Hopkins Co., TX - Biography - David Humphrey Pitts ***************************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb by: "Tom Pitts" USGenWeb Archives. Copyright. All rights reserved http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ***************************************************** David Humphrey Pitts A Texas Pioneer David Humphrey Pitts was an early settler in Miller Grove, Hopkins County, Texas. He arrived there in the late 1850s. He was a farmer and blacksmith. He and his family left the area in the early 1880s and homesteaded in central Texas near May, in Brown County. David was born in western Pickens County (now Oconee County), South Carolina, on May 14, 1834. He was one of several children of Joel and Charlotte Pitts. Joel Pitts was also a blacksmith and farmer. On March 28, 1852, David married Jane Louisa Moore (b. 1834, North Carolina), daughter of James and Margaret Moore, neighbors in Pickens County. By December 1852, David and Jane had relocated to Walker County in northwestern Georgia along with Jane’s parents. Before they moved from Georgia, they had three children - Harriet (1852), James Joel (1855) and Mary Elizabeth (1857). David, Jane and their children moved to northeast Texas between 1857 and 1860 and settled near Miller Grove in Hopkins County. Their fourth child, Lucy Jane, was born there on October 30, 1860. The 1860 U.S. census for Hopkins County lists the family, including birthdates of the children born in Georgia, in the “Retina P.O.” census district (location unknown). On April 15, 1861, David signed and filed an affidavit that he had settled on 160 acres of “vacant public domain,” which he intended to homestead. In August 1862, a survey was filed with Hopkins County for 160 acres of land on the waters of Turkey Creek “about 18.5 miles south 40 west from Tarrant,” the county seat at that time. On September 17, 1863, Governor Lubbock issued a letter of patent to David H. Pitts for this land. (Abstract #770, Patent #29, Volume 18, Class “Nac Scrip, File #900, State abstracts of Hopkins County through August 31, 1941.) A map of the original land patents for Hopkins County (Texas Land Office, August 6, 1942) shows that the land patented to David Pitts (name incorrectly shown on the map as David M. Pitts). The land adjoined properties owned by E.D. Chinneth on the west, J.P.W. Burns on the north, Robert F. Clendenen on the east and Thomas Stokley on the south. Based on the 1942 map, this land appears to be about two miles south of the current site of Miller Grove. Civil War Service When the Civil War started, David, like many of his neighbors, joined a home guard unit, the 9th Texas Brigade, Hopkins County, Beat (precinct) 3. It was made up of men from Hopkins and Lamar counties. (See the brigade muster role at http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/9brimain.htm.) The 9th Texas Brigade was subsequently incorporated into the regular Confederate States Army. In the spring, 1862, the 23rd Calvary Regiment was formed with men from Centerville, Denton, Cooper, Palestine, Clarksville, Bowie and Hopkins counties. It was known as Gould’s Regiment and was part of the famous Walker’s Texas Division. Many men from Hopkins County served in the division, which was assigned to the Trans-Mississippi Department. Walker’s Texans fought in Louisiana and Arkansas and won major battles at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, Louisiana. They are credited with preventing the Union Army from capturing Shreveport and invading east Texas. (Walker’s Texas Division, C.S.A., Greyhounds of the Trans-Mississippi, Richard Lowe, Louisiana State University Press, 2004.) David Pitts served in Company I, 23rd Texas Calvary, commanded by Captain Port Wood. David was detailed as a blacksmith to shoe horses and repair wagons. According to Pitts family records (B. H. Pitts, Sr., 1975), David was serving somewhere near the Texas-Arkansas border in early 1864 when he learned that his wife had died. He left his unit, with the permission of his captain, and returned briefly to Hopkins County. Jane Louisa died on December 30, 1863. She was 29. According to affidavits appended to a pension application (filed by his second wife, Sarah Groves Pitts, 1914, Texas State Archives), David served in Company I until it was disbanded at Harrisburg, Texas, in 1865. A New Family After the war David returned to Miller Grove and to his children, James Joel, Mary Elizabeth and Lucy. Harriet, his first child, died in 1865 at age 13. James Joel, 10, was reportedly living with the family of an outlaw gang in Missouri (B. H. Pitts, Sr., 1975). On November 8, 1865, David married Sarah Ann Groves in Miller Grove. Sarah, daughter of Daniel and Susannah Groves, was born February 6, 1848, in Tishomingo, Mississippi (Pitts family Bible records). The Groves family had moved to the Miller Grove area about 1854 (pension application of Sarah Groves Pitts, 1914, Texas State Archives). Pitts family records include original report cards dated 1857 from Miller Grove School for Sarah Ann Groves (age 9) and two of her brothers, William J. Groves (age 14) and Joseph Groves (age 11). These were signed by teacher C.T. Phillips. (Transcribed copies provided below) Circular Showing the Standing of Wm. Groves sing the month Ending the 2__th of August 1857 Conduct good Number of lessons 48 C.T. Phillips Teacher A circular showing the Standing of J. Groves for the month ending the 21st of August, 1857 Conduct good Number of lessons 62 C.T. Phillips Teacher Miller grove school circular Miss Sarahann Groves Number of good lessons 20 Number of bad lessons 10 Conduct good absent 0 times C.T. Phillips Teacher David and Sarah had at least five children in Miller Grove: Julie Ann (1866), Sarah Catherine (1868), Henry E. (1870), Dora (1872), Martha Electra (1875) and William David (1878). A sixth child, Lilly, was born in 1881, in either Miller Grove or Brown County. David farmed and worked as a blacksmith. As of 1870, three children from David’s first family--James Joel, Mary Elizabeth and Lucy Jane--were also living with him and Sarah (U.S. Census, Hopkins County, 1870). David’s brother, William, moved to Miller Grove from South Carolina in the mid-1870s. David and William owned a blacksmith shop (Pitts family records, B.H. Pitts, Sr., 1975). While living in Texas, William and his wife had one child, born in 1877. All of their other children were born in South Carolina. William and his family returned to South Carolina by 1880 (U.S. Census Records, Oconee County, South Carolina, 1880). In 1880, David’s household included only his and Sarah’s six offspring. (U. S. Census, Hopkins County, 1880). The three surviving children from his first marriage no longer lived in the household. The youngest, James Joel, was 25 by then. Brown County, Texas Sarah and David lived in the Miller Grove area until the early 1880s, when they moved to homestead in central Texas, about four miles north of May, in Brown County. Their seventh and last child, Martin Daniel, was born there in 1885. By 1900, the household included David, Sarah and only three of their children, William David, Lilly, and Martin Daniel (U.S. Census, Brown County, 1900). David died in 1912 at age 78. Sarah, 67, died in 1915. Both are buried at Amity Church cemetery in western Comanche County, a few miles from their homestead near May. The Children of David and Jane in Hopkins County The three surviving children of David’s first family (James Joel, Mary Elizabeth and Lucy Jane) remained in Hopkins County after he, Sarah and their children departed for Brown County. James Joel Pitts According to Pitts family history (B.H. Pitts Sr.), James Joel Pitts was crippled by a childhood disease, possibly measles, and was confined to a wheelchair He married Mary Ann Tennessee Franklin (b. 1852, Tennessee) in the 1870s. In 1880, they were residing in Hopkins County and had one daughter, Iva (b. 1879, Miller Grove, U.S. Census, 1880). In the 1880s, James Joel and Mary Ann parted company. Both she and daughter Iva lived well into next century. In 1885, James Joel was a jeweler in Black Jack Grove (now Cumby), a short distance from Miller Grove (Towns of Hopkins County, Texas in 1884-85, Mack Mullins, http://gen.1starnet.com/hopkins/hctowns.htm.). Later on he was known as Dr. J. J. Pitts and practiced medicine in Miller Grove in the 1890s (A History of Miller Grove Texas, Hallman, 2003). On December 28, 1889, James Joel remarried. His second wife was Mary Elizabeth “Molly” Boen (b. 1872, Miller Grove), daughter of George Boen and Louisa Elizabeth "Lizzie" Coffey of Miller Grove. Later he and Molly moved to central Texas and lived in Llano and Comanche, towns in the vicinity of his father’s farm near May. (U.S. Census, Llano County, 1900, and Comanche County, 1910, 1920, respectively). Beginning in 1900, he identified his profession as ‘physician’ in the census records. He sold a patent medicine, “Dr. J. J.’s Cough Syrup.” By 1900, James Joel and Molly had five children: Oscar (1890), Laura M. (1891), Henry (1893), Logan (son, 1897), and Lody L. (daughter, 1898) (U.S. Census, 1900). He died in Comanche in 1930. He was 85. Molly, 67, died there on Christmas Day, 1939. Mary Elizabeth Pitts Mary Elizabeth Pitts, from David’s first marriage, continued to live in the Miller Grove area until at least 1880 (U.S. Census, Hopkins County, 1880). In 1875, she married J.F. Gryder. (Hopkins County Marriage Records, 1846-1880, compiled by Frances T. Inguire, 1979). The 1880 census shows they had two daughters, Ada (1878), and Ola (late 1879 or early 1880). No later records of Mary Elizabeth Pitts, J.F. Gryder or their children have been found. Lucy Jane Pitts Also from the first marriage, Lucy J. Pitts, age 14, married James Groves on August 19, 1875. James was likely the younger brother of David’s second wife, Sarah Ann. (Hopkins County Marriage Records, 1846-1880, compiled by Frances T. Inguire, 1979). No later records have been found. ______________________________________________________________________________ The narrative on David Humphrey Pitts was written by William Thomas Pitts, Loveland, Colorado, great-grandson of David Humphrey Pitts. He gratefully acknowledges the work of Mr. Robert Martin, Alva, Oklahoma who provided the information from U.S. census reports and information from his extensive research of the Pitts family history. Mr. Martin is a descendent of West Allen Pitts, brother of David. William Thomas Pitts 535 North Garfield Loveland, Colorado 80537 E-mail: h2orus@waterconsult.com December 18, 2006