Carl Bell <cbell@bellgroup.com>
Apr 3 2017 (3 days ago)

Giddens

My name is Carl Bell. I live in Dallas and am very much involved in a personal research for a project, including some writing, I am doing about my family… the Giddens, who settled in Red River County in 1833.

Richard Francis Giddens and his wife Jane and children came to Red River County in February of 1833, from Vermilion County, Illinois. He was my GGG Grandfather; his son James Richard Giddens, killed in the Battle of Dove Creek in January, 1865, in an ill-advised battle with Kickapoo Indians, was my GG Grandfather. His and his wife Susan Loving (Oliver Loving's niece) Giddens’ oldest son George Wright, born in Red River County in 1848, was my Great Grandfather, and his youngest son, Grover Cleveland, born in Montague County in 1886, was my grandfather. My mother, Bessie Wayne Giddens was born in Stephens County, OK, in 1924. I was born in Okmulgee, OK, in 1944… so there is my Giddens lineage.

I know that a distant cousin of mine, Jim Giddens, has contributed a great deal for your web site, including a biography of our mutual grandparent, Richard Francis. Great stuff. I have visited the Red River County Courthouse in the past, looking through old deed records and other ephemera, and have also visited the Concord Cemetery where our patriarch Richard Francis Giddens is buried, and where his father, Reuben Giddens, who came to Texas in the 1840s, is also buried. I believe another cousin and her family led an effort to have his remains moved to the Concord Cemetery.

My efforts are mainly focused on the Westward migration of “easterners” and how the Giddens, originally from Cork, Ireland, came to America around 1740, settling in NC, then to KY, then to IL, and then joining the “Gone to Texas” movement, leaving IL after the end of the Black Hawk War, in which Richard Francis served as a Sergeant, as did Abraham Lincoln, and after the reelection of Andrew Jackson in 1832 assured the support of the United States for settlers to head Southwest to the Texas province of Mexico.

I am particularly interested in the journey the Giddens took along what surely was the Southwest Trail through the Arkansas Territory, heading west near the community of Washington, and into Indian Territory, now OK of course, and probably crossing over into Texas at Jonesborough, the same place where Sam Houston, and later Davy Crockett, crossed over into Texas, using the ferry the Jones family operated back in those days.

Here is my request… Would you be available for a conversation if I came to Clarksville? I would love to be able to talk with you and perhaps others who are doing such a great job in preserving our common heritage. And/or, could you help me with ideas about where and how I might be able to pin down as accurately as possible some personal details about wagon trains that came to Texas that year of 1833? There is plenty of information of course about the more famous wagon train in which the Parker family came to Texas later that year. But maybe there are diary entries or correspondence, even if not by members of the Giddens family, but maybe by others who may have come with them on the long journey from Illinois during that winter of 1832-1833, that could be the source for some personal tidbits about the Giddens family experience along the way and in the settling on the land they obtained in Red River County… The extablishment of the Concord Baptist Church was key of course; and helping establish the Friendship Masonic Lodge, the 17th lodge established in the Republic of Texas, was important. I’ve spoken with Masons from the Lodge there in Clarksville; tragically, there was a fire many years ago, and the historical records of the Lodge were destroyed.

But to summarize… since it is not my intention to write for publication, certainly not for any profit motive – this is my own personal project for our family – I will be happy to share with you or the Red River County Historical Society or any organization in which you and others may be involved, the results and information I gather and compile.

I hope to hear back from you if you are interested in my request and the project I am pursuing.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Carl W. Bell

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

12/18/16

Patrice Louinet <patrice.louinet@gmail.com>
Hi from the other Paris, in France!

Francis Scott McKinney

 

I was in contact about 15 years ago with Sharon Black, re. Robert E. Howard, Bagwell, Mary Bohannon, etc. I was wondering whether you had her email address as the one I had no longer works.
I am trying to find out more about a Francis Scott McKinney and wife Laura. This is another Robert E. Howard connection.
Thanks for any help you may provide me with.

* No. 1 is the McKinney Family, including Scott, age 10:
1. McKinney, Scott 10

Best,

Patrice Louinet

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

LeePreston@aol.com
3/11/17

to RRCoordinator:

Watkins

What a wonderful website.
Please tell the lady who maintains the Wavell Colony pages............the following:
(I could not find how to contact her direct.)
Under Watkins, 2 of the children are shown as Register Family #1, but I'm sure they should be #61....
Thank you. leepreston@aol.com
Le Bron Camp "Lee" Preston, Huntington Beach, CA -- (Birth name...Watkins.)

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txredriv/miller/wavell.htm
1830 Wavell Colony Register

Register Family No. ... Name ... Age
===
105. Miller, Peter 62
105. Miller, Peter 7
61. Miller, Polly (Mrs. Joseph Watkins) 43
===
61. Watkins, Andrew Jackson 1
1. Watkins, Elezabeth 13 (Clearly must be 61; not 1...Lee)*
61. Watkins, John 18
61. Watkins, Joseph 56
61. Watkins, Joseph 7
61. Watkins, Polly (nee Miller) 43 6
1. Watkins, Williams 4 (Clearly must be 61; not 1...Lee)*

*******************************

S. K. Cannady <kk15098@gmail.com>
2/6/17

Claudia, Jimmy-CUZ, jimmysmith 10

Hi Patsy,
My name is Kim Cannady. I am a historian, genealogist and the Co-administrator for the Kennedy/Cannady surname group with FTDNA. I accidentally came upon your site of Red River Texas and saw the name Sampson Smith in Will Book A. Is there any way you could get me a copy of his will and any information pertaining to him and his family? I will be more than happy to reimburse you for any expenses. I have a Sampson Smith in my personal family tree. My Grandmother was a Smith. Her father was George Leonard Smith of GA. His father was Richard Sampson Smith of GA (CSA Veteran). His father was Archibald James Smith of GA. His father was Sampson Smith. All we know about Sampson was that born @ 1775-1780 in NC or GA, married in 1807 in Hancock County, GA and was not seen after @ 1820. I have only seen one other Sampson Smith in any records from the 1790 census records in Maryland. I believe that was from Lancaster County and they were Quakers.

I would truly appreciate any help you might afford me.

Thank you,
S. Kim Cannady
kk15098@gmail.com

************************

Wright E Harris III <wrighteharrisiii@me.com>
10/31/16

i did some hurried research in bonham and paris several years back and while in the lamar county courthouse i met a man, greg davis (1st name could be incorrect) who was compiling slave records and stories from the original red river county…i lost his info in transit back to missouri, but would like to reconnect with him as i am stymied in nailing down my ancestors who were slaves in fannin county, then my great grandfather and great aunt (at least-their mother i am not sure about at this time) were sold to a new owner in kentucky…i was hoping mr davis had published his book by now, but i would like to find out if he has seen a sale of the above mentioned people…could you put me in contact with him-he lives in the clarksville area…thanks for any response…gene harris, ferguson, missouri 324 691 0537

 

*********************************

JERRY J FRAZIER <j.j.frazier@sonic.net>
8/30/16

Hattie Susan Spears b. 18 Sep 1899 m. Andrew Jackson
d. 1956 Bogata. Red River, Texas

Also if they have children buried there would be helpful.

Many thanks,

Jerry Frazier
1161 Debbie Hill Rd
Cotati, CA. 94931
707-789-9501
707-477-1972 cell

***************************

Larry W. Mayes <lwmtem@yahoo.com>
Mon, Aug 5, 12:35 PM
to Pvinson47@gmail.com

Dear Patsy,

I saw your name as a point of contact to add information if it is permitted.

J.T. Byram died at age 19 days. Had he lived, he would have been the second of three uncles: William, "J.T." and Charles..

I am the oldest grandson of George C and Minnie Louella "Ella" Walker Byram, the parents of J.T. Byram. They have been reunited in death at Avery Cemetery. I am an Army Brat from a WWII career soldier Eugene S Mayes of Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Rosie Mae Byram, oldest daughter of George and Ella Byram, born in Avery 19 Aug 1923.

I don't know why my Grandmother would confide in me that J.T. was intended to have the name James T, Byram, but I suppose for the 19 days of his life keeping alive over rode anything else and just forgotten at such a sad time. As my grandmother spoke that day in 1973 as we walked through Avery Cemetery, she was also lamenting the more recent loss of an older son William who died in Oklahoma in Jun 1972 and husband George who rests in Avery Cemetery among their children and George's parents.

As a genealogist of sorts, I would prefer any updates to show J.T. as a white male. While all family who would know of J.T. are gone, but one younger sister, now 90, J.T. should remain as is with perhaps a note that James was to be his first name. In all my searches, I have not found a one in over 400 years of family history, who used just initials for a first name. I do not recall, from that day with my grandmother 46 years ago, if there was a marker for JT of field stone or of any kind.

I truly thank you for your dedication to these memorial grounds as much of my early family is buried nearby in similar places. I would do the same for Byram ancestors in East Bridgewater, MA of the late 1690s if all of their headstones could be found.

Sincerely,

Larry W Mayes
Lewiston, Maine

2nd Query/Reply

^^^^^^^^^^^

Larry W. Mayes
Aug 6, 2019, 11:12 PM
to me

Hello Patsy,

Thank you for your fast reply and for being such a hard worker to keep these cemeteries up to date. I'm having problems with a few people in about a dozen New England cemeteries as I look for other relatives.

Avery Cemetery is in the town of Avery, Red River County, TX. Some of my relatives have been buried there or is surrounding cemeteries since the time of the Civil War as well as in Bowie County and DeKalb.

Posting this info for others is fine. Perhaps someone will have a remembrance even though JT's death was 92 years ago.

If you have any questions for me, I am on line daily with few exceptions.

I appreciate your time and dedication!

Sincerely,

Larry

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Updated: January 2022

Patsy Vinson, Red River Coordinator TXGenWeb Project

Return to Main Page