A vintage article from Proud Heritage, Vol 1 by DCPA, currently out of print.
William Chenault was born February 25, 1828, in Bedford County, Virginia, and came to Peters Colony of Texas from Indiana ca. 1846. He was issued Nacogdoches Third Class Certificate No. 2074 for 320 acres which he patented in Dallas County near the present site of Buckner Children’s Home.
June 9, 1847 William enrolled in Capt. Preston Witt’s Company K, First Regiment of the Texas Cavalry for twelve months during the Mexican War. He fought in the battle of Chichilehipan. He was discharged at Vera Cruz, Mexico on April 30, 1849. He also served in the Civil War between 1861 and 1865.
William married Ruthy Ann Jackson (born September 24, 1829 in Tennessee) December 1849. They had seven children: Eliza Jane born 1850; Sarah Lenora (born May 17, 1854, died March 26, 1933) married (1) Thomas J. Crutchfield (five children), married (2) C. C. Paris (six children); Charlie (born 1857) married April 25, 1876 to Tom N. Slaten; Udora (born 1859, died 1929) married Ed Gay 1877 (six children); Henry Garnett (born October 24, 1863) married Mary Caroline Bryant (born July 13, 1889) three children; Beaumont M. (born January 12, 1869, died August 10, 1931) married Luphenia Hones (born March 27, 1874, died May 5, 1937) January 5, 1889 and they had four children; John Everetts (born April 17, 1873, died September 22, 1926) married Ida May Belcher (born 1878, died 1960) four children.
William Chenault served as Dallas County Commissioner from 1852 to 1854. He died November 10, 1886, and was buried in the Millwood Cemetery, Collin County, Texas. Ruthy Ann Jackson Chenault later moved to Johnson County, Texas where she lived until 1898, moving from there to Olustee, Oklahoma. She died October 10, 1910, and is buried in the Aaron Cemetery, Jackson County, Olustee, Oklahoma.
By Theo Sparks, great-grandson of Wm. Chenault, Fort Worth
Note: Ruthy Ann Jackson’s parents were John and Eliza Jackson. Her siblings were Andrew Sloan Jackson, James Everetts Jackson and Nancy Lucinda Jackson. Nancy was the wife of Benjamin John Prigmore. All of them, other than Ruthy, are buried in McCree Cemetery.
