{"content":[{"text":"Mantooths have long, distinguished history in Angelina","bbox":{"left":0.170752,"top":0.085917,"width":0.661686,"height":0.030317999999999998}},{"text":"by Annie Jewel Royle, Mary Jane West and William C. Royle \n The Mantooths came to Angelina County in 1857 when Thomas J. Mantooth brought his \n family from Tennessee, made the journey by wagon, crossed the Mississippi River at \n Natchez and located first on the county seat of Angelina County. \n Thomas was elected Chief Justice of Angelina County in 1858 and served in this capacity \n until 1862. In 1858, after Joseph Herrington relinquished his office of Chief Justice to \n Thomas J. Mantooth, the county clerk wrote: “A large number of inhabitants of said \n county applied by petition to the Chief Justice for removal of the seat of Justice from \n Jonesville.” \n Mantooth set a Nov. 22, 1858 election and a 147 vote majority finally sent the courthouse \n to Homer. He accepted the office of Probate Judge. Thomas Mantooth opposed secession \n until Texas left the Union and the he lent his moral aid to the cause of the South. \n Thomas Mantooth was born in North Carolina on Sept. 30, 1808. He married first Mary \n Sisk of Cocke County, Tenn, and they had the following children: Albert Mantooth, who \n married Mary Richard Hall; Eveline Mantooth, who married Austin Vinson; John \n Mantooth; and Calvin Mantooth. Mary Sisk Mantooth died in Tennessee but all of their \n children accompanied him to Texas. \n For his second wife, Mr. Mantooth married Lydia Dillon in Cocke County Tenn. Thomas \n and Lydia had the following children: Lafayette, Edwin, James, Lucinda, W.B. \n (Blackburn), Florence, Hester Samantha, and Thomas Crittendon. \n Thomas, Lydia and their daughter Lucinda all died the same day, July 28, 1865. They \n were accidentally poisoned by the doctor and died at the same time. A casket was also \n made for their youngest son, Thomas, and their bodies were held over awaiting; however; \n he recovered. \n Thomas’s grandson, Albert Edwin Mantooth, said their deaths were due to smallpox. He \n described how all of the things were burned to get rid of the smallpox germs. He said, \n “The medicine could have poisoned them, but I believe death was also from smallpox.” \n Thomas’s first son, Albert, married Mary Richard (Hall) Haynes Colver on Nov. 26, 1870 \n at Homer. Mary Richard Hall had moved with her mother, Elizabeth Ann Hall, and her \n sister, Sarah, to Homer in 1855. \n They had been living in Douglass Nacogdoches County, Texas, where her father , Richard \n G. Hall, had been Justice of the Peace and Postmaster. After his death, they moved to \n Homer. Mary R. Hall had three husbands: Robert Lee Haynes, who died in the Civil War \n in 1863, W.F. Colver, and Albert Mantooth. \n Mrs. Albert (Mary) Mantooth and her son, Albert Edwin Mantooth, were charter members \n of the Christian Church that was organized in Homer, Texas around 1884. This church \n later became the First Christian Church when it was moved to Lufkin in 1894.","bbox":{"left":0.147876,"top":0.134298,"width":0.702702,"height":0.717182}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}