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See United States 1845 Map showing large portions of current Texas and the entire American South west as part of Mexico, ceded with the ending of the Mexican American war 1846-1848 in which Mexico recognized the U.S. annexation of Texas [occuring 10 years before], and in which it also ceded to the United States California and New Mexico (including all the present-day states of the Southwest). These events led to the precense of our Surnames in Texas from 1849 onward. Our last direct Texan (Martha Ann [nee FOWLER] Howard) died 1907 at Pittsburg, Texas (Camp County) at the home of her daughter Annie Mae. Movement of our direct lines from Texas involved the states of Alabama and Georgia from 1896 on and finally New York due to the orphaning of Martha Ann's grandchildren, among whom was our direct Benjamin Patterson HOWARD, who had by force been parcelled out to live with various family members. See Our Surnames Of Texas |
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In Regards to the Towns of Residence
for our Texans:
Mineola
Texas becomes significant with the emmigration there in 1868 for the
COFIELDS in our Lines. "Mineola, Wood County Texas is at the crossing
of U.S. highways 69 and 80, eighty miles east of Dallas in southwestern
Wood County. Before 1873 the place was called Sodom". Mineola "The town
came into existence when the railroads built lines through this part of
the state. In 1873 the Texas and Pacific and the I-GN raced to see which
could get to Mineola first. The I-GN reached the finish fifteen minutes
earlier. A city government was organized in 1873, a post office opened
in 1875, and the town incorporated in 1877, but a fire in the 1880s destroyed
eighteen buildings. The town's oldest paper, the Mineola Monitor, was founded
in 1876. By 1890 the town had seven churches, several schools including
a black free school, hotels, banks, and a population of 2,000. In 1895
Mineola became the site of the Wood County Fair. "Mineola
Entry in Handbook of Texas online. See Mineola
Texas Ch of Commerceo page for a brief history of same which describes
its development in the 1870s related to Railroad expansion.
Nacogdoches,
the county seat of Nacogdoches County, is located southeast of Dallas between
Lufkin and Henderson near the Angelina River and the Sam Rayburn
Reservoir on State highways 7, 21, 59 (a principal artery to Houston),
and 259, fifty miles west of the Sabine River and 100 miles north of Beaumont
in the central part of the county. It was named for the Nacogdoche Indians,
a Caddo group. Handbook
of Texas online
See Nacgodoches a Brief history and
Nacogdoches' own homepage an
Howard, David P. (Patterson?)
David P. Howard (the P standing most probably for Patterson as it is a
name which continued in succesive generations),
was born in or around Richmond, Virginia in 1825. He came first to Nacogdoches,
where he stayed some time, and it is
there that he married Martha Anne Fowler, of Tennessee, on May 1 1856.
Little more is known of Martha, except that
she is said to have been a cousin of Sam Houston, and it is documented
that Martha and Dave entertained Sam in their
home in Henderson with some frequency. I have been unable to substantiate
the claim of kinship thus far, but letters in the
local library from a daughter attest to the frequent visits. David P. was
joined by his brother James Logan Howard and
together they made the first bricks in East Texas and built the first brick
home in Rusk County, located on a hill
overlooking Hendersonís South Main street and now, through the good work
of the Rusk County Heritage Association,
open for viewing and appointed with period furnishings and items pertaining
to the Howards, and later Dickinsons, who
inhabited it. The home itself speaks to the Howard brother's taste and
talents.The now ìHoward-Dickinson homeî was
completed in 1855 , a time when Henderson had 5 newpapers and was the capital
of the largest county in the state of
Texas. The house was home to both brothers, as Logan never married, and
Dave, his wife Martha, and their many
children. Dave and Logan were brick masons and carpenters, and they were
involved in most of the construction in
Henderson at the time. 5 of their buildings are still standing and in use
on the public square. A most impressive structure
was the courthouse , now burned, but the photos of it attest to the importance
of these two men in the architecture of
East Texas. The Howard brothers made bricks first with a mud mill and later
with a patented machine and kiln, which
besides serving a very practical purpose, apparantly delighted as well,
felt entertaining and certainly novel enough that
visitors travelled some distance to see it work. It was my motherís good
fortune in her 6th decade to recieve the
information in her Pennsylvania home that she and her sister were the two
Howards born with that name directly related
to David P. Howard. Through a series of multi-generational misfortune,
her own heritage had been unavailable to her and
she did not live long enough to explore her new found Texan roots. Although
I can not lay claim to the state emblem of
pre 1846 Texas residency for this Howard line, it does also lead me to
the birth of J. Everett (Fabin E.?) McGehee in 1838
in Dallas, another grandfather, who himself married Francis Cofield and
I welcome anyone with information on the
Fowler, McGehee, Howard, and or Cofield line in Texas. I am a graduate
of UT Austin, and I have never, despite my
distance from her and need to return to my northeastern roots, lost my
love for, or interest in Texas. That Texas and her
history are now more personal is a great delight to me. I and my family
are deeply indebted to the Rusk County Heritage
Association for following the Howard line to my motherís door.
Contributed by: Cynthia Swope on February 12, 2001.
