William Owen Medlin

Compiled by Michael Patterson

William Owen Medlin was one of the true pioneers of Denton and Tarrant Counties, coming to Denton County with his parents, Charles and Matilda Medlin, in the late 1840's. He served in a Texas cavalry regiment and died at his home just inside the northern boundary of Tarrant County in
1900. He lies buried in the Medlin Cemetery in Trophy Club in southern Denton County.

W. O. Medlin was a son of Denton County pioneers Charles Simpson Medlin (1807-1864) and his wife, Matilda (Allen) Medlin (1812-1863). The most visible trace of their presence is the Medlin Cemetery in the Trophy Club development, on the north side of Highway 114 between Grapevine and Roanoke in southern Denton County.
William O. Medlin was born in Missouri on August 31, 1838. By the time the 1840 census was taken, Charles Medlin and his family were living in Cole County, Missouri. They came to Texas in 1847.

In 1850, Charles Medlin and his family appeared in the Denton County, Texas census. Twelve-year-old William O. Medlin was with them. Ten years later, in the 1860 Denton County census, he was still with them, working as a farmer.

William O. Medlin served the Confederacy as a private in Captain Felix McKitrick's Company of Darnell's Regiment of Texas Cavalry. He was twenty-four when he enlisted on February 18, 1862 at Denton, Texas for a term of twelve months. He was mustered into the Confederate service at
Dallas on March 15, 1862. He presented himself for service riding a horse worth one hundred twenty-five dollars and with equipment worth twenty-five dollars. This company subsequently became Co. G, 18 Texas Cavalry, and was sometimes k th nown as Darnell's Texas Cavalry. With
most of his regiment he was captured at the fall of Fort Hindman, at Arkansas Post, Arkansas on January 11, 1863, and was imprisoned at Camp Douglas, Illinois by February 8, 1863. He remained there until he was paroled on April 2, 1863 and sent to City Point, Virginia for exchange, where he arrived on April 10, 1863. After being duly exchanged, he rejoined his regiment and was again
captured near Atlanta, Georgia on July 22, 1864. Two days later began his trip north as a prisoner toward Louisville, Kentucky, via Nashville, Tennessee. He arrived at Louisville, Kentucky on July 30, and on that same day was forwarded to Camp Chase, Ohio, where he arrived on August 1. He remained at Camp Chase until he was transferred to City Point, Virginia on March 2, 1865 for
exchange.

Very soon after he returned home from the War, on July 20, 1865, Mr. Medlin married Amanda E. White, a daughter of German native and Mexican War veteran John White and his wife, Nancy Jane Gibson. Amanda was born in Platte County, Missouri on July 30, 1844, and came to Denton County,
Texas with her father's family about 1848.

When the 1870 census of Denton County's Precinct 4 was taken, W. O. Medlin and his new family appeared next-door to Mrs. Medlin's father, John White, and four of his children. Mr. and Mrs. Medlin had one child, four-year-old Matilda, living with them. Also living with them was Mr.
Medlin's younger brother, Christopher Columbus Medlin. They lived in the portion of Wise County served by the post office at Elizabethtown.

Ten years later in 1880 in the same area, Mr. and Mrs. Medlin were listed in the census with four children in their household: Nancy M., Mattie E., Mary A., and Susan E. Medlin. Mr. Medlin's household also included four unrelated young men in their early twenties who were farm laborers.

W. O. Medlin's home appears on the 1895 Sam Street Map of Tarrant County in the extreme northwest corner of the J. B. Gibson survey. Not far from the Medlin's home and on the same survey sat the home of Amanda Medlin's brother, John B. White. The Medlin home stood on vacant
land now included in the Hunt Ranch along Highway 114 southeast of Roanoke and in the City of Westlake. The home sat just inside the Tarrant County line, about .2 mile south of the county line and .5 mile east of Roanoke Road.

This is in the exact area where Dr. H. E. Wyss, who owned a portion of that property in the late 1930's, reported seeing a few gravestones the name Medlin inscribed on them. During the 1970's, a close examination of the grove where the stones were seen in the 1930's failed to find any
recognizable fragments. Also during the 1970's, one of W. O. Medlin's granddaughters said the stones were those of members of the Gibson family. The identity of the persons buried there will probably always remain a mystery. None of the many children W. O. and Amanda Medlin lost in
childhood have readable headstones in Medlin Cemetery where their parents are buried.

By the time the census taker arrived in 1900 in far-north Tarrant County, Mr. Medlin had died and the family was headed by Amanda Medlin. She told the census taker she had given birth to fourteen children, only five of whom were still alive. Three of them were living with her: Sarah, Lenora, and Mittie Medlin. Also living with the family was Amanda's nephew, Charles Medlin.

As an interesting aside, Amanda Medlin's father outlived her husband. In the Grapevine Sun of January 7, 1905 is found: "On Saturday, December 31st, Bro. [Elihu] Newton was called to the Medlin Cemetery to officiate at the funeral of Mr. John White, the oldest citizen in the Dove
community; he was 86 years, a Mexican war veteran. He wore honorable scars received in defense of his country. We would be glad to give our readers a sketch of the life of this old gentleman, but have not the data, and can only say "Peace to his ashes."

By 1910 Mrs. Medlin had moved back to Precinct 4 in Denton County and was living near Roanoke in the home of her son-in-law, Marion H. Smith. Their next-door neighbors were Mrs. Medlin's daughter, Martha E. Osteen and her husband, Cadmus Y. Osteen.

Mrs. Manda E. Medlin applied for a Confederate widow's pension in 1913. She said her husband died in Tarrant County on February 18, 1900. They were married, she said, on July 20, 1865 in Denton County. She said she was born in Platte County, Missouri, and had been in Texas sixty five years. She had been living at Roanoke in Denton Count since about 1907. She said Mr. Medlin enlisted in 1862 and served for three years. Her application included an affidavit by C. A. Williams of Denton County attesting to Mr. Medlin's service.

Mrs. Amanda E. Medlin moved to Jack County about 1928. In 1930, Mrs. Medlin was making her home along the Oran Road in Jack County, Texas with the family of her son-in-law, M. Hugh Smith. She died at Perrin in Jack County, Texas at 11 p.m. on May 22, 1932. Her death certificate listed
acute nephritis of three days duration and senility as causes of her death. She was buried the next day in Medlin Cemetery beside her husband, whose widow she had been for more than three decades.

The following paragraphs name twelve of William O. and Amanda Medlin's children. If Mrs. Medlin's statements to the census takers were correct, there were two more who died at birth or in infancy. Much of the information on these children comes from the valuable work done on the
Medlin family by Paul D. Medlin of Everman, Tarrant County, Texas, and posted at his website.

Nancy Matilda Medlin was born May 29, 1866 and died November 21, 1885. Charles Medlin was born May 9, 1870 and died June 14, 1870.

Martha E Medlin was born March 24, 1872 and died October 04, 1927. She died at Perrin in Jack County, Texas, and was buried in the Medlin Cemetery. She was married to Cadmus Y. Osteen.

Mary Alice Medlin was born March 22, 1874 and died August 16, 1947. She married James L Medford (born August 10, 1873 in Buffalo Gap, Taylor County, Texas and died January 09, 1936 in Tarrant County, Texas). He was a son of William Thomas Medford and Amanda Skinner. James
and Mary Alice Medford are buried in the Medlin Cemetery.

William H. Medlin was born September 15, 1875 and died September 24, 1875. John R. Medlin was born August 18, 1876 and died August 14, 1877. Susan Elizabeth Medlin was born August 20, 1878 and died April 08, 1898. Eddie Medlin was born January 22, 1881 and died October 12, 1881.

Sarah Etta Medlin was born July 14, 1882. She was married to a Mr. Moore. She died August 22, 1935.

Lenora Medlin was born January 14, 1885. She married Marion Hugh Smith. She died in the Palo Pinto General Hospital in Mineral Wells, Texas on March 4, 1976. Her last permanent address was Rt. 1, Box 33, Graford, Texas. She was buried in Perrin Memorial Gardens, Perrin, Jack County, Texas.

Mittie Viola Medlin was born February 12, 1889. She married H. Mack Luttrell (1884-1959). She died February 22, 1917 and was buried in Medlin Cemetery in Trophy Club.
Ellen May Medlin was born June 28, 1891 and died September 22, 1891.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txtarran/military/medlin_william_owen.pdf