Menefee Cemetery


This list was compiled by Maurice Cotham "Possum" Shelby.

 

NAME

PIC BIRTH DEATH INSCRIPTION VET LOC

Menefee, Angeline R.

    05 Feb 1841

[John Sutherland's first wife]

   

Menefee, Frances Jane Dever

  03 Jul 1815 28 Feb 1879

[John Sutherland's second wife]

   

Menefee, John Sutherland

  24 Jun 1813 04 Nov 1884

San Jacinto veteran; member of the Congress of Texas 1837-40. Born in Tennessee June 24, 1813; Died November 4, 1884.

   

Menefee, Thomas

  08 Mar 1779 29 Dec 1858

 

   


 

 

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Family of
John Sutherland Menefee
 
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                  John Sutherland Menefee - Handbook of Texas           
                       

In Headright Certificate No. 40 issued to Mrs. John S. Menefee in 1838, by the Board of Land Commissioners for Jackson County for one-third of a league of land, it is stated that he came to Texas in 1830.

The Menefees moved to Morgan County, Alabama in 1824 and settled near Decatur. In 1830 the families of William and John came to Texas with the families of the Heards, Sutherlands and others from the vicinity of Tuscumbia and Decatur. Having decided to acquire land in Austin's Colonies they decided, in 1829, to send George Sutherland, Jesse White, brother-in-law of Sutherland, and Anthony Winston to Texas to arrange for land. These three and Stephen F. Austin at San Felipe de Austin, February 19, 1830, entered into contract for land for the following families: William Menefee., Thomas Menefee, William J. E. Heard, Joseph Rector, William Pride, Jesse White, Benjamin J. White, Samuel Rogers and Robert J. Crozier. Upon their return to Alabama, George Sutherland and Jesse White immediately began their preparations to remove to Texas. It was decided that George Sutherland would lead a part of the prospective colony overland while Jesse White would follow up by the water route

Quoting from "Early Jackson County History" by John S. Menefee in the Jackson County Clarion, Texana, Texas, May 20, 1880; "Those who came by land were Thomas and William Menefee and families, George Sutherland and family, William J. E. Heard and family and mother and Thomas J. Reed and wife.

"We started out October 30, and came through Choctaw nation by Natchez to the Mississippi at the mouth of the Red River, where we found the boat out of repair and the ferryman not well. Consequently we had to repair the boat and set ourselves over except the ferryman steered the boat and collected ferriage. We crossed the Sabine at Gaines Ferry and came by Nacogdoches and crossed the Trinity at Robbins Ferry, and the Brazos at San Felipe. Between Nacogdoches and the Trinity there were but few houses and none on the road that I recollect from Trinity to the Brazos. Leaving San Felipe, we crossed the Colorado at Beason's Ferry - a little below where Columbus is, and followed the old Atascosa road, crossing the Navidad at Hardy's, thence to Major James Kerr's on the Lavaca, from which we followed wagon tracks made by F. G. Keller moving to Keller's Creek; and arrived at our destination on the N. Navidad, seven miles above where Texana is, on the 9th of December, 1830."

"On December 2, 1830, the 'water contingent' of the 'Alabama Settlement,' wrote Mr. Menefee,' Left Decatur on the Tennessee River. Their mode of transportation was the flat boat...' He then quotes from the reminiscences of Rev. Samuel C.A. Rogers, a passenger, with his wife, Mary, and their little girl. His wife was Mary White, daughter of Jesse White. Some of the others in the party were John Heard, Jesse White and wife, John T. and Francis Menefee White; Mrs. Devers; Lucy Ann Davis; Benjamin White, brother of Jesse, and aunt of John Heard's, Elizabeth. At New Orleans, Jesse White chartered the 'Emblem' owned by a Captain Baker, to transport the families to Cox's Point. It required two trips, the first company landing February 12, and the other April 5, 1831.

Mr. Menefee was a member of Captain Moseley Baker's San Felipe Company" at San Jacinto and on September 25, 1838 he received Donation Certificate No. 554 for 640 acres of land for having participated in the battle. On January 16, 1838 he was issued Bounty Certificate No. 1890 for 320 acres of land for having served in the army from March 1, to May 30, 1836.

Mr. Menefee was postmaster at Texana in 1836. He represented Jackson County in the House of Representatives in the fourth Congress of the Republic, November 11, 1839 to February 5, 1840. He was twice married, first July 17, 1839 to Angelina Clark, who died February 19, 1841. On November 25, 1847, he married Frances Jane Dever, daughter of James and Elizabeth Dever. She was born in Tennessee July 3, 1815. Children of this union were a son, Stephen Austin Menefee and a daughter Lucy Elizabeth Menefee.

Mrs. Menefee died February 28, 1879, and Mr. Menefee, November 4, 1884. They and Mr. Menefee's first wife were buried in the Menefee's family cemetery on the Navidad a few miles east of Edna, Jackson County, Texas.

Miss Lucy Elizabeth Menefee was on June 27, 1878 married to Thaddeus E. Mercer, son of Elijah G. and Jemima Mercer. Elijah Mercer was a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto. All of their children were alive in 1936 living near Ganado, in Jackson County, Texas. They were John E. Mercer, Austin R. Mercer, Mrs. Frances R. Mercer Betts, widow of Luther L. Betts, William Mercer, and Henry C. Mercer.
 

Additional information: Participated in the Battle of San Jacinto as a private in Capt. Moseley Baker's company.


 

 
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Thomas S. Menefee
 

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Thomas S. Menefee
Hero of the Mexican and the Civil War

Thomas S. Menefee was a citizen of Jackson for a great number of years. He was a son of Judge William Menefee, who was one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence.

He was a soldier in the Mexican War, 1842-43. He was a volunteer in Hays' regiment and fought through the Mexican War. He was by the side of Lieutenant Gillespie when the latter was killed at Monterrey. He was also a hero of Colonel Morris' command which followed the Indians to the head of the Colorado River in 1884.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, he volunteered his service as a Confederate soldier. He rendered faithful and valorous service from 1861 to 1865.

He died at Flatonia at the age of ninety-three.

The Cavalcade of Jackson County, Third Edition, page 402
Used by permission of the Jackson County Historical Commission

 

 

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Created
May 5, 2018
Updated
Jul. 19, 2018
   

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