From Proud Heritage, Volume I by DCPA, currently out of print.
Samuel Nesbitt born circa 1804/5, died 13 March 1892, was the son of Samuel Nesbitt born 20 August 1766, died 21 August 1824 and Mary Nash Nesbitt, born 1768, died 185?, of Laurens District, South Carolina. In about 1834 he married Charlotte Fowler born 15 October 1813, died 18 October 1871, daughter of William Fowler born 1790, died 3 August 1867, and Holcombe, born ? , died circa 1813, of Laurens District, South Carolina.
Sam and Charlotte had four daughters and a son. The daughters were Mary Elizabeth born 2 June 1836, died 12 July 1913, who married 17 November 1856 Alfred Holton Harris, Jr., born 28 September 1827, died 4 April 1900; Martha Ann “Mattie” born 1838/9, died 1875/9, who married Absolem G. Myers, born 24 March 1839, died 22 December 1922; Lucy Caroline born 1848, died 5 March 1910, who married first to Ed. W. Saunders and second to Ed. Smith; and Ella Nesbitt born 1860, died 8 July 1929, never married. The son William, born 1845, died 1861/5, was killed in the Civil War.
In 1845 the Nesbitts moved to Marshall County, Mississippi, where they owned cotton plantations and a cotton gin about ten miles from Holly Springs, Mississippi. After the Civil War the Nesbitts moved to Dallas, Texas with the Alfred H. Harris family, arriving in Dallas 22 December 1866. The Absolem G. Myers family accompanied them. Their son, Thomas Alfred Myers, was later to become Fire Chief of Dallas.
The Nesbitts salvaged what they could from their plantation and with the Harris and Myers families, they joined the Terry family and two others who were moving to Texas. They came in covered wagons, their money sewed in a feather bed. Mr. Charles Terry drove one wagon and his brother Graden drove a hack containing the Nesbitts’ square piano. (This was later to be the first piano taken to Wichita County.) Sam and Charlotte bought a half section of land in what is now the Lakewood Area of Dallas, Texas, and built a house of two very large and two small rooms divided by a ten foot hall.
Charlotte died in 1871 and is buried beside Samuel in Greenwood Cemetery, Dallas. Samuel died in his 87th year on 13 March 1892.
By Richard W. Harris, Austin
