History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. Page: 250

250

250 HISTORY OF TEXAS.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

of Williamson county, where he is well and
favorably known. No one is more deserving
of universal veneration than this veteran and
hero of San Jacinto.
kW~I\ AH. THAXTON, a highly respected
citizen of Bluff Springs, Travis
county, was born in San Saba county,
Texas, August 8, 1862. His father,
William Thaxton, was one of the pioneers of
of the southwestern frontier, coming to
Texas in 1848. He stopped first in Burnel
county, and eight years later went to San
Saba county, where he spent most of his life
thereafter. He was a man of superior education
and was trained to the profession of
civil engineering. During the war he was
conscript officer of the Confederate Governinent;
le had raised a company and it was
his intention to go into active service, but
his health failed, so he remained at home
performing the duty mentioned.
After the close of the war he engaged in
driving cattle from Texas to Kansas, and
continued in this business three years. He
next turned his attention to agriculture and
superintended the cultivation of land until
his appointment as Deputy under Sheriff
Zimmerman of Travis county. He was
practically Tax Assessor during the time T.
W. Noland was the incumbent of that office,
a period of one term. He then retired from
public business and made his home with his
son during the remainder of his life. The
place of his birth was Warren county, Tennessee,
and the year 1827. He was married
to Barsha Campbell, daughter of Henry
CampLell, of Fayette county, Missouri, to
which State his family had removed hen lihe
was a mere lad. The children born of this

union were five in number: Susan, deceased,
was the wife of G. W. Campbell; she left a
family of seven children; Sallie W. died
unmarried: Mary, deceased, was the wife of
T. W. Garvin and the mother of three children;
Ola, deceased, was the wife of Joe
Martin and the mother of three children;
W. H. is the subject of this biographical
sketch. The mother of this family died in
1866.
W. H. Thaxton secured only a fair English
education, leaving school at the age of
sixteen years. He then began in an independent
line to work out his own destiny.
Industrious and economical in his habits, he
saved his small earnings until he had accuinulated
a sufficiently large sum to make an
investment in land; this he did with more
than ordinary discernment, and he now owns
a tract of 600 acres ten miles south of Austin.
He has 400 acres under cultivation, the
whole being under his personal supervision.
Mr. Thaxton was married February 14,
1883, to Nannie Smlith, a daughter of the
Hon. Felix E. Smith, whose history is given
in full in this volume. The children of this
union are four in number: Willie S., born
January 25, 1886, died January 3, 1891;
Mary Barsha was born April 4, 1888; and
Clara and Claude, twins, were born February
15, 1891 , Claude died Mlarch 5, 1891. Mr.
and Mrs. Thaxton are intelligent members of
the Baptist Church.
A. TODD, a citizen of St. Elmno, has
been identified with the .history of
Travis county since the first day of
June, 1857. He then located on his present
farm and engaged in tilling the soil until the
breaking out of the Civil war, when he en

HIJSTORY F EXS