JAMES MARLIN
James Marlin, b October 29, 1794 in Rutherford
County, Tennessee, d July 2, 1862 at Hog Island (present‑day Roseland), Falls
County, Texas ‑ was the second son of William Marlin, b ca 1760 in Rowan
County, North Carolina, d 1805 in Rutherford County, Tennessee, and his wife,
Rachel Marlin, b 1765 in North Carolina, d after December 16, 1852 when she
dated her short, personal Will in Falls County, Texas in the of her
daughter, Mrs. John (Jane Marlin) Covington, near present‑day Reagan, Texas.
After his father's death, James Marlin was bound to
James Oliphant for six years by his uncle, Thomas Marlin, as an apprentice
wheelwright.
On January 28, 1816 in Tennessee, James Marlin was
married to Nancy Taylor, b ca 1798, d ca 1837 in Texas. James received a grant
for a league of land in Milam County, Texas, and a quarter league in Falls
County, in the Gregario Basquez Survey.
James Marlin was active in the development of Falls
County ‑ having served as County Commissioner, serving on several juries, and in
building roads. James and Nancy (Taylor) Marlin had six children who came to
Texas with them:
Rebecca Marlin, b ca 1818 in Tennessee, died in
Colorado County, Texas ‑ married first to Charles Smith, b ca 1816 in Tennessee,
d ca 1867 in Falls County. Charles was elected the first Chief Justice of Falls
County, at its formation. He owned headright land at Hog Island, and they had
ten children. After his death, Rebecca (Marlin) Smith married second to A. B.
Stewart, and moved to Colorado County, Texas.
Stacy Ann Marlin, b ca 1820 in Tennessee ‑ married
first to a Mr. Golden; and married second on July 20, 1838 in Robertson County,
Texas (the area which is now Falls County) to William J. Morgan, b ca 1817 in
Alabama, d November 5, 1862 in Falls County, Texas. They had eight children. On
May 28, 1865, Stacy Ann (Marlin) Golden Morgan was married second to James N.
McBee.
Samuel Wilson Marlin, b ca 1822 in Tennessee, d June
1862. Called "Wilson," he was in the Texas Militia, a Texas Ranger, and a
soldier in the U.S.‑Mexican War of 1846‑1848. He was never married.
Adeline Marlin, b ca 1824, d January 1,1839 when
killed by Indians during the "Morgan Massacre" on that date, at the George
Morgan near the Brazos River, in present‑day Falls County, Texas.
Mary Marlin, b 1827 in Tennessee, d ca 1845 in
present‑day Falls County, Texas ‑married August 10, 1844 in Robertson County,
Texas to Columbus T.C. Cook. They had no children.
William Isaac Marlin, b 1830 in Tennessee, d February
2, 1862 at Val Verde, New Mexico while with the Confederate States Army during
the Civil War. Isaac and his sister, Mary, were the children who ran seven miles
to their uncle's (John Marlin's home, Fort Marlin), to report the massacre,
which included the killing of their sister, Adeline, and the wounding of their
married sister, Stacy Ann (Marlin) Morgan. Isaac purchased land in Falls
County‑establishing his own estate. He wrote a Will before leaving with Captain
Willis L. Lang and his lancer company to fight in the cause of the Confederacy ‑
made up of men primarily from the Falls County area. In his Will, Isaac left his
property to his father, two sisters, a step‑sister, Martha (Gentry) Marlin who
had married Isaac's cousin, Rufus Anderson Marlin, and her two daughters.
William Isaac Marlin was never married.
In 1851, James Marlin was married second to Mrs.
Emeline (Payne) Gentry ‑ widow of Samuel Gentry, who had had nine children in
her marriage to Mr. Gentry of whom, only four were surviving when their mother
married James Marlin.
James and Emeline (Payne) Marlin had three sons:
James Marlin, Jr., b 1853 ‑ married Rebecca Julia
Sanders ‑ a daughter of Henry and Mary (Gage) Sanders, and they had four known
children: Henry Ward Marlin, who married Lela Buxton and had twins, Marian Lois
and Mary Louise Marlin, and another daughter, Madeline Marlin; William Marlin;
Herbert Marlin; and Rhoda Lee Marlin.
William Payne Marlin, b April 14, 1855, d October 5,
1916 near Reagan, Falls County, Texas and buried in Hog Island Cemetery ‑
married Sarah E. Erwin, b September 22, 1854, d January 3, 1923 and buried by
her husband in Hog Island Cemetery. William and "Sallie" lived all their lives
in Falls County, and had William W. Marlin, b March 24, 1876, d September 28,
1878; Dovie A. Marlin, b November 18, 1877, d August 11, 1954 and buried in
Calvary Cemetery in Marlin, Texas, who married Charles D. Jones, b April 1,
1874, d October 19, 1941; and John S. Marlin, b February 22, 1880, d June 1881.
Samuel Houston Marlin, b September 11, 1857, d
October 17, 1903 and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin‑married Sarah
("Sadie") McDonald, b 1862, d 1942 ‑ a daughter of Captain James McDonald and
his first wife, Eugenia (Perry) McDonald, and granddaughter of Judge Albert G.
and Harriett (Grimes) Perry ‑ Texas pioneers. Sam and Sadie had a daughter and a
son, Eugene H. Marlin, who never married, b February 6, 1882, d November 5, 1950
and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin, Texas. After Sam's death, Sadie
married second ca 1904 to Thomas Jefferson Pruitt, b 1840 whose first wife, was
Martha (Gentry) Marlin ‑ widow of John Marlin's son, Rufus Anderson Marlin.
Within a four month period (February 2‑June 2, 1862), James Marlin had lost two
sons. He died the fifth month on July 2; and on November 5 of that same year, a
son‑in‑law died.
James Marlin wrote his Will, leaving his estate to
his minor sons by his second wife, with his widow to be the administrator. When
the widow, Emeline (Payne) Gentry Marlin married third to Chief Justice Henry
McKenzie, two of James' daughters by his first marriage, Stacy Ann and Rebecca,
brought suit to break the Will. Later, the case was resolved after Judge
McKenzie "skipped" the country ‑charged with embezzlement of another estate in
which he was involved, that of Jesse D. Brothers, of Stranger Community.
Descendants of James Marlin have continued to reside
in Falls County for over 150 years.
Copyright Permission
granted to Theresa Carhart and her volunteers for printing the biographies of
these Falls County Families to this web page. “Families of Falls County”,
compiled and Edited by the Falls County Historical Department, p. 298-299
