Part 4, Note 40

Click Here to See All Notes to Part 4

Colorado County Tax Rolls, 1847, 1848, 1849, 1850, 1851; Colorado County Deed Records, Book E, p. 404, Book F, pp. 27, 29, Book H, pp. 16, 355, 356, 643; Letter of William P. Jewitt, September 26, 1844; Statement of W. W. Rives, Charles William Tait Papers, The Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin, or transcriptions in Tait Family Papers (Ms. 32), Archives of the Nesbitt Memorial Library, Columbus; Seventh Census of the United States (1850) Schedule 4, Colorado County, Texas. Apparently, the altercation which led to Rives' death was precipitated when Tait expressed, in no uncertain terms, his family's doubts about the suitability of Rives to marry into the family. Tait's sister insisted on marrying Rives, and did so even as he lay dying of his wound.
    That Washington arrived in 1850 can be deduced from the fact that he appeared on the federal census of the county taken that summer, but not on the tax rolls, which were compiled early in the year. Washington, who was the grandson of George Washington's brother, brought several artifacts from Mount Vernon to Colorado County.
    The Thomas J. Henderson who moved into the Oakland prior to 1850 is different from the Thomas J. Henderson who with his brother, Alexander C., had purchased land from John Byrne in the 1830s. The earlier Thomas Henderson lived his entire life in Natchez, Mississippi, constructed a palatial home now known as Magnolia Hall in Natchez, and died there in 1863 at the age of 65.