Gideon Pemberton Family, by Walter Lewis Pemberton
Gideon was born in Wayne Co. Kentucky about 1809 son of George Pemberton and Mary Lyon. He Married Mahala Koger about 1839 in Kentucky. Her father was John Koger and mother Hester Jones. She was born May 09, 1811, in Anderson Co. Kentucky. After getting married they moved to Morgan Co. Illinois. I found a listing of a Land Patent June 15 1835, which means he started this farm four years before marriage or the date is wrong.
The first Child, John Pemberton was born February 10, 1840 in Morgan Co. Illinois but he only lived a short time and died on April 12, 1840.
The second Child was Irvin I. Pemberton, Born April 12, 1841 Morgan Co. Illinois.
Child No. 3 was Alfred Pemberton, Born January 31, 1843 Morgan Co. Illinois.
Forth Child was William Riley Pemberton Born May 04, 1845 Morgan Co. Illinois.
Then George Washington Pemberton was Born November 04, 1847 Dallas Co. Texas.
Lastly Henry Pemberton November 19, 1848 Dallas Co. Texas.
The two years between Riley and George gives us the date of the family moving to Texas and starting a new life. I have seen several notations of Gideon being a citizen of Dallas Country. He was listed as a wagon maker and I have a copy of a newspaper story about Wash “Washington” having a wagon built by Gideon.
The 1850 Census of Dallas County shows the Family living in the Scyene area of the county.
Page 83A & Page 83B
160 164 G?? Pemberton 39 M wagon maker 320 Ky
Mahalah “ 37 F Ky
Irvin “ 10 M Ill
Alford “ 8 M Ill
Riley Pemberton 6 M Ill
Washington “ 4 M Tex
Henry “ 6/12M Tex
Sometime during the winter of 1851 the family suffered a great loss of first Mahala in September and Later in December Gideon died. This left the 5 boys as orphans. Several of the local families in the area took them in and raised the boys as their own. As each became of age they went their separate ways in life.
Irvin was older (20 in 1860) and when his own way. We have problems documenting his life. It is known he was in the Civil War with Hood’s 5th Texas Infantry Co. “F” Northern Va. Army. At Manassas Aug 30, 1862 he was wounded in battle. After the war he was married to Mary “Polly” Catherine Sage on Jun 07, 1866 Dallas County. But after the death of his first child he left and she remarried. Not much is know of him till in 1919 when he moved into the Texas Confederate Home, Austin, Travis Co. Texas, where he died on Jan 30, 1929. He was burred in the Texas State Cemetery Confederate sect #3 Row D #44.
Alfred lived with local family until he was older. He was not listed in the 1860 Census Dallas Co. this may because He was in the 6th Texas Calvary Co. “A” from 1861-1864. He returned to the area after the war and was listed in the Collin Co. 1870 Census with his wife Nancy Caroline Gray and several children. They had a total of 9 children 35 Grand children. They devoiced because she did not want any more children so, He and married Ida Jane Holley and moved to Jack Co. Texas then had two more children and 5 more Grand children
Riley was listed in the 1860 Census Dallas County with the Family of Richard and Elizabeth Bruton. This is the same family who lived in Morgan Co. Illinois With Gideon and Mahalah. Then is 1844/5 both families moved to Texas. Riley was also in the Civil War. He is listed on the roster of Co. “A” 31 Texas Calvary 1862-1864. After the war on Jun 09, 1872 he Married Mary Elizabeth Sheppard (Phillips) who had two children from her first Marriage. They lived in the Irvin area of Dallas Country, had 6 Children and 22 Grand children
Washington was listed with the Family of John W. and Janette Davis. He lived with them until 1868 when he married Elizabeth Ann Porter in Kaufman County, Texas. They moved to Smithfeild, Tarrant county and had 6 children, and a total of 35 grandchildren
Henry was living with the E. W. Hunt Family during the 1860 Census of Dallas County. He married Nancy Clementine Toliver in Tarrant County, Jan 01, 1873.
They had 7 children of which 4 lived and had a family with a total 26 grandchildren. After his wife died he married Sarah Jane Craver and had 10 more children and 41 more grandchildren. During My contacting persons of this family, I noted that some of the two sets of kids did not know of the other.
The grand total of descendents, 5 children, 40 grandchildren, 164 great grandchildren, and several hundred great-great-grandchildren. Gideon and Mahalah helped to populate the state of Texas. But we do not know if any of the family kept in touch over all these years. When I started to put together the Family Tree and connected with a number of persons who are part of the family. I found that very few know how large a family we are. I noted lots of the people live in Texas, but I have connected people for all over the U.S. and as far away as Alaska.
Back in 2001 I contacted all the persons I could contact of our family and staged a family get togather. It was planed for everyone to meet at the little cabin in down town Dallas. Most have know it as John Nelly Brant’s home, but has now been proved that it was not. It is now listed as Gideon Pemberton’s Homestead. After lunch we went to the Dallas Library and talked family. I displayed copies of the Original Land Grants to Gideon’s Land signed by Sam Houston. There were about 50 persons in attendance, so that after 150 years we became a family again.
I wish to thank two persons who helped my getting interested in, and doing this research and putting the information together.
First the person that got me started was Nellie Mae “Bruton” Hacksma. She lived in Wenatchee, Chelan Co. Washington, and did a lot of writing letters with information about the family. She wrote my Mom and Dad to start, but I read them and contacted her. She sent me a lot of information and really got me started on this quest. Also she is the person who had the Gideon Land Grants moved to the Texas State Archive in Fair Park, Dallas. She also had the name of the Cabin located in down town Dallas changed from John Nelly Brant’s to Gideon Pemberton. Sadly she is now gone.
Secondly Isham Irl Pemberton who lived in California and traveled all over and researched the family. He came to my father’s in the year of 1961 or 1962 and had a case with books of information of all the families he had collected over his travels. He said that he was going to have a book printed of the Family Tree. Sadly that did not happen because he died.
in 1963. After many years I contacted his sister who lived in Ft Worth and was given access to these books. I went over the information, and added it to what I had already. This info was collected from persons that knew the names and birth dates and so on. It increased my information by two to three times.
Walter Pemberton
Just one of the family.
January 30, 1929
Place of death: Texas Confederate Home, Austin Texas
Marriage date: June 07, 1866
Marriage place: Dallas Co. Texas
Spouse’s name: Mary C. Sage
Sex: M
Birth date: January 31, 1843
Birthplace: Morgan Co. Illinois
Death date: February 09, 1925
Place of death: Perrin, Jack Co. Texas
Marriage date: (1) February 14, 1866 (2) September 21, 1899
Marriage place: (1) Kaufman Co. Texas (2) Dallas Co. Texas
Spouse’s name: (1) Nancy Caroline Gray (2) Ida Jane Holly
Child No. 4: William Riley PEMBERTON
Sex: M
Birth date: May 04, 1845
Birthplace: Morgan Co. Illinois
Death date: June 30, 1922
Place of death: Coppell, Dallas Co. Texas
Marriage date: June 09, 1872
Marriage place: Dallas Co. Texas
Spouse’s name: Mary Elizabeth Phillips (Note her 2nd. Marriage.
1st was to John Milton Sheppard)
Child No. 5: George Washington PEMBERTON
Sex: M
Birth date: November 04, 1847
Birthplace: Scyene, Dallas Co. Texas
Death date: January 09, 1929
Place of death: Smithfeild, Tarrant Co. Texas
Marriage date: October 21, 1868
Marriage place: Kaufman Co. Texas
Spouse’s name: Elizah Ann Porter
Child No. 6: Henry PEMBERTON
Sex: M
Birth date: November 19, 1848
Birthplace: Scyene, Dallas Co. Texas
Death date: 1909
Place of death: Bryson, Jack Co. Texas
Marriage date: (1) January 01, 1873 (2) February 10, 1887
Marriage place: (1) Tarrant Co. Texas (2) Tarrant Co. Texas
Spouse’s name: (1) Nancy Clementine Toliver (2) Sarah Jane Craver
Documentation: 1840,1850,1860,1870,1880 U.S. Census, Dallas Co. Marriage Books,
Tarrant Co. Marriage Books, Kaufman Co. Marriage Books, Texas Birth & Death Records and Family Bible Records.
