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James Monroe Chance (1795 - 1863)

James Monroe Chance
Born in Montgomery County, Georgia, USAmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 29 Jun 1818 in Saint Francisville, Louisiana, USAmap
Descendants descendants
Died at age 67 in Milam County, Texas, USAmap
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Profile last modified | Created 30 Jul 2014
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Contents

Biography



Research Notes


http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/l/o/n/Trish-Long/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0061.html James (Monroe) Chance (son of Vincent Chance and Sarah Taylor) was born December 30, 1795 in Montgomery Co., Georgia, and died May 20, 1863 in Baileyville, Milam Co., Tx. He married Sarah Ann Harrell on June 29, 1818 in Saint Francisville, W. Feliciana Parish, La. Includes NotesNotes for James (Monroe) Chance: James was the youngest child born to Vincent and Sarah Taylor Chance. He grew up in Montgomery County, Georgia and Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. His parents moved the family to Louisiana in 1804. During the war of 1812, According to the War Department records, James served in Capt. Issac Townsend's Company, De Clouet's Regiment, Louisiana Militia. His brothers also served from Louisiana. Date of military service was Oct. 1, 1814 to Mar. 13,1815. From the Bureau of Pensions, we find the "Bounty Land" warrant # 56569 was issued on Sept. 27,1854 to James Chance on account of his service. The family tradition is that they were quite poor in their early married life but "he carded while she spun" and they thriftily accumulated a small fortune before leaving Mississippi. They still owned land in Mississippi just before the Civil War. They sent their son-in-law, George Green, to Mississippi to look after this land once they arrived in Texas. In 1838, as was customary among many pioneering families coming west, the Chances appear to have traveled in a company of other families all bent on securing free Texas lands, which was the object of most of the incoming settlers. James appears to have been the leader of this company group which chose, for home sites, what came to be known as Chance's Prairie in the municipality of Milam, now Burleson County, between the later towns of Gause & Caldwell. According to an article "Safeguarding The Frontier", which appeared in (The Southwestern Historical Quarterly), Vol. XLVIII, July of 1944 to April 1945, an account was given how James and Sarah Ann warned other families in their community of the approach of Indians. " They portioned out the land and built homes some distance apart in what was roughly a circle. Their rather unique method of warning neighbors of impending Indian attacks was secured by the training of ponies that, when turned loose, went in the direction they were headed to the next house of the community. This was done by keeping the ponies on a picket tied rope, the picket stake being at the doorway of each home. At the sign of Indians, the pony was drawn to the door, his halter released, headed in the direction he was meant to go, given a slap with the end of the rope and he was away at full speed, until he put his head over the gate of the next house and whinnied, thus announcing that help was needed at the house he ad lately left. The homes to which the ponies went, each in its turn, sent a pony on to the next house. This was done until the circle was completed and each family warned that Indians were there about. The plan agreed on was, as each family got the warning, to leave hurriedly by wagon and horseback traveling on after the pony until all arrived in a short time at the seat of the trouble. Thus the settlers entered into the defense of their community and safeguarded their homes. It was a long time before the Indians came to realize that a pony racing away from a doorway meant a signal of warning to the other settlers. From the land office, Austin, Texas, James Chance was granted a conditional head right certificate for 640 acres of land on May 14, 1839, by the board of Land Commissioners of what would become Milam county. He was granted an unconditional head right certificate for 640 acres an August 8 1844, by Milam County Land Commissioners. This land was located in Bosque County, 43 miles from Waco. They later acquired several thousand acres on each side of the Brazos River in Milam and Robertson Counties. At the time of their deaths. they were considered to be wealthy. On Nov.18,1840, James and 86 others, petitioned the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic for land in Milam County for a permanent county seat. There in Milam County, James and Sarah Ann lived out their lives and were buried their upon their deaths. Their home place was located at the mouth of Pond Creek. They built their home in Milam County near Baileyville where they lived the remainder of their lives. James Chance was a small man, dark hair and eyes. Sara Chance was a very large and corpulent woman with brown hair and blue eyes. They had many deprivations, hardships and sorrows, but through all of them, they were noted for their unfailing devotion. They were never more happier than when doing kind thoughtful things for each other. They and their daughters were "Shouting Methodist". Before the Civil War, they owned many slaves, but once the war was over, James freed them all. Upon their deaths, they were buried on a high point of ground near the river on part of their old farm. Sara Ann died April 3, 1862 and James died May 20, 1863. In 1935, James and Sara Ann were reinterred in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas, in honor of their contribution to help establish the Republic of Texas. -information provided by Estelle I. Havis w/ contributions from Bettie Long Aaron, Guymon, Oklahoma & Genealogy Research by Pearl Green Clement [hooperh.GED] *********************************** SLAVE OWNERS, 1850 BRAZOS CO. SLAVE CENSUS. The census lists the name of the slave owner, plus the age and sex of each slave, plus whether "black" or "mulatto", but not the names for the individual slaves. CHANCE, James -- 6 (Brazos County Slave Register- 1850 Census) *********************************** James' middle name isn't known for sure. But based on the naming patterns, which was the tradition of the time, his oldest daughter Sarah named her first born son James Monroe Slater. The second born son was named Francis Marion Slater. Francis Marion was the name of Sarah Ann Harrell's father. I think it can be concluded that Monroe may be the accurate middle name. (Ron Hooper) More About James (Monroe) Chance: Burial: Unknown, Texas State Cemetery- Austin, Travis County, Texas. More About James (Monroe) Chance and Sarah Ann Harrell: Marriage: June 29, 1818, Saint Francisville, W. Feliciana Parish, La. Children of James (Monroe) Chance and Sarah Ann Harrell are: +Elizabeth Jane Chance, b. December 17, 1836, Raymond, Hinds Co., Ms, d. January 16, 1904, Beck Prarie, Tx. +Sarah Chance, b. April 20, 1819, Raymond, Hinds Co., Ms, d. 1855, Chester, Tyler Co., Tx. +Martha Ann Chance, b. November 13, 1822, Raymond, Hinds Co., Ms, d. May 18, 1859, Cameron, Millam Co., Tx. Jacob Chance, b. March 19, 1825, Raymond, Hinds Co., Ms, d. March 17, 1848, Cameron, Milam Co., Tx. +Nancy Chance, b. April 20, 1827, Raymond, Hinds Co., Ms, d. March 17, 1907, Center Point, Kerr Co., Tx. +Harriet Chance, b. May 20, 1830, Raymond, Hinds Co., Ms, d. February 21, 1875, Old Nashville, Milam Co., Tx. James Madison Chance, b. July 06, 1832, Raymond, Hinds Co., Ms, d. October 06, 1865, Probably died at Antietam, Civil War. Joseph Chance, b. November 16, 1834, Raymond, Hinds Co., Ms, d. Bef. 1850. William LeRoy Chance, b. November 16, 1834, Raymond, Hinds Co., Ms, d. date unknown, Milam Co., Tx.


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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with James by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with James:

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