Iredell Dickinson Thomas, Sr.

Notes:

Iredell Thomas was an early settler in the area, arriving in east Texas with his parents and siblings around 1828. He built the first store in the newly established town of San Augustine in 1833, and it became one of the largest mercantile businesses in town. A leading citizen of the area, Thomas amassed considerable wealth and land holdings as a businessman and planter. During the Texas Revolution he participated in the siege of Bexar and served as secretary of the San Augustine Committee of Vigilance and Safety.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/drtsa/00047/drt-00047.html

At the time of the 1860 census, brother-in-law Matthew Cartwright had real estate at $500,000 and personal property near $75,000, with only 13 slaves. Henson and Parmelee point out by way of contrast that brother-in-law and "planter" William Garrett estate, included 132 slaves, and that "Farmer-Merchant" Iredell D. Thomas had $166,000 in accumulated wealth, and 52 slaves. (Henson and Parmelee, "The Cartwrights of San Augustine," p. 191).

In the book "Becoming Bourgeois: Merchant Culture in the South, 1820-1865" (Frank Byrne, The University Press of Kentucky, 2006, available on Google Books), the author writes that both of Iredell's sons "went on to serve in the Confederate army for the remainder of the war. Later both gained a measure of political notoriety in postwar Texas, James as a senatorial candidate in 1877 and Iredell (Jr.) as a leading organizer of the Ku Klux Klan in San Augustine."

Iredell married Elizabeth "Betty" Holman about 1845. Elizabeth (daughter of Col. Isaac Holman and Anne Wigglesworth) was born about 1815 in Kentucky; died about 1886. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Iredell married Penelope Edwards after 1830. Penelope was born about 1810; died about 1844. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Victoria "Tory" Thomas was born on 30 Jan 1841 in San Augustine, San Augustine County, Texas; died on 10 Mar 1924 in Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas; was buried in San Augustine City Cemetery, San Augustine County, Texas.