From Proud Heritage, Vol. 1 by DCPA, not currently in print.
Jonathan Jeter and Joannah T. Cain Crosby came to Dallas County from their home in Mississippi in the fall of 1874. Jeter was born in Knox County, Indiana, in March 1818, the son of Leonard and Sarah Purcell Crosby, who married in Knox County, Indiana Territory, on 16 March 1814. Leonard served in the War of 1812. Both of Jonathan Jeter’s grandfathers were in the American Revolu tion. At an early age Jeter moved with his parents and other members of the Crosby family to Monroe County, Mississippi. The Crosbys and Cains were among the early settlers of that county. Joannah T. Cain (also known as Susannah) was born in Georgia on 7 April 1816. Her father, William Cain, was born in Georgia in 1788; he was a large landowner and the owner of ten slaves in He died in Calhoun County, Mississippi. The sale of his estate was made in March 1857.
Jonathan Jeter Crosby and Susannah (Joannah) Cain were married on 30 October 1839 in Monroe County. Jeter was a planter and owned eight slaves in 1860, some of whom came from the estate of William Cain. During the Civil War, Jeter served as a private in the First Regiment of Mississippi Reserves, Company B, as a private in the Third Battalion of Mississippi Infantry State Troops, Company B, and as a 3rd Lt., Second State Troop, Mississippi Infantry, Company K. One of Jeter’s and Joannah’s sons served in this conflict, contracted measles and influenza and died before reaching home.
While engaged primarily in agriculture, Jeter was also the owner of a mill. In the fall of 187 4 Jeter and Joannah sold their two farms and all of their personal possessions except two wagons, two mules, a horse, bedding and clothing. They came to Dallas County with all of their children except Sarah Dale, James W. and Marcellus Crosby (these came at a later date) and a grand-daughter. They brought with them two negroes. The first year Jeter rented the Hobb’s farm and produced about fifty bales of cotton averaging 460 pounds, which brought about ten cents per pound. His corn crop was not sufficient to carry him through the second year, so he bought 200 bushels in the field at fifty cents per bushel.
On 13 December 1875, Jeter and Joannah bought 430 acres at $15.00 per acre from Wm. McCullough, this tract being part of Joseph Prigmore’s original grant, south of Forest Lane on the west side of Audelia Road. At the time of purchase, about 90 acres were in cultivation. The land was improved by the four Crosby sons and sons-in-law Benjamin F. McCoy and James Mack Whitworth. Improvements included the breaking of additional acres, building of houses for the married children and the erection of a Shanghai fence. In 1876 or 1877 Jeter built a gin on his farm.
Joannah Crosby died on 6 January 1877 and was buried in McCree Cemetery. Her stone, now missing, was copied by Willie Flowers Carlisle in 1948. Three years later Jeter married the widow Catherine Powers on 6 January 1880.
In July 1886 J. J. and Kate Crosby sold 38 acres of the original farm to the Dallas & Greenville Ry. Co. for a right-of-way which later became the MK&T line from Dallas to Garland. In December 1890 they sold other land containing gravel deposits to the same railroad.
In a division of Jonathan Jeter’s and Joannah’s estate in 1894, the eight sole heirs all lived in Dallas County except Laura Etta McCoy of Milam County and Susan Whitworth of Burleson County. These eight were:
1) Sarah (Sally) Crosby born 25 September 1840, died 20 March 1928 married three times in Monroe County, Mississippi: (1) James Newton Seeley on 25 February 1857, (2) William Cockerham on 9 February 1866 (he died 14 May 1876) and (3) John Newton Dale born 9 November 1840, died 7 August 1886, married 4 November 1878. Sarah died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. N. L. Murff in Briscoe County, Texas.
2) Thomas (Tom) J. Crosby born 29 September 1846, died 2 February 1911, was a cripple, married, but they did not live together long. After a long and painful affliction he died at the home of his sister Lucy Fisher, who lived two miles west of Garland, and was buried at McCree Cemetery.
3) Laura Etta Crosby born 10 October 1848, died 22 March 1917, married in Monroe County, Mississippi on 13 January 1870 to Benjamin Franklin McCoy born 6 August 1840, died 1 September 1835. They farmed part of her father’s farm for about seven years. Laura Etta died in Milam County, Texas, her husband in Austin. Both are buried in Lebanon Cemetery, Milam County.
4) Marcellus (Moss) Cicero Crosby born September 1849, died 13 September 1914, married in Monroe County to Mary Malinda Simmons on 31 October 1875. Farmed a part of his father’s farm in 1876 and 1877, returned to Mississippi for four or five years, then purchased land in Dallas County, near Lisbon, which he farmed before moving to Hamilton County after 1906.
5) Lucy E. Crosby born 17 September 1852, died 21 February 1912, married three times: (1) James C. Moore in Dallas County on 23 May 1878 (he died seven years later), married (2) Mr. Fogle and married (3) Gus Fisher by 1893. Her stone in McCree Cemetery reads Lucy Moore, w/o J. C.
6) James Willeford Crosby born 15 September 1853, died 28 May 1917, married 18 July 1872 in Monroe County to Mary Texana Hollingsworth born 28 May 1853, died 27 June 1936. They lived on the farm with his parents. Both buried in McCree Cemetery.
7) Jerry M. Crosby born 21 December 1857, died 14 October 1896, married Mary Elizabeth Swanzy after coming to Texas. The Crosbys and the Swanzys were neighbors in Mississippi. Jerry was killed by his brother in-law William R. Swanzy in Milam County. Jerry was trying to get possession of his children from the Swanzy family with whom they lived following their mother’s committment to an asylum.
8) Susan C. Crosby born September 1859, married in Dallas County to James Mack Whitworth on 22 November 1875. The Crosbys and Whitworths were neighbors in Monroe County. Mack and Susan Whitworth lived in later years at Randoll Mill in the river bottoms between Dallas and Fort Worth.
In June 1900, Jonathan, age 82, was living in the old homeplace with his daughter Sallie Dale. After farming 26 years in Dallas County, J. J. Crosby sold the remainder of his farm on 16 November 1900 to C. W. (Caleb William) Jackson, husband of his grand-daughter Eva Green Crosby Jackson.
He died at the home of his grand-son Dr. Charles Dale in Tamaha, Oklahoma in either 1905 or 1906.
By Everts E. Jackson, Richardson
