The Simeon Odom Family

       Simeon, born June 1819 or 1820, Wayne Co., Miss., died 1864, Nacogdoches Co., Methodist minister, married Sarah G.Ward., They had 10 children. Simeon was the son of Malachi and Mary Odom.
       Simeon moved his family in 1852 to Johnson County, five miles east of Grandview, Texas. He died at age 45, while going to Louisiana to look after a sick soldier son. Simeon, a Methodist ministger was a leading citizen of that area, donated land for a Methodist Church and cemetery, helped build the first log school/church, and held the first Methodist services in the county. He supposedly is buried in Nacogdoches County, Texas.

Contributed by Dorothy Odom Bruce and Virginia Singletary.

Note: The foregoing information is quoted word for word from the Cherokee County History Book of 1986, published by the Cherokee County (Texas) Historic Commission, and the information was researched and contributed to the book by Dorothy Odom Bruce and Virginia Singletary. The information is copyrighted by the Commission and by the contributors.

Additional information on Simeon is shown below. Sources include Eddie Odom and Marilyn Ward Lynch.

       Randol and James Odom (brothers) appeared on the 1850 census in the Simeon Odom household.
       From the History of Texas by B.B. Paddock, 1922: "He (Simeon) had brought with him to Texas, his father and mother, who wanted to stop in Cherokee County, Texas and go no further. Here, Simeon remained until both his father and mother had died, and then in 1852, sold his interests and brought his family to Johnson County, Texas.
       The 1850 census of Cherokee County, Texas, shows Simeon's occupation is a Methodist Minister and he owned real estate valued at $960.00. His father, Malachi is listed as living with Simeon's wife and four children (they later had six more.)
       Simeon Odom, son of Malachi, was born June 1819 in MS. He married Sarah Ward, daughter of William Ward and Reccaca Powell. She was born about 1821, and died 1890.
       "The childhood home of Simeon Odom was a humble one, for his father was a laboring man, and his schooling amounted to nothing worth mentioning, fir he attended but one school in his life, and that for but a few weeks. However, he was very ambitious and quick to learn and taught himself to read and write and became expert at figures, keeping all ofhis accounts in his head. A man of intensely religious convictions, he studied the Bible and took up gospel work in connection with the Methodist Episcopal Church and continued one of the local preachers of that denomination all of his life. A powerful exhorter, he gave his large congregations the real meat of the gospel, and exerted a remarkable influence for good.
       As his large family began to grow up about him he felt that he ought to move into a locality where better opportunities would be afforded them, and Texas then being in the public eye, he came here from Lauderdale County, Mississippi, in January, 1845, when William H. Odom was only four years old and established his homestead in what is now Navarro County, then the Cherokee County domain, and began farming, while still continuing his gospel work. He had brought with him to Texas his father and mother, who wanted to Stop in cherokee County and go no further. Here Simeon Odom remained until both had died, and the, in 1852, sold his interests and brought his family to JOhnson County, settling five miles east of Grandview, and there he continued to reside until his death, when only forty-five years of age. He was on a journey to Louisiana to look after a sick soldier son, then serving in the Confederate army, was taken sick in Nacogdoches County, Texas, died very suddenly and was buried in a local cemetery in that county."
       "Simeon Odom and his wife became the parents of twelve children, of whom (8 sons) reached maturity."

      The following information was provided by David Odom:

      Here is the information that I have on Simeon and family:

      Simeon Odom b. June 1819 in Miss. and died 1864 in Grandview, Tx.

      He was a methodist minister and a farmer. He lived in Lauderdale County Miss., moving to Navarro County, Tx. in Jan. 1845. He brought his mother and father with him on leaving Miss. They wanted to stop in Cherokee county so he stayed there until both had died. In 1852 he brought his family to Johnson County , Tx., settling five miles east of Grandview where he remained until his death at the age of 45 in 1864.

      He was on a journey to look after a sick son who was a Confederate soldier. Simeon was taken sick in Nacogdoches County, Tx. and died very suddenly and was buried in a local cemetery.

      Simeon married Sarah Ward who died in 1890 when she was almost 70. She was the daughter of William and Rebecca Powell Ward-Miss. farmers.

      Children: They had 12 with the following 8 reaching maturity:

(a)William H. Odom b. 06 Sep.1840 in Lauderdale County, Miss. He enlisted on 11 Sep.1861 in Company F of the Texas Dragoons in the SCA and was on furlough home to harvest his mother's wheat crop when the dissolution of the confederacy took place.
(b)John Washington Odom. He was in the Civil War, spent most of his life in Johnson County, Tx. but died in a west Texas county.
(c)Malachi Franklin Odom - killed in the Civil War.
(d)Thomas C. Odom - lived and died in the Grandview,Texas area.
(e)Christopher C. Odom - lived and died in the Grandview,Texas area.
(f)James Fisher Odom - died in Johnson County,Texas.
(g)Robert Payne Odom - lived at Cross Plains, Calahan County, Texas.
(h)Henry David Odom - killed in an accident near Grandview,Texas.

      This information on the Simeon Odom family is from a History of Texas, Ft.Worth and the Texas Northwest Edition, Vol.IV, pages 529,530, and 531. This information was copied from page 107 of the NOA ancestral chart book compiled by Beverly Baily Odom in 1985.

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