William H. Churchman

W. H. Churchman's tombstone Lonesome Dove Cemetery Grapevine, Texas

Inscription on W. H. Churchman's tombstone

• Sex: M
• Born: August 18, 1838 in Jefferson County, Tennessee
• Died: November 6, 1895 in Texas
• Buried: Lonesome Dove Cemetery in Grapevine, Texas
• Notes: William H. Churchman's nickname was Bill. On February 26, 1870, he purchased an acre of land from Martha A. F. Peck for the sum of $110, in Jefferson County, Tennessee. According to the deed, the property was located on the east side of the wagon road leading from New Market to Mossy Creek (now Jefferson City). In the 1870 Tennessee Census, William, his wife (Annie), and their daughter (Sarah) were listed in Jefferson County, TN. It appears that his wife died between 1876 and 1880, perhaps in childbirth with their last child, Samuel (born in 1876). After her death, William and his four children moved to Franklin County, where they were listed in the 1880 census living with his mother. His father died in 1880, before the census.
  
  Sometime between 1883 and 1884, probably following his mother's death in February, 1883, he and his children moved to Texas, following one or more of his brothers. He and his children settled near Lonesome Dove, in Denton County, Texas. On July 13, 1894, William H. Churchman was named the first postmaster of Dove, Tarrant County, Texas. In 1895, he was robbed and killed on his way back from taking cotton to a gin. Someone else was with him at the time and said Bill's last words were "For God's sake, take the money -- let me go!"
  
  William H. is buried beside his brother, Thomas Calvin, in Lonesome Dove Cemetery in Grapevine, Texas.

Father: Rufus Jackson Churchman, b. April 13, 1814 in Jefferson County, Tennessee

Mother: Rachel Kinder, b. December 5, 1818 in Tennessee -- d. February 12, 1883

Family 1: Ann E. ??, b. ca 1851 in Tennessee

• Married: ca 1867 in Tennessee

1. Sarah Tennessee Churchman, b. October 10, 1868 in Jefferson County, TN
2. Thomas B. Churchman, b. 1872 in Alabama
3. John Blackburn Churchman, b. January 3, 1875 in Tennessee
4. Samuel Thomas Churchman, b. 1876 in Dyersburg, Tennessee

Sources:

1. John Blackburn Churchman’s death certificate
2. Tennessee Census 1870 and Census 1880
3. Deed of Sales between William H. Churchman and Martha A. F. Peck
4. Interview with Sandra Pryor
5. Information regarding postmaster position from http://www.rootsweb.com/~txpost/tarrant.html
6. Picture contributed by Vici Churchman