Today’s Tidbit with focus on the men who served Shelby County for the period of 1832-1845. I have already done articles on some of the men so I will not include. This article will by no means include everyone who served the County during this time frame. The information was obtained from “A Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congresses 1832-1845” compiled by Elizabeth LeNoir Jennett, October 1841. You might find an ancestor in the list.  Enjoy!!

Bell, John S., evidently came to Texas in the late 1830s, records in the General Land Office showing that he was granted a conditional land certificate in San Augustine on December 23, 1839. In the House of Representatives of the Fifth Congress, November 2, 1840, until February 5, 1841, Bell served as the member from Shelby County. On November 1, 1844, he filed his claim against the Republic for $124 for corn fodder and beef furnished the Sabine Troops in August of the same year. On March 16, 1852, the claim was paid to Bell’s attorney, James H. Raymond, and the notation made that the money had been sent to John S. Bell, in Shelbyville, Shelby County. Beyond this year, 1852, nothing is known of his whereabouts.

Bradley, John M., one of Austin’s original “Three Hundred”, soldier, and political radical, was an early settler in the Ayish district. He was a lieutenant in the Nacogdoches campaign of 1832, raised a volunteer company in the Revolution, and distinguished himself in the campaign of 1835 around San Antonio. When Regulators, under Watt Moorman, attempted to assassinate Bradley for purportedly harboring enemies, he fled to San Augustine County where in 1844, he was found by Moorman and murdered as he left a church after a revival meeting. John Bradley served at the 1832 Convention as a delegate from Tenaha (Shelby County).

Butler, George, delegate from Tenaha, Shelby County, to the Convention of 1832, was according to General Land Office records, a native of Georgia and a “man of family consisting of five.” His certificate of character, signed by alcalde of San Augustine, was issued September 27, 1834, and his headright certificate for land is present Wilbarger and Kerr Counties, November 5, 1835. Butler was elected to two offices on February 4, 1839: Justice of the Peace in Shelby, and Associate Land Commissioner. Further data is unavailable.

Dial, John, came to Texas in March 1837, a married man. On August 3, 1838, he was granted his conditional certificate, and September 29, 1841, his unconditional certificate, for land in Shelby County. He represented his county in the House of Representatives for the Seventh Congress, 1842-1843. In 1844, he furnished supplies to Captain L.H. Mabbitt’s company for Shelby County. That same year, he represented the Moderators in the Moderator-Regulator peace parley designed to end their feud. Sometime between 1844 and 1849, John Dial, the circumstances of his death not available.

Edwards, Lilburn U., first appears in public records soon after the Revolution, as Clerk of the Board of Land Commissioners for Shelby County. Later, in 1841, he served as Clerk of the District Court in Shelby. From December 1843, until February 1844, he represented his county in the House of Representatives of the Eighth Congress. Mr. Edwards arrived at Austin nine days after the session convened, and appears to have served on but two committees, Military Affairs and Public Lands. No other facts concerning his life are available.

English, John, was born in Virginia, July 5, 1793, according to a marker in Hicks Cemetery, ten miles east of Crockett, while the certificate of character that he signed February 1, 1838, shows he was a native of Tennessee. A veteran of the War of 1812, he came to Texas in 1825. In 1833 he was a delegate from Tenaha (Shelby County) to the Convention. A captain under Colonel Phili A. Sublett in the Texas Revolution, he served from October 27 until honorably discharged, November 24, 1835. At the Second Congress of the Republic, 1837-38, English represented Shelby County in the House. It was in 1838, too, that he carried express (mail) from Shelbyville to Clarksville. Still living in Shelby County in 1850, English was listed in the agricultural census of that year as the owner of a small farm. Nothing further is known of his activities until he died, December 30, 1868.

English, William, a delegate from Tenaha (Shelby County) to the Conventions of 1832 and 1833, was an immigrant of 1825, according to records of the General Land Office. Though little authoritative data is available, English seems to have lived in the eastern part of Texas most of his life, having been elected to Coahuila Legislature from the municipality of San Augustine on January 10, 1835, and having served as secretary of the Masonic Lodge in the same place in 1841, while Land Office papers quote his as living in Shelbyville, February 20, 1838. When the 1850 agricultural census was taken in Panola County, on September 29, William was listed as a farmer and stock raiser. The time of his death is not known, but instruments filed by is widow and heirs in Carthage, Panola County, are dated October 2, 1859.

Foy, Frederic, delegate from Tenaha (Shelby County) to the 1832 Convention, came to Texas “before May 1835”, according to his certificate of character in General Land Office Records, and was a married man. His headright certificate was issued at San Augustine, March 8, 1838. On August 14, 1837, Foy was installed as Senior Warden in the Masonic Lodge at San Augustine, this lodge being named for William McFarland, a fellow delegate of Foy’s at the Convention of 1832. In the 1850 census of Sabine County, Frederic Foy was listed as a farmer and stock raiser. He was still living in 1852 when, on February 21, he transferred to Johnson Wren a warrant issued to him by the State. No information beyond that date is available.

Note: There are several more men named in this book that served Shelby County either at the Convention or in Congress. I will continue the list next week.

I am still seeking old tools for the next exhibit for the museum. Your help is greatly appreciated.  If you have any questions, feel free to either call me at 936-332-4847 or email me at martin.vickie.1@gmail.com.