Thomas Roderick Townsend (1797 - 1838)

Born 9 Feb 1797 in Marlboro, South Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Nancy Pamelia Ann (Dean) Allbright — married 16 Nov 1820 in Liberty, Georgia, United States

Descendants

Died 31 Aug 1838 at age 41 in La Grange, Fayette, Texas, United States

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Biography

Thomas Roderick Townsend, participant in the Texas Revolution and member of the Texas Rangers, was born on February 7, 1797, in Marlboro District, South Carolina, one of eight sons of Thomas and Elizabeth (Stapleton) Townsend. By 1818 the family was living on a plantation in McIntosh County, on the east coast of Georgia. Townsend was married to Nancy Pamelia Ann Dean, and they had seven children. Thomas and his brother Spencer came to Texas in 1826 to investigate land offered to settlers by the Mexican government. They returned to Florida, sold their holdings, and, with another brother and their families, moved to Texas in the early 1830s. By 1836 seven of the Townsend brothers were in Texas. Thomas was granted a league of land in David G. Burnet's colony and settled near what is now Crockett, on the Old Nacogdoches Road. His name, with Mustang Prairie as his stated place of residence, appears on the list of petitioners asking the Texas Congress to establish Houston County in 1837. The Townsend brothers enlisted during the Texas Revolution, and Thomas furnished beef and corn from his farm for the army. He also served in the Texas Ranger company of Capt. Elisha Clapp. Townsend was in La Grange, Fayette County, on jury duty when he died on August 31, 1838. His grave in La Grange City Cemetery was marked with a tall limestone marker. ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Clifford B. Casey and Lewis H. Saxton, The Life of Everett Ewing Townsend (West Texas Historical and Scientific Society Publication 17, 1958). Comptroller's Records, Texas State Archives, Austin. Louis Wiltz Kemp Papers, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin. Worth Stickley Ray, Austin Colony Pioneers (Austin: Jenkins, 1949; 2d ed., Austin: Pemberton, 1970).

• Navidad Country, Volume 2, page 310, by Iris Rose Guertin

• The Seven Townsend Brothers of Texas 1826-1838, pages 84-87, by Tula Townsend Wyatt, 1974, Austin, TX. [1]

• The Handbook of Texas Online Thomas Roderick Townsend

• Edward Townsend's Forefamily

• Univeristy of Texas Guide to the Townsend Buford Family of Texas Papers, 1850 - 2000

• "Georgia, County Marriages, 1785-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q28S-M9Z1 : 22 July 2021), Thomas Townsend and Ann Pamela Dean, 16 Nov 1820; citing Marriage, Liberty, Georgia, United States, Georgia Department of Archives and History, Morrow, FHL microfilm 1,753,891.

• Find a Grave Thomaw Roderick Townsend, memorial # 7276351
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7276351/thomas-roderick-townsend: accessed 03 May 2023), memorial page for Thomas Roderick Townsend (7 Feb 1797–31 Aug 1838), Find a Grave Memorial ID 7276351, citing Old La Grange City Cemetery, La Grange, Fayette County, Texas, USA; Maintained by Dawn Kelley (contributor 47319272).