I am sorry, but I do not have any record of the family earlier than George W. Rolston. (That is the spelling of his name on all the records in Red River County). A son, Butler, used that spelling as do a number of Butler's descendants in California and in Oklahoma today . A great granddaughter to Butler, Dorothy Ralston Johnston, lives six miles to my west , in the community of Bagwell in Red River County. There are today, seven Heads of House who spell their names Raulston, here in the community of Dimple, some seven miles north of Clarksville, Red River County, Texas. My great-grandfather, William M RauIston, raised seven daughters and four sons here on this farm where I live today. That put a lot of names on a Iot of mailboxes. 

Standing left to right Marty J. Busby 2nd, William Turner Busby, and Lance Busby. The young men in this picture are the (five greats) great-great-great-great-great grandchildren of George Rolston.  Picture was taken 03-25-2009.
 

Following is an excerpt from an article which I wrote for a book called "Red River Recollections" published by the local historical society in October, 1985. The title of the article is "William M. & Fannie (Ousley) Raulston" and it appears on page 322 of the above publication.

"Soon after William M. came to Texas his kith and kin started to arrive. His father came here circa 1855 and took a land warrant on 80 acres about 1/2 mile west of the William M. 240 acre tract. The record of George W. and his family: George W. Rolston, born Ca 1795 Died Oct. 1859, buried New Haven Cemetery, Dimple, Red River Co. Married, settled East Tennessee. Moved to Red River County in middle 1850s t be near his children: 

Mary Ann (b.1816 d.1898) 

Married Brinton Coffee, settled in Cooksville, Titus Co. TX. 

William M. (b.1818 d.1890)

Married Frances S. Ousley, settled in East Tennessee where five daughters were born.  He then moved to Red River County Texas. 

Daughter No. 5 was Mary, born in Tennessee in 1848 

Daughter No. 6 was Julia, born in Texas in 1850. 

A total of two girls and four boys were born in Texas. 

Sarah (Called Sall)., (b.1819 d.1878) 

Married Daniel Chesshire, settled Dimple, TX. then Halesboro, Texas. 

Cassandra (b.1825 d.1068) 

Married a Hastings and settled near Centerville in Hickman Co. Tennessee. Hastings died & Cassandra;

Married second husband Richard Nix & moved with him to his place in Halesboro, Red River County.  Halesboro is located in southwest Red River County., a bit West by Northwest of Bogata. Cassandra had two boys and a girl by Hastings and she brought these three children to Texas. I think there were some Nix children born to Cassandra in Halesboro. 

A family legend relates that Cassandra, standing erect in her bare feet could fit her chin comfortably over the top rung of an old ladderback kitchen chair, which would make her about 4'8" tall. 

Butler (born1865) 

Married Mary J. Burke, settled near Center Point in Sevier Co. AR. They had several boys and when the oldest was 10 or 12 they moved to Texas. Within a year of their move to Texas, Butler and Mary both died. 

The oldest boy, Frank, passed down the story that when his father was dying he called Frank to the bedside and said, "You are a big boy now, you stay here with your uncle and help him farm. Always lookout for your little sister, she is just a baby and will need your help for a long time." The boys were separated from the baby sister and none of them ever learned what happened to her. 

End of excerpt from "Red River Recollections" 

The name given to our "Little Girl Lost" by her mother was Adora. Her big brothers spent a lot of time and considerable money searching for her. Their search was in vain. It is assumed that Butler and Mary Jane were buried in New Haven Cemetery in unmarked graves. We think he died in the home of one of his sisters. 

There is a family legend to the effect that George W. was on the scene for the battle of New Orleans. In my records I have a copy of his discharge from service in Kingsport, TN in December 1813. There is also the story that after he was discharged near New Orleans in February 1815, he made his way up the Red River by boat and by raft to a place called Pecan Point. That location is near the point where the Red River/Bowie County line touches the river. I did not do a lot of research on this subject, but I have found no document which would place George at New Orleans in 1815. It is, however, recorded fact that in those days enlistments and discharges were very informal and were sometimes never recorded. Privates had access to Generals without going through a chain of command. Often a Private would tell his General, "I have to go home and get the crops in so my wife and kids can make it through the winter". "Sure Jeb, go ahead, but be back before spring, we will need every man-jack when The Redcoats show up". 

The British surrendered to General Jackson at New Orleans on January 8,1815. That was only 35 years after the end of The Revolutionary War. As I write this, 14 March 2001, WWII has been finished 55 years and six months and I was there. My descendants will not be able to prove that because they will look in the records of the military and I am not recorded there. I am recorded in the musty documents of the 201 files in Saint Louis. Please don't pronounce it Sant). 

There is a legend, passed down through the family of Jimmie Dee Raulston, that while serving as groomsman to one of the officers in General Jackson's Army... when they were encamped along the Mississippi in the New Orleans area, George W. had three horses down to the River for their customary late afternoon drink of water when one of the horses which had waded out into the water about belly deep suddenly started threshing about and squealing as it was being carried downstream by something under the water. All George could do was rac along the river bank and shout encouragement to the poor animal which disappeared beneath the muddy waters still under tow by some submerged force, probably a submerged log or small raft of brush. 

There was a family "tear-up" over the estate of George W.- In the deed record room of the Courthouse annex in Clarksville at box 30 of Probate Records there are several petitions to the court by the husbands of some of the sisters of William M. requesting distribution of the estate. In his reply to the petitions, William M.  included an inventory of the estate. The "tear--up" is why the girls moved to Halesboro. 

George W. Rolston's grave was marked by two bois d' arc markers until the middle 1980s when I corresponded with a number of his descendants and raised enough money to erect a decent marker.  The marker reads: 

GEORGE W. ROLSTON

Born Ca. 1795 Died Oct. 1859

Pvt. - Capt. James Gilliespie's Co. of VOL. INF. - Col. Samuel Wear's Reg't. East Tenn. Militia War of 1812

The first person to be buried in this cemetery

During our research in TN., Dorothy and I became convinced that George was born in that part of Bedford County which came out of Rutherford Co. We also believe that his father was called William who we found in Bedford Co. in the 1820 census. The old TN records are very difficult to decipher. We never found a George who fit the mold f or our George . I traveled to the Courthouse Annex in Clarksville today (14 March 2001) and extracted the following. 

An inventory of the property belonging to George W. Rolston, Deceased as shown to us by William Ralston, Administrator:

Geo. A. Box & J.A. Sport 

Appraisers 29 Nov. 1859 

Equity in land warrant on 80 acres of land in James M. Ritchie survey sold in sheriff's sale on courthouse steps to Henery Rhine for 28 cents per acre. If you multiply these numbers by 100 to get them into today's price range, you begin to understand why the old timers were willing to track down and string up any Dude who stole one of their horses. 

That, boys & girls, is all I know about George W. Rolston. 

I feel certain the W. was for Washington because it was quite fashionable in those days to name one or sometimes two sons for the President. 

We have told the story elsewhere in this treatise of Andrew Jackson Tuggle cutting a road from his place in Tuggle Springs to the Raulston place. His son, Thomas Jefferson Tuggle, married the youngest of the daughters of William M., her name was Alice. Q.E.D.  

Last Updated:  13 November 2007

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