Dallas County, TX - Biographies - Benjamin J. Prigmore ************************************************************************ This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Dorman Holub Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm ************************************************************************ John Henry Brown's History of Dallas County, 1892, pp. 494-495 BENJAMIN J. PRIGMORE.- Among the early arrivals in Texas was the Prigmore family, a representative of which is found in the subject of this sketch. This worthy citizen and his estimable wife are known far and wide, and are distinguished for their generous hospitality. Benjamin J. Prigmore landed in Texas with his parents, in 1844, at the age of fourteen years. He well remembers the hardships and privations of pioneer life. When they arrived here they were without money, their only possessions being six mules, a yoke of steers and two cows, and it was not long before the Indians stole their mules and killed one of the cows. The father took a headright of 640 acres of land. The first year or so the family had difficulty to get breadstuff. The year previous to their coming here, a few families had settled in the country and bad cultivated truck patches, and some help was obtained from them. The senior Mr. Prigmore was a good hunter and supplied his family with plenty of wild game, and after they had been there eight or ten months be made a rude mill with which to grind their corn. In a few years the magnificent productiveness of Texas soil placed them all beyond want. In 1847, a few months before be was seventeen, Benjamin Prigniore joined the army and went to the Mexican war. After he came home, some of the citizens, interested in his behalf, secured for him a headright of 320 acres. Thus it was that he obtained a start in Texas. In 1849 he began improving his claim; fenced forty acres, built a log house and broke thirty acres of the soil. In 1853 he married and settled on his farm. He prospered in his undertakings and at the time the war broke out had eighty acres under cultivation, and owned thirty horses and as many cattle. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate army, and as a member of Company B, Nineteenth Texas Cavalry, was in a number of engagements in Arkansas, Missouri and Texas; was never , wounded or captured. After the. war he returned home and resumed his agricultural pursuits. Joseph Prigmore, his father, a native of Kentucky, moved from there to Missouri with his parents when he was fourteen years old. There he grew to manhood, and married Mahala Dixon. Her father, John Dixon, moved from Ohio to Missouri, where his death occurred. Joseph Prigniore, imbued with a restless and adventurous spirit, started in 1849 for California. After an absence of eighteen months, he returned with some money, bought a herd of cattle, sold his headright in Texas, and in 1855 went back to California, taking his family and cattle with him. In the winter of 1859-'60 lie moved back to this State. While in the far West he made money, returning with $20,000 in gold. He loaned a part of it and made other deals, and was paid off in Confederate money, thus losing much that he had made. He died November 19, 1862, leaving his widow in good cire u m stances. Her death occurred in January, 1886, in Colorado, while en route to Washington Territory with her son. Their union was blessed with nine children, namely: Mary, Benjamin P., Sarah, William, Jackson, Joseph, Elizabeth and Isaiah (twins), and Jane. Joseph died during the war in the Union prison at Springfield, Illinois. Jackson accidentally shot and killed himself. Isaiah started for Washington Territory in 1887, and has never been heard from. Sarah married a Mr. Whitefield and is now living in Lower California. The family are widely scattered and the whereabouts of some is not known. Benjamin J. Prigmore has met with more of the ups and downs of life than most men. He had made a good start when the war came on. After his return he began life anew, and was on a fair way toward prosperity, when, in 1867, a cyclone struck his place, destroyed all his buildings and killed his daughter, Eliza. This occurred on the 26tb of May. His neighbors built him a shanty, and in it he lived until 1876, when he built his pre-sent residence. Since then he has been prosperous, and has been enabled to provide farms and homes for his five children, all of whom are located within three miles of the old homestead. Mr. Prigmore's marriage occurred on the 8th of February, 1853, the ady of his choice being Miss Nancy Jackson, daughter of John and Eliza Jackson, prominent mention of whom will be found on another page of this work. Six children have been born to them: John W., February 24, 1855; Eliza L., April 14, 1857; Mabala E., February 11, 1859; Joseph E., July 16, 1861; Lucy E., September 2, 1864; and Texas Anna, December 26,1866. At the home of this worthy couple, the stranger as well as the friend receives a cordial welcome, and is entertained in true Southern style. Mrs. Prigmore is adept in the culinary arts, and knows full well how to spread before her guests a tempting board and preside thereat in a most graceful manner.