COL. SAMUEL HAMPSON BOREN., Smith County, TX ***************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm Submitted by Doris Peirce - ginlu@home.com 26 May 2001 ***************************************************************** COL. SAMUEL HAMPSON BOREN, "Some Biographies of Old Settlers." Historical, Personal and Reminiscent. Volume I By Sid S. Johnson, 1900: Sid S. Johnson, Publisher, Tyler, Texas Chapter IX - Pages 41-51 - Pictures on Pages 42 & 46 No subject is more interesting than biography when it mirrors in attractive form a page in the history of a people and a state. It is especially pleasing and instructive to read of one who has, in a modest way, borne a part in the building of a republic and later in the creation of a state. Col. Samuel Hampson Boren was born in Giles county, Tenn., on December 3rd, 1811. His father, Capt. James Boren, was a soldier in the war of 1812, while his grandfather, Nicholas Boren, was a Revolutionary War soldier in 1776. Col. Boren's grandmother was a Miss Hampson whose people were active patriots during the Revolutionary period. Col. S. H. Boren received a good common school English education in Bedford county, Tenn. Afterwards he taught school for three or four years, and then removed to the Republic of Texas in November, 1838, locating in Nacogdoches, where for twelve years he lived the life of a planter. He was an officer in the militia of the Republic of Texas and during this time, he, with other citizens of Nacogdoches, participated in several fights against the savage Indians who harrassed and threatened the lives and property of the Texas settlers. He was also in one campaign against a band of roving Mexicans who invaded Nacogdoches county. In 1846, upon the breaking out of the war between Mexico and the United States, he promptly volunteered and served as a lieutenant of cavalry in the Texas troops under Gen. Zachary Taylor, participating in the battles of Monterey, Buena Vista and other engagements. In 1854, Col. Boren, with his family, moved to Tyler where he entered the cotton and general merchandise business. He was successful, acquired considerable property and money and became one of the leading men of affairs in Smith county. He was always a friend of Tyler and gave intelligent and generous aid to its upbuilding. He was a director and original incorporator of the old Texas and St. Louis railway (now the Cotton Belt system); was a director and original incorporator in the East Texas Fire Insurance company, in the East Texas University and in other enterprises that aided and advanced Smith county. Col. Boren was reared in Tennessee under the political teaching of Polk and Jackson and was always a democrat in politics. He was firm in his belief in democratic principles, and always voted the democratic ticket and always worked for the success of democratic nominees. He never aspired to a political office but frequently represented his county in state conventions, and became a power in politics wielding all the more influence because while strong in his convictions he never became an unreasonable partisan/ He was married in Nacogdoches, Texas, on February 21st, 1839, to Miss Sarah Dickson Long. Mrs. Boren was the daughter of Col. Benjamin Long (born in Franklin, Kentucky), a prominent citizen of Marshall county, Tennessee. Col.Long was a soldier under Gen. Andrew Jackson and was in the battle of the Horseshoe and at New Orleans. He was taken prisoner December 23rd, 1814, and confined on a British man-of-war until after the battle of the 8th of January, 1815, when he was brought in and exchanged. Col. Long was a wealthy planter, a high officer in the old Tennessee Militia, and served in the legislature of his state. Mrs. Boren's great grandfather was Gen. Joseph Dickson who attained fame in the Revolutionary war of 1776. After the war Gen. Dickson was a member of congress from North Carolina when the election of president of the United States devolved upon the House of Representatives and his vote helped to elect Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr by one majority. Mrs. Boren's mother, Mary Dickson Long, was born in North Carolina and reared in Bedford county, Tenn. In the fall of 1836 (and after the death of her husband, Col. Benjamin Long), Mrs. Mary Dickson Long removed with her children to the Republic of Texas, locating at Nacogdoches, where she purchased, and with the help of her sons, cultivated a small plantation. Here, upon the exposed frontier of civilization during the days of the young Republic and later the State of Texas, she helped to blaze the path of civilization, weaving homespun apparel for her sons, moulding their bullets for war to drive back the savage Indian or the Mexican invader. Her descendants gratefully preserve the traditions of their Spartan mother, one of those heroic women whose deeds and denials ornament the legends and the history of the land of Houston and Travis, of Crockett and Rusk. Mrs. Boren was a sister of Capt. Richard B. Long, Sr., of Tyler, and James D. Lond and William T. Long of Rusk, Cherokee county, Texas, all prominent men with cultured families. Her nephew, Hon. John B. Long, was a Congressman from the second district and one of the few native Texans that the state, up to that time, had sent to Washington. Col. S.H. Boren died September 28th, 1881, and Mrs Boren August 8th, 1888, and both lie buried in Tyler. They had born to the eight children, as follows: Lieutenant James N. Boren of Douglas' Texas Battery, C. S. A. He was educated at Franklin College, and Lebanon University, both in Tennessee, and was killed during the civil war in the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, while commanding his section of the battery. He was only twenty-one years of age when he gave his life for the cause of the Southland. Benjamin N. Boren was a Captain in the Confederate army and his comrades say no one better performed his duty than Nep Boren, as they affectionately know him. He is now a wholesale grocer in Dallas, Texas, doing an immense business and recognized as a power in the commercial and financial world of North Texas. He married Miss Sue McKellar, one of the beautiful and accomplished daughters of Col. John McKellar. They have two children, S.H. Boren, Jr., and Nonie, the wife of Hon. Joseph P. Mahoney of Chicago, a prominent lawyer and a State Senator in Illinois. Miss Nonie was educated at Hollins Institute, Virginia, and in New York, and then spent two years in Europe. Mrs. Belle Boren Gary, wife of Hon. Franklin Newman Gary. Capt. Gary was of an old distinguished South Carolinian family. He was born in Newberry, S.C.; was graduated from Maryville College, Tennessee, and in 1852 removed to Tyler, where he taught school, and later began the practice of law. He was district attorney, Captain in the Confederate army, and a leader in the legal profession and in the financial world. Captain and Mrs. Gary had born to them four children, two of them dying in infancy. Frances, the eldest daughter was an honor graduate of Hollins Institute, Virginia, and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Mass. She died in June 1885. The youngest and only surviving son is Hampson Gary, a practicing attorney in his native town of Tyler. He was educated at Bingham School, N.C., and the University of Virginia. He was a Captain in the Fourth Texas U.S. Volunteers in the Spanish-American war. He has recently been nominated by the democrats as Representative from the counties of Smith, Upshur and Camp in the Twenty-seventh Texas Legislature. Mrs. Julia Boren Loftin, wife of Dr. Oliver Loftin, a prominent and honored citizen of Tyler. Dr. Loftin is an Alabamian by birth, an honor graduate in medicine of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, but retiring from active practice a number of years ago, has devoted his time to the business and financial world, and with success and profit. Dr. and Mrs. Loftin have three children: Jere, a student in the junior class at the University of Texas, Austin; Sawnie R., and Mary Sue. Mrs. Mary Boren Pegues, wife of the late Captain James A. Pegues. Captain Pegues was a brave and gallant officer and soldier in the Confederate army, and later a leading business man in Tyler. Captain and Mrs. Pegues had three children: Gary Pegues, a graduate of the Waco Commercial College and now an efficient official in the U.S.Government employ at Tyler; Miss Sallie Nep, educated at Belmont College, Nashville, Tenn.; and Jack, a student in the Tyler schools. Mrs. Samie Boren Goodman, wife of Charles Q. Goodman, deceased. Mr. Goodman was a typical son of Virginia, a cultured and polished gentleman, and a man of fine business and executive ability. He was one of Tyler's leading merchants for years. Mr. and Mrs. Goodman had two children: Burke, a young man of high business qualifications with a future before him; Miss Maggie Ellen, the only daughter, educated at Baylor College in Belton, Texas. Mrs. Ellen Boren Robertson, wife of the late Judge Sawnie Robertson of Dallas. Judge Sawnie Robertson was the eldest son of Judge John C. Robertson of Tyler, and like his father, was a famous lawyer. He was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Texas at the early age of thirty-five and at the time of his death, although only forty-two years of age, his frequent and successful appearance before the Supreme Court of the United States at Washington, and before lesser tribunals, had won for him a wide reputation throughout the Southwest, and he was justly regarded as one of the ablest lawyers Texas had ever produced. Like every true genius, he was modest, unpretentious, and generous and was as much loved as he was respected. Judge and Mrs. Sawnie Robertson had born to them two children: Jno. C. Robertson, a graduate of the University of Texas and the University of Virginia, and now a practicing attorney in Dallas. He married in 1897, Miss Ruby Traylor, daughter of Hon. Jno.H.Traylor, ex-Senator and ex-Mayor of Dallas; the youngest son, George Aldredge, has just graduated in law at the University of Texas. Richard Long Boren, was graduated Senior Captain of the cadet corps from the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Bryan, Texas. He was in business at Galveston a year or two and then removed to Colorado, Texas, where he took a high rank in banking and business circles. He was a man of large heart and brilliant mind, and his death in 1896, at the age of thirty-six, carried grief to a host of friends throughout Texas. He was married in 1887 to Miss Clara Johnson of Colorado, Texas, who with a daughter, Mary, survives him. The first three of the children, Lieut. James N.Boren, B.N.Boren, and Mrs. Belle Boren Gary were born under the flag of the Republic of Texas. They saw the Lone Star of that banner voluntarily merged into the star-flowered flag of the United States, and later in the stars and bars of the Southern Confederacy. Under the colors of each government a Boren has seen service in arms. The Boren family is one of the oldest and most favorably known families in East Texas, and is connected with many other leading families by blood and marriage. The Borens have alwasys been prominent in the business, professional and social worlds; have always been leaders in those successful and advanced communities that boast a thrifty and educated people. Possessed of a people whose ancestry was noble and whose own virtues and excellencies were many, is it to be wondered at that Tyler and Smith county were looked to for governors, judges, senators, financiers and leaders? The greater part of the citizenship of old Smith county came from that best blood in Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and other Southern states, and these people have in the young, brave commonwealth of Texas merely lived up to the standards of their fathers. In this morning of the twentieth century we find that the native born of Smith county have removed to every section of Texas, and it is good to know that wherever you find them they are leading honorable and useful lives, and that in thier hearts are stored tender memories of Tyler and old Smith county.