Ellis County Sheriffs and 08 Run-Off

April 8th we will have a Run-Off for Ellis County Sheriff. It will be between James Ledbetter and Johnny Brown. The primary results were Johnny Brown 4,652 James A. Ledbetter 3,812 Steve Mckinney 3,481. It's my understanding that since Johnny Brown did not recieve more than 50% of the vote he must have a run-off with the candidate with the second most votes. The Blog For Ellis County Texas History endorses candidate Johnny Brown. He is a younger candidate with creative ideas and has always voted Republican. Here's his Myspace. Though from what I understand we will be in good hands no matter what candidate wins. Ledbetter according to his Myspace page has ran two prior unsuccessful campaigns for Ellis County Sheriff. One against Sheriff Gage and one against current Sheriff Stewart. If you are a Brown supporter get out and vote April 8th because it appears Mckinney supporters lean towards Ledbetter. That's 3,481 potential votes for Ledbetter. The irony is even though Mckinney lost his voters will decide the winner.


Blog discussions of the April 8th run-off

Newspaper discussions of 08 run-off

Here are Ellis County's past Sheriff's


Ellis County Sheriffs


WILLIAM H. H. BRADFORD: elected August 5, 1850; resigned January 14, 1851.

HARVEY W. YOUNG; appointed February 7, 1851; elected August 2, 1851, and served until December 1852.

JONATHAN E. PRINCE: appointed December 31, 1852; elected August 7, 1854; served until August 4, 1856.

JAMES W. CARTNEY; elected August 4, 1856; resigned February 7, 1858.

JOHN G. WILLIAMS: appointed February 27, 1858; elected August 2, 1854; served until August 6, 1860

ALBERT A. FOSTER: elected August 6, 1860; resigned April 1861.

JOHN KING: appointed April 6, 1861 served until August 4, 1862.

M. B. LANKSFORD: elected August 4, 1862; re-elected August 1, 1864; served until August 31, 1865.

MATTNEW SKEIN: appointed August 31, 1865; served until June 25, 1866.

GEORGE B. SWEATT: elected June 25, 1866; resigned December 1866.

CHARLES FOSTER: appointed December 24, 1866; served until July 1867 when moved out of the county.

PETER W. WILLIAMS: appointed July 3, 1867; served until Sept. 16, 1869 when removed by order of Gen. J. J. Reynolds.

JAMES YARBOROUGH: appointed September 16, 1869 by Gen. Reynolds Special Order; did not qualify.

JOHN T. KING: elected December 3, 1869; served until February 17, 1870; may have been removed by military order.

C. K. GOODWYN: appointed February 17, 1870 by special order Gen. J. J. Reynolds; served until December 2, 1873.

JOHN T. KING: elected December 2, 1873; served until February 15, 1876; moved away for a time but returned and died near Britton.

W. D. "Wash" RYBURN: one of most colorful men elected; served February 15, 1876; re-elected November 5, 1878; November 2, 1880 and served until November 7, 1882; native of Kentucky and a veteran of the Civil War; ran for office again after turn of century, but lost.

JOHN BRALY: elected November 7, 1882; served until November 4, 1884; native of Arkansas and Civil War veteran.

W. P. WATT: elected November 6, 1888; re-elected November 4, 1890; served until November 8. 1892; native of Alabama.

JAMES M. MEREDITH: elected November 8, 1882; served until November 6, 1894; first native of county to hold office; died in Austin.

W. J. McCUE: elected November 6, 1894; re-elected November 3, 1896 and served until November 8, 1898; twice married; no known descendants; died near Henrietta, Texas.

GEORGE C. SWEATT: elected November 8, 1898; re-elected November 6, 1900; served until November 8, 1902.

JOE P. MINNICK: elected November 4, 1902; re-elected November 8, 1904 and served until November 6, 1906; was constable at Palmer prior to term as sheriff.

W. H. FORBES: elected November 6, 1906; re-elected November 3, 1908 and served until November 8, 1910; ran again in 1926 but was defeated by Joe Loe by only five votes.

A. W. WILSON: elected November 8, 1910; re-elected November 5, 1912; served until November 3, 1914.

HENRY DEARBORN: elected November 3, 1914; re-elected November 7, 1916; served until November 5, 1918 native of Missouri; twice married; was superintendent of Odd Fellows Old Folks Home at Ennis at one time.

GEORGE C. SWEATT: again elected November 5, 1918; re-elected November 2, 1920 and served until death February 4, 1921. Sweatt held many offices during his life, as well as his terms as sheriff.

W. H. FORBES: appointed February 26, 1921; elected a second time November 2, 1922 and served until January 1, 1925.

JOE LOE: elected November 4, 1924; re-elected November 2, 1926 and served until January 1, 1929.

JOHN DAVENPORT: elected November 6, 1928; re-elected November 4, 1930 and served' until January 1, 1933; native of Tennessee.

DAVE FEARIS: elected November 8, 1933; re-elected November 6, 1934 and served until January 1, 1937.

J. E. ROY: elected November 3, 1936; re-elected November 8, 1938 and served until January 1, 1941.

JESS L. CARIKER: elected November 5, 1940; re-elected November 3, 1942, November 7, 1944; November 5, 1946 and served until January 1, 1949. Served as president of the Texas Sheriff's Association in 1944.

EDWARD BURL WHITE: elected November 2, 1948; re-elected November 7, 1950; November 4, 1952, November 2, 1954 and served until January 1, 1956.

WAYNE McCOLLUM: elected November 6, 1956; re-elected November 8, 1960, November 3, 1964, November 5, 1968, November 7, 1972 and served until January 1, 1977. His twenty years of service is the longest in County history.

BARNEY BOYD: elected November 2, 1976; re-elected November 4, 1980; and November 6, 1984 and served until January 1, 1989.

JOHN GAGE: elected November 8, 1988; served until ? [was lawman for thirty-three years.]

NOTE: RAY STEWART is the present sheriff of Ellis County (2004).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 1998 - 2004 Ellis County TXGenWeb. All Rights Reserved.
Home

LLEWELLYN'S GRAVE

I found the grave of Joseph Llewellyn by surfing on the Internet. He died at 5 years old on May 9, 1875. Local Historian Wilma Caddel gave me exact directions to the grave. I had actually passed this spot the week before going off an Internet direction. If you come off Buena Vista(1446) from Waxahachie you take a left on Hoyt. It has a sign at Hoyt and 1446 that points to the Fri-Tex Dairy Farm and Hoyt runs beside the abandoned SSC buildings. The road goes straight to the entry to the Dairy Farm but you take the curve to the left and travel about a half mile. Inside a barbed wire fence on the left not to far from the road is the grave with an iron fence around it and a tree next to it. It is on private property and it looks like they keep it up. It appeared nobody was there so I didn't bother to ask to get inside fence. The location is approximately here.

The story on the internet goes as follows.

LLEWELLYN GRAVE

Located 6 miles West of I35 on Buena Vista Rd., Right at SSC Lab to Fri-TEX Dairy; .5 miles West of Dairy. Grave is on the left. (There is a story that this grave is that of a child who was riding with his family on a wagon train, and was killed by Indians. The grave is that of Joseph Llewellyn who died May 9, 1875; he was age 5 years 5 months.)

(ECGS Volume 11)

Now, I'm thinking the Joseph's body was carried to this spot maybe at the end of their journey. There were not many skirmishes with Indians in Ellis County, especially by 1875. This fact makes me think the skirmish happened somewhere else on their journey.



Another link is here

Bessie Coleman 01/26/1892-04/30/1926

Born in Atlanta, Texas, on January 26, 1892 Bessie Coleman took an arduous path to becoming the world's first licensed African-American pilot. Her journey started when she moved early in her life with her family to Waxahachie, Texas. She lived within her Father's boundaries of a sharecropper's life. Growing up in Waxahachie she helped around the house and walked 4 miles to school. It was an everyday life in the Jim Crow South. Suddenly in 1901 her Father, George Coleman, left the family and moved to Oklahoma. He did try to convince his family to come with him but they would not. Soon after, her brothers also went there own ways and left their Mother, Susan, to raise 4 daughters on her own. "Susan found work as a cook/housekeeper for Mr. And Mrs. Elwin Jones." Bessie soon started taking care of the Coleman household near Mustang Creek. At the age of twelve she was accepted to the Missionary Baptist Church. Though all activities were interrupted during cotton pick'n season she eventually saved her money working as a laundress and attended Colored Agricultural and Normal University in Langston, Oklahoma. After one year she ran out of money. Eventually she moved to Chicago with her brother Walter at the age of 23. Her brothers John and Walter had served in WWI. John use to tell Bessie about the French women pilots. This got her inspiration going. She eventually applied went to France and obtained a flying license. On June 15, 1921 became the first African-American licensed pilot. She returned to America soon after but returned to France for advanced training. She returned again to the US an expert pilot.

"Her first appearance was in an air show on September 3, 1922 at Curtiss Field near New York City." "On June 19, 1925, Bessie made her flying debut in Texas at a Houston auto racetrack renamed Houston Aerial Transport Field in honor of the occasion."

She performed shows in San Antonio, Richmond, Waxahachie, Wharton,and Dallas. She always requested that the audience be integrated. On the occasion she performed in Waxahachie she had disappointingly found that Jim Crow still ruled in Waxahachie which it would until the late 60's. She had requested that the everyone was to enter the same gates. To her disappointment when she flew over in her Curtis JN-4D she saw a chain separating the blacks and whites after the gates. At that moment she probably understood a little better why her Father had left Waxahachie.

"At the end of April in 1926, Bessie's Jenny arrived in Jacksonville. On the evening of April 30th, she and her mechanic took the plane up for a test flight. Once aloft, the plane malfunctioned and the mechanic, who was piloting the plane from the front seat, lost control of the plane. Bessie fell from the open cockpit several hundred feet to her death."

10,000 people filed passed her coffin. She's had streets,a day, Bessie Coleman Aero Club(An African American flying school) and a US Stamp named in her honor and Legend.

LaRue Kilgore-Miller

LaRue Kilgore-Miller will have the new Midlothian Elementary named after her. Mrs Miller has taught three generations of students at Midlothian ISD. This wonderfull career may have never happened if not for the cottonseed oil mill in Midlothian back in 1906. The oil mill was where cottonseeds were pressed and the oil is collected. Cottonseed oil is mainly used as salad oil, cooking oil, and found in many baked goods.

Before the Cottonseed oil mill, Blacks were not allowed to live in Midlothian and were definitely not allowed after dark. But the oil mill needing more workers changed things and Buck Kilgore became one of the first Blacks to live in Midlothian. 9th street became the street that the Black folk lived. Little LaRue Kilgore grew up with her Dad Buck and Mother Amanda at 511 n 9th street. The great perk of living there was that the Black school Booker T Washington was right next door with it's playground.

LaRue enjoyed her school but it was only for 1st to 8th grade. After 8th grade was High School and the only black High School was in neighboring Waxahachie. I believe she went to Oak Lawn School on Wyatt street. Originally the school was located on aiken st next to the future location the Joshua Chapel A.M.E. Church. So LaRue and her classmates would catch the bus at 6:30 am and ride to Waxahachie and get bused back around 3:00 pm. Unfortunately they could not stay for after school activities.

LaRue Miller graduated High School and went to Paul Quinn college in Dallas. Where she met Arthur Miller. She graduated in 1949 and then Married Arthur in 1950. Arthur Miller's brother has claim to fame. Doris (Dorie) Miller received the Navy Cross for his bravery at Pearl Harbor. He fired a 50 caliber Browning anti-aircraft machine gun at the Japs until it ran out of ammo. He was not trained to fire the gun. He also carried injured men to safety.

Mrs LaRue Miller began to teach at her old school Booker T Washington. Though at first the principle was afraid that since the students knew her so well she would not be able to discipline the children. Everyone knew her as Baby Ruth. But it all worked out. She taught there until 1967 when the school's became integrated.

At the time of integration Mrs LaRue said that she couldn't remember a problem. She began at J R Irving where the teachers were very nice and helpful. She didn't even remember a student fight. Mrs. Miller being use to hand me downs from the white schools began using more up-to-date materials to teach. She taught in Midlothian ISD until she retired in 1994. She still substitutes and is involved the Midlothian Education Foundation. LaRue Miller Elementery sounds like a school doesn't it? Well deserved!

Note: majority of this post was obtained from the cover article in the Feb 2008 Midlothian NOW magazine written by Betty Tryon.

Stairway to nowhere?

Through a Ellis County Sheriff friend, I was given a tip on a location that may have historical value. He told me in the southeastern region of Ellis County there is a stairway that goes up a hill . It is made of lumber and goes up a wooded hill near a creek by railroad tracks. I went to the location on Sandswitch Road and being summertime was not able to locate it. Returning this winter, sure enough, there it was. The Sheriff said he had metal detected the area and found coins mainly from the 1930's. There is an abandoned house and barn just east of the stairway where unfortunately people dump stuff. The stairs are in two sections. A long one goes close to the top until the angle changes then another stairway goes the rest of the way to the top. Where they seperate you can see an old waterline(I'm guessing for water) and it runs under the top section of stairs. Maybe it was a way for people who lived on the hill to catch the train?

William Sydney Pittman's Joshua Chapel

American Architect William Sidney Pittman designed the Gothic styled Joshua Chapel A.M.E. Church on 119 N Aiken in Waxahachie. "Sidney Pittman died a pauper and was buried in an unmarked grave in South Dallas. But a legacy of the strange life and brilliant mind of Dallas' first black architect still stands on Elm Street." The Pythian Temple on 2551 Elm Street was symbol of pride for the Black community in Dallas. His father-in-law was Booker T Washington and Pittman moved to Dallas to make a name for himself and get out from under his famous Father-in-law. Pittman had the artist personality. "He was highly individualistic and an eccentric" said his biographer Ruth Ann Stewart. Pittman was the extreme Bill Cosby of his time and he fought against hypocrisy in the Black Community. Pittman had a volatile temper and eventually because of this his wife left him. "In 1931, Pittman turned to publishing to provide a forum for his campaign against the hypocrisy of some black leaders. He published the "Brotherhood Eyes" every Saturday, gathering gossip sent in by correspondents called "the Eyes" across the South, and goading the black establishment with his criticisms." He eventually served two years of a five year sentence at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas for sending obscene material, presumably his newspaper, through the mail." President Franklin D Roosevelt helped Pittman get released. He came back to Dallas and died 1958.


Joshua Chapel A.M.E Church Rev. Dr L R Emanuel, Pastor
119 N Aiken Waxahachie TX 76165 USA 972-923-9490

Mason Temple Waxahachie, Texas

My Grandfather J. O. Bailey was a Mason. My father says he was a 32nd degree. I don't know enough about Masons to know if that is possible or what it means. I have heard that my Grandfather had told someone he thought it was silly. Maybe that is why he never got to 33 degree? :) I remember he had their symbol on his gravestone and they did something at his service. I do know that degrees have something to do about ranking. I know that many of our our forefathers were really involved in the Masons and it seems to have been influential in politics and business. Legend has it that Santa Anna was spared his life when he flashed a secret Mason hand sign to Sam Houston. Both Masons.

I've never been in a secret society except in fourth grade when I started a Women Haters Club. Our only rules was not to fraternize with the enemy. When my friend Bubba dissented by falling in love with Anita, it all fell apart. Some kids also at this time started a game where if you caught a girl you got to kiss her. I was a staunch member of my club and didn't participate. Man I was a dummy! But the Principle intervened and the game soon ended.


Anyway, Part of the Boze Mitchell McKibbin Funeral Home at 511 W Main St, Waxahachie next to the Library is a Mason Temple. Before that the Mason's met in the top floor where the Ellis County Museum is now. Built 1889.

According to the recollection of Shannon Simpson, director of Ellis County Museum, before that it was next to the Library but was a small building. So they probably already owned the land that the Temple was built on. They built the Temple at 511 w main st in 1925. "The Masonic Lodge building on Main Street was constructed around 1925. The Masons moved from the site of the Ellis County Museum to this structure around that time. When the Depression hit in 1929, the Lodge had to sell the bottom floor of the structure to make ends meet. The bottom portion has been a funeral home
since that time." According to the KBEC radio spot the Boze Mitchell McKibbin Funeral Home has been around since 1867 (if I remember right.) So it must have moved around. It seems to be common that a Mason Lodge will build a multiple story building and rent the lower floors to fund their Lodge. The Historical Marker at the Ellis County Museum tells about the different business' that were in the Lodge building.

Here are some pics of the Mason Temple at the funeral Home. Notice the peep hole. There was a closet upstairs where the doors had no handles on the inside. There is apparently some ancient breakers in the breaker box and the window for a projector for whatever movie they were watching. One can only imagine. There is a closet space under the stairs like where Harry Potter stayed for a while. There is suppose to be a trap door somewhere that is used for a test. They drop a guy down into this trap door and leave him there for a certain amount of time that symbolizes the 40 days in the cave.