THE STANALANDS
The story of the tragedies which occurred in July, 1867, in the Warlene
Valley of Hamilton County was not recorded for two decades. The
first surviving published account comes from J. W. Wilbarger's "Indian
Depredations in Texas" which was published in 1889 by Hutchings
Printing House in Austin, TX.
Wilbarger named the Strangeline
family as the other victims of the Indian attack which also took the life
of Miss Elizabeth Ann Whitney.
More
recent research has identified the family as that of Hugh and Rutha Stanaland. Shadrack Howard (gg-grandfather of Betty
Cole Wienke) was buried beside Hugh Stanaland.
According
to Esther Womack's family legend:
Hugh Stanaland was listed in 1860
in Nachadoches County, TX, as Hugh Stangeland and wife Nancy
(who was Nancy Sherill) and daughter Mary age 2. The spelling of our name
was then and still is Stanaland, formerly of Troy, AL and NC. Nancy
(Sherill) Stanaland died after 1860 and Hugh Stanaland married Rutha
Underwood, who survived the Indian attack.
This story has been in our family
forever. It is even written in a book on Stanalands. My mother, who was a
Stanaland, had a letter written to her by Robert Stanaland of Corsicana in
1967 in which he detailed the story almost as it is told on your site.
Of course, as long as I have done genealogy
I recognize that all family stories are not true! Someone may have adopted
this as our story, but the fact remains that Hugh Stanaland and his family
(except for one daughter as the story goes) must have been killed as they
disappeared thereafter. I do not know if any notification was sent to
anyone in the family. I do not think that Hugh would have just disappeared
with his family as he had several brothers in Nacodoches County, TX.
I am wondering if the name of the
Strangeline family could have been Stanaland? Or if the Strangeline
family's name was somehow documented?
I am researching an often told story
in my family and am hoping that you might be able to substantiate it. In
1867 Hugh Stanaland was headed west with his family.
He passed a school
house near Hamilton just as Indians had killed the teacher and all the
children.
They overtook Hugh and killed him and
his family except for one daughter age 12. The Indians put her on a fast
horse and she escaped. She was supposedly raised by an uncle near the
area.
From: Mary
Davis
I am very
interested in the Indian raid where Hugh Stanaland was killed. Mr.
Stanaland was my grandfather's step-father. Rutha Stanaland was
formerly married to George Washington Underwood in Angelina County.
George died in 1862 when my grandfather was approximately three months
old. Rutha married Hugh Stanaland in Angelina County on September
21, 1865 and they had one child, Dora who was an infant when the family
moved from Angelina to Hamilton County. My grandfather, Benjamin
Franklin Underwood and his sister Mary Jane Underwood were safe and the
baby, Dora Stanaland (Stangeline) is shown as an orphan in the
home of Sallie Underwood in the 1880 Hamilton County census. I
have been told that Rutha was on one of the Bell county censuses,
but I have not gotten that far as yet.
From Betty (Cole) Wienke
It appears Hugh STANALAND was buried beside the grave
of my maternal GG Grandfather Shadrack HOWARD, Jr. The virus or
erroneous data was also included in Mrs. Brent Witty's 1960s Hamilton
County Cemetery Book, and was furthered in the latest four volume set of
HC Cemetery Records