Submitted by Loy & Kaye Pressley
James Priestley (b. 1817, York District, S.C., d. April 30, 1884, Cherokee Co., Tex.) was of Scotch-Irish descent and a Presbyterian.
After he and Eliza Ann Ragsdale m. in 1838 in Rutherford Co., Tenn., they came to Texas and settled in Sabine County near Old Milam. He was there during the troublesome times times with the Regulators and Moderators. He joined the militia and helped to suppress the Regulators.
Being of an adventurous disposition, in 1845 he and several other families moved by ox-drawn wagons to Dewitt Co., Tex., then a frontier region, long before Horace Greely advised young men to "go west." He was Justice of the Peace there several years. Eliza D. in 1860 in Cuero, Dewitt County. (For James Austin Priestley's Civil War service, as well as his sons, see James Austin Priestley and Sarah Ann Jones family history.)
After the Civil War, he and his 10 children moved to Cherokee County.
James Austin and Eliza Ann Ragsdale Priestley had (1) John Nimrod, B. 1839, single (2) William Phylandes, b. 1841, m. ; (3) Edward Leonidas, b. 1843, single; (4) James Polk, b. 1844, m. Catherine Davis; (5) Samuel Baxter, b. 1848, m. Mary Goodson; (6) Ann Isabella, b. 1849, m. Jim Goodson; (7) Martha Elizabeth, b. 1852, m. Jim Scurlock; (8) Mary Eliza, b. 1852, m. Hardy White; (9) Harriet Chappell, b. 1856, m. Dave Winter; (10) Francis Montgomery, b. 1858, m. Julia Allen; (11) Louisa Josephine, b. 1860, m. Sandy Matkin.
Of the 16 children of James Austin Priestley in his two marriages, they and their descendants provided man school teachers, ministers, business executives, and public officials. — Facts by Mrs. Harvey M. Watkins.
James Polk Priestly (b. 1844, d. 1926) and Catherine Davis (b. 1857, d. 1925), daughter of George Washington and Rebecca Pickens Deerman Davis, pioneers of Cherokee County, m. on Feb. 5, 1874.
The couple's first home site was near the Meador Cemetery on SH 204 at what is now the Barksdale Ranch southeast of Jacksonville. The lumber for their home was destroyed when the sawmill where it was stacked burned. He then had to cut logs to build his home. Neighbors rallied and helped him build a log cabin. The couple's first 10 children were born there.
After his father d. in 1884, James Polk Priestly bought the home of his step-mother and the heirs and moved his growing family to that location, part of which borders the town of Turney.
This family was accustomed to all the hardships and pleasures of early-day rural America. Their entertainment was spelling bees, debating societies, play parties, candy pulls, box suppers, log rollings, traveling tent shows, and the annual protracted (revival) meetings were always anticipated. The family was Methodist. They witnessed the turn of the century and the many inventions which changed American lifestyles. The Priestly family farmed and raised livestock.
Two of the children survived until 1983. With the passing of Peter Ragsdale Priestly, June 18, 1983, Rosa May Priestly Choate, who observed her 101st birthday Oct. 20, 1984, is the sole survivor of what was one of Cherokee County's early families.
The couple's children: (1) Mary Alice, B. November, 1874, D. 1914, m. Turney, Patterson; (2) Harriett Chappell, b. January, 1876, d. in infancy; (3) Georgia Ann, b. April 1877, d. 1958, m. Morgan, Walker, Downs; (5) Etta Eliza, b. December, 1879, d. 1948, m. Kibbee, Parr; (6) Rebecca Josephine, b. December 1879, d. 1948, m. Burt; (7) William Polk, b. October, 1881, d. in infancy; (8) Samuel Everett, b. October, 1882, d. in infancy; (9) John Hershal, b. October, 1883, d. 1938; (10) Rosa May, b. October, 1883, m. Choate; (11) Effie Katherine, b. August, 1885, d. 1970, m. Sessions; (12) Frances Leonidas, b. January, 1887, d. 1967, m. Jenkins; (13) Laura Ada, b. September, 1888, d. 1958, m. Jenkins; (14) James Austin Lee, b. November, 1889, d. 1964; (15) Dollie Lorene, b. January, 1892, d. 1893; (16) Peter Ragsdale, b. May, 1893, d. 1983, m. Leatha Barnes. — Mrs. Harvey M. Watkins. (Note: this surname is spelled Priestly and Priestley in some instances. — Editor.)
Sarah Ann Jones (b. March 18, 1840, Kosiesco, Miss., d. June 25, 1915) was one of twin daughters of Elizabeth Ann Gardner Jones and James Austin Jones. The twins, Sarah and Elizabeth, and other members of the family, Adeline, Susan, Thomas, Eliza, and Samuel, are on the 1860 census of Cherokee Co., Tex.
Sarah was teaching school in Cherokee County in 1865 when James Austin Priestley tied his horse to a gate post at her school and went in to see her. He had been a widower since the death of his wife, Elizabeth Ann Ragsdale Priestley, in 1860 in Dewitt Co., Tex. Evidently the two familes had known each other before. On Jan. 3, 1866 in Cherokee County they became man and wife, and Sarah became step-mother to 10 children.
James and Sarah lived on a farm and (1) Austin, m. Olivia Dial; (2) Laura, m. Tom Cole; (3) David, m. Bonnie ; (4) Finis, m. Virginia Pearl Campbell; (5) Belle, m. Elijah Bibb Whitten, then m. John Dowd Fuller.
After her husband's death, Sarah sold the small farm and with her family drove in a covered wagon to Ladonia, Fannin Co., Tex., where her parents had moved. There, with the help of her parents, she reared her children.
I had the pleasure of teaching in Bartlett, Tex., six miles from Ladonia, where I met the family of Bartletts. Mrs. Bartlett told me that my Grandmother Priestley drove into their yard at dusk and asked if she might sleep in their yard for the night, because she was afraid to go the last six miles after dark. Mrs. Bartlett told her "No," but that she would be a welcome guest in her home. It was wonderful experience for me to know several people who had known my grandmother. She d. in Ladonia, where she is buried.
It is a family tradition that the Jones' family went from Virginia to Tennessee, to Mississippi, and into Texas. I found James A. Priestley in the Republic of Texas census of 1840 in Sabine County. I also found A. Jones in Choctaw Co. in 1840. Grandfather Jones is reputed to have been a nephew of Stephen F. Austin and one of the Jones' sisters m. an Austin. I have not researched this.
On the 1860 census of Cherokee County, Grandfather Jones is listed as the County Treasurer. He was also a blacksmith and rancher. He and his wife are buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Ladonia.
Grandfather Priestley and four of his sons enlisted in the Confederate Army in Cuero, Tex. All returned except a son, Leonidas, who drowned while with Gen. Sibley's expedition into New Mexico and Arizona. His father was taken prisoner in 1863 at Vicksburg, Miss., and swore that he would not take up arms against the United States of America. He broke his oath by escaping. He was captured again in Nashville, Tenn., on or about Dec. 15 or 16, 1864, and was sent to Lexington, Ky., and then to Camp Chase, Ohio. He remained a prisoner of war until he war ended.
After the war, James Austin Priestley returned to Cherokee County. He d. April 30, 1884, and is buried in the Meador Cemetery southeast of Jacksonville.
James Austin Priestley and his first wife, Elizabeth Ann Ragsdale, had 11 children. (See James Austin Priestley and Eliza Ann Ragsdale family.) — Sue Whitten Hicks, daughter of Irene Belle Priestley and Elijah Bibb Whitten.
Peter Ragsdale Priestly (b. May 1893, d. 1983) m. Leatha Irene Barnes (b. 1904, d. Jan., 1970) in 1938, three children, James M., Laveryl "Kitty" Duggan, and Leland R.
Ragsdale Priestly, son of James Polk Priestly and Catherine Davis, lived on and farmed the Priestly estate at Turney all his life, raised his family there, and lived there when he d. He was a veteran of World War I and severed in several areas during the war. He and Letha were active in all community affairs–church, social, work, and gospel singing. They were concerned about the welfare and well-being of the young people of the community.
James M. Priestly's children: Tina Priestly Baggett, Anthony, and Keith. Laveryl "Kitty" Dugan's children: Tressa Ivy and Deborah Duggan. Leland R. Priestly's children: Regina Bell and Steven R.
The great-grandchildren are Larina Holden and Brandy Bo Bell, children of Regina Priestly Bell, and Angela Treschelle Ivy and Ashley Michaelle Ivy, children of Tressa Duggan Ivy. — Laveryl Duggan.
SOURCE: Cherokee County History, published by
the Cherokee Historical Society, 1986,
pages 468 and 469
