Covington County AlArchives Biographies.....Straughn, Travis W. 1838 - living in 1893
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 17, 2004, 9:41 pm

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
   HON. TRAVIS W. STRAUGHN, county surveyor and farmer of Beat No. 4, was born
in Yalobusha county, Miss., in 1838. He is a son of Leroy M. and Mary (Taylor)
Straughn, the former a native of Clarke county, Ga., and the latter of North
Carolina. Leroy M. Straughn came with his parents to Alabama, married at New
Providence, Pike county, and settled in what is now Crenshaw county in the
woods, living there some time among the Indians and becoming familiar with their
habits and customs. He then removed to Mississippi where he lived about three
years, when he returned to his own place in Alabama. Here he lived some years
and then removed to Covington county, where he now resides. He is now nearly
seventy-eight years old. He has always been a farmer and has always been an
industrious, energetic, and generous man. While he has been a hard-working man
all his life, yet he has accumulated but little property, on account of the
generosity of his disposition. He has been a member of the Primitive Baptist
church for the past fifty years, is noted for his honesty and upright character,
and is universally esteemed. His father, Travis Straughn, was probably a South
Carolinian, but came to Alabama at a very early day, and was one of the earliest
settlers in Covington county. He lived in this county some years and then moved
to Mississippi, where he died during the war at an advanced age. He was of
English descent. The maternal grandfather of our subject, Windal Taylor, was
probably born in one of the Carolinas, but was one of the first settler in what
is now Crenshaw county, having first settled however on Conecuh river in Conecuh
county. Toward the latter part of his life he lived, and lies buried, in
Crenshaw county. The mother of our subject is still living at the age of seventy
eight. She is the mother of eight sons and six daughters, viz. Nancy, wife of J.
R. Price; Rebecca, deceased wife of J. G. Currington; Elizabeth, wife of M. J.
Currington; Wenefor I., deceased; Jane, deceased; Mary Ann, wife of J. A.
Stewart; Travis W.; James M. was a private soldier in company B, Eighteenth
Alabama infantry, served in the Tennessee army from the fall of 1863 until the
close of the war, was captured at Franklin in December, 1864, and kept in prison
until the war ended; Hillary, died young; John G., served in the Home Guards;
Andrew C.; Daniel I.; William L.; and Edward. Travis W. Straughn was in early
life so afflicted with rheumatism that he could not attend school. He began life
for himself at twenty - one years of age, the first year being engaged in
farming. He then ran a shoe shop, tannery, etc., and followed this business for
some years both before and after the war. In June, 1861, he joined the Wilcox
True Blues for thirty days, and in July he enlisted in company B, Eighteenth
Alabama infantry, went to Huntsville and spent the winter at Mobile. After
fighting at Corinth, Shiloh, and other places he returned to Mobile, spending
the winter there. In the summer of 1863 he joined his company in Tennessee and
fought at Chickamauga, where he received three distinct wounds, one in the jaw,
one in the left hip and the third in the left arm, the last two disabling him
for life. After spending some time in the hospital at Atlanta he returned home,
and then in the spring of 1864 rejoined his company at Dalton, fought to
Atlanta, then back with Hood to Tennessee, and on the retreat to Mississippi,
and then to Fort Blakely and to Spanish Fort, where the garrison surrendered. He
and six others made their escape and went to Meridian, Miss., where they
surrendered. He was a sergeant at first and was afterward commissioned a
lieutenant, but did not fill the position. For some time after the war he
followed his shoe business, tanning, saddlery, etc., and then took up farming,
which he has followed ever since. He now owns 168 acres, where he settled in
1871. In 1871 he married Sarah, daughter of James and. Rebecca Cook, the former
a native of South Carolina, the latter a native of North Carolina. Mr. Cook died
in Crenshaw county in 1872, and Mrs. Cook in Texas in 1891. Mrs. Straughn was
born in Georgia and is the mother of three children. In 1874 Mr. Straughn was
elected to the legislature, and was re-elected in 1876, and served on the
committees on temperance, on counties and on penitentiary. Since 1881 he has
been county surveyor. He is a member of Rose Hill lodge, No. 253, F. & A. M., in
which he has filled every office with credit. He is a member of Rose Hill
alliance, and is its lecturer, and was lecturer for Covington county alliance
for three years. As an indication of the progress made in this section of the
country during Mr. Straughn's residence here, it may be noted that, in his
boyhood days, he did marketing in Mobile and Pensacola, requiring all the way
from five to fifteen days to make the trip, whereas now markets are at his very
doors. Mr. Straughn is one of the substantial and reliable men of the county and
stands high in the estimation of his fellow-citizens.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 764-765
Published by
Brant & Fuller (1893)
Madison, WI

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