Chapter IV

SAN AUGUSTINE

The Eighth Generation

The children of Benjamin and Polly Thomas constitute the eighth generation in our history of the Thomas family. The descent is through the fifth child, Iredell Dickinson Thomas, who was born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, in 1805. He was named in honor of James Iredell, a one-time associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, and of his mother, who was Mary Ann Dickinson before her marriage. After Iredell was an adult, he was known almost exclusively as I. D. Thomas.

Iredell had just passed his seventeenth birthday when he came with his parents to Natchitoches in 1822. When his parents pushed on into Texas, he remained there to work in a general store. According to one account, he clerked in the store; another reports he was apprenticed to the store owner whose name was Victor Bissonet.

The existing files of a weekly newpaper published in the town in those years, the Natchitoches Courier, indicates there was no firm in the town by the name of Bissonet, or if there was they did not advertise in the paper. More likely, Iredell worked for the large mercantile firm of Harrison and Hopkins. However, he probably lived with the Bissonet family, in a sort of apprenticeship arrangement. The family tradition is that I. D. remained a friend of Victor Bissonet throughout his life, and often visited him on his many trips through Natchitoches during the 40 years of his life after going to Texas. Iredell's sixth child, when she was born in 1841, was named Victoria, in honor of his long-time friend.

We do not know exactly how long Iredell stayed in Natchitoches, but a little more than six years is a good estimate. We know he was there with his family in March 1822, and was there on April 3, 1827. On that latter date, he placed the following ad in the Courier: "HORSES FOR SALE - The subscriber has fifteen good work horses which he will dispose of low for cash, or on short credit. Apply at Harrison and Hopkins. (Signed) Iredell D. Thomas" Our best guess is that he moved to San Augustine County, Texas, about a year later. This is because it was in 1828 that (as will be related later) he first met his bride-to-be when she travelled through Natchitoches with her family as they moved to Texas.

I.D. told his children in his later years that much of his education had been gained during his stay in Natchitoches. During these years “he became acquainted with and a great friend of a very learned Catholic priest who was not only highly_educated in literature but also in the mechanical arts." After four or five years of tutoring by the priest, Iredell reportedly "became to a great extent master of several languages and very proficient in the mechanical arts."

The family reports undoubtedly are correct in designating these years as the period in which I.D. greatly improved his basic education, although too much credit may be given to one individual (the priest). Of course, he would naturally have learned a good deal of the French language since that language was widely used in this old French and Spanish town. The local newspaper at that time was published in both French and English. As to the religious resources of the town, there was no Protestant church or minister in the town until 1841. According to our consultant on the local history of Natchitoches (Mrs. Elizabeth S. Mills), there were also few priests there between 1822 and 1828. Francisco Maynes left the town in dejection in 1822, discouraged by his bishop's criticism of the religious decadence, cold faith, and ruinously delapidated state of the church itself. The church burned in 1823 along with much of the town. There was no priest thére until 1825 when Bishop Duberg visited the parish briefly and left behind a priest named Anduze. This priest did not stay long (though perhaps long enough to give books and lasting encouragement to young Iredell). In February of 1826 the Louisiana Legislature authorized the parish to hold a lottery to raise funds to build a new church which was not completed until 1828.

I.D.'s years of employment with (probably) Harrison and Hopkins were undoubtedly of great value to him. A leading mercantile establishment in a busy trading center of that day was far different from a village retail store today. Their trading area would be not merely the five or six miles that a family could drive to the store in a wagon; it reached for hundreds of miles. They served the entire Red River area from what is now Paris, Texas to New Orleans. It was a central area for caravans of pack horses or heavy wagons, west to Nacogdoches and San Antonio, south to Opelousa, and east to Natchez. Much of their goods were bartered, but when a medium of exchange was used, the payments may have been in gold, silver, or the bank notes of several different nations.

The firm itself may have sent out its own caravans of wagons or pack horses. In fact, Iredell himself may have engaged in such trading activities. This possissibility is

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suggested not only by his ownership of work horses—the ones he offered for sale in 1827— but by the family reports that I.D. in his early years won the friendship of the Indians in the San Augustine area. The family legend is that he was a good friend especially of Chief Loena, as attested by the

fact that in 1837 he named his fourth child after the chief.

The mercantile establishments of that day in Natchitoches were active trading partners with the Indians who lived to the north of San Augustine and Nacogdoches. The extent of this trade is indicated by a report made by a Mexican official to his Government in 1832. In that year, the Department of Bexar exported from 8,000 to 10,000 skins annually; the Department of the Brazos exported $50,000 of skins; and the Department of Nacogdoches exported more than $200,000 of cotton, corn, cattle, and skins. The American settlers provided the cotton, corn, and cattle; the Indians the skins. Austin's Colony sent much of their produce down the rivers and then by ship to New Orleans, but all the produce from Nacogdoches and San Augustine went by land to Natchitoches and thence down the Red River to New Orleans.

We believe it likely that I.D. used his pack horses to transport basic supplies to the Ayish Bayou settlement and to bring back skins or pelts purchased from the Indians.

Even if I.D. never made such trading trips, he would nevertheless have been well informed regarding developments in the community where his family lived. The local newspaper printed one or more news items, letters, or editorials about Texas in almost every issue. In the issue of September 15, 1825 the editor quoted a long letter from General Wilkinson who had just obtained authorization to take to Texas a large number of Americans for settlement at the Bay of the Trinity, 40 miles from Galveston. The editor commented on the authorizations already granted to Col. Stephen F. Austin (800 families), to Mr. Leftwich of Russellville, Kentucky (800 families), to Hayden Edwards (800 families), to Mr. G. DeWitt of Missouri (450 familes), and to Mr. Thorn of New York (450 families). The account concluded with the following comment by the editor: "We cannot help being astonished when we hear of . . . our fellow citizens thus renouncing the benefits of @ government equal to none . . . leaving millions of uncultivated acres of land in their own Country, to settle a foreign soil— a country not more fertile, a country not more healthy, and where the government is altogether inadequate to the protection of the citizens... . We can furnish proof the most unequivocal, and pronounce it dangerous for any republican American, to migrate to that Country before its government becomes settled and energetic, which will not be

soon, or before it becomes a part of our Republic by cession, or otherwise, which may never be the case."

When the Fredonian War broke out in December 1826, and until its resolution, some two or three months later, long articles and letters from participants traced the conflict. Both Hayden Edwards and his brother, Benjamin W. Edwards, were in Natchitoches during some of those months, residing there at least long enough to write lengthy letters to the editor to explain and justify their cause. In so small a village, it is likely that I.D. Thomas was personally acquainted with both of them.

In the May 13, 1827 issue there appeared a lengthy letter from Col. Ahumada, Mexican commanding officer at Nacogdoches, saying among other things that the population of the Ayish Bayou Colony “is composed of one hundred and sixty-eight families, more or less averaging five persons to a family."

Two weeks later, I.D. had a good visit with several members of his family. On that day his older brother, Gary, and his older sister, Martha, came to Natchitoches for a double wedding with a brother and sister from the Davis family. Emily Margaret Davis and Elias K. Davis were son and daughter of Warren Davis, an early settler in the Ayish Bayou community. According to marriage records in Nacogdoches, Gary and Emily Margaret were married by John C. Carr, the same judge in Natchitoches before whom Gary's father and mother had sold land to Shadrach.3 Mrs. Roberts tells us that Elias K. and Margaret were married on the same day (July 27, 1827), so we assume he was a double wedding that took place in Natchitoches. Since Elias K. Davis was listed as a witness to the marriage of his sister, we can take it as proof of the double wedding.

Inasmuch as there was no Protestant church on either side of the Sabine, and sometimes not even a Catholic priest on either side, many of the American settlers were married by Judge Carr. His surviving records, however, are extremely incomplete, so it is impossible to verify most of them. For example, Iredell's older brother, Shadrach, was married in 1827, to Mrs. E.W. (Polly) Brown but we do not know where the ceremony was performed.

No one knows exactly when Iredell moved from Natchitoches to San Augustine. However, it was sometime after April 1827, when he offered the horses for sale, and January 1830 when he was married to Penelope Edwards.

One account—written in 1902 by Iredell's daughter, Penelope Crouch, and reproduced by Mrs. Roberts in Four Families—says Iredell came to Texas only shortly after his marriage in 1830. She says that I. D. was working for the large mercantile firm in Louisiana when he became acquainted with, and an ardent admirer of, Penelope Edwards, the daughter of Amos Edwards who had resided for a time in Louisiana. Amos Edwards objected to Iredell's attentions to his daughter, since he was "a poor young man." Edwards was said to be wealthy and "very proud and aristocratic." The account continued that Edwards moved on to Nacogdoches where his brother, Hayden, had located. The Edwards family, however, spent only a short time there, residing in the upper floor of the Old Stone Fort before continuing. Iredell, in the meantime, having learned of their plan to move on, got several young men to go with him to Nacogdoches where they stole Penelope out of the Old Stone Fort and returned to San Augustine where they were married.

Another account, which we consider more reliable, indicates that Amos Edwards moved to Texas in 1828. His move to Texas is chronicled in a long biographical account of Penelope's brother, Monroe Edwards. (More about him later.) Amos Edwards moved his family to Texas in an effort to recoup a Fortune which he is said to have lost in Kentucky. He planned to join his brothers, Hayden and Benjamin W., who had been active in Texas affairs since 1825. Although both had been banished from Texas after the collapse of the Fredonian War in 1827, they had been pardoned and by 1828 had returned to Nacogdoches where they lived as prosperous and honored patriots.

Amos Edwards and family undoubtedly first came to Texas by way of Natchitoches where they stopped to rest, to lay in supplies, and to make enquiries about conditions in Texas. Amos undoubtedly talked to numerous persons, including Iredell Thomas, who were personally acquainted with his two brothers. Iredell first met the fifteen-year-old Penelope at this time and probably moved permanently to San Augustine (a move he probably had been contemplating for some months) at the same time that Penelope went with her family to Nacogdoches. In Nacogdoches Amos Edwards would have visited his brothers, and also would have contacted Mexican officials to apply for immigration papers and for land. He then proceeded to the area of Red Fish Bar on the west coast of Galveston Bay, which later became known as Edwards Point and is now San Leon. It was in 1835 that the Mexican Government finally granted him title to 4,428 acres (one league) which he settled on in 1828.

Thomas family tradition has it that Penelope's father ob

jected to her love for I.D. and for that reason sent her back to Kentucky for a while. It is more likely that he took her and his family to his new home on Galveston Bay. Then, he probably returned to Nacogdoches the following year either to visit his brothers or to validate his land title at the Mexican Government district headquarters in that town. It probably was during such a revisit to Nacogdoches that young Iredell renewed his courtship with Penelope and moved with dispatch to marry the 17-year-old beauty before her father took her back to her Galveston Bay home.

Many old family accounts tell, and probably embellish, the story of I. D.'s elopement with Penelope. Several young men were with Iredell when he met Penelope after she slipped down the back steps from the second floor of the Old Stone Fort. (The downstairs served as the Court House and the upper floor was used at the time as a hotel.) Iredell and Penelope, accompanied by Col. William Garrett and possibly also by Col. Phil Sublett, rode hurriedly back toward San Augustine; another says the ceremony took place on the bridge aeross Attoyac Creek which forms the boundary between Nacogdoches and San Augustine Counties. The wedding party was followed by Penelope's 22-year-old brother, Monroe Edwards, who challenged Iredell to a duel. Tradition has it that Iredell refused the challenge out of love for his new bride.

Most of this romantic tale cannot be questioned, including Penelope's secretly leaving her second-floor room and eloping into the night, and her brother giving chase and issuing the challenge. But the questions remain, where were they married and by whom? After spending the first night with relatives or friends in Ayish Bayou, the wedding party may have gone on to Natchitoches the next day to be married by Judge John C. Carr.

To get married legitimately in those days was a problem. Texas was still a part of Mexico and subject to the Mexican Constitution which Bocoend Zed only the Catholic Church and permitted no other.” But there were no priests in Nacogdoches or elsewhere in East Texas during those years. According to one church historian, there was no priest anywhere east of San Antonio. It is possible, however, that by 13830 the political chief in San Augustine (called an alcalde) had devised a civil contract similar to the one developed and used by Ste phen F. Austin in his Colony. Austin's contract read as folLows:

2 8 oe » We, and ? of lawful age, inhabitants of Austin's Colony, in the Province of Texas, wishing to unite in matrimo 58

ny, each of our parents having given their i consent, and there being no Catholic priest in the Colony,- - therefore, agree to take

for my legal wife and as such to Cherish and support and protect her, forsaking all others and keeping myself true and faithful to her alone. - - and each of us bind and obligate ourselves to have our marriage solemnized by the Priest of the Colony. - - + + as soon as the opprtunity offers- - all of which we promise in the name of God and in the presence of Stephen F. Austin, judge and political chief of this Colony - Witness our hands this day of 182_.

The above form was signed by the persons who were married. On the reverse side of the form were two brief statements, one to be signed by the witnesses and whe other by Stephen F. Austin. This procedure, although inaugurated py Austin without sanction by the Mexican authorities, did constitute a valid marriage contract. This was only one of the many procedures of self-government that the early colonists forged for themselves out of necessity.

After the marriage on January 21, 1830, the relationship between the Thomas and Edwards families remained strained. Family tradition has always reported .only that Amos Edwards was "aristocratic" and objected to Iredell Thomas as a son-inlaw because he was poor. This explanation has some validity, for indeed the Edwards family, through several generations , had held posts of responsibility and prominence. The first Hayden Edwards came to this Country a few years before the Revolutionary War. He was accompanied by his two brothers, Robert and Benjamin Harrison. Of the three brothers, only Hayden was married. Shortly before leaving the family estate (their old castle in Wales was known as Edwards Hall), he had married Penelope Sandford. His bride, who started the succession of girls by the name of Penelope, wore at her wedding a costly gown that has since been handed down to successive generations of descendants named Penelope.

The gown was made of heavy pale green material,dlaborately tvimmed with the finest lace and sparkling with beautiful jewels. After her marriage, according to family tradition, she appeared before the courts of Europe in her "“sorgeous trousseau." The first Penelope requested that the gown should be handed down to those who would bear her name and that each

one who received it should marry in it, or wear it once. We do not know on what occasion Penelope Edwards Thomas wore the dress; undoubtedly it was not for her marriage. She gave the dress to her daughter, Penelope (Thomas ) Crouch, who in turn gave it to her granddaughter, Azalea Penelope (Smith) Downs. It is still in the possession of the family and is occasionally on display at the Cullen House Museum in San Augustine.

The family tradition that Amos Edwards objected to Iredell Thomas as a son-in-law because he was "poor" hardly seems to be the full story, both because Iredell came from the well-educated planter class who were responsible for the administration of public affairs, and because Penelope Edward's father, though successful, was hardly aristocratic. We doubt that the appelation could be applied even to Penelope's grandfather, John Edwards, who had served both as State senator and U.S. Senator from Kentucky, and who (according to the Dictionary of American Biography) owned 25,000 acres of land. The appelation of "aristocratic" could hardly be applied to any man, however successful, who had gone to Kentucky in those early years when the Indian fighting was the fiercest and bloodiest of any on the American frontier; nor to any man who had been successful in the rough-and-ready frontier politics that prevailed in the years after Kentucky was admitted to statehood in 1792.

It seems likely that Amos Edwards shared a personality trait with other members of the Edwards family. He may have been somewhat autocratic in manner. His brother, Hayden, failed in his role as an empresario because of his autocratic manner. His first cousin, Ninian Edwards, is said by his biographer to have had a stormy and checkered political career because of his autocratic manner. This Ninian Edwards had served as U.S. Senator from Illinois, as a minister to Mexico, and, at the time I.D. asked for the hand of Penelope, he was serving the Governor of Illinois.

Our guess is that Penelope's father withheld his immediate permission for his 17-year-old daughter to marry the young merchant. Iredell was unwilling to wait, since it meant that Penelope would go with her family to Galveston Bay, which according to the difficulty of travel in those days was more inaccessible than if she had been in New Orleans.

Young Penelope had two sisters and four brothers. Her oldest sister, Mary Edwards, married Dr. Heard, a prominent physician in New Orleans. This Dr. Heard was a relative of General Morgan, a participant in the Revolutionary War and un doubtedly a member of the same family to which young Monroe

Edwards was apprenticed as a young man. Her second sister, Minerva, married a Mr. Morris, a Virginia planter who located in Texas where they died and left children.

Of her four brothers, one was Ashmore Edwards who was at one time a Supreme Court Judge in Louisiana. Her brother, Robert, drowned in the Red River when he was a mere youth on his way to visit his sister in San Augustine. Her youngest brother, William Edwards, at one time represented Harris County in the Texas Legislature. During the Civil War he served as a Captain in the Confederate forces. He died a bachelor. Her last brother was Monroe, the young man who had challenged Iredell to a duel and who never came to terms with Iredell, though he did visit his sister a few times in San Augustine when he was there on business. He was the one black sheep in a distinguished family.

When Iredell and Penelope were married in 1830, Monroe was 22 years old. Two years later his career started auspi+ eiously when he was involved in what the history books usually call the "affair at Anahuac", generally recognized as a preliminary to the Texas Revolution of 1836. Although he and fourteen other Texas patriots were thrown into jail, along with William B. Travis who later died in the Alamo, they were not imprisoned for long. A brigade of Texas settlers from San Augustine County promptly marched to their rescue and forced their release.

It was the next year that Edwards met a slave trader on Galveston Bay and, after appropriate arrangements, they sailed from New Orleans on a slave smuggling operation. After many hardships they succeeded in bringing back a cargo of 196 slaves. They had purchased the slaves at an average cost of $25 each and sold them at about $600 each, realizing a total profit of more than $100,000, to be split 50-50.

Monroe invested much of his money in a large plantation in Brazoria County. The next year he entered into partnership with Christopher Dart and they promptly concocted another smuggling operation. This time they went to Cuba and bought the services of several hundred black "indentured servants" who could be legally worked virtually as slaves for a limited period of time, something under ten years. But Edwards and Dart, after their return to Texas, sold the blacks as lifetime slaves, thus getting about $500 each for indentured servants for whose services they had paid not more than $200 each.

The very next year Monroe Edwards attempted to forge a bill of sale, by which he tried to cheat his partner out of his half of the extensive plantation holdings. After a lengthy trial (which opened on March 1, 1839 in Brazoria under the laws of the Republic of Texas) the forgeries perpetrated by Monroe Edwards came to light. He was helped to escape from jail by his 16-year-old slave girl who usually dressed as a man and accompanied him everywhere as his "man-servant". She was a mulatto, an illegitimate child of a Spanish grandee in Cuba and a slave.

From 1839 until 1842 he lived by his wits, traveling extensively and living sumptously in New Orleans, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia and London. In London he cut quite a figure in the highest social circles of the city. According to all accounts he was well educated and a person of great charm and social grace. His wardrobe was expensive; he was at ease in the homes of royalty and nobility. In London he presented forged letters from Senator Daniel Webster and obtained "a loan" of 250 pounds, offering as security bogus bonds and receipts upon a bank of the United States.

Before long, word reached the United States minister in London that "Colonel" Edwards from Texas was an imposter. Thereupon Monroe promptly returned to New York. After staying about two months in New York, he moved to Philadelphia where he began laying plans for a gigantic swindle. He assumed the name of John P. Caldwell, proprietor of a large cotton plantation near Phillips City, Arkansas. Under this guise he applied for a loan of $25,119.52 from Brown Brothers & Co. of Baltimore and New York, offering as security 1,01 bales of cotton, supposed to be in the hands of Maunsel & Co. of New Orleans. After two months of careful work in forging documents to build up the case, he received checks in New York and Philadelphia, totaling the amount of the sale and made payable to John P. Caldwell. He managed to cash the checks before the merchants discovered they had been taken.

Edwards planned to slip away from Philadelphia but he waited one day too long, and was arrested on October Crploules After his arrest, he employed as his counsel George N. Dallas, a former mayor of Philadelphia and later to become vice president of the United States and still later to give his name to the little town of Dallas, Texas. On the next day, Edwards's trunk was searched and was found to contain $43,600.

The trial received national publicity, being widely reported by the sensational National Police Gazette. On the second day of the trial they reported: "The avenues to the court room were more crowded even than before, and when the door was opened, the rush of the throng to get inside was so impetuous, as to bear down and completely overthrow the officer in charge ........ The Colonel, with the exception of a

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tasteful change of dress, looked just as he did on the previous day. He marched along with the same : easy nonchalance, and as he walked up to his counsel, he saluted them with the same polished self-possession which had caused such favorable

remarks before."

The trial lasted seven days, ending June 12, 1842, when the jury brought in a verdict of guilty. He was sent to Sing Sing Prison where he met his death in 1847 when he was caught in an attempted get-away and was given a severe lashing. He died shortly thereafter, presumably as a result of the beating, and was buried in the prison burial ground.

Monroe Edwards's career was in such sharp contrast to that of the other members of the family that it has been hard for the descendants to accept. Two examples may be given. When Penelope Edwards Crouch (a granddaughter of Monroe's sister) wrote about the family of her grandmother, she deseribed Monroe as “one of the most brilliant men of his day who was crushed in his great career by his enemies and false friends". Another incident is recounted by H. Bascom Thomas, Jr. In 1922, while a student in the Law School at the University of Texas, he happened to be visiting in the home of Ira H.and Betty Harrison in Sulphur Springs, Texas. A cousin, present at the time, was telling about her family and family con= nections in the old days in San Augustine. She referred to Monroe Edwards as a brilliant man who was noble and just in all respects but was led astray and betrayed by his friends. Bascom chuckled, and told her, "You don't have that exactly right. Just last week I read a new book by Judge Francis L. Wellman. It was entitled The Art of Cross Examination and it gave a full account of Monroe Edward$s trial in Philadelphia. It is hard to make the case that his friends led him astray. He was his own worst enemy; from that first slave-smuggling operation, he seemed destined to a life of crime." His one redeeming virtue was that he loved and respected hie family and did what he could not to involve them in any of his schemes.

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After their marriage, Iredell and Penelope lived in the Thomas Community some six miles west of San Augustine, near the location of his store. The country store which I.D. operated in those years in the "Thomas Community" was undoubtedly a gathering place where neighbors exchanged the news and gossip of the outside world. Since there were no towns in that era, the country store, even those located in a oneroom log house, served a social function as well as a store house of basic goods for the settlers. It is likely that I.D. and his brothers, especially because they lived near the store, took an active part in the political discussions and activities of that day.

These country stores were the meeting place also for the courts of justice. The Ayish Bayou District, because of its isolation from the center of Mexican authorities, had developed their own American blend of governmental processes. At a local town meeting where they talked about the need for local government, they decided to elect an officer to whom they gave the Spanish title of alcalde. They agreed to give him the authority to render legal decisions. They elected another office, called the sheriff, who was to execute the decisions of the alcalde. The alcalde was also authorized to summon a jury of twelve citizens to help him arrive at a just decision. After a few years two regidors (assisting officers) were chosen to help the alcalde perform his duties. Hence, the alcalde and regidors were based on Spanish law, and the sheriff and jury on American experience.

The alcalde's court was held at the residence of the alcalde. As different men were elected to this post, the court

moved from one part of the district to another. This was not convenient, especially in handling necessary papers or storing court records. Hence, they needed to establish a tow which would be a permanent seat of local government. In 1832, therefore, a citizens! meeting was held and a committee of 15 men was appointed to select a spot on which this new town would be located. One member of the committee was Shadrach Thomas, at that time about 32 years old, He probably lived in the Thomas Community and was expected to represent the interest of settlers in that locality.

The town of San Augustine was laid off on the eastern bank of the Ayish Bayou, on both sides of the principal eastwest road. It contained 48 blocks divided into 356 lots,each 80 feet wide and 160 feet deep. This was reputed to be the first town in Texas to be laid out by an American plan, rather than according to Spanish law. By 1834 the site had been selected, the surveys made and the lots laid out. The first store in the town was built by I.D. Thomas who moved his business there from its location in the farming area six miles west of the tow. His original building, according to Crockett, was a log house but this was followed later by “a broad building with three roofs and valleys between them and a parapet

projecting so as to form a long gallery — a type of building common enough in all new towns."

In those days in 1832 when citizens got together to talk about local government and the new town, there was also much talk of their safety and the need for military protection. Their objective at the time did not focus on independence. They were still loyal to Mexico and hopeful that they could be safe and prosperous under the Constitution adopted by Mexico in 1824, soon after they won independence from Spain. The settlers mostly wanted to protect themselves from the arbitrary and high-handed actions of the regional military commanders stationed in central and east Texas. These men often acted like military dictators, governing by whim and personal greed rather than according to the Mexican Constitution. Of course, Mexico in those days was a new nation, recently independent, with no experience in self-government, and racked by the struggles for power by contending forces.

In this situation the settlers banded together and formed the Mexican National Militia, which brought together the militias from Ayish Bayou, Teneha (Shelby County), Sabine, and Bevil Settlement. Existing reports list I.D. Thomas and his brother, Theophilus, as members of the militia who marched to the relief of Anahuac and fought the battle of Nacogdoches.

The need for the National Militia was clear: on April 6, 1830, President Bustamente of Mexico had issued a decree forbidding colonists from the United States to enter Texas. A second decree directed that Mexican convicts be sent to Texas, making it in effect a penal colony. To enforce these decrees, custom houses were established at San Antonio, Nacogdoches, Copano, Velasco, Anahuac, and at the head of Galveston Bay. Troops were sent to where they were needed to enforce these decrees. In Nacogdoches, for example, Colonel Piedras had 300 troops under his command.

The immediate catalyst for action by the National Militia came in 1832 when General Santa Anna declared in favor of the Constitution of 1824 and against President Bustamente. The American settlers in East Texas sided with Santa Anna and prepared by force if necessary to oust the soldiers who served under the commanders appointed by President Bustamente.

It was in this context that the "affair at Anahuac" Occured. Protesting the actions of the military commander at the customs house at Anahuac, Monroe Edwards (I.D.'s brotherin-law) was thrown into jail, along with Colonel William B. Travis and fourteen other American settlers. The National Militia from East Texas, including the Redlanders from the Ayish Bayou area, marched to their relief and quickly obtained their release.

However, Colonel Piedras had been appointed by Bustamente, and when it became clear to him that the American settlers were giving their support to General Santa Anna, he prepared to attack the settlers. This was the occasion for the battle of Nacogdoches in which the Militia made an attack on Nacogdoches and captured Colonel Piedras and his entire contingent. On the afternoon of August 2, 1832, heavy fighting took place house-to-house and hand-to-hand as the 300 or so militiamen moved forward to capture ever more of the town. The finalcoup came later in the day when a detachment of Redlanders from Ayish Bayou cautiously circled the town and made a surprise attack on the rear of the Mexicans. The following night the entire Mexican contingent stole out of their fort and started a retreat to San Antonio.

This battle, which has sometimes been called the "Opening Gun of the Texas Revolution" was an important step toward the erucial events of 1836. For one thing, after 1832 no Mexican soldiers were stationed in East Texas. This made it easier for the Texans to work together, and to coordinate their actions with the Americans on the Colorado, Brazos, and Trinity Rivers. It gave them freedom from military intervention when they met together in conventions to debate politics and eventually to declare for independence. Most important of all, it gave them confidence that they had the power and the resolve to resist the Mexican dictators and, if need be, to win their independence.

It soon became evident, however, that Santa Anna was using his position as a ladder by which to climb to absolute power. In 1834 he dissolved the Mexican Congress and invested himself with dictatorial powers. In the face of this situation, it became clear to the Texans that a time for decisive action had come. The Committees of Safety and Correspondence were reactivated and they took a prominent part in turning men's minds toward the impending struggle for independence.

The Committee met regularly in San Augustine, as well as in other districts, during 1835. According to Crocket, I.D. Thomas was secretary of the San Augustine Committee. At the meeting in San Augustine on December 22, 1835, Major Jonas Harrison delivered the fervent call for Texas Independence. His address was unanimously adopted by the Committee who instructed I.D. Thomas to have printed 200 copies for distribution to other parts of Texas, including the newspapers printed at Nacogdoches and at San Felipe de Austin.

Only four months after the call for independence by the San Augustine committee in December 1835, Sam Houston (a resident of San Augustine at the time) led the Texans to victory and independence at San Jacinto. — The principal fighting was at three places—the Alamo, Goliad, and San Jaeinto. So far as we can ascertain, Benjamin R. Thomas was the only member of the Thomas family involved in these particular battles. Benjamin's name is inscribed on the monument that now stands outside Houston on the San Jacinto battle grounds. Details on him and the other 326 soldiers who were with Sam Houston at the battle are given by many Texas historians. Benjamin served from March 16 until June 16, 1836, in Captain Kimbro's Company which was recruited in San Augustine. For this service he received a special grant of land, awarded on November 13, 1837. The following year he received another grant for 1,280 acres for additional army service from Septem ber 1836 until September 1837.

Although Benjamin R. was the only family member who fought in the decisive pattles of the Texas War of Independence, he was not the only one who served during the period. According to Miller's study of land grants, Geraldas (Gary) Thomas also received a grant of 320 acres for service during the critical period of March to June of 1836. Also, according to Four Families, Theophilus Thomas, as well as his younger brother, Jackson Thomas, were members of Captain Thomas S. McFarland's Company of Volunteers in 1836; and Theophilus was still (or again) serving in 1842 when the Texas Militia were called into service to repulse a Mexican invasion. He was among the Texas soldiers captured and forced to draw blindfold from a pot of beans to see who would be executed. Fortunately Theophilus was not among the 17 men who drew the black beans and were shot by the firing squad.

Although Iredell was often referred to in later years as Colonel, we find no evidence that the title was other than honorary. There is no record in the Adjutant Cone office that he served in the army of the Republic of Texas. By 1836 his mercantile business was prospering and his daily attention was needed to serve his customers and to oversee a large and varied inventory.

However, we may be sure that he assited the war effort in his own way. For example, on June 13, 1836, he provided goods to a local detachment of troops which was being assembled and outfitted for marching to the Texas Headquarters of the Volunteer Army of Texas. Although the Battle of San Jacinto had been won and Santa Anna captured, Mexico had not conceded the contest. No treaty had been signed and the Texans fully expected that a new Mexican army would soon arrive to continue the struggle.

On that day in June, Major Irvine, the assistant quartermaster for the eastern department of the Texas Volunteer Army, asked for a loan of $20 cash and an assortment of merchandise needed by the troops. The following items were listed on the I. D. Thomas account books:

fry pans 6/ $ 2.25 brass kettles 30" 46.13 ropes 3.00 small bunch cords -50 Bunches wu 4.50

-1) yards linen 3-50 -16 yards negro shirting 50.00 threads Oils

1 locke 50 100 1b coffee 25.00 100 1b sugar 25.00 8 brass kettles, 27" 41.25 1 bridle and spurs 5.50 28 blankets 98.00

5 yds webbing 1.25

5 yds " *75 1 bunch 4 yd webbing 1.13 263.63

At that time there was no Republic of Texas, no one to guarantee the payment. He carried the account until September, 1837, by which time the Republic had been established, Sam Houston elected President, and a Department of the Army established. I. D. presented his claim for payment "on this sixteenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven and in the Independence the second." He was fully paid $263.63 for the merchandise and the cash loan.

The quarter century from Texas Independence until the start of the Civil War was a period of peace and prosperity for the Thomas family, and indeed for the town of San Augustine. Business was good, the standard of living was steadily rising, and the town was striving diligently to increase its amenities, especially in the cultural aspects of life. San Augustine in the 1840's was second only to Houston in size among Texas towns, and was the leader in education, religion, and polite society. It called itself "the Athens of Texas," although one or two other towns, especially Marshall, also claimed the title.

Iredell and Penelope must have been one of the more attractive couples in the small town. They were both small and energetic. I. D. was about 5 feet 6 inches tall, the same as his son William. Their daughters have been described as being about 5 feet tall. Unfortunately, we have no direct reports on Penelope, no description of her as a person. After her marriage, she lived only 14 years, during which time she gave birth to 3 girls and 3 boys. She died in June, 1844, from complications of child birth. Her last child was born on June 1, 1844. She is believed to be buried in the Thomas Cemetery, 5 miles west of San Augustine. Her grave, however, like that of her husband, is unmarked at this time and its exact location is surmised but not definitely known.

The first child was born to I. D. and Penelope on January 21, 1832, and the second on June 30, 1834. The first was named Almedia and the second, Mary Jane. The first boy, William (but called Buck), was born on February 1, 1836, the last of the children to be born a "native-born Mexican", that is, a eitizen of Mexico. Loena Edwards Thomas was born on Jue 23, 1837; she was named for her father's close friend, Indian Chief Loena. All her life she was called "Lonie." Penelope, who was always called "Nep' was born May 21, 1839; Victoria, who was always called "Tode," was born on January 30, 1841; tee dJr., on June 18, 1842; and James Edwards on dime 1, i S

On February 23, 1845, I. D. married again, this time to Elizabeth Campbell, the widow of Isaac Campbell and the daughter of Isaac Holman. Her late husband, Isaac Campbell, had been a prominent citizen of the town. He had served as one of the commissioners who had selected the site of the city of Austin, and in the elections of 1842 he had been a candidate for election to the Senate of the Republic of Texas. In 1839, he and Elizabeth had built a beautiful house of severe colonial architecture and almost perfect proportions, on the extension of Main Street just north of University Square. Later, it was owned by Matthew Cartwright and remained in posession of the Cartwright family for another century.

Apparently Elizabeth brought some wealth to the union, since each year from 1845 until his death I. D. rendered his own property for taxation, and then as agen},for Elizabeth Thomas rendered 1,400 acres and 10 slaves.

Elizabeth Campbell had no children by Isaac Campbell and she had none as the wife of I. D. Thomas. She undoubtedly

tried hard to be a good mother to her newly acquired seven children. However, family tradition reports that her status as a stepmother was not altogether happy. The descendants of I.D.'s son, William, have always understood that one reason he moved so quickly after his marriage to Hopkins County in Northeast Texas was that he did not get along with his stepmother. After I.D.'s death in 1866, Elizabeth's share of the estate of her late husband was bought out by her stepson, I.D.,Jr., and she went back to Tennessee where she had been born and where her relatives still lived. Yet, the situation must not have been too bad; eight years after her own marriage to I.D., her 18-year-old stepdaughter was married to James B. Holman, who was the son of her brother, Col. W.W. (Billy) Holman.

The basis for the social position and general prosperity of the family was, of course, I.D.'s business operations. From the start he operated a busy mercantile establishment in town and continued to operate farms out from the town, especially in the neighborhood of the original family holdings, five miles west of town on the road to Nacogdoches.

His business operations have been described by his grandson, J-V. Polk, who undoubtedly got the information from his mother, Victoria (Thomas) Polk. Victoria (Aunt "Tode") was 25 years old when her father died in 1866, so the report should be reasonably correct. I.D. Thomas “became one of the greatest merchants of his day and time. His store covered half a block and he was one of the first men to have an idea of a department store. He had a separate room for dry goods and notions; one for shoes and hats; one for hardware; one for groceries; and he had his own drug store. A planter could come to town and get everything he needed fram him, and it was not uncommon for them to buy two or three thousand dollars worth at a time. Thomas was a planter as well as a merchant. He owned three plantations and 150 negroes, and had his own gin and grist mill. It was said he spent the money he made in his store buying negroes and running his farms, and his farms were never profitable because he spent so much money feeding and clothing his negroes and did not make them work well." (Crocket, p. 218)

William H. Crouch of San Antonio (a son of I.D.'s daughter, Penelope) reported the following information in 1933 at the time of the death of his mother: "Iredell was a prosperous land and slave owner with some 10,000 acres in plantation and 250 slaves and was known as one of the largest cotton planters of the south. He shipped much cotton and bought many boat loads of merchandise in New Orleans." These reports ap pear to be essentially accurate, though subject to some corrections.

In those early years, San Augustine published a weekly newspaper, first the Journal and Advertiser and later The Redlander, which provided occasional reports on activities Of the San Augustine merchants.l@ They refer to the busy traffic in merchandise from New Orleans to San Augustine. It is clear that the proprietors of all the leading mercantile houses travelled frequently to New Orleans, taking their cotton there and buying merchandise to bring back. In a September 1841 issue of the local newspaper, it was reported: "our merchants anticipate much improvement in the condition of business during the approaching winter. The cotton crop will not fall short of 50,000 bales and will afford a sufficient medium of exchange for all trade purposes." The editor reported that the established mercantile houses, as well as ones newly established by English, German, and French interests, are "well prepared to serve the planter, to make advances in every variety of merchandise as well as in cash." He further suggested that it would be better for the planter to deal with these merchants than with those at New Orleans, as their cotton "can be shipped from this port to Europe at less expense than from that city."

Every issue of the newspaper carried quotations of current prices of cotton in New Orleans and on the world market. Current exchange rates were quoted on English and French money, as well as on various kinds of specie in the United States. There were different quotes for funds in New York City and Boston, on American gold pieces, and U.S. Treasury notes. Conversion rates for Spanish or Mexican doubloons were also quoted.

It would seem logical that I.D. Thomas made large advances to his customers to carry them until their crop was marketed, since this was customary and remained so for many decades in agricultural communities. Yet, an advertisement (see next page) which he placed in the local newspaper on March 25, 181, indicated an attempt at least to discontinue the practice. We can assume he did not stick with his policy of selling for eash only. When his estate was inventoried for probate in 1866, he had a huge volume of accounts receivable that were uncollectable. The face value of his "notes and accounts" was four times as large as his current inventory.

As to his farming operations, we can assume the correctness of the report that he operated three farms or plantations. According to the tax assessor's records for the County, 1.D. owned only 640 acres in 1838. By 1843, however, he owned 6,929 acres in the County. This number declined as he gradually sold off the land in the County which ne did not himself farm with his own slaves. In 1856, he owned 4,564 acres; and when he died in 1866, he owned four tracts in the County, totaling 2,419 acres. His largest block consisted of 1,822 acres in the Ren Fuller headright, and the smaller ones were in the M.Salem headright (120 acres), the Joseph Ship headright (300 acres), and the Thomas Cartwright headright (177 acres). He also farmed the 1,400 acres which belonged to his wife.

The land he owned outside the County was for speculative investment, looking to the gradual increase in land price throughout the State. In 1838 he owned no land outside the County, but in 1843 he rendered 8,000 acres for taxation. In that year he also owned 16 town lots in SanAugustine and 15 town lots in three other east Texas towns. In 1846 he owned about 19,000 acres elsewhere in the State and he apparently continued to own about this amount until the Civil War when he must have sold much of it. When he died in 1866, his estate included only 5,448 acres in counties other than San Augustine.

His ownership of slaves was proportionate to the number of acres he cultivated in the County. In 1838 he owned 5 slaves for work on his 640 acres; in 1843 he owned 22 Negroes, and in 1845 he had 39 slaves in his own name and 10 in his wife's name. This is about the number which he rendered for taxation each year until the end of the War. At his death, of course, the slaves had been freed, and therefore not listed in the inventory of his estate.

The number of slaves he owned was far fewer than was indicated by newspaper reports published between 1900 and 1920. One grandson remembered that he had 150 slaves; another that he owned 250. Even the 50 that he actually owned was a large number. According to the U. S. Census, slightly over one fourth of all east Texans (that is, all residents east of the Trinity River) were Negro slaves. Ten different counties, including San Augustine, had over 1,000 slaves. In all of East Texas the Census listed 272 persons who owned more than 20 slaves and could thus properly be called "planters." Ninety two "planters" lived in Harrison County (Marshall), 24 in Bowie County, and 22 in Cass County; in each of the other eee i there were fewer than 20 persons classified as "planters."

I. D. Thomas would have been better advised if he had followed the business policy advocated by some of his wealthy neighbors, such as S. W. Blount and Matthew Cartwright, who invested funds primarily in land rather than slaves. I. D. apparently sold off much of his land but kept the slaves. At any rate, I. D. had many slaves to attend to his household, as well as to labor on his plantations. Tradition in the author's family has always reported that Grandfather William always had his own personal slave during boyhood and as a young man.

I. D. Thomas gave his time and attention not only to his business. Every sort of comunity enterprise had his active support. The education of his children was one of his enduring interests, and along with eight or ten other men from the business and professional leadership of the town, he sponsored numerous educational ventures.

In 1842 when his two oldest girls were 8 and 6 years of age respectively, he joined with eleven other citizens to sponsor the San Augustine Female Academy. They engaged Mrs. A. E. Madden and authorized her to teach all branches of a thorough English education, together with music, drawing, painting, ornamental needlework, etc. The following year he assumed responsibility, as a member of the Board of Trustees, for a more ambitious undertaking, namely, the University of San Augustine. Along with Matthew Cartwright, I. D. Thamas placed his name on an advertisement in the local newspaper, soliciting applications for a director of the school. Later that summer they employed a man with energy and intellectual attainments—-although, as it turned out later, not one with much skill in public relations. Their choice was Reverend Marcus A. Montrose, a Scotsman who let it be known that he was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh and a minister of the Presbyterian Church.

Crocket repeats an amusing story of the circumstances of his interview with a committee of the Board of Trustees. The committee consisted of I. D. Thomas and two of his close friends. One was Matthew Cartwright who had married Amanda Holman, @ sister of I. D.'s second wife, Elizabeth. The other was Phillip Sublet, a successful lawyer who 13 years earlier had accompanied I. D. on that trip to Nacogdoches to steal his bride-to-be away from the Old Stone Fort. Since the committeemen felt somewhat inadequate for the job of examining so learned a man, they decided to make it a matter of form. I.D. asked, "Can you figure?" Mr. Montrose, who was a master of ealculus, modestly admitted that he thought he could, and I.D. announced that he was satisfied. Matthew then asked, "Can you calculate interest?" Mr. Montrose thought he was equal to the task, and Matthew declared himself satisfied. Phillip then asked, "Can you turn the grandmother's trick?"(a trick at cards well known among gamblers). This puzzled the worthy Scotsman and he was forced to confess his ignorance. "Then I am satisfied," exclaimed Phillip, and Mr. Montrose was accordingly employed.

San Augustine University offered courses in chemistry, mineralogy, conchology, and the Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldean, and Arabic languages, as well as in the more usual subjects. Painting, music, and "stenography" were also a part of the curriculum. A few lectures on law, medicine, and patriotic subjects were given by local professional men. However, courses were also offered in the elementary grades, so that I. D.'s young son, William, born in February 1836, probably learned his numbers and his alphabet here.

Much of the work of the "University" undoubtedly was below college level. At any rate it never offered a college degree. Its enrollment soon reached 200 students, but this number was cut in half almost immediately when the local Methodists established a competing school which they called Wesleyan College. Mr. Montrose brought on the competition by preaching a fiery sermon on the subject of sanctification. It so angered the Methodists, who constituted the leading church in the town, that they pulled out of the University, lest their children be corrupted by anti-Methodist doctrines.

As a result of the competition, both schools went broke and the town was left with two empty college buildings. The citizens of the town were instrumental in urging the State of Texas to pass a law (on March 8, 1848) incorporating the "University of Eastern Texas". I.D. Thomas was one of the 15 representative citizens who composed the first Board of Trustees. This institution, however, soon failed because of continued religious bickering. Afterward, the Masonic Order took on the task of running the local school, and did a fair job, better than the religious groups had done.

One reason for the continuing troubles of the private schools was that the prosperous men of that day sent their children "back east" for their schooling.

Wnen Mary Raymond, granddaughter of I.D. and daughter of James Edwards Thomas, was in San Augustine in 1879 and visited with her Aunt "Lonie", Aunt "Tode", and Aunt "Nep", she first learned the stories which she recounted several decades later when she told the story of her Texas Heritage. She said:

"My grandfather sent each of his daughters to finishing schools. Whether all attended the same place I do not know, but I am sure Aunt Lonie went to a now ancient and highly respected seminary in New Jersey (on one occasion) my grandfather had gone to meet his own and a neighbor's daughter after the girls had completed their term. Grandfather permitted the two girls to tarry briefly in New York City as a treat. On Sunday he escorted them to services at Old Trinity Church. When the congregation rose to sing, my aunt discovered in no time that her powerful voice was almost drowning out the choir, so she sang with even greater vehemence, knowing that everyone was turning cautiously to glimpse the young stranger who was singing so enthusiastically. Aunt Lonie had been the choir leader in the humbler house of worship in East Texas, so she didn't hesitate to take the lead when she felt Old Trinity needed her."

Most likely Lonie's friend, who returned with her and I.D. from NewYork, was Mary Garrett. Mary's father was William Garrett, a prosperous merchant and planter who, like I.D., has served as one of the trustees of the unsuccessful University of Eastern Texas. The Garrett family preserved the following letter from their daughter, Mary, dated December 31, 1854, and bearing a New Jersey postmark:

December 31,

"It is now Sunday evening and I have again to sit down and write you to come for me—but I know you are very tired of listening to Det, (I) beg you to let me come home. I cant help it for it is very disagreeable to stay here, we have no fire in our rooms and I tell you it is so cold we do not know what to do. The ice is on the windows where we breathe and the windows is wet. It is frozen in the mornings thick and the water that we have to wash in so cold that it makes our fingers ache so we can scarcely make our beds up .... this is a very lonesome place although there is so many girls but they will not go with us they think that they are too good. Pa, you must be sure and come after me. I cannot keep from erying to think of the many happy days I have spent at home... just to think of home that sweet place home. Pa you do not know how much we suffer here it is so hard for us to stay. I know that you cannot say no when I have asked you so often to let me come home... you must excuse all mistakes and the bad writing and write immediately to your daughter.

San Augustine maintained a lively social life, especially among the twenty or so families who lived like the planter families" of the Old South. The leadership of the town in those days comprised about a half dozen families who were merchants, an equal number of lawyers, and a smattering physicians, newspaper publishers, and other types of entrepeneurs. All were land owners and planters, as well as business or professional men. Their houses were scattered over a six mile radius from San Augustine but they came together readily on horseback and in their family carriages. We have some accounts of their social activities in that day. For example, a newspaper item on September 8, 1841 reported that the town was literally deserted last Sunday. Everybody went to the Presbyterian Camp Meeting and everybody returned in the evening well pleased."

In the same issue was an open letter to General San Houston asking him to attend a dinner or barbeque and to expound his views on "many important questions (especially the France Texienne Bill) which are now agitating the community." A letter came back promptly to I.D. Thomas and the other signatories of the letter that he could not come on the date indicated but would meet with them "on October 9th inst." (During his early years in Texas General Houston had lived in San Augustine, and ever after he always signed his letters to them as "Your Fellow Citizen, Sam Houston.”

During those years there were no hotels as we know them now. Although some families kept transients for pay, most noted travelers stayed as house guests with prominent citizens in the community where they were visiting. General Houston and other leaders of the Republic often stayed in the home of I.D. Thomas, as well as with other prominent merchants and lawyers in the community. A prized possession, still in the family in San Augustine, is the large portrait of Sam Houston painted by I.D.'s daughter, Penelope, during the decade of the 1850's. This is said to be the only portrait for which General Houston ever sat; all others were copied from photographs.

A wedding often furnished the occasion for the custom of going from place to place, enjoying the festivities first in one home and then in another. The diary of Thomas S. McFarlane, under date of September 12, 1837, gives an account of the festivities when Theophilus Thomas, the brother of I.D., was married to Miss Susan Winn who "were married on the 12th inst. at candle lighting. Myself and Miss Adeline Davis stood up with them, as usual in such cases. After the wedding a few plays were brought up which served to pass off the evening, after a tolerable supper. On the next morning after breakfast the party, consisting of a few relations, rode up to Mr.Thomas', 17 miles, where we were refreshed by partaking of a very good supper, after which we had quite a variety of agreeable plays, with pleasant company, which lasted till about midnight, when the party quietly retired to their homes.” (Crocket, p. 229)

Plays were an important and frequent type of social activity in those days. San Augustine developed an active comnunity spirit in support of its enthusiastic Thespian Society. Colonel John S. Ford — doctor, editor, lawyer, politician, and Indian fighter — reports that the Thespian Society was organized in 1838 and was in intermittent operation for at least six years. Two of their plays were written by Dr. Ford. One of these was a comedy based on his observation of life in the Republic. It told the story of a swindler who received spurious land certificates in return for worthless "wildcat" paper money. In keeping with the custom of the day, all parts were taken by men — none by women.

But the women had their activities too. Extracurricular activities in connection with the local "university" included meetings of the literary and debating societies and celebrations of patriotic holidays. May Day was an appropriate time for the young ladies of the town to hold a special celebration.

On May 1, 1844, the co-eds of the University of San Augustine crowned their queen, Miss Almedia Thomas, before a packed house. The weekly newspaper at the time reported that at the opening exercises, the girls marched around the stage which was decorated with flowers and evergreens. With Miss Brichta at the piano, the Queen took her seat on the throne, while the maids of honor, cushion bearer, and other attendants took appropriate positions. Several young ladies, including the queen, delivered original speeches; a song composed for the occasion was sung, and a procession formed and proceeded to a nearby home for a banquet. In her speech, the young daughter of I. D. Thomas gave thanks for the honor that had been rendered her, praised the school, and closed her address with the following ringing paragraph:

"My Comrades, may you see the return of many a season of flowers — though storm may gather, the tempest roar, and the chilling winds of apathy freeze, yet remember this day and remember this institution. Forget not to cultivate those graces of the heart, so often portrayed, drink deep of the Pierian Spring, then shall Orion, Arcturus and the Pleiad(e)s, speak of the ages they have glittered in yonder sky. The flowers of the field shall utter prophecies, and all nature shall open her lavish store for your admiration and pleasure — by such literary efforts, our nation shall be great and "The Home of the Brave."

Iredell was surely on hand that evening to applaud the triumphs of his 12-year-old daughter. We may wonder, however, whether Penelope was there and whether it was at their home that the co-eds had their banquet, since Penelope was very much pregnant at the time. She died shortly after her seventh child was born on June 1, 1844.

On the whole, I. D. Thomas was a pretty solid citizen. There is no indication that he gambled on anything other than the price of cotton futures on the world market. Gambling, however, was widespread in Texas in those early days. It centered mostly around horse racing. Race tracks were operated in many Texas towns, including those along the Red River (Clarksville and Boston). The San Augustine Jockey Club was organized in the winter of 1829-40 and it was reported in the spring of 1840 that race horses "all the way from Long Island" were in training for the meet in San Augustine.

After the organization of the Episcopal Church in San Augustine in 1848, I.D. and his wife, Elizabeth (Holman) Thomas, were identified with that body. Other relatives were also members, including Elizabeth's brother, Colonel Billy Holman,and Colonel Elijah Price and his wife, Temperance (Thomas) Price. During the 1850's the Episcopal Church was the most prominent religious body in the town, enrolling more than its share of the prosperous and prominent citizens. It is possible, however, that I.D. Thomas was not a member, but only an active supporter, of the congregation. His family, of course, had been actively identified with the Methodists since 1834 when Henry Stephenson crossed over into Texas from Louisiana and, in defiance of the authorities, preached at the home of Benjamin Thomas, seven miles west of town. By 1848 I.D.'s brother, Shadrach, was preaching regularly at the Methodist church west of town in the Thomas community.

There seems no doubt that I.D. Thomas's primary interests lay in his business and in his home. His home was said to be the first two-story home in Texas. Whether that was true or not, it was a comfortable and well appointed home for that day and time. On his semi-annual trips to New Orleans he regularly brought back items of furniture and furnishings to add beauty and comfort to his home. The piano was perhaps his pride and joy. We do not know the year it was brought in, but we may be sure that it occupied space on the river boat and the wagon across country that could have been occuped by valuable cargo for his store. When his estate was inventoried after his death, the piano was valued at $500— at a time when two beautiful sofas were valued at only $25 each. Another year he brought back window drapes, especially made by artisans in England or France. Another year he had made for his special order a set of china in France. At the time of his death the 138 pieces in the set were still intact. These have been passed down in the family as treasured heirlooms. (After his death the entire set was appraised at $60. )

In later years the personality and disposition of I.D. Thomas was often described by his sons and daughters or by his grandchildren who heard the stories from their parents. (Because of his rather early death, few of his grandchildren remembered him.) He was relaxed, easy going, and always socially polished. However, he was not one to make speeches or to take the lead in political meetings or community celebrations. In his early years, he was an excellent dancer. In later years he liked to spend some time on his hobbies at home. During his apprenticeship in Natchitoches, Louisiana, he learned to work in the "shop", using mechanical tools for practical projects and for artistic effects. In later years he often worked in wood, making beautiful items for his home. For a while he studied oil painting with his daughter, Penelope, undoubtedly encouraging her when she painted the portrait of General Sam Houston that still hangs in the San Augustine home of his great granddaughter.

All the brothers and sisters of I.D. Thomas established successful pioneer familes in early Texas. I.D. and five others (two brothers and three sisters) stayed in San Augustine. Five more moved to newer areas of Texas where land was plentiful. His brothers who remained in San Augustine were Shadrach and Theophilus. The sisters were Martha, Theresa, and Maria.

Shadrach and Theophilus were perhaps not as successful in business as was Iredell, but they were equally well known and respected in the community. Both were basically farmers, though they also held various jobs in town. In the early days of the Republic, Shadrach obtained a grant for 4,428 acres in Upshur County (on the upper Sabine River), but this land was probably not kept long. Worth about ten cents an acre when obtained, it may have appreciated to twice that amount if he held it a few years. In the Census of the Republic of Texas, in 1840, he reported the ownership of one slave but no real property. The only personal property he listed was one wooden clock.

Shadrach was an elected public official during much of his life. The marriage records for the community indicate that he served as Justice of the Peace during the years from 1837 to 1842.16 tn 1847 he was elected sheriff of San Augustine County and was re-elected, except for one term, until 1856. Years later Shadrach's son, Noel Gill Thomas, described him as a "tall, angular man, of undoubted courage, but peaceable and quiet in demeanor, who seldom carried firearms in the discharge of his duties. Such was the force of his character and the respect in which he was held that he enforced peace in all parts of the County. On one or two occasions he arrested desperate men without the aid of firearms and paroled them upon their honor to appear in court, and that their word was strictly observed."

Perhaps Shadrach was best known during the 1840's for his work in the local Methodist church. San Augustine in those days became the cradle of Protestantism in Texas, and the Thomas family from the start had been hospitable to the Methodist circuit riders that had come to the area from Louisiana. One of the best known of the early Methodist preachers was Henry Stephenson. In 1834 he crossed the Sabine into Texas and, although he was prevented by the authorities from preaching in some locations, he did preach in San Augustine, "at the house of Benjamin Thomas, seven miles west of town, and also held a meeting at the house of George Teal and organized a church.” Immediately after the Texas Revolution, the church could then be legally organized. Hence, the first quarterly conference of the San Augustine Conference (of the Methodist Church) was held on geptember 16, 1837, at the Polygoch Creek, in Sabine County. In the San Augustine circuit between 1837 and 1842 there were 13 "Societies", with each society including several "classes." One Society was named the S. D. Thomas Society. In 1838, Shadrach was examined and approved as a Class Leader. This official, who would correspond to the Lay Leader in a Methodist congregation today, was the lowest rank in the pastoral hierarchy, closest to the individual members. He was appointed by the circuit preacher. His duty was to visit members, to exhort them and counsel them, and to receive collections. Shadrach also served as secretary and recording steward of the entire circuit. In about 1842 Shadrach was raised in the pastoral hierarchy to the post of exhorter. Then at the 4th Quarterly Conference for 1843 he was licensed to preach.

In 1843, Shadrach and Theophilus Thomas and three others were appointed as trustees for Union Campgriund. In 1851 Theophilus Thomas was on a committee to locate a new camp ground and to collect funds with which to secure a deed to land and to erect a church house in the neighborhood of Capt. E. W. Brown's and to hold such church house in trust.

The license issued by the Church to each local or lay preacher was for one year only. At each annual conference, the church officials "examined the character" of all licensees and renewed each license. After Shadrach became sheriff, he seemed to have trouble living an exemplary life. Whether there was any connection between his being both a preacher and a sheriff we can only speculate. Late in 1849 his license renewal was deferred in consequence of a personal encounter in which "Brother Thomas" was a party. A committee of three were appointed to investigate, and at the next Quarterly Conference they recommended that the preacher in charge should talk to Brother Thomas and only then should the license be renewed. However, two years later another charge was prought and this time the only entry in the official minutes was: “character not passed and license not renewed." This was during the 4th Quarterly Conference, November 6, 1852.

He is reported to have married Mrs. E.W. (Polly) Brown in 1827. According to the provincial census taken about 1835, and the U.S. Census of 1850, he had the following children, who were born in about the years shown: Sufrona, 1827; Elonson, 1829; Samuel B., 1832; Ann, 1837; John, 1843; and Noel G., 1845.

Theophilus was the second brother who lived most of his entire life in San Augustine. Although he earned his living as a farmer, he was best known in the community as a licensed (lay) preacher of the Methodist Church. He was first licensed to preach when about 35 years old, perhaps a couple of years pefore Shadrach's license was revoked. The marriage records on file in San Augustine County show him often as the officiating clergyman in the two decades following his licensing. During his later years he lived for a while in Chappel Hil, in Washington County, which was a eenter for organized Methodism in those years. In the 1920's when Crocket was gathering material for writing Two Centuries in East Texas, many of the old-timers then in the County remembered Uncle Offey for his fervent testimonials and exhortations given at Methodist revivals and camp meetings.

On September 12, 1837, Theophilus Thomas married Susan Winn (born April 9, 1822; died October 19, 1888). They had ten children, as follows: Amanda (b. 1842, married William R. Roberts); Virginia (b. 1844, married John W. Rankin); Robert Winn (b. Dec. 25, 1845, married Anna J. ); Edwin W. (born 1848, died in Hunt County, Texas); Henry Clay (b. 1853); John Wesley (born 1853); Elizabeth (b. 1855, married W. R. Leonard); Martha, (b. 1860, married Joseph Waller); Mary (her twin)(b. 1860, married John K. Polk); and Jefferson Davis (date of birth uncertain, died in Greenville, Texas).

The three sisters who married San Augustine men and continued to live there throughout their lives were Theresa, Martha, and Maria. Theresa had married her first cousin, Dr. George B. Brownrigg in Alabama; their first child was born in Louisiana and their second in Mississippi. Their six children with the approximate years of birth were as follows:

James (or Junius) B., 1823; Julia, 1828; Emily, 1833; Amarilles, 1837; Laura, 1840; and Susan, 1841.

Martha married Elias K. Davis who had come to Texas in 1821 with his father, Warren Davis. They were married on July 27, 1827, the same day that Geraldas (Gary) Thomas married Elias K.'s sister, Emily Margaret Davis. Elias and Margaret Davis built a comfortable home near San Augustine that was still occupied by their grandchildren a hundred years later. Before Martha's death on July 3, 1842, she bore eight children, as follows: Ludwell Rector, 1829; Iredell, 1831; Marcellus and Margaret (twins), 1834; Thomas, 1836; Minerva and Maria (twins), 1840; and Warren, 1842.

Maria married Noel Gill Roberts, probably in 18 ine their first child was born October 30, 1834. aN co soe born on Nov. 19, 1813 and Maria probably about 1816. Their children, with probable dates of birth, are as follows: William, 1835; Elisha, 1836; Benjamin, 1834; Elizabeth, 1840; Noel G., Jr., 1845; Maria, 1846; and Martha, 1848; and Felix Grundy, 1849.

One other sister of Iredell died and was buried in San Augustine. This was Mary Ann, usually called Polly. She never married. For many years she lived with her brother, Wiley in the area between Austin and San Antonio, but returned to San Augustine and died there.

There is less information on the family members who left San Augustine than on those who stayed. Geraldas (Gary), Benjamin R., Wiley, and Jackson all left San Augustine in the years before the Civil War, probably during the 1840's. The fifteen years before the Civil War were a period of extremely rapid growth in the population of the State. During this time "Gone to Texas" became a National by-word as frontier farmers throughout the American States abandoned their log cabins and headed for Texas. During these years the State continued the Republic of Texas policy of granting land either free or at a nominal price. While they did not continue to grant as much as a league and a labor, they made land easy to obtain by selling land scrip cheaply. Especially during the years of the Republic (1836-1845), the sale of land scrip was a source of revenue to the Government. Instead of levying taxes, they sold land scrip in order to pay the cost of the military and ordinary functions of government.

The scrip did not convey a title. It merely gave the bearer an entitlement to select for his own a portion of a larger survey of land. For example, a surveyor might survey an area of approximately 10 Leagues (4,280 acres) and the Government would then issue scrip for 70 sections of land (640 acres, or a square mile, equaling a section). The holder of the scrip had to go to the area, or send his agent, select the available land he wanted, have it surveyed, and then send all his papers to the district office of the General Land Office. If his papers were in order, a title would then be issued. Often times the process was complicated by the existence of fraudulent land scrip that arose either from honest errors or from the activities of fraudulent land promoters.

The oldest of the brothers was Geraldas (Gary) S.Thomas. He moved to the Galveston Bay area (Liberty County at that time) before 1850. According to the Federal Census in that year, he was a farmer and his land was valued at $1,800. Given the market value of land in those days, he probably owned about one league (4,428 acres). The land would have peen worth about $1,500 and the house and barn another $300 or so. According to his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Octavia LaFour, who now lives in Wallisville, Texas, he died on April 11, 1858 and both he and his wife were buried in the family plot in Wallisville, with marked headstones. For a while, Gary was the manager of the port of Anahuac, later the port of Chambers County.

Their oldest daughter was Mary Louise, who married Alpert G. Van Pradelles. (Mrs. LaFour is descended from her. ) The other daughter, Ann, died during the Civil War period. The only son was Beneman; his diary of service during the Civil War is still in existence put shortly after the war he disappeared and was never heard from again.

The three remaining brothers — Benjamin R., Wiley, and Jackson — went west to the area between Austin and San Antonio. In January 1839 Benjamin married Martha Engledow, from a pioneer family in Nacogdoches, but she died fairly soon. After he moved to the San Antonio area (Bexar County) he married a second time, reportedly to a Mexican woman. He is reported to have had the following children by his first wife: Oscar E., William S., and Angelina.

Wiley Simms Thomas probably left San Augustine about 1840, In 1859 he was living in Bexar County. In about 1839 he had married a young widow with two small children, William and Andrew J. Smith. In 1850, Wiley and Juliana had five more children: Samuel H., John A., Eleanor, James C., and Elonza. At the time of the 1850 census, Wiley's sister, Ann, was living with his family. Since his real estate holdings were valued at $3,000, he probably had title to around 6,000 acres of land.

We have practically no information on Jackson, who is reported to have lived for many years and to have died in Hayes County. In 1835, he was living with his mother in San Augustine and working as a clerk, probably for his brother. In 1840 he would have been 22 years old. He probably was still unmarried and went in about 1840 with his older brothers to the area between Austin and San Antonio. However, he was not listed anywhere as a Texas resident by the Census of 1850.

One genealogist (Roberts, Four Families) reports that I.D. had a sister named Theodosia. This probably is in error. Mrs. Roberts apparently got her information from the east Texas historians, Lou Kemp and George L. Crocket, who were collecting biographical data on early families in the early 1920's. The information they got was primarily based on the memory of older persons still living then. They reported that Theodosia Thomas married R.B. Russell on June 3, 1841. But, according to early marriage records of San Augustine County, R.B. Russell on that same date married Laneta Brownwigg.

And finally, Iredell may possibly have had a brother named Isaac. We cannot be sure. If there was an Isaac Thomas, he might have been a brother, or possibly a cousin. Or perhaps it is an error caused by the fact that Iredell Thomas went so much by his initials, I.D., that his friends did not know what the initials stood for. They may have thought he was Isaac D. Thomas.

When the Civil War started in 1861, I.D. Thomas was 56 years old. He carried on his business during the War and undoubtedly it was a very difficult time, even though Texas was beyond the theater of operations and was much better off than the sections east of the Mississippi.

Although I.D. was a devoted friend and political follower of General Sam Houston who was opposed to secession and who resigned the governorship rather than lead his state into the Confederacy, I.D. supported the Southern cause. Even though he may have had some doubts about secession, these did

Been oa him from going along with his community and his ate.

The War years were very difficult for business men.©? Early in the struggle, a Federal blockade started the disruption. The cotton which was grown in great quantities in that area could not be exported, or only with great difficulty. More acreage gradually went to corn and other food crops. By July, 1861, the Texas coast was under tight blockade and the crop of 1861 could not be sold. The only outlet was by hauling the cotton in wagons over the long, difficult terrain to Matamoros, the Mexican port on the Rio

Grande River, across from Brownsville, Texas. Two million dollars worth of cotton was sold through this outlet. Some additional cotton was sold to the Government for its manu facture of cloth at the penitentiary at Huntsville. A million and a half yards of cloth was made there each year with

convict labor.

What hurt I.D. Thomas most of all was that he could not collect the huge debts owed to him, debts normally paid each fall when the cotton crop was harvested. As the conflict went into its second year, Governor Lubbock had successfully urged the Texas State Legislature to pass an act to suspend all debts for the duration of the conflict. All of I.D.'s income was cut off when he could no longer collect on his accounts receivable. But he still had to pay taxes. The entire State was put under martial law and the collection of State taxes was put under the supervision of Confederate military forces. Taxes were levied not only in money but also on the direct gathering of food crops by the military.

During these difficult years, I.D. had carried on without the assistance of his grown sons. Although his oldest son, William, did not serve in the War, he had married and left San Augustine some years before the War started. His other two sons, however, had promptly enlisted. I.D.,Jr., enlisted on May 1, 1861, as a member of Company E, 3rd Texas Cavalry (Ross Brigade, Jackson's Division). James Edwards enlisted in about June of 1861, when he was barely seventeen years old.

Soon after the end of the War, I.D.,Jr. returned after having spent the full four years with the same company. A considerable portion of the time had been spent in military hospitals, recuperating from severe shrapnel wounds in his lower left leg and left shoulder. Although these wounds gave him great trouble throughout his life, he must have been in at least a fair state of recovery at that time. He was able to accompany his father on business trips, and he was able to take the lead in organizing a body of more than 200 men in the Invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan. This was a period of great uncertainty and disruption. Union soldiers were stationed in San Augustine; the recently freed Negroes were roaming the streets; and the country seemed to be drifting into a reign of terror.

In his later life, his military wounds gave him considerable trouble. When his Confederate pension application was filed on November 16, 1899, he was unable to work and, in fact, had been unable to work for as long as fifteen years at a stretch during the years since his war service.

It was not until late in 1865, during the winter cold, that I.D.'s son, James Edwards, came trudging home, having walked all the way from the military prison in Illinois where he had spent the last 21 months of the war. Jim wouldn't talk much about his military duty, but he let Nep and Tode read the diary he kept fromfanuary 1, 1863 until he was captured in June of that year. During these months his regiment was in eastern Mississippi, along the Duck River in Tennessee (near the town of Columbia), the Tennessee River area just south of Athens, Alabama, and then westward across Mississippi, as his regiment marched to the relief of the beseiged Vicksburg.

The greatest battle he was in occurred on March 5th near Columbia, Tennessee, when General Forrest outflanked the Yanks with an attack in the rear, capturing 4,000 prisoners, 4,000 guns, and five pieces of artillery. His most gruesome experience was his service, the day following, on a detail sent to bury the dead Yanks, dumping eight and ten in one grave. His most uncomfortable experiences were the cold, rainy nights during the winter months and the insufferable dust during the hot day-time marches in late spring; his great cansolation was his little Bible in which he read several chapters each day; his most constant danger was in being captured or ambushed while serving as a courier or scouting in the countryside for food for the company mess; his greatest delight was the pretty daughters in the homes of local farmers when he dined or stayed overnight, and the hundreds of ladies who lined the streets of the towns to pass out food and other "dainties" to his regiment.

His most constant responsibility was Sam (his personal slave and body servant) who contributed in many ways to the military effort, not the least being his ability to snatch a few chickens from some unguarded chicken yard.

After his capture he spent much of his time working in the hospital ward of the prison, but there also were many hours of enforced idleness. According to his daughter (Mary Raymond), the deprivations and brutality of the prison, and the horrors of the operating room, contributed much to his lifelong aversion to Yankees in general and to doctors in particular.

By the end of 1865, I.D. Thomas was probably trying hard to re-establish his business operations at something like the pre-War levels. During the War, cotton had not been exported, and needed supplies had not been imported. A trip to New Orleans was needed. He and his son, I.D. Jr., planned the trip for mid-February; he wrote to Buck, his oldest son who was in the mercantile business in Hopkins County, asking him to join them in New Orleans.

ess is that it was not an easy trip. His financial Dig Caco been decimated by the ware His cotton and cattle had been commandeered by the military, his cotton had remained unsold, and his fifty or more slaves had been freed. Most hurtful of all, money owned him could not be collected. Instead of having many thousands of dollars in cash, derived from the sale of cotton during the preceding fall months, he had a drawer full of uncollectable notes from customers through out the County.

On that trip to New Orleans, he probably sat on the deck of the river boat and talked with his son—now a grown man and ready to take over part management of the family business— about how he could obtain the necessary eredit to see them ' through. "After all," he said, "these merchants oy me. I've peen traveling to New Orleans for thirty years. I ve done business with them, and I have always met my; obligations. Surely, they will help us get back on our feet!’

They went on their mission, to sell what little cotton they had for export, to arrange for credit, and to order merchandise for shipment up the Mississippi and Red Rivers and. on to San Augustine. However, before they could complete their mission, I.D. Thomas met his death in a tragic accident. The details are best given in the poignant letter his son wrote home to his stepmother, his sister, and his brother:

New Orleans, La. Feb'y 26 1866

Ma Nep and Jim,

I am most afraid and tremble with tears, to have to pen such sad & shocking news, Oh I cannot hardly utter such a distressing thing to you—but my duty to you is to tell of our good & indulgent father's death. He was killed today but not instantly, Oh, I have had an awful time this day, imagine my feelings when Pa died in my arms, but still I cannot realize that he is dead.

I will relate to you the accident and circumstances. We were going together in a crockery store to purchase, and just as we were entering the door, a crate was coming down from the upper story, and one of the ropes broke lose, just as Pa was walking in, and it fell on him, crushing him perfectly speechless. I ran to him and dashed water in his face and hands until he became sensible, it was between twelve and one o'clock when it transpired, I sent for a doctor immediately, in which time he gave good advise and done all he could. I took him to the Hotel Dien where he received the best of attention. I sent for Dr. Stone right off, but before he came Pa was gone, you have no idea the suffering he had to endure, his left leg was badly broken between the knee and ankle and I think his back was broken, but the worse hurt was an internal one for he complained all the time of his stomach and breast. he died this evening at 4 o'clock and you know that I am placed in a very embarassing situation. But I have succeeded in making all necessary arrangements to get him home, I will have a metallic coffin. We heard from Buck and I am looking any hour for him, and shall wait for him two or three days, and if he don't get here soon I shall start for home, I wish you could manage to get some conveyance to meet me at Grand Ecore.

I cannot write any more, I have never experienced anything untill this day, this is something so close that I never never dreamed of.

I must close this sad note.

I remain yours affectionately, I.D. Thomas.Jr.

; We do not know the circumstances of the return trip home. Perhaps I.D., Jr., was alone as he took the body home, or perhaps his brother, Buck, arrived in New Orleans in time to assist in the sorrowful responsibility. We can assume that James Edwards (Jim) took a wagon across country to Grand Ecore to meet the boat that came up the River from New Orleans. (Back in 1832, the Red River had changed its course and no longer flowed through Natchitoches. Thereupon, the adjoining town of Grand Ecore took over as the trade center between New Orleans and East Texas.)

Since we have been unable to find a will in the San Augustine County Clerk's offive, it is likely that he died intestate. If this was the case, one-half his estate under State law would have gone to his widow and the other half to his children. Elizabeth Thomas, his widow, was appointed administratix of the estate. However, in April 1866 the County Judge named I.D. Thomas, Jr. as administrator. The reason for this change was noted by the Court. Mrs. Thomas pleaded inexperience in business affairs and expressed the desire to return to Tennessee to live with relatives in that State where she had been born. On November 16, 1866, the County Court approved a contract between I.D. Thomas, Jr., Administrator, and Elizabeth Thomas whereby her interest in the estate of Iredell was sold to I.D. for $2,000 in gold, one half to be paid at present and one half a year later. He gave his note for the one half to be paid the following year. So far as we know, she returned soon thereafter to Tennessee.

Some of the records on the settlement of the estate apparently have been lost or misplaced, so we cannot know how fast or for mow much the estate was liquidated. The first step was taken on September 11, 1866 when the assets were inventoried. The appraisers appointed by the Court were S.W. Blount, Edwin J. Fry, and George F. Crocket.

Some indication of the size of the estate can be gleaned from the probate records which may or may not be complete. Therefore, the listing below should be taken as a general indication, rather than as an exact listing:

Thomas & Crouch, partnership in drug business: Invoice value of goods............. $ 8,066

NOLES HONG aACCOUNES croleleielelelelelclclelelslelele 31,959 10,025

Store buildings & land (San Aug. )1,500 Lots in San Augustine........... 150 Farm land in San Aug.County..... 1,957 Land outside San Aug. County.... 3,407

Value of personal property on farms in San Augustine County; includes cattle, hogs, oxen, wagons, mules, plows, wheat thresher, spinning wheels, looms, etc..

Furniture and furnishings (of which the most expensive was a piano valued at $5 OO) rere ceececetiinen ceteris

Thomas & Holman Notes & accounts & merchandise 7,792

Notes and accounts............12,119 11

19,9 Total (excluding homestead)..........-. $ 71,005

In May, 1868 the Court approved the sale of "$400 of assets to pay expenses of Elizabeth Thomas and heirs". The purchasers were S.W. Blount”, William H. Crouch and James E. Thomas. The buyers were "in the family"; Iredell's son, James, had just become the son-in-law of S.W. Blount and William H. Crouch had just recently married Iredell's daughter, Penelope.

On April 28, 1871 the newspapers published a notice whereby S.-W. Blount, a creditor of the estate, petitioned the Court for an order to sell certain property from the estate. The sale was made from the Court House steps in September 1871. S.W. Blount was the only bidder. For $4,318 he bought all the real estate which had been inventoried in 1866 for $7,000.

Of the sale price, $3,950 was turned over to Blount to satisfy his claims against the estate and the remainder was paid to I.D., Jr. as Administrator.

The records clearly suggest that the estate was liquidated for a fraction of what its value had been in pre-War days. In the Federal Census of 1850 I.D. Thomas had listed his real property for $25,000 as compared with the appraisal of $7,004 and the actual sale for $4,318.

Stephen William Blount (b. Feb. 3, 1808; d. 1890) was a prominent and wealthy citizen of San Augustine. He was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, served as County Clerk, and also was Postmaster for several years. He engaged in the mercantile business in partnership with Col. Elijah Price, whose wife, Temperance (Thomas) Price, was I.D.'s first cousin. Blount's daughter, Mary Landon, became the wife of I.D.'s son, James Edwards. All three of the appraisers were members of Christ Episcopal Church where I.D. and his wife worshipped.