Wood County, 1850-1900 Page: 69
201 p. : ill., ports. ; 29 cm.View a full description of this book.
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his parents to Elyton, Alabama, now Birmingham,
where he received his early education, later going to
Aberdeen, Mississippi for further study.
At an early age, James Noonan Brown migrated
westward to Texas and the Oklahoma Indian Territory
where he became an Indian Fighter serving with Cap-
tain John Bird and General Edward Burleson. In 1836,
he was under the command of General Sam Houston
and assumed the responsibility of preventing a band of
Indians from joining the Mexican forces.
After the War for Independence, Brown served
with the Texas Rangers. In 1839, when trouble with the
Cherokees became more acute he was mustered into
the service of Texas as a First Lieutenant in Captain
Benjamin A. Van Sickle's Company of mounted
volunteers. He fought in the battle of Neches under the
command of General K. H. Douglas where Chief
Bowles, leader of the Texas Cherokees, was slain.
Following the expulsion of the Indians from East
Texas, James Noonan Brown returned to Nacogdoches
where he became a surveyor for Nacogdoches County
and on 27 October 1842 married Lucinda Julia Warren.
In 1844 the couple was living near Henderson, Texas
and James Noonan was appointed county surveyor of
Rusk County. Six children were born to James N. and
Lucinda Brown in Rusk County.
In 1852, the Brown family moved to Wood County
and settled on a large plantation near Quitman; he also
acquired other tracts of land throughout the county. In
1860 he owned 12 slaves.
James Noonan bought supplies twice a year and
had them hauled by ox wagon from Shreveport and
New Orleans, Louisiana. At that time there were two
important roads leading east and southeast out of
Quitman, one was the Jefferson Road and the other
was called Belzora Crossing Road.
James Noonan Brown took a firm stand for the
Confederacy during the Civil War and encouraged his
17 year old son, John W., to volunteer. John W. joined
the "Wood County Rebels" commanded by Captain
John W. Wilson, who on 5 August 1861, sent an im-
passioned plea to Major General H. H. Sibley to
"please take the foregoing names of the 'Wood County
Rebels', Texas Cavalry, as part of your Brigade".
James Noonan was a Master Mason and a member
of the Presbyterian Church. He and his wife, Lucinda
J. Warren Brown, were the parents of 11 children.
These were: John W., Lititia Minerva, Margaret,
James Noonan, Jr., Lycurgus B., Mary Frances
(Mollie), Martha Lucinda, George E., Rosa Bell and
Morgan Hood.
John Noonan Brown died of typhoid fever 9
December 1865, and was buried beside his mother,
Nancy Camp Brown, whom he had buried two years
before in an oak grove on his farm in Quitman. This
land was later used as grounds for the Quitman HighSchool.
Lititia Minerva Brown, second child of JamesNoonan and Lucinda Warren Brown, married Professor
Joseph Thomas Strother from Georgia. He and his
brother, J. A. Strother, were well known school
teachers in early Wood County.
Mary Frances (Mollie), seventh child of James N.
and Lucinda Brown, was born 7 December 1855 in
Quitman. She married Albert Wolff born 26 March
1849 in Germany. They lived in Mineola on the site of
the present ice plant and reared a family of six
children: Nathaniel, Freda, Minnie, Fred, A., and
Joseph Arthur. Minnie Wolff married Dr. A. B. Moody,
descendant of a pioneer family. Their children were;
Mary, married Jonas English; Joe Vern, a physician,
married Martha Kay, and Ethelyn, married Edward
Briley.
Source: Mary Moody English and Wood
County War Records
SIMEON R. BRUCE, born 3 December 1839 in
Orange County, Vermont, came to Mineola in 1874. He
was of Scotch descent, his grandfather, Joseph Bruce,
having come from Scotland prior to the Revolutionary
War. The parents of Simeon R. were David and
Mariada S. Bruce.
Simeon R. Bruce came to South Texas in 1859,
and in 1861 enlisted in the Confederate Army as a
member of Company E, Eighth Texas Cavalry. He
fought in many of the principal battles, being wounded
at Perryville, captured and exchanged at Vicksburg.
In 1865, he married Kate A. Reeves of Macon
County, Georgia. The couple moved to Hunt County,
Texas in 1866 and remained there until their move to
Mineola where he operated a hotel for three years. He
later worked as a clerk and bookkeeper for one of
Mineola's merchants.
When the Bank of Mineola was established, Bruce
became a stockholder and was employed as cashier. He
was also engaged in the mercantile business. Always
active in civic affairs, he served as city treasurer for
four years.
Children of Simeon R. and Kate Reeves Bruce
were Robert H., Carrie Olean, Ernest L. and Helen
Rosebud.
Simeon R. and Catherine (Kate) Bruce were
buried in the Mineola City Cemetery.JOHN CREIGHTON BUCHANAN began law
practice in Wood County in the 1870's. He was a son of69
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Wood County, 1850-1900 (Book)
This text gives an overview of Wood County, Texas from roughly 1850 to 1900. It includes historical sketches of various aspects of life in the county as well as anecdotes. Genealogical information and documentation are also included for pioneer families in the area.
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Wood County Historical Society. Wood County, 1850-1900, book, 1976; Quitman, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth91051/m1/77/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .