Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Ancestors of J.D. Maness

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Ancestors of J.D. Maness

Generation No. 5

      16. Parker S. Doss^42,^43,⁴⁴, born Abt. 1768 in Cumberland County, Virginia; died 1855 in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas. He was the son of 32. James Doss and 33. Sarah. He married 17. Angelica Epps Cheatham November 18, 1797 in Chesterfield County, Virginia ⁴⁵.

      17. Angelica Epps Cheatham^46,^47,⁴⁸, born Abt. 1780 in Chesterfield County, Virginia; died Abt. 1852 in Fannin County, Texas?. She was the daughter of 34. William Cheatham and 35. Elizabeth Cheatham.

Notes for Parker S. Doss:
Owned land in 1836 in Lamar County, Texas.

In the Myers to Bowen letter, it states that "The family of Doss' lived on a plantation and were tobacco growers."

More About Parker S. Doss:
Burial: Bonham, Fannin County, Texas
Record Change: June 14, 2003
Resided: Fluvanna County, Virginia

Notes for Angelica Epps Cheatham:
In the Myers to Bowen letter, it states Anjelica Cheatham "claimed to be a third cousin of George Washington." She was "always called 'Ann' by the family. After she married [your father] he changed it to 'Anna'.

Another source says that she was a cousin of Martha Dandridge, wife of George Washington.

More About Angelica Epps Cheatham:
Record Change: June 14, 2003

Child of Parker Doss and Angelica Cheatham is:

Sr. Samuel Ernest Doss, born May 07, 1824 in Fluvanna County, Virginia; died November 19, 1886 in Montague County, Texas; married Sarah Ann Bourland July 21, 1852 in Lamar County, Texas.

      18. James G. Bourland^49,^50,^51,^52,^53,^54,^55,^56,⁵⁷, born August 11, 1801 in Wolf Creek, Pendleton District?, South Carolina; died August 20, 1879 in Cooke County, Texas. He was the son of 36. Benjamin Bourland and 37. Agnes Nancy McElroy. He married 19. Catherine Wells June 16, 1822 in Hopkins County, Kentucky ⁵⁸.

      19. Catherine Wells^59,⁶⁰, born Abt. 1803; died Abt. 1840. She was the daughter of 38. William Wells and 39. Virginia Baylis?.

Notes for James G. Bourland:
He was Captain of a Company on the headwaters of the Trinity River
Texas Ranger
Captain Of Mounted Volunteers / Texas Mounted Rangers 1st And 2nd Detachment
Texas Ranger
From "BOURLAND, JAMES G." The Handbook of Texas Online. <http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/BB /fbo38.html>:

BOURLAND, JAMES G. (1801-1879). James G. Bourland, soldier and state senator, was born in South Carolina on August 11, 1801, to Benjamin and Nancy Bourland. He was married twice, to Catherine Wells and Nancy Salina, and had seven children. He lived in Kentucky and Tennessee, where he traded in slaves and horses, before he moved to what is now Lamar County, Texas, in 1837. He led a volunteer company against Indians in 1841. Later that year he served as second-in-command to William C. Youngqv in another campaign and stayed when Young organized the Third Regiment, Texas Mounted Rifles, for the Mexican War.qv After serving as a deputy surveyor, he became the collector of customs for the Red River District in 1842 and was elected to the Senate of the First and Second state legislatures. A clash over customs duties with the crew of a United States ship in 1843 led to his being awarded a substantial sum of money by a United States court five years later. After his father, who had also settled in Texas, died in 1851, Bourland invested in a mercantile enterprise and founded a plantation on land now in Cooke County. During the late 1850s he again led a volunteer company against Indians. When the Civil Warqv began, he served as provost marshal for the region in which he resided and in that role directed the investigation that climaxed with the Great Hanging at Gainesvilleqv in 1862. Afterward, he was authorized to organize and lead the "Border Regiment," which remained in North Texas although it was in Confederate service, and was later given control of all troops on the northwestern frontier. He was accused of atrocities, in addition to the Great Hanging, but Confederate officials ignored the accusations. After the war ended he received a presidential pardon and was acquitted by a civil court. He subsequently lived in seclusion until his death, on August 20, 1879.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bourland Family File, Sherman Municipal Library, Sherman, Texas. Richard B. McCaslin, Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas at Austin, 1988). William S. Speer and John H. Brown, eds., Encyclopedia of the New West (Marshall, Texas: United States Biographical Publishing, 1881; rpt., Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1978). Rex Wallace Strickland, "History of Fannin County, Texas, 1836-1843," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 33, 34 (April, July 1930)."

Col. James Bourland was the "Float-Senator" in the Texas Senate from the district of Fannin, Red River, and Bowie Counties. 25 Feb, 1846, 1st Session. He served for 4 years.

"During the Mexican War (1846-47), Bourland, along with William C. Young, raised one thousand troops and marched them to San Antonio, where they were mustered in. From " Wright, "Texas in the War...."

In the "Encyclopedia of the New West," ed. by William S. Speer, Marshall Texas: The United States Biographical Pub. County, 1881, it states "When William C. Young raised a regiment [3rd Reg., Texas Mounted Volunteers] for the Mexican war, ... Mr. Bourland was elected lieutenant-colonel, and his brother William Bourland, major. But the war closed about the time they reached the Rio Grande and they never participated in any battle." The Regiment was later surrendered by General E.K. Smith, commanding Trans-Mississippi Department, on 26 May 1865. Also know as the "Texas Border Cavalry Battalion" and later the "Texas Border Cavalry Regiment."

"Among the prominent families of Delaware Bend was Col. James Boreland [sic]... and his son-in-law, Col. A.B. Manion. These two men came with their families to Cooke County several years before the Civil War and located at the upper end of Delaware Bend, which in those days was on the direct route between the East Texas markets and Fort Arbuckle, fifty or sixty miles nearly directly north. Boreland and Manion engaged in the mercantile business and dealt with the soldiers at Fort Arbuckle and the Indians from the north side of Red River. The carried a large stock of merchandise, and also raised much corn and many hogs,, which they sold principally to the government." "Fall Term of Court, 1857: Ordered that James Bourland be appointed presiding officer at all elections for the year 1857 for precinct 3, and the elections to be held at the store or house of James Bourland.

Capt. James Bourland, Commanding Officer of Texas Rangers, Mounted Volunteers. Enlisted 28 Oct, 1858, discharged 28 Apr, 1859. In the Civil War, the "Bourland Texas Cavalry" was organized in early 1863. Col. Bourland commanded a regiment whose duty it was to "protect the North-western frontier against the hostile Indians in the darkest day ever known in that region."

In the cartoon "Texas Lore" by Patrick M. Reynolds, a story is told this way: "During the Civil War, as Sophia Coffee was wining and dining some Yankee scouts at Glen Eden (her plantation in Grayson county,) she heard they were seeking Col. James Bourland, the Confederate leader of Texas' Frontier Defenders. While her guests were busy, Sophia slipped away, swam her horse across the Red River, warned Col. Bourland & helped prevent an invasion of North Texas. Sophia, widow of Holland Coffee, died in 1899. Today their home, Glen Eden, lies beneath Lake Texoma." Sophie was featured in the book "Legendary Ladies of Texas" by Abernathy about ladies of the evening. Patti Rochette states that a Texas list maker lists Col. James Bourland as a frequent guest.

Information from an unpublished draft manuscript titled NORTHEAST TEXAS PIONEERS 1800-1877, copyright by Skipper Steely, 1989, Paris, Texas: "They moved from Kentucky back to Weakley County, where he owned a race track with Nathaniel Herbert and Albert Early, and apparently bought and sold slaves and horses. James Bourland came to Texas according to land records, in 1836. He surveyed land as a vocation, and sometime in 1837 chose a piece for himself on the North Sulphur River southwest of Roxton. In 1842 he was named as collector of import duties for the Red River District. In 1846 he was elected to represent Fannin, Lamar, Red River and Bowie Counties. He was re-elected for a second term. In 1847 James Bourland also received a land certificate for helping build or survey the Central National Road, which ran through part of the Bourland property. James Bourland served in the Mexican War, and was an incorporator of the Memphis El Paso and Pacific Railroad. By 1853 he had moved to Delaware Bend in Cooke County. In 1858 he raised a company to stop Indian depredations. At the onset of the Civil War, James Bourland served as a member of Young's 11th Texas Regiment, but later organized the 2nd Frontier Regiment, Bourland's Texas Cavalry. In 1862 he was also named provost Marshall of Cooke County. In 1864 Indian problems became very serious, and Bourland led a group in pursuit that fall. Most of all, James Bourland is known for his part in the Gainesville Hangings. He is buried in the Orlena Cemetery."

More About James G. Bourland:
Burial: Orlena Cemetery
Election: February 25, 1846, Fannin, Red River, And Bowie County, Texas
Military active duty: Abt. 1846, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas ⁶¹
Occupation: 1841
Record Change: July 04, 2003
Resided: 1839, Red River County, Texas

More About Catherine Wells:
Record Change: June 14, 2003

Child of James Bourland and Catherine Wells is:

Sarah Ann Bourland, born Abt. 1835 in Weakley County, Tennessee; died 1900 in Doss, Clay County, Texas; married Sr. Samuel Ernest Doss July 21, 1852 in Lamar County, Texas.

      20. III William Temple Coles^62,^63,^64,^65,⁶⁶, born Abt. 1778 in Maryland; died Bet. 1851 - 1855 in Wilson County, Tennessee. He was the son of 40. Jr. William Temple Coles and 41. Mary. He married 21. Mary Brown September 19, 1800 in Sumner County, Tennessee ⁶⁷.

      21. Mary Brown^68,^69,⁷⁰, born Abt. 1782 in South Carolina; died Bet. November - December 1855 in Lamar County, Texas. She was the daughter of 42. Matthew Brown and 43. Ann Neely.

More About III William Temple Coles:
Record Change: January 04, 2004

More About Mary Brown:
Burial: Lamar County, Texas
Record Change: June 14, 2003

Child of William Coles and Mary Brown is:

William T. F. Coles, born April 09, 1814 in Wilson County, Tennessee; died January 02, 1890 in Paris, Lamar County, Texas; married Martha Ann Bourland March 30, 1847 in Lamar County, Texas.

      22. John Mcelroy Bourland^70,⁷¹, born 1804 in Pond Creek, Henderson County, Kentucky; died Bef. September 03, 1852 in Lamar County, Texas. He was the son of 36. Benjamin Bourland and 37. Agnes Nancy McElroy. He married 23. Nancy Hood February 02, 1827 in Calloway County, Kentucky.

      23. Nancy Hood⁷², died in Y. She was the daughter of 46. Alex Hood? and 47. Mary?.

More About John Mcelroy Bourland:
Record Change: June 14, 2003

More About Nancy Hood:
Record Change: July 02, 2003

Marriage Notes for John Bourland and Nancy Hood:
Or married 27 Sept 1827.

Child of John Bourland and Nancy Hood is:

Martha Ann Bourland, born October 01, 1828 in Calloway County, Kentucky; died March 1886 in Paris, Lamar County, Texas; married William T. F. Coles March 30, 1847 in Lamar County, Texas.

24. Francis Nixon⁷³, born Abt. 1766 in North Carolina Or Ireland Or Scotland; died Abt. 1864 in Franklin County, Arkansas. He married 25. Catherine Elliott February 24, 1798 in Madison County, Kentucky.

25. Catherine Elliott^73,⁷⁴, born Abt. 1778 in North Carolina Or England; died in Y. She was the daughter of 50. Samuel Elliot.

Notes for Francis Nixon:
According to Ron Nixon, family tradition has it that "Frank" arrived in the United States with his parents about the time of the American Revolution. He was living in his parents home with a brother and sister when his parents were killed by the British. Frank escaped and his brother escaped but his sister Margaret was kidnapped and never heard from again. Another story has Margaret also escaping and being taken by another family. Nevertheless, the house was burned and the children separated.

Sometime prior to 1784 Francis was among a group led into Kentucky by Daniel Boone. The Nixon family found recorded in Kentucky were in a group from Virginia, who settled along gilbert's Creek in Madison County, Kentucky. This group, made up of the William Young, Johnston, Hampton, Falconer, Nixon, and Chester families, built a stockade known as Gilbert's Creek Station. Later the same year, they established the Gilbert's Creek Baptist Church, the first church founded in Kentucky. Francis Nixon reached Kentucky at age 14 or 15 and lived there 17 years, where he was a frontiersman and hunter.

While residing in Limestone County, Alabama, Nixon choose a very novel way of decorating his primitive cabin on Swam Creek south of the present day Athens. In the book "The Lure and Lore of Limestone County", published for the Limestone County Historical Society, R.A. McClellan was quoted as saying, "He (Nixon) stuffed the entrails of a bear which he had killed, and draped these adornments around the inner walls of his house. To relieve the dun-colored monotony of these ornaments he interspersed them with nice pods of red pepper."

He has been described as a man of small stature (120 pounds) but possessing good running ability. His speed as a runner is said to have gotten him out of a few scrapes with indians.

P. 6, "Nixon, F." entry.

1799 tax roll, P. 8. 1800 tax roll, P. 18. 1801 tax roll, P. 19. 1802 tax roll, P. 21. 1803 tax roll, P. 24 1804 tax roll, P. 29. 1805 tax roll, P. 28. 1806 tax roll, P. 28. Francis was not listed in the 1807 tax list.

Nixon "joined the Army" according to Ron Nixon.

"Francis Nixon" entry.

P. 6, "Nixon, F." entry.

"Nixon, Francis" entry.

P. 135, #29, "Nixon, Francis" entry.

P. 305, line 25, "Nixon, Francis" entry.

Occupation Wheelwright, Farmer.

More About Francis Nixon:
Census 1820: 1820, Limestone County, Alabama
Census 1830: 1830, Shelby County, Tennessee
Census 1840: 1840, Richland, Morgan County, Missouri
Census 1850 - free: 1850, Franklin County, Arkansas
Census 1860 - free: 1860, Mulberry, Franklin County, Arkansas
Military: Abt. 1812, Kentucky Or Tennessee
Record Change: June 14, 2003
Resided: Bef. 1784, Madison County, Kentucky
Tax roll: August 1799, Madison County, Kentucky

Notes for Catherine Elliott:
Catherine could not read or write.

From the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions: "4:301 -- Catherine Elliot Orphan of Samuel elliot decd, 2, bound to Joshua Pain until she is 18, sd Master to comply with the Law in that Case/"

More About Catherine Elliott:
Record Change: June 14, 2003

Marriage Notes for Francis Nixon and Catherine Elliott:
The marriage ceremony was performed by Rev. Thomas Berry. consent was given by guardian John Payne whom we assume was Catherine's guardian.

Child of Francis Nixon and Catherine Elliott is:

Sr. Francis Marion Nixon, born January 22, 1824 in Limestone County, Alabama; died 1864 in Roseville, Franklin County, Arkansas; married Harriet Jane Wilcox Bet. 1847 - 1850 in Arkansas.

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