John Baptiste Carlat (1829-1902) was one of Denison’s more colorful characters.  He was born in Dijon, France, a son of Jean Claude Carlat (1805-1892) and Jeanne Antoine Lamy (1802-1849).  Claude was educated in France to be a Catholic priest; however, he gave up the priesthood to be married at Evans, France in 1827.  During their marriage, Claude and Jeanne became the parents of six children, the first four born in France.  The children were:

Jean Baptiste Carlat, who changed his name to John Baptiste Carlat, born 1829

Eugene Carlat, born 1832

Anne Pierre Marie Carlat, born 1835

Anne Louise Carlat, born 1836

Jean Claude Carlat, born 1839

Charles Carlat, born 1843

(Carlat Story, pg.1.  Ancestry.com. Viewed September 7, 2022)

The Carlat family departed Dunkirk, France aboard Brig Louis Philippe January 26, 1843.  They arrived in Galveston, Republic of Texas April 2, 1843. (Matheny, Nancy Bronte. Carlats to America: The Jean Claude Carlat Story, 1805- 1845. LuLu.com. March 31, 2016) Eldest son John came to the United States as a young man; "when he landed on the Texas coast”.   Claude’s wife, Jeanne died during the 1849 cholera epidemic and he returned to France to find a wife - Hortense Poirer; they married in 1851 upon their return to Carondelet, Kansas City, Missouri.

Hortense Poirer

Because of the trouble brewing over slavery Claude moved his family of wife and five children from St. Louis to Muscatine, Iowa.  (Carlat Story, pg.2.  Ancestry.com. Viewed September 7, 2022)

Just a few weeks before his death, Carlat related to an employee of the Denison newspaper, The Sunday Gazetteer, details of his life among the Comanche.

As a teenager in the Castro Colony of Texas, west of San Antonio, the warlike Comanche descended upon John's camp, and he was carried away into captivity and lived among the Indians two years before he escaped.  (The Denison Press, June 7, 1937, pg. 4)  Carlat was carried to the Ft. Sill country, but no frontier post had yet been established there.  The Comanches treated Carlat very kindly and he was frequently a member of their hunting parties.  It was not an unpleasant life that he led among his captors.  There were 3 white women amongst the tribe, but Carlat was not permitted to interact with them.  He was urged by the chiefs to take a tribal wife and become a member of the tribe.  He fled under cover of darkness by plunging on horseback into  a raging river.  After floating about a mile downstream, he was found by some U.S. Dragoons on their way to the Santa Fe Trail.  It  was on this trip that he first met the celebrated frontiersman Kit Carson, who was a scout for the dragoons.   In later years, he became a famous scout himself. (The Sunday Gazetteer, Sunday, July 6, 1902, pg. 2)  His obituary noted that he was a friend of President Grant, an intimate of Kit Carson, General John C. Fremont and Jim Bridges.  He was a guide for miners headed to California in the 1849 Gold Rush.   In addition, he met Washington Irving while he served as a hunter and trapper at Fort Gibson in Indian Territory.  (Weekly Index, Mineral Wells, Texas, June 2, 1902, pg. 3)

The Carlat farm adjoined the Grant farm and John hauled wood with the future President Grant to St. Louis for his livelihood.  The wood haulers set up on the public square where Grant would tie up his horse and rack and stand by his horses waiting for customers. Carlat went to Mexico with Grant and served during the Mexican War.  (1933 letter, San Antonio, Texas, by Mary “Mollie” Carlat Hallenbeck to Eugene Carlat's descendants.  Ancestry.com, viewed September 7, 2022)

In December 1890 Carlat heard of the death of Sitting Bull. Carlat was with the Chief for six years and was an intimate friend. (The Sunday Gazetteer, December 21, 1890, pg. 1)

John enlisted in March 1848 at Jefferson's Barracks, St. Louise, Missouri in Co. A, 3rd Missouri Volunteer Calvary, serving throughout the Mexican War; and was discharged November 1848.  He was wounded in the right cheek in a battle with Indians in July 5, 1848.  His claim for a pension for his service in the Mexican War was denied because his injury occurred within 60 days of the end of hostilities.  (National Archives: Mexican War Affidavit - request for pension. Ancestry.com, viewed September 7, 2022)

In 1850, John married Helen Heinman (1832-1895) in St. Louis, Missouri. Helen was born in Alsace Lorraine, France. John and Helen made their home in Iowa and Kansas City; in June or July 1863, John, aged 34, registered for the Civil War as subject for military duty.  His residence was Lake Township, Muscatine Co., Iowa.  In 1869 John worked for his brother, Eugene, as a drover for his livery stable. (Carlat Story, pg.4.  Ancestry.com. Viewed September 7, 2022)

John Carlat and family settled in Denison about 1877.  He had a vineyard and made his own wine. The Carlat farm was located a few miles west of I-75 on the Red River. The wine cellar there was an enormous affair, built of great distressed rock. At the entrance there is a block of white marble set in the masonry which bears the inscription, "John B. Carlat, 1881." There is good water, rich land, good buildings, blooded stock, splendid orchards and over 100 pecan trees.  (The Sunday Gazetteer, Sunday, October 28, 1900, pg. 2)

Carlat was murdered by a fired farmhand in June 1902.  He was discovered in a pasture by his faithful friend and ex-slave, Ben Cleveland. His killer, Gus M. Carson, was captured while on the run near Colbert in Indian Territory on the very day and hour that John Carlat was laid to rest at Calvary Cemetery.  (The Sunday Gazetteer, Sunday, June 15, 1902, pg. 7) He was convicted of 2nd degree murder that November in Sherman and sentenced to 10 years in the Huntsville penitentiary.  He escaped in 1905, was recaptured (The Fort Worth Record and Register, March 8, 1905, pg. 5), and paroled in 1910. (Texas Convict and Conduct Registers, Ancestry.com)

The children of John Baptiste Carlat and Helen Heinman Brichet Carlat were:

Mary Eugenia Carlat (1858-1942) m. 1879 Wilfred A. Hallenbeck (1855-1915) who owned one of the first candy stores in Denison.  According to family legend, he had the last horse-drawn funeral in Denison.

George L. Carlat (1861-1942) m. 1880 Meadora Olive Burson Opelt, a widow (1856-1905). In 1906, he married his second wife, Jesse Jarvis (1877-1945).

Ida Ellen Carlat (1864-1937) m. Godfrey Nevada “Van" Baker (1864-1949)

John V. Carlat (1865-1893) m. 1887 Ida Hutton (1869-1905); he was killed shortly after their marriage at a railroad crossing while driving a horse-drawn bread truck. His wife won a judgment against the Houston & Texas Central railroad for $5500 in 1895. (The Sunday Gazetteer, Sunday, March 3, 1895, pg.4)

Harry Eugene Carlat (1872-1930) m. 1896 Birdie Dumas (1876-1966)

Annie Carlat (1874-1891) m. 1891 Charles H. Baer, who lived on the farm adjoining the Carlat farm and operated the Baer's Ferry across the Red River. She died in a snowstorm in Amarillo, Texas shortly after her son's birth.  Annie's sister, Mary, officially adopted Charlie, changing his name to Charles Frederick Hallenbeck.

1896 - Left to right: Mae, age 10; Eva, age 18; Inez, age 11; Charles, age 6

Fred L. Carlat (1879-1902), at the time of his death, he was engaged to Miss Annie Cutler.