THE ABNEY &

CHAPMAN FAMILIES OF

ANGELINA COUNTY, TEXAS

 

 

By Dwight Albert Sharpe

  

 

 

 

        Paul Collins Abney was the great, great grandfather of this writer.  He was born March 24, 1829.  One source claims his birthplace was Hinds County, Mississippi, where the State Capital, Jackson, is the County Seat.  Another source claims his birthplace was Rankin County, Mississippi, which the adjacent county immediately to the east of Hinds County.  In both cases, the proximity is close. 

 

            However, Abney Family researcher R. Robert Abney, Jr., whose e-mail address is abneyviking@compuserve.com,  New Orleans born, now residing in Purvis, Mississippi) concludes the proper place is probably Hinds County.  Paul's parents were Joseph Duncan Abney, born circa 1800, Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Sarah Searcy, born circa 1812.  Joseph was a Justice of the Peace in Hinds County, Mississippi.  He recorded a deed on January 14, 1831 in Hinds County.  It was witnessed by Robert Rutherford Abney.  Conjecture is that the family left Hinds for Rankin County after that 1831 deed transaction, which makes Paul's likely 1829 birth to be in Hinds County.

 

          Now, 1829 was the year before Indians ceded the land to the advancing march of the settling white people.  Andrew Jackson was inaugurated President of the United States earlier that month, the seventh president, and the first successful candidate of the Democratic Party.  He was noted, among other things, for introducing at this time the “spoils” system of politics where Federal jobs were given to people by showing political party favoritism.  This was the year William A. Burt, a Massachusetts surveyor, invented the “typographer,” an early kind of typewriter.  And 1829 was the year of the first luxury hotel in the New World opened ... The Tremont Hotel in Boston.  It’s opening was celebrated with $100 per plate dinners, with such American history notables as Daniel Webster and Edward Everett attending. 

 


          Margaret Elvira Fullerton, the great, great grandmother of this writer, was born October 18, 1829 in Pickens County, Alabama, a little west of Tuscaloosa and on the western border of Alabama, directly across from what later would become Noxubee County, Mississippi.  She became an orphan, and went to be raised by her Uncle Daniel Hefflin, a well-to-do planter who owned a number of slaves in Neshoba County, Mississippi, the next county over on the southwest from Noxubee.  Neshoba County is situated northeast from the Jackson area and Philadelphia is the County Seat.  A log school house existed in that community, and Paul's parents sent him from Jackson to live with the Hefflin family while attending summer school there. 

 

          Paul Collins Abney is steeped in significant European history.  His earliest recorded ancestor is Haldane "the Old," whose title was the Earl of the Uplands in Norway, Viking heritage, who lived in the 700's A.D.  Those Vikings immigrated to the northern coast of France in what became known as Normandy.  That lineage continued and contained William, the Duke of Normandy, who led his people across the English Channel to conquer the English Crown from King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.  William the Conqueror was crowned King of England on Christmas day, 1066.  He is Paul's 6th cousin, 23 times removed. 

 

          Later in the Abney line of descent appears Sir Thomas Abney of Willesley, who served as Mayor of London circa 1690-1700, and was one of the founders of the Bank of London.  Sir Thomas was Paul Collins Abney's 4th cousin, 4 times removed, and 8 times removed to this writer.  He was a leading layman at the St. Thomas' Church at Willesley.    In 1712, Sir Thomas took into his castle to live for his last 33 years, the musician who wrote much of the hymnody sung in that church.  That hymn writer, many will recognize, was Dr. Isaac Watts, author of many, many hymns appearing in church hymnals yet today.  

 

          Around 1830, Mississippi was very undeveloped.   The native Choctaw Indians were forced by Federal authorities to move west after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed on September 27, 1830 on the banks of a creek in the southwest part of what later became Noxubee County.  A sign pointing south from State Highway #14 marks the site. This treaty ceded all lands from the Alabama border to the Mississippi River from the Choctaw Indians for settlement by United States citizens moving west.  The Indians were relocated in a new territory called "Oklahoma," an Indian term, meaning "land of the Red Man."  

 

          It is of interest to know that the Choctaws are still there, concentrated mainly around the Oklahoma towns of Canadian and Choctaw in the eastern county of McIntosh, about 80 miles south of Tulsa. 

 

          Paul married Margaret on December 29, 1845.  They were married as sixteen-year-old runaways in Neshoba County.  Paul's father, Joseph Duncan Abney, was a prominent minister of the Missionary Baptist Church.  He was an itinerant preacher.  Along the way, he became financially secure, owning a plantation, other outside lands, and almost 20 slaves.  However, by the time Paul and Margaret married, which occurred when Joseph was on an out of town preaching trip, Joseph had, through a series of reverses, lost all of his financial security, except his remaining homestead.  After the "child couple" confronted Joseph with their newly married status, Joseph managed to accept it and permitted them to lodge in one of the cabins of his former slaves. 

 

The Republic of Texas joined the United States on their wedding day.  This was the same year that Congress mandated a uniform election day for presidential elections, as opposed to states voting on their own schedules.  Andrew Jackson, former President of the United States, died in 1845 at age 78.  James K. Polk was inaugurated President of the United States, a Democrat, destined to serve only one term.  His Vice President, George M. Dallas, is alleged by some historians to have had Dallas, Texas named for the Vice President.  Baylor University was established in Waco, Texas.  Many of Edgar Allan Poe’s best known poems were published this year ... The Raven ... The Fall of the House of Usher .... The Murders in the Rue Morgue.   And the New York Knickerbockers was born, probably the first “organized” baseball team following a set of rules drawn up by fireman Alexander J. Cartwright.

 

          In 1849, this young couple moved to Saint Helena Parish, Louisiana, which is the parish (county) immediately adjacent on the northeast side of the parish where Baton Rouge is the State Capital.  Next, they moved to Angelina County in East Texas in 1853, which was on the outer fringe of civilization.  Texas had been a state for only 8 years after 9 brief years as a republic. 

 

          Yellow fever took the lives of some 5,000 people in New Orleans from 1853 to 1855.  Vicksburg, Mississippi lost 16% of its population to the fever in 1853.  Congress authorized a survey to determine the best route to establish a transcontinental railroad.  Mr. Franklin Pierce was inaugurated President of the United States, the 14th President .... a Democrat ... who was not re-nominated by his party in 1856.  The Gadsden Purchase was negotiated with Mexico for the U.S. to acquire some 30,000 square miles of land mostly representing New Mexico and Arizona today ... at a price of $15 million .... but re-negotiated later to $10 million.  Louisiana State University was chartered in Alexandria, as the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy.  And Gail Borden applied for a patent for making evaporated milk in a vacuum. 

 

          Paul and Margaret settled in Homer, which then was the Angelina County Seat.  Homer is located southeast of Lufkin about five miles out federal highway #69.  Though many of the early years provided deep periods of poverty, especially during the Civil War, Paul later acquired large land holdings, and his occupations were being a farmer and a surveyor.  A subsequent home in Lufkin was located where the Texas Foundries later stood. 

 

          Many of the twelve children borne by Paul and Margaret had an impact on Lufkin and Angelina County.  The children were:

 

             James Addison Abney                                   Hampton Parton Abney

             Nathaniel Searcy Abney                                 John Edgar Abney

             William Albert Abney, Sr.                              Cary Collins Abney

             George Monroe Abney                                  Sarah Jane Abney

             Franklin Pierce Abney                                    Adaline Juliette Abney

             Perry Collins Abney                                       Emily Aerphina Abney   

 

 

            It is William Albert Abney, Sr. who is this writer's great grandfather.  Margaret desired her children to have exposure to the teachings of Christ, and so she organized a Sunday School meeting for her 12 children and others in the neighborhood to attend regularly.  That effort eventually developed to become the First Methodist Church of Lufkin in 1882. 

 

            Paul C. Abney died May 23, 1894, and is buried at the Walker Cemetery in the Redland Community of Lufkin.  Margaret E. Fullerton Abney died December 27, 1919, and also is buried at Walker Cemetery. 

 

 

ABOUT THE CHILDREN OF PAUL C. AND MARGARET F. ABNEY:

 

            James Addison Abney was born November 6, 1846 in Neshoba County, Mississippi.  He was the eldest child, and the one about which the most has been preserved in written form, therefore providing for a more lengthily report at this point. 

 

            This was the year the first rotary press was devised and produced by Richard M. Hoe.  It was capable of 8,000 newspapers per hour, and the first use was in the following year at the Philadelphia’s Public Ledger.  The Pennsylvania Railroad was chartered in 1846.  Anesthesia was given its first public demonstration before doctors by William T. G. Morton, a Boston dentist.  And the first sewing machine in the U.S. with an eye-pointed needle was patented by Elias Howe, who is now called the father of the modern sewing machine. 

 

            Though James Addison Abney was born a mere ten months following the marriage of his parents, he was actually born in the seventh month of pregnancy, weighing only three pounds.  In a sort of miracle of that day, the baby survived.  He reached a maturity to be 6'2" and weighed as much as 275 pounds.  What would they have thought if they had known he would live to celebrate his 100th birthday! 

 

            In the summer of 1861, at age 15, at an old time Methodist Camp Meeting at the McEndree Camp Ground, James Addison Abney followed his father into the Methodist Church under the influence of his devoted Christian mother and the inspired preaching of the Rev.  John M. Hamill.  This was Jim's first public profession of Jesus Christ. 

 

            He was so large, even in his early manhood, that at the age of seventeen, he passed for substantial soldier material and was inducted into the Confederate Army in the Spring of 1864 by Captain H. G. Lane, for Company E, Borders Brigade, Anderson's Regiment.  Captain Lane promptly took "Big Jim" to Camp Ford, near Tyler, a stockade filled with Union prisoners.  Inexperienced soldiers, such as Jim, were used as guards here. 

 

            It was during this service when he survived a life threatening accident while on guard duty that he rationalized his total lack, and, sensing the work of the Holy Spirit on his heart, he reaffirmed in more mature terms his younger commitment to be a follower of Jesus Christ.  Jim later wrote of the stark poverty and despair which dominated during those war years when the Confederate troops in his part of the war were held to very ineffective progress and usually had very little food or supplies.  After the war, he was sent home penniless and barefooted. 

 

            Jim, at age 22, was married December 10, 1868 in the Court House square in Angelina County Seat, Homer, to Susan (Susanna) Elizabeth Davis, a member of the family of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.  Susanna's father was a first cousin of President Davis, making her a first cousin, once removed.  The wedding license spelled her name Susanah.  She is this writer's great great aunt. So, Jefferson Davis is the first cousin by marriage, five times removed for this writer.   Jefferson Davis died in New Orleans, December 6, 1889 (Dallas Morning News, 12/06/95, Page 2A)

 

            Episcopal clergyman Phillips Brooks wrote the hymn O Little Town of Bethlehem in 1868.  The House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson, basically over political differences of view, but the U.S. Senate failed by 1 vote to get the required 2/3's to convict.  General Ulysses S. Grant was elected President of the United States.  Thomas Alva Edison patented an electric voting machine.  Christopher L. Sholes, a Pennsylvania printer, patented the first practical typewriter.  Congress passed laws limiting work hours of federal employees to an eight-hour day.  And the earliest recorded bicycle race took place at the Parc de St. Cloud in Paris, France. 

 

            Jim was a physician, a professional status he acquired by personal tutoring for a couple of years from Angelina County's only doctor at that time, a Dr. Manning, followed by his registering in the medical branch of the Soule University at Galveston in October, 1869.  He received a diploma on March 2, 1871.  He promptly established a practice at Homer.  Later, in 1891, he took a post graduate course at Tulane Medical School in New Orleans. 

 

            Dr. Jim, as his old "Big Jim" nickname melted away in favor of his new profession, was half owner one of the earliest drug stores in Lufkin with his partner, J. M. Scurlock.  The store was known as Abney & Scurlock, Druggists, and was opened October 1, 1887, having bought out Mr. A. C. Vinson.  They advertised prescriptions as a specialty, claimed to have "fresh" drugs, patent medicines, paints, oils, varnishes, toilet articles, fine soaps, cigars, etc., etc.  James Addison Abney's Lufkin home was at the corner of North First and Bremond, where the Lufkin Telephone Exchange later stood. 

 

            Susanna's brother, John W. Davis (July 26, 1843 - May 1, 1912), was elected Angelina County Sheriff in 1874.  Though short of stature, his determination to do the job was large, and he was effective at arresting the rowdy who disturbed the peace in the rapidly proliferating saloons.  His successful enforcement was a discouragement for the criminal element to remain active, an element which had developed in the War years when the men of good citizenship were away, serving their Confederate cause. 

 

            The saloons did represent an air of moral decay, which the Christian community opposed.  Dr. Jim, staunch in his Christian commitment through the Methodist Church, often was a spokesman for the Church community at large concerning the presence of the saloons. 

 

            When the Houston East and West Narrow Gauge Railroad announced plans for its Houston to Shreveport line to come through Angelina County, much enthusiasm arose.  Railroad officials were invited to a reception at Homer in an effort to influence their routing the line through Homer.  Dr. Jim was asked to give the welcoming speech in the town square for the officials, but he declined upon learning that the primary promoters of the affair were the saloon owners who would provide plenty of product for public consumption.  The affair did turn into a drunken matter, with Sheriff Davis arresting a number of drunks, including all the railroad officials there as the town's guests. 

 

            The railroad officials ultimately ran their line some six miles away from Homer, apparently a spiteful response to Homer's bad experience for the railroad officials, and a station was established in 1882, named Lufkin, which was the name of the head of the railroad.  The first train arrived on September 12.  The economic impact of the rail line was so great in causing Angelina County people to relocate in the new Lufkin, that Homer decreased in significance, thus forcing the ultimate relocation of the County Seat to Lufkin.  Dr. Jim relocated to Lufkin and built a fine home. 

 

            In 1882, Schuyler S. Wheeler, a New York industrialist, invented the electric fan.  The first Labor Day celebration was held in New York City, by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, the forerunner advocacy leading to the establishment of the national holiday.  Floods along the Mississippi River left some 85,000 homeless.  The Edmunds Act was adopted by Congress to suppress polygamy in the territories, especially in Mormon Utah.  Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) published the Prince and the Pauper.  Irishman Phil Casey, one of Ireland's finest handball players, established the first handball court in the U.S. in Boston. 

 

            Many people in our country who recognize the name of "Lufkin" do so because of the Lufkin brand of large trailer trucks manufactured in Lufkin.  It is ironic that a truck brand, in an industry, which competes so fiercely with the railroad industry, is named after a city which is named after a railroad company president. 

 

            Susanna's failing health motivated them to relocate in March of 1892 to Lampasses, hopefully to benefit from the warm mineral springs there thought to have healing properties.  She died October 15, 1892.  She is buried in the Walker Cemetery of the Redland Community in Angelina County with a tombstone identified as Sue E. Abney.  Willie C. Abney is identified on Sue A. Abney's tombstone, indicating he was born and died on the same date, October 4, 1869.  This writer has not seen Willie's name on any list of children borne by Jim and Susanna Abney.  Willie could have been a premature infant born some eleven months after their marriage.  He could have been a miscarriage, with really nothing to available to bury in a cemetery.  However, it is unusual to have two names on a single (individual) tombstone dating some 23 years apart as to death date. 

 

            After Susanna died, and while still living in Lampassas, Dr. Jim married the widow, Almonta Bartlett, daughter of Grandma Heuling, the matriarchal voice at the local Methodist Church.  Both of them were age 47 at the marriage.  Almonta's estate included a 2,000-acre ranch at Blanket in Brown County further west and north. 

 

            James moved with his family to Brownwood in 1895, to be near Almonta's ranch.  There he practiced medicine, and became a 10,400 acre ranch owner on Brady Creek, near Eden, in Concho County, which Dr. Jim's brother, Frank P. Abney, helped him to operate.  During the course of his ranch operation, he established the town of Winchell in cooperation with the Frisco Railroad Company.  Winchell was the railroad company president's name.  With his son, Fred, Dr. Jim organized the Citizens National Bank, spending the remainder of his career in the banking business.  Almonta lived till 1923.  He lived to a hearty old age of 100, had a great birthday party, and he died July 29, 1947.

 

            James and Susanna bore two sons and a daughter: Frederick Sherwood Abney, who married Clara Brian, was a banker and lived in Brownwood; DeWitt Fleetwood Abney, who married Margaret Lyle, and who was an automobile dealer in Brownwood; and Edna May Abney, who married Harvey F. Mayes.  DeWitt and Margaret bore James, Frederick Sherwood and Mark Lyle Abney.  Fred is the one who has provided such extensive research and gathering of research from others to make tracing the Abney line so rich.  He is truly a shining light of Christian concern for preserving the heritage of a family with such a rich Christian history. 

 

Other Children of Paul C. and Margaret F. Abney:

 

            Nathaniel Searcy Abney was born February 14, 1851 and died October 9, 1855 at the age of 4 years.  He is buried in the Walker Cemetery in the Redland Community of Angelina County. 

 

            Hampton Parton (Hamp) Abney was born February 3, 1869 in Lufkin.  He was married May 9, 1894 to Jeanette (Nettie) Marshall at Whitesboro in Grayson County (about 70 miles north of Dallas), and they moved to Sherman (Grayson County Seat), the following year.  The remainder of their lives was spent there, where he practiced as an attorney.  In 1895, he served as City Attorney and also served two terms as an Alderman.  Another source claims this couple resided a while in Rusk, but the time alleged conflicts with the City Attorney service time above.  Their offspring were Evelyn Abney, Hamp Parton Abney, Jr. (born July 13, 1903), and Jeannette Marshall Abney.  By this time, it seems that Hampton was shortened to Hamp.  Hamp, Jr. married Dorothy Nell McKee of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1927 in that city, and they settled in Dallas, giving birth to Hamp Parton Abney, III on February 27, 1930. 

 

            Perry Collins Abney married Joe Northington and resided in Dallas.  Her name is also shown in another source as Peery. 

 

            Franklin (Frank) Pierce Abney married A. A. (Minnie) Arrington October 15, 1865 in Angelina County, and they lived in Mineola in northeast Texas.  Later, Frank helped his brother, Dr.  James Addison Abney, operate a large ranch in West Texas, near Brownwood. 

 

            Adaline (Addie) Juliette Abney married Albert Ross Moore January 31, 1884, and lived in Tyler.  An alternate spelling is Juliet from another source.  The marriage record officially carries her name as Addie Abney; another example of nicknames getting carried over into official county records, etc. 

 

            Emily Aerphina Abney first married T. Jeff Mosley December 10, 1885.  The marriage record officially carries her name as Emma Z. Abney.  An alternate source claims her middle name is Zepharina, rather than Aerphina.  It possibly means she had a four-part name.  Her second marriage was to Dr. Victor A. Godby. 

 

            Sarah Jane Abney married Ephrem H. F. McMullen on November 29, 1865 in Angelina County. 

 

            John Edgar Abney married Clara Easter.  They bore Montey Abney and Carey Abney. 

 

            Cary Collins Abney is represented in another spelling as Carry.  This writer has no further information on this person.

 

            George Abney practiced medicine in Lufkin.  He married Mattie Powell.  George was associated with the Cox & Glass Drug Store.  George and Mattie bore two children: Charles and George Raymond Abney.  George Raymond Abney, born 1887, was known as Raymond and he married Ina Westmoreland, who was born 1888.  They bore a daughter, Margaret.  Ina died in 1947, and Raymond died in 1951.  They both are buried in the Hillcrest Cemetery of Lufkin. 

 

            Their daughter, Margaret Abney, married Colonel Walter C. Sanders, whose military career caused them to live in many locations over the world.  Margaret and Walter bore a son and twin daughters: Raymond Abney Sanders; Nancy Sanders (who married Charles Grob, a certified public accountant); and Sherry Sanders (who married Alan Augustine, an architect).  The families of both daughters settled in Houston, and each bore a son and a daughter.  Colonel Walter C. Sanders is buried in the Hillcrest Cemetery of Lufkin.