By David Cross

Following the defeat of Sam Bell Maxey for Clinton County Clerk by John Allen Brents in 1856, Maxey did what he said he would do if defeated: leave town. He did so, accompanied by numerous prominent Clinton Countians, lured by the letters from a handful of friends and relatives who were already in the region, having migrated to Lamar County, Texas, and primarily to Paris, its county seat on the Red River in Northeast Texas. There they soon established prominence and quickly became influential in local and state affairs.

Those with local ties who made the move to Northeast Texas included the following:

RICE MAXEY

Lawyer, he was the first County and Circuit Clerk of Clinton County. The Maxeys purchased land in Paris from the Dentons, certainly relatives of Sam Bell Maxey’s wife, who arrived in NE Texas prior to 1857. Rice Maxey served as Circuit Judge and State Senator in Texas and was an early supporter of the Buckner Childrens Home.

SAM BELL MAXEY

Lawyer, West Point Graduate, former Clinton County and Circuit Clerk who was defeated for re-election by J.A. Brents. According to Jack Ferguson in Early Times in Clinton County, Maxey reportedly said he would leave town if defeated–and did, after a narrow defeat. He served as United States Senator (D) from 1876-1887. He was a General in the Confederate Army, C.S.A., primarily in Trans-Mississippi area. His house in Paris was restored and currently maintained as a state shrine (see “Sam Bell Maxey House”).

SAMUEL and EDWARD LONG

Samuel was an Albany merchant, served as Kentucky State Representative 1855-1857. His son Edward deeded the lot where the Masonic Hall is now located to the Albany Lodge when he left town, 1857.

ROBERT COOKE BUCKNER

Rev. Buckner married Samuel Long’s daughter, Vienna, while pastoring at Albany Baptist Church. He had moved on by the late 1850s but moved with her to Paris in 1859. Founder, Buckner Orphans Home (now Buckner International Charities, Dallas Texas).

BENJAMIN DUDLEY GATEWOOD

Albany merchant, later became a doctor. Married a daughter of Rice Maxey.

LEMUEL HARDIN WILLIAMS

Williams married Emily Irwin, daughter of John Irwin of Clinton County (founder of Irwin Cemetery). Son of Pleasant Hart Williams whose farm was in what is now called the Wago community. Lemuel Hardin Williams was a merchant and slaveholder in Texas who nevertheless was one of the seven “Immortals” who voted against the secession of Texas from the Union, as did the other two Lamar County delegates. He later raised and financed a company of troops for the C.S.A. A very successful merchant, he was co-organizer of the first bank in Lamar County, 1873. The Children of the American Revolution (C.A.R.) Chapter of Paris is known as the Hardin Williams Chapter. His portrait hangs in the Maxey House.

Later Williams’ nephew, L.P. HARRISON, son of W.F. Harrison, prominent merchant and office holder of Albany, moved to Paris in the 1870s and became very successful in the real estate business. Harrison’s move was likely prompted by his acquittal on murder charges brought against his brother and initially against him–but that’s another story.

JAMES SHELBY “SHEB” WILLIAMS.

Williams was prominent in Democratic politics, the dominant party in Texas, serving as Chairman of the Texas State Democratic Committee and served as a United States Marshal. He also owned the first steamboat on the upper Klondike during the Alaska Gold Rush.

CRAFT IRWIN, SR.

Married daughter of Rice Maxey. Son of John Irwin (Irwin Cemetery).

JAMES G. CROSS, JOEL HOMER CROSS and JAMES SHELBY ‘SHEB” CROSS

James G. and Homer were sons of Robert Cross, who owned the land where the town of Albany was laid out (Cross Street). Sheb Cross was a grandson who married a daughter of John Noland. Sheb Cross became a very successful merchant in Paris.

WILLIAM BRAMLETTE

Brother of Thomas E. Bramlette, Governor of Kentucky 1863-67, from Elliots Cross Roads, Ky. (now known as Maupin). Migrated to Paris, Texas in 1855. Bramlette became Grand Master of the Texas Masonic Lodge. Known as Judge or Justice Bramlette, he also served as Chief Clerk of the Texas Land Office.

GEORGE NOLAND DENTON

Son of Rev. Isaac Denton, long-time pastor of Clearfork Baptist Church.

Many continued to migrate from this region of Kentucky to the Paris area after the Civil War, including J.C. Chilton, first President of what is now the University of North Texas in Denton, where “Chilton Hall” still stands, and his brother, Dr. Robert Chilton, who settled in Dallas and was the first ocular surgeon in Texas.

A May 22, 1901, a special correspondent wrote the Adair County News and commented that Judge Ben H. Denton, a Clinton County boy, was holding court in Lamar County. The correspondent also stated that most of the public officials of Lamar were from Clinton, Cumberland, Barren, Warren, and Adair counties, with Cumberland having the most.