Goodspeed Sketch of James T. Quarles

Samuel Pinckney Warren Biography
submitted by Linda Lane Hedges



The following Biography was written by one of Samuel Pinkney WARREN's grandchildren Ralph Thomas WARREN, as a School project, and was sent to me by a cousin in Washington state who got it from a cousin in TX. S.Z. WARREN listed below is my gg grandfather, b. 1830 in Wilson Co., TN m1.(her 2nd) Marion (WILLIAMS) HILL in 1850 in Wilson Co., TN. The trip that Samuel Pinkney WARREN made in 1930s was a visit for a birthday party with Tennie WARREN MOUNT in Island, McLean Co., KY. My mother was a little girl and remembers talking to him to him at the party. While the biography mentions only 2 children born to S.Z. WARREN and Mariam WILLIAMS WARREN, I believe that there was another daughter, Sarah. On 4 Apr 1885, one Sarah WARREN m. W.D. GRAVES, in Wilson Co., TN. In the 1860 Census of Cainsville, Wilson
Co, TN: (all born TN)

Warren, Zacariah age 30 farmer, $2000/$2115
             Merridon [Marion or Merriam] age 31 Female
             Tennessee [m. Thomas W. MOUNT in 1870 in Wilson Co., TN] age 7
             Sarah [believe married W.D. GRAVES in 1885 in Wilson Co., TN] age 5
             Samuel [Pinkney] age 3
Hill, Nancy [d/o Marion W. WILLIAMS and John F. HILL]


BIOGRAPHY


Samuel Pinkney WARREN was born at Henderson Cross, which is near
Lebannon [sic], in Wilson County, Tennessee on May 25, 1857. His father
was S. Z. Warren and his mother was Mariam Williams WARREN. He had one
sister, Tennie.

He attended school at Fall Creek School house until he was fifteen
years old.

For four or five years after he finished school he worked on his father's
farm during the Summer months. During the Winter months he drove a freight
wagon from Lebannon, Tennessee to Nashville, Tennessee.

In the Fall of 1877 he came to Texas. The first person he met after he
arrived at Osage, Texas was Price Graves.

For about two years he worked for Uncle Andy Graves, who was the father of
Price Graves. During the time he worked for Mr. Graves he also lived in the
Graves home. He and Price Graves became very close friends and remained so
for the rest of his life.

Later he worked as a clerk in Kemball’s General Merchandise store
at Osage.

In the Fall of 1881 the year of the “big drout” in Texas, he made a trip back
to his old home in Tennessee on horseback. His companions on the trip were
Hughe Merritt and Jimmie Hobbs, two young fellows of his own age.


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Their route took them through Waco and Waxahachie and on to Dallas.  Here
they turned east toward Texarkanna. In crossing the Trinity River at Dallas
they turned aside from the road and rode about one half mile up the river-bed
to find water for their horses. It had been eighteen months since there had
been any rain (more than a light sprinkle) and there was hardly any water in
the river.

From Dallas to Texarkana there was just open prairie with no fences to hinder
them. It took them a little more than thirty days to make the trip.

In about one year he returned to Texas and bought some land about one mile
west of Osage.

He spent the next two years fencing and improving his farm. He
broke the
virgin prairie sod with a walking turning plow and two yoke of oxen.

On May 11, 1884 he married Sallie Ann Elvira Edwards, who, as a little girl,
had come to Texas a few years previously by wagon train from southern
Illinois. She, too, was a native Tennesseean.

The ceremony was performed by Reverend Andrew Graves at the home of the
bride’s parents.

Their honeymoon was a trip by horseback to Waco, some thirty miles from their
home. They stayed in a hotel and even had their meals there and generally had
a grand time taking in the sights of the city.

To this union was born ten children, seven of whom are still living.

In those days there were three methods of local transportation.  One could
travel on horseback, in an ox, wagon or walk.

Samuel Pinkney WARREN was a devout Christian and always a worker in the
Baptist Church. He served for a number of years as
the clerk of the Bluff Creek Baptist Church and also served as the clerk of
the Leon River Baptist Association for thirteen years. He was a deacon of the
Baptist Church for over twenty-five years.

For many years he conducted Sunday afternoon Sunday School at
Westriverside School House near Gatesville.

He was a charter member of the Central Texas Pioneers Club.

In the early 1900s he entered politics and in 1904 was elected County
Treasurer of Coryell County. At this time he was still living on his farm
near Osage, but in 1904 he moved his family to Gatesville.

One of his most cherished memories was the fact that in his first race for
public office he carried his two home boxes, Coryell City and Osage, solid
with about one hundred and fifty votes each.

In about 1908 he and Dr. A. J. Baird bought a drug store. It was located on
the north side of the square and was named “Baird and Warren Drug Company”.

After he sold the drug store he bought a farm on the Cow House Creek. He
lived on the farm for several years and then was again elected to public
office. This time he lost only four votes in his two home boxes. He was
elected to the office of public weigher for two terms and then elected County
Tax Assessor and Collector from which office he retired.

When he was 77 years old, in 1934, he and his wife celebrated their Golden
Wedding Anniversary, after which he went to Kentucky to visit his sister, whom
he had not seen for sixty years.

He died on January 8, 1939, a few months before his eighty-second birthday
anniversary. His life was an open book, his creed, the “Golden Rule”. He
deeply loved his God, his family and his fellow man.

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Copyright 1999, by Linda Lane Hedges
All Rights Reserved