Just wanted you all to know how very much I'm enjoying these on-going stories. I have a large file of Charles Wyly notes. Now my files are filling more quickly. Jerry, Jim, Charles - and all others who favor us with this wonderful history - thank you!! Dorothy Lowe Pleasanton, Texas Coffee wrote: > My great great grandfather Rev. Joshiah Blanton (1808-1876) married Sarah > L.Westbrook of Fannin County Texas, had a son named Elijah H. that was > killed in Gonzales Texas during the Sutton-Taylor Feud. .He is memorialized > on Rev.J. Blanton's monument in the Porter Cemetery in Fannin County. The > inscription reads: " Son Eli Blanton, 1845-1867, Died in in Gonzales, > Texas. A Soldier in Christ". Whatever than means. Was Eli a lay-preacher > with a gun? Reverend Joshiah Blanton and Reverend J.G. Hardin were > Methodist circuit rider preachers in Fannin County when John Wesley Hardin > was born. Rev. Blanton's daugther, Nancy, was John W. Hardin's nanny until > they Hardin family left the county and moved to Moscow, Texas. > > Colonel John Henry Damron married Nancy Blanton in Sept.12, 1872 and > migrated to the Turkey Peak area in Brown County, which was about 10 miles > southwest of Comanche, Texas. Nancy's brother, Zacariah T. "Zack" > Blanton (1849-1943) also migrated from Fannin County to the Blanket Texas > community, 10 miles west of Comanche, Texas in 1872. Is it thought that > John W.Hardin stopped overnight at either the Damron or the Blanton home to > rest his horse when the posse was pursuing him after the Webb killing in > July, 1874. Hardin resumed his flight after a gun battle the next morning > through the Williams Ranch Community near present day Mullin, Texas and > south through Austin, San Antonio to Gonzales, Texas. > > Jerry Coffee > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jim <coach@Hillsboro.net> > To: Southern-Trails-L@rootsweb.com <Southern-Trails-L@rootsweb.com> > Date: Monday, May 21, 2001 10:44 AM > Subject: [SouthernTrails] John Wesley Hardin > > >John Wesley Hardin was also a school teacher in the Pisga Ridge area of > >Navarro Co, Texas immediately after the Civil War. He was involved in > >the Polk-Bowman fued that was taking place in the southwestern part of > >the county from Pisga Ridge to the Spring Hill area close to Dawson. > >Many Pisga Ridge settlers, including many of my Gleghorn family, > >migrated on to Gonzales, Texas about this time. > > Jim > > > >------------------------------------ > > > >> The 1870 - 1880 cattle drives on the Western and Texas Trails were full > of > >> gunfighters and lawlessness was common. The earlier cattle drives to the > >> east were before the Civil War and did not have the gunfighters that came > >> from the from the aftermath of the Civil War. According to his > biography, > >> the notorious gunfighter John Wesley Hardin joined a cattle drive in > >> Gonzales, Texas and went to Dodge City Kansas along the Western Trail. > The > >> Indians in Oklahoma would charge a "cattle-toll" to the cattlemen in > order > >> to let them cross their lands. John Wesley Hardin killed his share of > >> "Injuns" that were trying to charge a "unauthorized" cattle toll. He > later > >> backed down Wild Bill Hickok in Dodge City when Wild Bill told him to > turn > >> in his guns. I do not agree with some historians that called Hardin a > >> pathological killer. John Wesley Hardin was a merely product of the times > >> after the Civil War. Lawlessness and feuds were rampant in Texas after > the > >> conflict. Amazingly, I can still detect some animosity to this day when I > >> talk to people in the areas involved in the feuds. > >> > >> Hardin and his brother were involved in illegal cattle operations in > Brown > >> and Comanche Counties after John Wesley's trip to Kansas. Hardin's family > >> and some of his cousins moved to Comanche, Texas in 1873. His brother > and > >> his cousins are buried there. Deputy Sheriff Charley Webb was killed by > >> J.W. Hardin in a gunbattle in Comanche in 1874 and is buried in Green > Leaf > >> Cemetery in Brownwood Texas. Hardin eventually served 15 years of a 25 > year > >> sentence in the Texas State Prison in Huntsville for the killing of Webb. > >> The gunfight between Webb and Hardin was to really to settle a old score > >> arising from the Sutton-Taylor Feud in Gonzales, Texas. Deputy Sheriff > Webb > >> was from Brown County and had no authority in Comanche County. > >> > >> Jerry Coffee > > > > > >============================== > >Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 > >Source for Family History Online. Go to: > >http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F11HB > > > > ============================== > Ancestry.com Genealogical Databases > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist2.asp > Search over 2500 databases with one easy query!