Birth |
Louisa Jane McFarlin was born about 1822. She was a daughter
of William and Sarah McFarlin. William's will was filed in 1824, in Rutherford County, Tennessee, naming
Louisa as the next to youngest daughter. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Land Grant | The minutes of the Land Commissioners of
San Augustine County, Texas, show that Louisa Jane McFarlin "appeared and took the oath prescribed by law and proved by James Higgins and
Robert Cummings that she emigrated to Texas on or previous to 1st February 1839 and is entitled to six hundred and forty acres [of] land."
It appears that Louisa Jane McFarlin came to Texas with her sister, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's husband, Robert Cummings. Cummings served as witness for Louisa's land application. She was entitled to 640 acres of land because she was the head of a household, that is, she had a child. Her daughter, Martha McFarlin, was born about January 1839. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Marriage |
On 4 Febuary 1844,
Samuel Anderson Long married Louisa Jane McFarlin in Colorado County, Texas. Sam Long was listed on the marriage license as being "of Jackson County, Texas". A granddaughter of Sam and Louisa's told her family that Sam and Louisa married in Tennessee, but that is contrary to the evidence. Most likely, Louisa said they were from Tennessee, which they both were, and the impression was given that they had married there. Sam was in Texas in 1838, a single man, according to military and land records. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Family Connections |
By the 1850 census, Sam, Louisa, Martha and Sam's first two sons were living in Lavaca County, Texas. Sam's parents and several siblings had come to Texas by then and lived near him. Louisa's sister, Elizabeth, was also living in Lavaca County, having been widowed in 1842 and marrying Stephen Hicks in Lavaca County in 1843. A collection of old papers, found in Bedford County, Tennessee, includes a letter from Granville Newton Cummings, son of Elizabeth McFarlin Cummings. It is not known to who it was addressed. It has been transcribed in "THE JENNINGS-PHILLUPS COLLECTION OF EARLY BEDFORD COUNTY, TENNESSEE RECORDS by Judy Henley Phillips and Linda Shanklin Jackson, 1998 The letter says: 25 Nov. 1856, Petersburg, Mr. MACKFARLIN, Dear Brothers, I would be very glad to see bothe of you it has bin so long since you have seen my mother Elisabeth A. CUMMINGS you would hardly know her my father Robert CUMMINGS was killed by the Mexicans in '44. Elisabeth's two oldest daughters Eliza Jane and Sarah Ann is maried Elisabeth has but two brothers Nelson MACKFARLIN and Benjamine MACKFARLIN she wants to know whether ant Betsy MACKFARLIN is a live ing or not Louisa Jane is maried to a man by the name of LONG wasent there some money a coming to Elisabeth Ann and Louisa Jane the drouth is bin very hard this year we have fine range for cattle here and horses we dont haf to feed our stock here I would be very glad to see some of you i want you to be shore to write to me where my kindfolks is and how they are we are a living in western texas Lavaca County direct your letters to Lavaca County petersburg po Texas Write soon /S/ G.N. CUMMINGSLouisa's daughter, Martha, married under the name Martha McFarlin. Her family was told that Louisa's husband and brother were killed by the Mexican army "after Santa Anna". Louisa's brother-in-law, Robert Cummings was killed by the Mexican army in Dawson's Massacre in September 1842. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Sam and Louisa had seven children |
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Death |
Louisa died in 1905. She was buried in the Rutledge Cemetery at Poteet, Texas. Her tombstone is there with many of her descendants'. |