William Delafield
Hallsville, Harrison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A veteran of the American Revolution; lived in this area as patriarch of a family whose history typifies westward movement of the people of the United States. Son of Nicholas Delafield, a cooper in the English Navy in 1740s and an artisan living in Mecklenburg County, Va., as early as the 1760s. William Delafield as a lad of 16 served in the militia company of a neighbor, Capt. Reuben Vaughan, during the year 1779 when the former American colonies-- joined together against the tyranny of George III of Great Britain. In 1785 William Delafield, then 22, moved to Georgia. There he brought up a family and in 1827 was awarded land on basis of his Revolutionary War service. By 1832 he and a son Nicholas lived in Alabama, where in 1836 both received land grants in Barbour County. The son in 1846 settled here in Harrison County, Tex. By 1850 William Delafield also lived here, where he was known to neighbors as an elderly man who sat in a rocking chair relating stories of old times. He had lost a leg, probably in frontier fighting in Georgia against the Indians. His descendants include persons who have attained distinction in military and civilian life in Texas and other states.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
At sixteen, William Delafield served in a Virginia militia company during the Revolutionary War in 1779, then joined the great westward migration — moving to Georgia in 1785, Alabama by 1832, and finally to Harrison County, Texas, by 1850. Awarded land for his war service, he was remembered by neighbors as an old man in a rocking chair, one leg lost in frontier fighting, who spun tales of times long past.
Why it matters
Delafield's journey from a Revolutionary militia to the Texas frontier typifies the restless westward movement of the founding generation and their descendants across the growing United States.
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Related people
- · William Delafield
- · Nicholas Delafield
- · Reuben Vaughan
Related events
- · American Revolution
Themes & tags
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