Samuel Brooks Mayfield

Samuel Brooks Mayfield

• Father: Ambrose Mayfield
• Mother: Nancy Brooks b. 20 July 1788, d. 1861

• Samuel Brooks Mayfield was born circa 1825 in Tennessee probably Williamson County.
• James H. Collard and Julia L. Robinson appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Crockett, Houston County, Texas. Other members of the household included Samuel Brooks Mayfield, Edward O. Collard, William E. Collard, Lourena E. Collard, Sarah E. Collard, Ann E. Collard, Margaret Collard and Elijah Collard Jr. Also in the household was Washington M. James, age 24.
• He was a clerk, according to the 1850 census.
• By deed dated 23 February 1854 in Walker County, Texas, Willis Breazeal Wood sold to the Estate of Hamlin Freeman Lewis represented by his widow Mary M. Lewis, a 460-acre tract of land, part of the Donation Claim James F. Winters purchased from Thomas Carothers, for the sum of $2,300. Witnessed by S. B. Mayfield and S. Tarpley, notary public Charles B. Stewart, recorded 20 February 1855.
• He married Mary Louisa Seymour, daughter of James Seymour and Jane Day, on 12 May 1855 in Montgomery County, Texas, by Rev. J. V. Wright, likely in Danville.
• Evelina Wood wrote on 14 May 1855, to her daughter Lizzie Powell, undergoing treatment for cancer in Murfreesboro, Tennessee: ". . . Mr Mayfield & Miss Seymour were married last evening at three o'clock. Mr Redding gave them a dinner to-day . . . ."
       Letter in private collection of B. M. Henwood; original transcription by R. E. Reichardt.
• Samuel Brooks Mayfield and Mary Louisa Seymour appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Montgomery County, Texas. Other members of the household included Ella Mayfield, Elizabeth Mayfield and M. S. Mayfield.
• He was a merchant, according to the 1860 census.
• On Sunday, 19 October 1862, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Sent Bob to Doctor Ramsdell's for Leather," with Hampton to assist. The preceding week, on the 13th, he had "Sent Andrew to Mr. Mayfield to learn to make shoes."
• The following appeared on 15 March 1869 in the Houston Union: We are pleased to learn that Samuel Mayfield, Esq., of Danville, Montgomery county, in the State is teaching a Freedman's weekly school in that place. Mr. Mayfield has been long and favorably known to the writen. Before the war he was a respectable merchant at Danville. The results of the war engulphed him in pecuniary ruin, and now he resorts to this honorable and useful mode of obtaining a living for himself and family, and at the same time aiding in the education of a large and destitute part of our population.
       Who will follow his praiseworthy example? We shall take much pleasure in recording instances of a character similar to the above. We are the friends of the education of the Freedman.
• Samuel Brooks Mayfield and Mary Louisa Seymour appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Huntsville, Walker County, Texas. Other members of the household included Ella Mayfield, Elizabeth Mayfield and M. S. Mayfield.
• He was a prison guard, no doubt at the state penitentiary.
• Samuel Brooks Mayfield and Mary Louisa Seymour appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1880 in Palestine, Anderson County, Texas. Other members of the household included Elizabeth Mayfield, M. S. Mayfield, Ida Mayfield, Hamilton Brooks Mayfield and Hattie Mayfield.
• He was a merchant, unemployed ten months of the current census year, according to the 1880 census.
• Samuel Brooks Mayfield died in 1899.
• His wife Mary Louisa Seymour became a widow at his death.
• He was interred at Glenwood Cemetery, Houston, Harris County, Texas.
• For a biographical sketch and an account of his service with the Danville Mounted Riflemen, a Montgomery County unit of the 17th Brigade, Texas State Troops, see his profile in Karen McCann Hett's Danville Mounted Riflemen.

• Last Edited: 30 Jan 2013