Edward Taylor Wingate
Edward Taylor (E. T.) Wingate was born 12/18/1802 in Lockwood's Folly, Brunswick County, North Carolina and died 12/16/1868 in Trinity County, Texas. He had two families, one with first wife Elizabeth Smith in Mississippi and another with wife Eliza Stepp in Texas. He served in the War with Mexico, and, according to claims by descendants, served under Fannin at Goliad.
While most of the evidence from his descendants is family tradition and not documented, it is very strongly believed.
It is known that E. T. Wingate came to Texas in the 1840s leaving behind the family with Elizabeth Smith, for reasons not now documented. He established another family in Texas. He appears on the 1830 census in Simpson County, MS and the 1840 census in Covington County, MS. Elizabeth Wingate appears as head of household in 1850 and 1860 in Smith County, MS. He appears on the 1850 and 1860 censuses of Texas in Polk County (1850) as E. Wingate and Houston County (1860) as E. T. Wingate.
Family tradition is that he first came to Texas by 1836 to fight in the war for independence from Mexico and, despite the historical record, was not executed but escaped by pretending to be dead or by hiding under the bodies of dead soldiers until able to escape. One report is that it appears there were two Edward Wingates in the Fannin's army at Goliad.
One descendant describes a note signed by a granddaughter of E. T. Wingate saying that Wingate witnessed his brother-in-law Kneeland Taylor (who married E. T.'s sister Lydia) killed at Goliad the morning of March 27, 1836. Wingate was reported to have been shot in the hip.
The two Edward Wingates at Goliad story indicates that one was from Texas and the other from Alabama and that they were supposed to be kin.