William Alexander Becknell (1787 - 1856)

Born 17 Feb 1787 in Amherst, Amherst, Virginia, United States

Husband of Jane (Trusler) Becknell — married 1807 in Amherst County, Virginia

Husband of Mary Ann (Cribbs) Becknell — married about 1814 in Missouri

Descendants

Died 25 Apr 1856 at age 69 in Clarksville, Red River County, Texas

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William Becknell settled in the Republic of Texas before February 19, 1846.

This profile is part of the Early Red River, Texas One Place Study.

Biography

Born: abt. 1787 Amherst County, Virginia.^[1][2][3]

Married: 1st Jane Trusler, 5 Oct 1807 Amherst County, Virginia.^[3][4]
(probably no issue)

Married: 2nd Mary Cribbs, abt 1814 prob. in Missouri.^[1][3]
(5 children)

Died: 25 Apr 1856 near Clarksville, Red River County, Texas.^[1][2][3]

Buried: Becknell Cemetery, Bagwell, Red River County, Texas.^[2]

Timeline

May 1813: Joined Daniel Morgan Boone's company of U.S. Mounted Rangers in Missour as a 1st Sergeant. Later discharged as an Ensign.^[3]

1820: Unsuccessful candidate from Franklin County for the Missouri House of Representatives.^[3]

1821: Motivated by financial problems, he organized a trading party that crossed the Great Plains to New Mexico, with all their goods carried on packsaddles. His party was welcomed to the previously forbidden province, and he returned to Missouri with encouraging profits. Beknell was known thereafter as the "Father of the Santa Fe Trade." The following year, on his second journey into New Mexico, he took the first wagons across the Santa Fe Trail.^[1][3]

1824-25: Led a party of trappers from Missouri into northern New Mexico and Colorado.^[3]

1825-26: Took part in the federal grading and marking project of the Santa Fe Trail.^[1][3]

1827: Appointed justice of the peace in Saline County, Missouri.^[3]

1828-32: Served as a Jacksonian Democrat in the Missouri House of Representatives.^[3]

1835: Migrated with his family to Red River County, Texas, where he soon amassed a sizable estate in land and livestock in Red River and Lamar Counties, and also owned a bridge spanning the Sulphur River.^[3]

21 Apr 1836: Raised a company of soldiers in Red River County -- the "Red River Blues", also called in some sources the "Red River Minute Men" -- with himself as captain and James Clark as 1st lieutenant. They set out for the war, but arrived at San Jacinto a few hours after the battle was over. Because his company had not been in the heat of battle, Gen. Houston put them in charge of the captured Gen. Santa Anna.^[3][5][6]

Oct 1836: Traveled to the new capital at Washington-on-the-Brazos, believing that he had been elected to the House of Representatives of the Republic from the Red River District, but relinquished his place when Collin McKinney arrived with a greater number of votes.^[6]

1845: Appointed to supervise the first Texas congressional elections.^[3]

1846: Appears on the Red River County tax list.^[7]

Land
16 Aug 1853: Received 1st Class headright certificate #167 for a league & a labor (3,536.5 acres), which he located just west & southwest of Bagwell.^[8]

From the will of his widow, Mary (Cribbs) Becknell, dated 7 Oct 1862:
I wish a monument put over Mr. Becknell's grave worth fifty dollars with this inscription, "Capt. Wm. Becknell, born in the State of Virginia, Amhurst Co. died in the State of Texas Red River County, on the 30th day of April A. D. 1856, aged sixty-eight years. "He whose merit deserves a Temple can scarce find a tomb."^[9]

Census 1830
Arrow Rock Twp, Saline County, Missouri, p. 232.^[10]
Becknell, William

Males
10-14 = 1
40-49 = 1

Females
under 5 = 1
10-14 = 1
30-39 = 1
60-69 = 1

Slaves
Males = 3
Females = 2

Census 1850
Titus County, Texas, p. 116B, 324/324.^[11]
Becknell, William 62 yrs Farmer (real estate = $3,000) b. Virginia
Becknell, Mary 58 yrs b. Pennsylvania.
Becknell, Mary Evans 21 yrs (real estate = $160) b. Missouri
Becknell, Mary 7 yrs b. Texas
Becknell, William 5 yrs b. Texas
Becknell, Sarah 3 yrs b. Texas
Smiley, Amanda 17 yrs b. Missouri

Note: "Mary Evans Becknell" is his daughter-in-law, Mary Elizabeth Guess, married to John Calhoun Becknell, and whose 1st husband was named "Evans." No idea where John is in 1850.

William Becknell was a Texan.

U.S. Frontiersman

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Beachum, Larry M. William Becknell: Father of the Santa Fe Trade (El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1982)
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Find-a-Grave William Becknell
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13} Handbook of Texas Online Becknell, William
4. ↑ Virginia Select Marriages, 1785-1940.
5. ↑ Descriptive Muster Roll of Captain Becknell's Company Mustered into service on the 14th of July 1836.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Clark, Pat B. History of Clarksville and Old Red River County (Dallas: Mathis, Van Nort & Co., 1937), p. 17
7. ↑ Texas Tax List Index, 1820-1890.
8. ↑ Texas General Land Office. Abstracts of All Original Texas Land Titles Comprising Grants and Locations, Patent #256, Abstract #58
9. ↑ Red River County, Texas, Will Bk. B, p. 61
10. ↑ Census Missouri 1830 Saline County.
11. ↑ Census 1850 Texas Titus County

• Encylopedia of Exploration 1800-1850, Howgego