Colonel James Wrigley 1822-1896

Colonel James Wrigley, a retired citizen of Alvarado [in Johnson County], is one of the oldest residents of Texas [as of ca. 1892]. He was born in Johnstown, Montgomery county, New York, in 1822. His father, also named James, was an Englishman, and his mother, whose name before marriage was Sarah Phelps, was of Welsh descent. Edwin Phelps, Commissioner of Agriculture for the State of Michigan, is an own cousin of Col. Wrigley's. The Phelps family is a very large and noted one.


Colonel Wrigley's father was born at Leeds, Yorkshire, England, became a weaver by trade, and emigrated from England to the United States after the Revolution, and before the broadcloth power looms were in vogue. It is recorded by the Pittsfield (Massachusetts) Sun that in 1803 the first piece of broadcloth ever made in the United States was manufactured by James Wrigley, Sr. A man named Schofield came with him from England, bringing the first carding machine, and set it up in Connecticut. Afterward he went into partnership with Mr. Wrigley, the father, in Pittsfield, and with another man named Pomeroy. The war of 1812 came on, and the company failed, after which Mr. Wrigley moved to Johnstown above mentioned.


When our subject was four years of age the family removed back to Pittsfield, where his parents died. Young James was then sent, in 1832, to Pontiac, Oakland county, Michigan; but he was kicked and cuffed about so that he left there, and came to Texas, in 1844, settling at Liberty, Liberty county, where he resided for thirty-one years, engaged most of the time in the mercantile business. At one time also he had a large cattle interest, and an interest in a steamboat line on the Trinity river. From 1852 to 1856 he was a resident of Galveston. He was the first Postmaster of Liberty, after the annexation of Texas in 1845, and in that capacity made the last settlement with the Government in 1856.


His first disaster was the loss of a $10,000 warehouse on the Trinity river in the year 1868 [sic, i.e., 1865]. The next was the loss of the steamer Alice M., during a storm, in which he was a one-third owner. In 1881 his dwelling-house in Liberty was burned, without insurance upon anything, and he lost with the rest all the souvenirs of fifty years' collection. About the year 1858, he was a charter member of a company organized to locate a route for the Trinity Valley railroad, and was elected president of the company; but the war came on too soon for the execution of their enterprise.


During the last war he served four years. He commanded a battalion, which surrendered at Vicksburg in 1863. It was a part of T.N. Waul's Legion of Texas. He first enlisted as a private in a company raised in Liberty county and went to Brazos-Santiago. Afterward he raised a company for E.B. Nichols' regiment, and when that was disbanded he raised a company for Waul's Legion, intended for service in the Mississippi Department under Van Dorn. His experiences on the battle-field in that department were at Coldwater, Mississippi, then on the line of the Tallahachie, Coffeeville, Grenada, Fort Pemberton, Yazoo river, and finally at Vicksburg, under Pemberton. His command marched up as the last to report at the surrender. He and his men had been at Vicksburg forty-seven days. Waul's Legion made up the number to about 33,000 men, and they were all paroled. He and his regiment then came across the river, and he turned to his Texan home, where he remained until exchanged. Then he went to the mouth of the Brazos and re-entered the army, under Magruder, but saw no active service.


Colonel Wrigley has occupied high positions in the Masonic order, being at one time grand Junior Warden of the Grand Lodge of Texas, Grand Generalissimo of the Grand Commandery, and Deputy Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter. He is a member of the blue lodge in Alvarado and also of the chapter there; and he also belongs to Cleburne Commandery No. 12, of which he has been Captain General. In the Odd Fellows he is now District Deputy Grand Patriarch of the Patriarchs Militant.


For his wife the Colonel married a daughter of Billups Gayle, in Liberty county, Texas. The family were from Alabama, of which State John Gale was at one time Governor, and afterward United States Judge. Mr. Billups Gayle was for seven years cashier of the Mobile State Bank, as early as 1835, etc. The Colonel has four children living.

• The eldest [Lela, b. 1850] is now residing in San Angelo, the wife of E.L. Jones;
  
• the second is John B. Wrigley [1855-1927], now in the confectionery business in Alvarado, a partner of the firm of Colston, Kelsey & Col.;
  
• the third-born is Mrs. George [Ida, b. 1859] Bristley;
  
• and the remaining daughter [Annie Corrine 1864-1951] married Dr. B.G. Prestridge of Alvarado.
  

Luke H. Wrigley, a prominent young attorney of Albion, Nobel county, Indiana, is a nephew of the Colonel; so is also Roy F. Wrigley, who has extensive mining interests in Colorado.

Original data: A Memorial and biographical history of Johnson and Hill Counties, Texas : containing the early history of this important section of the great state of Texas, together with glimpses of its future prospects, also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens of the present time, and full-page portraits of some of the most eminent men of this section. Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1892. [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Pages 572-574.

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Dallas Morning News, 21 May 1896. Wrigley - Alvarado, Texas, May 19 - Col. James Wrigley died very suddenly Saturday night. Col. Wrigley was born in Montgomery County, New York, August 13, 1822. He came to Texas in 1844 and settled in Liberty County, where he resided for forty-one years. He was elected mayor of the city of Alavardo in 1894 and served two years. During the late war he commanded a battalion, it being a part of Waul's Legion. His wife is a daughter of Billups Gayle of Alabama. He leaves four children. He was buried with Masonic honors by the Cleburne commandery.

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1850 Census Liberty County, Texas

• Gayle, Billips 47 M SC
  
• Gayle, Anna A. 42 F Ga
  
• Gayle, Caroline A. 16 f Ala
  
• Gayle, Billips E. 12 M Ala
  
  
  
• Wrigley, James 28 M NY
  
• Wrigley, Anne G. 21 F SC (Ala?)
  
• Wrigley, Lela J. 1/12 F Tex
  
• + 4 boarders
  
  

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1860 Census Town of Liberty Liberty County, Texas 06 June 1860

From 1860 Census

• James Wrigley 37 M Merchant 15,000 2000 New York
  
• Ann E. Wrigley 31 F Alabama
  
• Lela J. Wrigley 9 F Liberty Co.
  
• John B. Wrigley 3 M Galveston
  
• Ida Wrigley 1 F Liberty Co.
  
• Ann P. A. Gayle 49 F Georgia
  
• C. A. Bolling 27 F -- 1500 Alabama
  
• James E Bolling 2 M Liberty Co
  
• B. B Fathine 34 M Physician 500 Mississippi
  
• Danl Cleveland 51 M Town Marshal 5000 500 Vermont
  
• B. F. Rhoads 38 M Stock Driver 1550 240 Tennessee
  

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1870 Census Liberty County, Texas 12 July 1870

• Wrigley, James 47 M W Merchant 250 New York
  
• Wrigley, Annie E. 41 F W Houskeeping 2500 Alabama
  
• Wrigley, John 15 M W 50 Texas
  
• Wrigley, Ida E. 11 F W Texas
  
• Wrigley, Annie C. 6 F W Texas
  
  
  
• Sunday May 11th 1862. Today Capt James Wrigley’s wife was delivered of a female child, slightly hair lipped. (10) I bought from Jim Rogers negro man 200 pues (11) for 7$. River still rising. weather changeable and showery.
  
• Monday May 12th 1862. Today the steamer Ruthven arrived with Capt James Wrigley and Ed. Jones on board. In the evening I assisted Capt Wrigley in burying his dead infant. The boys [are] busy in the ware house. The river [is] still rising. weather changeable with occasional showers of rain.
  
  

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1880 Census Liberty County, Texas Liberty Town

• James Wrigley, 57 WM NY Eng Ma Farmer
  
• Anne E. Wrigley 50 WF Al Al Ga wife (Gayle)
  
• John B. Wrigley 25 WM Tx NY Al Son Oc: Depy Co Clerk
  
• Annie C. Wrigley 16 WF Tx NY Al dtr at home
  
• Ann J A Gayle 73 WF Ga Va Va Mother-in-law
  
• 3 servants
  
  

Dr. Abner G. King

Received from a King descendant . . .  

Dr. Abner G. King married Martha “Patty” [Pledger nee] Rentfrow, widow, in Fayette County, Georgia in 1855. Mrs. King was originally from Macon, Georgia. They had eight children. She died in 1900 and is buried in Sonora Cemetery, Fairlie, Hunt County, Texas. It is believed that Dr. King died in 1903* and is buried in Trinity County, Texas. 

One of their sons, Franklin Lafayette King (1855-1929), was a registered pharmacist and the owner of a drug store in Fairlie, Texas. He too is buried in Sonora Cemetery.

Dr. King was a close friend of a Mr. Rentfrow who also moved to Houston County from Georgia to be near the King family. Both Dr. King and Mr. Rentfrow served in the Confederate Army [5th Texas Cavalry] seeing action in New Mexico.

Saturday, October 13th, 1860. To day I went to Dr. Abner G. King's and surveyed for him 110 acres of land out of the Sam Chairs headright & wrote for him the deed for the same, which was executed by Joseph Keen. Boys at work on the carriage house. weather clear, but strong wind from the North and very cool, with a frost at night which is the first of the season.

Sunday, June 14th, 1863. To day I drove my horse (Gladiator) and buggy down after Mother [Mahala Sharp Hall nee Roberts], who came up and spent the day with the little woman [Margaret Hall Stewart nee Sharp]. Roberta [Hall] & Toby [Horace Oscar Hall] also came up on Rat. I purchased from Dr. King his place near Mr. Keen's consisting of forty acres of land with the improvements thereon, for which I paid him 300$ and took his deed. weather clear and hot. Ther: standing at 90°.

1870 Census Houston County, Texas

• A G King 42
• M P King 38
• F D L King 14
• B C King 12
• J M King 9
• E G King 7
• Mary M King 5
• M J King 2

*1880 Census Houston County, Texas [Abner does NOT appear with his famiy on this census]

• Martha M. King 47 [Widowed]
• Franklin L. King 24
• James M. King 20
• Elizabeth G. King 16
• Nancy J. King 13
• Malinda E. King 10
• Emma C. King 6

DIARY OF MAYOR TELLS WAR STORY

The Liberty Vindicator
Liberty, Texas
April 22, 1965


The diary kept by James Madison HALL, who served Liberty as mayor from 1861 to 1866, has not only helped to piece together the history of the Liberty area since the city's incorporation in 1838, but also records some interesting sidelights of the changing times, it was revealed in a check of material received by Mrs. Ben PICKETT, chairman of the Liberty Historical Committee.


R.L. HALL of Anahuac, licensed state land surveyor and registered public surveyor, who has the diary kept by his great uncle, conveyed highlights from the chronicle to Mrs. PICKETT, along with a photostat copy of a picture of "the best likeness I have of James Madison HALL" taken from Judge A.A. ALDRICH's History of Houston County.


The quality of the reproduction was not of the type that can be printed in a newspaper, however.


Mayor HALL's cause of death is not revealed in the information at hand, but the gentleman apparently remained active in his many pursuits -- one of them the surveying business such as is being carried on by his great nephew -- up until his last days, the final entry by him in his diary being made September 10, 1866, followed by a notation of his death September 12, 1866, just two days later.


R.L. HALL reports the interesting fact that the Bible record is apparently at error by one year in placing Mayor HALL's date of death as September 12, 1867. An old copy of the Liberty Gazette substantiates the diary notation of his death having occurred in 1866.


James Madison HALL was an older half-brother of my grandfather, Horace O. HALL," Mr. HALL explained in a letter to Mrs. PICKETT accompanying the other information. "They were both sons of Col. Joshua James HALL who came to Texas in about the year 1835 and settled on the Ramon de la Garza Five Leagues on Elkhart Creek in Houston County, Texas."

Hall says his great uncle assisted in the tax office in Liberty from time to time, though he ran a mill near Elkhart, and was at one time provost marshal in charge of conscription for the Confederate forces in Liberty.


Married on July 14, 1859, six months before he began keeping his diary which started on January 16, 1860, Mayor HALL recorded the birth of a daughter, Florence "Fawn" HALL on October 19, 1860, and a son, James Wrigley HALL, on October 8, 1862. The son was apparently a namesake of another former Liberty mayor, James WRIGLEY, who is recorded as serving 1850-51-56-82 [SIC].

Earlier in 1862, on March 1, J.M. HALL had been nominated colonel of the Fifth Regiment, Second Brigade. Entries of November 12 through 17 of that same year clearly reflect the signs of the times, dealing with building of fortifications at the mouth of the Trinity River.

(Mayor HALL's grand nephew, R.L., who reported this information, now lives about three blocks south of these old fortifications in Anahuac.)


The river work underway, HALL proceeded to act as "major domo" on November 24 in a "grand tableaux given in Liberty, Texas, for the relief of soldiers," the diary records.


Since U.S. citizens right now are still moaning from having just passed another "Ides of April" and the dread of income tax statements, a tax note of interest from HALL's diary of November 27, 1863, might be of noted: "Paid $1213 war tax." Not only that, HALL recorded, but "whiskey was $80 per gallon."


HALL's diary reports December 31, 1863, as the coldest day of his 28 years in Texas, with the mill pond frozen over; purchase of one ounce of quinine on July 21, 1864, for $300; dancing one cotillion at a ball given by a Captain Stubblefield at Hall's Bluff on January 20, 1865, for the price of $10 -- and a laconic comment on March 14, 1865, of his attempted asassination by six men, one of whom he named.


Trinity River navigation got in the story, too, when HALL made a trip upriver in April from Smithfield on John F. CARR's flat-boat and tied up at the railroad bridge. And in May he records the Steamer Ruthven's being tied up at Chambers Wharf in Anahuac.


The end of the Civil War in this chronicle had nothing to do with LEE's surrender to GRANT, but is recorded thus:


"May 24, 1865, Gen'l E. K. SMITH surrendered to General CANBY of the Trans-Mississippi Department -- War is over."


On July 3 that year, HALL purchased 100 pounds of bacon at 10 cents a pound, and on August 19, he was elected Mayor of the City of Liberty.


Building of a school house in Liberty was begun in January of the following year, which was the year of his death, and in March, the mayor wrote that he had purchased two pair of fine gold spectacles -- one for himself and one for his wife.


June 26, Liberty City Council passed several sanitary ordinances because of the prevalence of smallpox in the city, a fact widely substantiated by microfilm records of newspapers and city council actions of that time. Whether the then-dread disease was the cause of the mayor's death is not recorded, but it was in September of that year he passed away.

The R.L. HALL mentioned here is Robert Loring HALL (17 May 1914 - 11 August 1981).