Aaron & Polly Myers
Buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery

Aaron Myers was born 17 March 1796 in Montgomery County, Kentucky, the twelfth of thirteen children born to Henry and Hannah Myers. Aaron Myers married Mary “Polly” Dean on 16 March 1816 in Kentucky. She normally went by her nickname Polly. Aaron was 20 and Polly was 16. She was born in Kentucky on 14 Feb 1800. Aaron and Polly probably started their married life farming near his parents in Kentucky. Aaron and Polly’s children’s births were listed in the family Bible. Elizabeth was born first on 10 Feb 1818 and then Gibson was born on 1 Feb 1819. Their next daughter Hanah was born 8 Feb 1821, and daughter Sarah born 30 Jul 1823. On 24 October 1825, Aaron and Polly sold their land for $300 and moved to Putnam County, Indiana, where new frontiers were opening up. Aaron and Polly’s first child that was born in Indiana was Margaret born 21 Jun 1827. Daughter Sarah died between the years of 1820 and 1830. Daughter Juliana was born 25 Dec 1830; the twins Camel Stevenson (Doc) and Benjamin Franklin were born 9 Feb 1835; and daughter Saliney Gipson on 5 Oct 1839. Daughter, Elizabeth, married Alexander Crawley on 23 November 1837. Daughter, Hanah, married William Woolverton on 30 January 1839. Their oldest son Gibson left home and went to Texas by 1841. Gibson served briefly in the Army of the Republic of Texas. In the “1st Big Mounted Riflemen,” he was an “orderly Sargent (sic) in Capt. J. W. Lane’s Company C.” Texas State Archives, Austin, Texas.] Aaron and Polly’s last child, Riley Griffith, was born 23 July 1842. On 3 October of 1842, Aaron and Polly sold all their Indiana land for $1,000.

In 1842 or 1843, they set out for Texas to join their son Gibson. They left behind their daughter Elizabeth Crawley. Married daughter Hanah and her husband, William Woolverton, also moved to Texas. It is assumed they all came together. Hanah's first child (James) was born in Indiana in 1841 and her second child (Sarah E.) was born in Texas in 1843. The trip from Indiana to Texas was made by riverboat. Sadie Sullivan (daughter of Aaron’s son C. S.) said in 1964 “My father told us stories about the trip down the Mississippi River. They came down the Mississippi by steamboat.” Lena Rimmer (granddaughter of Aaron’s daughter Saliney) wrote: “Mr. Kessler, who worked for the Cass County Sun at Linden, Texas, told me of a man named Nanker, who was instrumental in bringing settlers to Texas, and he said Aaron Myers was one of the settlers [Nanker] brought, and that the Myers settled on the present site of Bryan’s Mill.” The first documented evidence that has been found was the Cass County tax lists for 1846, the first year the county existed. Aaron & Gibson paid poll tax that year. Aaron was taxed for “320 acres of land and 18 head of cattle” valued at $290.

The Methodists in the community had not yet had time to put up their church building, so they took turns having meetings in their homes. One particular night, prayer meeting was being held at the Myers home. Suddenly, the folks heard a loud ruckus outside – the squealing of pigs, loud and frantic. It sounded like every pig was squealing at once at the top of its lungs. The meeting came to a halt while all the men jumped up and rushed outside with their rifles, to see what was the matter. They were just in time to see a black bear jump out of the pig pen! Apparently, the pigs and made enough noise to scare the bear off before he harmed any of the pigs. Aaron was a founder of the Union Chapel Methodist Church. Both he and his daughter, Saliney (Myers) Harkey, are listed on a plaque on the front of the church, with the names of all the charter members from 1858. The older children were married and starting their own families. Gibson married Euphenia Jane who was called Jane. The Bible record reports the death of Polly on August 1, 1847, “at half past 10 o’clock in the Evening”. The cause of her death at age of 47 years is unknown. Just a year later on19 July 1848, Julianna married Wilson Kitchens. The next year Mary Jane married Oliver H. Hancock on 4 June 1849. 

On 29 April 1849, Aaron Myers married “Mademoiselle Myers.” Cass County records listed this marriage, but gave her name as “Made Mavelle Bar.” Very little is known about her. She may have had two previous marriages. She was 28 and hence 25 years younger than Aaron as the Bible record gives her birth date as June 14, 1821. The Meyer family Bible record also lists the birth date for Martin Van Buren Barr, (October 1847), for Elizabeth Susan Williams (Aug 1843) and for Liles S Landrum (29 Dec. 1844). They were probably her children. Also there is a Bible record for Elizabeth S Williams who died 11 Dec. 1856. Mademoiselle died May 16, 1856. Aaron’s daughter Mary Jane Hancock’s husband died before 1860.

Aaron’s third wife was named Mary Elizabeth. Little is known about her. They were probably married in the summer or fall of 1856. Mary Elizabeth gave birth to Rebecca on July 10, 1857 and Lucretia on March 5, 1859. Sometime in the 1850’s, Aaron’s daughter Julianna and husband Wilson Kitchens moved to Pittsburgh, Texas. Aaron’s daughter Saliney & John Harkey were married in Pittsburgh on March 10, 1859. They moved to the Bryans Mill area. Aaron’s own family continued to grow as he had his last child when Mary Elizabeth gave birth to Leander on June 3, 1862. On June 13, 1861, Aaron’s son C. S. Myers enlisted in the Confederate Army, “South Kansas Texas Reg’t Cavalry,” later renamed the “3rd Reg’t Texas Cavalry”. Son Riley G. Myers enlisted in “Morgan’s Squadron Texas Cavalry” on April 8, 1862. Both C. S. and Riley made it through the war and came back to marry and raise families of their own. C. S. married Cordie Lemmons on July4, 1867. Riley married Samantha Helen Campbell on January 25, 1868. Daughter Mary Jane Hancock remarried sometime after the 1860 – to a man named Adams. She died about 1867 and Aaron was executor of her estate. Aaron died on November 2, 1870. He was 74. According to Lena Harkey Rimmer, he was buried at the Bryan Mill’s Cemetery beside his first wife Polly. Aaron left a will, in which he left his house and land (the 144 acre Pre-emption Grant) to his wife Mary Elizabeth and the three younger children from their marriage. The children of his first marriage were older and settled on farms of their own.

This is a summary of a family narrative, written by Roberta (Harkey) Himebrook based on a family narrative by Louise (Rimmer) Cook and research done by Marion and Lanice (Parsons) Harkey. Information also from: Census; Tax Records; Texas General Land Office; Elizabeth Rimmer Garrett; History of Putnam Co. Indiana by Jesse W. Weik; and Biographical and Historical Record of Putnam County, Indiana.