James H. Barron, Son of Caleb

by John C. Barron

In searching for the family of my great grandfather, John W. Barron, one of the early leads centered about a man named James H. Barron. This interest was sparked because James had a son named John born about 1851 as was my John W. Even after eliminating this John, however, there was still something about James H. that continued to hold my attention.

James seemed to be playing games with the census taker. In 1850 he and his family were counted twice: once in Winston Co., Mississippi, and later in Smith Co., Texas. Ten years later, however, while living in Coryell Co., TX, there was another encounter in which he was clearly listed as John H. Barron. Although it is not unknown to find persons counted twice in a census or even completely misnamed by an enumerator, there seemed more to these examples than mere accident. I thought maybe this man might have something to hide, but wasn't prepared for the following account from the Austin State Gazette of 3 Aug 1861.⁽¹⁾

Three men were hung on the 19th on Neal's Creek by the citizens of Coryell, Hamilton, Bosque, Comanche, and McLennan Co. James Barron and brother, and a Mr. Beck were the individuals hanged.

They confessed the murder of old man Gardner of Coryell Co. last spring and their fondness for their neighbors cattle.

I feel sure that the James H. Barron whom I had traced was the unfortunate James in the above story. In this paper I will present evidence to support this hypothesis and also attempt to identify the other two individuals.

James H. Barron was apparently the eldest son of Caleb Barron,⁽²⁾ a well-to-do farmer who was born in South Carolina and came to southeastern Smith County, Texas from Winston County, Mississippi shortly before 1850. According to census records, James was born 1826-28 in Alabama (Table 1), probably in Pickens County. Caleb Barron was living in Pickens County, Alabama, in 1830⁽³⁾ in the general neighborhood of several other Barron men of approximately the same age, including Joseph and Ezekiel. Joseph Barron was known to have been in Pickens County since 1820.⁽⁴⁾ By 1840 all of these men had relocated their families in Winston County, MS.

James H. Barron and Sarah Ann Crawford were married on 1 Feb 1848 in Winston County.⁽⁵⁾ She was evidently the daughter of Peter Crawford who deeded her a slave girl in 1849.⁽⁶⁾ Their first child was born in Mississippi, but they were in Texas by November, 1850, when the census was taken in Smith County.

In 1851 James was shown paying taxes on 320 acres of land located in the Pate Survey on Mud Creek in Smith County. His father also owned a 235 acre tract of land in the same survey in addition to several other pieces of real estate in the county. James continued to pay taxes on this property until 1859 where he was also shown as having 12 slaves, 8 horses, and 20 head of cattle. Over this time period, Caleb Barron was shown paying taxes variously on real estate in the Pate, Brooks, Briley, Williams and Brimberry surveys in Smith County. Table 2 shows abstracts of the tax roll entries for Caleb Barron and his sons in Smith County.

In 1860, Caleb Barron was still residing in Smith County and appeared on the census (Table 3), whereas, son James H. was in Coryell County and sons Almon, David, and [John] Thompson were in Hamilton County. Indeed as can be seen, Thompson Barron was counted both in Smith and Hamilton. Although Caleb was still living in Smith Co. in 1860, he had made a connection in Hamilton Co. by way of one William Beck who was acting as his agent to, perhaps, purchase land and livestock (Table 4). Examination of these tax rolls show that in 1861 Caleb Barron and sons, along with Beck, told the tax man that they had over 1,000 head of cattle.

Possession of all this livestock by these relative new comers to the area possibly raised suspicion in their neighbors. Scott suggested that the Coryell County Stock Association started in early 1861 probably had a hand in the hanging of the cattle thieves.⁽⁷⁾ The citizens of this area, as with other Texas frontier regions, were beginning to feel exposed to the threats of Indians and lawlessness due to the reduction of men in residence necessitated by the Civil War military needs. No additional information was found concerning the murder of Mr. Gardner, although there was a Gardner family on the census in Coryell Co. in 1860.

James H. Barron was dead before 1865 when he was referred to as deceased in his father's probate proceedings. However, examination of the tax roll listings of Hamilton County, Texas, shows that he probably died in 1861 (Table 4) when his wife began paying the taxes on the property. Such a happening almost always signalled the death of the husband since, at that time, a married woman was not normally responsible for property taxes. She soon after remarried Rev. Jackson Perry.⁽⁸⁾ As stated above, it seems clear that James H. Barron was the James that was hanged.

William Beck and his widow Mary (or Nancy as she noted once) demonstrated an almost identical sequence of events. Beck was on the tax roll in 1861, but not in 1862 when Mary Beck was listed. Caleb Barron acted as agent for the widow Beck during the years 1862-64. Her relationship, if any, to the Barron family is not known, although a William Beck was married to a Mary Barron in Louisiana in 1855. No trace of the Beck family was found in the 1870 census.

With two of the condemned men identified, the question remains concerning the third man, said to be a brother of James Barron. A veteran Smith County Barron family researcher related that "According to an interview with two older descendants at Arp, all of Caleb and Elizabeth's sons were killed in the Civil War except Caleb, Jr."⁽⁹⁾ Although this was not true, it shows that knowledge of the hanging incident and the whereabouts of family members was either not known and carried down in the family's Smith County lore or else descendants didn't want to talk about it. In addition to James, Caleb Barron had the following sons: Ezekiel, Almon, David T., William Welborn, John Thompson, and Caleb, Jr. In the following paragraphs, I will examine each of these brothers and attempt to make a determination concerning which one was the third man.

Ezekiel Barron - He was born 1830-31 in Alabama. He married Mrs. Cynthia (Lanham) Weeks on 22 Dec 1853 in Smith County.⁽¹⁰⁾ They were on the census in 1860 with their family. They had three children with the youngest, Solomon, born 1861. There is no evidence that he was ever in Hamilton County, and indeed was shown paying taxes in Smith County in 1862 as did his widow in the years afterwards. Ezekiel served in the Civil War⁽¹¹⁾ and was said to have been killed in the Confederate service.⁽¹²⁾ His widow, Cynthia, remarried Ephamine Jarvis 18 Dec 1867 in Smith Co.

Almon Barron - He was born about 1834 in Mississippi and married Eliza C. Baskin on 29 Feb 1860 in Smith Co. They were shown in the household of William Beck in 1860, but he did not die in 1861. He was shown on the census of 1870 in Johnson Co. and 1880 in Erath Co.

David T. Barron - He was born about 1839-40 in Mississippi and was also listed in the Beck household in 1860. He was also on the Hamilton County tax roll in 1861, possessed of 100 cattle and a horse. No other record of him after that date was located and he was not listed as an heir in his father's probate proceedings in 1865.

William Welborn (or Wilbert) Barron - He was born about 1841-43 in Mississippi. Although he too was not listed as an heir in his father's probate proceedings in 1865, he was shown to be a child of Caleb in an 1854 school census.⁽¹³⁾ He was never found on any Hamilton County record, but he was a minor when the family was there. It is unlikely that he was the hanged brother as he was in his teens when the incident occurred. His name has not been found on any Civil War muster rolls.

John Thompson Barron - He was born 23 Jul 1845 in Mississippi. Although he was listed with Beck in 1861 in Hamilton County, he was not the hanged brother. After serving in the Civil War, he was back on the Smith County tax roll by 1868 and is on the census there in 1870. He died 23 Jun 1900.

Caleb Barron - He was born 22 Feb 1848 in Mississippi and died 27 Mar 1943 in Smith Co.; therefore he was not he hanged brother.

While an indisputable conclusion is still not supportable, analysis of the above evidence completely excludes all but two of the brothers. Welborn Barron, being a youth at the time of the incident, seems an improbable hanging subject even for frontier justice. That leaves but one brother that the above data does not exclude. The evidence points to David Barron as being the hanged brother of James due to 1) his being in Hamilton County in 1861, 2) possession of a large amount of livestock that year, 3) by his not being found subsequent to 1861, and 4) the partial exclusion of the other brothers.

Table 1. 1850 U.S. Census Schedule Abstracts of Winston Co., MS, and Smith Co., TX, for James H. and Caleb Barron.

Table 2. Tax roll entries of Caleb Barron and sons in Smith County, Texas 1850-1859.

Table 3. 1860 U.S. Census Schedule Abstracts of Coryell, Hamilton, and Smith Co., TX, for Caleb Barron, sons, and associates.

Table 4. Tax roll entries of Caleb Barron, sons, and associates in Hamilton County, Texas 1859-1866.

Endnotes

1. ^1. Michael Kelsey, Miscellaneous Texas Newspaper Abstracts 1856-1870, (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1995), p 78.

2. ^2. Andrew L. Leath, Abstracts of Smith County Probate Records, (Tyler, Texas: Jack T. Greer Memorial Trust Fund, 1984), p. 74. Said James H. Barron, dec'd, was named as an heir of Caleb Barron (1865).

3. ^3. 1830 U.S. Census, Pickens Co., Ala.; pp. 116-133.

4. ^4. Mrs. C. P. McGuire, Records of Pickens Co., Alabama, III (Tuscaloosa, Ala.: Willo Pub. Co., 197-), p. 7.

5. ^5. Lucille Simms Mallon, Winston County, Mississippi, Marriages 1834-1880, (Miss.: L.S. Mallon, 1988), p. 6.

6. ^6. "Deed of Gift from Peter Crawford to Sarah Ann Barron," 5 Nov 1849 (recorded 10 Mar 1854), Smith County, Texas, Deed Book F, p. 349.

7. ^7. Zelma Scott. A History of Coryell County, Texas (Minneapolis: Lund Press, Inc., 1965 ), p. 278.

8. ^8. 1870 U.S. Census, Hamilton Co., Tex.; p. 452.

9. ^9. John W. Wilkins to author, 8 Jul 1980. Original in possession of writer.

10. ^10. Norma Grammer and Marion D. Mullins, comp., Smith County, Texas Marriage Records 1848-1880, (n.p.: n. pub., 1967), p. 32.

11. ^11. Andrew L. Leath, "Fourteenth Texas Infantry, Companies C, D, E, and G," Chronicles of Smith County, Texas, 34 (Winter, 1995), p. 23. Said E. Barron, Pvt., 31, enlisted 22 Mar 1862 Canton [Smith County], TX.

12. ^12. Coleen M. Swantner to author, 20 Oct 1993. Original in possession of writer. Said killed in battle bef. Feb 1866 at Pleasant Hill, Sabine, Louisiana, and body brought home.