Richard T. Gaines
From Casa de Blundell
Hon. Richard "James" Thomas Gaines[1] (1776 - 1856)
Born November 14, 1776
Died November 12, 1856 in Oakland, California
Son of Susannah and Thomas W. Gaines
Husband of Isabella Christian, (about 1800 in Sullivan County, Tennessee), Catherine Johnston Vincent and Susannah Norris about 1798 in Texas
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Siblings
- James Strother Gaines
- Elizabeth Strother Gaines
- Major William Dabney Gaines
- Phillip Pendleton Gaines
- Henry Pendleton Gaines
- Frances Henry Gaines
- Susannah Dabney Gaines
- George Washington Gaines
- Francis Thornton Gaines
The name change
There have been conflicting reports on Richard's name. This may be the best explanation I've found so far, yet it does not mention the possibility of Robert being his name when he was christened:
Richard (James) divorced his first wife (Isabella) to marry his second (Katherine), however he left for Texas and she married Rev Elijah Barwick. In Texas he became a member of Austin's colony, where he as, James Gaines married Susanna Norris. They were married in the Immaculata Conception Catholic church, Natchitoches, Louisiana on Feb 10, 1817. James was baptized into the church at the same time. They lived on the Sabine river at Gaines Ferry. Dates on James Gaines taken from the Headstone in a cemetery in Oakland,CA. After arriving in Texas, for some reason he changed his name to James Gaines and under this name he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.[2]
Bio
GAINES, JAMES (1776-1856). James Gaines, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, was born on November 14, 1776, in Culpeper County, Virginia, the son of Thomas and Susanah (Strother) Gaines and a descendant of the distinguished Pendleton family. He was a double first cousin to United States Army general Edmund Pendleton Gaines, with whom he worked in 1803-04 by order of President Thomas Jefferson to survey lands along the Natchez Trace. He was christened Robert Thomas[3] but changed his name to James around 1810. Gaines operated a Sabine River ferry by 1812. He raised and commanded troops in the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition, an effort to wrest Texas from Spain. Tall, red-haired, and red-faced, he was "Captain Colorado" to the Alabama and Coushatta Indians he commanded. After defeat in San Antonio, Gaines went to Virginia and fought against the British in the War of 1812. In 1819 he bought the long-established ferry on El Camino Real, and with his sons and employees operated the facility over twenty years, bringing (it was said) four-fifths of the colonists across from the United States to Texas. He served as alcalde for the Sabine District of the Municipality of Nacogdoches in 1824, sheriff in Nacogdoches in 1828, and postmaster for years. Beside the ferry, he operated an inn and mercantile store and forwarded mail across the boundary into the United States. He later founded the town of Pendleton on this site.
In 1826-27 Gaines was a decisive leader in the forces opposing Haden Edwards in the Fredonian Rebellion, and by his stand on behalf of the old settlers made enemies who injured his reputation in later years. However, he retained the respect and loyalty of the electorate and represented the Sabine region in Washington-on-the-Brazos in March at the Convention of 1836. Here he served on the drafting committee for the Declaration of Independence, signed the declaration, and helped write the Constitution of the Republic of Texas.qv In the republic he served as a senator in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth congresses, representing Shelby, Sabine, and Harrison counties. In February 1843 Gaines sold his ferry and moved to Nacogdoches, where he led campaigns to obtain annexationqv for Texas. He soon moved to Bastrop in Central Texas, where he owned and operated a hotel. With news of the California gold rush, his sons Edmund and John B. went with other East Texans along the Gila Trail to the mines to make their fortunes, and James Gaines himself arrived on the steamer Ecuador in San Francisco on August 23, 1850. He was instrumental in imposing law and order in the mine fields and held office for years in Mariposa County. He and his sons discovered the rich Gaines Ledge of gold and established the Mount Gaines Mine, which still exists. Although his sons returned to Texas, Gaines remained at the mine, as his wife had died and he had no home in Texas.
Gaines was married three times. He and his first wife, Isabella Christian of Tennessee, had a daughter; he and his second wife, Katherine Vincent of Indiana, had two sons; he and his third wife, Susanah Norris of the Nacogdoches municipality, had six children. Enemies charged Gaines committed bigamy when he married for the second time, but proof is lacking. Gaines died on November 12, 1856, and is buried near Oakland, California.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Carl Briggs, "Mt. Gaines: 135 Years of Mother Lode Mining," The Californians, January-February 1985. Mariposa Sentinel (publication of the Mariposa County, California, Historical Society), Midwinter 1975. San Francisco Daily Alta California, November 25, 1856. Calvin E. Sutherd, A Compilation of Gaines Family Data (Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 1969; rev. ed. 1972).[4]
Ingrid Broughton Morris and Deolece M. Parmelee
The Texas Declaration of Independence
The Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and formally signed the following day after errors were noted in the text.
Richard Ellis, president of the convention, appointed a committee of five; George C. Childress, Edward Conrad, James Gaines, Bailey Hardeman, and Collin McKinney (the last being the oldest member of the convention at age 70), to write the declaration, but the declaration was largely the work of Childress. As the text was completed in only one day after the committee was appointed, it is largely believed that Childress came to the convention already prepared with a draft.
The Gaines-Oliphint House
Sabine County, Texas
Located in the Pendleton Harbor Subdivision on Hwy. 21 (Highway 6 on the Louisiana side) near the Pendleton Bridge, the Gaines-Oliphint House has been acknowledged by the Texas Historical Commission as the oldest standing log structure in the state. The building is a double pen planked log story and a half building with a dog trot. The house is owned by the Sabine District Chapter 33 of the Sons of the Republic of Texas.
Chartered on March 8, 1984, the Sons of the Republic of Texas, Sabine District Chapter 33 was gifted in December, 1984 with the Gaines-Oliphint House by Mrs. Tom Foster of Center.
Built around 1815 by slave labor, research shows that the Gaines-Oliphint House stands on ground granted to James T. Gaines in 1830, one of the oldest Anglo grants in the state of Texas. James was born Richard T. Gaines in 1776 in Culpepper City, VA.
Gaines first came to what is now Texas in 1812 crossing the Sabine River and traveling to Nacogdoches. Speculating that other settlers would choose to colonize west of the Sabine River, Gaines purchased an existing ferry in 1819 on the river in Sabine County. From this grew a mercantile establishment and later the town of Pendleton. Gaines lived in the home at Pendleton from 1819 to 1843.
Several architectural features of the house indicate the carpenter to have been from the tidewater areas of the Carolinas and Virginia; the logs having square notched gravity corners and the house is built on high piers, both being features of early southern building in the U.S. Built of longleaf pine logs which were shaped into planks with an adze and broadax, the house was completely stacked before the windows and doors were cut into the walls. Archaeological findings indicate the bricks for the chimney were manufactured on the site from native red clay.
The Gaines-Oliphint house provided lodging for Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, and Stephen F. Austin, among others. According to legend, it is the site where pirate Jean LaFitte held his auctions to sell slaves and goods he had taken from captive ships.[5]
Additional Resources
Notes
- ↑ James Thomas Gaines was christened either as Richard or Robert. I've seen both through different sources.
- ↑ Rootsweb
- ↑ Many suggest he may have been christened Richard rather than Robert
- ↑ The Handbook of Texas Online
- ↑ Toledo-Bend.com
