Heathcock Genealogy Database - Person Sheet
Heathcock Genealogy Database - Person Sheet
NameFlorence King 
, G Grandmother
, G GrandmotherBirth12 Dec 1854, Jackson, Hinds Co MS
Death13 Aug 1928, Sutherland Springs, Wilson Co TX13 Age: 73
BurialNockenut Cemetery, Wilson Co TX
FatherIsaac King (ca1824-1863)
MotherMary Jane Fisher (1827-1897)
Spouses
Death1876, Ripley, TN
ChildrenWilliam Elias (1872-1927)
John Eva “Sis” (1875-1951)
2Pleasant Howe Hobbs , G Grandfather
, G GrandfatherDeath15 Nov 1895, Wilson Co TX Age: 69
BurialNockenut Cemetery, Wilson Co TX
FatherJoseph Hobbs (1789-1863)
MotherAnna Jones (1792-1880)
Marriage26 Oct 1886, Nockenut, Wilson Co TX
ChildrenMary Jane ‘Mollie’ (1887-1965)
P. H. (1890-1890)
Notes for Florence King
In 1869 Florence King met and married William Calvin Dawson in Ripley. They had but two children, William Elias (b August 27, 1872) and John Eva, before W. C. Dawson died in 1876.
After Dawson's death, Florence and two children, Eliza and John, lived in Haywood Co TN with her mother, Mary Jane King and are listed there in the 1880 census.
1880 Census of District 8, Haywood, TN:
King, Mary J., w, f, 55, Farming, MS, NC, NC
King, Otho, w, m, 18, son, MS, Tenn, MS
Dawson, Florence, w, f, 25, daughter, MS, Tenn, MS
Dawson, Eliza, w, f, 7, gr daughter, Tenn, Tenn, Tenn
Dawson, John, w, m. 6, gr son, Tenn, Tenn, Tenn
[The census taker appears to have been confused by the gender of Mary Jane’s grandchildren. She probably reported that she had a grandson and a granddaughter named Elias and John, whereupon the census taker recorded a 7-year old “granddaughter” named Eliza and a 6-year old “grandson” named John.]
Some time after that, Mary Jane King, her son Otha, her daughter Florence Dawson and young William Elias and Eva chartered a train car and, loading all their belongings in it, they came west to Texas. They settled first in Prarie Lea, where they rented a farm. Young Otha, only sixteen at the time, applied for and received credit from a merchant in Luling named Walker.174 They apparently migrated to Wilson County shortly after the 1880 census (recorded 7 June 1880). Otha was definitely in Nockenut in 1881, when he participated with Bascom Johnston in laying out the boundaries of the Nockenut cemetery. Of Mary Jane King no more is known, except that she lived in Wilson County until her death on May 19, 1897. She is buried in the Hobbs-King plot in the Nockenut Cemetery.
The 1900 census of Precinct 3, Wilson, Texas lists Florence as head of household of a family that included her son William Elias Dawson, her daughter Mollie (recorded as Mary J.), her daughter-in-law Elsie (recorded as Elen), and two small children of William Elias and Elsie Dawson.
Florence Hobbs 45
Wm E Dawson 27
Mary J Hobbs 15
Elen C Dawson 22
John W Dawson 2
Wm E Dawson Jr. 2/12
John Heathcock Jr. 36 (boarder)
William Heathcock 24 (boarder)
Paul W, (illegible) 38 (boarder)
It must have been around this time that Will Heathcock, a 24-year old boarder met his future wife (they were married in 1904).
The 1910 census of Justice Precinct 3, Wilson, Texas lists Florence with the family of her son Elias Dawson:
Elise W Dawson 38
Nora Dawson 36
Walton J Dawson 12 (same as John W in 1900)
Walter G Dawson 10 (same as Wm E. Jr. in 1900)
Ola M Dawson 9
Cloise Dawson 7
Florence Hobbs 55
Austin Domor 22
Florence has not been located in the 1920 census; she was not living with her son Elias or her daughter Molly Heathcock.
After Dawson's death, Florence and two children, Eliza and John, lived in Haywood Co TN with her mother, Mary Jane King and are listed there in the 1880 census.
1880 Census of District 8, Haywood, TN:
King, Mary J., w, f, 55, Farming, MS, NC, NC
King, Otho, w, m, 18, son, MS, Tenn, MS
Dawson, Florence, w, f, 25, daughter, MS, Tenn, MS
Dawson, Eliza, w, f, 7, gr daughter, Tenn, Tenn, Tenn
Dawson, John, w, m. 6, gr son, Tenn, Tenn, Tenn
[The census taker appears to have been confused by the gender of Mary Jane’s grandchildren. She probably reported that she had a grandson and a granddaughter named Elias and John, whereupon the census taker recorded a 7-year old “granddaughter” named Eliza and a 6-year old “grandson” named John.]
Some time after that, Mary Jane King, her son Otha, her daughter Florence Dawson and young William Elias and Eva chartered a train car and, loading all their belongings in it, they came west to Texas. They settled first in Prarie Lea, where they rented a farm. Young Otha, only sixteen at the time, applied for and received credit from a merchant in Luling named Walker.174 They apparently migrated to Wilson County shortly after the 1880 census (recorded 7 June 1880). Otha was definitely in Nockenut in 1881, when he participated with Bascom Johnston in laying out the boundaries of the Nockenut cemetery. Of Mary Jane King no more is known, except that she lived in Wilson County until her death on May 19, 1897. She is buried in the Hobbs-King plot in the Nockenut Cemetery.
The 1900 census of Precinct 3, Wilson, Texas lists Florence as head of household of a family that included her son William Elias Dawson, her daughter Mollie (recorded as Mary J.), her daughter-in-law Elsie (recorded as Elen), and two small children of William Elias and Elsie Dawson.
Florence Hobbs 45
Wm E Dawson 27
Mary J Hobbs 15
Elen C Dawson 22
John W Dawson 2
Wm E Dawson Jr. 2/12
John Heathcock Jr. 36 (boarder)
William Heathcock 24 (boarder)
Paul W, (illegible) 38 (boarder)
It must have been around this time that Will Heathcock, a 24-year old boarder met his future wife (they were married in 1904).
The 1910 census of Justice Precinct 3, Wilson, Texas lists Florence with the family of her son Elias Dawson:
Elise W Dawson 38
Nora Dawson 36
Walton J Dawson 12 (same as John W in 1900)
Walter G Dawson 10 (same as Wm E. Jr. in 1900)
Ola M Dawson 9
Cloise Dawson 7
Florence Hobbs 55
Austin Domor 22
Florence has not been located in the 1920 census; she was not living with her son Elias or her daughter Molly Heathcock.
Notes for Florence King
"GRANDPA MARRIED AUNT FLORENCE"175
A number of years back when my dear friend Dora (King) Hastings and I were doing the kind of visiting we do, which is mainly recalling the history of this area, she said to me, "Grandpa married Aunt Florence."
What she said at the time really had little meaning for me, but I stored it away in a cranny of my mind with other odds and ends ... that Pleasant Howe Hobbs' second wife was Florence King.
But since I have doing this series of stories about families who lived on the watershed of the Ecleto and the Clear Fork of Sandies, I dug out my little morsel and began to clothe it with facts. Actually, at the time Dora told me that her grandfather Hobbs had married her father's sister, it had not occured to me that Florence King was not a MISS but a MRS.
The fact is that Miss Florence King was married in 1871 in Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee to Elias Calvin Dawson by whom she had two children: Elias Jr. and Eva Jo (Elias Dawson Jr. became the husband of Lenora Alston and his sister Eva Jo married Joseph W. Akin). And it was in Tennessee that she was widowed.
Almost unbelievable is the story my friend tells that her grandmother, the widowed Mrs. Mary Jane (Fisher) King (born in Mississippi on the 17th of June 1827) and her widowed daughter, Hrs. Florence (King) Dawson hired a railway car to be attached to a train that would bring them and their belongings to Texas. It was in 1877 and the young Otha King, aged sixteen, was the man of the family. For two women, one burdened with two small children, and a sixteen year old to undertake such a trip was more than a little courageous.
I have suggested to Dora that surely Medora (King) Hurt and her husband; or Sophronia (King) Smith and her husband; or John Swept King and his wife; or Will King and his wife were members of the party, but she is adamant in her story and says it was never told other than as I have related it above. Besides she says the W. T. Hurts, the Wyatt Smiths, the John Swept Kings; and the Will Kings had already come to Texas ... all four families staying over awhile in Guadalupe County before the first three moved on into Wilson County and the Will Kings went to Dripping Springs.
Dora's knowledge is scanty about the next four or five years ... the length of time which elapsed before her father, Mr. Otha King, met and married the sixteen year old Adelia Hobbs. She says she often asked her father and mother where they lived before Mr. P. Howe Hobbs made 300 acre land deeds to each of his children before contracting his second marriage. She said the reply was always a gesture of the arm or hand in the general direction of old Arkansas School which I've been told was located where Mr. Ford Ellison first bought from the Dibrells in Wilson County in 1923.
Now, Clayton Heathcock, who is the great-grandson of Pleasant Howe Hobbs and his second wife Florence (King-Dawson) Hobbs, states the relationship between his great-grandfather and his Aunt Adelia more sedately than do Dora and I. Says he: "It is interesting to note that Pleasant Howe's daughter Adelia married Florence's brother Otha King. Thus Adelia's father became also her brother-in-law." And I add that their daughter Mollie was both half-sister and niece to my friend's mother.
Before finishing up this story, I wrote to Mrs. Lea (Smith-Wells) Young, youngest child of the Wyatt Smiths to see if she could add anything to the history of the move of the King family and their in-laws. She had to tell me that I knew more about her family than she did-saying her mother and her Aunt Dodie never talked about the past much ... or that she was perhaps studying when they talked and didn't hear their stories.
Perhaps I really should have tried asking Flay (Stout) Park, who is descended from John Swept and his wife Floy Eva (Saunders) King if she'd heard anything about the family's arrival in Texas, but I do not know her personally. Her sister Mollie (Stout) Hewell was my fifth grade teacher and I am sure the one of all I had whom I loved the most.
On the Guadalupe County Census for 1880 I did find the following entries: Household #115/Family #116; Head John King, age 26 born in Tennessee; with family Eva (age 23), Lena (age 5), Floy (age 2), and Mary (age 9/12). For sure the last two named children were born in Texas and perhaps also Lena where the census taker wrote Texas over Tennessee or vice versa. AND Household #118/Family #119; Head William King, age 27, born in Tennessee with wife Mattie [Vaughn] born in Texas.
I am sorry I wasn't able to find other members of the clan.
A number of years back when my dear friend Dora (King) Hastings and I were doing the kind of visiting we do, which is mainly recalling the history of this area, she said to me, "Grandpa married Aunt Florence."
What she said at the time really had little meaning for me, but I stored it away in a cranny of my mind with other odds and ends ... that Pleasant Howe Hobbs' second wife was Florence King.
But since I have doing this series of stories about families who lived on the watershed of the Ecleto and the Clear Fork of Sandies, I dug out my little morsel and began to clothe it with facts. Actually, at the time Dora told me that her grandfather Hobbs had married her father's sister, it had not occured to me that Florence King was not a MISS but a MRS.
The fact is that Miss Florence King was married in 1871 in Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee to Elias Calvin Dawson by whom she had two children: Elias Jr. and Eva Jo (Elias Dawson Jr. became the husband of Lenora Alston and his sister Eva Jo married Joseph W. Akin). And it was in Tennessee that she was widowed.
Almost unbelievable is the story my friend tells that her grandmother, the widowed Mrs. Mary Jane (Fisher) King (born in Mississippi on the 17th of June 1827) and her widowed daughter, Hrs. Florence (King) Dawson hired a railway car to be attached to a train that would bring them and their belongings to Texas. It was in 1877 and the young Otha King, aged sixteen, was the man of the family. For two women, one burdened with two small children, and a sixteen year old to undertake such a trip was more than a little courageous.
I have suggested to Dora that surely Medora (King) Hurt and her husband; or Sophronia (King) Smith and her husband; or John Swept King and his wife; or Will King and his wife were members of the party, but she is adamant in her story and says it was never told other than as I have related it above. Besides she says the W. T. Hurts, the Wyatt Smiths, the John Swept Kings; and the Will Kings had already come to Texas ... all four families staying over awhile in Guadalupe County before the first three moved on into Wilson County and the Will Kings went to Dripping Springs.
Dora's knowledge is scanty about the next four or five years ... the length of time which elapsed before her father, Mr. Otha King, met and married the sixteen year old Adelia Hobbs. She says she often asked her father and mother where they lived before Mr. P. Howe Hobbs made 300 acre land deeds to each of his children before contracting his second marriage. She said the reply was always a gesture of the arm or hand in the general direction of old Arkansas School which I've been told was located where Mr. Ford Ellison first bought from the Dibrells in Wilson County in 1923.
Now, Clayton Heathcock, who is the great-grandson of Pleasant Howe Hobbs and his second wife Florence (King-Dawson) Hobbs, states the relationship between his great-grandfather and his Aunt Adelia more sedately than do Dora and I. Says he: "It is interesting to note that Pleasant Howe's daughter Adelia married Florence's brother Otha King. Thus Adelia's father became also her brother-in-law." And I add that their daughter Mollie was both half-sister and niece to my friend's mother.
Before finishing up this story, I wrote to Mrs. Lea (Smith-Wells) Young, youngest child of the Wyatt Smiths to see if she could add anything to the history of the move of the King family and their in-laws. She had to tell me that I knew more about her family than she did-saying her mother and her Aunt Dodie never talked about the past much ... or that she was perhaps studying when they talked and didn't hear their stories.
Perhaps I really should have tried asking Flay (Stout) Park, who is descended from John Swept and his wife Floy Eva (Saunders) King if she'd heard anything about the family's arrival in Texas, but I do not know her personally. Her sister Mollie (Stout) Hewell was my fifth grade teacher and I am sure the one of all I had whom I loved the most.
On the Guadalupe County Census for 1880 I did find the following entries: Household #115/Family #116; Head John King, age 26 born in Tennessee; with family Eva (age 23), Lena (age 5), Floy (age 2), and Mary (age 9/12). For sure the last two named children were born in Texas and perhaps also Lena where the census taker wrote Texas over Tennessee or vice versa. AND Household #118/Family #119; Head William King, age 27, born in Tennessee with wife Mattie [Vaughn] born in Texas.
I am sorry I wasn't able to find other members of the clan.
Notes for William Calvin (Spouse 1)
According to a family tradition, told by Floy Medora Akin Garner, “William Calvin Dawson had a fine stallion which was stolen by a black man. During the escape the horse brought the black man back to the Dawson home. Mr. Dawson whipped the black man. Late at night the black man brought a box outside the window of Dawson’s house, climbed up onto it, and shot Dawson through the window.”177 It was not included in this story whether or not the gunshot wound was fatal. If it was fatal, it is in disagreement with the story told by another granddaughter, who recalled a family story that "he died from pneumonia which he contracted while lying drunk out of doors in inclement weather."178
Notes for Pleasant Howe (Spouse 2)
Pleasant Howe Hobbs, Texas Ranger
Pleasant Hobbs was the ninth child of Joseph and Anna Hobbs, came to Texas with them in 1839, served in the Sommervell campaign against the Mexicans in 1842 (at the age of 17!), and was a 4th Corporal in the Texas Rangers stationed on the Medina River in 1850. In about 1854, Pleasant married Catherine Cotter, daughter of Steven and Hannah (Caler) Cotter, who came to Texas from Tennessee in 1845 and settled on 155 acres astride the Ecleto creek in 1855. Pleasant and Catherine had five daughters (two of whom died young) and two sons:
(1) Dora b. March 8, 1855 d. July 17, 1869
(2) Blanche b. December 21, 1856 d. July 7, 1861
(3) Livonia b. April 4, 1859
(4) Rachel J. b. November 26, 1861 d. February 21, 1921
(5) Edward W. b. June 2, 1864 d. 1937
(6) Adelia b. December 10, 1867 d. January 11, 1950
(7) Archie T. b. November 21, 1875 d. March 2, 1939
Pleasant and his family first lived in Nockenut on their farm on the Ecleto. The 1864 and 1865 Guadalupe County property assessments show that Pleasant owned, in addition to his farm, considerable livestock (mostly horses) and one negro slave, valued at $500 in 1864 and $400 in 1865 [the devaluation was presumably the result of the impending resolution of the War between the States, with its concomitant abolishment of the institution of slavery.]
In 1867, Pleasant deeded to his wife Catherine all of his land on the Ecleto, his buggy, and all of his livestock, consisting of 80 horses, 30 cattle, 60 hogs, and three oxen.169 While the motivation behind this unusual intra-family transfer of assets has been lost with time, it probably had something to do with the carpetbag government that ruled the area after the Civil War.
The 1870 census of Guadalupe County shows Pleasant and Catherine with their children Livonia, Josephine, Edward, and Adelia living on their farm in Nockenut. Their household also included twenty-one year old John Alston and a sixteen year old black farm hand named Bird Hobbs, who was probably the Hobbs slave previously listed on the tax roll, subsequently freed.
Catherine Hobbs died on March 15, 1879, and is buried in the Hobbs plot at the Steel Branch Cemetery, six miles east of Stockdale, near the site of old Nockenut.170
On October 26, 1886, Pleasant Hobbs married the widow Florence Dawson, daughter of Isaac King and Mary Jane Fisher. Pleasant and his new wife Florence had two daughters, Mollie (b August 5, 1887 when Pleasant was 61 years of age) and a second daughter who died in 1890 at the age of only six weeks.
It is interesting to note that Pleasant's daughter Adelia Hobbs married Florence's brother Otha King. Thus, Adelia's father became also her brother-in-law. Between 1978 and 1981, the author had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of Dora Hastings, widow of Walter Clyde Hastings and the last surviving child of Otha and Adelia. In one letter (July 9, 1980), Dora wrote about her grandfather, Pleasant Hobbs:
"Your letter brought back so many childhood memories. There's no one left for me to talk to about the long time ago. I'm glad I have lived to see so many changes and there will be so many in the next 25 years. Should you have asked my mother about Grandpa, it would have just been the best father a child ever had. My grandmother died when mama was 12 years old, so I think he was a real good father and took good care of them, as they all made good citizens. The grandchildren all loved him, so I know he was good to us. He was a nice, friendly person and had lots of friends. I think he spent most of his time doing for his stock and if he had any pets it was his pretty horses. I can't think of him being a farmer, but the red home place where my mother was born had a nice large field for those days, as they had to split rail to fence them. Neither of his boys could plow a straight row. I think he (Grandpa) must have kept hired hands to farm. They had someone named Monroe. I don't know if that was his given or surname, but mama was named Adelia Roe, so he must have thought a lot of him. I hadn't thought the old farm place in years until I got your letter. Arch Hobbs got that piece of land and it was next to our place on the south.
"The house was built right on the Ecleto creek. It was made of hewn logs, two big rooms with a hall (dogtrot) between them, and a shed room on the back of each, large front porch. There was a fireplace on the west room and I'm sure they did their cooking there when they first lived there. Arch lived with Grandpa & Aunt Florence until he married. We went there often when I was a child to visit. Uncles Arch and Amory moved there when they married. The yard was covered with huge trees, cottonwood, mulberry, and china trees, so some body took pride in the home.
"Aunt Florence was to good for her own good--a Christian shouldn't say that! She took in all the sick, homeless, down-and-outers that came along. To save my life I can't see how they fed them as Elias [Florence's son by her first husband] wasn't a worker as far as I could see. I'm sure Aunt Florence and Grandpa had a happy life together. They were both so good natured. Love, Dora"
Pleasant Howe Hobbs died in Nockenut on November 15, 1895 at age sixty-nine years and eleven months. He visited his granddaughter the day before his death, as recounted in her own words (June 30, 1980):
"I like to think of him where I saw him last. He drove up to our house early one morning on the way from someplace and was in too big a hurry to get out for a visit. We, mama and some of the children, went out to the yard gate to visit a few minutes with him. He was in a bright new shiney buggy with pretty matched horses. I thought he looked so grand--we were still riding in a wagon. To a ten-year old that must have looked like the first Model T Ford to us when we came out. The next day after his visit he died suddenly right after lunch. So that's the way I think of him--in his pretty buggy."
Pleasant left a large estate, consisting of 1559 acres of land in Wilson, Guadalupe, and Kinney Counties. His estate was partitioned between the widow Florence and his children Livonia Bellgard, Adelia King, Archie Hobbs, Josephine Henry, Ed Hobbs, and Mollie Hobbs.171
In 1895, the year Pleasant died and was buried in Nockenut Cemetery, the population of Nockenut was 147.172
Pleasant Hobbs was the ninth child of Joseph and Anna Hobbs, came to Texas with them in 1839, served in the Sommervell campaign against the Mexicans in 1842 (at the age of 17!), and was a 4th Corporal in the Texas Rangers stationed on the Medina River in 1850. In about 1854, Pleasant married Catherine Cotter, daughter of Steven and Hannah (Caler) Cotter, who came to Texas from Tennessee in 1845 and settled on 155 acres astride the Ecleto creek in 1855. Pleasant and Catherine had five daughters (two of whom died young) and two sons:
(1) Dora b. March 8, 1855 d. July 17, 1869
(2) Blanche b. December 21, 1856 d. July 7, 1861
(3) Livonia b. April 4, 1859
(4) Rachel J. b. November 26, 1861 d. February 21, 1921
(5) Edward W. b. June 2, 1864 d. 1937
(6) Adelia b. December 10, 1867 d. January 11, 1950
(7) Archie T. b. November 21, 1875 d. March 2, 1939
Pleasant and his family first lived in Nockenut on their farm on the Ecleto. The 1864 and 1865 Guadalupe County property assessments show that Pleasant owned, in addition to his farm, considerable livestock (mostly horses) and one negro slave, valued at $500 in 1864 and $400 in 1865 [the devaluation was presumably the result of the impending resolution of the War between the States, with its concomitant abolishment of the institution of slavery.]
In 1867, Pleasant deeded to his wife Catherine all of his land on the Ecleto, his buggy, and all of his livestock, consisting of 80 horses, 30 cattle, 60 hogs, and three oxen.169 While the motivation behind this unusual intra-family transfer of assets has been lost with time, it probably had something to do with the carpetbag government that ruled the area after the Civil War.
The 1870 census of Guadalupe County shows Pleasant and Catherine with their children Livonia, Josephine, Edward, and Adelia living on their farm in Nockenut. Their household also included twenty-one year old John Alston and a sixteen year old black farm hand named Bird Hobbs, who was probably the Hobbs slave previously listed on the tax roll, subsequently freed.
Catherine Hobbs died on March 15, 1879, and is buried in the Hobbs plot at the Steel Branch Cemetery, six miles east of Stockdale, near the site of old Nockenut.170
On October 26, 1886, Pleasant Hobbs married the widow Florence Dawson, daughter of Isaac King and Mary Jane Fisher. Pleasant and his new wife Florence had two daughters, Mollie (b August 5, 1887 when Pleasant was 61 years of age) and a second daughter who died in 1890 at the age of only six weeks.
It is interesting to note that Pleasant's daughter Adelia Hobbs married Florence's brother Otha King. Thus, Adelia's father became also her brother-in-law. Between 1978 and 1981, the author had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of Dora Hastings, widow of Walter Clyde Hastings and the last surviving child of Otha and Adelia. In one letter (July 9, 1980), Dora wrote about her grandfather, Pleasant Hobbs:
"Your letter brought back so many childhood memories. There's no one left for me to talk to about the long time ago. I'm glad I have lived to see so many changes and there will be so many in the next 25 years. Should you have asked my mother about Grandpa, it would have just been the best father a child ever had. My grandmother died when mama was 12 years old, so I think he was a real good father and took good care of them, as they all made good citizens. The grandchildren all loved him, so I know he was good to us. He was a nice, friendly person and had lots of friends. I think he spent most of his time doing for his stock and if he had any pets it was his pretty horses. I can't think of him being a farmer, but the red home place where my mother was born had a nice large field for those days, as they had to split rail to fence them. Neither of his boys could plow a straight row. I think he (Grandpa) must have kept hired hands to farm. They had someone named Monroe. I don't know if that was his given or surname, but mama was named Adelia Roe, so he must have thought a lot of him. I hadn't thought the old farm place in years until I got your letter. Arch Hobbs got that piece of land and it was next to our place on the south.
"The house was built right on the Ecleto creek. It was made of hewn logs, two big rooms with a hall (dogtrot) between them, and a shed room on the back of each, large front porch. There was a fireplace on the west room and I'm sure they did their cooking there when they first lived there. Arch lived with Grandpa & Aunt Florence until he married. We went there often when I was a child to visit. Uncles Arch and Amory moved there when they married. The yard was covered with huge trees, cottonwood, mulberry, and china trees, so some body took pride in the home.
"Aunt Florence was to good for her own good--a Christian shouldn't say that! She took in all the sick, homeless, down-and-outers that came along. To save my life I can't see how they fed them as Elias [Florence's son by her first husband] wasn't a worker as far as I could see. I'm sure Aunt Florence and Grandpa had a happy life together. They were both so good natured. Love, Dora"
Pleasant Howe Hobbs died in Nockenut on November 15, 1895 at age sixty-nine years and eleven months. He visited his granddaughter the day before his death, as recounted in her own words (June 30, 1980):
"I like to think of him where I saw him last. He drove up to our house early one morning on the way from someplace and was in too big a hurry to get out for a visit. We, mama and some of the children, went out to the yard gate to visit a few minutes with him. He was in a bright new shiney buggy with pretty matched horses. I thought he looked so grand--we were still riding in a wagon. To a ten-year old that must have looked like the first Model T Ford to us when we came out. The next day after his visit he died suddenly right after lunch. So that's the way I think of him--in his pretty buggy."
Pleasant left a large estate, consisting of 1559 acres of land in Wilson, Guadalupe, and Kinney Counties. His estate was partitioned between the widow Florence and his children Livonia Bellgard, Adelia King, Archie Hobbs, Josephine Henry, Ed Hobbs, and Mollie Hobbs.171
In 1895, the year Pleasant died and was buried in Nockenut Cemetery, the population of Nockenut was 147.172
Notes for Pleasant Howe (Spouse 2)
1850 Census of Medina River, Medina Co TX (28 Oct 1850)
Texas Volunteer Ranging Company Stationed on the Medina River 10 Miles (from) Castroville near the Water Tank
Name Age
Jerome B McCowen 29 Capt Ranging Compy.
Daniel A Conner 24 1st Leut. “ “
Peter Tomblinson 44 2nd Leut. “ “
Bemard H Harrison 21 1st Sgt. “ “
Samuel Caruthers 21 2nd Sgt. “ “
Nicholas Burkeley 24 3rd Sgt. “ “
Richard B Blackburne 21 4th Sgt. “ “
Jennings D Bannion 34 1st Corpl. “ “
Robert C Dunlap 21 2nd Corpl. “ “
Etheldred Tarver 20 3rd Corpl. “ “
Pleasant H Hobbs 21 4th Corpl. “ “
Hiram Harrison 27 1st Bugler “ “
John Thomas 21 2nd Bugler “ “
William Stagner 18 Blacksmith “ “
James G Kirkpatrick 28 Farrier “ “
Following are the names of 63 more men, all “Private Ranging Company”, including Francis Hobbs.
Jerome B. McCown (Texas Ranger for San Patricio and also member of 6th Texas Legislature during Republic of Texas) 1821-1887 was son of Sampson McCown and Elizabeth Telford. He served under Colonel Jack Hays in the Texas Rangers as a Captain of Company H.173
Pleasant did not stay with the Rangers very long as he married Catherine Cotter in the early 1850s.
Pleasant Hobbs was also listed with his family in Walker Co TX (25 Sept 1850)
Name Age
Jas Hobbs 60
Anna Hobbs 58
Talman Hobbs 16
Frank Hobbs 18
Pleasant Hobbs 24
Erin T Slayman 6
1860 Census of Guadalupe Co TX. PO Nockenut (9 July 1860)
Name Age
P H Hobbs 29 IN Stock raiser
Cath Hobbs 24 TN
Dora Hobbs 5 TX
Blanche Hobbs 3 TX
Elmira Hobbs 1 TX
J E Watkins 25 GA
1870 Census of Guadalupe Co TX . PO Seguin (Aug 1870)
Name Age
P H Hobbs 44
Catherine Hobbs 32
Lavoinia Hobbs 11
Josephine Hobbs 9
Edward Hobbs 7
Delia Hobbs 3
John Alston 20
Bird Hobbs 16
1880 Census of Wilson Co TX (15 June 1880)
Name Age
P. Howe Hobbs 55 Widowed IN MD NC
Rachel J. Hobbs 18 Dau Single TX IN TN
Edward Hobbs 15 Son Single TX IN TN
Adelia Hobbs 12 Dau Single TX IN TN
Arche Hobbs 4 Son Single TX IN TN
Ann Hobbs 88 Mother Widowed NC DE DE
Texas Volunteer Ranging Company Stationed on the Medina River 10 Miles (from) Castroville near the Water Tank
Name Age
Jerome B McCowen 29 Capt Ranging Compy.
Daniel A Conner 24 1st Leut. “ “
Peter Tomblinson 44 2nd Leut. “ “
Bemard H Harrison 21 1st Sgt. “ “
Samuel Caruthers 21 2nd Sgt. “ “
Nicholas Burkeley 24 3rd Sgt. “ “
Richard B Blackburne 21 4th Sgt. “ “
Jennings D Bannion 34 1st Corpl. “ “
Robert C Dunlap 21 2nd Corpl. “ “
Etheldred Tarver 20 3rd Corpl. “ “
Pleasant H Hobbs 21 4th Corpl. “ “
Hiram Harrison 27 1st Bugler “ “
John Thomas 21 2nd Bugler “ “
William Stagner 18 Blacksmith “ “
James G Kirkpatrick 28 Farrier “ “
Following are the names of 63 more men, all “Private Ranging Company”, including Francis Hobbs.
Jerome B. McCown (Texas Ranger for San Patricio and also member of 6th Texas Legislature during Republic of Texas) 1821-1887 was son of Sampson McCown and Elizabeth Telford. He served under Colonel Jack Hays in the Texas Rangers as a Captain of Company H.173
Pleasant did not stay with the Rangers very long as he married Catherine Cotter in the early 1850s.
Pleasant Hobbs was also listed with his family in Walker Co TX (25 Sept 1850)
Name Age
Jas Hobbs 60
Anna Hobbs 58
Talman Hobbs 16
Frank Hobbs 18
Pleasant Hobbs 24
Erin T Slayman 6
1860 Census of Guadalupe Co TX. PO Nockenut (9 July 1860)
Name Age
P H Hobbs 29 IN Stock raiser
Cath Hobbs 24 TN
Dora Hobbs 5 TX
Blanche Hobbs 3 TX
Elmira Hobbs 1 TX
J E Watkins 25 GA
1870 Census of Guadalupe Co TX . PO Seguin (Aug 1870)
Name Age
P H Hobbs 44
Catherine Hobbs 32
Lavoinia Hobbs 11
Josephine Hobbs 9
Edward Hobbs 7
Delia Hobbs 3
John Alston 20
Bird Hobbs 16
1880 Census of Wilson Co TX (15 June 1880)
Name Age
P. Howe Hobbs 55 Widowed IN MD NC
Rachel J. Hobbs 18 Dau Single TX IN TN
Edward Hobbs 15 Son Single TX IN TN
Adelia Hobbs 12 Dau Single TX IN TN
Arche Hobbs 4 Son Single TX IN TN
Ann Hobbs 88 Mother Widowed NC DE DE