Wednesday, August 29th, 1866

To day I am at work at the warehouse. Jimmy [James Wrigley Hall] broke the tongue of his buggy. Mrs. John Wrigley arrived on the cars from Houston and reported that Col. Wrigley, Lelia & John left Galveston on Saturday the 26th inst. in route for New York. Capt. John W. Redman is still with me also Dr. Tarleton & family. Hicks made one load in the woods after white oak blocks. Roberta [Downes Halyard nee Hall] had a chill and fever. Weather variable and hot. Ther: 84°.

Tuesday, October 2nd, 1860

To day we left Dailey's and rode through a hard rain & arrived at Crockett for dinner, and after dinner I drove home making 26 miles travelled. at home I found the little woman well, and things moving on ? expenses of day $1.00.

Friday, September 28th, 1860

To day I remained in Liberty, James Wrigley having arrived this morning from N. York. expenses 2$. weather changable & warm.

Monday, August 13th, 1860

After travelling all night in the stage, I arrived at Colleto for breakfast, to Sumpter for dinner & to Crockett for supper. expenses of the day $2. weather clear & pleasant.



On this date . . . the 13th day of August . . . in the year 1822 . . . J.M. Hall's good friend, Colonel James Wrigley, is born in New York . . . wonder if Hall remembered / knew to tell him Happy Birthday when he saw him!

Thursay, August 2nd, 1860

Thursday, August 2nd, 1860. To day at 6 O'Clock A.M. I left the City of New York on the steamer Richard Stock in route for home and arrived at South Amboy at 9 O'Clock A.M. There I took the cars and arrived in Philadelphia at 12 O'clock ? for dinner. Thence on to the City of Baltimore, and put up at Barnum's Hotel [pictured here]. expenses of the day $5.50. weather clear & warm.

July 28, 1860

On this date in 1860 . . . the Keeper of the Journal, aka James Madison Hall, is still in New York with his father, Joshua James Hall . . . and there are no Journal entries for the rest of the month of July . . . but elsewhere in Texas . . . 

---

BELLVILLE [TEXAS] COUNTRYMAN. July 1860 – May 1865

BELLVILLE [TX] COUNTRYMAN, July 28, 1860, p. 2, c. 1. Our First Issue. We this day, issued the first number of our paper, with the above title. We hope to make it a useful weekly visitor to the homes and firesides of our readers. . . .

BELLVILLE [TX] COUNTRYMAN, July 28, 1860, p. 2, c. 1. Excitement in Northern Texas. — By an extra from the office of the Brenham Enquirer dated the 23d inst., we learn that [tear in paper] excitement in Northern Texas [tear in paper] an insurrection movement among the negroes, led on by white men. Enough has been discovered to show that a deep laid plot was on the eve of being consummated to free the negroes and destroy the whites. The insurrection was to take place on the election day in August. The burning of the town of Dallas on the 8th inst., and of Denton, Pilot Point, Belknap, Gainesville, Black Jack Grove, etc., has been traced to the agency of these emissaries. With such warnings about us it is time to beware. Let every citizen and every member of the households in our County be on the look-out — be vigilant, be watchful. There are many itinerating strangers among us. Some pretending to follow one occupation and some another. They may be spies and fiends intent on the destruction of our homes, our property and our lives. No harm can result from "Eternal vigilance." P.S. — We learn since writing the above, that a meeting has been held at Hempstead, to devise ways and means on these matters. What will our people do?

BELLVILLE [TX] COUNTRYMAN, July 28, 1860, p. 3, c. 7. $50! If paid strictly in advance, pays for board and Tuition for five months, (if not paid till close of Session, seventy dollars at -- Mound Prairie Institute, Mound Prairie, Anderson Co., Texas. Faculty. Elder Jas. R. Malone, M. A., President; Professor of Latin, Greek, Spanish, Pure Mathematics and Belles Letters. Elder M. V. Smith, Prof. English Branches, Natural Science and mixed Mathematics. Geo. W. Awalt, Tutor. Female Department. Miss M. A. E. Dickson, Principal and instructress of Literary and Ornamental branches and French. Musical Department is under the control of Prof. C. F. Cheesman, late of Alabama. Prof. Cheesman is an expert Musician and master of his profession. In short he is second to none in his department in the State of Texas, and the progress of the pupils give ample testimony of the fact.

Tuition for a Term of Five Months.

• First Class -- $10
• Second Class -- $15
• Third Class -- $20
• Extra Course
  • Music, with use of Instrument -- $25
  • Ornamental and Needle Work -- $15
  • Spanish -- $20
  • French -- $20
  • Drawing and Painting, each -- $10
• Contingent fee, due on entrance -- $50

• Declamation and composition every two weeks. Public review fourth Friday in every month.
• Tuition due from day of entrance to the close of the session.

The President is prepared to take in forty boarders, in dormitories on his own land, at the exceedingly low price of $50 for a term of five months, (if not paid till the end of the term $70,) if paid strictly in advance. Positively no deduction in any case except for protracted sickness. All damage done to dormitories or furniture will be charged to the occupants of dormitories. Present session closes June 10th, and the next session opens 2d Monday in August.

J. R. Malone, Principal.

N.B.—All bills for board and tuition due, made payable at Plentitude, Anderson County, Texas.

July 23, 1860

On this date in 1860 . . . the Keeper of the Journal, aka James Madison Hall, is in New York with his father, Joshua James Hall . . . and there are no Journal entries for the rest of the month of July . . . but elsewhere in the United States . . .

CHARLESTON MERCURY, July 23, 1860, p. 3, c. 5

On Marriage. -- I suppose there is a modicum of romance in most natures, and that if it gather about any event it is that of marriage. Most people marry their ideals. There is more or less fictitious and fallacious glory resting upon the head of every bride, which the inchoate husband believes in. Most men and women manufacture perfection in their mates by a happy process of their imaginations, and then marry them. This, of course, wears away. By the time the husband has seen his wife eat heartily of pork and beans, and, with her hair frizzled, and her oldest dress on, full of the enterprize [sic] of overhauling things, he sees that she belongs to the same race as himself.

And she, when her husband gets up cross in the morning, and undertakes to shave himself with cold water and a dull razor, while his suspenders dangle at his heels, begins to see that man is a very prosaic animal. In other words, there is such a thing as a honeymoon, of longer or shorter duration; and while the moonshine lasts, the radiance of the seventh heaven cannot compare with it. It is a very delicious little delirium -- a febrile mental disease -- which, like measles, never comes again.

When the honeymoon passes away, setting behind dull mountains, or dipping silently into the stormy sea of life, the trying hour of marriage life has come. Between the parties, there are no more illusions. The feverish desire of possession is gone -- vanished into gratification -- and all excitement has receded. Then begins, or should begin, the business of adaptation. If they find that they do not love one another as they thought they did, they should double their assiduous attentions to one another, and be jealous of everything which tends in the slightest degree to separate them. Life is too precious to be thrown away in secret regrets, or open differences. And let me say to every one to whom the romance of life has fled, and who are discontented in the lightest degree with their condition and relations, begin the work of reconciliation before you are a day older.

Renew the attentions of earlier days. Draw your hearts close together. Talk the thing all over. Acknowledge your faults to one another, and determine that henceforth you will be all in all to each other; and my word for it, you shall find in your relation the sweetest joy earth has for you. There is no other way for you to do. If you are happy at home you must be happy abroad; the man or woman who has settled down upon the conviction that he or she is attached for life to an uncongenial yoke fellow, and that there is no way of escape, has lost life; there is no effort too costly to make which can restore to its setting upon the bosoms, the missing pearl. -- Timothy Titcomb.

July 19th, 1860

On this date in 1860 . . . the Keeper of the Journal, aka James Madison Hall, is in New York with his father, Joshua James Hall . . . and there are no Journal entries for the rest of the month of July . . . but elsewhere in Texas . . .

150 years later . . . comments on the Texas Troubles of 1860

DAILY GAZETTE & COMET [BATON ROUGE, LA], July 19, 1860, p. 2, c. 1. The Town of Dallas, Texas Consumed. -- The Houston Telegraph gives an account of a destruction conflagation [sic] which visited Dallas on Sunday the 8th inst. With the exception of a few dwelling houses, the entire place is in ashes. The loss is estimated at $300,000.

TEXAS BAPTIST [Anderson, TX], July 19, 1860, p. 2, c. 5. The Drouth. We have just returned from Huntsville. The roads continue dry and dusty. Farmers are much discouraged. Corn crops are about a total failure in many fields, and the best is not half a crop. -- Cotton is now presenting a gloomy prospect, a few very small bolls have matured and are opening. The most of the young bolls and forms will soon fall off unless it rains soon. The cotton crop is likely to be a worse failure than the corn crop, in the counties we have seen. We hope our friends in the northern part of the State will pity us and send us some flour, and some small grain of different kinds to sow for our stock during the winter. We want Barley, Rye, Wheat and oats.

TEXAS BAPTIST [Anderson, TX], July 19, 1860, p. 2, c. 6. Fire at Dallas. -- We are sorry to learn that nearly the whole of the town of Dallas was destroyed by fire on the 7th instant, leaving not a hotel, store, or office hardly remaining. The loss is estimated at between $3000,000 [sic] and $500,000. The fire spread with such rapidity that very little was saved, and part of the goods taken out of some of the buildings were consumed. This will be a severe blow on that growing place, as we understand there was but little insurance. It is supposed to have been the work of abolition incendiaries.

Saturday, July 14th, 1860

Saturday, July 14th, 1860. To day I left Baltimore on the 8 O'Clock train of Cars, and arrived at Philadelphia for dinner, and thence on to New York, at which City I arrived at 6 O'Clk. P.M. and stoped at the National Hotel. my expenses at Baltimore was $1? and at Philadelphia $1. I remained in New York purchasing goods until the 2nd day of August. expenses while in the City $125? weather while in the City was warm & pleasant, with 3 rains during my stay.

Sunday, July 8th, 1860

Sunday, July 8th, 1860. To day I left Galveston at 10 o'clock A.M. on the Steamship Cayaba? with a full list of passengers going to N.Y. The gulf was very smooth. weather warm & clear. I purchased at Galveston a through ticket to N. York and for which I paid $82.50?.

• Great Fire in Texas --THE TOWN OF DALLAS DESTROYED ALL THE STORES, HOTELS AND PRIVATE DWELLINGS BURNED
  
• The Late Fire at Dallas, Texas -- EXTRAORDINARY DEVELOPMENTS ALLEGED ABOLITIONIST PLAN FOR DEVASTATING NORTHERN TEXAS
  
• Treason in Texas
  
• The Late Fires in Texas

Tuesday, July 3rd, 1860

To day I left home in company with Father in route to New York, and arrived in Crockett at 10½ o'clock a.m. there arranged my business & left on the stage at 10 o'clock P.M. expenses of the day $12.50. weather changable.




Received an email today from a great-granddaughter of the man referred to above as Father . . . her Dad is the son of the child often referred to in The Journal as Toby . . . she said . . . My dad use to tell me that Joshua James (Father) and James Madison would go to New York off and on to buy goods for their stores and have the goods sent by ship to Galveston where the goods went up the Trinity River to Hall's Bluff. They would stop in Baltimore and visit old family and friends. James Madison was born in Maryland. Esther Margie . . . thanks, cousin Esther!



DEMOCRAT AND PLANTER [Columbia, TX], July 3, 1860, p. 2, c. 3. Our Trip to the Beach. We last week took a trip to that part of the county lying on Cedar Lake and the lower Bernard. We found that section suffering equally with others from the excessive drouth. The crops are looking quite as well there as elsewhere. — There will be some fine crops of cotton raised in that neighborhood, and some inform us that they will make corn to sell.

At the beach we found several planters with their families, who have gone there to spend a few weeks. The fishing, the cool and refreshing sea breeze, and the delightful bathing, is a pleasant relief from the dust, drouth, and in some instances, dull prospects, of the plantation. It seems strange that more of our wealthy planters do not avail themselves of the benefits of that healthy location; it may perhaps be accounted for from the fact that a few weeks residence at the beach costs so little, its advantages are not fully appreciated. — Few of our citizens who, at great expense, visit celebrated watering places, realize how pleasant a summer resort they have at their very door, as it were.

In taking the census of those people who live on our Gulf coast, we can but notice how rare are the occurrences of death among them. The fact that two places like Quintana and Velasco do not support a physician is worthy of note and very good evidence of the health of that locality.



CHARLESTON MERCURY, July 3, 1860, p. 4, c. 2. Ladies' Dress.-- The saying is proverbial that when two ladies pass on the street, they are sure to turn their heads to see how each other are dressed. We were witnesses a short time since to a scene of this kind, which was decidedly amusing. We were sitting in our office, gazing out at the window, when we espied, on the opposite side of the street, two ladies, dressed in the extreme of the fashion, approaching each other with heads thrown back, and a dignified scornful look, which was meant, we suppose, to convey the idea that they were totally unaware and careless of each other's presence. They passed, and before twenty feet had separated them, they both turned at the same moment, to see how each other was dressed. They were caught. There was confusion. One of them, with lowered crest and quickened pace, passed on. The other, under the impression, no doubt, that she was still gazed at by the lady who had just passed, resorted to a subterfuge. Her bonnet -- poor thing -- was just at that moment found to be terribly out of order, and the way she twisted her neck and tugged at the bonnet, was painful to the neck and death to lace and artificial flowers. We guess the curiosity of these two ladies was satisfied, and no more observations were made that day, at least.-- Macon Telegraph.

Monday, July 2nd, 1860

To day I arranged all my affairs preparitory to my visit to New York. Hands picking cotton. weather changable & warm.

Joshua James Hall

Around 1835, Joshua James Hall (1790-1871) came to Houston County, Texas. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1790. In 1812 he volunteered for military service for the defense of America against the British. February 19, 1819, he and his first wife Elizabeth had a son, who was named James Madison Hall.

From Baltimore, Joshua went to Natchez, Mississippi. On the rolls there of the Andrew Jackson Masonic Lodge, in 1820, he is found as a member.

Sometime in 1823, he moved to Vicksburg. There he went into a General Store business, and he married his second wife. Vicksburg was his home about ten years.

His son James Madison Hall moved with his father to New Orleans in 1833. At this time, there was a Yellow Fever epidemic, and Joshua being a fine wood craftsman, opened a business in making coffins for the many dead of the fever.

With a nice sum of money from this business, he moved with James Madison to Conroe, Texas in 1834. In Conroe, he had a General Retail Store.

While there, he began to make land investments. One of these investments was the purchase of the "Ramon de Garza" grant which was located in the northwestern part of Houston County. This grant had 24,000 acres of land. The Elkhart Creek ran through this land, and the Trinity River to one side.

This is where Joshua had a large story and one half house built. There were two large fireplaces on each side of this house with a long 'dog trot' running down the middle of the house.

He built near the Trinity River, a General Store and a Post Office. While Joshua had been in Mississippi, he had also been in the steam boat business. So, he went into the steam boat business again on the Trinity River. A dock was built on some high bluffs over the river and it was there that river steamers began to go up and down the river carrying the cotton and goods of the citizens of Houston County to Galveston.

This became a thriving place, and became known as the Hall's Bluff. Hall's Bluff was very busy in those early days, until the coming of the railroad to Crockett.

James Madison Hall would help with the family business, and he traveled to Liberty, Texas many times by horse over muddy roads from Crockett to Liberty.

Joshua was the gentleman type settler. He wore store bought clothes from New York. He wore the tall beaver hat that was the style of a gentleman of that day. Each year he went to Maryland and to New York for a visit.

In 1850, he married his third [sic] wife, Mahala Roberts Sharp, a widow who came to Houston County before 1835. She was the daughter of Elisha Roberts, an early Spanish Alcalde, of San Augustine, Texas.

To this union were born two children, a daughter Roberta, born May 25, 1852, and a son, Horace was born September 22, 1854. Both of these children were born on the Elkhart Creek Plantation. Horace was called "Toby" by the slaves. He was very close to these people and he always included them as his friends.

Joshua and Mahala were very fond of dancing. They went into Crockett to dancing school. At their Plantation, they had balls for the benefit of the Confederacy. They were active Methodists in the early Methodist church of Crockett.

In 1861, he is shown as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Soule University, a Methodist School at Chappel Hill. He had been elected to this post by the East Texas Methodist Conference. Throughout his life he was an active Mason.

In 1871, he died at his home at Elkhart Creek, where he was buried in the family cemetery.


by
Esther M. Biggers nee Hall
great-granddaughter of Joshua & Mahala

 

The above information was sent to the Keeper of this family history blog in November of 1998 from Pat Stephenson of Madisonville, Texas. In response to my Internet query, Pat wrote . . . "The Halls from Houston County are not my line but I live in Madison County, a Houston County neighbor. I looked at the Houston County history book, published 1979, in the Madison County Library and there is a story in it on Joshua James Hall. . . ." 

 


Virginia Ann Hall was Joshua Hall's third wife. He divorced her soon after marrying her because she would not come to Texas with him in 1850.

He married his second wife in Baltimore, Maryland. I will have to get his records out again to tell you this wife's name. She died in Vicksburg. This marriage was performed by a Rev. Duncan. I have the record for this marriage.

Joshua's first wife was Elizabeth Ann Hall, the mother to James Madison Hall. Not much is known about her. Joshua married her it seems at a very young age.

James Madison came to New Orleans with his father around 1820. Joshua made a lot of money in New Orleans during the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1832-1833, as he was a cabinet maker. He had his business in the French Quarters which means that he could speak French. The cabinet maker made coffins in the early days.

When he made his fortune at this time, and he made a trip to his home city Baltimore, and that is when he married his second wife. She came back to New Orleans with him, then went to Vicksburg, Miss., where Joshua had a store and a Ferry across the Mississippi River.

The "Hall's Ferry" road is still there today. I have the land deed of just where his business was. It was on the River. It seems that Joshua used the same business principal he had in Vicksburg when he set up Hall's Bluff.

James Madison came to Texas first with his cousin John L. Hall. They fought the Mexicans, General Cos at San Antonia in the year 1835 of which the Mexicans were sent back to Mexico. For this battle the men received some Texas Land. James Madison and John L. Hall got theirs in Houston, County (Journal records this).

Joshua still lived in New Orleans then to Vicksburg. Joshua was a citizen of two areas -- Miss. and new Texas. He traveled back and forth between Vicksburg and Houston County.

He paid for the 24,000 acres of a Mexican Land Grant (I have that record) for $39,000 which was a very large amount of money for that day in 1839. His son James, and nephew John were his managers. He came to Texas in the very early 1850's for keeps.

He married Elisha Roberts' daughter, Mahala, a widow of Sam Sharp [John M. Sharp]. Mahala had lived in the northern west part of Houston county with Sam [John] when they came there as a young bride and groom from San Augustine.

The above info was originally shared by Esther Biggers on the 11th of January in 2001.