Pioneers of Ellis County The McCulloch Family   Frances F. Lenoir McCulloch was born in Virginia April 11, 1779, a daughter of a planter and a slaveholder, related to the Harpers and Fishers of that state, and evidently of French origin.  She was the widow of Major Alexander McCulloch, born in Virginia, raised in North Carolina and a graduate of Yale University.  He served as aide-de-camp for Gen. James Coffee, under Gen. Andrew Jackson, in the Creek Indian War and the War of 1812 and died in Dyer County, Tenn. August 1846. During his absence, his wife managed the plantation and was known for her kindness to the sick and acting as peacemaker in her neighborhood. Her only brother, John Peterson LeNoir, died in New Orleans in 1814 in the War of 1812. Major and Mrs. McCulloch were the parents of twelve children. Of these, Alexander served in the Army of Texas in 1836-37 and was an officer in the U. S. Army in the Mexican War. Benjamin participated in the Battle of San Jacinto as a private, served in the Mexican War as a Captain and was killed at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas March 7, 1862 while a Brigadier General in the CSA. Henry Eustace was a Captain in the U. S. Army in the Mexican War and a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army.  John S. McCulloch served as a Captain in the Confederate Army. Other children were Mrs. Guy Stokes and Mrs. John I. Smith (Ellis County) and Mrs. James Y. McDaniel (Hillsboro. [Hill Co. Tex.]) Mrs.W. D. Colvin and Mrs. J. G. Cheatham, both of Ellis County, are also related. The body of General Ben McCulloch was brought to Waxahachie from the battlefield and funeral services held in the old Methodist Church with burial in the State Cemetery in Austin. Mrs. McCulloch came to Texas after 1846 and lived with her son, Captain James (Coffee) McCulloch in Ellis County until her death May 10, 1866. Her remains were reinterred in the State Cemetery in Austin May 27, 1938, under the auspices of the Oliver Hazard Perry Chapter, Daughters of the War of 1812, the William B. Travis Chapter, Daughters of the Republic of Texas and the Albert Sidney Johnston Chapter, Daughters of the Confederacy. Lieutenant Governor Walter F. Woodul delivered the funeral oration. [Source: Extract of a clipping from theWaxahachie Enterprise, Friday, May 27, 1938, in possession of Mrs. Nora Burnett, Dallas, Texas.] Letter contributed by Sylvia Smith "Milford, Ellis Co May 15th 1866 Dear Children I write you to anounce to you the death of my Mother and your Grandmother. She breathed her last on the morning of the 10th of May 1866 at half past 12 oclock. She died without a struggle or even the moving of a muscle, she literally fell asleep in Jesus She was in her senses until the last and never ceased to pray and if any person ever goes to heaven she is there, so our loss is her eternal gain. We buried her by Your Uncle James who I wrote you died on the 16th of last January. It is a great thing to  [have] died a christian. We are all well and are making a fine crop of wheat 20 or 30 bushells an acre, corn looks well about knee high and on 4 or 5 acres the weeds are higher than the corn. But if it does not rain this spring then we will have them all killed. We have had more rain this spring than we ever had since I lived in Texas. Your Mother says you must come this fall & says she has got almost fat since she heard from you and would get fat if she could but get to see you again The freedmen in this country are doing tolerable well. I drove all ours off last fall. They got so lazy that they would not do anything they did not earn the food. Lucy is living with Dr Long for her [illegible] and for the benefit of his medical attention she has the rheumatise. Letty a woman I bought in 1863 with 2 white children & she has had 2 more since, making 4 in all, 3 boys & a girl. She is living with John Hudson & carried old Bob to Re___? and in a short time they fell out and he is now living with Mrs. Sallel on Onion. We have one man and his wife & 3 children.We give them 10$ per month and feed & clothe them. We also have a woman & 2 children which we give there victuals & clothes and they are better negroes than we ever had before. We get along with them much better than we did with Lucy & the rest, they do not steal. Rush you wrote that if your Uncle Henry had any money in his hands Belonging to you to get it and come to you. Your Uncle Henry is flat broke all your Uncle Bens & Henry property was confiscated by the laws of the U. S. under the law confiscating all property where a man was worth over 20,000 dollars, though they have not yet taken it your Uncle Henry cannot despose of any of it. He is trying to save it and will probably do so in the end if he can keep it until the President declares Texas back in the union as he did the ballance of the Rebel States. Which he will do as soon as he receives her constitution which has been sent on. We are all well and also all the connection so far as I know. Little Joe says tell Johhn Boyy (that is what he calls your little boy) to come to Texas and he says he has a pony and Jonny Boyy can ride with him before or behind which ever he pleases. I am sory that I am not able to come to you & hate to cause you to brake up and move back when you are doing well and would not ask it for myself but on your mothers account I think you had better come back as you promised to do when you left. I suppose you have found out by this time that you cannot git rich and so like the rest of us you will have to work for your victuals & clothes for naked we came in to the world and naked we will leave it. We have not received a letter from you since the 12th of Jan. Write often our mails are not regular. Your Father John S. McCulloch" [Original letter at the Barker Library, University of Texas, Austin,Texas]   Copyright © 1998-2017, Ellis County TXGenWeb. All Rights Reserved. This page was last modified: Thursday, 01-Jul-2021 13:30:05 MDT