William Martin Priest
Sex: M
Birth: 15 MAY 1800 in Russell County, Virginia
Death: 14 SEP 1871 in Austin, Travis County, Texas
Event: Census - 1 1830 Vermilion County, Illinois,
Event: Move 1 1830 Pike County, Kentucky to Vermilion County, Illinois
Event: Census 1840 Floyd County, Kentucky
Event: 1840 Vermilion County, Illinois to Floyd County, Kentucky
Event: 1841 Floyd County, Kentucky to Travis County, Texas
Event: 1870 Travis County, Texas,
Event: Occupation 1850 Laborer
Event: Census 1850 Travis County, Texas
Event: Census 1860 Travis County, Texas
Burial: Post Oak Bend, Travis County, Texas

Note:
August Term Monday, 28th of August 1815 Ordered that a subpoena be issued against the Administrators of Richard Priest to appear here next court to show cause if any they can why William Priest infant heir to said (sic) decendent shall not be bound as apprentice according to law. March Term - Monday, March 25, 1816 Subpoena issued against the administrator of the estate of Richard Priest to appear and show cause why William Priest, infant son the deceased, shall not be bound out. [William is the only child of Richard's to be a minor when Richard died. If he was born in 1800 he would have been 13 when his Father died. Or, his Mother moved taking the two youngest girls and he decided to stay and was living with the administrator of the estate or another family member.
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Many of the family trees on the internet show Reuben Kendrick Priest as William and Mary's oldest child. He was born April 4, 1824 a year before William and Elizabeth's marriage. If her birthday is correct (March1, 1810) she would have been 14 years old when she had Ruben and 15 and a half when she had John. Not only was Mary's Father was a minister, in the 1940 census it doesn't show they have any sons over 15 years of age. However, John Priest's civil war pension file states that he was born in Pike County, Kentucky in 1825. The Pike County, Kentucky tax records show William Prieste living in the John's Creek area of Pike County in 1825, and the 1840 census shows them having a son between 10 and 15 and John would have been 14. [Comment: Lucy DeYoung]
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Pike County Tax Records - 1825 William Priest Owned no land Pike County Tax Records - 1827 (Johns Creek area) William Priest Owned no land Floyd County Tax Record - 1837 (Johns Creek area) William Priest Owned no land Show 2 children between 7 & 17 which would be John and Nancy
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1830 Census William is in Vermilion County, Illinois next door to Reuben Giddens, Richard Giddens, and Edward Giddens Nancy Stratton's father Hezekiah Stratton is in Crawford County, Illinois p 11, image 23.
One male child under 5 - John
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Floyd County Court July 1838
On motion Abner James praying an alteration in the road around his farm ordered that James Walker, Msatthew Clay, William M. Priest and William Wilten or any three of them after being first duly sworn do view the new proposed way for a road as well as the present road and report to the next term of this court the comparative conveniences and inconveniences that will result to the public as well as to individuals in case the said changes shall be made. [So William must be back in Floyd County in 1838.
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1840 Census taken June 1, 1840 William Priest is living in Floyd County on John's Creek between Abner James and William McCoy. So they must have moved back from Illinois. [William in not in the index, but he is definitely there on the actual census] Males: 30 - 40 William would have been 40 if born in 1800 1 son 10 - 15: John was born in August of 1825 so he would have been 14 at the time. 1 son 5 - 10: Alexander C. died in 1837, and Richard Lincoln born Dec. 23, 1833 so he would have been 7 at the time. 1 son under 5: William Martin Priest was born March 4, 1838 so would have been 2 at the time. Females 1 daughter 10 - 15: Nancy Ann was born April 9, 1828 so she would have 12 at the time. 1 daughter 5 - 10: Elizabeth Jane was born Dec. 30, 1835 so she would have been 5 at the time. 1 daughter under 5: Rachael was born May 1840. [Where is Reuben and who does William M Priest who married Nancy Weddington belong to?]
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Floyd County Tax Record - 1841 (Johns Creek area) William Priest Owned no land Only two children between the ages of 7 and 17 reported. Moved to Texas. After 1841 John would have been 16 years old [would he have been subject to court supervision as a minor?]. He and William could have stayed with relatives. They had many around. [To encourage immigration the Republic of Texas offered colonization contracts beginning in 1841. After some boundaries were defined and settled, Congress accepted the Republic of Texas into the Union in 1845 as the twenty-eighth state
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Floyd County Tax Record - 1853 (Johns Creek area) Priest, John 75 - acres in Floyd County on Brushy watercourse, value of land is $200, 1 males over 21, 2 cattle, 1 hog over 6 months old, total value at 17 cents per 100 dollars. Priest, William - no land Priest, William Jr. - no land [Did William Martin decide to come back from Texas for a visit and just happened to be there at tax time
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According to Louise Priest "From the Bible records I learned that William Martin Preece, Sr., was born May 18, 1800. He died March 31, 1870, following a stroke on the river bank while fishing. Mary Elizabeth Gideon (Giddens, his wife, was born March 8, 1810. She died March 11, 878. I have another record that shows William M. Preece died September 14, 1870, and will check. I found two sets of records, one from the Bible, and one copies from same source. The first two children of the older couple were Reuben B. (shown as P., as I recall, in one record) who went to the Mexican War with the Red River Volunteers from Clarksville. He was dead within a few months. John C. must have been John Cyrus, who went with Reuben about the same time, and I understand he died in the War. I also find a John C. who was born and died in 1851-52; so there is much checking to be done." [I believe the John C. is John Priest who was born Aug. 1825 in Pike County, Kentucky and stayed in Pike/Floyd County when his parents moved to Texas in 1841-42. In her letter to her cousins Ada May Preece Allen and Forrest Preece of Martin County, Kentucky on 10.7.1966 Louise Preece continues "Forrest, the folks in Texas were relieved to learn that when William Martin whacked that man in the head the latter walked away. We always understood the man expired! If the trouble was over a woman, as we also heard, he still remained true to his part-Cherokee wife until he died.
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The 1870 Census taken the 15th day of August lists the following: William Priest, 68, farmer, value of Real Estate $500, value of personal belongings $500, Pennsylvania Elizabeth, 60, keeping house, Pennsylvania Rachel, 30, Missouri Frank, 20, Texas Next door is Richard Priest, 35, farmer, value of Real Estate $300, value of personal belongings $300, Missouri Catherine, 25, Missouri Elizabeth, 3, Texas Mary, 1, Texas Next door is Taylor Priest, 23, farmer, value of Real Estate $300, value of personal belongings $200, Texas Fanny, 23, Texas Sherman, 1, Texas If Martin died in March then they told the census takers he was still alive. They are still using the spelling of the name Priest.
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Dallas, Texas 75206 February 15, 1982 Dear Linda, I am so sorry for the delay in analyzing your letter of January 21. First of all, I am returning your check. I am so happy to be of service and I would much rather be on an exchange basis for our mutual benefit. Also, I am delighted that Mae Preece Sturgill is interested in the work. Had I replied sooner to your first letter, I would have told you that you are welcome to share what I send. For one thing, I am trying to put in order a lot of information I have and which I just had to put in boxes because I have continued to work and just researched. I have a good picture of the Southwest Virginia background, and find that I must return to the library or some material that I inadvertently put out about two years ago. This will have to be organized and put together. Henry Scalf was just wonderful to help, and even when he was so ill he would reply to all my letters. I have research Kentucky and have correspondence from both Forest Preece, at Inez, and Ada Mae Preece Allen. I need to follow up some leads. I would appreciate having a copy of the marriage record of Alexander Boone and Louvenia Stratton Preece. Now I must ramble. I have it figured out that the Nancy Stratton who married Reuben Giddens was a sister of Louvenia. The dates are within a reasonable bracket. The marriage was in 1797 and I have a have a copy of the certificate. I wonder if I sent you a copy of the marriage record of William Martin Preece to Elizabeth Giddens, daughter of Nancy and Reuben They went into the Illinois Territory, probably with John Stratton and his group. He headed a delegation--I should say migration--into Edgar County, Illinois. Our Texas folk were in Vermillion County, Illinois when my records were made. Vermillion County was unorganized territory. Edgar was formed in 1823 from Clark, of which the county seat was Paris. Vermillion was formed in 1826 from Edgar, and the county seat was Danville. It was in Danville that Richard Franklin Giddens, eldest child of Nancy and Reuben, enlisted in the Blackhawk war. He received much land here in Texas, in addition to his land grant for such enlistment. Reuben performed the marriage ceremonies for people in Kentucky and also in Illinois, including those of his own children, of which we have some records. I feel such a personal relationship to him and Nancy. Our people came into Texas through Louisiana by flatboat, so the family tradition goes; they landed at Old Jonesboro, now known as Clarksville. There Richard Franklin and his relative the Barnett's, established the Concord Baptist Church, which is now the oldest church in the Northeast District the district correct. Family graves, including that of Richard Franklin are today in the adjoining church yard. We do not know when Nancy Stratton Giddens died, or whether it was somewhere on the trip or in Illinois. I have record of Reuben preaching a sermon, or perhaps it was a burial service (I think the latter) in Red River County of which Clarksville is the county seat. One son, Absolom, died intestate--there were several early Spanish land grants (Absolom's grant was dated September 1832, before the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836). I will tell you this story later. I just know that after our people into Travis County, near Austin, Texas, that some things took a dramatic turn. Heirs of the Giddens line came to Austin in the 30's--I mean, representatives of an Oil and Gas Company--came to Austin looking for Absolom's heirs. He was great- grandmother's "old bachelor brother": according to what we know in the family. According to one instrument we later found in the Cass County courthouse at Linden (where his land was), Mary Elizabeth Giddens (William Martin Preece's wife) was the heir of Reuben, who was the heir of Absolom. I do not know how much rigging was done by the oil people over a period of years, and the bulk of the land fell into the hands of H. L. Hunt, one of the world's great millionaires. At the time these oil men came to Austin, I was with my father when he talked to then. After I came back to Dallas my cousin, Arthur Ennis and his wife, and I went to Linden, the county seat. You never saw anything like the transactions, two of which involved great grandmother. There were two long file drawers full of indexes of transaction of all the land grants. Aunt Martha Hancock's Bible records were stolen by the oil men, and Arthur just jumped into a rage when he discovered it just before we went to Linden. He said that the last time he saw the records his mother handed the Bible to prove heirship to the land. It is an old sneaky method of the oil people to steal records. I did not mean to go into such detail, but it is an example of what persons working on a family tree can encounter. Each time in the 30's when our people went to the courthouse to learn what had happened, they were told there were no records. Then, Wesley Giddens, a cousin who worked with me a lot, and was told practically the same thing. When Arthur and I and his wife went, I told them to lay low and since I knew the [cut out] Abstract Company there had handled the one record Mary Elizabeth had, I just went over there and told them I was a genealogist. Over the years the company had changed hands, and we were given all those files. The first records we saw were on top of the cards because the files had overrun. It struck us dumb. It was records of Mary Elizabeth's so-called transactions all drawn up by PA's who claimed to be acting for her. I found one record drawn up in Dallas, and could find no of such a record here. Her heirs had supposedly appeared in person, etc., in Dallas, re their heirship. The names of those listed included some heirs who were no longer alive at the time, as I recall. I have to put the records back into order. All that my grandmother, or rather, gr. grandmother received was $129.00 and some odd cents. 'The county Judge at Linden, when we were there, clammed up on us when we went to see him. He had handled some of the recent records. Absolem, according to what we found out from some of the old timers, had built a little shack on his land grant and fulfilled the requirement for establishing his claim. At his death, his father, Reuben, paid off the rest of it. I have all this documented from the various official state sources. Absolem would have been a young man at his death The Giddens records have been put together by Willis Giddens, who died about three years ago. Willis was so delighted when I wrote him, and knew nothing about his early background. He died of cancer, but I think until the end he was told it was arthritis. I feel so sad when I even look at the files. He made 10 pages of a chart showing the Preece- Giddens line. I never met him, nor Ola Powell Hogue, who was the descendant of Hiram Giddens. He was apparently named after Hiram Stratton or Hiram Preece-- I believe it would be the latter. Ola did much valuable work; she died last year. I did not get to meet her, either. She lived in Dallas for years, but moved away and died in Ohio. I was told that Mary Elizabeth Giddens Preece was beautiful, part Cherokee. More about this later. She had large black or brown eyes and long hair. When the Preeces left Red River County, they finally wound up in Travis County, as my story in the quarterly will tell you. What grief must have been theirs. Mayor Wooldridge had the graves of the Mexican War soldiers dug up and the bones were thrown out, according to my father. He wanted the land for something else. Father would weep at times over the desecration. Our people in Austin served with the Union, and also helped to guard the border. We have their military records. My mother knew Richard Lincoln Preece, who was dying of supposed consumption when father took her there as a bride. Her people had fought for the Confederacy and before that they fought as Tories in South Carolina. I won't go in to that. They had moved (dad's people) from the Colorado River around Bee Cave (near Austin) to Bull Creek. They let their lands on the Colorado go, but they could not take those first graves. Today most of the stones are gone and some are lying around broken up by the cattle of our once land. It is now Steinle's Ranch. There were such quaint stones too--it was a large cemetery. Mother hated the mountains, but father had promised Richard Lincoln Preece to stay with him as long as a lived. It caused a separation between my parents, as mother took Harold, an infant, back to her people in Collin County near Dallas. The she left grandfather asked that Harold be brought into the room. He wanted a last look at his grandson. My mother said she would not return until my father would move into town, as he had promised to do when they were married. Granfather lived about six months longer, and mother came back. She said grandfather was a handsome old patriarch very courtly ( the Preece men were). He called her "daughter" but did get one act of deviltry before he became so sick He would got up every morning singing "Marching Through Georgia" They also all ate at a long table with benches to each side. They spiked their coffee with whiskey which they made in their stills, and talked a lot about the Hatfield-McCoy feud. According to books I have read, Dave Stratton was the bloodiest fighter, at least on our side. Maybe the author was wrong. It seem that Dave (from one account-- Virgil Carrington Jones, author) failed to return at his usual time; his wife went out to look for him carrying a lighted lantern "Early on the morning of May 15, Mrs. David Stratton awoke to find that her husband had not came home during the night. She hastily dressed and went to look for him. A few rods from her dwelling, she found the mangled remains. His head was split and his breast was badly bruised. He was still alive, but died soon afterward without regaining consciousness." From: The Hatfield's and the McCoys," Virgil Carrington Jones, Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press 1948, p. 188. The mountaineers of the Texas Hill Country kept to themselves and the people knew little about them for a few decades. Then Harold (whom my father wished to name "Richard Lincoln") wrote his first story for The Dallas Morning News. Then came more, and then he and John Lomax, the folklorist, went to record the old ballads. It wasn't new to those of us were descended from the pioneers there, for we knew our first cousins as children and played with them. But to the city folk it was now, for the mountaineers were reserved and only by Harold's taking Lomax there the famed Dr. Lomax would not have known them. The Texas Centennial was held in 1936 here in Dallas, and the mountaineer boys and girls put on a special program of songs and dances handed down to them by their ancestors. They came by special chartered bus with Harold and Allen Lomax, John's son. Then a Chicago paper picked up some of Harold's work, and they got a column in the paper in which the author said that it as not that the mountaineers had come down this far. Some years later the Houston Chronicle ran a special magazine section on the area and its people. Then came the developers. In the 1930's the big dams were built, and the descendants of the pioneers were told they would have to got out as the land was condemned. The cemeteries were moved, thank goodness; but our Preece cemetery was not touched. It is on Bull Creek, just below the site where great Uncle Wayne Pulaski Preece built his house and donated the land for the cemetery. It in said that at night Uncle Wayne would leave his grave and walk cross the wide front porch and enter a little side room where he slept. I heard foot steps one night (don't smile at this, for such things are known to happen in our family); The sound of the foot steps went across the porch and entered the side room; then the footsteps returned and went down toward the cemetery from which they came. We were all sleeping in the same room. I wondered why no one said anything. Years later it occurred to me that perhaps I as the only one who heard them) I never did mention it to anyone then. The cemetery was on a limestone embankment, and it Is said that one or two parsons dug up for reburial had turned to stone. A geologist later said the bodies had ossified--or at any rate, they did change because of the effect of the limestone on them. Mother said she must never be buried there, as she wanted to be able to rise on the Judgment Day. She died in 1972, and is buried at the foot of the mountains, in Austin Memorial Park, where my father was buried in 1956 with a WOW service. He had hunted on the land which later became a cemetery, and said he wanted to lie there. on his gravestone are the words, "I shall I look unto to the hills from which cometh my help." Mother who hated the hills has on he gravestone, "I shall not pass this way again." Uncle Wayne's place was built on the site of a Comanche hunting ground. The early pioneers there, including my people, fought the Comanche's; and one Giddens cousin was killed. We children used to pick up arrow heads, and my uncle Byrd (another Richard Lincoln Preece) found an Indian grave in which the body had been buried in a sitting position. It was not on our place, though. The body was that of an Indian of course. In 1915 my father and mother packed up us kids and went to New Mexico to take up some of the last free land. However, that is another story. We had it rough, living in the sod house of our grandparents, sleeping on springs on an earthen floor, etc.--but the hardships were terrible. Some ware hair raising. I was six years old when we started. It will included in the book I shall write that will be an autobiography. It is hard to stop now, and I should close. I must get back to your letter. I used to be a newspaper woman and to get my hands on keys is my undoing. At least you will see something in the background of the Preece's who came into Texas. I suppose the trip my immediately family made into New Mexico by covered wagon from 1915-17 gives us the distinction of being the last of our line who took to the pioneer trail down here. Back your letter, the first one of January 21st. The 1860 Census of Texas shows a David Stratton, Virginia, who settled in Guadalupe County, which is part of our Central Texas area in which my people live. I will check on him in the library which will close for two months very shortly--and I hope the weather will stay decent as I suffer from much cold. Yes, I do have a picture of Alexander Boone's log cabin, but I do not have a picture of Hiram looking over the grave. When I get back to the Fort Worth library, I will check the 2-volume set of the Stratton history (including several lines) written by Harriet Russell Stratton. If I find David Stratton there, I shall write to Eleanor Howard--also, I have some of it xeroxed here and will check it. Our Kentucky line is there, but not too much of it. The marriage of Louvenia married to A. B. Preece is shown. I did not put in the Blakenship name; I knew it was a Blackburn. Perhaps Ada Mae [it was] that way on the marriage record, and those names were often misspelled. I would appreciate a copy of the paper showing the record of William Martin Preece. We have something, but I think it is just the birth date of William Martin Preece. Contact has recently been made with descendant in El Centro, Calif. of the Wayne Pulaski Preece line, and we are so happy. Our cousin, Evelyn Morris, is corresponding with them. I must write Evelyn today. I am the only one who has worked so long on the history after deaths and other matters carried still others away. Now three of my Central Texas cousins are working. The Maynard's who came to Texas with our people are quite interesting. One was in Andersonville Prison in the Civil War, from Travis Peak, near Austin. Another, with him, did not return. Perhaps he died in battle. Both were Unionists. A Maynard in Austin wants to begin the history. They are our cousins, as they are in Kentucky. I think the first generation of record was headed by "One-Eyed Kit" Christopher Maynard of which there is information in one of the Kentucky books. Yes, I would like copies of Henry H. Preece's Civil War record. I will send you ours when I get this stuff together. Bye for now, and I hope it is not too much to wade through all this. Oh yes, the Mormon record you sent will have to be checked against what Mary Priest (Calif.) and I are working. Green County, Tenn. may be the Canadian line. But I think my record show that they went into Kentucky also from Tennessee. I am wondering about that Mr. Priest who was killed with thin Shelby Party. I believe that was in Tennessee. I understand that the name of Preece in England is as common as the name in this country. I feel that there may be a relationship. I also feel our Preece's came from Wales, as did the Prices-- and the Prices do have a Quaker backgrounds. I also was told by my father that we were cousins to the Abraham Lincoln line through Nancy Hanks, his mother, and that we were cousins to Boone, who was with Crabtree (the line kin to our Prices.) The Boone and Lincoln lines were related. In the Boone line I have found a Priest line which I have not had time to study. Also, Elizabeth Price Preece was expecting a child when Richard Preece died. So she would not be elderly. Samuel Robinson, her brother-in-law, was made her guardian. [note: she was about 47 years old and Samuel Robinson was her aunt's husband]. I have the papers on this from official records, but more of this. I have to wade through this, as Mary Priest as sent me so much. Mary thinks her husband is descended from Samuel Priest, of the forts. His name is listed with William and Richard on one document. But more of this, too. There is a heavy rain and thunderstorm on the way, and I must get to the indoor box with this. At the bank. The only indoor box around here. Yes, it was my second mugging. The first was in 1975, with multiple injuries. The second one occurred July 22nd of this year when I was knocked down just as I was about to step into the elevator in the very post basement of the building where I work. Dallas is building underground with carpeted tunnels and the like. My right wrist was broken and I was in a cast for six weeks I have not tried to work the rest of the year. I like to work some, for it keeps me in touch with people. But (sic) neighter am I one to get bored--I never have time for all that I wish to do. The mugger a [this has been cut out] both times, was given a three- year sentence in prison. He was denied probation. Unfortunately, his term can run concurrently with two other sentences for mugging two other secretaries at the same building. Two of us were hurt. I am small and older and it really threw me down. The three muggings happened within a two-week period, but it is believed he did some of the other acts that had the porters and the like alerted for him. He was caught the day after I was hurt, and the court had confessions for all of them. These big buildings with the long and often deserted corridors are dangerous and there is much trouble in them. I think they are even more dangerous than the streets. /s/ Louise PreeceJuly 2, 1968
Dear Mr. Scalf:
I have such strong feelings about the Price wills that I undertook some further research after getting your letter. More about that later, if not tonight. I think I have found them in one of the Welsh colonies in Pennsylvania--that name Mares appears also in the Shannon records, and isn't there a Mare's Creek around Prestonsburg.
One thing--I did ot know that you are descended from the widow of William Priest (Preece). Forrest told me, early in our correspondence, that he was going to meet you ad that he was told your female ancestor on one side was a Preece. I wondered later, but we kept rolling along and I did not ask him specifically. I am sorry I did not know this sooner.
I am told my father said that Alexander Boone Preece and William Martin Preece were brothers, and Forrest said it was said in Kentucky. Their mother was a red- head, and so was my father.
Until I get this Ap Rhys document in order, I want to talk about the enclosed Scalf record I found in the library last week. Mrs. Archer told me you are preparing a book on the Scalf family. As you will note, there is a younger Lewis Scalf than that shown on the Wilkes County N. C. record. I think this will tie in the two Scalf families on the two records of these states.
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Father: Richard Lincoln Priest b: ABT 1766 in Russell or Washington County, Virginia
Mother: Elizabeth Price

Marriage 1 Mary Elizabeth Giddens b: 1 MAR 1810 in Floyd County, Kentucky
She was the Daughter of Reuben Giddens.

Married: 22 MAR 1825 in Pike County, Kentucky
Event: Minister in Reuben Giddeons

Note:
William Priest
This is to certify that I joined in marriage according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church to which I belong William Priest and Elizabeth Giddeons this 22nd day of March 1825. Reuben Giddons

Children
Reuben Kendrick (Priest) Preece b: 4 APR 1824 in Pike County, Kentucky
John (Monroe) Priest b: 20 AUG 1825 in Pike County, Kentucky
Nancy Ann (Priest) Preece b: 9 APR 1828 in Pike County, Kentucky
Alexander Cyrus Preece b: 27 JAN 1831 in Pike County, Kentucky
Richard Lincoln (Priest) Preece b: 23 DEC 1833 in Pike County, Kentucky
Elizabeth Jane (Priest) Preece b: 7 DEC 1835 in Pike County, Kentucky
William Martin (Priest) Preece b: 4 MAR 1838 in Pike County, Kentucky
Rachel Lydia (Priest) Preece b: 3 MAY 1840 in Pike County, Kentucky
Mary Elizabeth Preece b: 2 SEP 1842 in Hopkins County, Texas
Wayne Pulaski Preece b: 8 JAN 1845 in Hopkins County, Texas
Taylor Winfield Preece b: 12 OCT 1847 in Hopkins County, Texas
John Castley Preece b: 25 JAN 1851 in Texas
Franklin Pierce Preece b: 12 FEB 1853 in Travis County, Texas