| Notes |
- William Prater (Prather) was on the list: "Old Three Hundred Pioneers"....
a list of settlers recorded living in Austins First Colony.
He came to Texas in 1822.
Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred" required that wives and children
were to be settled in the colony by 1826.
William voted in the election of April, 1824, which sent the Baron de Bastrop
as Texas deputy to the convention of Coahuila and Texas.
On July, 19, 1824, Prater received title to a league and a labor of land now
part of Brazoria and Ft. Bend Counties. (now Brazoria & Austin Co.'s)
In the fall of 1824 he was living on the Brazos River near Moses Shipman.
The census of 1826 classified Prater as a farmer and stock raiser aged over
50.
His househould included his wife, Maria, three sons, and a daughter.
The New Handbook of Texas 1999.
First Texas Census: 1829 - 1836
William Prator, Farmer and Stockraiser age: over 50
Maria ...... age: 40 - 50
One male child age: 16 - 25
Two male children age: 7 - 16
One female child age: 7 - 16
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Given present day boundaries, his land in TX. would span Brazoria and
FT. Bend Counties.
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From Trudy Stephenson Ashworth (monroe@texas.net) 1/1999
I live in The Woodlands, Montgomery Co., TX.
I think that William Prater married Mrs. Dorothy (Smith) Bailey sometime
between 1838 & 1850.
Dorothy joined her husband near the Brazos River in present day Brazoria Co.
about the same time as William Prather settled within close proximity.
He husband died in 1832 in Brazoria Co., which left her the heard of her own
household with 3 children. In 1838, not yet remarried, she was awarded a
league and labor for meeting the 1835 qualification date as the heard of a
household in Texas. She then married Mr. Prather. At the time of their
marriage they would have been in their 60's.
The time window for this marriage would have been after Sept. 1838 and
before May, 1851.
The May 1851 date is the date when the 1850 census takers finally got around
to her daughters home in Galveston and enumerated her there as Dorothy Prater,
age 65). (Dorothy Prater is my husbands gr.gr.gr.gr.grandmother).
Evidence indicates William Prater (Prather) had a daughter named Sarah "Sally"
with whom Dorothy had a continuing relationship.
On 23 Nov., 1843 in Galveston Co., TX. Sarah married James Blandin (her
surname transcribed in a typed, published book of Texas marriages as Prateo).
It appears that Sarah & James divorced. On 4 Dec., 1850 in Harris Co., TX.
Mrs. Sally P. Blandine married Hugh Kelly. On 31 Mar., 1851 in Harris Co.,
TX. James Blandine married Josephine Fitzhenry.
We don't know how many children she and James Blandine had but we do know
that she had a daughter named Catherine "Keziah" .... born in 1848 & a
daughter named Mary Ann ... born in 1850. The girls used the surename of
Kelly (the girls were age 1 & 2 when their mother married Hugh Kelly).
Years later Keziah would testify in court that her mother died when she and
Mary Ann were infants and that Hugh Kelly had no other children.
On the 1860 census in Brazoria Co., Mrs. Dorothy (Smith) Bailey Prather
(her surename now transcribed "Pritter" rather than Prather) age 75 was in
the home of Hugh Kelly, age 50, with Sally's two daughters Keziah (age 12)
& Mary Ann (age 10).
Hugh Kelly's home was located near the point where the Harris, Brazoria and
Galveston county lines intersect.
Dorothy's daughter, Nancy Bailey, and her husband Jacob Thomas were then
living nearby (just accross the county line in Galveston Co.)
They all lived near Clear Creek.
Hugh Kelly's relationship with Keziah and Mary Ann turned bitter in the
1870's. (He was a cattle-raiser). Court testimony shows he told his
friends and business associates he was disowning his daughters for
"marrying negros". When Hugh Kelly died in 1883 he left his entire estate
to friends in the cattle business. Keziah, age 37, contested the Will in
court in 1885. She still used the surname Kelly (evidently she never
married). It is not clear if she had children. Her sister Mary Ann had
already died leaving three sons and one daugher (Howard Williams, Henry
Williams, Horace Williams, & Tudor "Tudy" Williams). Mary Ann had married
Richard William (prsumably a longtime neighbor. (his family lived two doors
down from Dorothy Prather's daughter in Galveston Co.)
It is unknown as to the race of Richard Williams......
(research reveals that there were several racially-mixed families in the area)
Richard William married 2nd to a young woman named "Molly".... who helped
raise his children in Houston.
When Keziah sued on her own behalf and on behalf of her sisters children,
she lost and none of them received anything.
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