The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga

Chapter Fourteen

GERARD BRANDON MUNSON AND ANN ELIZABETH WESTALL AND THEIR FAMILY

SUMMARY
Gerard Brandon Munson, the seventh child and sixth son of Henry William and Ann Munson, was born at Oakland Plantation on September 20, 1829. After attending various private schools and Emory University in Oxford, Georgia, he returned to Texas in 1849 to help his stepfather, James P. Caldwell, manage Oakland. He assumed management of the plantation in 1852, when his "parents" moved to San Marcos, Texas, for their health. He married a neighbor, Ann Elizabeth Westall, in 1856. Gerard and Ann, often called Annie, had four children. Gerard was shot and killed in 1864 by Confederate soldiers who were stealing hogs from the plantation. When Annie died a few years later, Mordello and Sarah Munson took the children and raised them at their Bailey's Prairie home. Only one of these children, Mollie, married and had descendants.


Gerard Brandon Munson was the first of Henry William and Ann Munson's children born at Oakland Plantation. He was named for, a prominent plantation owner and civic leader in the Natchez District, who was elected governor of Mississippi in 1827 and 1829 [see Inset 13]. Gerard C. Brandon had been elected to his second full term as governor just one month before Henry William and Ann named their sixth son Gerard Brandon Munson. Gerard C. Brandon was born in the Natchez District in 1788, and was only four years older than Henry William Munson, so they very well may have been friends as boys or young men. This also suggests that Henry William Munson must have followed Mississippi politics, even after his move to Texas.

Gerard Munson attended local schools and Rutersville College [see Chapter 13], and in August of 1847, at the age of 18, he was enrolled at Emory College in Oxford, Georgia. Emory College was organized in 1836 as a Methodist college, and this is undoubtedly why James Caldwell sent his son there. It is interesting that he went there, while brother William went to McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois, and Mordello to La Grange College in La Grange, Alabama. In a letter to William dated October 23, 1847, Gerard wrote admiringly of Dr. [James] Longstreet (later a famous Confederate General), Dr. Finley, and Dr. Means as members of the faculty. He also wrote:

I have concluded - with the advice of you and all other friends and relatives - that a regular course of studies would bea better now [and] in the future for me - and I have therefore concluded that what time I have to spend in obtaining this most precious gift which can bea bestowed [upon] mankind in general - that I will myself try and get as complete a knowledge of all the languages as the time I have to spend upon this all important subject will admit.

He also inquired about his "sister George Ann". It seems that he might very well have been present at her wedding to his brother, William Benjamin, on May 13, 1847.

A year later, in his letter dated October 10, 1848, from Oxford, Georgia, he wrote:


     Dear Parents. . .my health is tolerable good and I am now engaged in my college exercises - our college has been thrown back a great deal by the loss of one of our proffessors - but this place is now filled by one of our last Graduates, but not withstanding this loss she is still increasing to out strip any of her sothern rivals of the south - boath in the number of her students and the superiority of her Faculty. I received youre letter sometimes since and the amount which you had inclosed within - but as Kentucky money does not pas here without discount - I have not yet made use of it - but as there is a great many men from Kentucky and Tenesse who drive hogs and horses through this place every winter and will be glad to change Georgia money for it - I will therefore have a good chance of getting rid of som as the wether turns a little colder. I ned hardly say anything to you about money affairs as you must know that I stand greatly in kned of some.

This writing hardly sounds like that of a 19-year-old college student. The sketchy nature of his early education was showing.

In a later letter he wondered, ". . .how soon I could come Home - not that I dislike this place - not so - I like it as well as I could like any place away from home." But he was eager for "that Happy period to arrive - as I begin to want to sea home pretty badly." He wrote that Bishop Andrews was going to attend the [Methodist] conference in La Grange [Texas] and would pay the family in Texas a visit. He also reported that a Mr. Aycock and two other men were leaving for Texas, apparently to settle there [1].

The records of "old Emory College", now a junior college at Oxford, Georgia, and a branch of Emory University in Atlanta, show that Gerard B. Munson left the college in August of 1849. He was then 20 years old and probably returned immediately to Oakland Plantation to assist James Caldwell with the management of the plantation. James and Ann Caldwell and their two children moved to the "Valley of the San Marcos" in 1852, and Gerard assumed full management of the plantation. His younger brother, George Poindexter Munson, appears to have spent much of his time there over the next ten years. From San Marcos James Caldwell wrote letters of instructions and encouragement. Living alone was apparently not for Gerard, for on October 13, 1856, at the age of 27, he married Ann Elizabeth Westall, daughter of the late Thomas H. Westall, owner of the adjoining plantation. The Westalls had been neighbors to the Munsons and the Caldwells since 1828. Gerard and Annie had four children at Oakland as follows:


  1. Ann Elizabeth (Lizzie) b. about 1858
  2. William Pearce b. about 1860
  3. Mary (Mollie) b. about 1862
  4. Gerard B. (Geddie) b. May 1, 1864

Late in the evening of March 22, 1864, Gerard was riding on his horse in the woodland pasture of the plantation, when he was shot in the head and killed. His body was not found until the next morning, and his horse was found tied to a tree about one-half mile from his body, which had been very carefully arranged. Camp Wharton, a Confederate Army camp, was located about four miles from Oakland and soldiers from that camp regularly shot and stole hogs from the plantation. Mrs. Westall, the daughter of Confederate Colonel J. Bates, sent a note to the colonel informing him of the death of Gerard. Colonel Bates was in command of all of the military forces in that part of the country and immediately began an investigation of the murder. During this investigation, one of the men involved escaped from Camp Wharton, after which General Magruder ordered that the other men involved be turned over to civilian authorities. Affidavits taken by the civilian authorities during the month of May, 1864, accused the soldier named Pankey, who had escaped, of being the man who fired the shot. Colonel Bates stated that "there was much excitement in the Camp and community against the perpators of the crime" [2].

On March 30, 1864, Sarah K. Munson wrote to her husband, Mordello, who was in the Confederate Army as follows: "George and some others have gone to San Antonio to put some regiments there on the look out for him [Panky] as it was thought he was with a band of deserters on the Colorado." At this time Mordello was participating in the final campaigns of the War in Louisiana. His return letter dated April 6, 1864, from "Near Mansfield" reads:


My Own Dear Wife,
Your letter of 30th March was received yesterday, which is the only one that has reached me. In it you allude to the murder of my Brother, having previously written particulars. George's letter has not reached me. Sarah, you may imagine, but cannot know the crushing influence of this sad intelligence upon me. Had Gerard been killed in battle or died a natural death, it would have been severe enough, but to be murdered, I know not how, that his murderer still lives, almost deprives me of reason. Send for George, tell him to write me particularly the circumstances, the name of the fiend, with a minute description of him. My Brother's murder shall be avenged if I live. Write to Anne, tell her how much I feel for her, that she must regard me as her own Brother, that Gerard's children whilst I live shall be to me as my own. Tell her that I will write to her after awhile. I cannot do it now. It costs me dearly even to write you upon a subject that harrows up my soul. Then my Mother, Sarah, you write her for me. I cannot do it, tell her so. The murdered form of Gerard is constantly before me. Write me for God's Sake whether the assassin is in custody, it is my duty and should be my privilege to kill him. There is no phisical suffering that I would not gladly endure to accomplish it —"

An indication of the number of hogs which had been killed and stolen by the soldiers is shown in the following affidavit:


The State of Texas
County of Brazoria
Personally appeared before me, James Brougham, Justice of the Peace, County of Brazoria, State aforesaid, the subscriber, Mrs. A. E. Munson, to me well known, who upon oath solemnly sworn that their has been killed and consumed by the troops stationed at Camp Wharton, Brazoria County, and as aforesaid, 12,600 (twelve thousand six hundred) lbs, 90 (ninty) Head of Hogs, belonging to her husband, Mr. G. B. Munson, lately killed in this neighbourhood, and for which their never was received any pay or certified account whatever.
Witness: A. E. Westall                      Signed: Mrs. A. E. Munson
Sworn & subscribed to before me this 11th day of April, A.D. 1864, in the County and State aforesaid. J.P.B.C.

The reply from General Slaughter was that "accounts for depredations committed by soldiers cannot be allowed only by an act of Congress" [3].

All of this was taking place while Annie was in an advanced state of pregnancy. Her fourth child, a girl, was born five weeks after Gerard's death. The daughter was named Gerard Brandon Munson and was always known as "Geddie". On May 10, 1864, Sarah Munson wrote to Mordello that Annie had another girl about two weeks old. Annie and the children continued to live on the plantation. Her Westall family members were near, and a brother, Thomas, was staying with her immediately after Gerard's death.

George Poindexter Munson now had to take over the management of Oakland Plantation, as Robert Milam was in Hays County, Mordello was in the army, and James Caldwell was dead. An entry in the diary of Sarah Munson on October 18, 1864, reads, "George is here. He came over yesterday with those men who killed Pankey." After the marriage of George Poindexter Munson and Agnes Davis in February of 1866, they lived at Oakland with Annie and her children during the last year of Annie's life. That there were problems with the arrangement is indicated in a letter dated October 29, 1866, from Sarah K. Munson to Mordello, who was then serving in the Texas State Legislature in Austin, as follows:


     I have not heard from George since he left, though I think they are getting along badly again. . . Annie told me that if she could get some of her mother's land, which she was expecting to do, that she was going to leave there if George and Agnes was going to remain, that it was impossible to live with them. I guess this is a mutual sentiment.

Annie Westall Munson died in September of 1867, three years after the death of her husband. It is thought that they were both probably buried in the neighboring Peach Point Cemetery, but there are no known markers or records as evidence.

Their four children, aged nine, seven, five, and three, were given a home with their Uncle Mordello and Aunt Sarah at Bailey's Prairie, and Mordello was appointed their guardian. During the following years he carried out his pledge that "They shall be as my own".

Gerard and Annie’s first child was named Ann Elizabeth and was always known as "Lizzie." The dates of her birth and death are not recorded. Although records show that she was a minor in 1878 when some Westall property was sold, she appears as an only child at age three in the 1860 census . One record states that she died young, but in 1878 she was approximately 20 years old. She never married and tradition tells that Lizzie was always very much loved by the many Munson cousins with whom she was raised.

Gerard and Annie named their second child and only son William for Gerard’s deceased older brother, William Benjamin. This is one of the many instances where a Munson named his son for his brother, which illustrates again their close familial relationships. Son William P. Munson lived at Bailey’s Prairie the greater part of his life and never married. In September of 1892 Mordello gave as the reason for selling some cattle at a low price that he wanted the money for his nephew, William, to repair the old home. William was staying with the George P. Munson Sr. (II) family in Columbia at the time of his death on September 30, 1924. George and Louise arranged and paid for his burial in the Munson Cemetery at Bailey’s Prairie.

Gerard and Annie's youngest child, Geddie, was a mentally afflicted child. The explanation might be found in a letter from Gerard to Mordello about a month before Gerard's death and about three months before Geddie's birth. The letter reads:


Oakland Plantation, Feb. 19, 1864

Dear Brother
. . .we have had a troublesom time with the Measels and we are not yet through with them. Annie is just out of bed but has a terrible cough which I fear will prove serious to her. Our children are allmost well of it and getting allong verry well. It is now well known that measles in an expectant mother can have disastrous effects on the child.

Geddie had a happy childhood growing up on Mordello's Bailey's Prairie plantation with the fourteen other children. She attended the school on the plantation where she learned to read and write. She had her own special animals to care for and to love. When she was older she lived for a time with her sister, Mollie, in Houston, but was unhappy and homesick to return to the plantation. Her Uncle Mordello provided her with a small home and nurse, and she lived near the old home place for the remainder of her life. She died in the 1890's, probably 1899, and is buried in the Munson Cemetery near her home.

Mary, the third child of Gerard and Annie, was the only one to leave descendants. Always known as "Mollie", she attended a private school in Houston, where she met and married George T. Brown. They had two children, Mordello Ray Brown and Pearl Brown. They lived in Houston, where she died February 21, 1918, at the age of 55 or 56. She is buried in Houston.

Mordello Ray, known in later life as Ray M. Brown, married and lived in San Antonio. He had a son, H. K. Brown, who was an engineer and lived in Downer's Grove, Illinois, in the 1950s. A granddaughter, Barbara Brown Anderson (Mrs. Robert E. Anderson), was living in Abilene, Texas, in 1958.

Pearl Brown married Walter Allen Daniels in 1919 and they lived in Del Rio, Texas. "Allie" Daniels was for years the bookkeeper for Del Rio Wool and Mohair Company. They had one daughter, Mary Daniels, born May 27, 1921, who was living in Ohio in 1952. Pearl died sometime after December, 1952, the date of her last correspondence with the Munsons.

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