This is a forwarded message... and I might add that in the last couple of days a lot of emails have bounced on this site. Especially those with a juno.com addy. Gail ----- Original Message ----- From: "Linda Zeigler" <lzei@tjc.tyler.cc.tx.us> To: <KILGORE-L@rootsweb.com>; <kilgore-pa-l-request@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 11:24 PM Subject: {not a subscriber} History of Kilgore Texas > The information below has been graciously collected and supplied by Jim Kilgore in Long Beach. We occasionally have questions about this East Texas town; Jim answers them fully. > > I live 31 miles from Kilgore, Texas, so if anyone has questions about how to get there, I will be happy to answer those. > > I KNOW NO MORE about the town than is here except where to eat barbecue and some other local color. I am NOT DESCENDED from this Kilgore line, but I, too, have never known a rich Kilgore except rich in family, friendship and connections to interesting, mostly hardworking, colorful people. > > Linda Kilgore Zeigler in Tyler, Texas, behind the Pine Curtain. > > Here's KILGORE, TEXAS by Jim > > I noticed a couple of exchanges on the Kilgore listserve in the past > few months. I thought most people were clear on which Kilgore is > the town's namesake, but I'd appreciate it if you could forward the > following to the list (have tried to subscribe myself two or three > times, > but somehow I never seem to get onto it.) > > The town of Kilgore grew up near the settlement of (New) Danville > in what was originally Rusk Cty (now Gregg Cty) as the railroad > was built in 1870-1872. Construction was interrupted for a while, > making a spot a few miles outside of town the rail terminus for a short > period. The station remained once building resumed and the place > was named after a local state court judge named Constantine Buckley > ("Buck") Kilgore (1835-1897), who had come to Texas as a teenager > with his parents (Willis Kilgore 1804-1861 and Isabella Lindsay > Kilgore 1806-1878.) > > C.B. Kilgore had been in the Civil War and his career would later > include election to the Texas Senate, three terms in the U.S. House > of Representatives and a federal judgeship. (For a website with links > to C. B. Kilgore's political biography, go to: > http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/TX/VZ.html#RB313FQ42 > The U.S. House also keeps biographies, but my link may be out of date: > http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000173). > CB first settled in Van Zandt Cty, TX after returning from Washington > and then served on the federal bench in Oklahoma until his death. > (grave marker listings for CBK, one son - Slade Barnett - and two > daughters > Eula and Lula: http://www.rootsweb.com/~txvanzan/wrose4.htm) > I have no dates for deaths of his wife Frances Barnett Kilgore and > another > son (Frankie - b. 1865) > > "Buck" was one of twelve children*, ten of whom lived to adulthood > and all but two of which were born in Newnan Georgia (the youngest, > two boys born in the Danville area.) Both his parents were born in > north > Georgia (Willis in Clarke Cty and Isabella in Jackson Cty) and > Isabella's parents had come to GA from Abbeville, SC sometime around > 1800 +/- about five years. Willis's parents are the subject of much > conjecture and no clear documentation, so far as I know. > > In the 1880s, all living family members I am aware of had moved out of > the Kilgore area, many to Longview, so that by the time oil was > discovered > ~40 years later, all Kilgore title to any of the then-richest oil field > in the > world was long-since sold. (I have yet to meet a rich Kilgore.) Some > children of CB's brother John Thomas (1841-1885) settled in Wood > Cty (Quitman and Alba), including John Thomas Jr. and Lillie Isabella > Kilgore Leath, who published newspapers. Lillie had accompanied CB > to Washington and was herself active in politics, holding countywide > party office before she was allowed to vote in federal elections. > > * This is by no means the only Kilgore line in east Texas, but for > anyone > looking for ties to CB and his family, here are his generation's vitals: > > Cynthia (b 1827 died in infancy) > Mary E. (1829-1873) > Andrew J. (1830-1866) > William Frank (1832-?) > C.Buckley (1835-1989) > Ann H. (1837-1863) > Willis Harralson** (1839-1906) > John Thomas (1841-1985) > Isabella June (1843-1857) > Rebecca Addie (1845-1873) > James Vanhook (1847-1907) > Virgil Hugh (1851-1888) > > To my knowledge, all lived in east Texas until they died. I would be > very happy to learn more and to pass along what I have learned > through contact with descendants of several other branches of the > family. > > **Occaisionally, CB's father Willis has been called "Willis Harralson". > I suspect this comes from confusing son's and father's names, since a > family bible begun by Willis and Isabella gives WIllis the father no > middle > name, and because a genealogy compiled in 1940 by Willis Buckley Kilgore > > (son of Willis Harralson, grandson of Willis and Isabella) did not > add a "Jr" after WB's own father's name. > > Jim Kilgore <jkilgore@charter.net> > Long Beach, CA > > >