Family History by Robert Monroe Fleming (Sr.)
Notes on Fanily History by Iva Causey Fleming
(Part 5)
Transcribed by Robert M. Fleming Jr.
The house was proof against all stresses of weather, and was roomy, comfortable and sightly. The outside chimney that opened into one end of the house with a fireplace that would receive a back log five feet long and two in diameter, when hard weather required heavy fires, was as carefully built as the rest of the house. of which it formed and important and not unslightly part. The room, twenty one feet square in the clear had, at the beginning of recollection, a good, large double bed in each of it's three corners. The two farthest from the fireplace were furnished with heavy curtains, hanging from the joists overhead,(there was no ceiling), to the floor, drawn close or put back as accasion prompted. An oblong dining table made of hard ash whip-sawed lumber, of suitable size to seat six persons comfortably, and eight by a little crowding occupied the fourth corner. Except when meals when meals were being served when it was set in the center of the room. This table was kept and used in my family until the 17th day Sept. 1875, when it was lost in the storm that on that day swept to sea the "Homesworth Hotel", in which I was occupying with my family as our summer home, at the mouth of the Brazos.
This log house had large additions set to it, made of first class mill-sawed cypress lumber, a few years after Uncle David's death. But the log room remained the best room in the larger dwelling house for twenty five or thirty years.
In 1835 came the battle between the Colonists and the Mother Country. In the Spring of 1836, Santa Anna's Army of the Colorado. That general who called himself the Napoleon of the Western Hemisphere proclaimed that he would not leave an American dog to bark in Texas. All the men in the Colony who were able to bear arms enlisted as soldiers to oppose him. Uncle David on his fine grey saddle horse and carrying his trusty rifle, went to the recruiting statiion for orders. But officer declined to enlist him for active service. The horse and the gun were taken, but their owner was infirm in health and quite deaf. The army would have little organized equipment, and only strong men would be useful in the field. There would be much to do in caring for the woman and children, as events proved. And against his earnest, angry protest he was ordered to remain to help take care of the families of those in the front. The history of the campaign's is attractive. But that is not my theme.
For strateg??tic reasons, General Houston with drew his army to the East side of the Brazos about the first of April. Santa Anna pushed on to San Felipe, one of his lieutenants Matagorda. All the settlements between the Colorado and Brazos Rivers were uncovered and open to the march of his heavy column. Hasty flight of the non-combatants was a necessity which was promptly and universally recognized and tumultuously obeyed. Slaves were hurried towards the nearest point on the Louisiana line; women and children, as far and as fast could be were put on a boat, boat and taken to Galveston Island, then wholly uninhabited. This hegira like that of the Moslem prophet, July 16, 662 was an era in the Texas Colenguial Conender until Annexation. Past dates were fixed with reference to it, or at such a time before or after the,"Runaway Scrape".
My Mother, my sister and I were put on the steamer,"Yellow Stone", and carried with my Uncle Bell's family and many others to Galveston Island, where we camped until the Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, opened the way for our return home.
The exposure and excitement incident to this invasion hastened Uncle David's end. He steadily grew more and more feeble, and on May 30, 1830, expired, at the age of fourty two years. His body was buried near his home. In 1852, my Father, with the assistance and sympathy of all the early settlers then living in that neighborhood, all of whom had known Uncle David and held in high esteem and honor while he was living, and venerated his memory, removed his remains to the recently consecrated cemetary at West Columbia. The grave is marked and protected by enduring marble, on which is chiseled his name, date of his death, his age and the words," One of the Original Three Hundred".
JOSEPH McCORMICK - The eldest son of Andrew and Catherine, in 1809, Elizabeth Sloan, a daughter of Robert and Martha Sloan. On Aug. 22, 1810 their first child was born. He was named Fielding Lewis and he still survives, and honored citizen of Monroe Louisiana, in the midst of the children of his youth and of his grandchildren. Some of whom are grown and in the bosom of a large Presbyterian congregation. Which he still serves as an active ruling elder. Elizatbeth McCormick died in 1812 at or soon after the birth of their second child. A daughter named Dorcas[?], who survived her Mother only a few months. In due time the bereaved survivor married Jane Robison. To them were born five sons, named respectively, Andrew Guy, James Robinson, John Adams, Joseph Marian, Christopher Grider, and two daughters, one named Harriet Newel[?] and the other named Nancy Sophia. By this time double christian names have become the rule in our family. The last named daughter was the second child of this marriage, and died in her second year. The sixth child, Joseph Marian, went West to California in 1849. And died there in that year in his early youth. The others of these children have all had prominent careers. Andrew and Christopher went to California soon after it's acquisition by the United States and had early and and growing success in business. In 1857 Christopher came back to his native neighborhood and married Martha Elizabeth Sloan, of his brother Fielding, but no blood kin to Christopher. He died Aug 12, 1874 from the kick of a horse. His wife and their seven children survived him. She is still a widow and living with her children and grandchildren in California. In the enjoyment of ample means and the active exercise of a large influence for good. Andrew lived past the Psalmists' limit of the ordinary number of years and died a few years ago leaving no family.
JAMES ROBISON - James Robison took his degree as physician and surgeon and settled near his native home and engaged in the practice of his profession in connection with the business of druggist. He is now, and has been for many years, one of the wealthiest in Francois County. He was a, war Democrat, and has ever affiliated politically with the democrats. He served in the Union Army all through the Civil War, and rose to rank of brigadier general. Twice he has been elected to the State Legislature and three times to the House of Representatives in Congress. He is a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church. Two of his children survive. They are half brothers in blood but full brothers in all other respects, dwelling together in unity, honoring their Father and maintaining the credit of the name and character. The eldest, Emmett Curran, phsician in good practice, is married has number of children [rest of line illegible below bottom of carbon paper] younger, James Edward, lives with his parents and assists his Father in the conduct of his affairs.
JOHN ADAMS McCORMICK - John Adams McCormick owns and occupies as his home the old homestead, dedicated by his Father in Nov. 1808. And cultivated and enjoyed by him until his death Oct. 4, 1840. John is a ruling elder in the Bellevue Church, as his Father and Uncle Alexander were before him. He has served his fellow citizens as their representative in the State Legislature. And has had commanding local influence during the whole period of his mature manhood.
HARRIET NEWEL - The only daughter who survived infancy, after her Mother 's death lived for several years in and around Columbia, Tenn. There on Feb. 8, 1855 she was united in marriage to John Simpson Frierson, a Presbyterian minister. He died three years ago. They had no children. Since her husband's death she has been a member of the household of her brother James, at Farmington.
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©2009 Robert M. Fleming Jr.
This page was last revised on 29 August 2009.