I had know idea just how deeply Southern my family is.

Following his death in 1824, maternal 5th GGF William Downs’ (1755 – 1824) estate appraisement included three things: A man named Tom age 50 – 60 (not to be sold), 1 feather bed, and a parcel of land. But it turns out that he had sold Tom at age 28 to a man named Arrington and years later repurchased him from same.

William’s grandson and my 3rd GGU William Wood Downs (1802 – 1882), was born in Halifax County in North Carolina and at some point the family moved to Morgan County in Georgia. By 1850, he was living in Alabama’s Franklin County and around 1854 he moved to what is now McLennan County in Texas and set up shop just outside Waco.

By 1860, William Wood Downs owned the largest plantation in McLennan County and the 1860 Federal Census (Slave Schedule) shows that he had 66 slaves working the estate which in the fall of 1877 he put up for sale or lease by way of an ad in a Waco newspaper, the “Weekly Examiner and Patron”.

It reads:

“Fine Brazos Plantation – for sale or lease

On account of the infirmities of old age I offer my Brazos river plantation for lease or sale. The tract comprises 1750 acres about 1100 of which is Brazos bottom – the finest lands in Texas – and the balance 650 acres choice Post Oak and Prairie. Of the bottom lands there are 530 acres under fence and in a good state of cultivation with Steam Gin and Mill, Blacksmith and wood shops, tenant houses, barns, lots and other improvements, including a country store house at one of the best stands for selling goods in the county. The place is well stocked with horses and mules, hogs, cattle and corn, all offered with the place.

This is known as one of the richest and prettiest, and in all respects most desirable plantations in Texas… It is offered at a bargain to responsible parties on small payments of cash.

Address me at Waco, or apply on premises, seven miles southeast of the city.”

The words “tenant house” had a special meaning back then. These days we call them slave quarters and they were the homes he gave to his slaves after the war.

And when he says there are “…Steam Gin and Mill, Blacksmith and wood shops, lots and other improvements, including a country store house at one of the best stands for selling goods in the county.” he’s talking about what was three years later formally named Downsville.

All I can say is Holy Shit!

7/8/15