Steagall Family
Thomas
Gardner
"T.G." Steagall (born June 1808,
Halifax Co., North Carolina or Lunenburg
Co., Virginia) and
Elizabeth Walton Steagall (born March 1808,
Brunswick, Virginia) had
moved their family of three young sons -
William Rayburn, Thomas
Gardner, Jr., and George Henry - to central
Tennessee from southern
Virginia approximately 1844. Two
daughters were born to the
family there - Lucy A. and Frances
Elizabeth. During the Civil
War and its aftermath in the 1860s Middle
Tennessee was far from an
idyllic place to be. With fields and
forests alike trampled by
two armies and the economy in shreds,
families were faced with the
decision to rebuild or relocate. The
Steagall family chose the
latter.
1867 found
T.G., Elizabeth and four of their five
children
packing up their lives and preparing to head
west to Grayson County,
Texas. They weren't certain of
settling down there permanently,
but it was a logical starting place as
T.G.'s sister, Fannie Taylor and
her family, had moved there in the
mid-1850s. Only youngest
George would remain in Tennessee. He
had recently married -
October 4, 1866 - and the couple would stay
near her family few years
before moving to Texas themselves.
Both T.G.
and Elizabeth were
nearing 60 years old when they settled on a
small farm in north
Sherman. The remaining four children
at home were all adults and
a large establishment didn't seem feasible
for the older couple.
This proved to be a wise decision as
the four siblings were all
married by mid-1872. The approximately
80 acre farm was half
woodland and half "improved" land and
between produce, livestock
products and wood it provided a comfortable
income for the couple for
many years.
George and
his wife, Margaret Van Hooser Steagall
joined
the family in Texas in 1871.
Meanwhile, his siblings wasted no
time catching up to his "familial" status as
they married in seemingly
rapid succession:
Lucy married
James H. Lambert on February 3, 1870.
Frances
"Fannie" married John A. Sanders on January
12, 1871.
Thomas "Tom"
married Lenora DeGraffenreid on January 25,
1871.
Tom & Lenora
DeGraffenreid Steagall
William "W.R." married Nancy "Nan"
Groves on July 22, 1872.

Back row, left to
right: Ila, Claude, Eula, Albert
Middle row, left to right: W.R.,
Ola, Nan
Front row, left to right: Dick, Roy,
Lorena (Lee's daughter)
No
one resided more than 50 miles from Sherman
until years after their
parents passed away. Elizabeth died in
March of 1882 and T.G. in
October 1883.
In the 1870s
three Stigall brothers - William L.,
Peter, and John - came from Anson County,
North Carolina to Grayson
County, Texas. Later a Reuben Stegall
moved from Georgia and
settled in Texas. They were distant
cousins of the T.G. Steagall
family. Both are buried in Shannon
Springs Cemetery
on Dripping Springs Road

Biography
Index
Susan Hawkins
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