by Empresario Green DeWitt, Samuel Highsmith, J. Gibson, Adam Zumwalt, David Burket, Charles Braches and Eli Mitchell. Esther Berry House's land grants were issued in her maiden name after the death of her husband Isaac House in 1830. Her labor is also in the cluster between F. Gibson and Adam Zumwalt. Leagues of land granted to Francis Berry and daughter Esther Berry House (originally granted to husband Isaac House) as well as the quarter league grant to William House were in Caldwell County just east and southeast of the current town of Lockhart which was on one of Byrd Lockhart's leagues.
Members of the Berry family were listed in the 1850 census of CaldwellCo: BERRY: Tilman 24 m MO; Caroline 22 f NC; Sarah Ann 4 f TX; John 2 m TX; Tilman 1 m TX BERRY: Francis 88 m VA; Sarah 60 f SC; James 30 m MO; Sarah Ann D. 7 f TX; NEAL: Francis 11 m TX.
Esther Berry House Floyd Clark--Alamo Widow
"She was brave, patriotic and hospitable and deserves to be recorded among the honored women of her time."
Among the pioneer women of her day should be recorded the name of Esther Berry Clark. Her father, Francis Berry, of Scotch Irish ancestry was born in 1760 and died at Lockhart, Texas in 1853. The family lived first in Brooks County, Esther was born March 25, 1808. After leaving Missouri in 1821, they joined there an emigration party to settle in DeWitt's Colony in Texas. Their family, Francis Berry, his wife, two children, John and Esther, and also his stepchildren, John and Betsy Oliver, was among the first to arrive. They came in the fall of 1825, a few weeks after Major John Kerr had made the first settlement on Kerr's Creek, east of the present town of Gonzales. Danger and bloodshed soon beset them. In 1826 a Fourth of July celebration was planned at a settlement on the Colorado near where Columbus is situated. To this John and Betsy Oliver accompanied by Basil Durban and a negro servant started on horseback. Camping at night about fourteen miles away, they were attacked by Indians and Durban was wounded. They made their escape into the thickets, losing their horses and all supplies. After walking home they found that the Indians had also attacked Major Kerr's house, killing and scalping John Wightman and attempting to burn the house. On their own door was written "Gone to Burnam's on the Colorado", so they walked back to this place. Berry and his family had reached there in safety, but their terror and hasty flight and the danger to her older brother and sister were never forgotten by Esther. She married first Isaac House (a runaway match) and her father settled them not far from Gonzales, the home in a beautiful grove of trees remaining long in the possession of the family. He died in 1830, leaving her with three young children, Jane, William and Alfred. In 1832 she married Dolphin Floyd, a young man who had immigrated to the colony in 1826 from Nash County, North Carolina. To them were born three children, Dolphin, John and Elizabeth. They were soon in the midst of the perils of warfare. Her husband was among those taking part in the defense of the cannon at Gonzales, the first struggle of the revolution. Later he was a member of the gallant company of thirty two men who marched to the relief of Travis at the Alamo. Twenty seven of the terrified wives, among them Mrs. Floyd, gathered at the home of Mrs. Braches and here the news came to them of the fall of the Alamo and the death of their loved ones. Short time was left them for grief and inaction. General Houston in his retreat with his army ordered the abandonment of the town, and the families gathered together their most immediate necessities and joined the move eastward. Mrs. Floyd, like many others, had only a two wheeled cart or freighter as it was called. Grease was scarce, and to prevent the wooden axles from firing, she kept them lubricated from her precious gourd of soft soap. At the crossing of the Brazos their cart overturned and all, including a baby a few days old, were spilled into the water. This baby, none the worse for her dangerous ride, was named Elizabeth Whitfield for her father's only sister and lived to mature age. After the Run Away Scrape and the battle of San Jacinto, safety came again and the settlers returned to their homes. [On the return to Gonzales, Alamo Widow Floyd was met and aided by the family Robert Hancock Hunter, described in his narrative of 1860--WLM]
In 1838 Mrs. Floyd was married to Captain John Clark of Kentucky and six children were born to them, namely, Alonzo, Eveline, Sarah, Frank, Catherine and Jesse. Of the twelve children the only ones surviving in 1925 are the youngest son, Jesse and the youngest daughter, Catherine, now Mrs. J.W. Griffin of Nickel, Texas. As often happens where several families are reared together, there was a disagreement because of the children, and in 1849 Captain Clark left for the gold fields in California from which he never returned. To the mother alone then fell the burden of rearing her family, endeavoring to educate them and train them in good citizenship. In 1848 or 1849 she made a profession of faith and united with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church under the leadership of Reverend Henry Renick. She and her children were also baptized in this faith in which she continued a loyal member to the end of her life. Their home was often visited by Indians, usually friendly, but on one occasion they chased her twelve-year-old son, so alarming her that the citizens made the Indians leave the vicinity. For many years the members of the court and bar found accommodation in her home, and the traveler and stranger were entertained. In those days when even the necessities of life were often difficult to secure, she yet managed to provide a table where all might have their needs satisfied. Sorrow still remained with her as she saw four of her children pass away. During the Civil War she sustained a heavy loss in the death of her eighteen-year-old son, Frank Clark, who was killed in the battle of New Hope Church, Georgia in May 1864. She died January 21 1870 and was buried in the Masonic Cemetery of Gonzales. She was brave, patriotic and hospitable and deserves to be recorded among the honored women of her time. [The foregoing was probably written about 1925 by Catherine Clark Griffin, daughter of Esther and John A. Clark. Reprinted from the contribution by.Hercel Orts Dilworth in The History of Gonzales County, Texas. (Reprinted by permission of the Gonzales County Historical Commission)]
The single Esther Clark and family were listed in the 1850 census of GonzalesCo, Town of Gonzales: Clark, Easter, 42, f, $2,000, Mo; Clark, John, 15, m, Texas; Clark, Elizabeth, 14, f, Texas; Clark, Evaline, 10, f, Texas; Clark, Francis, 8, m, Texas; Clark, Catherine, 5, f, Texas.
John Oliver also received title to a league and labor as a married man in 1831. The labor is in the cluster just south of his stepfather Francis Berry's labor. The marriage of John and Nancy Oliver is thought to be the first marriage performed in the DeWitt Colony by the authority granted under the Empresario system to Empresario Green DeWitt in absence of a Catholic Priest.
"Know all Men by these Presents:
That we, John Oliver….and Nancy Curtis….are held and firmly bound to the other in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars, well and truly to be paid, sued for and recovered of either of our lands, tenements, goods, chattels on the following conditions to wit: Whereas the said John Oliver and Nancy Curtis have mutually agreed to enter in the solemn bonds of matrimony; and there being as yet no church erected in this colony, or ecclesiastical authority established in said colony, and it being a great distance to San Antonio de Bexar, and no Alcalde yet appointed before whom this bond should have been taken, as is the custom in Austin's colony in such cases; Now, therefore, it is fully understood by and between the said parties, that if they do faithfully appear before some priest or person legally authorized to solemnize marriage as soon as circumstances will permit, and be married as the laws of this government may require, why, then this bond to be forever void. And it is further to be understood by and between the said parties, that if either of the said parties shall fail or refuse to comply with the conditions of this bond….the party so failing or refusing shall forfeit and pay the penalty in the said bond mentioned….
Done before me, Green De Witt, Empresario of De Witt's Colony, there being yet no Alcalde election for said Colony….."
The fate of this marriage is unclear. Nancy Curtis Oliver married George Washington Cottle on 2 Jun 1830 before John Oliver received title to his land grants in 1831. George Cottle was a part of the Gonzales Alamo Relief Force who died in the Alamo 6 Mar 1836 at which time Nancy Curtis Oliver Cottle became one of the 27 Gonzales Alamo widows. Nancy subsequently married John C. Cooksey. Nancy Curtis Oliver Cottle Cooksey was the daughter of the colorful, hard-drinking ranger and patriot and one of the Old 300 Austin Colonist, James Curtis Sr., said to be the oldest active combatant at the Battle of San Jacinto.
Along with Major James Kerr, his black servants Jack, Shade and Annis, Deaf Smith, Geron Hinds and Bazil Durban, the Berrys and Olivers were among the first settlers at the first settlement at Gonzales on Kerr Creek which was temporarily abandoned because of Indian attack described by John Henry Brown in History of Texas:
"Major Kerr had gone on business to the Brazos; Deaf Smith and Geron Hinds were absent on a buffalo hunt; and it was agreed that Bazil Durbin, John and Betsey Oliver and a very sprightly negro boy (a servant of Major Kerr) named Jack, should go on horseback to the Colorado celebration. They started on Sunday, Jul 2d, and encamped for the night on Thorn's Branch, fourteen miles east, having no apprehension of danger at that time. The little party, however, were doomed to disappointment, and about midnight, while sleeping soundly on their blankets, were suddenly aroused by the firing of guns and the yells of Indians. Durbin was shot in the shoulder by a musket ball and badly wounded, but escaped with his companions into a thicket near by, the horses and other effects being left in the possession of the enemy. From loss of blood and intense pain, Durbin repeatedly swooned, but was restored by the efforts of his companions and enabled to walk by noon on the following day, back to Major Kerr's cabins, where the party was astounded to find John Wightman lying dead and scalped in the passageway between the rooms, and the house robbed of everything, including important papers and three compasses, and that an unsuccessful attempt had been made to burn it. They hurried down to Berry's cabin, and found it closed and on the door written with charcoal---"Gone to Burnham's, on The Colorado." When Durbin and his companions left on the previous day, Strickland, Musick and Major Kerr's negroes (Shade, Anise and their four or five children), went to Berry's to spend the afternoon, leaving Wightman alone at the cabins. Returning late in the day, they found Wightman as described--yet warm in his blood. Hurrying back to Berry's with the tidings, the entire party started for the Colorado, where they safely arrived, and were joined a few days later by Deaf Smith and Hinds. Durbin's wounds had already rendered him very weak, but his only alternative was to reach the same place on foot, or perish by the way. The weather was warm and there was imminent danger of gangrene making its appearance in his wound, to prevent which it was kept poulticed with mud and oak juice. Leaning on Betsey Oliver's arm he arrived at Burnham's on the afternoon of July 6th, three days and a half after starting for that place.''
Husband Unknown BERRYHILL
Born:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Claudia HIGHTOWER
Born:
Died:
Buried:
Father: John M. HIGHTOWER
Mother: Mary Tennessee GARDNER
Children
Husband Josias Berryman
Born: Abt 1800
Died: Abt 1870
Buried:
Marriage: Abt 1825
Wife Jane Eidson
Born: Abt 1800
Died: Abt 1870
Buried:
Children
1 F Mary Elizabeth Berryman
Born: 31 Aug 1827
Died: 4 Oct 1864 - Madison Co., MO
Buried:
Spouse: Powell Calloway
Marr: 12 Sep 1844 - Madison Co., MO
Husband Powell Calloway
Born: Abt 1820 - Madison Co., MO/Madison Co., MO
Died: Abt 1870 - Madison Co., MO
Buried:
Father: Peter Calloway
Mother: Susanna Gooch
Marriage: 12 Sep 1844 - Madison Co., MO
Wife Mary Elizabeth Berryman
Born: 31 Aug 1827
Died: 4 Oct 1864 - Madison Co., MO
Buried:
Father: Josias Berryman
Mother: Jane Eidson
Children
1 M Charles Calloway
Born: 17 Feb 1858 - Madison Co., MO/Madison Co., MO
Died: 10 Mar 1936 - Hollis, OK
Buried:
Spouse: Sarah Adeline Sebastian
Marr: 10 Dec 1882 - Parker Co., TX
Husband Charles Wayne Gooch
Born:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Drummond Burgess Gooch
Mother: Lena Jones
Marriage:
Wife Mabyn Best
Born:
Died:
Buried:
Children
Husband Henry Carroll Billings
Born: 1868
Died: 1931
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Susan Jane Day
Born: 1872
Died: 1958
Buried:
Father: Henry Milton Day
Mother: Priscilla Frances Noicholson
Children
Husband William Daniel Gooch
Born: 20 May 1842
Died: 11 May 1917 - Arcadia, LA
Buried:
Father: John M. Gooch
Mother: Sarah Louisa Smith
Marriage: 1865 - Oxford, Ms
Other Spouse: Nancy Emmaline Bateman - 25 Aug 1870 - Clarksville, TX
Wife Cozady Billingsley
Born: Abt 1845
Died:
Buried:
Children
General Notes: Husband - William Daniel Gooch
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GOOCH, WILLIAM D.
CP1.56
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GOOCH, EMELINE
GOOCH, WILLIAM D.
CP1.56
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GOOCH, WILLIAM D.