I hope someone out there other than I is connected to this Thomas Westall. He is my wife's direct ancestor . . . left a wife and a child to fend for themselves in Buncombe County, N. C., when he took off for Tennessee. I have a pretty fair history of him, but I am unable to trace him back beyond the point when he showed up in Buncombe County around 1804 or slightly before, apparently having made his way from Winchester, Virginia, with some children (these he took along to Tennessee) and others in tow. The writer Thomas Wolfe, a second cousin of my late father-in-law, also was directly descended from Thomas Westall, whom he (Wolfe) once described as being from Winchester. However, I've never been able to find any record of Thomas Westall in the state of Virginia. Thomas Westall had quite a colorful history. Married still again in Tennessee before moving to Texas, where he kept slaves and raised cotton. He took part in the Battle of Velasquo (Mexican fortification) prior to the War with Mexico. I'd appreciate any bits of history dealing with his early life in Virginia. I don't have a clue to his ancestry, other than a crude chart made by a relative years ago that just shows his father as Andrew Westall. Regards, Tom Camfield -- Tom Camfield 538 Calhoun St. Port Townsend WA 98368 camfield@olympus.net > From: "bobatbmw@cox.net" <bobatbmw@cox.net> > Reply-To: bobatbmw@cox.net, westall@rootsweb.com > Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2006 19:03:06 -0400 > To: WESTALL@rootsweb.com > Subject: [WESTALL] Thomas Westall > > I thought this might be of some interest to some of the list participants. > It was founhd at > http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/WW/fwe35.html > > > > WESTALL, THOMAS (?-1833). Thomas Westall, member of the Old Three > Hundredqv, was on his way to Texas from Tennessee in April 1824, when he > stopped at Alexandria, Louisiana, where J. Thomas gave him a letter of > recommendation to Stephen F. Austin.qv As one of Austin's Old Three Hundred > settlers, Westall received title to two leagues and two labors of land in > what became Wharton, Fort Bend, and Austin counties on July 19, 1824. In > August 1824 Westall hired four slaves to Austin as part payment for his > land. Westall went back to Tennessee and laid in a supply of merchandise in > the fall of 1824. Both Stephen F. and J. E. B. Austinqv bought supplies > from him in March 1825. J. E. B. Austin married Westall's daughter, Eliza, > in 1825 or 1826. The census of 1826 classified Westall as a farmer and > stock raiser, aged between twenty-five and forty. His household included > his wife, two sons, a daughter, and four slaves. In 1830 Westall agreed to > build a brick house and do some fencing in San Felipe in return for > building lots there. His plantation near the McNeil plantation on the > Brazos River had a school taught by Timothy B. Phelps.qv In June 1832 > Westall was on a committee to decide whether or not citizens at Brazoria > should take part in the war against the Mexican garrison at Anahuac (see > ANAHUAC DISTURBANCES). He was sent by John Austinqv to order the Mexican > collector at Brazoria to give up his arms and ammunition. Westall died in a > cholera epidemic in 1833; James F. Perryqv wrote Austin of claims being > made on his estate by persons in Tennessee. > > BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eugene C. Barker, ed., The Austin Papers (3 vols., > Washington: GPO, 1924-28). Eugene C. Barker, ed., "Minutes of the > Ayuntamiento of San Felipe de Austin, 1828-1832," 12 parts, Southwestern > Historical Quarterly 21-24 (January 1918-October 1920). Lester G. Bugbee, > "The Old Three Hundred: A List of Settlers in Austin's First Colony," > Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 1 (October 1897). Marie > Beth Jones, Peach Point Plantation: The First 150 Years (Waco: Texian > Press, 1982). P. E. Peareson, "Reminiscences of Judge Edwin Waller," > Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 4 (July 1900). Edna > Rowe, "The Disturbances at Anahuac in 1832," Quarterly of the Texas State > Historical Association 6 (April 1903). Noah Smithwick, The Evolution of a > State, or Recollections of Old Texas Days (Austin: Gammel, 1900; rpt., > Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983). Telegraph and Texas Register, > March 28, 1837. Visit to Texas (New York, Goodrich & Wiley, 1834; Austin, > Steck, 1952). > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > mail2web - Check your email from the web at > http://mail2web.com/ . > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > WESTALL-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message