MEMOIRS OF JAMES J. BEEMAN
by James Jackson Beeman
December 24, 1886
Return to B'man
Newsletters main page.
(These
memoirs. written December 24, 1886, by James Jackson Beeman, were found and
copied for the descendants of John Beeman and Margaret Hunter Beeman by Miss
Ruth Cooper. Miss 6ooper is the
daughter of Ruth Myers Cooper, daughter of Sonoma Beeman Myers, daughter of
William H. Beeman, son of John Beeman who was a half-brother to James J.
Beeman. We thank Miss Cooper and Mrs.
Mildred Haden both for the memoirs and the information on the Beeman line in
Texas.)
I was born in the state of Illinois on the 21st day of
December 1816, at the head of the American Bottom in Madison County, about
three miles below the city of Alton, about one mile below St. Louis and Alton
crossing on Wood River. My father,
James Beeman, was raised in North Caroline, Rowen County. He went to Illinois about the year
1800. He moved to Greene County when I
was quite small. I was partly raised in
Greene County and partly in Calhoun County on the Illinois River, opposite the
mouth of Apple Creek.
I was married to Sarah
Crawford, daughter of James Crawford, in the year 1836, September 15th. We lived in Calhoun County, and had two
children, a son and a daughter. The boy
died in Calhoun County, he being the oldest.
I left Illinois for Texas September 1840, crossing the boundry line
between the U.S. and Texas, the 6th of December 1840. A brother and a nephew, John S. Beeman, came with me. We stopped and rented land in Bowie County
on what was known as the Sterling Smith farm about three miles east of the town
of Dalby Springs.
In the spring of 1841, the
Indians had been depredating on the settlements in the upper counties A company was raised and went in pursuit of
them. General E. H. Tarrant, hearing of
the expedition, mounted his horse and went and headed it. They went to an Indian village on Village
Creek in what is now Tarrant County, and attacked 'the Indians. In this fight Col. John B. ?enton was
killed. and Captain Henry Stout was wounded.
After the fight the company returned to the settlements taking the dead
body of Col. Denton to Denton Creek where he was buried. About' six years
afterwards Captain Stout went and found the grave, dug up his remains and took
them away. I do not know where. The 2nd of March 1841, General Tarrant was
the Brigadier General of the District composed of the counties of Bowie, Red
River, Lamar and Fannin, with their territories. After the return of this company from the fight, General Tarrant
issued an order for the raising of some 400 volunteers to go out on the waters
of the Trinity River against the Indians, and that said volunteers rendezvous
at Fort English in Fannin county on the 15th of July 1841. Each man to furnish himself with a horse,
gun, ammunition and rations. Each of
the above mentioned counties had to furnish a certain number of men and
organize in due time to be at the rendezvous.
The Bowie County men met at the town of DeKalb on the 5th of July 1841
and organized by electing David P. Key, Captain, (who, at this writing live in
Menard County, Texas.)
Alexender Booth was elected Orderly
Sergeant. I do not remember the names
of the other officers of the company.
We then disbanded to meet at Fort Inglish on the 15th where we elected
Battalion officer whom I do not consider it of sufficient importance to mention
except General Tarrant was Commander-in-Chief, and Jonathan Bird was
Sergeant-Major. We immediately were on
the march for the Indian Vil1age Creek.
When we got there the Indians had left. We found a good deal of signs,
as they would come back for such of their crops as were still growing. There was corn, pumpkins and beans. Perhaps
here I should relate an incident that began before we left Fort Inglishm which
is as follows:
An old man living near Fort Inglish by the name of Cox, had a little
boy and a grandson near the same size, who were in the habit of both mounting a
pony and driving the cows up of evenings.
It was late for the cows as usual, and while out, the Indians came on
them and captured them and their pony, and carried them off. They were ransomed in the fall of the same
year (1841) and they told us that the Indians kept far enough ahead of us to be
out of danger and watched our movements.
They told the boys that in case of an attack by us, they would kill
them. Poor little fellows, they
suffered a great deal as the Indians whipped them severely. I dare say if they are still living, they
have the marks on their bodies to this day. (December the first 1886.)
On our arrival in the Village we encamped on their fields and helped
ourselves to their' corn, beans, ets.
One of our men made a grater out of an old coffee pot, on which we
grated corn and baked it into bread.
The first bread I had tasted in a good while We called it "Bready",
as bread was not good enough a name. Up
to this time, our rations consisted of flour, bacon and coffee. We waited three
or four days for General Tom I. Smith, who was to meet us at the Village. As he had not come up to this time, we
continued our march. The first day,
while we were nooning, some of our horses stampeded and ran back to the
Village, and those who went after them, found General Smith and command
occupying the same ground we had left in the morning. This stampede was on Sycamore Creek, about two miles east of Ft.
Worth. On the return of the men with
the horses, they reported the arrival of General Smith add that he wished
General Tarrant to go back and see him, which he did. He got some beef cattle from Smith.
We then continued up the West Fork.
On the next day we stopped in a
grove to noon and found a pile of wood ready for a fire. This, the little boys said they had prepared
when the Indian spies came in and reported our coming. Whereupon they left in haste. The brothers of the boys put fire to the
pile and cooked dinner. We continued
our march up to a large spring in the upper Cross Timbers. Here Cook had some time before camped on his
way to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Not
finding the Indians as we expected, we lay by and sent out spies. When they came back, they reported no
Indians. By this time our supplies of
provisions were nearly exhausted, and the beeves took murrain and died so fast
we were afraid to eat the beef. This
spring is where Carterville is located in Parker County. So the only alternative was for us to go
back to the settlements. We had
enlisted for three months service. The
time not being out when we got back, Major Johnathan Bird got permission from
General Tarrant to raise a company out of the furlowed soldiers and go back to
the West Fork and build a fort near the Village. He raised the company, and as I had seen the country, my brother,
John, also wished to see the country, so he took my place. They went and built the fort on the North
side of West Fork of the Trinity River, abut seven or eight miles from the
Village, and about the same distance from Birdville. The Fort was named, "Bird's Fort" for the Major.
After this fort was built my brother returned to Bowie County, where we
were living. It was not long before we
had our crops gathered and sold. ready to move to the fort. We got to the Fort some time in November
1841, with our families. We had with us
the following named families: A.W. Webb, who was our Captain; Solomon Silkwood;
Henry Hahn; John Beeman; John S. Beeman; myself. and family (J.J. Beeman); also
some single men.
After our arrival at the fort, we built more houses so as to make
comfortable quarters for our families.
My cousin, W. H. Rattan1 took his family there on the first expedition,
also one other family went at the same time, by the name of Bogard. On
Christmas Day 1841 Captain Webb, Soloman Silkwood and W.H. Rattan left the Fort
and went over on Elm Fork to cut another road below the mouth of Denton Creek,
so as to avoid the crossing of both streams, which the present road did. They
got on Elm Fork the same day they left the Fort and camped on the opposite
side. That night it snowed and
continued snowing the next day and was very cloudy. This was the 26th of December 1841. While they were going up the river looking for a suitable place
to make a ford, they came on a bear track and found it had gone up a big
cottonwood tree and had not come down.
They concluded they would cut the tree down and have a bear fight
between it and the dogs they had with them.
They began chopping the tree, and thinking it dinner time, they ate
their dinner. After dinner Hamp Rattan,
we called him "Hamp", went to chopping, but did not hit many licks
until the Indians who were watching them, shot three times at them, the first
killing Hamp. After consulting together
they deemed it best to leave, as Hamp was now dead. But before starting, Silkwood shot at what he took to be an
Indian head. This ended the fight, and
they made their way to the Fort without any further trouble with the
Indians. On their arrival about 10
o'clock at night, they imposed the task of informing his wife of his death on
me. It was hard but I went in the house
where she and my wife were both talking and laughing. I said, "Polly, give me your boy", and said I had bad
news to tell her. She asked, "What is it?" I said that ...Webb and Silkwood had come back and the Indians
had killed Hamp. It was so shocking it
seemed that she would go crazy.
Shocking indeed
The next day a detail of men was sent to meet wagons that had gone into
the settlements after provisions, and to bring the body of Hamp Rattan to the
Fort for burial. It was the purpose of them to find and cut a road, dig the
river banks down and notify those with the wagons where to come to cross the
river on their return. But this tragedy
put an end to making the new road. The
detail had to go so far before they met the wagons, so as to put them on their
guard against an Indian attack, that from the time Hamp was killed it was nine
days before he was buried. When the men
found the body, it was guarded by his dog, who had stayed by him and kept the
buzzards or anything else from bothering it.
They said the dog was frantic with joy to see them. All the other dogs had left and gone back to
the Fort. But poor old Watch died the
next summer in Lamar County, near Paris, and Polly with the help of Dow Brown,
Hump's little Nephew, dug a grave and buried him, as a last rite for the
faithfulness of the good old dog. This
detail consisted of John S. Beeman, Henry Hahn and Heath. Hamp was buried on the hill about 100 yards
from the Fort to the North. The Fort
was on the banks of a lake shaped like a horse-shoe. A convenient shape for protection from the Indians. About one
mile from the West Fork9 There
was a man died at the Fort after Hamp was buried, by the name of Long9 I
don't know his given name. He was also
buried at the same place. I suppose
their bones are still there. Long had a
brother, but after his death the brother went back to one of the counties on
Red River.
Some time during the month of January (1842) Col. John Neely Bryan came
to the Fort and told us he had found a place a short distance below where the
West Fork and Elm Fork come together. There was a high bluff on the river which
he had located and called it "Dallas", and would lay off a town for
the head of navigation. He was very
anxious for us to move down, as it was a better country than where we
were. Captain Mabel Gilbert and my
brother John, went down with Colonel Bryan to look at the country, and were so
well pleased they determined to move down. By this time it was February.
Captain Gilbert thought he would go by water, (as he was an old steamboat
captain), so he hired me and another man.
We went into the West Fork bottom and cut down two big cottonwood trees,
out of which we dug two large canoes. When done they were launched and lashed
together and made quite a boat on which he put his household effects and his
old lady, (for such she was) and Jackson-the parrot. He hired a hand to with him to help navigate the West Fork. They weighed anchor and off they went for
Dallas and landed safely.
I have not the date, but think
it was not far from the first of March 1842.
By this time, we at the fort had been notified that a colony grant had
been given by the Congress of the Republic of Texas to W.S. Peters and Company,
beginning on Red River and extending south which embraced the Fort, and that we
had better get out. The same Congress
granted us at the Fort, six miles square, embracing the Fort, but General Sam
Houston, who was President of Texas, vetoed the act. It was about the first of April, we loaded out wagons and started
for Dallas. We were about three days
making the trip, and landed at the edge of White Rock Bottom, on the fourth
day. Coming down we nooned at what we
called "Turtle Creek". We
gave it the name for having seen and caught a large soft-shelled turtle; which
name it still bears until this day. We moved from there down the old Indian
trail to a post oak grove in the Prairie, which was about one-half mile
northwest from where Captain Jefferson Peak built his brick house on the middle
branch. This grove has long since been cut down. In this grove we camped for the night. While there some of the boys put Sam Beeman on a yearling, and it
pitched with him and threw him, breaking his collar bone.
The next morning we moved to the edge of White Rock button, the fourth
day of April 1842. Here we began
work. Some of the boys soon cut a tree
and began to make boards to cover a house.
Perhaps, here I should tell of whom our company consisted, which is as
follows: John Beeman and his wife.
Emily and their children. Elizabeth9 Margaret. William H, Samuel H.,
Isaac H., James H., Clarissa, Nancy, John Scott Winfield, Sarah Ann and
Caroline; John S. Beeman and wife, Isabella, their children, Alexander W. and
Samuel; myself (J.J.) and wife, Sarah, and children, Mary Jane and Emily E.; Landen Walker and wife, (have not her
name) and children, Henderson, Henson, Minerva and another son whose name I
have forgotten. Single man, James F.
Boddin, Thomas P. Ratten, John H. Cox, Geo. W. Cox. Those are all I remember.
There may have been others that I don't remember.
By this time the Colony line had been run and it ran through the town
of Dallas and included where the courthouse now stands, and a short distance
east. This was the eastern boundary of
the Colony. So we thought we were out
of its limits, but on the 22nd day of July following, it was extended twelve
miles farther east. The next day after our arrival on White Rock, the 5th of
April, John Beeman went up on Elm Fork to see the Colony agent, Major Browning,
and get some letters he had brought from the post office at Fort Inglish. The post office was 80 miles from us, the
letters were from Illinois. As he was
coming back in the evening, and just as he was crossing the half-way branch, he looked down the
branch and saw about fifteen Indians ride out to the thicket in a run to head
him off, but his horse was too fast for them, and he outran the Indians. We in camp heard his horse running. Soon he
was in sight, bareheaded. When he got
within speaking distance, he called out, "Get your guns, boys, the Indians
are coming." Such a bustle as we
had I never wish to see again. We
looked but could not see them. Some
went up on the hill and said they saw them going south towards the timber,
through the Elm Grove, about 0ne-half mile west of the camp. I had been sick
several days and was not able to be up but a little at a time, but those who
were able stood guard that night. They
had put the wagons in position for protection in case of attack, by setting up
the boards and bolts which were on the ground, making quite a breast work. All
night, at intervals, the cattle would come running up to camp as if
scared. We were satisfied the Indians
were prowling around to find out our position and strength.
I think the fuss the boys kept up had the effect of making them believe
we were better prepared for them than we really were. As night was cool the
boys kept up a big fire all night. The next morning came bright and clear, and
no Indians to be seen. As we had but
one horse they did not think it worthwhile to risk their lives for him, and
left us unmolested. One of the boys
mounted the horse and went back on hunt for John's hat and the letters. He soon found them and brought them in. These letters were read with much interest,
as they were from kinfolks in Illinois.
In these days it was very difficult to get letters from the States. I think the postage was one dollar a
letter. I remember that a letter
carried as far as it was from Illinois to Texas, to the state line, the postage
of the U.S. is 25 cents at the time of which I write. Besides our company, there was only Colonel Bryan and Captain
Gilbert and wife at Dallas, in all that country; for when we left Bird's Fort,
all had left and those not with us went back to the settlements, and deserted
the Fort. Captain Gilbert had a yoke of
oxen and a log chain which Colonel Bryan drove at the time Gilbert descended
the West Fork in his boat. As soon as they all got to the proposed city of
Dallas1 and the head of navigation1 they began chopping
down trees for house logs, and dragging them with their oxen. They put up a house about 14 feet square, of
post oak logs in which they lived.
Now back to White Rock, the next day, after our watching for the
Indians all night. was renewed. Some sawing board timber, some tiving boards
and some cutting logs, while others drove the teams and went to hauling. So
very soon we had a block house up, about 15 feet square, the lower part. The upper part projected some two feet all
around. This was to keep the Indians
from scaling the walls, also to give us a fair chance to shoot in case of
attack. After the house was completed,
we moved in. We also broke some land
and planted corn, pumpkin( peas, etc.
Shortly after this, I think about the first of May, my cousin, Polly
Rattan, came out from the settlements.
King S. Custer came with her.
King came to Texas from Carrollton, Illinois, with Hamp Rattan and made
his home with them, as he was a single man, until after Hamp's death. Their
business was to care for Hamp's grave and as the cedar timber was fine and
plenty of it at Dallas, so King and myself took a wagon and yoke of oxen and
went to where Dallas was to be, after cedar timber to make paling for the
grave. Up to this time there had never
been a wagon there, not even a road cut through the timber. So I cut the road and King drove the oxen
after me. This is why I have said and
still say that I took the first wagon into Dallas. Colonel Bryan told us to go to the branch north of the cabin
about one-half mile and we would find plenty of cedars. Another road had been cut, so we went to the
branch about where the first road ran to the Cedar Springs, which was road No.
2. We got the timber and hauled it to
the block house and made pailings. King
took it up to the Fort where Hamp was buried, but did not put it up, so I
learned afterwards, for they thought it would give the Indians the location
and they might dig up the remains to get his scalp.
By this time, which was the first of May, our provision3 began to get
short. Brother John went to the settlements
with cousin Polly and her crowd. I
don't remember who all of them were, but it was deemed unsafe to travel without
quite a number in the company, as the Indians were continually committing
depredations on the exposed settlers, who had by this time begun to settle on
the West Fork of the Trinity River. In
fact, the Indians were worse there than on we who were further out on the
frontier. One reason was that they had
horses and we did not. The Indians
would prowl around and steal the horses and kill all that came in their way
before leaving a settlement, knowing the whites could not follow them. All of a sudden another John came back
without bringing any provisions. He had
heard such big stories of what the Indians were doing and going to do to us,
and we must flee for our lives. He was so excited that he feared that we could
not more than make our escape. What
could we do but go, as our supplies were so nearly exhausted that we had a
scanty supply on which to live until we reached the settlements. So the only thing we could do was to pull
up, which we did and did not stop until we reached Pin Hook, where Paris now is
in Lamar County.
After getting back to the settlements, the first thing was to find
somebody who would let us have work to pay for provisions, as for money we did
not have any. A man by the name of Ty Paul, who had married a
cousin of mine, Minerva Rattan, the youngest child of my Uncle Richard, was
going to clear off a yard and make brick for the first court house to be built
in Paris. He hired me and my nephew, John S. Beeman, to help him at $20.00
a month, each, which he paid in provisions.
I worked for him about a month, brother John1 about this time
wanted to go back to the Trinity country to meet some surveyors who were expected,
and get them to survey our land. So I
got into an ox wagon with John Ii. Cox and T. P. Rattan, my cousin, and made
the trip. When we got to the block
house, there were no surveyors nor no word from them, but we found the country
full of buffalo. It was grand to see
them for as far as we could see, from White Rock across the timber east of
Dallas, as well as far north as we could see was a solid mass of moving buffalo
going north.
We stayed there only a short time as our trip proved to be futile, so
we want back to our families. After working and collecting a supply of
provisions, And an old steel mill to grind our corn with to get meal for bread;
I paid $6.oo
for it, which was a very big
price, in fact, he knew how to charge, and after making other arrangements, I
put my wife and children in a two horse wagon with our supplies and started for
the block house, and landed there the last day of August 1842. I had two yoke
of oxen to the wagon. The day before I
got there, to the block house, one of
my oxen took the murrain and died very suddenly. But I continued on to my journey's end in the night. The buffalo
were still there. I turned the other
three oxen loose, but they soon ran away, not liking to be in the same range
with the buffalo. I got three men to
accompany us on this trip; William Lamer, who settled on Elm Fork in the
Farmers Branch neighborhood and the other two were from Arkansas, whose names I
have forgotten, both nice men and a good friend to me.
When we got back to the Block House, there was not a half dozen men in
the country. Colone1 Bryan and Captain
Gilbert were in Dallas, all others, what few there were, were transients looking
at the country and going back. I had
notified John that my oxen were gone, and he came to help me hunt for them, but
not finding them, he came on out to where I was. And as it so happened there was a yoke of oxen to be taken into
the settlements. We got them and hitched
them to the wagon and went back for John's family. This was about the last of September. We got started back and got about six miles from home and stopped
to camp on the road of what we afterwards called the McDermatt Branch. We chained the oxen to a wagon wheel. In the night they must have gotten scared at
buffalo, they broke the wheel. We then
had to go back and mend it, which we did and then made another start. This trip cost me a great deal of uneasiness
as I had to leave my wife and two children with only one man to stay with them
in day time and Colonel Bryan at night.
This name's name was John Pulliam.
It took three weeks to make the trip.
When I got back home my wife told me that as soon as Pulliam got his
breakfast of a morning he would take his gun and go hunting and leave her and
the two children alone until night a good deal of the time. But when I got back and found all well, and
that they had not been molested by the Indians, I was truly thankful, as I knew
they had been protected by God's Providence.
My wife told me that Bryan
never failed to be with them at night, but would leave every morning9
as he had told me he would do. I
thought Pulliam treated me badly as he had promised he would stay with them all
of the time, but after finding no damage had been done1 I said
nothing about it. We left brother John in Lamar County. He stayed until the next summer1 then
came back. Henry Harter brought his
herd of cattle out on this trip. quite
a number of them died with murrain on the way, but he got out with about 100
head. John and I were to take care of
them for him. Those were the first
cattle brought except work oxen. The
range in the river and creek bottoms was all one's heart could wish for. The wild rye was thick and plenty and green
as the finest wheat fields could be all winter. John's family and mine lived in the block house until we built
another house close by. I had selected
me a place about a mile southwest of the block house and built a house in the
timber where there was a fine pool of water with plenty of fish in it. By this time we had become somewhat careless
and would venture further than we had before, so in order to be convenient to
my work I built a camp and moved the place before I built the house.
We had a great deal of rain that winter, 1842-43. One day it rained all day9 so I
could neither work nor hunt, for if we had any meat I had to kill it in the
woods. At this time we had none. We had been living on corn bread, corn coffee
and hominy with nothing to season it with, but salt, for several days. On this occasion we had been laying up all
day, it rained so hard that we had to dinner on account of the rain. About sunset it slackened up and my wife
stepped out behind the camp to get a vessel to get dinner with, when she said,
"Run Jimmy-which she always called me,- there is a deer right out
yonder." I got my gun and shot it.
Henry Long, who was living with us helped me set the dogs on its trail. They ran it about 300 yards and caught it. We brought it to the camp and in less time
than it takes me to tell this we had its hide off and the wife had the pot
ready and soon we were feasting on fine venison, hominy, corn dodger and
coffee made of the same material. The
deer had two fauns with her. The next
morning Long went out and killed one of them, so we had meat at our house. Of course,
we divided with Brother John's family.
We made our corn meal by grinding it on the steel mill I just told you
about buying, or we heat it in a wooden mortar with a spring pole. We did not have any seasoning except
salt. My wife sifted the first out for
bread and the rest was grits which she boiled
for hominy. The bran was browned for coffee, on which we lived many days
at a time. The only meat we had was
what I killed in the woods, and often I failed to get any. The deer ware very wild and very little
other game, except some time a turkey or a stray buffalo, too poor to be good
to eat, with an occasional opossum. I
went ahead and laid the foundation for my house, and put in a floor made of
puncheons out of the post oak that I split and hewed. After I got the floor laid I built the house, or rather, raised
it and hewed the logs,-walls-down inside and out. I then lined the cracks with clapboards by fastening them on the
cracks with wooden pegs and wedges. I
would drive a chisel into the logs and then drive the wedge after the
chisel. Such a thing as nails was not
to be had in those days. When we
covered a house, we used what we called "ribs" and "weight
poles", By now, as will as I can
remember, it was January 1843. After
building the house I cleared a piece of ground on which to raise a crop. And, I grew a fine crop of corn and some
garden truck.
Another incident I may relate here is. while my wife and children were
sleeping one morning. I got up very early and took my gun and slipped out and
went hunting, as we were out of meat. I
got about a mile from home and saw a deer busy feeding. I drew on it and at the
fire of the gun it fell dead. There was
a faun following it and before I went to the dead deer, I shot three times at
the faun before I killed it. As soon as
I killed it, I gathered it up and started home, but did not get far until I met
my wife carrying one of the children and leading the other. Coming to meet me
to see if the Indians had killed me.
Hearing the shots had made her think I was in a fight with them. We went back to the house and got
breakfasted. Then she went back with me to help me bring the deer home, as it
was more than I could carry.
I have said that Henry Harter brought his cattle out when brother John
moved. He got John and myself to attend
to them. The cattle ranged in White
Rock bottom. We 'would drive them home
every few days, and as the time went on, they would graze a little farther from
home, possible three or four miles up the creek. I often amused myself after getting the bell cow started, by
hiding behind a tree and waiting for some of the young ones to come along, so I
could jump out and scare them as they passed. or threw my hat at them. This was fun for me and I would laugh
heartily while not knowing that at the same time an Indian might dart an arrow
through me. I think the first Sunday
after we came to White Rock, brother John and nephew John Se Beeman, and we went over the creek to look at
the country, for a crossing. We took
the Indian trail through the bottom, and while going along we' discovered a
moccasin track in the trail as it had rained the night before, and while we
were parleying about it, we heard what we took to be an old musket snap at
us. We then moved on. watching. but we did
not see any more tracks, We went out to
the prairie and continued our walk for some two miles, when we came to a post
oak grove and found a gang of deer. I
killed one, and after looking a little more, we took our deer and went back
home. This grove is now known as the
home of G. W. Glover. By the time we
killed the deer, we had about forgotten about any Indian signs. the ones we saw
in the morning. We got back all right. and had a good appetite for venison.
In the summer of 1843, some emigrants came in and settled about in
different parts of the county. Among them was John Hewit and Jeff Tilley at Cedar Springs. William Cockran and Farmers Branch, also
Thomas Keenan, and others in the same neighborhood. William Coombes and a Mr.
Leonard with their families on the west side of the river in the neighborhood
of Captain Gilbert, who had previously settled there. In the spring of 1843, General Sam Houston, who was at this
time President of the Republic of
Texas, came out to meet the Indians at Bird's Fort to make a treaty of peace
with them, as they were still
hostile. He wanted me to go as guide to
the Fort, which I did. He had about
thirty men with him as a guard, among them was John R. Reagan. Reagan was taken sick at White Rock so was
left at my brother John Beeman's. As
soon as he was able to travel he went back to his home in East Texas.
The Indians refused to meet at the Fort, fearing there was a trap set
for them, so they moved down on Elm Fork where the Indians met the commission
that Houston appointed to treaty with them.
Houston having official business at the seat of Government. A treaty was
effected, after which we began to feel much safer, but not entirely so for
awhile at least.
All this time we saw very hard times in the way of living. I still had to depend upon my gun for the
most of our meat, also for wearing apparel.
I dressed in deer skin pants, hunting shirts and moccasins. My wife carding. spinning and weaving cotton
for shirts. I would sit up nights and
finger and pick the seed out of the cotton for her to spin the next day, and
she would sit and card rolls for spinning the next day. While the buffalo continued to come into
the country I could kill one once in a while and had tolerable fair living but
this was rather uncertain. I would use the upper part of their hides to sole my
moccasins. We called it "brogan".
It was done by cutting a sole out of the raw hide and sewing it on the
bottom of the moccasin. This was quite
an advantage, as the soles would last quite a while in dry weather. In wet weather they would stretch out of
shape.
In July 1842 the colony grant was extended by an extension of twelve
miles further east, including us, but we Beeman's remained where we were on our
clams, got our lands surveyed by the county surveyor, A.C. Walker, and by a
special Act of the Legislature of 1850 got our patents. I could give Thames of the first settlers who came to the county
after 1845, but I think this will be done by some one else who will be more
competent to do it than I am. As to the history of the organization of the
county, there are others who will do that also.
In the year 1843, John S. Beeman came back from Lamar County, and that
fall he and myself moved across White Rock and began our settlements. I had found that my first improvements were
on an old survey. For awhile both of us
lived together in the house we built for him, and worked together, after which
we built a house for me. We settled on
sections 22 and 21, which was patented to us.
I was on 22 and continued to live on it until in 1554 when I went to
Parker County, and as there when the county was organized, lived there nine
years. On my Dallas County place I planted the first peach orchard that was
planted in that part of the county, and had an abundance of peaches so my
neighbors could get all they wanted, and we had plenty for our own use.
On this place my wife died the 8th day of March 1848, and was buried on
the northeast corner of my land. In the
spring of 1548 I went to California, and returned in 1850. I had then only four living children. Had lost the first, a son, in Illinois. The second, a girl, died a few days after
she was born. On my return from California
I went on my place with the children and kept house with them until the 29th
day of November 1851, when I and Elizabeth Baker, who was teaching school in
the neighborhood, were married. After our marriage she had three children1
two girls and one boy. I will now give the names of the first six
children: William Crawford Beeman, who
died in Illinois. He was born the 28th
day of September 1857. Mary
Jane, born in Illinois, was the baby when we came to Texas, born on the 3rd day
of March 1839. Emily Elvira, was
born in Bowie County, Texas, the 8th day of January 1841. The infant that died so young was born
October 1843 in Dallas County, Texas.
We named it Genatt. Francis
Marion was born November 1844 in Dallas County, Texas. Melissa Anice was born November 15th
1846
and died February 26, 1861, in Parker County, Texas. By my second wife, the first child was a girl named Lydia
Angeline, born in Dallas County, Texas, November 13, 1852, and died January 29,
1853. Charles Artemas was born in
Dallas County, also, January 24th 1854.
Sarah Elizabeth born in Parker County, Texas, March 9th, 1857. These are the names and number of all of my
children. Up to the present date, the
number of grand-children is 34, and great-grandchildren are 14. On this the 24th day of December 1886, only
four of my own children now are living-to wit, Emily E. Baker, Francis Marion, Charles Artemas,
and Sarah E. Sweet. The number of
grandchildren now living is 26 and great-grandchildren six.
Lampasas,
Texas
December 24, 1886 Signed-
James J. Beeman
- -- --
- -
The
reason I decided to add the Memoirs of J.J. Beeman was that I received another
membership fee and decided to use all of our funds
New
member: MRS. RONALD (DIANE) BEMENT, 1209 Dean Drive, Denver, Cob. 80233.
You
will also discover that most of your quarterly is unpunched. My dear nephew,
age 13,. who is very inquisitive, was inquiring into the puncher last Saturday
and I discovered that it didn't work very well after his inquiry was
completed. Therefore I cannot punch
more than two or, at the most, three pages at a time. This I refuse to do,
especially for so many sheets.
Each
of you remember to use the news release in your local area, being sure to sign
your name and address as a local contact.
There
are still some of you who have not given us any information as to your Beeman
line. This would be of help to
all. Therefore, if you have not filled
out the ancestor chart and family sheets, do so. Anyway, let me know which line you are interested in so I can
publish it.
For
anyone who should ask, we still will
have copies of Volume 1 at $5.00. If
anyone wishes to join for 1978 and sent in the five for this coming year and
the five for last, I can mail hi. the back. issue. We can always have more copies made if needed. Also, remember I
have a zerox copy of the book on Thomas Beeman of Connecticut and his
descendants which I can get copied and send to you for $10. The copy is somewhat faded, but it can be
read. It is 167 pages and is
indexed. Also remember the other offers
mentioned earlier on book reprints, and/ or copies.
Web Page by
Betty J Smith
e-mail BettyMaeS@aol.com