LOCATIONFort Worth, Texas
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MEETING DATESMeetings are held the second Thursday of November, January, March and May. Members see the Members only page for more information.
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CHAPTER HISTORY
The General Edward H. Tarrant Chapter was organized in Fort Worth, Texas on March 18, 1948 by Mrs. Nelson Leonard (Kate Hill), under Mrs. John B. Mayfield, Texas Society President. The first Chapter meeting was held August 13, 1948 and plans were set in motion for a County Historical marker for the Courthouse Lawn honoring General Edward H. Tarrant.
The chapter was named in honor of General Edward H. Tarrant, who was born in 1796 in South Carolina and died at Fort Belknap, Texas, August 2, 1858. His family moved to Tennessee, and he served in several campaigns against the Indians and was with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. He studied law in Tennessee and came to Texas in 1835. A veteran of the Texas War of Independence, he commanded the Texas Ranger Forces on the Northwest Frontier in 1837. In 1838, he was a Representative from the Red River District in the Congress of the Republic of Texas. A Brigadier General and Commanding General of the Texas Militia, he led his Command in the Battle of Village Creek in 1841. This victory over the Indians helped open the present Tarrant County area for settlement. His remains were removed in 1859 to his plantation home near Italy, Texas. In 1920, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas had his body moved to the Pioneers Rest Cemetery in Fort Worth.
CHARTER MEMBERS
Mrs. Nelson Leonard
Mrs. Charles Atkinson Mrs. Alice Stewart Beard
Mrs. Vernon Brown Mrs. Earl L. Byers
Mrs. Frederick Herman Mrs. William Letchworth
Mrs. William E. Lord Mrs. C. C. Peters
Mrs. George T. Spears Mrs. Uel Stephens
Mrs. W. W. Wilson Mrs. William F. Wright
ORGANIZING PRESIDENT
Mrs. Nelson Leonard (Kate Hill) held State No. 655 and National No. 14,387. She transferred from Willis Brewer Chapter on March 17, 1948, to become Organizing President for the General Edward H. Tarrant Chapter. Kate was born in Durante, Mississippi in November, 1890. She was the daughter of John Cameron Hill and Adina Stark of Fort Worth. Her grandparents were John Taylor Stark and Mary Katherine Nelson of Virginia, who was a Real Daughter. George Nelson, who was born in Fauquier County, Virginia in 1784 and died in Warrington, Virginia on March 24, 1860, served as a Private in Capt. Lamar White’s Company 99th Regiment Virginia Militia in the War of 1812. Mrs. Leonard died on July 10, 1965, in Fort Worth. Her leadership and activities in the chapter were sorely missed.
The chapter was named in honor of General Edward H. Tarrant, who was born in 1796 in South Carolina and died at Fort Belknap, Texas, August 2, 1858. His family moved to Tennessee, and he served in several campaigns against the Indians and was with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. He studied law in Tennessee and came to Texas in 1835. A veteran of the Texas War of Independence, he commanded the Texas Ranger Forces on the Northwest Frontier in 1837. In 1838, he was a Representative from the Red River District in the Congress of the Republic of Texas. A Brigadier General and Commanding General of the Texas Militia, he led his Command in the Battle of Village Creek in 1841. This victory over the Indians helped open the present Tarrant County area for settlement. His remains were removed in 1859 to his plantation home near Italy, Texas. In 1920, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas had his body moved to the Pioneers Rest Cemetery in Fort Worth.
CHARTER MEMBERS
Mrs. Nelson Leonard
Mrs. Charles Atkinson Mrs. Alice Stewart Beard
Mrs. Vernon Brown Mrs. Earl L. Byers
Mrs. Frederick Herman Mrs. William Letchworth
Mrs. William E. Lord Mrs. C. C. Peters
Mrs. George T. Spears Mrs. Uel Stephens
Mrs. W. W. Wilson Mrs. William F. Wright
ORGANIZING PRESIDENT
Mrs. Nelson Leonard (Kate Hill) held State No. 655 and National No. 14,387. She transferred from Willis Brewer Chapter on March 17, 1948, to become Organizing President for the General Edward H. Tarrant Chapter. Kate was born in Durante, Mississippi in November, 1890. She was the daughter of John Cameron Hill and Adina Stark of Fort Worth. Her grandparents were John Taylor Stark and Mary Katherine Nelson of Virginia, who was a Real Daughter. George Nelson, who was born in Fauquier County, Virginia in 1784 and died in Warrington, Virginia on March 24, 1860, served as a Private in Capt. Lamar White’s Company 99th Regiment Virginia Militia in the War of 1812. Mrs. Leonard died on July 10, 1965, in Fort Worth. Her leadership and activities in the chapter were sorely missed.
ABOUT GENERAL TARRANT
Edward Hampton Tarrant was born in South Carolina in 1796. It appears that during the War of 1812 he was living in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. By the early 1820s, he was in Henry County, Tennessee, where he was elected a Colonel of Militia in the new frontier environment. In 1825, he helped organize the first Masonic Lodge in Paris, Tennessee, and by 1827 he had become Sheriff of Henry County. He was a resident of Henderson County, Tennessee, from 1829 to 1835, when he moved to Texas, possibly by way of Mississippi.
Tarrant apparently established his household of relatives, hired men, and slaves in Red River County, Texas, by November 23, 1835. On February 2, 1838, he received a league and labor of land from the Republic of Texas as part of a uniform grant made to all heads of families residing in Texas on March 2, 1836. There is no record of his participation in the Texas Revolution. Tarrant was elected in September 1837 to represent Red River County in the House of Representatives of the Second Congress; his last in the House was apparently on November 1837, and he submitted his resignation on December 12, 1837. He had decided that he could better serve the republic by directing ranger activities against the Indians. He served as Chief Justice of Red River County in 1838 after Robert Hamilton had been nominated to that post in December, 1836; there is some question as to which of the two men actually served as first Chief Justice of the county.
Tarrant practiced law, engaged in farming, and took a leading role I the militia’s activity against the Indians while he was Chief Justice; when he resigned from the post on May 30, 1839, he was one of the most prosperous men in Red River County. He was elected by popular vote on November 18, 1839, as commander, carrying the rank of Brigadier General, of an organization of Northeast Texas defenders known as the Fourth Brigade. His Indian-fighting career culminated in the battle of Village Creek, east of present Fort Worth, in May 1841.
On April 25, 1846, the first election for Navarro County was held in Dresden. Dr. John A. Young was elected to Chief Justice but died before he could take office. To fill the vacancy, the Governor appointed General Tarrant making him the first County Judge of Navarro County, serving from 1846 to 1848. In 1847, Tarrant ran for Lieutenant Governor, but he was defeated by John Alexander Greer. When the county seat was moved from Forreston to Corsicana, he opposed the change and was instrumental in getting Ellis County organized and separated from Navarro County. The present Eighth Avenue in Corsicana was originally named Tarrant Street. He served in the House of Representatives in the Third and Fourth Texas legislatures from 1849 to 1853.
A restless old timer, he married Mary Danforth on April 6, 1851. They lived on Chambers Creek near Italy, Ellis County, and participated in the social life of Waxahachie. In 1857, Tarrant moved part of his household to Fort Belknap, and when Indian depredations became frequent in that area, he again turned his attentions to raising forces against them. While traveling from his home on Chambers Creek to Belknap, Tarrant became ill and died on August 2, 1858, at the home of William Fondren, about 10 miles from Weatherford, where he was buried. He was reburied on his farm on Chambers Creek on January 28, 1859, and was buried a third time on March 3, 1928, in Pioneer Rest Cemetery in Fort Worth. Tarrant County was named for him.
After its formation in March 1948, the General Edward H. Tarrant Chapter hosted an open meeting, attended by the Tyler and Dallas Chapters where Mrs. F. B. Ingram of the John Cavet Chapter and 4th Vice-President National gave the program. The Chapter’s first major project was to raise funds and place a Memorial Marker to General Edward H. Tarrant on the Courthouse lawn in Fort Worth.
On May 18, 1949, the Chapter participated in placing a Memorial Monument to General Edward H. Tarrant on the Courthouse lawn in Fort Worth, Texas. The Tarrant County Historical Society and business leaders joined in financing the Monument. U.S.D. 1812 national, state and chapter officers attended the dedication.