From Proud Heritage, Volume I by DCPA, currently out of print.
My great grandmother Lucinda Beckley, who was born in Dade County, Missouri, passed through Dallas, Texas on February 5, 1866, her twenty second birthday, enroute to Waco to marry her fiance, Col. William Lansdon Williams, who was born in Anderson County, Tennessee December 25, 1834.
Lucinda had come to Texas because my great grandfather as a young cavalry officer had ridden with the noted guerrilla leader Quantrell, and, even though he had been granted amnesty as a former C.S.A. cavalry officer, he could not safely return to Missouri.
His former law partner both in Missouri and later in Dallas, John M. Stemmons, Jr., did return to Missouri where he was arrested and placed in confinement. His escape is another story. He did accept my great grandfather’s invitation and came to Dallas where the two of them practiced law together.
My great-grandfather’s father was Dr. Joseph Haskins Williams, who was born in Lincoln County, North Carolina in 1807.
My great-grandmother’s parents were Simpson Levi Beckley, born in Shelby County, Kentucky in 1813, and Ruth Mathews Beckley, also born in Shelby County, Kentucky, in 1815.
In 1921 Mrs. W. L. Williams published and copyrighted her autobiography The Golden Years. A great deal of the material contained in this account is from her book.
In the backwash of the War Between the States there were no functioning law courts in Texas. Therefore my great-grandparents moved to Belton, where he taught school.
United States soldiers were stationed in Belton in 1866 and 1867. Rather than bringing law and order, they brought disorder with many slayings, few arrests, and no trials. In recounting her brief residence in Belton she wrote the following:
“Just before Christmas 1866, some men were caught with stolen horses. They were arrested and put in the Belton jail. Early in the night a mob came and shot the men to death. At our house we heard plainly the screams of the men and the reports of the guns. All old-time Texans will understand. These facts are told to give the reader a picture of real frontier Texas towns.”
On November 12, 1867, the Williams family left Belton and traveled overland to Dallas, arriving November 17. Their infant daughter, Ada, my grandmother, traveled in her mother’s arms. They traveled through a plague of grasshoppers that was so thick the wagon wheels would skid and slip.
Col. Williams established his law practice in Dallas and was joined the following year by his old law partner from Missouri and war companion, John Stemmons.
Mrs. Williams wrote the following concerning the legal profession in Dallas in 1867:
“There were about four lawyers in Dallas well established in business. There were some younger ones that were doing the best they could. These older lawyers were big hearted in most things, but did not mind at all letting the newcomer know that the ground was fully occupied without him. The newcomer could find work to do, but money conditions were hard still and lawyer’s pay came very slowly. Everyone else was paid before the lawyer. We were not disquieted. We had each other and our precious baby. We knew nothing of long lonely evenings. I was perfectly content with the quiet, simple life, and we had food and raiment and every comfort.”
The Williams immediately became involved in the affairs of Dallas. On July 30, 1868 they became two of the eleven charter members of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. Dr. Leon McBeth in his Centennial History account entitled The First Baptist Church of Dallas wrote the following:
“If any one man can be called the founder of First Baptist Church, he is W. L. Williams. However, he must share that honor with his charming wife, Lucinda. Around this talented young couple revolved the founding and early life of the Dallas Church.”
Col. Williams was a founding member of the Dallas Bar Association in 1873. He was one of the Dallas Lawyers who signed the petition addressed to the 14th District Court requesting that “judicial activity be suspended for two weeks so that prospective jurors could harvest the wheat crop”, as set forth in the Texas Bar Journal vol. 36 No. 10 (1973). It is from this event the Dallas Bar Association dates its formation. Col. Williams’ son-in-law, Judge William Jordan Joseph Smith, a graduate of the University of Texas Law School, class of 1887, was the judge of this same 14th District Court some 20 years later.
In 1870 the Williams moved into their first home, located on several acres of land on Elm Street where St. Paul Street is now located. Over a 15 year period seven of their ten children were born at that home. The Williams reared their children along with several orphaned children of neighbors who passed away.
The Williams concern and care for orphans was a lifelong ministry for them. R. C. Buckner, who founded Buckner Orphan’s Home, was a war comrade of Col. Williams and was the immediate neighbor to the east of the the Williams homestead. Family legend has it that the Williams gave the property to the Buckners because of their love and affection for the Buckners.
Many people who came to Dallas in this period, including the Williams, had lost everything they owned during the war and came to Dallas to make a new start. Col. Williams had his degree from the University of Missouri, his beautiful wife, their baby, their love for one another and a law license. From this humble beginning they began a family whose descendants still reside in Dallas County. They led and nurtured a great church to the point that they often sold many of their possessions to relieve financial burdens of the church.
In 1878 the Houston & Texas Central Rail road came to Dallas, followed by the Texas and Pacific Railroad. These two events caused much grief to the citizens of Dallas. Mrs. Williams wrote the following about the event:
“The coming of these railroads brought an element of criminal life to our town that I never knew before – not even in the war between the states. At first there seemed to be a spirit among even the best of citizens to submit to what might come. The remark, ‘Oh, well, if we are going to have a city we must take what comes,’ was heard very often, but as time passed on the criminal element increased. Murders and robberies were committed daily, and good people began to realize the need of vigorous restraints against such lawlessness. There were many difficulties to overcome.”
In November, 1884, the Williams moved from Elm Street to the corner of Swiss Avenue and Peak Street. This was in part because the cowboys often rode out Elm Street from the saloons near the courthouse and “shot up the night.”
The year Col. Williams was born Halley’s Comet was visible in this country. In May of 1910, he was awakened at 4 o’clock in the morning to view Halley’s Comet which was visible in the skies over Dallas. He died a few hours later. Shortly after her husband’s death, Mrs. Williams became a counselor at what is now Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Concerning the new period in her life., she wrote in the conclusion of her book:
“I wanted something with a look ahead, a promise that would come. Best of all, the young people here, girls and boys, come to me and talk out of their hearts, seeking motherly counsel and sympathy. I find them so ready to appreciate a little personal interest and kindly counsel. A kind, encouraging word seems to change the color of their hopes and ambitions for making the very best of every opportunity to count for good they can. It is what we do for others that counts.”
Lucinda Beckley Williams died in January 1931 and is buried in Dallas beside her husband.
By Mrs. Philip Wilson, Dallas
