Henry Marshall Elmore

Henry Marshall Elmore

Henry Marshall Elmore, 1816-1879

• Father: John Archer Elmore b. 21 August 1762, d. 24 April 1834
• Mother: Mary Ann Martin b. 7 August 1786, d. 17 November 1855

• Henry Marshall Elmore was born on 28 January 1816 in Laurens County, South Carolina.
• He married Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, daughter of Joseph Fitzpatrick and Sarah Tranum, on 23 June 1838.
• Henry Marshall Elmore and Elizabeth Fitzpatrick appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Macon County, Alabama. Other members of the household included Joseph Fitzpatrick Elmore, Elizabeth Tabitha Elmore, Henry Marshall Elmore Jr. and William Augustus Elmore. Also in the household was William J. Fitzpatrick, age 12, presumably a nephew of Elizabeth.
• He was an attorney, according to the 1850 census.
• On Saturday, 19 June 1852, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Judge Henry Elmore came this morning, Judge Robert Williamson & Mr Smith came this evening.
• On Wednesday, 14 July 1852, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Mr. Hamlin F. Lewis, Maxey Lewis, Judge H. Elmore, Dr. George Robinson, Mr. Sellers, and Tom Snow left for Alabama on the Stage."
• On Wednesday, 12 January 1853, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Mrs Wood sent her Watch to Lewis Owen for repair by Judge Elmore."
• Henry Marshall Elmore became a widower at the 12 August 1859 death of his wife Elizabeth Elmore.
• Henry Marshall Elmore appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Waverly, Walker (later San Jacinto) County, Texas. Other members of the household included Joseph Fitzpatrick Elmore, Elizabeth Tabitha Elmore, Henry Marshall Elmore Jr., William Augustus Elmore, Phillip Ludlow Elmore, John Archer Elmore and Phillips Fitzpatrick. Also in the household were merchant John A. Cain, high school professor W. W. James, James A. James, physician Robert E. Perrie, and merchant M. W. Platenburg.
• He was a farmer, according to the 1860 census.
• He married Mary DeArmond on 23 December 1861.
• On Friday, 28 March 1862, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Sent Bob to Judge Elmore's with the grey mare (Betsey)."
• He served as Colonel of the 20th Texas Infantry Regiment, CSA, known as Elmore's Twentieth.
• On Wednesday, 19 August 1863, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Colonel Elmore,s man Abram came to day."
• From records of the Freedmen's Bureau: "Col. Elmore of Waverly collected a party of neighbors mounted and armed with pistols &c., took a pack of hounds used for the purpose and hunted down Slade (col.) who had left his plantation. After catching him imprisoned him for a day and two nights on a calaboose on the plantation. Date July 1865."
• During the 1860s the Texas Land, Labor and Immigration Company was formed under an Executive committee with Thomas Affleck of Washington County as the general chairman. Agents operated south of France very successfully; others in Scotland and England. Offers were made in Poland, Holland and Belgium. Mr. Affleck crossed the ocean in December 1865, to see how matters stood in Europe, and on his way through the North, published letters calling attention to Texas.
       Following the Civil War, when plantation owners needed a labor force after emancipation of the African American slaves, some cotton planters met on 19 September 1866 and organized the Waverly Emigration Society. C. T. Traylor was elected President and Colonel H. M. Elmore was elected secretary of this society. They met in a general store in Waverly, Walker (later San Jacinto) County, Texas, owned by James Meyer Levy, a Polish Jew.
       Mr. Levy voyaged to his homeland in 1867 and recruited laborers from his home village of Exin (today known as Kcynia), Slupy, Smogulec, Szubin and the surrounding areas in Poland. Correspondence reviewed in the John W. Hill Papers at the Center for American History in Austin indicates that Mr. Levy arrived in New York in April of 1867, and passenger records confirm their arrival in New York on 9 April 1867 aboard the steamship City of Antwerp. On 13 April 1867, Mr. Levy notified W. W. McGar in Galveston that he needed funds to complete his journey to Texas.
       Ten days later, 29 families arrived in Galveston aboard the C. W. Lord, a coastal steamer from New York, as reported in the Galveston Daily News. Funds in the amount of $169 were remitted to the teamsters in Houston for passage of the immigrants to Houston, and it is believed that they then journeyed to Waverly, the cradle of Polish Emigration for Southeast Texas.
       Adapted from "Polish Texans," accessed online at the Polish Genealogical Society of Texas website.
• Henry Marshall Elmore died on 17 January 1879 at age 62.
• He was interred at Waverly Cemetery, Waverly, Walker (later San Jacinto) County, Texas.
• For additional biographical information, see The Handbook of Texas Online.

• Last Edited: 1 Sep 2013