William Thomas Lagow (1869-1943) was an early resident of Dallas County. He appears to have been born in Augusta, Houston County, Texas to Silas Frank Lagow (1840-1897) and the former Elizabeth L. Murchison (1845-1876). Some accounts show him having been born in Houston in Harris County, but the 1870 census shows that the family consisted of the parents, Silas and Elizabeth, an older sister Mary Ophelia and William Thomas, and that they lived in or near Augusta.
By the time the 1880 census was taken, significant changes had taken place in the family with the mother Elizabeth having passed away in 1876 after having another son, John Harrison Lagow in 1871. Two years later, the father Silas married Alice Elizabeth McReynolds and together they had added a son, Horace Lagow, to the family in 1879. The 1880 census showed Silas as the father, Alice as the mother and three children, Mary Ophelia, William Thomas and John Harrison and they were living in Dallas County on a farm.
Silas is believed to have leased his land in Dallas County around 1889 and relocated to Nolan County near Roscoe in West Texas. In 1891 or 1892, William Thomas after having returned to Dallas County was married to Emma Beeman, the second surviving daughter of John Scott Winfield Beeman (1841-1930) and Elizabeth Boone Merrifield Beeman (1849-1923), with several older siblings having died in infancy.
In the 1900 census, the family consisted of William Thomas, Emma and Ruth. William was farming on family land in Dallas County.
William Thomas inherited some of the West Texas land from Silas following Silas’ death and said to have returned there in 1906 for less than one year apparently to deal with this property. He returned later that year to Dallas County.
William and Emma had four children, Edwin who died at age four, Ruth, Irene and Kenneth. Emma died of unknown causes in 1908. In the 1910 census the family consisted of William Thomas, Ruth, Irene and Kenneth and William Thomas’ profession was listed as farmer.
In the 1920 census William Thomas, Ruth and Kenneth were living in a residence. William Thomas was fifty-one and working as a carpenter. Irene and Kenneth both had jobs of their own. In the next two federal census records, he was living with one of his daughters and he passed away in 1943 in Dallas, Texas.
Both Emma and William Thomas are buried in Dallas County. Emma is interred in the Beeman Cemetery, as is their son Edgar, and William Thomas is buried at Crown Hill Memorial Park along with several other family members.
