HIGGENBOTHAM/McKENZIE/FINCH
Texas was singing a siren
song and the Higgenbotham family heard it. The family story
relates that of six Higgenbotham children, five came to Texas.
Great Grand-father Higginbotham of Tennessee came to Texas to buy
mules in 1812 and was killed by Indians. A Mr. Gemison and a
negro man were the only ones in the party not killed; they did
not return for two years. Mr. Gemison was engaged to Aunt Polly
Higginbotham when he came to Texas. He did not return for two
years. As she had not heard from him, she thought he was dead and
married. When he came back he went to see her and told her he did
not blame her.
There were six Higginbotham children: Tom, Toliver, Jensy, Martha, Pollie and Sallie. Aunt Martha and Uncle Toliver never married; Jensy married twice, Grandpa McKenzie and Mr. Keyes; Aunt Sallie married Mr. Hendricks but never came to Texas. Aunt Pollie married Mr. Kerr. Grandpa McKenzie and family, Uncle Toliver and Aunt Martha Higginbotham came to Texas from Tennessee by boat in 1839. They landed at Linville on Lavaca Bay, a few miles above where Port Lavaca is now [on April 5, 1839]. The village of Linnville was burned by the Indians in 1840; most of the settlers escaped by taking to boats and going out into the Bay. Afterwards the settlers went down the coast and built Port Lavaca. The McKenzie family later moved to Gonzales County and settled near Prairie Lee (Now Coldwell County). Grandpa died in December 1843. Aunt Martha Higginbotham made her home during her last years with Cousin Lucinda Kerr DeVilbiss; and died in her home near San Antonio, Texas, in 1870. Grandma Keyes, nee Jansy Higginbotham, made her home during her last years with Aunt Mary Amberson at London, Texas, and died there in 1888, age 84 years.
Polly Higgenbotham
The application of Ola
Mitchell Hofheinz for membership in the Daughters of the Republic
of Texas, member number 1592, states that her grandfather,
William Price Kerr, came to Texas in 1839, and settled on the San
Antonio River, where Berg’s Mill was located in 1930. His
family lived in Mission San Juan, to be protected from the
Indians and for the children to attend school. Grand Father and
Grand Mother were charter members of the first Methodist Church
organized in San Antonio. The first Methodist sermon preached in
San Antonio was preached in Grand father Kerr’s house by
Rev. J. W. Devilbiss, who later married my aunt Lucinda Kerr.
Grandfather Kerr built and owned the first grist mill in that
part of the country. He sold the mill and moved to Medina in
1847. It seems likely that this was the family of Polly
Higginbotham and "Mr. Kerr".
Polly has not been found in the records. If she were old enough to be engaged in 1812, when her father and "Mr. Gemison" went to buy mules in Texas, she must have been born before 1800. Her identity as the wife of William P. Kerr hangs on John DeVilbiss’ statement that Kerr was Martha Higgenbotham’s brother-in-law and Kerr’s grand daughter’s reference to the Higgenbotham family patriarch as Great Grandfather Higgenbotham, implying he was HER great grandfather.
The story does not say that the Kerr family came with the rest of the family. Since William appears in the Bexar County records in 1841, they probably came in to Linnville in 1839, moved up to Gonzales after the Great Comanche Raid when Linnville was destroyed, and on to San Antonio about 1841.
William H. Kerr, son of William P. Kerr was born about 1821, and was probably Polly’s child. He was married in Gonzales County to Matilda Marion Keese on November 4, 1847. She was a daughter of Thomas J. Keese and Eleanor Campbell. Matilda’s uncle, James Campbell was one of the earliest settlers of Gonzales, Seguin and San Antonio. He was killed by Comanche Indians near San Antonio in 1840. Matilda’s parents came to Texas in order to help settle the estate of James Campbell. Eleanor died about 1845. Matilda’s father was married in 1846 to Jensy Higgenbotham McKenzie in Gonzales County. They later divorced.
One other fact fits only if Polly Higginbotham was the first wife of William P. Kerr and mother or Martha Lucinda Kerr DeVilbiss: that is the report from "Cousin Lucinda Kerr DeVilbiss" about "Great Grandfather Higginbotham". Polly Higginbotham’s father would then have been Cousin Lucinda’s great grandfather.
Roderick Toliver Higgenbotham
Roderick Toliver Higgenbotham was the first of his family to settle in Texas. His age is not consistent in the census where he is found. In 1850 his age is given as 45, born in Georgia. In 1860 it is shown as 60, also born in Georgia. He was probably born close to 1800. The English spelling of Tolliver is Talliaferro.
Roderick may have accompanied his siblings to Texas, but he was here much earlier. His headright certificate No. 72 in Bexar County for 1/3 league says he "proved according to law that he came into the county previous to the 2nd of May 1835 [and] is a single man". The tax roll of Bexar County for 1837 shows a "Robert" Higginbotham, which was probably Roderick Toliver. By 1845 he was being taxed on 8856 acres in Goliad County and 21,140 acres in San Patricio County. His headright in Bexar County was surveyed 12 June 1838.
Roderick’s headright survey was "No. 29 in section #2 situated on the Ditch of the Mission San Jose in the County of Bexar – Beginning at a stake near the mouth of said Ditch set for the N.E. corner of this survey". The line goes west from there, crosses two roads, then south, then back to the east to a stake on the Ditch for the S.E. Corner by "the N. E. corner of the wall of the Mission San Jose".
R. T. Higgenbotham’s deed transactions fill almost two pages in the earliest index of Bexar County deeds. He sold a considerable piece of land to William P. Kerr in 1842. Kerr paid $3,500 for it. It fronted on the west side of the San Antonio River, between the "river and the main Ditch of the Mision Espada... "bounded on the north west by the River…on the north east and east by the River on the south by the Road leading to the mision of San Juan on the west by the said Ditch of the Espada said property is the same mow in possession of the said William P. Kerr: 24 February 1842. Witnesses Moses Hesskew and Silas Sherman".
The recollections of the Methodist circuit riding preacher, John Wesley DeVilbiss, report his first visit to San Antonio in April 1844. He wrote, "On Monday we visit the mill, eight miles below the city, and at the rangers’ camp on the way. At the mill we found Mssrs. Kerr and Higginbotham builders and proprietors of this mill doing a good business sawing lumber and grinding corn. The people from Seguin and below on the Guadalupe had their grinding done here. Mr. Kerr was a strict member of our church, and, with his wife and sister-in-law, Miss Martha Ann HIGGINBOTHAM, were the only members in all this region."
John W. DeVilbiss wrote further about the year 1846. He and Rev. John McCullough held alternating services in San Antonio that year. "On the intervening Sabbath I preached in the neighborhood where I lived, at Brother Wm. P. Kerr’s. … In June I organized a class here. It first consisted of the following members: Mr. Wm. P. Kerr and wife, Miss Martha Ann Higginbotham, Mrs. Tabitha Ann DeVilbiss,… and Martha Lucinda Kerr…"
Roderick sold a lot in San
Antonio to William P. Kerr, Matt Evans, Marcus Trumble, Benj.
Thomas and Gustus A. Elley as trustees for the Methodist
Episcopal Church South 30 January 1847. It was witnessed by John
W. DeVilbiss.
Roderick Higgenbotham was still living at his mill when the census of Bexar County was taken in 1850. That census shows household number 18 on page 314 headed "Mission St. Jose on San Antonio River 6 November"
Roderick T. Higginbotham 45 m mill lawyer 2500 Geo
Martha A. 40 f "
The next household is:
William H. KERR 29 m farmer 625 Ten
Matilda M. 19 f "
A few pages earlier, on the Medina River, page 294 shows household 37
William P. KERR 52 m farmer SC
Rachel 35 f NC
Thomas 17 m Tenn
Isaac N. 14 m Tenn
Frances C. 10 f Texas
Mary J. 8 f Texas
Patrenel Hernandez 20 m laborer Mexico
This is consistent with Mrs. Hofheinz’ information that William P. Kerr sold his interest in the mill in 1847 and moved to the Medina.
When Roderick T. Higgenbotham died, the administrator of his estate was Jensy B. Keese, his sister. She was appointed administrator 1 Dec 1879. The date of his death has not been discovered.
Thomas Higgenbotham received a 3rd class conditional headright certificate for 640 acres of land, No. 97 "and proved by Archibald Jones and William Hesskew that said Higgenbotham emigrated to the Republic of Texas previous to the 3rd day of October 1839 that he was a married man and discharged all the duties required of him as a Citizen of the Republic of Texas and resided in the Republic aforesaid from the time above mentioned until his deathe in the year 1842." An unconditional certificate was granted to his heir, Levicy Heskew, on January 12, 1847.
Thomas Higgenbotham and his wife, Levicy, must have come with the rest of the family from Tennessee. A Thomas Higgenbotham was listed on the tax roll of District 13 in Henderson County, Tennessee in 1837.
Thomas Higgenbotham bought a lot in San Antonio from John W. Smith on November 3, 1840 for $100. Levicy sold it to Roderick on November 4, 1844. The lot was on the southeast side of the river bounded on the north and west by the river and on the south by the ditch called Pajalaches. It fronted on the street running from the ford east and along the street. Mary Maverick wrote in her diary that in the summer or early fall of 1839, "Thomas Higgenbotham, a carpenter, with his wife, came to San Antonio and took the house opposite us on the corner of Commerce Street and Main Plaza. His brother and sister settled in the country, on the river below San Jose Mission." Roderick and Martha were the brother and sister.
Mrs. Maverick also wrote about what became known as the Council House Fight. On Tuesday, 19th of March, 1840, sixty-five Comanches came into San Antonio to make a treaty of peace. ... The chiefs and men met in council at Court House with our city authorities. ... Capt. Howard’s company in the back yard and the Indian women and boys [were] shooting at a mark near by. Mrs. Higginbotham and myself looking thro the picket fence at them...
When the fighting broke out, Mary Maverick and Levicy Higgenbotham fled to their houses. Mary’s diary contines, I housed my little ones, and then looked out of the Soledad Street door. Near by was stretched an Indian, wounded and dying. A large man, journey-apprentice to Mr. Higginbotham, came up just then and aimed a pistol at the Indian’s head. I called out: "Oh, don’t, he is dying," and the big American laughed and said: "To please you, I won’t, but it would put him out of his misery."
After the captain [Caldwell] had been cared for, I ran across to Mrs. Higginbotham’s. Mr. Higginbotham, who was as peaceful as a Quaker to all appearances, had been in the fight and had received a slight wound. They could not go into their back yard, because two Indians had taken refuge in their kitchen, and refused to come out or surrender as prisoners when the interpreter had summoned them.
Levicy Heskew,
as the legal heir of Thomas Higginbotham deceased appeared before
the Board of Land Commissioners of Gonzales County and filed the
conditional certificate of the said Thomas Higgenbotham deceased
issued by the Board of Land Commissioners of Bexar County No. 97 
class
3 for 640 acres of land dated October the 3rd 1839 and
proved by Archibald Jones and William Hesskew that said
Higgenbotham emigrated to the Republic of Texas . . . that he was
a married man and discharged all the duties required of him as a
Citizen of the Republic of Texas until his death in the year
1842. An unconditional certificate was granted to the heir or
heirs of said Thomas Higginbotham on 12 January 1847.
After Thomas Higgenbotham died in 1842, Levicy married Moses Hesskew. By the census of 1850, they lived in Gonzales County, where she left her will signed December 24, 1882 and filed January 30, 1883. She named her children as
Mrs. Eliza L Ellis, Mrs. Ann D. Wilson, Mrs. Ametta Jeter deceased who left daughters May and Maggie, Mrs. Amanda Jeter, William E. Heskew and Gilpin M. Heskew.
Jane "Jensy" B. Higgenbotham
Jensy Higgenbotham was born June 25, 1804 and died in May 1888. She was married, probably about 1825, to Joseph Milton McKenzie who was born February 19, 1804 and died October 17, 1843.
Milton McKinsey is listed in the 1830 census of Henderson Co., Tennessee. An entry in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, member #5352, says that Joseph Milton McKenzie was born at Scott’s Hill, Henderson County, Tennessee. Henderson County had not been created in 1804. The 1837 tax roll of Henderson County does included H. B. McKenzie with 500 acrea and 2 slaves and polls for Milton, Newton and James McKinsey in District 11. District 12 shows Ulisses McKinzey. The DeVilbiss notes say that Hezakiah McKenzie married Miss Howe and had children:
Lucinda
Ulyssus
Rebecca m Bill Shaw
Newton
Joseph Milton
Robert
James
Benjaman Franklin
Isabelle
In the census of 1840 for Henderson County, no Milton is listed, but Ulysses and J. H. are.
Jensy and Joseph McKenzie came to Texas from Tennessee, near Patton’s Ferry on the Tennessee River. They landed at Linnville on Lavaca Bay on April 5, 1839. They had made the trip on flatboats down the Tennessee River to New Orleans, then on a bigger boat headed for Galveston. The family story tells that a storm blew them off course, landing them at Linnville, in Victoria County. The 1840 tax roll of Victoria County shows Milton McKensie lived there. He later moved his family to Gonzales County, near Prairie Lea. He died there 17 Oct. 1843.
The Great Comanche Raid in August of 1840 was a retaliation for the Comanches’ losses at the Council House Fight. The Indians plundered and burned the town of Linnville while most of the residents watched from boats in the bay in which they had fled. The Comanches were defeated at the Battle of Plum Creek as they left the Linnville area.
The children of Jensy Higgenbotham and Joseph McKenzie were:
Mary Jane born March 31, 1826 m. John H. Finch, James Amberson
Thomas Newton born January 31, 1828 m. Mary Jane Waller York’s Creek
Martha Isabelle born April 6, 1830 m. Leasle Harris
Sarah Elizabeth born 1832 m. Jefferson Lilly
Louise Adaline born March 23, 1838 m. Francis A. Vaughn
Mary Jane McKenzie was born 31 March 1826 in Tennessee. She married John H FINCH about 1846, judging from her son’s age. John Milton Finch was born in 1847 at San Juan Mission in San Antonio.
John H. Finch received a bounty land grant of 320 acres for his service with the army of the Republic of Texas for three months from May 8 until August 15 of 1836. The land was surveyed in Caldwell County on Plum Creek, about 4 ½ miles south and west from Lockhart beginning at the NW corner of a quarter league survey made for William House. It was surveyed 8 October 1843.
John H. Finch also received a third of a league headright certificate, No. 133, from the Board of Land Commissioners of Matagorda County and dated 18 January 1838. The 1/3 league grants were given to settlers who were in Texas before 2 March 1836. If Finch was in Texas that early and Mary Jane McKenzie did not arrive until 1839, they must have married in Texas. The marriage record has not been found.
John Milton Finch said he was born in San Antonio at the San Juan Mission in 1847. The grand daughter of William P. Kerr said that Kerr’s family lived in Mission San Juan to be protected from the Indians and for the children to attend school. Assuming William P. Kerr was Polly Higgenbotham’s husband, he was Mary Jane’s uncle.
John H. Finch is said to have been from New York. His son said that John H. Finch made a trip back to New York and contracted cholera, dying at sea on the return trip. Probate packet #252 of Gonzales County state that John H. Finch died 5 May 1847. His wife, Mary Jane Finch applied to administer the estate. George W. Keese of Caldwell County was administrator in Caldwell County and objected to having two different administrators in two different counties.
Curiously, the 1850 census taken August 27 in Brazoria County, on the coast, records J. H. FINCH, 23, "cholera agent" born New York. That is a very close match to the details known about the husband of Mary Jane McKenzie Finch, except that he was supposed to be dead by then. He would also have been older, if he served in the army of Texas 14 years earlier. He was enumerated in the household of F. A. Sayee, a druggist from New York, age 21.
Martha Ann Higgenbotham
The unmarried Higgenbotham daughter was Martha Ann. The Texas Christian Advocate carried a notice in Vol. 2 p 117 written by John W. DeVilbiss. He reported than Miss Martha Ann Higgenbotham died at his residence on Friday, August 6, 1875 at the age of 68. She was a Tennessee native, came to Texas 35 years ago and "settled with her brother in San Antonio. She was the first Methodist to ever live in San Antonio." She was large and masculine in appearance "and very fleshy", weighing at one time 343 pounds". She left one brother and two sisters.
Family Group Record
Husband: Joseph Milton McKENZIE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Birth: 19 Feb 1804
Death: 17 Oct 1843 Gonzales Co., Texas
Burial:
Marriage: abt 1825
Father: Hezakiah McKENZIE
Mother: HOWE
===============================================================================
Wife: Jane "Jensie" HIGGENBOTHAM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Birth: 25 Jun 1804
Death: May 1888 London, Texas
Burial:
Father: HIGGENBOTHAM
Mother:
Other spouse: Thomas J KEESE (m 28 Aug 1846)
===============================================================================
Children
===============================================================================
1 F Mary Jane MCKENZIE
Birth: 31 Mar 1826
Death:
Burial:
Spouse: John H FINCH (m abt 1846)
Spouse: James AMBERSON (m aft 1850)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 M Thomas Newton MCKENZIE
Birth: 31 Jan 1828
Death: 18 Feb 1909
Burial:
Spouse: Mary Jane WALLER (m 18 Nov 1856)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 F Martha Isabelle MCKENZIE
Birth: 6 Apr 1830
Death:
Burial:
Spouse: Leasle HARRIS (m aft 1850)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 F Sarah Elizabeth MCKENZIE
Birth: 1832
Death:
Burial:
Spouse: Jefferson G LILLY (m 8 Feb 1855)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 F Louisa Adaline MCKENZIE
Birth: 23 Mar 1838
Death:
Burial:
Spouse: Francis A VAUGHN (m 17 Apr 1855)
===============================================================================
Prepared 13 Jan 1999 by:
Tory Crook
1313 Apache
Richardson, Tx 75080
Family Group Record
Husband: HIGGENBOTHAM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Birth:
Death: 1812?
Marriage:
===============================================================================
Wife:
Birth:
Death:
===============================================================================
Children
===============================================================================
1 M Thomas HIGGENBOTHAM
Birth:
Death: 1842
Marriage: bef 1840 to Levicy ??
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 M Roderick Toliver HIGGENBOTHAM
Birth: abt 1800?
Death: by 1879
Marriage:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 F Jane "Jensie" HIGGENBOTHAM
Birth: 25 Jun 1804
Death: May 1888 London, Texas
Burial:
Spouse: Joseph Milton MCKENZIE (m abt 1825)
Spouse: Thomas J KEESE (m 28 Aug 1846)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 F Martha Ann HIGGENBOTHAM
Birth: 1807
Death: 6 Aug 1875 Bexar Co., Tx
Burial:
Marriage:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 F "Polly" HIGGENBOTHAM
Birth:
Death:
Burial:
Spouse: William P. KERR
Spouse:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6 F Sallie HIGGENBOTHAM
Birth:
Death: aft 1875
Burial:
Spouse: HENDRICKS
===============================================================================
Prepared 13 Jan 1999 by:
Tory Crook
1313 Apache
Richardson, Tx 75080
972/234-5374
A set of notes given by Priscilla DeVilbiss of Pearsall, Texas, relates that "Great Grand-father" Higginbotham of Tennessee came to Texas to buy mules in 1812 and was killed by Indians. Only two members of the party were not killed: a negro man and a Mr. Gemison/Jemison. The trip took two years. There were six Higgenbotham children: Tom, Toliver, Jensy, Martha, Pollie and Sallie. Polly was engaged to the Mr. Gemison/Jemison who made the ill-fated trip to Texas with her father. She married a Mr. Kerr when it appeared Jemison would not return from Texas.
Sallie married Mr. Hendricks but never came to Texas. Martha and Toliver Higgenbotham did not marry.
Jensy Higgenbotham married twice. Her first husband was Joseph Milton McKenzie. After his death in 1843 she married Thomas J. Keese in 1846. She lived her last years with Cousin Lucinda Kerr DeVilbiss, according to Cousin Priscilla DeVilbiss of Pearsall.
The rest of the family appears to have come by boat to Matagorda Bay in the spring of 1839. Jensy Higgenbotham married Joseph Milton McKenzie and came then. The McKenzie family of seven probably traveled with Polly and William P. Kerr and children, Tom Higgenbotham and his wife, Levicy, and Martha Ann Higgenbotham.
Joseph McKenzie appears on the tax roll of Victoria County in 1840. Linnville was in Victoria County. He later moved his family to Gonzales County, near Prairie Lea. He died there 17 Oct. 1843. Joseph and Jensy Higgenbotham McKenzie had five children. They were:
Mary Jane b 31 March 1826 m. 1st John H. FINCH 2nd James AMBERSON
Thomas Newton b 31 Jan 1828 m. Mary Jane WALLER
Martha Isabelle b 6 April 1830 m. Leasle HARRIS
Sarah Elizabeth b ?? m. Jefferson LILLY
Louise Adaline b 23 March 1838 m. Francis A. VAUGHN
The application of Ola Mitchell Hofheinz for membership in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, member number 1592, states that her grandfather, William Price Kerr, came to Texas in 1839, and settled on the San Anotnio River, where Berg’s Mill was located in 1930. His family lived in Mission San Juan, to be protected from the Indians and for the children to attend school. Grand Father and Grand Mother were charter members of the first Methodist Church organized in San Antonio. The first Methodist sermon preached in San Antonio was preached in Grand father Kerr’s house by Rev. J. W. Devilbiss, who later married my aunt Lucinda Kerr. Grand father Kerr built and owned the first grist mill in that part of the country. He sold the mill and moved to Medina in 1847. It seems likely that this was the family of Polly Higginbotham and "Mr. Kerr". Mary Jane Finch, Polly’s niece, could have been staying with the Kerr family awaiting the birth of her baby.
Curiously, the 1850 census taken August 27 in Brazoria County, on the coast, records J. H. FINCH, 23, "cholera agent" born New York. That is a very close match to the details known about the husband of Mary Jane McKenzie Finch, except that he was supposed to be dead by then. He would also have been older, if he served in the army of Texas 14 years earlier. He was enumerated in the household of F. A. Sayee, a druggist from New York, age 21.
DeVilbiss’ statement about Kerr and Higginbotham’s mill must have referred to William P. Kerr, who thus was a brother-in-law to Martha Ann Higginbotham. Since Martha Ann never married, Kerr must have been married to Martha’s sister. Martha’s sister, Polly Higginbotham, reportedly married a Mr. Kerr.
John Wesley DeVilbiss married first Talitha or Tabitha Menefee in 1845. She had a daughter on June 24, 1846 who died after only a few hours. Talitha died on 15 August, compounding the loss. DeVilbiss was married again on Sept. 28, 1847, to Martha Lucinda Kerr, daughter of William P. Kerr.
William P. Kerr must have married more than once. His wife in 1850, Rachel [Oxley?] was reportedly born in North Carolina. Martha Lucinda Kerr DeVilbiss, William P. Kerr’s daughter, said in 1880 that her mother was born in Tennessee. It could be that Martha Lucinda’s mother was Polly Higginbotham. The probate records of William P. Kerr show that he did, indeed, have a son named William H. Kerr. In Gonzales County, William H. Kerr and Mathilda M. Keese married on 4 Nov. 1847.
The tax rolls of Bexar County record a Robert Higginbotham in 1837. 1838-1839 are missing. In 1840 both a Thomas and an R. T. Higginbotham paid taxes. Both were there in 1841. R. T. Higginbotham paid tax on land in Goliad County as well. In 1842, T. R. Higginbotham paid the tax on the 8856 acres in Goliad County and on 26,568 in San Patricio County. Thomas Higginbotham appears in 1842 on the roll of delinquent tax payers. The microfilm records jump to 1845 in which R. T. Higginbotham’s taxes are on the Goliad Co. land and 21,140 acres in San Patricio. Thomas Higginbotham was not there. R. T. Higginbotham owned 150 acres in Bexar County in 1846 & ’47, with none other listed.
The census record showing Roderick T. and Martha A. Higginbotham at the mill on the San Antonio River at Mission San Jose clearly identifies them as "Uncle Toliver" and Martha, his sister. Roderick T. Higginbotham received a third of a league headright ceritficate, No. 72, dated 1st February 1838. He located the land in Bexar County, survey #29 in section #2 "situated on the ditch of the Mission San Jose". It was surveyed 12 June 1838. He "proved according to law that he came into the county previous to the 2nd of May 1835 is a single man and entitled to one third of a league…" The land was patented 16 November 1841. Roderick Toliver Higginbotham came to Texas before his family who arrived in 1839.
This information does not prove that this Thomas was the brother in the family we are studying, but it certainly fits. Since the widow remarried, she probably did not maintain contact with her first husband’s family. That situation would explain the lack of information on Thomas in Cousin Priscilla’s notes about the Higginbothams.
Chabot writes about early San Antonio families, saying that John Bradley arrived there in December 1840 and moved into the house oposite the Mavericks where the Higginbothams had lived before moving to the country. Perhaps more research will indicate whether the Mavericks’ neighbors had been Thomas and his wife Levicy, YES! or Roderick Toliver and his sister Martha Ann.
More on
the Council House Fight
Information by Tory Crook
Webmaster or contact intrested family Reserchers
Return to Moses Hesskew
This page has been accessed
Page Created May 99
Marvin
Schubert
1999 [Jack's Publication Enterprises].
Revised: April 29, 2000.