county names – Texas History Notebook

James Gaines, Namesake of Gaines County

James Gaines was born in Culpepper County in Virginia in November of 1776. His parents were Thomas and Susana Strother Gaines. James was born Robert Thomas Gaines but later changed his name to James Gaines around 1810. He was a double cousin to Edmund Pendleton Gaines (two brothers married two sisters). Edmund’s parents were James and Elizabeth Strother Gaines. Edmund and James were born one year apart. They are both descended from James Henry Gaines and Mary Lillie Pendleton, whose ancestors had come from England to Colonial Virginia around 1650.

John B. Denton

John B. Denton is the namesake of Denton County and the town of Denton. There has been some question regarding what his middle initial stood for. His middle name has variously been shown as “Bernard,” “Bunard” or “Bunyan” but the wife of a descendant said that his middle name was “Bunyan.”

Denton was born in Sparta, Tennessee on July 28, 1806 to James Denton and Sarah Clarkson Denton. He was the oldest of about eight children. Some accounts say that he was orphaned around 1815, but his father and mother are believed to have died in 1827 and 1846, respectively, according to current genealogical information available. Other accounts suggest that Denton ran away from home as a young boy and held various jobs including apprenticing as a blacksmith and working on steamers on the Mississippi River. For whatever reasons, he was residing in Arkansas when he was marred on June 23, 1825 to the former Mary Greenlee Stewart. The couple started their family with the birth of the first of their children the next year.

Isaac Parker, Legislator

Isaac Duke Parker was a son of John and Sarah White Parker. He was born in Georgia on April 7, 1793 and came to Texas as an adult with his family, finally settling in a stockade fort near the current town of Groesbeck in the early 1830s. The circumstances of the raid are probably familiar to many. To summarize, the Parker family consisted of about two dozen people and there were numerous others living in the compound. Many names are similar, adding to the confusion, but below is a rough listing of the family members and close relatives in or near the fort at the time of the attack:

John Parker (“Elder John Parker”) – a widower
Silas Mercer Parker, Sr. – husband of Lucinda Duty Parker
Lucinda Duty Parker – wife of Silas Mercer Parker, Sr.
James W. Parker – son of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
Cynthia Ann Parker – daughter of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
John Richard Parker – son of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
Silas Mercer Parker Jr. – son of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
Orlena Parker – daughter of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
Sarah Pinson Duty (“Granny Parker”) – mother of Lucinda and Clara Elizabeth
Clara Elizabeth Duty Kellogg – sister of Lucinda and recently widowed
Benjamin Franklin W. Parker – brother of Elder John
Isaac Parker – brother of Elder John
Sarah Parker Nixon – daughter of James William
Lorenzo Dow Nixon – husband of Sarah Parker Nixon
Luther Martin Thomas (“L. T. M.”) Plummer – husband of Rachel
Rachel Parker Plummer – wife of Luther, daughter of James William Parker
James Pratt Plummer – son of Luther and Rachel
James William Parker – father of Rachel
Abigail Parker – sister of Elder John
Daniel Parker – brother of Elder John
Martha “Patsy” Dixon Parker – wife of Daniel

Texas Becomes a State

In an 1892 newspaper interview, historian John Henry Brown recounted certain key dates and steps which occurred in the months leading up to Texas annexation by the United States as the 28th state in the union.

Rains County

Emory B. Raines (1800 – 1878) was the son of James (or John) Rains and Mary Ann Duncan Rains and was one of at least a dozen children born to the couple. Emory was born May 4, 1800 in Caney Branch, Warren County, Tennessee. In 1817, when he was a teenager, the family moved to Texas, first settling in the Nacogdoches area. When he was in his 20s, he married the former Marana Anderson. Rains was 29 years old before he learned to read. As was the norm at that time, Rains did not attend a law school, but independently studied the law and was admitted to the Texas Bar. He later became a Texas legislator, serving in Shelby and Wood counties.