Freestone County, Texas
Biographies




Biography of Thomas Longbotham
   (21 Feb 1832 - 5 Dec 1924, buried in Robert Longbotham cemetery in Wortham)
   
Book - Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, 
Limestone, Freestone and Leon Counties, Texas.  Lewis Publishing Company, 
Chicago, 1893.  p. 423-427.

"
   Thomas Longbotham, of Wortham, Texas. - There are few, if any, of the citizens
of Freestone county more deserving a place in history than the one whose name
stands at the head of this biography, Thomas Longbotham, one of the pioneers of
this county. He was born in Bibb county, Alabama, February 21, 1832, the youngest
son and sixth child of a family of ten children born to Robert B. and Lucy 
(Haggard) Longbotham." 
   [see biography of Robert Longbotham]
   The subject of this memoir, as above stated, came to Texas when about a year
old. He was reared at home amid the trials, struggles, hardships and dangers of
pioneery life.  His was the training, however, that make sturdy men, men of 
character and endurance, on whom the State depends to bring out and develop her
resources. The facilities for education in those days were limited, and the days 
young Thomas spent in the school-room did not probably exceed a year. His hand
and brain were needed in labor for the family and to assist in bringing out the
resources of the country for future benefitsl his school-room was the broad 
fields and the woods, and nature was his tutor. He remained with his father until
he attainted his majority, when he settled on 200 acres of land, which he purchased
from his father, and began his career as a farmer and stock-raiser. He continued
in this occupation until the breaking out of the war, when he enlisted in the 
Confederate cause and entered the Commissary Department and engaged in furnishing
the army with beef, which he drove across the Mississippi river. He served in this
capacity until the winter of 1864, when he returned home and engaged in the stock
business, which he has principally followed since. He has, by industry and good
management, acquired a landed estate of 2,300 acres, 2,000 of which is in Navarro
county, and mostly in the black belt. Four hundred acres of this land is in a high
state of cultivation.
    Mr. Longbotham was married, December 10, 1857, to Miss Mary J., daughter of 
William and Lucretia (Williams) Bennett, who were from Missouri, and who came to
Texas in 1855, settling in Limestone county.  Eleven children were born to this
union, six of whom are now living: Robert, a farmer in Freestone county; John, 
a farmer and stock-raiser in Navarro county; Thomas E., a merchant at Wortham;
Townsend, at home; Lucinda, the wife of A. N. Weaver of Navarro county; and Oscar,
at home. The other children died in childhood.  The parents are members of the
Protestant Methodist Church.  In politics, Mr. Longbotham is a Democrat, having
been rocked in the cradle of Democracy.  He is a member of the Masonic order, and 
belongs now to the Mexia Chapter, No. 131.  Mr. Longbotham is prominent among
that class of citizens that do credit to a State. He has reared a large family of
children who are now useful men and women and are ornaments to society; he has 
been a devoted and affectionate husband and father, a generous and charitable 
neighbor, and a public-spirited, progressive citizen.  Though eminently successful
in his life pursuits, his success has been accomplished by honorable methods and
the strictest integrity. In the evening of his days, Mr. Longbotham, surrounded 
by his kindred and friends, enjoys that quiet peace and happiness which comes 
from a well spent life, a life devoted to the welfare of his family and to the
best interests of his country.
"