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CAFFEY, James & Rachael Hoover (Thanks to Eunice Hoover Mitchell for this information!)

During the American Revolution John Caffey and his brother came to the United States from Scotland and settled in South Carolina.  Soon after the war ended, John Caffey moved to north Kentucky, where he died, leaving a widow and three small children.  His son William being the youngest.  In 1812 William married Margaret Pearsel.  (Records have been found of a William Caffee marrying a Rebecca Pearseall, July 15, 1812 in Washington County, Kentucky.  They reared a family of nine (9) children.  James being the third child, born July 9, 1815, in the state of Kentucky.  At the age of 18 James moved with his parents, across the Ohio River into the southwest part of Indiana near the little town of Edwardsport, on the White River.  James Caffey's parents were Roman Catholic and reared their children in that faith.  (This has not been proven 8-12-69).  In January 1844 during a series of meetings conducted by Elder Smith of the Christian faith.  James and his wife renounced their orginal religious faith and were baptized by Smith in the icy waters of  the White River, the congregation standing on the ice to witness the performance.
   In 1846 they migrated to Upshur County, Texas with Rachel's father, Abraham Hoover and several other members of the family.  Lucy Caffey and Nicholas Hoover (brother to Rachel) and Sarah Caffey.  The story is that Elizabeth, Bernette, and Margaret Caffey stayed in Indiana.  It is not mentioned if William Caffey, Sr. and Rebecca Pearseall came to Texas or started to Texas or stayed in Indiana.
   The Hoover family came from Holland and was one of the earliest settlers of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, (not proven).  In 1790 George Hoover migrated to Ohio.  There his son Abraham Hoover married Nancy Robinson in 1811 (Several George Hoovers and Abraham Hoovers have been located in Ohio in the census records of Ohio between 1800 and 1830 but as to this date 8-12-69 it is uncertain as to which family belongs to the Caffey-Hoover group.)  To this union were born 13 children, 8 boys and 5 girls.  Rachel was the fifth child.  She was born March 4, 1818 in the state of Ohio.  In 1836 she moved with her family to Edwardsport, Indiana.  Relighously her family were Lutheans. (not proven).

CAMP, JOHN LAFAYETTE (1828-1891)

John Lafayette Camp, soldier and political leader, was born on February 20, 1828, near Birmingham, Alabama, the son of John Lafayette and Elizabeth (Brown) Camp. In 1848 he graduated from the University of Tennessee, and the following year he moved to Gilmer, Upshur County, Texas. There he taught school, became a prosperous cotton planter, and established himself as one of the leading attorneys of East Texas. In 1851 he married Mary Ann Ward, the daughter of William Ward, a well-known physician. The couple eventually had five children.
When the Civil War began, Camp was first elected captain of a company and then colonel of the Fourteenth Texas Cavalry. The regiment served in Texas and Arkansas in the early months of the war but was later transferred east of the Mississippi River to the Confederate Army of Tennessee. There the regiment was consolidated with the Tenth Texas Cavalry, Dismounted, and assigned to Mathew D. Ector's brigade. Camp saw action at the battles of Richmond and Cumberland Gap, Kentucky; Murfreesboro (Stone's River), Tennessee; and Chickamauga and Altoona, Georgia. He was twice wounded and twice captured.

In 1866 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives from the First District of Texas but was not permitted to take his seat. He served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1866, where he was an advocate of presidential Reconstruction. In 1872, as a delegate to the national Democratic party convention, he favored cooperation with the liberal wing of the Republican party. In 1874 he was elected to the Texas Senate, where he sponsored railroad construction in order to encourage the settlement of West Texas. He was also a firm supporter of constitutional reform and, with two members of the Texas House of Representatives, formed a committee that drafted a proposed new constitution for the state.

In 1878 Governor Richard B. Hubbard appointed Camp judge of the district comprising Jefferson, Marshall, Palestine, and Tyler, and in 1884, hoping that the change of climate would improve Camp's health, President Grover Cleveland appointed him registrar of the land office in Arizona. His health continued to decline, however, and Camp resigned after two years to return to Texas. He settled in San Antonio, where he died on July 16, 1891. He was the father of John Lafayette Camp, Jr. Camp County in northeast Texas is named in his honor.

CAMP, JOHN LAFAYETTE, JR. (1855-1918)

John Lafayette Camp, Jr., judge, was born on September 23, 1855, in Gilmer, Texas, the son of Mary Ann (Ward) and John Lafayette Camp. After graduating from the Gilmer Academy, Texas Military Institute (San Antonio), and Trinity University he served in the Texas Senate from 1887 to 1891 and then moved to San Antonio, where he established a legal practice. In 1897 Governor Charles Allen Culberson appointed Camp judge of the Forty-fifth District Court. He continued to be reelected for seventeen years, usually without opposition. Among his most notable decisions was that which enabled the preservation of the Alamo chapel. "Care and custody" of the shrine had been granted to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas by a state law of 1905. In 1912, however, the state legislature, at the prompting of Governor Oscar Branch Colquitt, appropriated $5,000 to "improve" the Alamo. Colquitt's true intention was to turn the Alamo into a state park. When the DRT filed suit to halt the dismantling of the historic structure, Camp ruled that the 1912 law had not overturned that of 1905 and that the Daughters maintained custody of the property. An appellate court concurred.
In 1913 President Woodrow Wilson appointed Camp United States district attorney for western Texas. In that position he was chiefly responsible for the arrest, on June 27, 1915, of former Mexican president Victoriano Huerta for the violation of United States neutrality laws. Huerta was released on bond but rearrested on July 3 and confined at Fort Bliss, where he died six months later. In 1916, when Judge Thomas Sheldon Maxey retired from the bench, the eighteen Texas representatives and two senators endorsed Camp as his successor as federal judge of West Texas, but President Wilson demurred, thinking that no one over the age of sixty should hold such a position. Wilson did, however, appoint Camp to a second term as district attorney.

In 1881 Camp married Lamartine Felder, the daughter of J. L. Felder, a Leesburg physician. Camp died in San Antonio on August 10, 1918. He was survived by his wife, five daughters, and two sons.

Cook, John Jr

Thanks to his gggrandson Tim Cook for this information.

John Cook Jr was born 1797 in North Carolina to John Cook Sr. They moved into Kentucky and made their way into Tennessee into Wayne County. There John Jr met & married Deborah Martin born 1800 North Carolina. She was living in the Martin Mills area there in Wayne County. They married in 1819 in Wayne County, Tn & have the distinction of obtaining the first marriage license issued in Wayne County.  John & Deborah had 12 children.

Alexander Cook, born 1820; William Cook born 1823; David Cook born 1825; Martin Cook born 1827; Melissa Cook born 1832; Christopher Columbus Cook born 1834; Samuel Cook born 1835; James Cook born1836; Mary Cook born 1837; Charles Cook born 1839; John Cook born 1841; Thomas Jefferson Cook born 1844. 

John & Deborah moved to Tishomingo County, Mississippi in what was called the Eastport area. The last two of their children being born in Tishomingo County. Sometime around 1855 all of them but Martin moved to Grice, Texas, Upshur County.   In 1860 William moved back to Tishomingo County to live and fight in the civil war with his brother Martin.  Alexander Cooks home in Gilme,r Texas has been named a Texas historical landmark.  John Cook Jr had 11 brothers and sisters.  He died 1873 in Upshur County, Texas.  Deborah died 1873 in Montague, Texas.

COUCH, JOHN MARION - By great great-granddaughter Patricia Couch Grimes

John Marion COUCH was born on July 29, 1832 in Spartansburg, S. Carolina to the parentage of Matthew and Louisa Couch. John had sisters: Mary, Frances, Juliana, Clarinda (married Joseph Abner Yarberry) and Sarah (married Boone Zumwalt). He had brothers Thomas and Matthew Harrison (married Bethira Angelina Smith).

John married Mary Jane KEY on February 10, 1850 in Cass County, Georgia. He was 17 and she was 15 and they resided with John's parents, Matthew & Louisa.

John and Mary Jane were living in Arkansas at the start of the Civil War and he enlisted in Company D, 33rd Arkansas Infantry and because he was a blacksmith and worked with iron and wood, was sent to the Confederate Shop in Arkadelphia, Ark. He was transferred when the Army moved the shop to Marshall, Texas in 1863. At the end of the war, John moved his family back to Arkansas for 10 months and planned a move to Texas. The family, along with John's brother, Matthew Harrison, moved through Marion and Harrison Counties until they reached Upshur County and decided they would remain there. He built a home in 1868 close to the highest elevation of Camp County which later became known as "Couch Mountain". John worked a water-powered grist mill and farmed the land.

John and Mary Jane had 9 children:
1. John Washington Couch b: 4-21-1852 in Georgia (married Rhoda Ellen Rumsey)
2. William Marion Couch b: 8-23-1854 in Georgia (married 1st Laruh Alice Williams 2nd Alice Barton)
3. Julia Ann b: 12-27-1856 (married James Madison Huse)
4. Mary May ("Missie") b: June 1862 (married John Franklin Sorrells)
5. Samuel Harrison b: January 1866 Arkansas (married 1st Fannie King 2nd Lula Bell Howell)
6. Louisa Ella b: 6-29-1868,Upshur Co, Tex. (married John F Ray)
7. Nancy Caroline ("Callie") b: 6-17-1870, Upshur Co, Tex.(married Albert Pike Sutton)
8. David Pinkney b: 4-18-1872, Upshur County, Tex. d: 12-9-1887, age 15.
9. Emma Delilah b: 12-23-1875, Upshur County, Tex. (married John Carey Heidle)

John Marion Couch died 4-27-1891, age 58, in Upshur County and was buried at Lafayette Cemetery. His son, David Pinkney had been buried there years earlier. After John's death, his widow, Mary Jane and children William, Julia, Missie, Callie and Samuel moved to Kaufman County, Texas. Mary Jane lived (with her daughter Callie) in Kaufman County until her death in 1901.

John Washington Couch who married Rhoda (Rodie) Ellen Rumsey remained in Upshur/Camp County and raised his family.

Louisa Ella who married John F Ray moved to Cass Co, Tex and raised her family.

COUCH, WILLIAM MARION - By great-granddaughter Patricia Couch Grimes

William Marion COUCH was born August 23, 1854 in Cass County, Georgia to the parentage of John Marion COUCH and Mary Jane KEY. William's siblings were John Washington, Julia Ann, Mary May, Samuel Harrison, Louisa Ella, Nancy Caroline, David Pinkney and Emma Delilah.

William moved with his family to Arkansas where his father enlisted in Company D 33rd Arkansas Infantry and worked in the Confederate Shop in Arkadelphia. William's stories included talking about taking "dinner" to his father in the shop. The Confederate Shop was moved from Arkadelphia to Marshall, Texas in 1863 and William's father was transferred. William moved with his mother and siblings to Marshall, Texas. After the war, the family moved back to Arkansas for 10 months before heading to Texas.

The family was living in Upshur/Camp County Texas by 1868 when William was in his early teens. He married Laruh Alice Williams in 1880 and they had 4 children: George Marion b: 1881, Sarah Jane b: 1883, James Harrison b: 1886 and Maggie May b: 1887.

Laruh Alice died in August 1890 and is buried at Riley's Chapel Cemetery. William moved his four young children to Kaufman County, Texas in 1893. His siblings Julia, Missie, Samuel, Nancy and Emma also moved to Kaufman County with their families. His brother John Washington who married Rhoda Ellen Rumsey remained in Upshur/Camp and raised their children. His sister, Louisa moved to Cass Co, Tex and raised her family.

William married second to Alice Barton on 4-24-1895 and they had two children: Lillie Annie b: 1896 and Martin Homer b: 1899. Sadly, William would bury his second wife in 1901, the same year he buried his mother.

William was a successful farmer and known throughout Kaufman and that part of Texas. He was a kind and generous man, as seen on the 1920 census where at 65 years old, his 2 grown daughters are living with him along with 6 grandchildren and his grown son, Martin Homer.

William had a great faith in God and was a long time active member of the Sunset Baptist Church in Kaufman County. He died at the age of 80 in Elmo, Kaufman County, Texas and is buried at Wilson Chapel Cemetery.

CRANFILL, THOMAS (1821-1889)

CULBERSON, DAVID BROWNING (1830-1900)

David Browning Culberson, lawyer, soldier, and politician, was born in Troupe County, Georgia, on September 29, 1830, the son of David B. and Lucy (Wilkerson) Culberson. After leaving Brownwood Institute, La Grange, Georgia, he read law at Tuskegee, Alabama, in the school of William B. Chilton, chief justice of Alabama. He was admitted to the bar in 1850 and began practice in Dadeville. In 1856 he moved to Texas and settled in Upshur County, where he practiced law in partnership with Gen. Hinche P. Mabry until 1861, when he moved to Jefferson. Culberson was a member of the Texas legislature from Upshur County during the session 1859-60; he resigned his seat because he opposed secession and his district favored it. When the Civil War began he aided in raising the Eighteenth Texas Infantry, of which he became lieutenant colonel. After service in the Vicksburg area in 1862 and 1863 his health broke, and he was assigned to Austin as adjutant general of Texas. In the winter of 1864 he was elected to the legislature from Cass, Titus, and Bowie counties and resigned his military position to accept.

Culberson attended the Democratic state convention in 1868 and served as a presidential elector. As a prominent Jefferson lawyer he was one of the defense attorneys in the Stockade Case of 1869, and he helped defend accused murderer Abe Rothschild in the Diamond Bessie Murder Trial. Culberson was elected in 1873 to the state Senate; he resigned when he was elected to the Forty-fourth Congress of the United States. He was reelected for ten successive terms and served from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1897. In office he supported prohibition and opposed federal interference in state government. In 1876 he favored the repeal of the Specie Act, and in 1888 he introduced antitrust legislation in Congress. Though he was in sympathy with many of their political goals, Culberson campaigned against the Populists in the 1890s, attacking them as a divisive force in state politics. On June 21, 1897, he was appointed by President William McKinley to the committee to codify the laws of the United States. He served in this capacity until his death.
On December 8, 1852, he married Eugenia Kimball; they had two sons, one of whom, Charles A. Culberson, became governor of Texas. Culberson was a Mason and an Odd Fellow. He died in Jefferson on May 7, 1900, and was buried in Girard Cemetery.



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