Notes for Wright Alford: Winfield Alford was the brother of Wright Alford.
Winfield Alford was the first of the family in Texas. He came to Stephen F. Austin's Colony in 1832,settling near San Felipe de Austin, according to his Republic of Texas Pension Application, or 1833 according to his land grant certificate. Winfield was on the Austin County taxlist of 1833. He served under Col. William B. Travis in San Antonio, fought in the Battles of Old Mill and Concepcion, as proven in his application in 1870, when a law establishing Pensions for Republic of Texas Veterans was enacted. He applied and was granted a Pension: Winfield (X) Alford, Gonzales Co., 14 Dec 1870, approved 1874. Age 71 in 1874. In fall 1835 at his residence near "San Phillippe" he joined a company commanded by Randal Jones. When disbanded he joined Travis's company at San Antonio and prior to San Jacinto he was under Capt. McNutt. After San Jacinto he was part of garrison at Victoria under Capt. H. N. Cleveland. Received bounty warrant. T. J. Allcorn, Washington Co., served with Alford under W. B. Travis and was in battle of Old Mill and at Concepcion. James F. Miller, Wm. B. Sayers, and T. S. Lee affirmed service. Dr. Thomas Polk, Gonzales Co., served with the applicant under Jones and Travis. John Burleson, Travis Co., served with the applicant under Jones. A. F. Allbright, Newton Co., affirmed identity Jan 1872. Alford was born in Franklin Co., NC, and came to Texas in 1832. The first company Winfield Alford joined was commanded by Randal Jones (1786-1873). Jones, an early Texas soldier and public official, moved to Texas in 1814 or 1815, opened a store at Nacogdoches as an Indian trader, and had dealings with Jean Lafitte the pirate. In 1820 he joined the Long expedition and conducted Jane Wilkinson Long (known as "the Mother of Texas") from LA to Texas to join her husband. The Long expedition failed, but Jones and his brother returned to Texas in Jan 1821. In 1822 they built a house for Mrs. Long on San Jacinto Bay and later escorted her to San Antonio. As one of Austin's Old 300 colonists, Jones was granted a league and a labor of land now in Wharton and Fort Bend Cos. in 1824. He was captain of the Texas militia organized to quell trouble with the Karankawa Indians and was in command at the battle of Jones Creek in September 1824. In December 1830 Jones was elected regidor of Austin Municipality. On October 11, 1835, he was appointed by Austin to appraise horses and equipment for the army. Jones became blind and moved to Houston shortly before his death in June 1873. He was buried on his land in Fort Bend County and reinterred at the State Cemetery in 1934. The battle of Concepción occurred on October 28, 1835, the opening engagement in the siege of Bexar. After the skirmish at Gonzales on October 2, the Texas army under Stephen F. Austin grew to 400 men as it advanced on San Antonio. Gen. Martín Perfecto de Cos, with a Mexican army that peaked in size at 750 men in late October, fortified the plazas in San Antonio and the Alamo mission (San Antonio de Valero) across the river. On October 27 Austin ordered James Bowie and James W. Fannin, Jr., to lead ninety men from San Francisco de la Espada Mission to locate a protected position closer to the town. The four companies of Andrew Briscoe, Robert M. Coleman, Valentine Bennet, and Michael Goheen explored the other missions and briefly engaged Mexican scouts before reaching Concepción. There the officers decided to camp for the evening rather than return to the main army as Austin had directed. The Texans occupied a wooded bend in the San Antonio River protected by an embankment, and sent out pickets to warn of a Mexican attack. A few cannon shots from the town failed to inflict losses. Cos seized the opportunity to attack the separate force the next day sending out Col. Domingo de Ugartechea with 275 men and two cannons before dawn. The 200 Mexican cavalry drove in the Texan guards in early morning fog and formed on the west side of the river. Lt. Col. José María Mendoza led the smaller infantry and artillery forces across the stream to attack from the east. Mexican volleys crashed through the trees overhead, but inflicted no casualties among the Texans until Bowie moved Coleman's company to meet the advance. Then one man fell mortally wounded. The Texans responded with accurate rifle fire that drove back three Mexican charges and killed or wounded most of the infantry and artillerymen in about thirty minutes. Then the Texans counterattacked and captured one of the cannons. Mexican cavalry covered the retreat of the infantry and cannoneers who survived. Austin and his other troops rushed to the field when they heard firing, but arrived too late to do more than hurry the Mexican withdrawal. Austin urged an assault on the town, but most of his officers believed San Antonio too well fortified. Mexican losses included fourteen killed and thirty& SHY; nine wounded, some of whom died later. Texas losses included one killed and one wounded. The Battle of Old Mill refers to the old mill on the San Antonio River about one-half mile north of the main plaza of San Antonio de Béxar which became headquarters of the Texas troops under Stephen F. Austin after the battle of Concepción on October 28, 1835. Winfield Alford was one of many gallant Gonzales men who served their country, before and after Travis and the others died heroes in the Battle of the Alamo. Prior to the Battle of the Alamo, a group of men was sent back to Gonzales because they were sick (there was a measles epidemic in Bexar that year) and could not be cared for. The Alfords' neighbor S. Y. Reams escorted the group and very likely Winfield was among them, or he would have died at the Alamo. Among the heroes who died there were the "Immortal 35" from Gonzales who came into the Alamo after Santa Ana's seige had begun.” Reams was from Austin County and is buried in the Buckhorn cemetery. “Winfield said that prior to San Jacinto he was serving under Col. McNutt. The Robert McNutt family moved to Texas in 1834 and, after receiving two head rights in Williamson and Austin Cos.,settled near Bellville, Austin Co. -- Winfield Alford was living near San Felipe de Austin in Austin Co. On March 1, 1836, McNutt assumed the rank of captain and joined Lts. Gibson Kuykendall and John Burleson in forming a company of Austin Co. volunteers to relieve the Alamo. After the fall of the Alamo, McNutt and his company, under the command of Gen. Sam Houston, joined in the retreat from Gonzales. During the battle of San Jacinto, McNutt, who had recently been promoted to major, was placed in command of the baggage guard and ammunition. He was also responsible for the wounded and sick, many of whom were suffering from measles. He was relieved from further military duties in 1836 and for his service received two grants totaling 960 acres in Bastrop and Lee Cos. He later served as tax assessor and collector for Austin Co. until ill health forced him to resign. In 1851 he settled near Georgetown, where he lived until his death, on August 31, 1853. In 1963 a historical marker was erected at McNutt's gravesite in Williamson Co. honoring his military service at the battle of San Jacinto. His name is also engraved on the historical plaque honoring the heroes of the battle of San Jacinto at the San Jacinto Monument and Museum. Winfield Alford probably served several enlistments, as it was common to serve three months, go home and plant a crop and reenlist for another three months. He was mustered out in October 1836. Caney Creek Brazos River Texas Oct 1836 “I certify that Winfield Alford entered the Service of Texas in Capt. Cleveland's Command now under my command 1st Regt 1st Brig Texas Army on the first day of July last and service up to the 10th of Sept last and being absent on furlough it expiring said date he could not return in consequence of sickness he is hereby honorably discharged from his tour of three months.” B. F. Reavill, Capt H. N. Cleveland, Lieut. Col. 1st Regimt 1st Brg TA He qualified for a Head right grant of one League and one Labor of land (4,605.5 acres) for arriving in Texas prior to March 1836, and was eligible for a Bounty grant for military service. He applied for and took an oath before the Board of Land Commissioners in Austin County on 11 January 1838 to get the grant he laid down in Gonzales County: He applied for a Republic of Texas Veterans Pension in 1874. No. 9: Winfield ALFORD presents himself before the Board, claiming a head-right of one league and labor of land and took and subscribed the oath prescribed by law . John Tobby Edwards and J. Hampton Kuykendall witness for the applicant, depose that they have known said applicant ever since the year 1833. That he participated in the war in behalf of Texas, was a citizen at the date of the declaration of Independence, and has ever since continued so, and that he is a married man. The grant was recorded in Gonzales County: After Texas independence was achieved, Winfield sent for his father Isaac and siblings. Apparently Isaac arrived by December 1838, for he was on the 1839 Austin Co. tax list. He received a 1st class grant for a League and Labor of land in 1839. Soon Winfield's brothers Wright and Hatch, and sisters Chloe and Sallie Whitley and their husbands joined them. They received Head right land grants. According to Hatch Olford's 1860 Burleson County, Texas, census -- the only record we have of his birth date -- he was born ca 1815 in NC. Living in the vicinity was Kemp Alford who applied for his land grant at the same time Hatch did, and was probably another son of Isaac who died without heirs before his father. Winfield and Hatch Alford's a daughters Amanda Eliza and Mary Jane, 1st cousins, married brothers, William M. and John Marion Green, sons of James Green and Sarah Kitchell of Thompsonville, Gonzales Co., TX. Hatch's son John Posey Alford married Sarah's niece, Jane Borrer, making Alfords and Greens double cousins, two says. Winfield and Eliza's children were LeRoy (1834), Julius (1839), Abraham "A. J." (1839), Eliza Amanda (1852), and Eboline. Hatch Alford and wife Martha Jane bought land in Burleson Co., TX. They had four children, Mary Jane, John Posey, George W., and Caroline "Callie." Hatch was in the Gonzales Co. Home Guard during the Civil War and saw service fighting Indians and the Union Army in Oklahoma. He was wounded in the leg. While he was gone, he got word that his wife Martha Jane had died (date unknown). He returned home to care for the children, and before Jan 1878, he had hit the wounded leg when he hit a stump while plowing a new field, took blood poisoning, and died. The four children were taken it by their Uncle Winfield for a while, but his wife Eliza suffered from mental illness and had died in 8 Feb 1867. So Hatch's children were put in foster homes. Winfield was a prosperous man until he spent all he had over the years trying to get help for his wife's condition. Eliza (1809-1867) died, Hatch's two sons came back to live with him and worked the fields, barefoot, "out in the wet" even in cold or rainy conditions. Winfield remarried twice. He died intestate in Gonzales Co. in 1878.
More About Wright Alford: Date born 2: 1817, Austin, Texas, USA.25, 25 Date born 3: 1817, Austin, Texas, USA.25 Date born 4: 1820, North Carolina, North Carolina.26 Residence: 1850, Not Stated, Austin, Texas.26
More About Wright Alford and Susan Grimes: Marriage: 01 Jul 1845, Washington, Texas, USA.27, 27
Wright Alford (b. 1820, d. 1867)
Notes for Wright Alford: