Typed by: Jan Shelfer
FOUNTAIN, THOMAS G.
Surnames: FOUNTAIN, WIGGINS, RANKIN, BOYLES, COLEMAN,
DUBOSE, HAYS, FORD, TORBETT, SCHNEIDER, HOOVER, OWEN, ALBRITTON,
SAMS, GRISSETT, DAVISON, ANDRESS, HIGGINS, O'NEAL, KYSER,
HAWTHORNE, HUME
Thomas G. Fountain, b. May 31, 1839 in Alabama, d. June 8, 1921
in Falls County, Texas and buried in Calvary Cemetery in
Marlin-was a son of William D. and Martha (Wiggins) Fountain, and
a grandson of Henry Fountain, born in South Carolina, who moved
to Alabama before 1814. His son, William D. Fountain was born in
Alabama in 1814, died there 1849; whose wife, Martha (Wiggins)
Fountain, b. 1819 in Alabama-was a daughter of Stephen and Nancy
Wiggins, natives of South Carolina. William D.-as his father-was
a large and successful planter. He and Martha were the parents of
five children: Thomas G. Fountain, Henry S. Fountain who resided
in Ellis County, Texas; Amanda Fountain who married James Rankin,
a merchant in Alabama; Martha A. Fountain, who married David H.
Boyles and resided in Reagan, Falls County, Texas; and Theodocia
Fountain who married William S. Coleman, of Alabama.
Thomas G. Fountain remained with his widowed mother until age
nineteen years, when, in 1858 he married first to Sarah Dubose,
b. in Alabama, d. there in December 1864-a daughter of William
and Sarah Dubose, natives of South Carolina.
Thomas G. and Sarah (Dubose) Fountain were the parents of two
children:
Sarah Jane Fountain (called "Jennie"), b. 1859 in
Alabama, d. 1839 in Falls County, Texas and buried in Calvary
Cemetery in Marlin-married Samuel Elgin Hays, b. 1855, d. 1933
and buried in Calvary Cemetery-a son of James Hays, b. May 10,
1822, d. August 27, 1860 and also buried in Calvary Cemetery.
Jennie taught school in the Hog Island School, where Samuel was
on the School Board. Among their children were J. T. Hays who
moved to Dallas; E. D. Hays, b. 1881, d. 1962 and buried in
Calvary Cemetery; Samuel Elgin Hays, b. January 24, 1891, d.
December 8, 1972 and buried in Hillcrest Cemetery in Marlin, who
married Marcia Mae Ford, b. February 22, 1892 in Calvert,
Robertson County, Texas, d. September 12, 1983-who were the
parents of Virginia Ruth Hays who married Oscar Lee Torbett,
Jr.-son of Dr. Oscar Lee Ashby and Emma Esther (Schneider)
Torbett, Sr.; William Dorsey Hays; a daughter who married Eugene
Hoover; a daughter who married H. T. Owen; a daughter who married
O. B. Albritton, and a daughter who married L. C. Sams.
Martha Theodocia Fountain, born in Alabama, who married R. B.
Grissett, of Corsicana, Texas. No further information.
Thomas G. Fountain remained on a farm of his own in Alabama,
until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted in an
independent company under Colonel Hannan, which later was joined
to the Fifty-third Alabama Regiment, Company F, in which he
served with the Confederate States Army until the close of the
war. He returned to his home in Alabama until 1869, when the
problems of reconstruction caused him to lose his land. That same
year, in 1869, Thomas G. Fountain moved to Texas-spending $35.00
of the $100.00 he had on hiring a hack from Bryan, Texas to Falls
County, Texas-settling in the old Hog Island Community
(present-day Roseland). The remainder of his money was used to
purchase his first small farm, which he sold in 1881 after having
improved it. By 1892, Thomas G. Fountain owned 350 acres of land
within a mile's distance from his original land-with 200 acres
under cultivation, and the remainder well-stocked with cattle.
In 1865, in Alabama, Thomas G. Fountain had married second to
Lydia Davison, b. November 21, 1845, d. October 15, 1922 and
buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin-a daughter of Hugh E. and
Mary Jane (Andress) Davison. Thomas G. and Lydia (Davison)
Fountain were the parents of seven children:
Mary Elna Fountain, b. March 17, 1867 in Alabama, d. February 13,
1951 and buried in Calvary Cemetery-married Thomas Benton
Higgins, b. June 28, 1852 in Giles County, Tennessee, d. February
26, 1945 and buried in Calvary Cemetery-a son of Robert S. and
Anna Elizabeth (O'Neal) Higgins-natives of Tennessee, who settled
in the Blue Ridge Community of Falls County, Texas about 1871.
Claude T. Fountain, b. ca 1869-died in 1873 in Falls County,
Texas.
Jasper Cluck Fountain, b. October 21, 1871 in Falls County,
Texas, d. November 25, 1934 and buried in Calvary
Cemetery-married Lola L. Kyser, b. March 27, 1873, d. May 12,
1953 and buried by her husband in Calvary Cemetery-a daughter of
William Daniel and Mary Catherine (Hawthorne) Kyser.
Wade D. Fountain-no information.
Lula Fountain, b. 1877 in Falls County, Texas, d. 1947 and buried
in Calvary Cemetery at Marlin-married John Hume, b. 1867, d. 1940
and buried in Calvary Cemetery.
Andrew Fountain-died in 1883.
Thomas D. Fountain-no information.
Thomas G. Fountain served as a Justice of the Peace for six
years, and was elected Tax Collector in 1884, serving four years
in that position. He was also Oil Inspector for the Falls County
schools for several years. He and Lydia were members of the
Baptist Church, and he served as a Deacon, and was a Royal Arch
Mason.
Descendants of Thomas G. Fountain-through children of both
marriages-continue to reside in Falls County, Texas.
Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing
these bio of these Falls County Families to this Web page.
"Families of Falls County," compiled and edited by the
Falls County Historical Commission, page 162, column 2.
Member of Falls County Historical Commission