GENTRYS MILL
GENTRYS MILL‘s earliest settler was Andrew Miller who
owned property in Bell County in 1854 and had extensive holdings of
land which would become Hamilton County in 1858. In 1856
Andrew
Miller settled permanently in Comanche County although the Comanche
/Hamilton County line later was drawn through his farm. Miller
gave land for the church and school at Gentrys Mill and for the Gentrys
Mill Cemetery. Gentrys Mill is eight miles west of Hamilton on
CR 607.
Gentrys Mill was named for Capt. Frederick Browder Gentry.
Mr. Gentry received a section of land (640
acres) on the Leon River for his service in the
Battle of San
Jacinto. In the Spring of 1856 Capt. Gentry came to Hamilton County
and his family joined him in the Fall. The year of 1856
(as well as 1859) was a year of severe drought in the area which would
become Hamilton County. There was little water in either the Leon River
or the Cowhouse Creek that year. The Gentry
family
moved into Hamilton in 1874, and in 1875
Gentry purchased
and moved to a tract of land on Waring Creek in western
Hamilton
County He built a water retention structure on Waring Creek to
divert water to a grist mill, a saw mill, and a gin. With a shortage of
water power, only the grist mill continued operation. Capt. Gentry
was one of the first white settlers in that part of the county.
Gentrys
Mill had at one time a flour mill, a lumber mill, a Masonic hall and
several churches, and it was larger than Hamilton. William
Harrison Secrest moved his family to the Gentrys Mill area from Carlton before 5 October, 1860, when
Jacob Edgar Secrest
was born. S. C. Terry built a horse powered gin at Gentrys Mill.
"Thomas Walker Roberson, Jr.
was born in Tippah County, Mississippi on October 17, 1852 and emigrated
with his parents and other relatives to Duffau, Erath County, Texas ca
1859. He married Mary Parlee Wolfe in Erath County, Texas on June 12,
1879. The Robersons moved to the Gentrys Mill, Hamilton County, Texas area
in 1906.Children of this marriage were :
Edna ( b. April 1880 ), who married Sam King and lived in Kemp,
Texas;
Iris Della ( b. January 18, 1882, d. October 20, 1963 ), who married John
R. White and lived in Knox City, Texas;
John Stephens " Steve " Roberson ( b. January 9, 1884, d.
February 1964), married Nora Unknown and lived in Quanah, Texas;
Henry Calvin ( b. April 11, 1886, d. May 13, 1962 ), married Angie Mozelle
Alexander and lived in Gentrys Mill and Hamilton, Texas;
Efiie Diannah ( b. September 21, 1888, d. February 5, 1965 ), married
Walter Daniel Dunn and Lived in Erath County, Texas;
Ina ( b. December 9, 1890, d. February 1980), married (1) Stephen S.
Robinett (2) John Wesley " Wes " Sadberry and lived in DeLeon,
Texas;
Lula " Will" ( b. September 23, 1893, d. October 13 1956 ), who
married Frank Barton Fuqua and lived in Hamilton County;
Walter W. ( b. March, 1896, d. 1946 ), who married Hallie Kay and lived in
Knox City, Texas;
James Lester ( b. April 26, 1898, d. May 20, 1972 ), who married Johnnie
Belle Fuqua and Lived in Gentrys Mill area;
Luther W. ( b. October 21, 1900, d. October 1968 ), who married
Myrtle Manning and lived in Strathmore, Tulare County, California.
Henry Calvin and Angie Mozelle
Roberson's son, Norman Ezelle ( b. April 5, 1914, d. December 24, 1957 )
married Nellie Jo, the daughter of Alvie Richard and Allie Featherston
Lightfoot who were also residents of the Gentrys Mill area for many years.--
From Joe Lee
National Mapping Information
2 feature records have been selected from GNIS.