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Bend,
Texas
Chapter
4 - The Alexander Familyby
Harland Moore
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Silas
Newton Alexander was born July 14, 1814, in Morgan Co., Alabama. He was married
to Marande May on April 13, 1832, in Lawrence Co., Alabama. Their first child
was William Robert Alexander, born Mar 9, 1833 in Alabama. The second child was
James Newton Alexander, born Sept. 15, 1834, also in Alabama. The family apparently
moved to Haywood Co., Tn. as the next child, John VanBuren Alexander, was born
Sept. 7, 1836, in Haywood C., Tn. The fourth child was Napoleon Woodson Alexander,
born Mar. 19, 1842, in Haywood Co., Tn. (We called him Uncle Poe. I remember seeing
him once. It must have been about 1928. He came to Bend Store with his son, James
Newton Alexander. (This James Newton Alexander is a nephew to the one mentioned
earlier.) The 1900 census of San Saba Co. Prec 4 shows Napoleon Alexander living
there with his wife, Mary and children, William R., James N. and two daughters
Florence and Neoma. The same record shows another son, Edward living near by with
his wife, Ida and two children. We called James Newton, “Jim Alexander”. I knew
him and his son, John Mack Alexander. Jim’s first wife had already died at that
time. James Newton Alexander’s second wife came much later. She lived across the
Colorado River from Jim Alec when he married her. I knew her personally as “Osie
Marley” Alexander and that is the name on her grave marker in Sand Hill Cemetery
at Bend, Tx.)
Now back to the children of Silas Newton Alexander. Their
fifth child was my great grandmother, Damaris Frances Alexander, born Mar. 22,
1844. (Here, again we have a discrepancy. Ima and H Jack show her as being born
in Cabot, Prairie Co. Ark. I have in my possession, an affidavit by “Damaris F.
Moore” in which she states that she was born in Hardeman Co., Tn. Now if this
is a fact, then the Silas Newton Alexander family was still in Tennessee in March
of 1844. This was about three and a half years before Silas Newton is reported
to have died in Cabot, Ark. I have not been able to document his death nor the
place that he died. The stories that I remember as a child said that he died in
a feud with the Alcock family in Tennessee. That family also moved to the central
Texas area. The Alexander family that moved to Bend, Tex. looked for them for
years. Many years later, as the story goes, an old man was talking from his death
bed to one of the Alexander descendants when he said that their family name used
to be Alcock back where they came from but that they had changed it when they
moved to Texas.
I do not know how much of this story is true, but it
is a fact that Damaris Frances Alexander married my Great Grandfather, Seth Martin
Moore on Sept. 6, 1865, in Haywood Co., Tn. I do not know how these two families
got together at that time, but I knew quite a bit about both families after they
moved to Bend, Tx, on the Colorado River between
San Saba and Lampasas Co.
William Robert Alexander, (1833 - 1899) was
the oldest son of Silas Newton Alexander. He was about 14 years old when his father
died. I do not know when he moved to Bend, but he married Mary J. Marley and their
son Robert Silas Alexander was born in Feb. 1866. Mary J. Marley Alexander died
a month later and was buried at Sand Hill Cemetery Mar. 8, 1866. William Robert
then married Margaret J. Tate.
Silas Newton Alexander had four other children
in addition to William Robert. They were James Newton Alexander (1834 - 1877),
John VanBuren Alexander (1836 - 1888), Napoleon Woodson Alexander (1842 - I have
not been able to establish the date of death or his burial place. The 1920 census
lists him as 77 years old and living with his son, Jim Alec. I can remember seeing
Uncle Poe around 1926 to 1928). The youngest child of Silas Newton Alexander was
only 3 years old at the time of his death. She was my great grandmother, Damaris
Frances Alexander Moore (1844 - 1927).
In the winter of 1877, James Newton
Alexander, came to Bend, Texas, to visit his brother,
William Robert, and he got sick and died. He was buried at Sand Hill Cemetery,
Dec. 16, 1877. His widow, Deborah, and five children were taken in by William
Robert Alexander and his second wife Margaret. These five children were: John
Rankin Alexander (1867 - 1959), William Oliver Alexander (1869- 1955). ( He married
Aunt Ollie Doss and I remember them both), Mary Marinda Alexander (1871 - 1891),
Henry Woodson Alexander (1874- 1919). (He married Henrietta Eva Lewis). The youngest
child was just over 2 months old when her father, James Newton died. This child
was Emma Bell Alexander (1877 - 1926) We called her Cousin Emma.
The
following is a Quote from the grand daughter of Emma Bell Alexander, Ima J. Stephens.
“My grandmother, Emma Bell ALEXANDER, married John Washington STEPHENS in 1910.
He had been married previously and he was 33 years her senior. John was a veteran
of the Civil War where he served for the 10th Texas Infantry, Company C. John
had 8 children from his first marriage who were all adults by the time of his
marriage to Emma. The couple lived in Comanche County, Texas and had 6 children,
one of whom died at age 9. John died in 1924. Although he was a Civil War pensioner,
Emma was denied the rights to his pension after his death.Emma’s and John’s children
lived the rest of their childhood in the Masonic Home in Fort
Worth, Texas. Emma visited as much as she could,but it was very hard on her.
She died in San Saba County, just over 21/2 years after John. Emma was only 48
years old. Her death certificate states that she died of heart ailments, but I
will take the liberty of implying that this included a broken heart.”
Cousin Emma had six children, Debs, Oliver, Seidel, Silas, John and Ella Mae.
When their father, John Washington Stephens died, they all stayed with my grandparents,
Silas and Ella Moore, near Comanche until they could get into the Masonic Home
in Fort Worth.
Great Grandmother Damaris Frances Alexander Moore had
a brother just older than she was. His name was Napoleon Woodson Alexander. I
understand that he joined the Union Army during the Civil War while his brother-in-law,
Seth Martin Moore, was in the Confederate Cavalry. When the War was over, there
was no real animosity between the two branches of the family, but they were never
quite as close as other members were. Uncle Poe came to Bend after the war and
settled on the San Saba side of the Colorado River. His place was on a high plateau
between the river and Cherokee Creek. He had two boys, Edward and Jim Alec that
lived with him or near by. There is an interesting story regarding the Moore and
Alexander clans. I don’t think any of them were very proud of what happened and
they were not anxious to talk about it. I will try to relate the event as best
as I can remember of what I heard.
It seems that Seth Martin Moore’s oldest
son, Frank Moore, had land that joined the Alexander land. Uncle Frank was a cowboy
and actually drove cattle up the old Chisholm Trail. He was a dyed in the wool
cow man and he hated sheep and goats. He had lived in the era of the “range wars”
and he was the son of a Confederate Veteran who was severely wounded by a Yankee.
On the other hand, his Uncle Poe was a Yankee Veteran of the Civil War, and he
had sons and they raised goats. It seems that the goats repeatedly got through
the fence and over into Uncle Frank’s place. One morning when Uncle Frank looked
out over his cow pasture and saw it full of goats, it was just more that he could
stand. He grabbed his gun and started shooting goats. He shot and killed goats
until he ran out of ammunition. He then pulled out his pocket knife and started
catching them and cutting their throats. He wiped out the whole herd except for
two or three that got away. I do not remember how many that they said he killed,
but it seems that it was over forty. As you guessed that incident was not over.
Uncle Frank ended up in court and had to pay the Alexanders for their goats. |
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