The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957 Page: 367
616 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Major Whitfield Chalk, Hero of the Republic of Texas 367
on the south side of the San Gabriel some five miles below the
present Georgetown. Chalk was among the rangers at the Double
File Crossing camp and served with the volunteers until Octo-
ber, 1847.12
On August 9, 1847, Chalk resigned his status of bachelorhood-
he was married to Mary Elizabeth Fleming at Double File Cross-
ing by his brother, the Reverend John Wesley Chalk. It is not
surprising that Chalk's fiancee should have succumbed to his
charms, for in addition to his well-known superior traits of char-
acter, according to a friend's description of him, he possessed
physical attributes calculated to attract more than passing at-
tention:
Major Whitfield Chalk was a tall, dark-haired and grey-eyed man,
with a fighting jaw on him; he was six feet tall, well proportioned, of
deliberate speech and movements, showing determination and resist-
ance in every act-the type of a brave, determined man, clearly por-
traying that he would do what he did do.',
The Flemings had come to Texas from Georgia in 1838. They
were among the first settlers in that part of the huge Milam
County which became Williamson County in August, 1848, and
had moved to the ranger camp in order to take advantage of its
protection against the Indians.
In 1848 Whitfield Chalk moved to Georgetown, built one of
the first houses in the new county seat, and was elected the first
sheriff of Williamson County. At the same time his brother, Ira
Ellis Chalk, was named to the office of district clerk.'4 Evidently
Chalk served only one term as sheriff in Williamson County, for
in 1849 he was located in present Bell County where he and Ira
Ellis Chalk had founded a mill.'" At first a lumber mill, it was
later equipped to grind grain. The mill, which was located on the
Salado near the hamlet of Salado, was operated by water power.
Under the Compromise of 1850, the United States agreed to
pay to Texas $ o,ooo,ooo to set up a boundary for the state. This
12William L. Mann, Williamson County Centennial, 1848-1948 (Georgetown,
Texas [?], 1948), 14.
13Newspaper clipping by John Dowell, December, 19x11, in collection of Dr.
Alex Dienst, Temple, Texas.
14Dallas Mornig News, January 7, 1927; Williamson County Scrapbook (Wil-
liam L. Mann Papers, Archives, University of Texas Library).
',,United States Census, 1850 (MS., Archives, Texas State Library).
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957, periodical, 1957; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101163/m1/396/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.