http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/YY/fyo4.html YOAKUM, HENDERSON KING (1810-1856). Henderson King Yoakum, historian, son of George and Mary Ann (Maddy) Yoakum, was born in Claiborne County, Tennessee, on September 6, 1810. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1832. On February 13, 1833, he married Evaline Cannon of Roane County, Tennessee; they became the parents of nine children. In the spring of 1833 Yoakum resigned his lieutenant's commission in the army and began to practice law in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He became captain of a company of mounted militia in 1836 and served near the Sabine River under Edmund P. Gaines.qv In 1837 Yoakum was mayor of Murfreesboro. In 1838 he reentered the army as a colonel in the Tennessee infantry and served in the Cherokee War. He was a member of the Tennessee Senate from 1839 to 1845 and as senator urged the annexationqv of Texas. On October 6, 1845, Yoakum established residence at Huntsville, Texas, and on December 2, 1845, was admitted to the Texas bar. In 1846 he was instrumental in making Huntsville the county seat of Walker County. At the outbreak of the Mexican Warqv he volunteered as a private under John C. (Jack) Haysqv and served at Monterrey as a lieutenant under James Gillaspie.qv With the expiration of his enlistment on October 2, 1846, he returned to his law practice at Huntsville, where Sam Houstonqv was his close friend and client. Although a member of the Methodist Church, Yoakum, in 1849, wrote the charter for Austin Collegeqv and served as a trustee for that school from 1849 to 1856. He helped establish the Andrew Female Collegeqv in Huntsville and in 1849 was appointed director of the state penitentiary there. In 1853 he became "master mason" and then "high priest" of the Huntsville Lodge. In July of that year he moved to his country home, Shepherd's Valley, seven miles from Huntsville, where in 1855 he completed his two-volume History of Texas from Its First Settlement in 1685 to Its Annexation to the United States in 1846, for which Houston was said to have given him much of the information. In the fall of 1856 Yoakum went to Houston to deliver a Masonic address, attend to some courtroom duties, and visit his friend, Judge Peter W. Gray.qv While attending court he suffered a severe tubercular attack and was treated after being taken to Judge Gray's home, but weakened and died there on November 30, 1856. Yoakum County, established in 1876, was named in honor of Henderson King Yoakum. In 1936 the Texas Centennial Commission erected a marker at the site of the Yoakum home in Shepherd's Valley. BIBLIOGRAPHY: George W. Cullum, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York (8 vols., New York [etc.]: D. Van Nostrand [etc.], 1868-1940). Dallas Morning News, August 21, 1932. Dictionary of American Biography. Harold Schoen, comp., Monuments Erected by the State of Texas to Commemorate the Centenary of Texas Independence (Austin: Commission of Control for Texas Centennial Celebrations, 1938). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin. Thomas P. Yoakum ----- Original Message ----- From: <PBurne1063@aol.com> To: <TNCLAIBO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 10:27 PM Subject: [TNCLAIBO-L] Yoakum and McCrary/Mcreary > Thought someone might be interested in seeing this! > > Pam > `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` > ```````````` > > > The following new message has been posted on Forum at > <http://www.tngenweb.org/claiborne/webbbs/queries/index.cgi>. > > *************************************************************************** > > MESSAGE: (#444) Henderson Yoakum, John McCary > > <http://www.tngenweb.org/claiborne/webbbs/queries/index.cgi?rev=444> > AUTHOR: Roger Moore > DATE: Friday, 14 July 2006, at 5:00 p.m. > > I'm writing to the Claiborne County, TN Genweb query site for information > on > one definite county native (Yoakum) and another possible (McCrary). I am > very > interested in locating information on both Henderson Yoakum and a John > McCrary > or Mcreary. McCrary was born in 1828 and living in Huntsville, Walker > County, > Texas, by about 1854. John McCrary was the Huntsville, Texas, law partner > of > Claiborne County, TN, native Henderson King Yoakum (Birth: 6 Sep 1810 in > Powell Valley, Claiborne County). Mr. McCrary was also described as a > competent surveyor, and we are especially interested in this aspect of his > career. > > My firm is doing the first "battlefield archeology" at the San Jacinto > Battlefield in Texas, where we've found hundreds of artifacts from the > battle. > Henderson Yoakum was a friend of, and lawyer for, Sam Houston. Yoakum > wrote > the first history of Texas. We're pursuing information about both Yoakum > and > McCrary because we've becoming increasingly convinced of the accuracy of > the > battlefield map prepared for that 1856 book. One obscure but important > report > says that Yoakum and Houston went to the battlefield and, assisted by > surveyor > McCrary, staked out and mapped the locations of important aspects of the > battle. > > I'd be delighted and very grateful if you could direct me to further > information about John McCrary or Henderson Yoakum. > > Sincerely, > > Roger G. Moore, Ph.D., RPA President Moore Archeological Consulting, Inc. > 3511 > Houston Avenue, Suite B Houston, TX 77009 713 861-8663 (R Moore) 713 > 861-2323 > (Lab) 713 861-8627 (Fax) www.moore-archeological.com caverarch@aol.com > > > ==== TNCLAIBO Mailing List ==== > If you are having any difficulties with the list please contact the list > owner Pamela Burnette at: pburne1063@aol.com > Visit the CLAIBORNE COUNTY PIONEER PROJECT at: > http//freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ccpp/pioneer/index.htm > we have over 95,000 folks from the county identified and waiting for you > to find them. > > >