Family Story |
Texas was singing a siren song and the Higgenbotham family heard it. Great Grand-father Higginbotham of Tennessee came to Texas to buy mules in 1812 and was killed by Indians. A Mr. Gemison and a negro man were the only ones in the party not killed; they did not return for two years. Mr. Gemison was engaged to Aunt Polly Higginbotham when he came to Texas. He did not return for two years. As she had not heard from him,she thought he was dead and married. When he came back he went to see her and told her he did not blame her. There were six Higginbotham children: Tom, Toliver, Jensy, Martha, Pollie and Sallie. Aunt Martha and Uncle Toliver never married; Jensy married twice, Grandpa McKenzie and Mr. Keyes; Aunt Sallie married Mr. Hendricks but never came to Texas. Aunt Pollie married Mr. Kerr. Grandpa McKenzie and family, Uncle Toliver and Aunt Martha Higginbotham came to Texas from Tennessee by boat in 1839. They landed at Linville on Lavaca Bay, a few miles above where Port Lavaca is now. The village of Linnville was burned by the Indians in 1840; most of the settlers escaped by taking to boats and going out into the Bay. Afterwards the settlers went down the coast and built Port Lavaca. The McKenzie family later moved to Gonzales County and settled near Prairie Lee (Now Caldwell County). Grandpa [Joseph Milton McKenzie] died in December 1843. Aunt Martha Higginbotham made her home during her last years with Cousin Lucinda Kerr DeVilbiss; and died in her home near San Antonio, Texas, in 1870. Grandma Keyes, nee Jensy Higginbotham, made her home during her last years with Aunt Mary Amberson at London, Texas, and died there in 1888, age 84 years. It is likely that the expedition to buy mules was not to Texas, but perhaps to Missouri. Not much trading was going on in Texas in 1812. But it is clear that the rest of the story is substantially true. It is attributed to "Cousin Priscilla DeVilbiss of Pearsall, Texas." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Polly Higgenbotham |
The application of Ola Mitchell Hofheinz for membership in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, member number 1592, states that her grandfather, William Price Kerr, came to Texas in 1839, and settled on the San Antonio River, where Berg�s Mill was located in 1930. His family lived in Mission San Juan, to be protected from the Indians and for the children to attend school. Grand Father and Grand Mother were charter members of the first Methodist Church organized in San Antonio. The first Methodist sermon preached in San Antonio was preached in Grand father Kerr�s house by Rev. J. W. Devilbiss, who later married my aunt Lucinda Kerr. Grandfather Kerr built and owned the first grist mill in that part of the country. He sold the mill and moved to Medina in 1847. It seems certain that this was the family of Polly Higgenbotham and �Mr. Kerr�. Polly has not been found in the records. If she were old enough to be engaged in 1812, when her father and �Mr. Gemison� went to buy mules in Texas, she must have been born before 1800. Her identity as the wife of William P. Kerr hangs on John DeVilbiss� statement that Kerr was Martha Higgenbotham�s brother-in-law and Kerr�s grand daughter�s [Priscilla DeVilbiss'] reference to the Higgenbotham family patriarch as Great Grandfather Higgenbotham, implying he was HER great grandfather. The story does not say that the Kerr family came with the rest of the family. Since William appears in the Bexar County records in 1841, they probably came in to Linnville in 1839, moved up to Gonzales after the Great Comanche Raid when Linnville was destroyed, and on to San Antonio about 1841. William H. Kerr, son of William P. Kerr was born about 1821, and was probably Polly�s child. He was married in Gonzales County to Matilda Marion Keese on November 4, 1847. She was a daughter of Thomas J. Keese and Eleanor Campbell. Matilda�s uncle, James Campbell was one of the earliest settlers of Gonzales, Seguin and San Antonio. He was killed by Comanche Indians near San Antonio in 1840. Matilda�s parents came to Texas in order to help settle the estate of James Campbell. Eleanor died about 1845. Matilda�s father was married in 1846 to Jensy Higgenbotham McKenzie in Gonzales County. They later divorced. One other fact fits only if Polly Higginbotham was the first wife of William P. Kerr and mother of Martha Lucinda Kerr DeVilbiss: that is the report from �Cousin Priscilla DeVilbiss� about �Great Grandfather Higginbotham�. Polly Higginbotham�s father would then have been Cousin Priscilla�s great grandfather. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Roderick Toliver Higgenbotham |
Toliver, whose first name was Roderick, was in Texas before May 1835. He was an early land owner in San Antonio. He never married and died about 1879. Roderick Toliver Higgenbotham was the first of his family to settle in Texas. His age is not consistent in the census where he is found. In 1850 his age is given as 45, born in Georgia. In 1860 it is shown as 60, also born in Georgia. He was probably born close to 1800. The English spelling of Tolliver is Talliaferro. Roderick may have accompanied his siblings to Texas, but he was here much earlier. His headright certificate No. 72 in Bexar County for 1/3 league says he �proved according to law that he came into the county previous to the 2nd of May 1835 [and] is a single man�. The tax roll of Bexar County for 1837 shows a �Robert� Higginbotham, which was probably Roderick Toliver. By 1845 he was being taxed on 8856 acres in Goliad County and 21,140 acres in San Patricio County. His headright in Bexar County was surveyed 12 June 1838. Roderick�s headright survey was �No. 29 in section #2 situated on the Ditch of the Mission San Jose in the County of Bexar � Beginning at a stake near the mouth of said Ditch set for the N.E. corner of this survey�. The line goes west from there, crosses two roads, then south, then back to the east to a stake on the Ditch for the S.E. Corner by �the N. E. corner of the wall of the Mission San Jose�. R. T. Higgenbotham�s deed transactions fill almost two pages in the earliest index of Bexar County deeds. He sold a considerable piece of land to William P. Kerr in 1842. Kerr paid $3,500 for it. It fronted on the west side of the San Antonio River, between the �river and the main Ditch of the Mision Espada... �bounded on the north west by the River�on the north east and east by the River on the south by the Road leading to the mision of San Juan on the west by the said Ditch of the Espada said property is the same now in possession of the said William P. Kerr: 24 February 1842. Witnesses Moses Hesskew and Silas Sherman�. The recollections of the Methodist circuit riding preacher, John Wesley DeVilbiss, report his first visit to San Antonio in April 1844. He wrote, �On Monday we visit the mill, eight miles below the city, and at the rangers� camp on the way. At the mill we found Mssrs. Kerr and Higginbotham builders and proprietors of this mill doing a good business sawing lumber and grinding corn. The people from Seguin and below on the Guadalupe had their grinding done here. Mr. Kerr was a strict member of our church, and, with his wife and sister-in-law, Miss Martha Ann HIGGINBOTHAM, were the only members in all this region.� John W. DeVilbiss wrote further about the year 1846. He and Rev. John McCullough held alternating services in San Antonio that year. �On the intervening Sabbath I preached in the neighborhood where I lived, at Brother Wm. P. Kerr�s. � In June I organized a class here. It first consisted of the following members: Mr. Wm. P. Kerr and wife, Miss Martha Ann Higginbotham, Mrs. Tabitha Ann DeVilbiss,� and Martha Lucinda Kerr�� Roderick sold a lot in San Antonio to William P. Kerr, Matt Evans, Marcus Trumble, Benj. Thomas and Gustus A. Elley as trustees for the Methodist Episcopal Church South 30 January 1847. It was witnessed by John W. DeVilbiss. Roderick Higgenbotham was still living at his mill when the census of Bexar County was taken in 1850. That census shows household number 18 on page 314 headed "Mission St. Jose on San Antonio River 6 November"
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Thomas Higgenbotham |
Thomas Higgenbotham received a 3rd class conditional headright
certificate for 640 acres of land, No. 97 �and proved by Archibald Jones and William Hesskew that said Higgenbotham
emigrated to the Republic of Texas previous to the 3rd day of October 1839 that he was a married man and discharged
all the duties required of him as a Citizen of the Republic of Texas and resided in the Republic aforesaid from the time
above mentioned until his deathe in the year 1842.� An unconditional certificate was granted to his heir, Levicy Heskew,
on January 12, 1847. Thomas Higgenbotham and his wife, Levicy, must have come with the rest of the family from Tennessee. A Thomas Higgenbotham was listed on the tax roll of District 13 in Henderson County, Tennessee in 1837. Thomas Higgenbotham bought a lot in San Antonio from John W. Smith on November 3, 1840 for $100. Levicy sold it to Roderick on November 4, 1844. The lot was on the southeast side of the river bounded on the north and west by the river and on the south by the ditch called Pajalaches. It fronted on the street running from the ford east and along the street. Mary Maverick wrote in her diary that in the summer or early fall of 1839, �Thomas Higgenbotham, a carpenter, with his wife, came to San Antonio and took the house opposite us on the corner of Commerce Street and Main Plaza. His brother and sister settled in the country, on the river below San Jose Mission.� Roderick and Martha were the brother and sister. Mrs. Maverick also wrote about what became known as the Council House Fight. On Tuesday, 19th of March, 1840, sixty-five Comanches came into San Antonio to make a treaty of peace. ... The chiefs and men met in council at Court House with our city authorities. ... Capt. Howard�s company in the back yard and the Indian women and boys [were] shooting at a mark near by. Mrs. Higginbotham and myself looking thro the picket fence at them... When the fighting broke out, Mary Maverick and Levicy Higgenbotham fled to their houses. Mary�s diary contines, I housed my little ones, and then looked out of the Soledad Street door. Near by was stretched an Indian, wounded and dying. A large man, journey-apprentice to Mr. Higginbotham, came up just then and aimed a pistol at the Indian�s head. I called out: �Oh, don�t, he is dying,� and the big American laughed and said: �To please you, I won�t, but it would put him out of his misery.� After the captain [Caldwell] had been cared for, I ran across to Mrs. Higginbotham�s. Mr. Higginbotham, who was as peaceful as a Quaker to all appearances, had been in the fight and had received a slight wound. They could not go into their back yard, because two Indians had taken refuge in their kitchen, and refused to come out or surrender as prisoners when the interpreter had summoned them. Levicy Heskew, as the legal heir of Thomas Higginbotham deceased appeared before the Board of Land Commissioners of Gonzales County and filed the conditional certificate of the said Thomas Higgenbotham deceased issued by the Board of Land Commissioners of Bexar County No. 97 class 3 for 640 acres of land dated October the 3rd 1839 and proved by Archibald Jones and William Hesskew that said Higgenbotham emigrated to the Republic of Texas . . . that he was a married man and discharged all the duties required of him as a Citizen of the Republic of Texas until his death in the year 1842. An unconditional certificate was granted to the heir or heirs of said Thomas Higginbotham on 12 January 1847. After Thomas Higgenbotham died in 1842, Levicy married Moses Hesskew. By the census of 1850, they lived in Gonzales County, where she left her will signed December 24, 1882 and filed January 30, 1883. She named her children as Mrs. Eliza L Ellis, Mrs. Ann D. Wilson, Mrs. Ametta Jeter deceased who left daughters May and Maggie, Mrs. Amanda Jeter, William E. Heskew and Gilpin M. Heskew. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jane �Jensy� B. Higgenbotham |
Jensy Higgenbotham was born June 25, 1804 and died in May 1888. She
was married, probably about 1825, to
Joseph Milton McKenzie who was born February 19, 1804 and died October 17, 1843. Jensy and Joseph McKenzie came to Texas from Tennessee, near Patton�s Ferry on the Tennessee River. They landed at Linnville on Lavaca Bay on April 5, 1839. They had made the trip on flatboats down the Tennessee River to New Orleans, then on a bigger boat headed for Galveston. The family story tells that a storm blew them off course, landing them at Linnville, in Victoria County. The 1840 tax roll of Victoria County shows Milton McKensie lived there. He later moved his family to Gonzales County, near Prairie Lea. He died there 17 Oct. 1843. The Great Comanche Raid in August of 1840 was a retaliation for the Comanches� losses at the Council House Fight. The Indians plundered and burned the town of Linnville while most of the residents watched from boats in the bay in which they had fled. The Comanches were defeated at the Battle of Plum Creek as they left the Linnville area. As "Grandma Keese" [Keyes], Jane reportedly made her home during her last years with her daughter, Mary McKenzie Finch Amberson at London, Texas, dying there in 1888, age 84 years. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Martha Ann Higgenbotham |
The unmarried Higgenbotham daughter was Martha Ann. The Texas
Christian Advocate carried a notice in Vol. 2 p 117 written by John W. DeVilbiss. He reported than Miss Martha Ann
Higgenbotham died at his residence on Friday, August 6, 1875 at the age of 68. She was a Tennessee native, came to
Texas 35 years ago and �settled with her brother in San Antonio. She was the first Methodist to ever live in San
Antonio.� She was large and masculine in appearance �and very fleshy�, weighing at one time 343 pounds�. She left
one brother and two sisters. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Modern Remains - the Mill |
A fragment of an old building still stands about where Berg's Mill was located. It could be the remains of the Higginbotham-Kerr mill from 1844. |