Gerron Hinds and Margaret Elizabeth Smith
Husband Gerron Hinds 1 2
Born: 31 Dec 1801 - Kentucky (Wayne Co.) Christened: Died: 11 Dec 1870 - Caldwell Co., Texas 3 Buried: - McNeil Cemetery, Caldwell Co., Tx
Father: Levi Hinds (1766-1838) 2 4 Mother: Susannah Gerron ( -1835/1838)
Marriage:
Wife Margaret Elizabeth Smith 4
Born: Abt 1810 - Kentucky Christened: Died: After 1880 - (Caldwell Co., Texas) 5 Buried:
Children
General Notes: Husband - Gerron Hinds
CENSUS:
<pre>1850 Caldwell Co., Texas; Oct 29; pg 457
31/31
Gerrin Hinds 49 MW Ky Farmer
Margaret " 39 FW Ky $3200
Lorenda Harris 27 FW Ky
William C. Smith 8 MW Tx </pre>
Margaret is the owner of 3 slaves in the Slave Schedule. Lorenda Harris is Gerrin's widowed younger sister. William C. Smith is presumably her son by her first husband. Gerrin's younger brother Eli Clement lives at 36/36.
<pre>1860 Caldwell Co., Texas, p.o. Plum Creek; July 12,13; pg 56
413/397
Garen Hines 59 MW Ky $6000/$8210
Margaret " 51 FW Ky
W. C. Smith 17 MW Tx $640/$-- Student
Sarah J. Good 7 FW Tx $370/$-- </pre>
<pre>1870 Caldwell Co., Texas, p.o. Lockhart; July 29; pg 104
698/707
Guerron Hinds 68 MW Ky $3000/$1000 Farmer
Margaret " 61 FW Ky Keeping house
Sarah J. " 16 FW Tx at home
Susan Smith 10 FW Tx at home </pre>
In 1880 Margarett Hinds (70, Wd, Ky NC NC) is living in Caldwell Co., Texas in the household of Hamilton West, 33, the son of Margarett's sister-in-law Clarissa Eleanor Hinds and her husband Hamilton West.
CHILDREN:
Gerrin and Margaret had no children of their own, but they adopted her niece Sara Jane Goodin, who then married his nephew. See notes under Sara Jane Goodin, wife of Hamilton West, Jr.
LAND:
In the archives of the General Land Office of the State of Texas are the documents which Gerrin Hinds submitted on May 9, 1831 at Villa de Gonzalez to the Mexican authorities in order to obtain title (títolo de posesión) to the land which he already occupied in Caldwell County. He requests that he be granted title based on the documents that he is submitting. The land is described by metes and bounds. It is a square 5000 varas on each side located on Plum Creek, a tributary of the San Marcos River. In Texas in the early 19th century a vara was 33 1/3 inches and a league was the area of a square 5000 varas on each side. Thus Garren Hinds is the owner of a league, which in modern terms is 4428 acres or about 7 square miles -- lots of land. It is described as 'agostadero' with 6/25 of it being 'temporal'. 'Agostadero' has several meanings; here it may mean 'arable' (plow in August to remove weeds). The most significant document which Gerrin Hinds submitted was signed on February 26, 1830 by Green DeWitt, the empresario who organized the colony of which Gerrin Hinds is a member. A translation of that document follows:
The citizen Green DeWitt, empresario, in order to introduce foreign immigrants into the colony which the Supreme Government of the State of Coahuila and Texas has assigned to him by the contract between the said government and DeWitt himself, to wit:
I certify that Gerrin Hinds is one of the colonists that I have introduced by virtue of my contract previously mentioned; that he arrived in this colony April 13, 1825; that he is married, and his family consists of two persons, according to the declaration that he has presented to me, signed by him.
If you search for "Texas Land Grants" in Google and choose the first website http://www.glo.state.tx.us/archives/landgrant.html, you can see a facsimile copy of the submitted documents (in Spanish). First click on 'Finding Aids' and then twice on 'Land Grant Database'. Choose Caldwell County and enter 'Hinds' as the original grantee. James B. has 2 grants and Gerron one. James B.'s first grant consists of one league adjoining Gerron's. Maps in TEXAS LAND SURVEY MAPS FOR CALDWELL COUNTY (Arphax Publishing Co., 2008) show that Gerron's league is south and slightly to the west of James's. They are SSE of Lockhart. Plum Creek runs through both of them.
GREEN DEWITT'S COLONY:
If you search for "Green DeWitt" in Google, you will find an excellent short history of his colony at http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/dewitt&kerr.htm. It mentions Gerrin Hinds as one of the early members and contains a link to further information about him and his brother at http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/oldgonzales18.htm#hinds.
OTHER SOURCES:
See http://www.texasgen.org for more information about the family of Gerron's wife and its relation to the Hinds. Choose 'Narratives' and then 'Cornelius Smith'.
The following narrative is taken from http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/1828census2.htm. It is from an article written by Frank Hinds and Kathryn F. Allen in The History of Gonzales County, Texas, volume 1, published by the Gonzales County Historial Commission in 1986.
June 2021: It is now "Dewitt Colonists 1828 Biographical Sketches Surnames H-N" at http://www.sonsofdewittcolony.org/1828census2.htm.
HINDS. Gerron, James B. -- Levi and Susannah Gerron Hinds were the parents of James B. Hinds who was born in Kentucky December 5, 1796. Levi (circa 1776 Randolph County, North Carolina-August 7, 1838 Brazoria County, Texas) married Susannah Gerron February 11, 1795 and was the son of Levi (August 25, 1742-August 28, 1817 Wayne County, Kentucky) and Sarah Hinds. Levi, born in Morris County, New Jersey, was the son of Joseph (circa 1702 Morristown, New Jersey) and Ruth Higgins Hinds (circa 1720-1772 Gilford County, North Carolina). Joseph's parents were James (christened February 27, 1647 Salem, Essex, Massachusetts) and Mary Lee Hinds (will probated September, 1731 New Jersey), the daughter of Thomas Lee. James B. Hinds was the firstborn of twelve children, seven sons and five daughters. Ten in the family migrated to Brazoria County, Texas in 1820. James B. Hinds arrived in DeWitt's Colony February 24, 1830 with "five in the family." He was one of the "Old Eighteen" defenders of Gonzales and had a home in the Inner Town of Gonzales before 1831 on Lot 3, Block 2. James' first wife, the mother of his two sons Levi and Gonzales and his two daughters, Minerva and Martha Jane, died between 1831 and 1835. His second marriage was to Louisa Cottle Jackson. James died December 12, 1845 in Gonzales. Searches did not disclose whether he was buried on his own land or in the Gonzales City Cemetery.
Gerron Hinds, brother of James Hinds, arrived in DeWitt's Colony April 13, 1825 with "two in the family." Gerron was married to Margaret Smith, daughter of Cornelious and Elizabeth Roberts Smith. They had no children but adopted Sarah Jane Goodin, daughter of Margaret's sister Elizabeth. Gerron was one of the six men who set out from Brazoria with James Kerr to locate the spot upon which to found the capital of DeWitt's Colony. He was a close associate of Erastus "Deaf" Smith and was on a buffalo hunt with "Deaf" when the frontier settlement of Gonzales was attacked by a party of Indians in July, 1826. Gerron Hinds was a participant in the Confrontation at Velasco of June 1832. Gerron died December 11, 1870 in Caldwell County and was buried in the McNeil Cemetery near Luling. Both James and Gerron received land grants through the Empresario which included leagues of land in Gonzales County extending into what later became Caldwell County. The 1850 census of Caldwell Co lists household: HINDS: Gerrin 49 m KY; Margaret 39 f KY; HARRIS: Lorenda 27 f KY; SMITH: William C. 8 m TX
Minerva Hinds, daughter of James B., was born November 14, 1829 in Brazoria County, Texas. She was just three months old when James B. took his family to Gonzales and was seventeen when she married James Hanson July 16, 1847. There were six children born to that union: James Adam, Mary J., Lee G., Harrison Gonzales, John M. and Alice Belle. James Hanson died either in 1857 or 1858. Minerva then married Joseph G. Hinds, a cousin, November 27, 1858 in Caldwell County. Joseph G. was a son of John B. Hinds who was a brother of James B. Hinds, Minerva's father; hence, Minerva and Joseph were first cousins. Joseph and Minerva had three children: Benjamin Taylor, Eli Clemmons and Monte Rhea. Minerva was a true pioneer, raising her children alone as Joe was a trail driver from Port Lavaca to Austin and was gone from home for months at a time. Joe was a volunteer in the Confederate army, 16th Regiment, Texas Cavalry. Family stories stated that Joe was wounded in the war and died "not too long" after going home to Texas. Minerva often told of taking the ten-gauge "Long Tom" shotgun with her, because of the Indians, when she went down to Clear Fork to do the washing. It was also known that Minerva boarded a freight train in 1894 or 1895 and rode from Luling, Texas to Ardmore, Oklahoma when she received word that her daughter Monte Rhea was dying. Minerva died July 16, 1903 and was buried in the family cemetery on the "Old Home Place" near Luling. The land was part of the headright league of land granted James Hinds and was situated in Caldwell County on Plum Creek about twenty miles above Gonzales. It was assigned to Minerva at the death of her father James B. Hinds and remained in the Hinds family. Minerva sold some acreage from time to time for as little as ten cents an acre to buy a new buggy, a team of horses or other needed items. The old house was abandoned in the late 1930's and the lumber was sold during World War II. The well and family cemetery remained on the site. Slaves as well as family members were buried in the family cemetery and a fence was erected for the protection of the graves. The property was maintained by the Hinds descendants.
Benjamin Taylor Hinds (February 7,1859-December 14, 1914), son of Minerva and Joseph G. Hinds, married Addie Shade December 20, 1896 and was buried in the family cemetery. They had three children: Benjamin Marvin (January 13,1899) married Margaret McGill in Gonzales October 26, 1939 and had no children; Dan Leon (June 13, 1903-March 27, 1947 Luling Cemetery) married Bertie Bowles August 4, 1933 and had one son Ben Leon (June 23,1934 Luling); Lexia (March 16, 1905) married Hollie O'Connor Allen October 8, 1922 and had one son Hollie O'Connor Allen Jr. (September 26, 1923). All three children were born on the "Old Home Place." Frank Hinds and Kathryn F. Allen (From The History of Gonzales County, Texas. Reprinted by permission of the Gonzales County Historical Commission).
General Notes: Wife - Margaret Elizabeth Smith
For an account of the Smith family, including its relationship to the Hinds, see http://www.texasgen.org/. Choose 'Narratives' and then 'Cornelius Smith'.
1 Mrs. Arnolia Appling and others, Caldwell Co. Texas Cemetery Records, 1971, pg 178. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.
2
3
"Find-a-Grave," Memorial # 99747201.
4
Genealogical and Historical Society of Caldwell Co, Historical Caldwell County, 1984, pg 192. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.
5
"Find-a-Grave," Memorial # 19564686.
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