Freestone County, Texas
Biographies
 

Biography of John R. Kendrick
 (12 April 1833 - 31 January 1910, married Eliza Ann Seagler on 17 Nov 1859 in 
   Anderson Co., TX.; 1860 F.C. census; 1870 & 1880 & 1900 Anderson Co. census;
   buried at Tennessee Colony Cemetery, Tennessee Colony, Anderson, Texas)

Book - Biographical Sketches from Limestone, Freestone, and Leon Counties,
Texas.  Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1893.  p. 293-294.


Page 293

  John R. Kendrick, an early settler of Texas and a resident of this county for 
over twenty years, came to Texas in 1854 and settled in Anderson county, living 
here one year and employed as overseer. The second year of his residence in the 
State he went to Freestone county, where he was engaged in the same way and also 
assisted his father, who had removed to the State. In 1858 be returned to this 
county and remained at the same business another year, but he then married and 
bought a farm in Freestone county, which he farmed until 1862.
  At the above date our subject enlisted as a soldier in Company H, Twenty-eighth 
Dismounted Cavalry, and was assigned to Walker’s division, seeing service in 
Arkansas and Louisiana. He took part in the battle of Mansfield and Milliken’s 
Bend and all of the important battles of the above two States, but was never 
wounded or captured. At the close of the war he was with his regiment at Hempstead, 
and they were there disbanded and returned home. Then he rented his farm and came 
to this county, and here rented land until 1870, when he bought the farm upon 
which he now lives, consisting of 427 acres. There were some improvements here, 
and he has since cleared sixty acres and put it into cultivation. Since his first 
purchase he has bought another farm, of 320 acres, and at the home farm he has 
150 acres under cultivation, which he mostly rents, and raises cotton, corn, oats 
and the usual vegetables. He has fine orchards, with plenty of fruit, and also 
gives attention to cattle and mules and has been very successful in the raising 
of stock.
  The farm of our subject is located fourteen miles northwest of Palestine, on 
the site of the site of the old Tennessee colony, and this section of the county
was among the  


Page 294

  earliest parts settled. Mr. Kendrick was born in York district, South Carolina, 
April 10, 1834, was raised on a farm and given a good common-school education 
only. He lived under the parental roof until he was twenty years old and then 
began his business of overseeing, and soon after came to Texas as above stated. 
He is the son of Thomas and Mary (Fuller) Kendrick, of South Carolina, of Scotch 
Irish descent, who followed the business of farming. The mother of our subject 
was Mary Fuller, a native of South Carolina, and her family there were well known 
leaders in society, her father a prominent farmer and stock-man. Our subject’s 
parents came to Texas in 1855 and settled in Freestone county, where his father 
engaged in farming and lived until his death in 1863. His family consisted of 
twelve children, all of whom grew to maturity except one, and ten of them coming 
to this State. Alsa F. died in 1858; W. H. yet lives in Alabama; our subject; 
Joseph I., a farmer of Limestone county; Sarah E. married Hans. Scarborough, but 
both are now deceased; Mary J. married R. H. Foreman, a farmer of Freestone 
county; Martha married L. T. Epps, a farmer of Freestone county; Harriet married 
B. Webb of Freestone county, but she is now deceased; Marion F. died in 1865, at 
his home, from the effects of army service; Thomas B. is a farmer of Limestone 
county; and Annie married W. Weaver, a farmer of Limestone county. The mother of 
this family died November 25, 1885, aged seventy-six. Both parents were members 
of the Missionary Baptist Church.
  Our subject married Miss Eliza A. Seagler, in 1859, daughter of George and Ann 
J. Seagler, of Alabama, who came to Texas in 1856. Mr. Seagler became a prominent 
and hard-working farmer and was very successful in life. From this marriage three 
children were born: Walter L., who now is a farmer of Anderson county; Willie, 
who died at the age of three years; and John S., who is yet at home. The mother 
of these children was born December 2, 1840, and died June 6, 1892. She had been 
a faithful Christian, being for over thirty years a member of the Missionary 
Baptist Church. Mr. Kendrick takes no active part in politics and does not aspire 
to office. He believes in the principles of Democracy and is a member of the 
Grange and the Farmers’ Alliance. He is also one of the most respected members 
of the Missionary Baptist Church.