Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908 to Samuel Ealy (Jr.) and Rebekah Baines Johnson in Stonewall County, Texas. Not intended to be a complete listing all of his ancestors, the following represents a number of them and is based on information mainly from newspaper accounts and traditional genealogical sources.
Lady Bird Johnson
Lady Bird Johnson was born Claudia Alta Taylor in Karnack, Harrison County, Texas in 1912. Her father was Thomas Jefferson Taylor II, who owned a general store and used the profits to acquire farmland that he used to plant cotton. At one time he owned 12,000 acres of land dedicated to raising cotton. Claudia’s mother was the former Minnie Pattillo. Thomas and Minnie were married in 1900 and both had originally come to Texas from Alabama. Claudia was the youngest of three children and the only daughter born to Minnie and Thomas. The family legend is that a caretaker had given the nickname Lady Bird to her, saying that she was as pretty as a lady bird.
Bass Reeves, Lawman
Bass Reeves was a groundbreaking lawman in the West. Most people who know his name would be aware that he was born a slave and became a respected law officer mostly in the area that became Oklahoma, long before it became a state.
Reeves was born into slavery in 1838 in Crawford County, Arkansas on the property of former Arkansas state legislator, William Steele Reeves. Authoritative accounts say instead that he was born in Texas. His last name was that of the owner William Reeves and his first name is believed to have been in honor of a grandfather by the name of Bass Washington.
Continue reading Bass Reeves, LawmanFort Mason
Fort Mason was established and vacated before the Civil War. It was set up by Brevet Lt. Col. W. H. Harvey in the summer of 1851 and housed the Second Dragoons. It was named for Second Lt. George T. Mason of the Second Dragoons, killed during the early days of the Mexican-American War in South Texas in 1846. It has also been suggested that the fort could have been named for General Richard Barnes Mason who had died more recently, but most sources favor George T. Mason, a West Point graduate and native of Virginia.
Law Officers Killed by the Barrow Gang: Henry D. Humphrey (Victim Number 5)
The fifth law officer to be killed by the Barrow Gang was Town Marshal Henry D. Humphrey on June 22, 1933. On July 30, 1933, the Sedalia (Missouri) Democrat and Capital ran an Associated Press article that began as follows, “Hubert Bleigh, 26, alias Herbert Blythe, of Tulsa, faced murder charges at Van Buren, Ark, five miles from here, tonight after he was brought to Van Buren by Sheriff Albert Maxey of Crawford County, from Oklahoma City. Bleigh waived extradition.” Bleigh was charged with the slaying of town marshal Henry G. Humphrey of Alma, Arkansas on the night of June 23, 1933.
Continue reading Law Officers Killed by the Barrow Gang: Henry D. Humphrey (Victim Number 5)
Texas History Notebook 