Notes for William Henry Cheairs
Is this William:
1870 Precinct 5, Fort Worth PO, Tarrant Co, Texas 29 August 1870, p532a:
#870/866 W. Chers 18 m w farmer Tx w/Felps family
[His sister, Mary, and half brother, Joe, are with J.S. Johnston on p514b]
1880 - unable to locate on census
1900 Justice Precinct 1, Brownwood, Brown Co, Texas 13 June 1900, ed3, p46b:
#132/138 Chiairs William head w m Mar 1852 48 md 17 yrs farmer Tx NC Ga
Bell wife w f Nov 1868 md 17 yrs 4 born/4 living Tn Ar Ar
Lovesia dau w f Feb 1885 15 single Tx Tx Tx
Lidia dau w f Jun 1897 13 single Tx Tx Tx
Martha dau w f Apr 1890 10 single Tx Tx Tx
William son w m Mar 1892 8 single Tx Tx Tx
Stephens Joseph father [in-law] w Jan 1819 81 md 46 yrs Ar Ky Al [I think he should be listed as a widow]
Charfin Cheairs, Parker County, TX 1850's
Posted By: Linda Sherman
Post Date: May 08, 2005 at 17:55:53
Message URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/cheairs/messages/52.html
Forum: Cheairs Family Genealogy Forum
Forum URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/cheairs/
I'm searching for information on Charfin CHEAIRS (this is how his granddaughter spelled his name, but I've also looked under Charpin). He married Martha Johnson (1860 census for Parker County, TX she says she's from Georgia). I don't have a marriage date, but their first child, William Henry was born 9 March 1853 in Parker County, TX. I presume that Martha and Charfin married about 1852. Her birth date is 4 June 1827, which means she was about 26 when she had her first child. A second child, Mary, was born in 1856. Mary married a Harell, and lived in Eastland and Erath counties in Texas. Charfin CHEAIRS died in 1857, one year after the birth of Mary.
Martha Johnson Cheairs then married Ezra SHERMAN and had one child, Joe or Joseph. When he was one year old, Comanche Indians killed Martha. The children were raised by Martha's brother Jerry and his wife Lizzie Johnson in Desdemona, [Eastland Co] TX.
William Henry CHEAIRS apparently lived his life in the Parker/Palo Pinto Counties of Texas, as he was born in Parker County, married Charlotte Bell Stephens on 30 Aug 1883 in Palo Pinto County and died in Palo Pinto County (12 Aug 1904). His only male descendant died at age 22 of the measles, so there is no continuation of his name to track.
William Henry CHEAIRS married Charlotte Bell STEPHENS 30 Aug 1883 and h
the following children:
1. Theresa Ann CHEAIRS born 5 Feb 1885 in Palo Pinto County, TX. She never married and died 5 Jan 1906.
2. Lydia CHEAIRS born 10 Jun 1887. She never married and died 26 Feb 1911.
3. Martha Josephone CHEAIRS born 7 Apr 1890, married Charles Haydon on 27 Oct 1907. She died in Lincoln County, Roswell, NM Feb 1979.
4. Mary Bell CHEAIRS born 18 Dec 1903 and died the same day.
[forgot William b. 1892 who died at age 22 - see above]
Martha CHEAIRS Haydon had a granddaughter: Mrs. Don W. Prince who was living at 500 S. Union in Roswell, NM in 1965. I don't even know her first name. This is referenced in an article my late aunt cited.
Any leads at all would be very appreciated!
Thanks, Linda Sherman
Plainview News article May 15, 1925? by Mrs. Charles Hayden of Plainview, Texas (daughter of William Henry Cheairs who died 12 Aug 1904 in Palo Pinto, Texas).
Mrs. Sherman [Martha] was my own grandmother, being my father's mother. My father [William Henry Cheairs] was eight years old when the Indians scalped his mother, but he never forgot that day. My father's father died when father was only four years old; his name was Charfin Cheairs. Later Grandma married Mr. Sherman [Ezra], and there was born to them one child, a boy named Joseph, who now lives somewhere in Lubbock County.
He [Joseph] was only a small boy of about two years [he had turned one Oct. 11th and this was Nov. 27th 1860] when one day at noon Grandmother was fixing dinner when she noticed a bunch of men on horse back, whom she took to be Indians, a bunch of about 25 or 30. She told Mr. Sherman, her husband, that they were Indians but he told her not to be frightened as they were only cowboys. So they forgot all about it, thinking they were cowboys, when all at once a chief rode up with five others and faced the house.
Mr. Sherman had no gun, and he went out to threat them kindly as he thought they would not harm them, but the chief raised in his stirrups and whistled aloud, then the rest of the Indians who were hidden behind surrounded the house, slapped Grandma several times and told Mr. Sherman to take her and the papooses and leave. They then turned the table over, which had dinner on it. My father, only a child, did not know what to do, but ran out the back door and down the road a ways to a live oak thicket where he hid. Mr. Sherman taking Grandma and a little girl, Mary Cheairs, my father's younger sister, and the little boy, Joseph, and started to a neighbor's house, a distance of about two miles. When about half way the chief [Peta Nocona] overtook them and took Grandma away from Mr. Sherman. He took her by the hair of the head and dragged her. He passed the thicket where father was hid, but he was afraid to run out. The chief then dragged her about a quarter of a mile, beat her, took the pins from her clothes and stuck them in her flesh, and then scalping her he left her to die.
When Mr. Sherman reached the neighbor's house, he got a gun and went back, but the Indians were gone. He found Grandma a little ways from the house; she called for water, and Mr. Sherman carried it to her in his hat, then picking her up he carried her to the house, where she stayed until her death, which was only three days.
My father slipped out at dark from his hiding place to see what had happened, thinking he would never see his mother again, but alas he walked in and found his mother scalped and laying on what bed the Indians had not destroyed.
Su Ross and his men the next day passed on their way on a chase of the Comanches and stopped by to bid Grandma farewell, as they knew she could not live until they returned. She told Ross that she hoped he got the chief for he was the one that scalped her. Ross told her he would get him if he had to follow him to the Rocky Mountains. Ross and his men captured them one evening late as a drizzly rain was falling. He scalped the chief and as he did so the Comanche said, "Woof! White man bad!"
The Indians had with them the family Bible with an arrow hole about one third through the thickness. Ross brought back the Bible; also the scalp of Grandma, the coat that was worn by the chief, which they said, belonged to Mr. Sherman. They also got it to show they got the right bunch.
My father and his sister were reared by his uncle and aunt, Jerry Johnson near Desdemona, Texas, better known as Uncle Jerry and Aunt Lizzie. My father has been dead nineteen years in August. He was 54 at death.
Cynthia Ann Parker [kidnapped at age 9 by the Comanches from Fort Parker] was a second cousin of my father on his father's side. [Cynthia later became Chief Peta Nocona's wife and mother of Quanah. Cynthia told, after her recapture, that her husband, Peta Nocona had led the raiding party through Parker County.] The Parker and Cheairs families all lived in Illinois and moved to Texas along about the same time. I have heard my father tell so much about the capture of Cynthia Ann. Now I could tell you much more but will not take up too much space.
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