John Faubion

The following was written by Sarah Faubion Pangle on page 16 of her book, The Faubions, written in 1922:

Son of William and Perthenia Faubion, was born in Cocke County, Tennessee February 6th, 1812. In his young manhood he married Miss Polly McKay, to this union nine children were born. Namely, Jerry, Repps, William, John and Mary, twins, Lute and Isabelle, twins also the two youngest were twins, they both died at birth. The mother's life was also taken: all were buried in the same grave: they were the third set of twins born to this family.

In the year 1850 he was married again, this time as before he chose a woman of his immediate vicinity. Miss Elizabeth Stephens: one child was born to this union, its little life too went out in infancy.

In the year 1853 he decided to move his family to Texas. Wagons were procued sufficient to carry the family with all their household goods. They were many weeks on the journey: much of the road being in very bad condition, traveling was necessarily slow, many were the hardships borne on this journey.

Their pilgrimage ended at what later became the village of Bagdad, which is situated on the black prairie lans lying near the foothills of the Colorado river mountains in Williamson county. Here he purchased a large farm, and set about improving it.

In the year 1861 he built a beautiful and commodious stone residence, going to the quarry and cutting a great deal of the stone with his own hands.

Here he resided until it was destroyed by fire in 1895. This home was an old land mark for travelers on the old stage line running from Austin to Burnet, before any railroads were built hrough that country.

The site of this house now stands as a memento of the past. After the burning of his house he moved to Leander, two miles away, to the home of his grandson Jerome Parker, soon after, death came into this house, taking the young wife and mother, Lee Parker.

Again this aged couple had the care of a family of small children, Uncle John, as every one lovingly called him, lived to be 89 years of age, and his faithful wife to the ripe old age of 97 years. Everyone who knew Uncle John Faubion loved and honored him.

In politics he was a life long democrat, in religion a Methodist, for many years he was a member of the Souhtern Methodist Church.

The following named sons and son-in-laws of John Faubion served in the Confederate army:

William who died at his home near Leander, Williamson County, Texas

Jeremiah who died at his home near Lometa, Lampasas County, Texas

James Reps who died at his home in Travis County, Texas

John M., still living near leander, Williamson County, Texas, (in 1921)

Andrew P. Pickle who married Isabel Faubion, died at his home near leander, Williamson County, Texas.

Joseph W. Parker, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, who married Mary Faubion, was accidently killed in 1867 at the home of John Faubion.

William Wilson, a native of North Carolina, and afterward became the husband of Mrs. Joseph W. Parker, died at his home near Leander, Williamson County, Texas.

All of the above named served throughout the war between the states, and after the close of the war, came home and by thrift and industry aquired comfortable homes.

From Faubion and Allied Families, page 308:

John was a farmer as well as a blacksmith. Many young men of the area learned the trade in his shop. He had joined the Big Pidgeon Baptist Church by experience in 1832. (This was the first church established in the county, founded by Abraham McKay, among others, in 1787.) On the 1839 Cocke County Tax List, John is credited with one white poll and 200 acres of land. When his father's estate was settled in June 1840, the records show that John had been advanced 200 acres of land and the Court added 45 acres for a total of 245 acres.

Mary Ann McKay is believed to be a daughter of Jeremiah and Isabella McKay as she gave those names to a son and a daughter of her own - names not previously used in the Faubion families. Mary Ann joined the Big Pidgeon Baptist Church bby experience in 1830. Her grandfather, Abraham, had been clerk of the church since its beginning; in 1832 he turned over those duties to his son Jeremiah. John and Mary Ann were married in 1833 and had a large family, though several children died in infancy. When Mary Ann and her new-born twins died in July of 1840, they were buried in the same grave in, researchers believe, the Susong Cemetery (#408) in Bridgeport where a very old stone-chipped off- and illegible stands next to the graves of two infant children of "J. and M. Faubion."

Sometime after John married Elizabeth Stephens, he decided to move his family to Texas; and in the Fall of 1853, they loaded their possessions into wagons procured especially for the journey and started out on the long and difficult journey. All of the children and a number of negro slaves were in the party. If there were other relatives or neighbors in this migration, there is no record. Their journey ended in December 1853 on the black land lying near the foothills of the Colorado river mountains in Williamson County, known as Bagdad prairies at what later became the village of Bagdad.

John's reasons for continuing his journey until he reached the heartlands of Texas have never been told. The whole of the wide prarie was unsettled, and it was necessary to notice closely everything within range of vision in order to avoid wandering aimlessly over the prairie, not knowing north from south. It seems logical to believe that John had heard from earlier settlers in the area before he left Tennessee. He purchased his first 100 acres of farmland in February 1854 (Vol. 5, page 197) from Harmon and Elizabeth Smelcer, early Williamson County settlers - and Smelcer was a well-known name in East Tennessee.

John immediately set about improving the homestead. In 1861, he built a beautiful, large two-story stone residence, going to the quarry and cutting a great deal of the stone with his own hands. Here he resided until it was destroyed by fire in 1895. This home ws an old landmark for travelers on the old stage line running from Austin to Burnet before any railroads were built in the area.

After the burning of his home, John and Elizabeth moved to Leander, two miles away. Bagdad, a lively, prosperous town, had been by-passed by the railroad in 1882, and all of the merchants had moved a mile away to the newly-created town of Leander. By 1895 Leander was a thriving community. John and Aunt Betsy, as she was called by most everyone, moved into the home of John's grandson Jerome Parker. Jerome's young wife Lee died soon afterward and this aged couple had the care of a family of small children again.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South sent their circuit riders to Bagdad, and helped establish the first church in the area. John and his children were among those who joined, and John had been a consistent member for the rest of his life. The Church had moved to Leander along with the merchants, and when John died, his pastor, Reverend J. R. Steele, conducted his services.

From his obituary ". . . He was kindhearted, generous to a fault, never refusing aid or assistance when he saw it was needed. His charity was limited only by his means. A good neighbor, an upright and public-spirited citizen, loved and honored by all who knew him. . . "

Elizabeth, or Aunt Betsy as she was known, joined the Methodist Church in April of 1906. She died on a Sunday afternoon at 4 o'clock, June 2, 1906, at the age of 97 years, 5 months, and 7 days (death record Vol. 1, # 680), and was buried in Bagdad Cemetery, Williamson County, Texas, alongside John.

On February 14, 1896 John Faubion, Sr., and Elizabeth his wife, executed a Deed of Trust to the minor children of Jerome J. Parker under the management & control of Jerome, reserving to themselves a life estate in said lands ' . . . we considering that all our other children have received their shares of our estate, except perhaps, our son Jerry Faubion. . ." This Deed of Trust was not filed for record until August 18, 1931 (Vol. 259, page 252). - - John Sr. may have shared his cash with his children; however, deed records in Williamson, Travis and other counties in Texas indicate full market value was paid by his children for any property purchased from him. Perhaps they understood.

Sources for family data:

Sarah Faubion Pangle, The Faubions, (Texas: 1922) pages 16-22

Collected data of Ann Faubion Armstrong and T. P. Hughes, Jr.

John Faubion Obituary, Williamson County Sun, Georgetown, Texas, February 14, 1901.

1850 Cocke County, Tennessee Mortality Schedule

History of Texas & Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties, (Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1893) pages 788-789.

Ruth Webb O'Dell, Over The Misty Blue Hills, A History of Cocke County, Tennessee (1950), page 92.

Big Pidgeon Baptist Church Records, page 40; xerox copy in Chattanooga, Tennessee Library.

Cocke County 1839 Tax List (East Tennessee Historical Society, Pub. 37, 1965)

Chancery Court Minutes, Jefferson County, Tennessee, Vol. 1 pages 116-117

Duay O'Neil and Nan O'Neil, Sacred to the Memory, Cocke County, Tennessee Cemetery Records, 3 Vols. (Newport: Stylecraft Printing Co., 1972, V3, #408

Clara Stearns Scarbrough, Land of Good Water, A Williamson County, Texas History, (Georgetown: Williamson County Sun Publishers, 1973) VI, page149, page 320

Williamson County Sun, Georgetown, Texas, Local Item, April 26, 1906 & obit for Aunt Betsy Faubion, June 7, 1906 issue.

Source:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17149202/john-faubion