McGee

Ralph McGee, born 18 February 1796, in Tennessee, died 19 August 1851, in Polk County, Texas. Ralph was a son of David S. McGee (1763-1857)) and the father of Mary McGee and Dorcas McGee. Ralph’s wife was Lydia Cude. Mary “Polly” McGee was born 23 November 1817, in Jefferson County. Alabama and married James Buchanan there about 1833. James was a son of William Buchanan. Lydia and James’ first child, William Buchanan, was born in 1834 in Alabama. Ralph and Lydia McGee and James and Mary Buchanan with their son emigrated to Coahuila y Texas, Mexico in 1834 as members of Stephen F. Austin’s fifth colony. On 19 October 1835, James received a Mexican land grant of one league (4,428 acres) that is located in present Burleson County, Texas and James made their home there. Ralph McGee and his family remained in present Polk County, Texas. James Buchanan fought and died at the Alamo in San Antonio on 6 March 1836. Mary Buchanan was at least seven  months pregnant when she took her two year old son and endured the “Runaway Scrape” by crossing the Brazos River and going east, probably to Polk County where her father and family was living. James and Mary’s second and last child, James Houston Buchanan. Was born 19 April 1836, forty days after his father’s death and two days before the battle at San Jacinto.

Mary McGee Buchanan married John W. Overby on 25 October 1838, in Montgomery County, Republic of Texas. John was born about 1816 in South Carolina, a son of Benjamin Overby. John received a second class land grant of 640 acres in Montgomery County but they relocated to the Buchanan land grant. John and Mary had three children: Ann Elizabeth, Benjamin, and Emma Adeline Overby. John died in 1844 and was buried near their homestead on the Buchanan land grant in Burleson County, Republic of Texas. James Houston Buchanan later established the grave site of about one acre as a cemetery. The cemetery is now known as the Old Birch Creek Cemetery.

Mary McGee Buchanan Overby and James Hughes were united in marriage about 1845. Their known child is Lydia Jane “Liddy” Hughes. James Hughes apparently died before the 1850 Census of Burleson County. In the 25 September 1850 Census, Mary Hughes, age 32, and her children: James Buchanan, age 14; Ann  Elizabeth Overby, age 10; Benjamin Overby, age 9, Amy Overby, age 7, and Liza Jane Hughes, age 3 were living in dwelling #190 in Burleson County. After James Hughes death, Mary is reported to have married Robert H. Snodgrass. Robert was born in 1804 in Georgia and died in 1870. Mary McGee Buchanan Overby Hughes died about 1865. Her grave is next to R.H. Snodgrass’ grave in the Old Birch Creek Cemetery.

William Buchanan, the first child if James and Mary McGee Buchanan, was born in 1834 in Alabama. On 20 July 1860, W. Buchannan, a male, and A. Buchannan, a female were living with the I.N. Hitchcock family in south east Burleson County. The 1870 Mortality Schedule has William Buchanan, born in Tennessee, died in December 1869 in Burleson County.

James Houston Buchanan, the second and last child of James and Mary Buchanan, was born 19 April 1836, probably in present Polk County, Texas. He married Ellen Jones on 3 August 1857, in Burleson County. James served as a Private in Company B, 20 Texas Infantry, CSA during the Civil War. James and Ellen had six children: James Curtis, Aaron C., Pharaoh, Oliver Peter, Estelle, and Roxie Buchanan. James Houston Buchanan died12 February 1881, and with Ellen Jones Buchanan (1840-1887) are buried in the Old Birch Creek Cemetery. James and Ellen’s first child, James Curtis Buchanan, was born 3 December 1858, died 14 August 1876, and is buried in the Early Chapel Cemetery in Lee County, Texas. Oliver Perry Buchanan, the fourth child of James and Ellen, was born 13 September 1872, in Dime Box, Lee County, Texas. Oliver married Alice Clements Bonneville on 2 June 1902. They had six children: Gladys, Marie, Ollie, Oliver Peter, George Oliver, James Houston, and  Alice Marguerite Buchanan. Oliver Perry Buchanan died 14 December 1928, in Marlin, Texas and his wife Alice died 8 June 1970. They are buried in Midland, Texas.

Ann Elizabeth Overby, first child of Mary and John Overby, was born about 1840 in Burleson County, Republic of Texas. She married 1st John Ryan on 26 May 1853, in Burleson County, and married Benjamin Calvin Fugitt on 5 June 1856, in Burleson County.

Benjamin Overby, the second child of Mary and John Overby, was born in 1841 in Burleson County. He died in 1851 and .is buried in the Old Birch Creek Cemetery.

Emma Adeline “Annie” Overby, the third and last child of Mary and John Overby, was born 1 September 1843, in Burleson County, Republic of Texas. She married John Flippin on 10 May 1858, in Burleson County. John Flippin, the third child of Absalom and Emilia Fugitt Flippin, was born in 1835 in Cole County, Missouri, dies in 1873, and is buried in the Old Birch Creek Cemetery. John and Emma Adeline Flippin’s known child is; William Benjamin Flippin, born 23 May 1860, in Burleson County, married Margarette Adeline Terrell on 25 July 1877, in Burleson County. Mrs. Margarette Flippin was born 31 August 1858, in Fayette County, Texas, died 27 May 1946, and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. William and Margarette’s known children are: Eugene Walter Flippin (1878-1949), Hattie Belle Flippin Roberts (1880-1957), Margarette Flippin Walvaren (1884-1971), and Ira Henry Flippin (1886-1961). After John’s death in 1873, Emma  Adeline Overby Flippin married Edward A. Monford (1846-1927) on 14 October 1875, in Burleson County and they later moved to Erath County, Texas. Mrs. Emma Adeline Monford died 8 August 1915, in Tarrant County, Texas with burial in the Upper Greens Creek Cemetery in Erath County.

Lydia Jane “Liddy” Hughes, the only child of Mary and James Hughes, was born 26 July 1846, in Burleson County. She married, on 25 January 1860, in Washington County, Texas, Andrew Jackson Flippin, the fifth child of Absalom and Martha Emilia Fugitt Flippin, who was born 1 August 1839, in Cole County, Missouri. Andrew served as a Private in Company B, 29th Texas Infantry, CSA during the Civil War. Lydia and Andrew’s known children are: Edward, born about 1866; Thomas, bornabout 1869; William Andrew, born about 1871; John A., born about 1872; Mary Lee, born about 1885; and Reuben Jackson Flippin, born about 1887. Reuben Jackson Flippin and six of his children were burned to death in the 5 January 1919, fire that destroyed their home in Clodine, Fort Bend County, Texas. Mrs. Lydia Jane Hughes Flippin died 30 January 1919, and her husband Andrew Jackson Flippin died 9 February 1930. Lydia and Andrew are buried in the Cheatham Cemetery in Colorado  County, Texas.

Dorcas McGee, a daughter of Ralph and Lydia Cude McGee and a sister of Mary McGee, was born 8 December 1833, in Alabama. She came to Texas with her parents in 1834. Dorcas married John Wesley Leggett (1824-1894) and they had at least seven children: James Walter (1851-1923); John Calvin (1853-1913); Ralph McGee (1855-1937); Lydia Ann (1857-1864); Samuel Parham (1859-1899); Dorcas Beasley ((1868-1904); and Martha Leggett (1872-1958). Dorcas McGee Leggett died 4 March 1916, and is buried in the Moscow Cemetery in Polk County, Texas.

Last Update Wednesday, 18-Sep-2024 17:51:33 MDT