CONFEDERATE BIOGRAPHY: E. R. KUYKENDALL - Van Zandt County, TX

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Submitted by Peggy Brannon - peggybrannon@hotmail.com
22 September 2001
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TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson

Eld. Elijah Robison Kuykendall, of Grand Saline, is one of the early 
settlers of the county. There are probably not more than three or four now 
living, who were here when he came in 1848. The family is of German 
extraction. On coming to America they first settled in North Carolina. Jesse 
was the grandfather and lived in North Carolina and came to Tennessee. Peter 
was the father's name and he was a Christian preacher and preached in an 
early day in Tennessee. He moved with his family to Van Zandt county in 
February, 1848. He settled about 5 miles southwest from the present town of 
Grand Saline. Elijah was born in Tennessee Dec 14,1836. The country waa 
sparsely settled at that time. Peter S. Benton, a tanner; J. D. Wright, a 
doctor; John Chrestman, a farmer; Joe Cox and Tom Cox, farmers, and Allen 
Blair, constituted the settlement here. There was a settlement on McBee's 
Creek and Mr. McBee owned a mill, the first in the county. It was what is 
known as a tread mill, but it ground all the meal for miles around. The 
Shreveport and Dallas road ran through the county from east to west and the 
Porter's Bluff road ran through the southern end of the county. These roads 
were traveled a great deal by imigrants, stock drovers, adventures, etc. 
There was a settlement then at the head of Saline Creek about 5 miles east 
from Canton. Yoes, Rawson, King and others lived there.  Then in what is now 
the Edom community lived Uncle John Riles, John Cothern, Clabe Cothern, John 
Marrs and Henry Marrs, Jack Horsely and his father. The Brutons and 
Harrisons lived on 4 mile Prairie. The country was more sickly than now and 
the seasons more irregular. The range was excellent, the mast in the bottoms 
and the grass on the uplands were fine. The creeks were all bordered with 
cane in great variety. Fat cattle, fat hogs, fat horses were available 
winter and summer. Deer and turkey and prairie chickens were here in great 
abundance. Also there were bear, panther, wolves, catamounts ,and Mexican 
lions. The Indians had gone and the buffalo had retreated further west.     
There were some mustang ponies and a few wild cattle in the country. It was 
under conditions like these that young Elijah grew up. School advantages 
were limited. J, J. Kuykendall, an older brother of our subject, was the 
first teacher in the county, also the first deputy sheriff.  Elijah's school 
advantages therefore were limited, but he grew up a robust youth. Oct 18, 
1858, he married Nancy Ann Bratcher. She lived until July 20, 1881. Jan. 24, 
1882, he married Mrs. M. J. Smith who still survives. In 1862 he volunteered 
into the Confederate service, and served until the surrender, in Texas, 
Arkansas and Louisiana. He lost his health during the war and traveled 
several years afterward. He gained his health however and has been a 
remarkably strong man for his years since. He became a Christian at the age 
of 12 and at the age of 50 entered the Christian ministry. He is a mechanic. 
He owns his home in Grand Saline and has acquired some other property in 
the city. He labors with his hands and lives blameless before the people. He 
has a good record, is a typical old Texan and furnishes a worthy example of 
Texas life. - Southland.