A Mystery Begins…… A Mystery Solved….

How and Why This Mystery Came About….

While studying FPC found Peter Allen, a FMC, being killed at Goliad
Discovered he was a fifer
He arrived in Texas with Shackelford’s Red Rovers from Huntsville, AL, His compatriots and friends in Huntsville were devastated he died
Found innuendos in research that he may have been a son of Bishop Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, PA – Then I studied Bishop Allen to try to collaborate
On a roll of microfilm at DPL of a card file from the AL Archives listing Alabamians in the Texas Revolution-Peter Allen and many others were listed with their service “verified” by James V. A. Hinds of, Texas Commissioner of Land

The Long Drawn-out Mystery Began…

So, Who Was James V.A. Hinds?
And How could he be a TEXAS Commissioner of Land?

The Mystery Continued…

The Mystery Still Not Answered….

Finally!!!…. a Texas Connection…..

Subsequent research revealed a Texas Connection
- In November 1835 Hinds enlisted for three months at Huntsville. AL in Captain Peyton Sterling Wyatt’s Company for service in Texas’ anticipated war of Independence from Mexico
- Wyatt’s company proceeded immediately for Texas where they remained through February 1836
- Bored, with little action and their enlistments expiring, many of the men were restless
- Captain Wyatt returned to Alabama on recruiting duty in February 1836. Several men in his unit accompanied him home.

More about Hinds…..

According to Hind’s petition for land for his services, he was sick at Refugio, Texas and discharged about March 1 by the Surgeon Doctor, William Motely and being confirmed invalid and returned to Alabama due to his ill health
Those of Wyatt’s men who remained in Texas were reassigned to units under the command of Colonel James W. Fannin and most of them were later captured and executed at Goliad by Mexican Troops in March 1836, including Peter Allen

A little bit more about James V.A. Hinds….

Hinds, apparently never lived in Texas, however, Captain Wyatt moved to the Red River area of Texas after the war and served in the Second Congress of the Republic of Texas in 1837.
In July 1839 Wyatt received orders to raise three hundred men to fight the Cherokee under Chief Bowles
In February 1840 P. S. Wyatt and J.B. (James? V?) Hinds were listed as passengers on the schooner Byron from Valasco, Texas to New Orleans. Might Hinds have served a second military tour in Texas?

So, What about the First Mystery?…..

Was Peter Allen a son of Bishop Allen of Philadelphia?

Because Peter Allen died at Goliad, his heirs would have received Bounty and Donation land grants from the Republic of Texas
I had previously researched Bishop Allen’s family. The Bishop, himself, was deceased by the 1830’s but I was able to identify his children
A study of the claim files showed Peter Allen’s heirs were the same as the children of Bishop Allen
The person helping me at the Texas Land Office, John Moller??? Said the was something “odd” in the file-so, one more mystery!!!!

The Peter Allen Mystery continued….

So,……about 1866-7 a second claimant put in a claim for land based on Peter Allen’s service
In a letter from James V. A. Hinds of Huntsville, AL , Texas Commissioner of Land it was stated Peter Allen had a widow and she wanted in on the claim
She wanted an augmentation on Peter Allen’s headright claim to that he would receive as a married man over and above what Allen’s siblings had received as a single man.

Widow Allen’s Case Resolved….

Peter Allen’s siblings in Phiadelphia counter-sued
They said Peter could not be legally married as his proported widow had been a slave at his death and as a slave she would not have had a legal marriage and thus could not inherit
The siblings said THEY should get the augmentation
So, the case ended up in the Texas Supreme Court…
The Texas Supreme Court said if the marriage was invalid there would be no basis for the augmentation
The Court sided with the widow
She got the land, sold the land she patented, without having to come to Texas

Thus Ends the Saga of How I Got Involved…

Immigration To Texas

Series of “Panics” after War of 1812
- Panic of 1819-sent people from US to Austin’s Colonly
- Panic of 1837 (after San Jacinto) due to poor crops, bank failures and business stagnation
Rapid expansion of agriculture after statehood (1845)
- By 1860 Texas had 21,878 slaves (and 5.7% of all slave holders in US)
Reasons to go to Texas:
- Cheap land
- Texas’ debt policy –Texas prohibited imprisonment for debt-unlike the US
- Military: Soldiers came to Texas to fight 1830-40’s, 1846 Mexican War, 1850’s Indian Wars and 1860’s Civil War and remained

Emmigration to Texas 1850 & 1860