Union Veterans of Chambers County, Texas (June 2013)
Union Veterans of Chambers County, Texas
- By Kevin Ladd
JOB TALBERT BEASON
Job Talbert Beason was born February 24, 1845 in Westfield, Hamilton County, Indiana. He was a son of Seth and Elizabeth (Talbert) Beason. The family was living in Marshall County, Iowa at the time of the War. At the age of 19 he enlisted in the Union Army on May 9, 1864, serving in Company G, Forty-Fourth Regiment Iowa Infantry. His late granddaughter, Mrs. Lorraine Silva, said Mr. Beason was captured during the war and held in the prison at Andersonville. He was married to Miss Lydia Jane Harvey (1842-1920) on April 19, 1871 in Clinton County, Missouri. The Beasons later moved to the town of Platteville, Colorado and later on to East Lake, Alabama. The family came to Chambers County around 1894, first settling in Han-kamer and later at Oak Island. In addition to teaching school, he also served as keeper of the Double Bayou Lighthouse for several years. Job Talbert Beason was drowned on December 20, 1909 while checking on the lights. He was buried in the Benjamin Barrow Family Cemetery on Barrow-White Road near Anahuac. The Beasons had two children: Fannie Elizabeth (1872-1942), who married Benjamin Everett Barrow (1866-1952) ; and Augustine Lorraine (1875-1959), who was married to Miss Wilmettie "Willie" Brazil (1880-1965). A. L. Beason, an attorney with nume-rous other professional interests, served in the Texas Legislature from Chambers County.
FRANCIS MARION HAMILTON
Francis Marion Hamilton was born in 1846 in the town of Freedom, Portage County, Ohio. He finished his education at Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio, the school where the future American President James A. Garfield served as college president. Hamilton was graduated as valedictorian of the 1863 class. Later that same winter he enlisted in the 145th Ohio National Guard. He was stationed in the Arlington, Virginia and Washington, DC area during most of his tour of duty. After the war, he relocated to Salina, Kansas, where he served for five years as high school principal and later entered into the real estate business. Hamilton eventually became associated in a plan to settle Kansas farmers in Texas. He moved to Anahuac in 1895 and helped to locate many families from Kansas in that community. He was one of the founders of the Anahuac Town Company and the Lone Star Canal. He was married in 1876 in Salina to Miss Myra Banks and was later married to Miss Clara Spencer of Kansas City, Missouri. Colonel F. M. Hamilton died at Anahuac on July 27, 1915. His body was transported to Kansas City for burial. Hamilton had five children surviving him at the time of death: L. G., Julia, Frank A., John W. and Ida.
JOEL CHARLES LLOYD
One of several prominent residents of Saline County, Kansas to move to Anahuac, Joel Charles Lloyd, was born at Salem, Ohio on December 17, 1847. During the Civil War, he enlisted at Deep Cut, Ohio on August 13, 1862, serving as a first lieutenant in Company E of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Regular Infantry Regiment, Ohio Volunteers. He served for three years. Lloyd later established himself at Salina, Kansas, serving there as County Registrar of Deeds for two terms beginning in I895. He and his wife moved to Anahuac about 1903 and remained there until her death in 1922. J. C. Lloyd moved back to Kansas following her death, but continued to spend his winters in Anahuac for several years. He was quite active in both the Grand of the Republic and the Masonic Order. He died in October 1928 at Hutchinson, Kansas and was buried next to his wife in Gypsum Hill Cemetery at Salina, Kansas.
ANSON MILLER
Anson Miller, one of the most influential Anahuac businessmen of his day, moved to Chambers County in 1908. He enlisted in the Union Army at the age of 15 and served for 18 months with the Fifth Wisconsin Infantry. He was in numerous battles, including those at Resacca, Dallas, R
saw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, and finally in General William T. Sherman's infamous "March to the Sea." After the war, Miller eventually settled in Salina, Kansas where he was actively engaged in many business interests and served for sev- eral years as county commissioner. He was also very active in the Ana-huac business community. He owned and operated the Chambers County Telephone Company. Miller was extremely active in the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization for Union veterans and also attended each and every annual encampment from the war's end through the last year of his life. He became ill in September 1928 while attending a Grand Army Encampment at Des Moines, Iowa. Miller underwent an operation in November at Salina, Kansas. After returning to Anahuac, Miller suffered a heart attack and died in February 1929. His remains were returned to Salina for burial. At the time of his death, he was serving in the capacity of Assistant Adjutant Quartermaster General for Texas. His survivors included the following child-ren: Mrs. May Shaffer, of Placentia, California; Mrs. Hettie Hemphill of Madison, Kansas; Ralph Miller, of Mansfield, Ohio; and Mrs. Alice Hiller, of Salina, Kansas.
DR. ASA MORGAN
Dr. Asa Morgan was born February 22, 1826 in Dayton, Ohio, a son of Isaac and Cynthia (Westfall) Morgan. The family moved to Thorntown, Indiana in 1827 and then to Daven-port, Iowa in 1846. Asa attended medical school at Keobuck, Iowa. He was married to his first wife, Rowena Isabel, and moved in July 1860 to DeWitt, Iowa. He enlisted as an assistant surgeon in August 1861, serving with the Twelfth Regiment, Third Iowa Cavalry. He was first dispatched to Cairo, Illinois and was later with the Union Army at the battle of Shiloh. Dr. Morgan was later given the title of full surgeon and was promoted to the rank of major. He was honorably discharged at Houston in 1865. He located on Cedar Bayou in Chambers County after the war, practicing medicine there for the remainder of his life. After the death of his first wife, Morgan married second to Hattie McCracken. He died August 23, 1895 at Cedar Bayou and was buried in the Dr. Asa Morgan Family Cemetery. Dr. Morgan and his first wife, Rowena, had several children; Asa Eberly (1855-1858); Ella Frances (1858 -1859); Charles Edward (1860-1927), who married Amanda Julia Kelley; Annie Floreine (1863-1936), who married Austin William Busch; Frank Hamilton (born 1867), who married Sarah Fitzgerald; Albert Sydenham (1870-1943), who married to Josie Ellender; and Catherine Landon (1872-1883). He and his second wife, Hattie, had one son, Leon Verne (1882-1883).