Person Sheet


Name Houston Marion Byford
Birth Dec 4, 1847, Mississippi
Death Mar 7, 1911, Garvin County, Stratford, Oklahoma
Occupation Carpenter and musician
Father William Byford (1821-)
Mother Mary Ann Farmer (1825-)
Spouses:
1 Hannah Tabitha Caroline Scroggins
Birth Apr 18, 1852, Tennessee
Death Feb 27, 1897, McGee Indian Territory, Oklahoma
Father Smith Scroggins Jr. (1829-1863)
Mother Ellender "Eleanore" Wells Holt (1830-1904)
Marriage May 11, 1867, Corinth County, Alcorn, Mississippi
Children: Mary Ellen (1868-1892)
William Smith (1870-1948)
Annie (1872-1877)
Thomas Jefferson (1874-1967)
John Houston (1877-1973)
James Robert (Dock) (1879-1960)
Martha Rovilla (1881-1957)
George Washington (1883-1964)
Andrew Jackson (1885-1960)
Abigail Fannie (Abby) (1887-1910)
Maggie Lena (1891-)
Ethel Lillian (1893-)
Charlie Stutson (1897-1897)
2 Ellen Wesley
Birth abt 1845
Marriage Sep 8, 1898, McGee Indian Territory, Oklahoma
Notes for Houston Marion Byford
Census records of Scott County, Arkansas gives the birthplace of Houston as Mississippi and his parents as Tennessee. There is very little information on Houston which is noted below:

Confederate records indicate that on May 14th 1862 Houston joined Mear's Company of the 42nd Mississippi at Pontotoc, Mississippi which later formed into Company K of the same unit. Later records at Saltillo, Mississippi show him AWOL as of May 20th. No Parole records were found. It is possible that he was conscripted without his consent.

Both parents died when Houston was a small boy. He was an only child. His father had married a widow with children and one of the daughters (Elizabeth) raised him.
Great grandfather used to raise race horses and kept bee hives.He was also a musician and singing teacher. He was a carpenter and made caskets. All of his children could sing and play musical instruments.
While living in Saline County, Arkansas he put up a pole fence, covered it with brush, made a trap door and baited it with corn. He used to catch wild turkeys this way and would sell them in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Before he and family left Saline Country, he bought a place in about 1877 and built a new house and cleared off a field in a rich bottom land. He used the cleared Oak stumps to fence off his land so that the deer couldn't jump over and eat the crops. One day some men were working on the road by the house and saw five men coming down the road. One man was walking but the other four were mounted. When they saw the road workers the one walking jumped up behind one of the other men. As they rode by they spoke kindly. They had good horses and bedrolls behind their saddles. The next day a bunch of men came by looking for them and said they had robbed the county fair at Hot Springs. During the fight one of the horses had been killed. They also said that they were the James boys.
Houston Was knocked in the head by outlaws while attempting to help capture a local escaped outlaw Marion Odam. It took 23 stiches to close the wound.
Voted best bear hunter while living in the mountains at LeFlore County. The people that owned the house previous said that bears would walk right across the porch at night.
After the death of Tabitha he married a full blooded Choctaw Indian.
Died of blood poison from a scratch of a nail or something similar.
Grave located one mile east of Stratford, Oklahoma in the McGee cemetery.

It seems grandpa also lived on the near edge of the law as when comparing signatures on the approval for marriage supposedly written by Hannah's mother looks very similar to his. He and a Jack Wilds were brought up on charges of cattle theft near Ft. Smith Arkansas in 1889. They said that the one cow had gotten in with the herd they were driving and they couldn't cut him out or find anyone to take charge of him? It was stated by deposition that the cow had been left in an enclosed cow pen that would have required someone to open in order to take the cow?

(per Mary Edith Byford, as told to her by her father, Thomas Jefferson
Byford):
Houston Marion Byford was a singing teacher, he made coffins for the pioneers
in Oklahoma. He raised Thoroughbred race horses and bees. He used to hunt
for bears in the mountains of Eastern Oklahoma. He was made a Mason in
Center, Lodge No. 78, in Center, Indian Territory on 9 Nov 1897. Later he
transfered to Stratford Lodge no. 118 by demit and was a member of
Stratford Lodge no. 118 at the time of his death 7 Mar 1911.
He was voted best bear hunter in the mountains of Eastern Oklahoma. He loved
to sing and play the fiddle (Which he made himself) and the Accordian. On
occasion he acted as deputy for federal marshals out of Ft Smith, AR, and
helped round up various outlaws that came into Eastern Oklahoma. He drove
cattle wastward accross the state.

Houston is on the Dawes Rolls in the Choctaw Nation as an "intermarried
white", when he married Ellen Lewis, a "full blood". He received a land
allotment from the Choctaw Nation (per Rita Henson, Rt 1 box 133, Amber OK
73004 [(405)224-5763]. Houston was Ellen's third husband, and her bill of
divorce from her 2nd husband in the Dawes Roll. She and Houston had no
children.


42nd Regiment, Mississippi Infantry

42nd Infantry Regiment was organized at Oxford, Mississippi, in May, 1862, and in June moved to Virginia with about 750 officers and men. Its companies were recruited in the counties of Carroll, Coahoma, Tate, De Soto, Panola, Lafayette, Union, Pontotoc, Marshall, Benton, and Tippah. For a time it served on garrison duty in the Department of Richmond, then was assigned to General J.R. Davis' Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. The 42nd was active from Gettysburg to Cold Harbor, endured the hardships of the Petersburg siege south of the James River, and saw action around Appomattox. It lost forty-six percent of the 575 engaged at Gettysburg, had 8 disabled en route from Pennsylvania, and had 6 killed and 25 wounded during the Bristoe Campaign. The regiment surrendered 1 Lieutenant, 1 Chaplain, and 5 enlisted men on April 9, 1865. The field officers were Colonels William A. Feeney, Hugh R. Miller, and Andrew M. Nelson; Lieutenant Colonel Hillery Mosely; and Major Robert W. Locke.



Misc. Notes
Graves Co., KY 1870 Census pg205 Mayfield Pct
Byford, Houston 24 MW farmer 136 Mississippi
Hannah 16 FW keepshouse Tennessee
Mary E. 2 FW Mississippi
William S. 4/12 MW Kyntucky

Scott Co., AR 1880 Census ED 172 Blackfork Community #34/34
Huston Byford Head 34 farmer Miss Tenn Tenn
Caroline wife 32 Miss Tenn Tenn
Mary E. dau 11 School Miss Miss Miss
William son 9 School KY Miss Miss
Thomas son 5 Ark Miss Miss
John son 3 Ark Miss Miss
Doctor son 1 Ark Miss Miss
William Gibson orphan 20 farm/lab. Ark Miss Ark

Garvin Co. OK 1910 Census
ST245 Byford, Houston M. 63 MS, Ellen 61 wf OK M-11 3 ch John H. 34 s AR Eva
Wesley 11 s/g/d OK
Joshua 7 s/g/s OK

LAND ALLOTMENT IN CHOCTAW NATION:
Byford, H.M. Cho. M. 858.
NE SE NE; S SE NE 24-4N-2E; SW 8.84 A. LOT 2, 19; N SW NW; SW SW NW; NW NW SW
33; E SE NE; NE NE SE 32-4N-3E, 108.84. 1-8, 2-10, 3-27, 4-2-06 2pm
N NE; NW SE NE; E NE NW 24-4N-2E, 110, (H)
1-8, 2-10, 3-16, 3-24-06 2pm

Dawes Rolls-card #126 - Interview in file: 21Oct1902 age 54, lived 12 years
so far in the Chickasaw Nation - married Ellen Lewis Sept 1898 - Married in
Jacks Fork Co. Choctaw Nation - Ellen Lewis lived in the Choctaw Nation 48
years - H.M. Byford lived in Choctaw Nation about 6 years - He paid $100. for
his marriage license. Made copy of Marriage license. (research in Oklahoma
Historical Society Archives 17May1997)

THE STRATFORD TRIBUNE
10Mar1911
"H.M. Byford, one of the pioneer citizens of this county, died Tuesday
morning at 6 o'clock of blood poisoning in his arm. He had been in ailing
health for some time, but was not considered in a dangerous condition until a
short time before he died.
Mr. Byford was a member of the Masonic lodge and the remains were taken in
charge by the Masons and laid to rest in the McGee Cemetery Wednesday
afternoon at 2 o'clock.
The Tribune joins in their many friends in extending sympathy to the bereaved
ones."


12632 Byford, Ellen 64 Full 126 Choctaws by Blood 1858119 Byford, H.M. 54 MI
W 126 Choctaws by Intermarriage




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