Part 4, Note 40
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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.