History of the Floorplan Names

In honor of William Lavender – 1845 settler in Lancaster
The Lavender
Casitas/Mews Series

One of Lancaster’s earliest settlers, William Lavender was born October 10, 1815 in Spartanburg District, South Carolina on his father’s plantation. He received the first part of his education in South Carolina and attended boarding school in Alabama. Lavender left home as a young man and migrated to Jersey County, Illinois where he met and married Margaret Hall Little in 1840. Their son, William Tolbert Lavender, was born in 1843, and the family set off for Texas in 1845. Lavender described his journey in a letter to his parents: “You will be glad to know that we have reached our destination in the Republic of Texas after traveling more than 800 miles. This seems to be a land of much promise and is being settled by a good class of people.”

They settled on land north of Ten Mile Creek. Mrs. Lavender wrote, “…we lived the first five weeks in a tent, then we moved into a log cabin with puncheon floors.” Local Indians tried to trade with Mrs. Lavender, offering leather leggings, but she refused. They even offered to make her son William Tolbert an Indian chief in exchange.

Will Lavender farmed his land for only three years before he died. He was the first adult buried in Edgewood Cemetery.

In honor of Maude Effie Strain Hamilton – first postmistress of Lancaster
The Hamilton
Casitas/Mews Series
                       
Maude Effie Strain Hamilton was born August 29, 1880 in Tennessee. Her father, William Stephenson Strain, had three children by his first wife. With his second wife, Strain had six more children, Maude being the third-born. Strain migrated to Lancaster, Texas where he eventually built the Strain home on Wilson Street. Maude’s father was a bookkeeper for his son’s drug store. Strain was appointed Postmaster in 1898 by President McKinley. Maude attended school in Lancaster and then went to Lancaster’s Randolph College. Upon her father’s death in 1914, Maude became the first Postmistress for Lancaster. On September 8, 1918, Maude married James Edward “Jim” Hamilton. They had no children. Maude Hamilton died August 23, 1971 in Lancaster.

In honor of Tom McKnight – rider of Steel Dust who beat Monmouth in 1855
The McKnight
Casitas/Mews Series
           
Tom McKnight and his wife Eliza were local residents of the town of Lancaster. McKnight is best remembered for his association with the yearling Steel Dust, the quarter horse brought to Lancaster by settlers Jones Greene and Middleton Perry. The jockey for Steel Dust’s races was normally Henry Ellis, a tall boy of thirteen. Steel Dust was to compete against Monmouth in Collin County. Hotels were filled and bets were out of sight.

At the last minute Henry Ellis’s mother, a devout Baptist, refused to let her son race on a Sunday. Tom McKnight, a young man in 1855, was selected to replace Henry. Tom rubbed blackstrap molasses all over Steel Dust’s back so he could keep his seat during the race. Steel Dust was the undisputed winner. The visitors collected their bets and cleaned out Collin County of all available cash until the next crop season.

In honor of Thomas McKee Ellis – 1846 settler in Lancaster
The Ellis
Casitas/Mews Series
           
Thomas McKee Ellis was born on March 30, 1799 in the Abbeville District, South Carolina. His ancestors were not known. Family tradition says the Ellis family, of Scotch and Irish, descent was banished from England by the King and came to America. Ellis went to the Territory of Illinois where around 1820 he married Mary Witt, with whom he had eleven children.

In the spring of 1846, Ellis moved his family to Texas, following his two daughters, Mrs. Perry and Mrs. Greene. Ellis purchased Pleasant Taylor’s headright for $400. He soon patented the tract in his own name.

Ellis contributed to the growing wealth of his community by successfully farming his land and accumulating considerable property, from which his children received a large share of the benefits. Uneducated, Ellis lived the life of many settlers, absorbed in the rough experiences of a new territory. For more than thirty years he was a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Missionary Baptist Church. He was blind the last ten years of his life. Ellis passed away at ninety-one on March 7, 1890, his wife having lived till 1889.

In honor of Middleton Perry (Captain) – an original settler, owner of famous race horse Steel Dust
The Perry
Casitas/Mews Series
           
Born in Jefferson County, Indiana on December 15, 1814, Middleton Perry was the son of Franklin and Rebecca Harrison Perry, both natives of Virginia. His parents were raised in Kentucky but moved to Indiana. By 1823 the family had moved to Greene County, Illinois. Middleton Perry spent his early life working as a stone mason, later becoming a farmer.

Perry left Illinois with his wife and his brother-in-law and his wife, the Greenes, to come to Texas in 1844. They ultimately arrived in Lancaster in 1845 and took a headright for 640 acres of land near the same area. With only a trail to Dallas and no roads in Lancaster, Captain Perry brought supplies for a year. He farmed his land and served his community as County Commissioner. Perry entered the Confederate Army in March 1862 with a group of men mostly from the Lancaster area. Luckily, he resigned his post shortly before his regiment was captured at Arkansas Post. Perry came home in 1864.

Perry and his wife Ellen Malinda had seven children. They were members of the Baptist Church, and Perry was a Mason for over 30 years. He helped organize the Masonic Lodge in Lancaster.

In honor of Willard Fisk, M.D. – Lancaster’s first physician and beloved citizen
The Fisk
Cottage/Mews Series

A graduate of Nourse Seminary in Sparta, Fisk worked as a store clerk and schoolteacher in the Lancaster area after he arrived in 1875. To receive a medical education, Fisk returned to Tennessee. He came back to Lancaster in 1884 to set up his practice, where he became one of Lancaster’s most beloved citizens. Fisk never married, and always made his patients his first concern. He never kept books or sent patients a bill, caring nothing for money. His pure altruism frustrated his affluent patients who wanted to give more than his nominal fees for service. An excellent cook, fisher and hunter, Fisk loved to cook for his friends. He was reputed to have grown the sweetest watermelons, only to give them away. When his watermelon crop was stolen one year, his friends threw him a huge watermelon party. He taught the local boys to swim, stayed up all night with sick patients and made a medicine he called Dr. Fisk’s Colic Cure. When he died, Fisk’s friends paid for his funeral and buried him on a donated lot in Edgewood Cemetery.

In honor of Samuel Keller – 1845 settler in Lancaster
The Keller
Cottage/Mews Series

Samuel Keller arrived in Lancaster on January 2, 1845. His wife, Mary Susan “Mollie” Deam, produced two children with Keller – Claudia and Samuel Paris. Samuel Keller was one of many Texas settlers who had to be strong willed and inventive. At that time, most children did not have shoes. Keller made his family’s footwear himself. He tanned hides, making a last for each member of the family. He carved shoe pegs out of wood cut from privet bushes. With hemp and flax he grew, Keller made shoe thread with beeswax and rosin. After arranging his materials, Keller worked the leather over a flat iron with a hammer. His shoes rivaled any kind of well-made shoes in stores at the time. Although Samuel Keller only had one eye, he could shoot with the best of them.

In honor of Captain R.A. Rawlins – 1844 leader of early settlers of Lancaster
The Captain Rawlins
Cottage/Mews Series

Roderick Alexander Rawlins was the leader of some of the earliest settlers of Lancaster, who came from the Rawlins family of Greene County, Illinois. Rawlins was a descendant of James Mason Rawlings, who came to America with his brothers from England prior to the Revolutionary War. Roderick was one of five children born to James and his wife Priscilla Blount. James Rawlings fought for the king in Massachusetts while his brothers supported the colonies.

Roderick was born near Bunker Hill on March 11, 1776, and cared for by his mother till she died when he was nine. Roderick began to work as a farm hand. In 1797 he married Sarah King in Tennessee. They had five children, and his wife died in 1814 after they moved to Indiana. Rawlins served two years with a Ranger group fighting to protect the settlers from the Indians. He then married Milly Parks, with whom he had eight children.

In 1844, Rawlins moved to Texas and settled on Ten Mile Creek in the southern part of Dallas County. Rawlins was a dedicated church worker until his death on April 27, 1848.

In honor of J.D. Hall, Lancaster Educator and Humanitarian
The J.D. Hall
Village Series

A native of Marshall, Texas, J.D. Hall was born on February 10, 1910. Mr. Hall was educated in Marshall Public Schools and earned his B.S. from Bishop College in Marshall. He went on to receive his Master’s in Administration from Texas Southern University and an Honorary Doctorate from Paul Quinn College in Dallas.

Hall married Lillie Belle Brown in 1935, and together they made education and humanitarian service their lives’ work. He worked for the Lancaster Public Schools as a classroom teacher, a principal and an assistant superintendent. Extensively involved in the community, Hall served on the Dallas County Community College District Board for more than twenty years. He and his wife helped establish the “Do the Right Thing Scholarship Fund,” which is recognized as a major contribution. During his tenure on the DCCCD Board, Hall was elected president of the Texas Association of Community College Trustees and Administrators. He was a member of the boards of directors for numerous civic organizations, including Volunteers of America, March of Dimes, Red Cross, YMCA, Urban League, Goals for Dallas, Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, Texas State Teachers Association and many more. Hall’s work has been preserved in a museum exhibition in the Lancaster Independent School District, where he was a much beloved figure.

In honor of Virginia Bledsoe – Lancaster’s first school teacher in 1846
The Virginia
Village Series
           
Virginia E. Bledsoe was the daughter of Honest A Bledsoe, originally of Kentucky. The Bledsoes gave birth to their first child, Virginia, in 1829. Following a stint in Missouri, the family selected a 640-acre tract one mile west of what would be Lancaster. With six children, the Bledsoes were one of the founding families. Tradition has it that Bledsoe surveyed and staked off the original town square in 1852, laying out a town square and adjacent streets. A daughter from an educated family, Virginia was to become the first school teacher in Lancaster. Her school opened in 1846 in a log cabin with a dirt floor, and a fireplace of sticks packed with mud. She had no salary, but each student paid 10 cents per day for expenses. Miss Bledsoe had one student who would prove to be of great interest – Roderick Rawlins. They married in 1852 and had three children. Virginia died in 1890.

In honor of Pleasant Taylor – 1944 settler in Lancaster
The Taylor
Cottage/Mews Series

Born c. 1815 in North Carolina, Pleasant Taylor married Nancy P. Rawlins, daughter of Captain Roderick A. Rawlins. Taylor, his wife and four children were amongst the group of early Lancaster settlers who arrived in Texas in the fall of 1844. Rawlins and his two sons-in-law went to look for land in the Cross Timbers. Nancy Taylor recalled discovering an Indian trying to steal a fine mule. 

Eventually the settlers claimed their 640-acre headrights and lived in tents while building their log cabins. Pleasant Taylor sold his headright to Thomas McKee Ellis for $400 and moved toward the Trinity River, but he returned in about a year with a “company survey” of 640 acres in the northeast section of Hampton and Pleasant Run Road. He lived there until he moved to Lancaster in the late 1850s to operate a mercantile business.

Taylor and his father-in-law also had a business driving cattle to Kansas. They were quite successful in this venture, and for several years the Lancaster scene was enlivened by the presence of trail herds on local pastures. Taylor died in May of 1893.

In honor of F.M. Hammond – founder of first grocery/department store in 1889
The Hammond
Village Series

From a rented room in Lancaster in 1889, a young man named F.M. Hammond hatched his plans to start a major dry goods store for the Texas town. Hammond had experience running a “plantation type” store for his uncle’s estate in Robertson County. He came to Lancaster with two horse wagons loaded with dry goods and a slogan, “Satisfaction Guaranteed.” Knowing that businesses could not grow without competition, he positioned himself to compete against the existing establishments. Most of the early grocery stores were combined with general merchandising. In 1895 Hammonds Department Store installed cash carriers; business was good, but the building burned in 1918. In 1930 Hammond reorganized with a new policy and stockholders to compete with the larger chain stores. In 1939 Hammond sold the concern to C.H. Head, his long-time partner. Hammond served on the Board of Trustees for Lancaster’s Randolph College for boys.

In honor of W.S. Peters – founder of The Peters Colony
The W.S. Peters
Village Series

With the establishment of a free and independent Republic of Texas in 1836, the development of the Cross Timber country was to follow. 1837 saw a panicked year of immigration to Texas by farmers hoping to see Texas become part of the United States. To encourage permanent settlers, the Texas Congress passed an act which gave the President of the Republic authority to enter into contracts with individual parties to colonize parts of Texas.

W.S. Peters and Associates was the first group to sign a contract with President Lamar in 1841 to introduce some six hundred families into Texas over three years. Peters’ company controlled most of Dallas County. He advertised in Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee.

Called the Robertson District, the land was famous for its rich black soil which was well adapted to the growing of small grains. The district was settled by some of the most famous names in Lancaster.

In honor of Madison Moultrie (M.M.) Miller – settled in Lancaster in 1845
The Madison
Village Series

Born in 1814 in Georgia, Madison Moultrie (M.M.) Miller came to the early settlement in 1845 with his two children, following the death of his wife Isabell. He had already proved himself as an overseer of three plantations in Alabama. Miller selected his home site and a spot for a general store in what was to become Lancaster. In 1846, Miller married Mary (Polly) Parks Rawlins, daughter of Roderick Rawlins, and had four children.

Together, the Millers built a two-room structure; one for living, the other for a store. The store grew rapidly, until 1848 when the house was enlarged to fifteen rooms, a separate store, and a warehouse.

In the 1850s Miller laid out a town called Pleasant Run and sold lots. Eventually there were a wide array of shops and mills. Miller dammed the nearby creek to provide water for the grist mill. Miller’s general store was so well stocked that he offered a free pair of shoes to any customer who asked for an item he did not have. Only one customer received free shoes, having asked for a half dozen monkeys. When Miller died in 1860 his estate was valued at $100,000. Pleasant Run eventually died out in favor of nearby Lancaster.

In honor of John Ingle Smith – first mail carrier for Lancaster
The Ingle
Village Series

John Ingle Smith and his wife settled and lived in Texas from the mid-1840s to 1900. Having served in the Spanish-American War, Smith was the first mail carrier on the route between Pleasant Run and Waco. His route began at M.M. Miller’s general store. Smith carried his mail pouch riding on a mule or horse in every kind of weather. He made deliveries all along the way to Waco.

The Smiths had five children. Their children married and settled in Dallas and Lancaster. Smith’s grandsons continued to farm the family acreage and live in the original house for many years.

In honor of Valentine Wampler – one of Lancaster’s original settlers
The Valentine
Village Series

Valentine Wampler, of Virginia and Illinois, married Angeline Rawlins, daughter of Captain Roderick Rawlins. They emigrated to Lancaster with Rawlins’ group, leaving for Texas in September 1844. Wampler was of Dutch ancestry and the couple had two sons, Martin J.S. and Roderick Wampler.

As part of the group of thirty settlers, the Wamplers left Missouri and went to look for land in the Cross Timbers. Wampler and the others in the party endured many hardships along the way. The way to Ten Mile had no roads, the underbrush was very thick and the settlers were frequently lost. They finally reached their destination. Not having eaten for more than a day, the settlers feasted on turkeys and honey.

“Valentine Wampler kept us supplied with honey. He found five splendid trees the same evening, and we had honey for dessert,” wrote Nancy Rawlins Taylor.       

In honor of Honest A Bledsoe – founder of the original town of Lancaster
The Bledsoe
Estate Series

A Bledsoe was born in Lancaster, Kentucky January 8, 1801. According to family legend, when Moses Bledsoe looked at his newborn son he said, “He looks like a Bledsoe.” In his twenties, A Bledsoe married Margaret R. George of Mississippi. Bledsoe left his family in Missouri to locate a home in Texas. He selected a 640-acre tract one mile west of what was to become Lancaster, planted corn, and went back to Missouri to get his wife and six children.

At 6’7” and weighing 300 pounds, Bledsoe was renowned for his enormous strength. He could lift the wheel of a loaded wagon and pound it up and down. A Bledsoe had a drive for speculative land enterprises. The marriage of his daughter Virginia to Roderick Rawlins made a family relationship between the two clans, and Bledsoe could go forward with his plan to start a town in competition with Pleasant Run.

Tradition has it that Bledsoe surveyed and staked off the original town of Lancaster in 1852, laying out a town square and adjacent streets. A slaveowner, Bledsoe was nevertheless opposed to secession. After the Civil War, Bledsoe’s track record as a Unionist made him eligible to hold public office. He was elected State Comptroller in 1869. Bledsoe’s wife died in 1874 and Bledsoe died on November 8, 1882.

In honor of William Love White – Lancaster’s first merchant, broker and financier
The William
Estate Series
           
A prominent business man of Lancaster, William L. White was likely the wealthiest man in southern Dallas County. Born in White County, Tennessee, on November 15, 1824, White clerked in his father’s general store in Sparta. After his father’s death, White went into the mercantile business with his uncle.

In 1846, White was elected clerk of the Tennessee Bank. During this time he lived miles out in the country, riding horseback over mountain roads to get to the bank, while maintaining his farm.White arrived in Texas with his family in 1855; he bought a 640-acre tract and engaged in the stock business. White moved to Lancaster in 1860 to open a dry goods store. He had two children with his first wife, Lucinda Turney. After she died, he married Louisa Ellis and had seven children. After the Civil War, White sold his dry goods business, and began trading cattle, then cotton. He also operated a gin and a farm. With his own considerable wealth, White made a fortune in the brokerage business. He died May 28, 1881 and was buried in Lancaster.

In honor of R.P. Henry – founder of Lancaster’s first bank
The R.P. Henry
Estate Series

The first official bank of Lancaster, the R.P. Henry & Sons Bank, a private concern, was founded by R.P. Henry in 1889. Henry was described by his contemporaries as “a commercial genius. His home life was ideal and his family a credit.”

R.P. Henry was one of the first elected officers of the town of Lancaster. In 1910 Henry remodeled the bank, only to have it burn in the fire of 1918. Rebuilt, the R.P. Henry & Sons Bank stayed in business until 1933. That was the year that Clyde Barrow robbed the bank and fled the town to meet up with his partner Bonnie Parker.

Mrs. R.P. Henry gave Lancaster its first city park in honor of her husband. She hired F.W. Tetze, superintendent of the Dallas Parks system, to landscape the Rene Paul Henry Park. It featured walks, trees, a fountain, and other greenery plantings in honor of Mr. Henry’s love of nature. A Community Center was built on the park site in 1938.

In honor of Robert Allen Lemmon – 1844 settler in Lancaster
The Allen
Estate Series

Robert Allen Lemmon came from a colorful Revolutionary War family background. He was the son of James Lemmon, whose father Robert Lemmon had been a Revolutionary War captain under General Washington’s command. Robert Allen’s father James Lemmon served at age twelve as a messenger between Washington and the other colonists. After the War, James Lemmon moved his wife and seven children to Kentucky. After his wife died, Lemmon moved to Illinois where he married Amy Rawlins and had eight more children.

In 1844, Lemmon’s wife’s cousin hired young Robert Allen Lemmon to help with the family caravan to Texas. Robert loved Texas, but was too young to claim a headright. With no money, Robert had to walk back to Illinois. He persuaded his aging father to come to Texas with his remaining children and a trunk full of letters from George Washington.

They traveled by foot, and crossed the Mississippi River on a raft made of driftwood, attempting to paddle directly across the river and ending up fifteen miles downstream. They finally got to Texas in 1845. James Lemmon died in 1858 and was buried in Edgewood Cemetery.

           
In honor of Norvel Winniford – sheriff of Dallas County 1867 – 1873
The Winniford
Estate Series

Norvel Winniford and his four brothers and seven sisters left St. Louis, Missouri in 1845 to settle in Texas. Norvel was among the group that came to Dallas County, where he met and married Matilda Goar. In 1849 Norvel, Matilda and Norvel’s brothers, William and David, went to California during the gold rush. Matilda and David died in California, and Norvel and William returned to Texas, having made a great deal of money in the gold fields.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, the Winnifords spoke out against slavery. To make sure his point got across, Norvel traded a farm for eighty slaves and then set them free. This incensed people in the area and Norvel had to flee to Mexico and live there throughout the remainder of the war. When Norvel returned at the war’s conclusion, he was appointed sheriff of Dallas County by the Republican Reconstruction government, serving from 1867 to 1873.

Stuart Park
The Stuart Family

The Stuart family of Lancaster reflects a rich legacy of character, integrity and determination. Dr. E.G. Stuart was Lancaster’s first qualified dental surgeon. He had a gift for making realistic dentures and many people sought his expertise.
E.G.’s son, John Thomas Stuart, ran the old Hast farm with his wife Fanny and their three boys. He also was a manufacturer’s representative throughout Texas for the Victor Fire and Rubber Company, and was best known for founding and directing Lancaster’s First National Bank.

John Thomas’ son, Henry Stuart, graduated from Lancaster High School in 1937. A well-known prankster, Henry was elected by his classmates to give the valedictory address when the true valedictorian developed stage fright.

An entrepreneur in many fields, Henry’s true passion was flight. After graduating from Trinity University, he bought an old airplane, and built up flight time while working for the FAA control tower at night. A decorated flyer for the Army Air Corps during World War II, Stuart bought more planes and started a small airport. His flight school evolved into the plan to build the Addison Airport. The Stuart family’s history of entrepreneurship has had a lasting impact on Lancaster and Dallas County.