1866 :: Death of James Madison Hall

One hundred fifty years ago today . . . "I shall have shuffled off this mortal soil and been reaped to the bosom of my ancestors."

It was the 12th day of September . . . in the year was 1866 . . . and according to the information recorded on a military tombstone in the Liberty City Cemetery, this was the final day on this earth for James Madison Hall aka the author of this Journal . . .


A handwritten note on the last page of my copy of the Journal indicates that the "Liberty Gazette says J M Hall died of Cholera Sept 1866" . . . another source says he survived until November of 1866 . . . and yet another handwritten note on the last page of the Journal indicates that he did not die until September of 1867 . . .

Research will be on-going . . . with periodic postings and updates as information is revealed and compiled . . .

James Madison Hall was fond of posting a closing statement at the end of every month of the year as well as at the end of every calendar year . . . since we do not (yet) have access to his final thoughts, we will now go back to his closing notes for the month of December 1864 . . .

Thus I close my jottings for the month of December and for the year 1864 which has just passed & gone and now numbered with the things that were. Whether the Almighty will spare me to chronicle the daily events of the incoming year is more than poor mortal man can foresee or know but trusting in his goodness I shall enter upon the pleasing task which is meaningful as a book of reference and may hereafter be profitable to those who have an interest in my affairs after I shall have shuffled off this mortal soil and been reaped to the bosom of my ancestors.

1866 :: Crawford House

Dallas Herald. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 52, Ed. 1 Saturday, September 14, 1867

Among the victims of the yellow fever at Galveston, we find the name of Mrs. N.B. Crawford, of whom the Telegraph gives the following notice:

“She was born in Knox county, Tennessee, in the year 1815; the wife of Dr. J.W. Crawford, who died in Washington county, Texas, in the year of 1856; the daughter of Major Jesse Bartlett and Frances Calloway, who emigrated to Texas in an early day. Major Jesse Bartlett was one among the first Texians to resist Mexican oppression, and served as an officer in the army under Gen. Sam Houston during the struggle for Texas Independence. Mrs. Crawford was one of the oldest Texians in the State, and resided the largest portion of her life in Washington county, Texas. Some years previous to the war, she moved to Hempstead, where she remained until the close of the war, and then removed to Galveston where, up to her death, she kept the Crawford House. She leaves a son and daughter and many relations and friends to mourn her sore loss. Thus so untimely the community has lost one of its most benevolent servants, Christianity one of the most consistent Christians, and a family a devoted mother."

"Opposite Catholic Church, fronting on Church St."