William B Whiteside is a member of the Whiteside family ...



Biography of William Whiteside

William Whiteside (b 1773 in Wilkes County, NC) is a member of the pioneering Whiteside family which migrated from Rutherford County, NC, through Kentucky, and were some of the earliest, and most prominent, settlers of Southern Illinois. His father, Robert, was a member of the militia during the Revolutionary War and most of William’s Uncles fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain – the turning point of the war in the Southern Colonies. His Uncle, Davis Whiteside, died of wounds received in the battle. Shortly after the war the family began their westward journey to seek new lands1.

William married Lavina Singleton (b 1775 in Rutherford County, NC), 8 March 1802 in Lincoln County, Kentucky 1,12. Her brother, Phillip Singleton was a witness to the marriage12. Her father, Richard Singleton, was a Major in the North Carolina militia and also participated in the battle of Kings Mountain 1. Members of the Whiteside and Singleton families traveled together from North Carolina, and Lavina’s brothers George Washington Singleton and Phillip Singleton joined William as original 300 colonists. William’s brother, James, arrived first in Austin’s colony, while William tended his mill on the Cumberland River in Kentucky. After the mill burned William journeyed to Texas with his family in 1824 13 and joined his brother James, who was already in Austin’s Colony. William along with his brother, James, and nephews Henry and Boland (sons of Jonathan Whiteside 6) all received land grants in 1824. William’s land grant was signed 15 July 1824 and is located in present day Waller County, just south of what in now Hempstead, “on the East bank of Brazos River beginning on upper corner of the plantation of Jared E Groce”2.

William Whiteside and Lavina had 9 children: Davis (1805-1824), Nancy (1808-1861), Elisha (1810-1852), George Washington (1811-1848), Ann Eliza (1814-1855), Mary (b 1816), John J (b 1818, d bef 1830), Phillip (b 1820-1843) and William (b 1822, d 1824) 6,7,8. In September 1824 William B & Lavina were “lost on the Brazos river” 9. On 24 December 1824, Stephen F Austin appointed John P Coles as Guardian of the eight orphan children as “relatives were unable or unwilling to assist them” 9,16.

• According to family history Davis and his parents died within a 5 day span in 1824.

• Nancy married Jousha Parker, another old 300 colonist, in 1829 7,8.

• Elisha participated in the battle of San Jacinto and the 1842 campaign and received both bounty and donation land grants, but never married.

• George Washington (1st Lt in 1842) is recorded to have served in the Army of the Republic of Texas and married Demis Maria Pierce in 1832. They had seven daughters, 3 of which survived to adulthood.

• Ann Eliza was indentured on 5 May 1826 to serve the family of Milton B Nuckols “until “she shall have completed the full age of eighteen years unless previous to that time the said Anna shall be married” 9, however he died in 1830 and Ann Eliza apparently lived with her brother George Washington in the following years 13. She was married to William Creighton Wilson on 21 February 1838 in Washington County by John P. Coles. He built the log cabin on display today in Independence, TX.

• Mary wed John Bone in Washington County on 16 July 1840.

• John is listed as “now deceased” in a circa 1830 succession document signed by George Washington Whiteside in the William B Whitesides probate file 9.

• Phillip’s estate is listed in a Washington County probate file in 1843 with Elisha as the executor.

• Young William would be one of the 8 orphaned children mention by Stephen Austin 9 in the Guardianship document of 24 December 1824. No record is found of him afterwards, including in the ca 1830 succession document 9.

The 1837 probate record for his estate is on file in the Austin County Courthouse 9. His league of land was equally divided into equal 6 lots, all with riverfront 9,17. The first, apparently George Washington’s, was sold 6 May 1835 to James Perry, who on 26 Jan 1839 sold it to Jared E Groce and Leonard W Groce, for $2.50 per acre. The remaining 5 lots of his league were heired to daughters: Nancy, Mary, and Ann Eliza; and sons: Elisha and Phillip 2 , and all sold in the years 1837-1846 . By 1839 5 of the 6 lots had been sold to the Groce’s and absorbed into their extensive holdings, which at the peak was over 67,000 acres10.

Three mentions of a William B Whiteside occur in Colony records after his death in 1824. He is recorded to have bought a lot at San Felipe in December 1829 for $40 4. In September 1830, the ayuntamiento is recorded to have paid him twenty-four dollars for guarding a prisoner named Hiram Friley 5. His signature appears on the deed as a witness to the sale of property of Jousha Parker to George B McKinstry on 20 May 1829 3. These dates all conflict with William Whiteside’s recorded death in 1824, and thus most likely are references to William Boland Whiteside who was: a nephew of William B, brother of Henry Whiteside, also one of Austin’s “old 300”, and listed in later U.S. Census records as William B Whiteside 14,15. No record has been found of William Whiteside (b 1773, d 1824) being designated as William B Whiteside within his lifetime.

1 Baldwin, Carl R., “Echos of Their Voices, A Saga of the Pioneers Who Pushed The Frontier Westward to The Mississippi”, Hawthorne Publishing Company, St. Louis, Mo., 1978

2 Austin County Deed Abstracts 1837-1852, Republic of Texas and State of Texas, abstracted by Joyce Martin Murray, Dallas TX, 1987

3 Austin County Deed Records, Vol. A, Microfilm Reel 1017503 of Early Austin County records in State archives.

4 The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXI, July 1917 to April 1918, “Minutes of the Ayuntamient of San Felipe de Austin, 1828-1832, edited by Eugene C. Barker, page 419

5 The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXII, 1918 to 1919, “Minutes of the Ayuntamient of San Felipe de Austin, 1828-1832, edited by Eugene C. Barker, page 191

6

7. Dr. Don Whiteside, “The first four (4) generations of descendants of William (cl 710-1777) and Elizabeth (Stockton) Whiteside of Ireland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina.”, Nepean, ON, November 1990, 28 pages

8. Whiteside, Don [1931 NY-1993 CAN] (1969) The Family of William (1710-1777) and Elizabeth (Stockton) Whiteside of Virginia and North Carolina, 1700-1969. First Draft. Edmonton, AB, September 1969, 293 pages

9 Austin County Probate Record, file 47 (25), estate of William Whiteside, 1837, Austin County Courthouse, Bellville, TX

10 Groce, Leonard Waller, The Handbook of Texas Online;

11 Whitesides, James, The Handbook of Texas Online;

12 8 March 1802, Marriage Record, Stanford, Lincoln County, KY

13 Diary of Demis Maria “Whiteside” (wife of G.W. Whiteside), in possession of family

14 1850 U.S. Census, Spadra, Johnson, Arkansas

15 1860 U.S. Census, District 17, Hamilton, Tennessee

16 7th January 1826, Letter from John P. Coles to Austin, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for The year 1919", In two Volumes Vol II , The Austin Papers

17 Washington County Probate Records, Vol. A-B, 1837-1838

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