JOHN ABSTON
Abston Cemetery Historical Marker
Application, 1988
The Abston (Old Bellew) Cemetery, located one mile north
of Lavon on highway 7 8,
is one of the historic sites of Collin County. John Abston (1761-1856) who is
buried there, was a soldier in the American Revolution. His grave is marked by a
granite monument erected by the Richard Royal Chapter, Daughters of the American
Revolution, in 1913 and by a medallion placed there by the Sons of the American
Revolution. The Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution organized in
McKinney in 1975 was named the John Abston Chapter in his honor.
[...]The land which included the cemetery tract was purchased by John Abston and
his daughter-in-law, Sarah, widow of his son, Jesse, on January 19, 1854 from
Samuel and Susannah Rainer. There are thirty seven marked graves in the
cemetery.
John Abston, who died in 1856, was the first person buried in the cemetery. He
was born on January 2, 1761 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, the son of Joshua
and Rachel Clement Abston. In 1779, at the age of eighteen, he volunteered for
service in the Revolutionary Army and served for two years under captain John
Ellis. On July 26, 1789 he married Frances Thurman in Chatham, Virginia. Two
sons, Jesse and Stephen, were born to the Abstons. In the 1830s, after the death
of his wife, John Abston sold his holdings in Virginia, and with his son Jesse,
Jesse’s wife, Sarah, and little daughter, and his son, Stephen, moved to Jackson
County, Missouri. In 1846 he divided his fourteen slaves between his two sons.
Then, in 1853, with his son Jesse, and Jesse’s family, he moved to Texas. When
they reached the town of Melissa in Collin County Jesse contracted pneumonia,
died, and was buried there. [Note-Melissa did not exist in 1853. He probably
means Highland] Subsequently, he moved on farther south in Collin County with
his daughter-in-law Sarah, and her children and purchased the land that included
the cemetery.
In the eighteenth report of the National Society of the Daughters of the
American Revolution, published in 1914, there is the following story about John
Abston:
Abston, John. Born Jan. 2, 1761; died 1856. Son of Joshua Abston, Captain of
Virginia militia; served two years in war of the American Revolution. Enlisted
from Pittsylvania County, Virginia; was in Capt. John Ellis Company under Col.
Washington. The evening before the battle of King’s Mountain, Col. Washington,
who was in command of the starving Americans at this point, sent soldiers out to
forage for food. At a late hour a steer was driven into camp, milled, and made
into a stew. The almost famished soldiers ate the stew without bread and slept
the sleep of the just. The next morning they made the gallant charge that won
the Battle of King’s Mountain, one of the decisive battles of the American
Revolution. After the battle Col. Washington went to the place where the steer
had been slain, and finding one of the horns, gave it to John Abston, a personal
friend, saying “This is the horn of the steer that won the battle of King’s
Mountain.” Abston took the horn and carried it as a powder horn until the war
was over. In later years it was used to call slaves from their work in the
fields. The horn is now as hard as flint, the color of gold, and has a polish
equal to gold. A grandson owns the rifle and horn and treasures them very
highly.
John Abston
submitted by John Greer
John Abston was born January 2, 1761 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. He was
the son of Captain Joshua Abston and his wife, Rachel Clement. Captain Abston
served as an Ensign in the Pittsylvania County Militia 1770-1775. when the
colonies severed relations with England early in 1775, the Committee of Safety
met in Richmond, Virginia on September 27, 1775 to organize for their defense.
Joshua Abston was appointed as a Captain in the Colony of Virginia Militia which
position he held until 1781.
Early in the Revolutionary War, the British
blockaded our seaports to cut off supplies. Among the items that could no longer
be imported was salt-petre, a necessary ingredient of gunpowder. John Abston’s
maternal grandfather, Benjamin Clement, remembered that a mixture of salt and
salt-petre had long been used at hog killing time to cure hams and shoulders as
they hung from the rafters in the meat houses. Although he was seventy-five
years old, the old gentleman dug up the floor of his meat house, boiled the
soil, strained the liquid through straw and thus was able to reclaim much needed
salt-petre. It is said that he was the first person in the colony to do so with
help of a young neighbor. They were able to make fifty pounds of gunpowder each
day in the little mill at his home, “Clement Hill”. In this way, patriot
Benjamin Clement was able to keep those long American rifles firing.
John Abston volunteered for Revolutionary War
service in 1779, when he was only eighteen years old as did so many other young,
patriotic Virginians. He was in the Battle of King’s Mountain.
John Abston married Frances Thurman on July 25,
1789 at Chatham, Virginia. They became the parents of two sons, Jesse and
Stephen. After the war, they lived in Kentucky for a few years, then in the
mid-1930s John moved his entire family to a farm near Independence, Jackson
County, Missouri.
At sometime in the early 1850’s John Abston and
his son , Jesse, converted their bank notes into gold bars, put them safely in a
small trunk carried on a wagon pulled by oxen. Thus, John Abston began his trip,
a journey to the great State of Texas.
When the family reached the Red River, they found
a very turbulent river on the rise following recent heavy rains. With great
difficulty, they were able to cross the river and saved all of their
possessions, including the gold bars and their faithful slaves.
Soon, Jesse became ill with a fever and died. He
was given a Christian burial in an unmarked grave near Melissa, Texas. The
family subsequently settled on farmland in Collin County near the Lavon
community.
John Abston first applied for his Revolutionary
War pension July 7. 1855 when he was ninety-eight years old and nearly blind.
The affidavit did not comply with the regulations which necessitated his filing
a more formal affidavit in February 1857 as follows:
State of Texas:
County of Collin: In Chambers Feb’y 4th
AD 1857
On this Fourth day of February AD 1857
personally appeared before me George H. Pegues, Chief Justice and Judge of the
County Court of the County and State aforesaid (in vacation) John Abston a
resident of the County of Collin and state aforesaid, aged ninety-six years who
being duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following
declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress passed June 7th
1832.
That he entered the service of the United
states under the following named officers and served as herein stated: To wit,
that he volunteered in the “Army of the United States” in latter part of the
winter season in the year AD 1779 at Jasper Mountain, Pittsylvania County,
Virginia under Capt. John Ellis whom he served but a few weeks.
The Company then went with Capt. Ellis, and
this affiant was transferred to and went under command of Capt. Rose at the Town
of London in Bedford County where they formed the main Army. He states that he
served under Capt. Ellis and Capt. Rose and some other Captain, whose name he
has forgotten, for two years and some few days and was discharged at New London,
Bedford County, Virginia on the ______day of_____AD 178_.
He recollects that he was discharged as
aforesaid a few months after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown.
That when he entered the service he resided in
Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and his father, Joshua Abston, at the time of his
enlistment was a Captain in the Virginia Militia.
He states that the troops marched from New
London towards Richmond where they turned south and went to North Carolina. He
states that he was in the Battle of King’s Mountain and was encamped for a short
time at Ninety Six.
The only staff officer he now has any
recollection of was col. Washington. That Thomas Smith, Thomas Hancock, and
William Stranger volunteered at the same time he did. He states that he has no
documentary evidence of his service-his discharge having been destroyed by fire,
and he knows of no person whose testimony he can procure who can testify to his
service.
He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to
a pension or annuity except the present, and declares that his name is not on
the pension roll of any state.
Signed: John Abston by marking X as his
mark
Attest: Anthony Bewley
Sworn to and subscribed by the said John
Abston the day and year aforesaid. Witness my hand and the seal of said Court,
this 4th day of February AD 1857. George H. Pegues, Chief Justice of
Collin County, Texas.
N.B. The scrawl below the name and mark of the
applicant is the attempt he made at signing his name and his blindness and
extreme old age prevented his making it more legible hence the reason for having
him make his mark. Geo. H. Pegues, Chief Justice.
His claim for a pension was denied because, at age ninety-six
years he could not present documentary evidence of his service or the testimony
of comrades who could state that he was a soldier of the American Revolution.
John Abston died February 4, 1857 and is buried in the small
Abston Family Cemetery located adjacent to Lake Lavon in Collin County.
His grave is marked with a Sons of the American Revolution bronze plaque and by
a gray granite marker which reads as follows:
IN MEMORY
OF
JOHN ABSTON
REV. SOLDIER
1757-1856
ERECTED BY
RICHARD ROYAL CHAPTER
D.A.R.
Bibliography
Institute of Texan
Cultures, San Antonio, Texas; Texas and the American Revolution. 1975.
Stimson, Verelle, Dallas, Texas; abston Family History. 1996
The Courier – Gazette, McKinney, Texas September 18. 1988. John Abston Grave
Marker dedicated.
The National Society of the sons of the American Revolution, Louisville, Ky;
Genealogy Records. 1997.
National archives, Washington, DC; American Revolutionary war Pension Records.
1998
Abston Cemetery
Surname Index
Recommended Citation:
"John Abston,
EARLY SETTLERS OF COLLIN COUNTY." Collin County, Texas History
and Genealogy Webpage by Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., <http://www.geocities/genfriendsghl>
[Accessed Fri February 13, 2004 ].
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