The Rattan Family in the Republic of Texas

During the American Revolution, John Rattan was a private in Captain Robert Porter's Company of Tryon County, North Carolina Troops. Serving with John Rattan were Jarvis, George, and James Greene, brothers of his wife Mary Greene. In 1947, on the 200th anniversary of John Rattan's birth, his grave in the Vaughan Cemetery, Madison County, Illinois was marked by the Ninian Edwards Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

John and Mary (Greene) Rattan and their children removed to Kentucky before 1800. By 1804, they had moved farther west to the territory that became Illinois, settling near Wood River. In 1807, John and Mary Rattan were among the founding members of the Wood River Primitive Baptist Church. They were joined in the church in 1809 by James and Nancy (Moore) Beeman and Nancy's brothers Abel and James Moore.

Beemans and Moores had also served in Tryon County, North Carolina during the Revolution and some had migrated to Kentucky then to Illinois about the same time as the Rattans, but it is not clear if they knew each other then or traveled together at any point. The families were linked by marriage in 1815 when James Beeman took as his second wife John Rattan's daughter, Talitha, widow of Daniel Odle.

John and Mary Rattan had four sons and four daughters. This account is focused on their sons Richard and Thomas and the score of grandchildren and dozens of great-grandchildren of John and Mary Rattan who were among the pioneer settlers in North Texas before, during, and soon after the days of the Republic.

In Illinois, the land where John and Mary Rattan settled is still known as Rattan's Prairie and is located in present Madison County, which was created in 1812.

In 1821, Greene County, Illinois was created from a portion of Madison County. Thomas Rattan was one of the commissioners appointed to organize the county and select the site for the county seat. The new town was named Carrollton after Carrollton Manor, Maryland, the estate of Charles Carroll, a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The county was named for General Nathaniel Greene.

Thomas Rattan erected the first building in Carrollton, Illinois, a tavern that he operated for many years. He also supplied the brick for the chimney for the first wood courthouse and when that structure proved inadequate he contracted to build the first brick courthouse.

Thomas Rattan served several terms in the Illinois State Assembly representing Greene County. His brother, Richard Rattan, served several terms as the Greene County Treasurer. Thomas's sons, Wade Hampton Rattan and Merrill Rattan, were among the first class of Illinois College in 1830.

The first Rattans to migrate to Texas were four children of Richard. This group arrived in December 1835, before Texas had declared its independence from Mexico. The head of each family received a 1st class land grant that was located in what was then Red River County. In 1839, George Wright purchased a portion of Larkin Rattan's land and thereupon founded the city of Paris that later became the seat of Lamar County.

Larkin Rattan and his wife Rebecca (Russell) and children
Mary (Rattan) and her husband Reddin Russell and children
Daniel Rattan, single
Elizabeth (Rattan) and her husband David Waggoner and children

The parents, Richard and Mary (Buford) Rattan, migrated to Texas in 1837 with their youngest son, Thomas P. Rattan. Richard Rattan received a 2nd class land grant that he located in what was then Red River County, now Lamar. Two more of Richard's children soon followed:

Hiram Rattan and his wife Leah (Scholl) and children in 1838
Littleton Rattan and his wife Nancy (Waggoner) and children in 1839.

Hiram and Littleton Rattan each received a 3rd class land grant that they also located in what was then Red River County. These lands are now located in Delta County, established in 1870.

The next Rattan group to migrate to Texas was Thomas and his wife Gillian (Hill) Rattan and several of their children. It is quite likely they traveled in a large caravan that included the Beeman, Hahn, and Silkwood families and single men King S. Custer and Alexander W. Webb.

All of these families and single men were neighbors in Greene and Calhoun Counties, Illinois. They departed Illinois in the fall of 1840, and crossed the Red River into Texas in December of that same year. They settled temporarily in Lamar and Bowie Counties that had been formed from Red River County in 1840. The heads of each family received 3rd class land grants that were later located in present Lamar, Fannin, Grayson, Collin, Hunt, and Dallas Counties.

The children of Thomas and Gillian (Hill) Rattan who accompanied them or soon followed include:

Wade Hampton "Hamp" Rattan and his wife Mary "Polly" (Pyle) and child
John Rattan and his wife Amanda (Boyles) and child
Temperance (Rattan) and her husband John Kincaid and children
William S. Rattan, single
Harriet (Rattan) and her husband Andrew Jackson Witt
Sarah Rattan, single, married Hiram Carroll McKinney in 1847
Louisa Rattan, single, married Hogan Witt in 1848
Mary Jane Rattan, single, married William Fitzhugh in 1847
Anna Rattan, single, married James Webb Throckmorton in 1847
Thomas Hempstead Rattan, single, married Rebecca Jane Coffman in 1853

The children of James and Talitha (Rattan) Beeman who migrated to Texas during the Republic were:

James Jackson Beeman and his wife Sarah (Crawford) and children in 1840
Margaret Beeman and her husband Adam Carver Haught about 1845

Note: The Beeman party that arrived in Texas in December 1840 included John Beeman, son of James and Nancy (Moore) Beeman, John's half-brother, James Jackson Beeman, and their nephew, John S. Beeman. All were married with children.

Most of Thomas and Richard Rattan's sons and sons-in-law served in the Black Hawk War in Illinois. They also served at various times in Illinois ranger and militia companies organized to protect the settlers. As will be seen, this strong tradition of military service continued in their new homes in Texas and they were involved in many of the major campaigns that cleared the hostile Indians from the Three Forks and Peters Colony.

The Militia Act of 1837 established four regions in Texas. The 4th Brigade, headquartered in Clarksville, was first commanded by General John Dyer then later by General Edward H. Tarrant. Within the Brigade were two Regiments each with several Militia and Frontier Ranger Companies that were normally recruited and enlisted for three or six month periods.

The first to serve were Larkin Rattan and his brothers-in-law, Reddin Russell and David Waggoner, in Captain William Edmonson's Company of Mounted Riflemen in 1838 and 1839. Under the command of General John Dyer, they participated in an expedition deep into the Three Forks and destroyed a Caddo Indian Village on the West Fork of the Trinity River in what is now Tarrant County.

In the spring of 1840, Littleton and Daniel Rattan served in Captain W. B. Stout's Company of Red River Rangers patrolling northeast Texas.

In May 1841, a Company of Rangers was hastily organized at Choctaw Bayou in Fannin County in response to several Indian depredations in northeast Texas. James Bourland was elected Captain and among the 70 volunteers were Littleton Rattan, John Rattan, Hamp Rattan, David Waggoner and Alexander W. Webb. General Tarrant accompanied the expedition as honorary commander.

On 24 May 1841, the small force discovered and attacked a series of Indian villages near the West Fork of the Trinity on what is now known as Village Creek in present Arlington, Texas. John B. Denton was killed and Henry Stout was wounded. The villages were home to several thousand Indians, but fortunately most of the warriors were away on a hunt. The warriors who were present were apparently unaware of the miniscule size of the attacking force. General Tarrant ordered the Rangers to withdraw and return to the settlements in northeast Texas to reorganize and recruit a larger force.

The second Village Creek Campaign that began on 15 July 1841, was comprised of General Tarrant's 4th Brigade of approximately 400 militiamen and a similar force of the 3rd Brigade commanded by General James Smith of Nacogdoches approaching from the east. When they arrived at the villages they found the Indians had fled and a search westward failed to locate them. The villages were burned and many stolen goods and livestock were recovered.

Hamp Rattan, John Rattan, Alexander W. Webb, and James Jackson Beeman were all members of Tarrant's Brigade.

As a result of these two campaigns, General Tarrant directed Jonathan Bird to establish a militia fortification and settlement near the villages to prevent the Indian's return and to protect the western frontier and the Military Road. Colonel William G. Cooke had just surveyed the route from Austin to Holland Coffee's Trading House on the Red River, but the Regular Army of Texas had been disbanded before the road was completed or any forts were garrisoned.

A few men stayed behind to start constructing a stockade while the majority of Tarrant's command returned to the settlements to reorganize and gather necessary supplies. The fort was named Bird's Fort in honor of newly brevetted Major Jonathan Bird. It was located on the north side of the West Fork of the Trinity River between present Arlington and Euless, Texas.

In September of 1841, a new company recruited from the members of the previous campaigns and commanded by Captain Alexander W. Webb set out from Lamar County to complete and occupy the fort. Many of the men enlisted with an eye toward locating their land grants in the unsettled area as most of the prime lands in northeast Texas had already been claimed.

Among the members of Alexander Webb's Company were Hamp Rattan, Daniel Rattan, King S. Custer, and John Beeman, who had volunteered to finish the enlistment of his step-brother, James Jackson Beeman, who had been on the July 1841 campaign.

During the next two months the families of Solomon Silkwood, Henry Hahn, Landon Walker, Mabel Gilbert, John Beeman, James Jackson Beeman, John S. Beeman, Hamp Rattan, including his cousin Thomas P. Rattan, and several others moved to Bird's Fort expecting to make it their permanent home. It was not to be.

A few log huts had been hastily constructed in and around the fort's stockade to provide shelter for the approaching winter. Food and supplies were insufficient and the Indians had burnt off the vegetation that would have provided grazing for the stock and a habitat for wildlife for food.

Additional supplies were requested from the settlements. On Christmas Day, 1841, Captain Webb, Hamp Rattan, and Solomon Silkwood set out in search of the supply wagons and to construct a new crossing on Elm Fork of the Trinity below the mouths of several creeks they previously had to ford.

Hamp Rattan was killed by an Indian ambush at the location now known as Keenan's Crossing. Solomon Silkwood died soon afterwards from exposure to the cold and snow making his way back to the fort. Both were buried near the fort.

Hamp Rattan's widow, Polly, and their infant son, William H. Rattan, Jr., returned to Illinois after Hamp's death. When he was an adult, William H. Rattan, Jr. came back to Texas and patented his father's land grant in Collin County.

The small band of militia and settlers were discouraged, but they held on, having cast their lot for the settlement. They were virtually alone in the wilderness. The nearest inhabited areas were at Bailey Inglish's Fort in present Bonham and Holland Coffee's Trading House which later became the site of Preston, now covered by Lake Texoma.

The final blow to the settlement was delivered in January 1842, when John Neely Bryan visited Bird's Fort from his camp on the Trinity River, the future site of Dallas. He brought news of the Peters Colony land grant and the expansion that now included the site of Bird's Fort. The settlers would have to leave despite several appeals to Republic of Texas President Sam Houston.

Mabel Gilbert and his family, the three Beeman families, the Walker family, plus some single men agreed to join John Neely Bryan's settlement. Only the Beemans remained permanently in what became Dallas County in 1846, and they chose land farther east on White Rock Creek to insure they were well clear of the Peters Colony. It was a futile effort for their claims were also encompassed by further expansion of the Colony.

The other settlers from Bird's Fort went back to the settlements along the Red River but some of them would soon return to the Three Forks. In the spring of 1842, Littleton Rattan, Henry Hahn, and Landon Walker and his son Henderson served in Captain Jesse Stiff's Fannin County Ranger Company. Fannin County was later divided into several North Texas counties, including Collin, Grayson, Cooke and Denton.

Mabel Gilbert and family soon returned to their home in Fannin County but later moved west becoming the first settlers in Burkburnett, Texas. Landon Walker and his family, including Howell Blythe Dawdy, also at Bird's Fort, left Dallas to settle in Freestone County, Texas. Henry Hahn and his family claimed land in Collin County and lived there until 1850, then removed to Cooke County, where they were among the earliest settlers. Venerable Indian fighter, Captain Alexander W. Webb, settled first in Lamar County but removed to the Long Creek Community in Dallas County about 1850. King S. Custer was the first sheriff of Collin County from 1846 to 1848. He claimed land in Grayson County but returned to Illinois after 1850.

In November of 1841, Littleton Rattan had led a scouting party into the future Collin County that included his uncle, Thomas Rattan, Daniel Rowlett, Jabez Fitzgerald, Edmond Todd, Pleasant Wilson, and William Edward Throckmorton.

Many of this party and some others returned in early 1842 and settled north of the present city of McKinney in what became known as the Throckmorton Community. King S. Custer and Reddin Russell and family, including his widowed mother-in-law Mary Rattan, also later located in the Throckmorton Community. They were soon joined by other families, some of whom had also migrated from in or near Greene County, Illinois.

When Collin County was created in 1846, Thomas Rattan was one of the commissioners who organized the county elections and selected the site for the county seat. The original location was at John McGarrah's Trading Post at Buckner, but later moved to McKinney when it was determined that Buckner was not within three miles of the county's center.

Most of Thomas and Gillian Rattan's children took up residence in Collin County and the ones who came to Texas single married into other pioneer Collin County families. Many descendants still reside in the area.

Thomas and Gillian died in 1854 and 1870 respectively and are buried in the Throckmorton Cemetery near their Collin County land. William Edward Throckmorton, who died in 1843, is also buried there. Other Rattan and Throckmorton descendants are buried in the Melissa Cemetery and the Pecan Grove Cemetery in McKinney.

The annexation of Texas in 1845 ignited the US - Mexican War. Several of John and Mary Rattan's descendants and relatives were quick to enlist in the Texas Volunteer Forces. Daniel and Littleton Rattan served in Colonel John Coffee Hays' Regiment in Captain James Gillette's Company on the southwestern Texas frontier. Littleton Rattan was killed by Indians on December 18, 1847.

Other Rattans and close relatives who served in the Texas Volunteers during the US - Mexican War were William S. Rattan, Richard Borin, Hogan Witt, William Hunnicutt Beeman, John M. Kincaid, James Webb Throckmorton and William Fitzhugh.

Two more Rattan descendants and relatives would be killed by Indians in the coming years. Richard Borin, son-in-law of Hiram Rattan, met his fate in Montague County. Reddin Russell's son, Hiram Russell, was killed soon after the Civil War.

There are few tangible reminders of the Rattans' contribution to the settlement of early Texas. In Cooper, Delta County, a Texas Historical Marker for Hiram Rattan is near his land claim and place of burial.

The site of Hamp Rattan's death on Christmas Day 1841 is passed by thousands daily with little notice or knowledge of the event. The waters of Lake Arlington and a golf course now cover the abandoned Indian camps on Village Creek, but there are two Texas Historical Markers in the vicinity.

The site of Bird's Fort exists today much as it did in 1841, but it is on private property and not accessible by the general public. A 1936 Texas Historical Marker marks the location of the stockade and two other markers nearby commemorate the short-lived fort and the expedition under General John Dyer in 1838. The cemetery was lost due to gravel mining in the area.

Mike McKeever, a direct descendant of Littleton Rattan, has received approval for a Texas Historical Marker commemorating Littleton's life and accomplishments that will be erected near Littleton's land in Delta County. No record survives of the circumstances or exact location of Littleton's death or the disposition of his remains.

While most of the original Rattan immigrants remained in North Texas some of their descendants continued on to pioneer the western frontiers and beyond.

As a direct result of the Texas Militia Campaigns of 1841, the threat from hostile Indians in the Three Forks and northeast Texas was greatly reduced. The rapid and aggressive response in May, the return in force in July, and the occupation in September, demonstrated the Texans' resolve to establish dominion. The region was thus opened for settlement by the Peters Colonists, Mercer Colonists, and other pioneers.

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References:

Adams, Edward Ewing, John Rattan, Revolutionary Soldier, and His Descendants. Manuscript, 1947

Bailey, Ronald G, The Rattan Family in Texas. Manuscript, 2004

History of Madison County, Illinois. Edwardsville, Illinois: W.R. Brink & Co., 1882

History of Greene and Jersey Counties, Illinois. Springfield, Illinois: Continental Historical Co., 1885

Miner, Ed, Past and Present of Greene County, Illinois. Chicago, Illinois: S. J. Clarke, 1905

Hall, Roy Franklin and Helen Gibbard, Collin County, Pioneering in North Texas. Quanah, Texas: Nortex Press, 1975

Edmondson, J.R., General Edward H Tarrant and the Men Who Rode to Village Creek. Manuscript, ca. 1980

Beeman, James J, Memoirs. Manuscript, 1886

Brown, Tom, "The First Settlement: Bird's Fort"; Payne, Darwin, Ed., Sketches of a Growing Town. Dallas, Texas: Southern Methodist University, 1991

Spurlin, Charles D., Texas Volunteers in the Mexican War. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press, 1998

1840 United States Census, Illinois

1850 United States Census, Texas

Texas General Land Office, Land Grant Records

Texas State Library, Republic Claims

[M. C. Toyer] Personal Research Library