Michael Erskine

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=60049945

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Michael H. Erskine, cattleman and diarist, son of Michael and Margaret (Paulee) Erskine, was born on January 9, 1794, near Union in what became West Virginia. On February 13, 1817, he married Agnes Davidson Haynes. In 1831 he moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and later to Mississippi, engaging in farming. He moved to Texas in 1839, first locating on Arenosa Creek ten miles from what is now the site of Port Lavaca. The Erskine family lived there during the Linnville Raid and Michael Erskine defended the homestead against a Comanche scouting party. He moved in 1840 to Gonzales County, where he purchased the José de la Baume Ranch on the Guadalupe River near the Capote Hills, twelve miles southeast of Seguin. He took an active part in the development of early Seguin. When Guadalupe County was organized, he was elected chief justice.

Erskine prospered in the cattle industry and from his Capote Ranch in 1854 drove a herd of cattle to California. On the drive he had the protection of an armed escort under the command of James H. Callahan. Erskine kept a detailed diary of his experiences on this drive (it was published in 1979). He became involved with several mining ventures, which were apparently failures. In 1859 he returned to Capote Ranch and resumed the raising of cattle. He drove a herd to New Orleans in 1861. During the return trip he died at New Iberia, Louisiana, on May 15, 1862. Michael Erskine had ten children, two of whom, Andrew Nelson and Alexander Madison, were in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.