One problem in unravelling the Hathcock history is an uncertainty as to whether Alfred Hathcock had one or two wives. The 1830, 1840, and 1850 census records indicate that Alfred and his wife Elizabeth were about the same age (she is referred to as Betsey in 1850). However, the 1870 census of Guadalupe County Texas shows Alfred to be 65 and his wife Lizzie to be only 45.82 The 20-year differential appears again in the 1880 census of Wilson County Texas, in which Alfred is listed as 79 and Elizabeth as 60.83 It should also be noted that the 1850 census showed that Elizabeth Cook Hathcock was born in Alabama, whereas the Lizzie (Elizabeth) Hathcock recorded in the 1870 and 1880 census records was said to have been born in Virginia. Therefore, it is likely that Elizabeth Cook Hathcock died sometime after 1850 and that Alfred married another Elizabeth. If so, this casts doubt on which woman was actually the mother of the three yougest daughters (but not of John, Asa, Columbus, Amanda, and Margaret. It may be significant that, in the 1880 census, it is reported that the mother the twin daughters Eliza and Martha was born in Virginia. However, people often made mistakes in reporting the birth states of parents, especially if the data were given to the census taker by a spouse. For example, in the 1880 census, John Heathcock gave the birth state of his mother as GA, Asa Heathcock gave her birth state as VA, Columbus Heathcock gave her birth state as AL, and Mary Heathcock Sifford gave her birth state as VA.

Alfred married Elizabeth Cook, daughter of Major John Cook, apparently about 1825-28. On June 7, 1832 the Cook heirs, including Alfred Hathcock (in name of his wife Elizabeth) and John Hathcock (in name of his wife Margaret) sold 160 acres of land to Hezekiah Ford.69

The 1830 Madison County census shows that Alfred and Elizabeth had a son and a daughter, both under five years of age. In the 1840 census they are recorded as having only two sons, one under five and one between five and ten years of age. These two sons are presumably John C. Hathcock (b 1833) and Asa Hathcock (b 1837). The only other records of Alfred Hathcock in Madison County are numerous entries in the ledgers of the New Market General Store in May-July, 1831; similar entries for charges by John Hathcock and Peyton Hathcock are also found.70

In 1831 the estate of Major John Cook was settled in the Madison County Court. Alfred Hathcock received in right of his wife Elizabeth Cook a slave valued at $325.00 and notes valued at $152.87 as his share of the estate.71

Alfred and Elizabeth Hathcock remained in Madison County until about 1845 when they migrated west. It appears that they lived in Mississippi at least temporarily, since one of their daughters was born in that state in 1847. The 1850 census shows that they had settled by that date in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana.72 The population of Natchitoches Parish in 1850 was 5466 white, 881 free colored, and 7881 slaves. They continued their westward migration in the mid-1850s when they settled in Texas near Nockenut, in what was then Guadalupe County. Nockenut no longer exists, but was near Nixon, on the Cibolo Creek, in the northeast corner of present Wilson County. Nockenut was about 10 miles north of Stockdale.73

There were certainly other children, as shown by the 183074 and 184075 census records. It is not known what became of the son and daughter recorded in the 1830 census. However, the two sons on the 1840 census must have been John and Asa, so it is likely that the first two children died in their youth.

Finally, age discrepancies in early census records are also common, and it may also be that Elizabeth was merely shaving her age for the benefit of the census taker. The ages and dates of birth of the daughters are also a little uncertain. The 1850 Natchitoches Parish Louisiana census shows only two daughters, Amanda (6, b Ala) and Margaret (3, b Miss). The family has not been located in the 1860 census, but the 1870 census of Guadalupe County Texas shows daughters Mary (17, b Miss), Martha (17, b Tex), and Eliza (15, b Tex). The 1880 census of Wilson County Texas shows Martha (20, b Tex) and Elizabeth (20, b Tex). The author's best guess is that Alfred certainly did have twin daughters, Martha and Elizabeth, and that they were born in Texas shortly after the family's arrival from Louisiana, probably in the period 1855-1860.

As has just been discussed, it is not known exactly when Alfred and Elizabeth Hathcock actually arrived in Texas, but it was probably about the time twin daughters Elizabeth and Martha were born (1855-1860). The first mention of Alfred in the records is the 1864 Guadalupe County tax list.76 He was also appointed as one of the appraisers of the estate of Joseph Hobbs in 1864.77

In 1868, Alfred homesteaded 160 acres near Nockenut on the current Wilson-Guadalupe County line.78 The patent states that Alfred "occupied and improved the land for three consecutive years beginning January 1, 1868." The survey was in Guadalupe County on the headwaters of the Ecleto Creek, about 13 3/4 miles south 15 degrees east from Seguin. The land was in Guadalupe County until 1869 when a relocation of the county lines occurred. Alfred signed the patent in a bold hand, along with witnesses W. H. Benton and Charles Walker.

Alfred's homestead did not stay in the family for long. In 1878 the land was conveyed from H. S. Hastings, one of the original Nockenut settlers, to J. C. Birge of St. Louis, Missouri.79 It is not known how or when Henry Hastings came into possession of the Alfred Hathcock land. Little more of Alfred Hathcock is to be found in the public record. He apparently died sometime after 1880, when he was last mentioned in the census. His burial place is not known with certainty, although family tradition is that he is buried in an unmarked grave in the Stockdale cemetery.

NOCKENUT, TEXAS. Nockenut is on Farm Road 1681 twenty miles northeast of Floresville in northeastern Wilson County. It was settled in 1857 during the wave of German and Polish immigration into the area around Marion in Guadalupe County and Panna Maria in Karnes County. A post office opened there in 1858. The settlement was included in Guadalupe County until the boundary was changed in 1869. In 1885 the community of seventy-five persons centered around a cotton gin and store operated by Joseph P. Watkins. H. S. Hastings, rancher, was postmaster; A. G. Hastings contracted to bring mail from Seguin; E. E. Hastings operated a general store. By 1890 the town had a population of eighty and a church, a school, a general store, a cotton gin, a grocer, and a wagonmaker. Nockenut declined when railroads were built further south but remained a rural post office until 1906. By the mid-1930s only a few houses remained. In 1990 the reported population was ten.80

Copyright ©, The Texas State Historical Association, 1997-2001
Last Updated: November 2, 2009
For a good condensed history of Wilson County, see the entry in the Handbook of Texas.81

1830 Census of Madison Co AL
Name Alfred Hathcock
Home in 1830 (City, County, State): Ranges 1 and 2, Madison, Alabama

Free White Persons - Males - Under 5: 1 Unknown son, must have died young
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29: 1 [Alfred]
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29: 1 [Elizabeth]
Free White Persons - Under 20: 1
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49: 2
Total Free White Persons: 3

1840 Census of Madison Co AL
Name Alfred Hathcock
Home in 1840 (City, County, State) Madison, Alabama

Free White Persons - Males - Under 5 1 [John]
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9 1 [Asa]
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29 1 [Alfred]
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29 1 [Elizabeth]
Free Colored Persons - Males - Under 10 4
Persons Employed in Agriculture 1 [Alfred]
No. White Persons over 20 Who Cannot Read and Write 2 [Alfred & Elizabeth]
Free White Persons - Under 20 2 [John & Asa]
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49 2 [Alfred & Elizabeth]
Total Free White Persons 4
Total Free Colored Persons 4
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves 8

Individual: Hathcock, Alfred
1850 Census of Natchitoches Par, LA; Page #: 029:

Dwelling 473, Family 473
Alfred Hathcock, 35M, Farmer, b GA, Cannot read/write
Betsey Hathcock, 33F, b AL, Cannot read/write
John Hathcock, 17M, b AL
Asa Hathcock, 10M, b AL
Columbus Hathcock, 8M, b AL
Amanda Hathcock, 6F, b AL
Margt Hathcock, 3F, b MS

A page by page examination of the 1860 Guadalupe Co TX census was carried out on 11 March 2017 to confirm that Alfred’s family was not recorded.

1870 Census of Pct 3, Guadalupe Co TX, Seguin, August 1870:

Hethcock, Alfred 65 Farmer GA
---, Lizzie 45 Keeps house VA
---, Mary 17 MS
---, Martha 15 TX
---, Eliza 15 TX
---, Eliza 25 AL
---, Bun (male) 7 TX
---, Alice 4 TX
---, William 8/12 TX

It is not known for sure, but the Eliza age 25 may really have been Amanda and the three children following her were her children. The evidence is: (1) Alfred did have a daughter named Eliza, who is listed just before the Eliza age 25. (2) He also had a daughter named Amanda, who was born in Alabama in about 1844. (3) Two of the children listed (Bun and Alice) were recorded as children of Amanda (widow) on the 1880 census. However, Amanda was listed in the 1870 census of Milam as wife of William Mcfarland, with five Mcfarland children. In the 1880 census she is listed as Manda McFarland (widow) with three children named Asberry (Bun, Alice, Green) and one named McFarland (John).

1870 Agricultural Census Pct 3, Guadalupe Co TX, Seguin, 10 November 1870:

Alfred Hethcock
20 acres improved, 140 acres woodland.
Value of farm $300, value of improvements and machinery $60.
Livestock: 2 mules & asses, 3 milch cows, 10 other cattle, 20 swine; total value $170.
Produce during the year ending 1 June 1870: 100 bushels indian corn.

1880 Census of Wilson Co TX

Dwelling 328, Family 340
Heathcock, Alford head W M 79 married Farmer no R/W GA SC GA. Marked as cannot read, cannot write.
Heathcock, Elizabeth wife W F 60 married Keeping house VA VA VA
Heathcock, Martha dau W F 20 single TX GA VA
Heathcock, Eliza C dau W F 20 single TX GA VA

Dwelling 328, Family 341
Sifford, Jenkins head W M 25 married Farmer no R/W TX LA LA
Sifford, Mary A. wife W F 25 married Keeping house LA GA VA
Sifford, William son W M 6 single TX TX LA
Sifford, Josh son W M 5 single TX TX LA
Sifford, Mary dau W F 3 single TX TX LA