texas – Page 2 – Texas History Notebook

Edward Wingate and Edward Taylor Wingate

Two men with similar names are connected to the massacre at Goliad. Edward Wingate (1780 – 1836) and Edward Taylor Wingate (1802 – 1868). From time to time they have been confused with one another, yet according to online genealogy records, they were two different individuals and were unrelated. Each man appears to have been married and had a family.

Samuel Rhoads Fisher

Samuel Rhoads Fisher was born on December 31, 1794 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Samuel Wharton Fisher and Elizabeth Rhoads Fisher, a family with Quaker ties. He resided for a number of years in Philadelphia. Fisher was married to the former Ann Pleasants on September 2, 1818. Children of the couple include Samuel W. born in 1819 in Missouri, Ann Nancy Fisher born in Philadelphia in 1823 followed by Samuel R. Fisher, Jr. born in Texas in 1833.

Eddie LeBaron

Edward Wayne LeBaron, Jr. was born January 7, 1930 to Edward Wayne LeBaron and Mabel Sims LeBaron. His grandfather Oscar LeBaron was a farmer who had moved his family to California from New York. Eddie was small in stature but was a gifted high school athlete at Oakdale High School near Modesto. He was also on the young side for his class year, entering high school at the age of 12 and graduating at 16. He signed with College of the Pacific, now known as University of the Pacific, in Stockton, California where his coach when he was a freshman was Amos Alonzo Stagg. At that time, Stagg was 84 years old and in the last year of his amazing career as an athlete and coach.

Sarah Ann Hardin-Kelton

There is a Texas Centennial historical marker honoring Sarah Hardin-Kelton. The text is spare and states, “Widow of William Hardin before her marriage to Dr. O. P. Kelton. Many of the Mexican officers and men were placed in the care of Judge and Mrs. Hardin after the victory at San Jacinto and were mercifully treated by them. Born August 27, 1806. Died.” (Punctuation added.) The marker is placed in South Belton Cemetery in Bell County, Texas. Her date of death was not entered on the marker and still appears to be unknown at this time.

Lawrence Sullivan “Sul” Ross

Sul Ross was born September 27, 1838 to Shapley Prince Ross and Catherine Hanby Fulkerson Ross in a family community in Iowa, then still a territory. He was the fourth of their eight children. Per Judith Ann Brenner’s fine biography, he was named for three family members including his great grandfather Lawrence Ross and an uncle in the Ross family named Giles Sullivan. As a child he was known as “Little Sul” and later just “Sul,” the nickname by which he became known. The biography notes that his great grandfather Lawrence had been captured by Indians from his Virginia school when he was six and lived with Cherokees until he was twenty-three and had to be persuaded to return to his family.