a. Benjamin S. Green Jr. was born in 1817, probably in Pendleton District, South Carolina. As the previous posting states, Benjamin’s year of birth is indicated on the 1850, 1860, and 1880 federal censuses as 1822-1827, with the 1850 census showing him born in Alabama and the 1860 and 1880 censuses stating that South Carolina was his birthplace.[1] But as the posting I’ve just linked also says, the amnesty oath that Benjamin Jr. filed in Houston, Texas, on 17 October 1865 for a presidential pardon for his Confederate service gave his age as 48.[2] This would give Benjamin Jr. a birth year of 1817. I suspect this is his correct year of birth: note that the household of his father Benjamin S. Green Sr. in 1830 in Bibb County, Alabama, had sons aged 10-15, 5-10, and -5.[3] These were Benjamin Jr., Thomas L., and John W., and the oldest son (Benjamin Jr.) was born 1815-1820. A digital image of Benjamin Jr.’s amnesty oath giving his age as 48 on 17 October 1865 is at the posting linked above. Note that the 1880 census has Benjamin’s siblings John W. and Lucinda Caroline also born in South Carolina, though they were both born in Bibb County, Alabama.
On 8 March 1862 in Navarro County, Texas, Benjamin enlisted as a private in Co. E of Colonel Joseph Bates’ Regiment of Texas Volunteers, CSA (13th Texas Infantry), in which his brother John W. had enlisted the previous December.[4] Benjamin’s name is given in his service papers as both Benjamin and Ben. On enlistment in 1862, Benjamin gave his age as 28, which is clearly incorrect. Both Benjamin and his brother John made themselves much younger than they actually were when they enlisted in this unit. The service papers show that Benjamin was given leave in May 1864 to go home and harvest wheat, and he apparently did not return to military service following that leave.
Joseph Bates (1805-1888) was a Mobile, Alabama, native who served in the Alabama legislature before moving to Texas in 1845, where he became mayor of Galveston.[5] His regiment guarded coastal defenses between Galveston and Matagorda Island during the Civil War. In 1863 from May to September 1863 the regiment served in Louisiana under Major General Richard Taylor.
Benjamin’s Confederate amnesty application states that he was 5’10” with sandy hair, blue eyes, and a fair complexion, and was a farmer in Grimes County. Benjamin’s brother Thomas L. Green filed a similar oath on 5 October, and his brother John W. Green also filed an amnesty oath on 19 October, all stating that they were farmers in Grimes County. Since the papers in their amnesty files contain only their amnesty oaths and no other documents, I am uncertain why these three Green brothers applied for amnesty for Confederate service. Benjamin and John were definitely Confederate soldiers, but former CSA soldiers did not usually apply for amnesty. The amnesty applications were reserved for those who had given other service to the Confederacy in a variety of activities and positions.
As the previous posting indicates, from 1851 up to 1859, Benjamin and his brothers are taxed in Austin County, Texas, listed beside their father Benjamin S. Green Sr. and taxed for no property.[6] The tax lists make clear that the three Green sons were farming with their father. In 1859, the last tax listing before Benjamin Sr.’s death, Benjamin and his sons are taxed in Grimes County with Benjamin listed as the agent of his daughter Lucinda Caroline Green, and with all family property placed in her name.[7] Lucinda was taxed for five enslaved persons valued at $2,200, 2 horses, and 64 cattle, all valued at $3,140, and with no land listed for her.
As the posting linked at the head of the previous paragraph also states, on 28 January 1863, for $1,320 Lucinda bought 440 acres on Brushy Creek in Grimes County from John C. Perkins, acting for himself and as an agent for E.Q. Vance and Cissricia Vance.[8] All records I’ve found show the four children of Benjamin S. Green Sr. — Benjamin Jr., Thomas L., John W., and Lucinda Caroline — living together, none of them married — living on this Grimes (later Waller) County land to the end of their lives, with Lucinda briefly living in Harris County just to the south of Waller County in the final years of her life before returning to Waller County and dying there.
From 1861 through 1864, Grimes County tax lists show Lucinda taxed for five and, in 1864, six enslaved persons, with her brothers listed alongside her in 1861 and 1862 but not taxed for property. In 1862, only Lucinda and an S.P. Green who must be Benjamin S. are on the Grimes tax list together, with Lucinda taxed for 440 acres of land, five enslaved persons, eight horse, and forty cattle. Lucinda’s brother John was in the Confederate army at this point and that is likely why he is not on this tax list.[9] Benjamin enlisted in the CSA on 8 March 1862, and is absent from the 1864 tax list, when only Lucinda appears on the Grimes County tax list taxed for 440 acres and six enslaved persons.[10] Where Thomas was in the period 1862-4, I’m not sure, but given his 5 October 1865 application for amnesty for Confederate service, my best guess would be that Thomas was providing some kind of service to the Confederacy during the war years, though not likely as a soldier, since I find no military record for him.
By 1865, the four Green siblings are back together on the Grimes County tax list, with Lucinda taxed for the 400 acres and livestock, and with the category of enslaved persons now no longer on the tax list, since emancipation had occurred.[11] The 1866 tax list shows the same configuration, with Lucinda once again taxed for the family’s 440 acres and other property.[12]
In 1867, this Green family seems to disappear from the Grimes County tax list. In 1868, the only two family members listed are Lucinda and her brother John W., with Lucinda taxed for 440 acres and other property.[13] The same configuration is found on the Grimes tax list in 1869.[14] In 1870, Lucinda and John W. are again taxed together with Lucinda taxed for 440 acres, and their brother Benjamin (S.B.) is listed separately on the Grimes tax list with no property.[15]
I don’t find the family on the 1871-2 tax list in Grimes County. In 1873, Lucinda and her brothers Benjamin S. and John W. are taxed together, with Lucinda taxed as owner of the family’s 440 acres.[16] Waller County was formed in 1873 from the southern part of Grimes County, and the family’s land fell into Waller. From this point forward, family members are taxed in Waller County. The 1874 tax list shows Lucinda with her brother J.W. and a Samuel Green who must be Benjamin S.; if so, this document suggests that his middle name was Samuel. Lucinda is again taxed for the family’s land.[17]
I do not find the family on the 1875 tax list in Waller County, and there appear to be no tax lists for this county in 1876. The 1877 tax list shows Lucinda taxed with her brother John, who is listed as “Green, J.W., and Bro.”[18] Lucinda is again taxed for the family’s 440 acres. In 1878, the only family member taxed in Waller County is Miss L.C. Green, taxed for 440 acres.[19] The 1879 tax list shows Miss L.C. and J.W. Green taxed together, with Lucinda again taxed for 440 acres.[20] There appears to be no tax list for Waller County in 1880. In 1881, Lucinda and John are again taxed together, with Lucinda taxed for 440 acres.[21]
Benjamin S. Green Jr. was still living on 8 June 1880 when the federal census enumerated him with siblings John and Lucinda.[22] This census makes Benjamin the head of the family’s household. It also states that John and Lucinda are Benjamin’s brother and sister. This census record is the last record I’ve found of Benjamin S. Green Jr. He never appears on Waller County tax lists with John and Lucinda after 1880. I think Benjamin likely died in 1880 after the census was taken, or in 1881. As the previous posting states, Benjamin is buried with his father, mother Margaret, and siblings Thomas L., John W., and Lucinda Caroline in the Green family cemetery at Hegar in Waller County.
b. Thomas L. Green was born in 1820 in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. Though the 1850 and 1860 federal censuses give Thomas a birth year of 1824-7, in the Confederate amnesty oath he filed on 5 October 1865 in Houston, he states that he was 45 years old.[23] I think this document gives Thomas’ correct age, and that he was born in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, where his father Benjamin S. Green settled before buying federal land in Bibb County. I also think that Thomas is the male aged 5-10 in his father’s household in Bibb County on the 1830 federal census.[24]
Thomas L. Green’s Confederate amnesty oath states that he was 5’11”, with dark hair and complexion, blue eyes, and was a farmer of Grimes County. As noted above, Thomas was taxed with his brothers along with their father Benjamin S. Green in Austin County, Texas, from 1851 up to 1859. It appears that Thomas and his brothers were farming with their brother.
As also noted above, from 1859-1861, Thomas is taxed in Grimes County along with his siblings, and in 1859, with his father, with Lucinda listed on these tax lists as the family member owning taxable property. As noted previously, Thomas returns to the Grimes County tax list in 1865 and 1866, and after 1866, he drops from all tax lists, though it appears he lived up to 1879, as I’ll discuss in a moment.
I have not found any Confederate service papers for Thomas L. Green. He does not appear to have served with his brothers Benjamin and John in Bates’ Regiment of Texas Volunteers in the 13th Texas Infantry. But because of the amnesty oath he made in Houston on 5 October 1865 and his disappearance from the Grimes County tax list from 1862-4, I assume he was engaged in some kind of service to the Confederacy during the war.
Thomas L. Green appears to have died before 27 May 1879, when B.H. Powell filed an appeal to administer Thomas’s estate in Grimes County and was granted administration on the same date.[25] On 27 May 1879 in Grimes County, B.H. Powell appealed for administration of the estate of Thomas L. Green, and was granted this on the same date. On 15 September 1879, he filed an inventory of Thomas’s estate in Grimes County.[26] On 24 September 1881, B.H. Powell filed his account of the estate.[27] The probate minutes do not include the inventory and account, only a notation that they were filed.
I’m not sure why Thomas’ estate records would have been filed in Grimes County if he and his siblings were living in Waller County following that county’s formation from Grimes in 1873 — unless he had retained property in Grimes after moving to Waller. Nor do I know why Thomas disappears from tax lists after 1866 if he lived to 1879.
As with his father, mother, and siblings, Thomas is buried in the Green family cemetery at Hegar in Waller County, Texas, with the single marker for all family members giving only his initials.
A note about Thomas’s name: since Benjamin S. Green Sr. named his first son Benjamin Jr., I wonder if Thomas, the second son, was named for his maternal grandfather. As I’ve noted, I have found no record of the name of Benjamin Sr.’s first wife, the mother of his children. Perhaps Thomas L. Green’s name is a clue that could be followed to uncover more information about her.
c. John W. Green gave his age as 39 when he made his amnesty oath on 19 October 1865 in Houston for his Confederate service.[28] This places his birth in 1826 in Bibb County, Alabama. Federal censuses in 1850, 1860, and 1880 give him a birth year ranging from 1826-1830.[29] I think the 1826 birthdate is correct, and that John may have been a twin of his sister Lucinda, who gives her birthdate as March 1826 on the 1900 federal census and whose death certificate indicates her birthdate was 5 March 1826: see below. The amnesty oath describes John as 6’2” with brown hair, blue eyes, and light complexion, a farmer in Grimes County.
On 4 December 1861 at Velasco in Brazoria County, Texas, John W. Green enlisted as a private in Co. E of Bates’ Regiment of Texas Volunteers, CSA.[30] As noted previously, on 8 March 1862, John’s brother Benjamin enlisted in the same unit. On enlisting, John gave his age as 23, making himself considerably younger than he actually was, as his brother Benjamin also did on enlisting.
For a discussion of John’s listings on Austin (1851-8) and Grimes (1859-1881) County tax lists, see the discussion of his brother Benjamin S. Green above. John was alive and living with his siblings Benjamin and Lucinda in Waller County when the 1880 federal census was taken, but had disappeared from the federal census by 1900.[31] I assume he died between 1880 and 1900. I have not found a death record. As with his siblings, his father, and mother, John is buried in the Green family cemetery at Hegar in Waller County.
A notice in the Houston Post newspaper on 12 April 1900 lists actions in the 55th District Civil Court that had been taken the preceding day states that in the case of T.F. Phelps vs. John Mayer, leave had been granted the defendant to make Lucinda G. Green and the heirs of John W. Green parties defendants on their warranty.[32] I can find no further information about this lawsuit. Lucinda Green’s middle name was Caroline, so this notice may pertain to a different Green family. But since Lucinda had a brother John W., the notice catches my eye. I have found no indication that John W. Green married.
d. Lucinda Caroline Green was born in March 1826, according to the 1900 federal census, which lists her at Hockley in Harris County, Texas, less than five miles from her homeplace in Waller County.[33] Lucinda died in Waller County on 5 March 1906, with her death certificate stating that she was aged 82 years and 1 day at her death.[34] This would give her a birthdate of 4 March 1826. Lucinda was born in Bibb County, Alabama, and may have been a twin of her brother John W. Green.
For more information about Lucinda, see above and also see this previous posting, noting that as her father approached death in April 1860, he and his sons seem for some reason to have made a decision to place the family’s property in Lucinda’s hands. In January 1863, Lucinda bought 440 acres in Grimes (later Waller) County on which she and her brothers lived to the end of all of their lives, and Lucinda consistently appears on Grimes and then Waller County tax lists taxed for the family’s land and other property. It’s not clear to me why Lucinda was vested with her father’s estate and property, on behalf of her brothers who farmed with her. Since Benjamin S. Green Sr. was involved in litigation at the time he died, and the litigation apparently had to do with the disposition of some of his land, I wonder if initially Lucinda was vested with the family’s property to safeguard it in case of a negative legal decision.
Lucinda’s listing on the 1900 census federal census states that she was an “old maid” and a farmer born in Alabama with South Carolina-born parents, who owned her own land.[35] Living with Lucinda in 1900 was an L.A. Scogin (female) who is listed as a servant and housekeeper born February 1834 in Georgia.
When Lucinda died in Waller County six years later, she died of senility due to old age, according to her death certificate (see the digital image at the head of the posting).[36] Her attending physician Dr. J.T. Clemons stated on the death certificate that he had attended on her for four months and twelve days. I do not find a probate record for Lucinda in Waller County, or deed records showing how the land she owned was disposed of.
As with her brothers, Lucinda is buried along with their father and mother in the Green family cemetery at Hegar in Waller County, with the single marker for all family members giving only initials — L.C. in Lucinda’s case. Note that Lucinda’s father Benjamin S. Green had a sister Lucinda who died unmarried at the young age of 20 and is buried with her parents at Tannehill Historical State Park in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama; Benjamin also had a sister named Jane Caroline Green. Lucinda Caroline was perhaps named for these two sisters of her father.
[1] 1850 federal census, Washington County, Texas, p. 308 (dwelling/family 378, 22 November); 1860 federal census, Grimes County, Texas, western division, Plantersville post office, p. 257B (dwelling 506/family 497, 29 July); 1880 federal census, Waller County, Texas, precinct 2 and 3, p. 412D (dwelling 100/family 105, 8 June).
[2] NARA, Case Files of Applications from Former Confederates for Presidential Pardons (“Amnesty Papers”), 1865-1867, RG 94, available digitally at Fold3.
[3] 1830 federal census, Bibb County, Alabama, p. 150.
[4] NARA, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Texas, 1861-1865, RG 109, available digitally at Fold3.
[5] Cooper K. Ragan, “Bates, Joseph (1805-1888),” at Texas Historical Association’s Handbook of Texas.
[6] See the posting I’ve just linked for these Austin County, Texas, tax list citations.
[7] See the posting I’ve just linked for this Grimes County, Texas, tax list citation.
[8] Grimes County, Texas, Deed Bk. D2, pp. 411-412.
[9] Grimes County, Texas, Tax List 1861, p. 10; 1862, p. 11; 1863, p. 9.
[10] Ibid., 1864, p. 9.
[11] Ibid., 1865, p. 12.
[12] Ibid., 1866, p. 17.
[13] Ibid., 1868, p. 13.
[14] Ibid., 1869, p. 9.
[15] Ibid., 1870, pp. 8, 29.
[16] Ibid., 1873, p. 31.
[17] Waller County, Texas Tax List 1874, p. 13.
[18] Ibid., 1877, unpaginated.
[19] Ibid., 1878, unpaginated.
[20] Ibid., 1879, unpaginated.
[21] Ibid., 1881, unpaginated.
[22] See supra, n. 1.
[23] See supra, n. 1; and NARA, US, Case Files of Applications from Former Confederates for Presidential Pardons (“Amnesty Papers”), 1865-1867, available digitally at Fold3.
[24] See supra, n. 3.
[25] Grimes County, Texas, Probate Minutes Bk. 6, p. 191.
[26] Ibid., p. 203.
[27] Ibid., Bk. Q, pp. 327-8.
[28] NARA, Case Files of Applications from Former Confederates for Presidential Pardons (“Amnesty Papers”), 1865-1867, available digitally at Fold3.
[29] See supra, n. 1.
[30] NARA, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Texas, 1861-1865, RG 109, available digitally at Fold3.
[31] See supra, n. 1.
[32] “Day’s Doings in the Courts,” Houston Post (12 April 1900), p. 10, col. 3.
[33] 1900 federal census, Harris County, Texas, Hockley p. 259A (ED 101, sheet 7; dwelling/family 99; 11 June). Lucinda’s name is given as L.C. Green.
[34] Texas Department of Health, Waller County death certificates, 1906, certificate #59635. The information on the death certificate was reported by the attending physician Dr. J.T. Clemons.
[35] See supra, n. 33.
[36] See supra, n. 34.
Begats and Bequeathals 