James' Oldest Son, heads north

In the winter of 1879, while the family was struggling to survive in Carrollton, Missouri, a neighbor, Captain Wolfold came to see D.S., James oldest son, and explained that the Northern PacificRailroad was building a steamboat called the "St. Louis", to go up the river to Bismark and he was to be the captain.  He asked D to go with him on the initial trip, so brother Meriot was left in charge of the ranch and D started off on many adventures.   At that time steamers could go as far as the Yellowstone River.  Although D knew nothing about  steamboats, Captain Wolfold offered him a job.   They stopped in Bismark where they used the steamboat to take a railroad engine across the river to Mandan for the railroad extention being build by the Norther Pacific westward from Mandan.

It is unknown how many trips D made up and down the Missouri on "The St. Louis,"  that summer, but we do know he had serveral jobs on the steamboat from dishwasher to actor and singer.  We have one picture of him in a costume on board the ship.  This is the earliest picture we have.  He was probably 24 years old at the time.  The next  fall he took a horseback ride up to Deadwood, N. D. for a few weeks, then spent the winter in Denver.  The next spring, he returned to the Black Hills town and was offered a job as a jailer by Sheriff Garland.  He stayed on as jailer for the next four years even when Sheriff Garland was replaced by Sheriff Manning.  Here we  begin a series of interesting stories from wild west days in Deadwood.

Florinda Jean Atkinson Billington

Florinda was born in Bowling Green Kentucky, Adair County on February 9, 1937, married  November 17,  1854 in Freestone County Texas  to James A. Billington and emigrated to Missouri around 1865-6.
Shortly after settling in Carrollton, her husband, James died and she and the children maintained the ranch for a time. We know little about her life except that she was quite gruff and domineering.  She had several illnesses throughout her life.  She was the mother of 9 children.  She out lived all of them except D.S. and Meriot.  She was a window for 36 years.  She lived the last half of her life with her son Meriot in Kansas City.  She took several trips to Deadwood/Spearfish South Dakota area to see her son D.S. and grandchildren.  The only picture we have of her was taken in Deadwood probably around 1887.   She died in Kansas City on December 30, 1904.

James A. Billington 1829-1868

      Family records indicate that James A Billington was born January 24, 1829 although research by the Hass family (as mentioned in last blog) place his birth year closer to 1822.  Both say he was born in Bedford County Tennessee to Jared and Tracy.  We are not sure why they moved to McCracken County, Kentucky  around 1832 but Jared was buried there in 1850. Although we have no record (yet)  we believe another sibling, Thomas was born  between 1841-1850. Mother Tracy moved the family to Limestone County, Texas along with other extended Billington families around 1851.  The family tradition says they were following Sam Houston.  James married Florinda on November 7, 1854  in Limestone County and by 1860 as shown on the census record they had 3 children.  When the Civil War broke out and all Texans were enlisted, James was enlisted on June 24, 1862 for a one year time period in the Texas Confederate Calvary.  We have a copy of his enlistment papers that describe him as  6'1'' tall with black hair and black eyes, fair complexion and being 33 years of age. He was enlisted under General McCulloch at Camp McCulloch for one month  then discharged on July 31, 1862. We have a copy of his discharge papers.  Family records tell us that he was then transferred to Tyler, Texas for the rest of his service. Apparently the drafting officer noticed the gun carried by James and asked him who made it.  When James replied that he made it himself  a decision was  made to transfer him to the gun factory.  So we Billingtons should rejoice that instead of being sent to the front, his talent was noticed and he survived the war, returned to his family and continued raising horses and 6 more youngin's.

       We have a letter from his brother Thomas describing their service at the factory as he was also enlisted there at an early age of 16: ""This was a large factory employing several hundred men in the various departments.The principal officers of the institution consisted in part of Col. Hill, in command, and a captain whose name I forgot and several foremen, etc. We made firearms, and utensils of war." Thomas may have  lived with "brother Jim" as he called James A  or lived in the same area, until the close of the war in 1864.

"James raised thoroughbred horses and that's where his son, my dad, got his love for horses and a keen knowledge of them and of riding.   I believe they were comfortably fixed but not rich. They were not plantation owners with lots of slaves but most people except the "poor whites" had them. Dad remembered his father and uncle talking about slavery.   They had a few slaves, tho, and when Dad's father and uncle talked about slavery they concluded that the right of some human beings to own others, was wrong and would have to end. But they felt that they would have to be educated so they could take care of themselves.  Therefore they required the black children to go to school with the others.  It wasn't against the law there (in Texas) to teach black children."  ...from Estelle Fontana.

Oldest Billington photo we have

Florinda Atkinson married James A. Billington in 1853, Freestone Co, Texas.  .

JAMES A. BILLINGTON was born January 24, 1829 and died in 1868. We do not have a picture of Grandfather Billington, but we do have his signature.  Strong and bold and steady… perhaps alone stands for what he was.

James A. Billington was born in Bedford County Tennessee.  His parents were Jared Billington of North Carolina and Tracy Wadsworth of Kentucky. He moved to Limestone, Colorado around 1851-1852 after his father died in Kentucky. He has about 7 siblings.  He worked at the gun factory during the Civil War in Tyler, Texas. He had com to Texas with Sam Houston.  When the Civil War broke out and all came to be enlisted, the drafting officer noticed the gun carried by him and asked who made it.  James replied that he made it himself.  So rather than being sent to the front, he was sent to the gun factory to make guns for the southern army.  He was enlisted in the Texas Confederate Cavalry for one year, 1861-1862 and we have copies of his discharge papers.

At the close of the war James Billington turned all of his Texas property into horses and took his family over the old Chisholm Trail to St. Louis sometime before 1864.  This was done together with many others traveling together.  The book “North of 36” describes this migration.  They had intended to sell the horses there but prices were so poor that they decided to keep their herd and remain in the horse business.  They settled in Carrollton, Missouri in 1864 where he later died in 1868. He is buried there along with several of Billington family members

He was a 32^nd degree mason, a Shriner, a father of 9 children, a Texas landowner, a gun expert, a locksmith and a thoroughbred horse rancher.

We do have a picture of Grand Mother Billington.  Florinda Atkinson was born February 9, 1837 in Adair County, Kentucky according to the family records.  Her marriage certificate shows that she married James A. Billington on November 17, 1853 in Freestone County, Texas.  We know very little about her life except she was quite gruff and domineering.  She was a widow for 36 years and outlived all but D.S. and Meriot in her entire family. She died in Kansas City, Kansas on December 30, 1904.

The children of James A. Billington and Florinda Atkinson are:

Demetrious Seldon- July 6, 1855 – July 5, 1944: 89 years

Roberta E.- April 6, 1856 – October 8, 1879: 23 years

Quintus Sebastian- December 1858 – December 10, 1864*: 6 years

Meriot Ciscillian- October 12, 1860 – January 9, 1940: 80 years

Corintha Aldonia- November 4, 1862 – October 4, 1864*: almost 2 years

James William- April 14, 1865 – September 19, 1897: 32 years

Thomas Jefferson- April 13, 1867 – August 9, 1897: 30 years

We follow the Demetrious family line.