By Frances James (1922 – 2019) The Crawford Cemetery has an address of 700 Cedar Hill in Cedar Hill, Texas. This site is in the southwest corner of Dallas County. Ever since histories have been written about Dallas County mention has been made of “the tornado that wiped out the village of Cedar Hill in…
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The above image is a portion of an article in 1976 discussing the congregation of the First United Methodist Church of Cedar Hill, which traces its membership back to the congregation that met in the Methodist church destroyed by the tornado. The article below is transcribed from The Dallas Daily Herald issue of May 10, 1856. Warning: Some…
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The Munger family got its start in the cotton industry in the Mexia area. Henry Munger was the patriarch. He was born in Colchester, Connecticut in 1825. When he was still a child his parents, Sylvester Munger (1787 – 1838) and Asenath “Sene” Ingham Munger (1777 – 1840), moved to South Carolina. By 1840, both…
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From Proud Heritage, Volume I by DCPA, currently out of print. George M. Mellersh led quite a colorful life after coming to the United States with his parents in 1850. He was born November 24, 1836 in Surrey County, England, son of Francis Mellersh, a carriage maker, and Margaret Brooker. An older brother, Francis Jr., came with…
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The outlaw Sam Bass was born to Daniel Bass (1821 – 1864) and Elizabeth Jane Sheeks Bass (1821 – 1861) on July 21, 1851 in Lawrence County, Indiana. Elizabeth died when Sam was ten. Sam was the third son and the fourth of seven children born to Daniel and Elizabeth. Daniel married Margaret Seibert one…
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Mabel Gilbert and family only lived in Dallas a few years, but they were contemporaries of the Beemans, John Neely Bryan and other early settlers. The Gilbert family story in Dallas County begins in the 1840s. Mabel Gilbert was born on March 4, 1797 in what is now Dickson County, Tennessee. At that time, however,…
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The Dallas Daily Herald carried the following proclamation dated June 3, 1876. Proclamation Mayor’s OfficeCity of DallasJune [July] 3, 1876 WHEREAS, Tuesday, the Fourth day of July, is a national holiday; and whereas, in this, the Centennial year of American Independence, it is not only the duty, but should be the pleasure of our citizens…
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A tiny prairie town in Big D What a perfectly gorgeous day this past Saturday, April 29th as we all arrived at the Old Frankford Church for our in-town tour of the Church, Cemetery and surrounding Blackland Prairie. Matt Weinstein of Preservation Dallas, our host for the event, welcomed everyone and then handed it over…
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A pioneer Grigsby family figures into the early days of Dallas County, though none of the family appears to have ever resided in the county. The patriarch of that family was John Grigsby (1787 – 1841). John Grigsby was believed to have been born in Virginia. He married Hester Sharp (1799 – 1831) in 1817…
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For decades after the Civil War the African American community dealt with various forms of legal and social discrimination. Nevertheless, professionals and entrepreneurs began to emerge from the community with perhaps the greatest growth occurring after 1900. Like other states in America, Texas began to see practicing professionals and other new business owners come from…
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