In the spring of 1833, Grey B. King, a wealthy and prominent gentleman of Nashville, Tennessee, started overland with his wife, three children, Margaret Ashburn, Maria, Benjamin Franklin, and three of his most efficient slaves for Texas where he had bought many thousands of acres of land. This land was principally around where the city of Austin is now located. They traveled in a large, strongly build, covered wagon drawn by a beautifully matched pair of mules, the men of the party riding along beside it on horseback.

During the winter months permanent camp had to be made so that the family could be kept warm and well. Spring freshets, swelling the streams, kept them in the valleys, many weeks at a time. Summer heat caused them to leave the road and seek the hilltops for a while. and there were many minor delays which prolonged their journey.

For two years or more they experienced trials and met with many hazards as well as pleasures along the way but arrived safely at last in Texas. They made their way toward Sabine Pass at which place they planned to settle and established a permanent home.

As they reached Texas they were joined by other families in covered wagons, these led by scouts, who by order of General Sam Houston, were drawing people together from all parts of the state. Gen. Houston expected the advance of the Mexican army and wanted to have the scattered families gathered in one place to insure safety for the wives and children, while the husbands and sons joined forces with the then inadequate Texas army.

As the wagon trains drew near the southern portion of the state, General Houston decided that it would be wise to have a leader for the entire train; someone whose judgement could be depended upon to cope with any emergency. He had become acquainted with Grey King, and finding in this good man the very characteristics needed for such a trust, appointed him head of the train to lead the families of the brave soldiers to safety.

In those perilous days of Indian and Mexican warfare there was an unwritten rule which all overland travelers observed: that of never camping on the near side of a stream unless nightfall overtook them. A crossing was always made as long as there was a ray of light to guide them.

Toward the middle of April 1836, the road weary families approached Buffalo Bayou at a beautiful flower carpeted spot know known as "San Jacinto Battle Ground." It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon when the first team driven by the leader, Grey King, drew near the bank. He alighted, approached the water, and appeared in a quandry. The responsibility for all those wives and little children was his. They had to be moved across the stream. He knew nothing of the bayou as the country was strange to him and there wsa but one way of telling the depth of the gray sluggish water.

Making his way to a group of sappling trees growing close to the water's edge, he cut one about the size of his own arm. Stripped of its leaves and, with one end sharpened to a point, it made an admirable staff, and with it in his hand, he waded into the bayou.

Slowly, cautiously, he made his way, his sappling staff before him, feeling out the depth of the water. His family sat, anxious, spell bound, in the wagon, watching him. A group of women who had arrived in other wagons stood upon the bank, sending cheerful words of encouragement to him, while some of the older children, timid yet curious, peered out from behind their mothers' skirts.

King reached waist deep water.

He looked back and smiled at his wife and children as if to say "So far, all's well."

Slowly on he walked--until he was shoulder deep. From the shore the watching crowd glimpsed a peculiar movement beneath the water--two glassy eyes appeared for an instant on the surface.

Suddenly King's staff was jerked from his hand--his arms shot up above his head--and without a cry--without a sound--down he went!

For a moment a shocked silence prevailed among the people, as the ever widening circle disturbed the placid, muddy stream.

Then a scream came from Mrs. King, followed by a shrieking bedlam among the women and children, thus violently deprived of their leader and friend.

Some of the older boys pleading to go in search of him beneath the treacherous waters were held back by their frantic mothers.

Then there settled upon them all a grief stricken despair.

We know that these people did eventually make their way across the bayou and on to their destination and safety, and also that a few days later the battle of San Jacinto, fought near the spot where they crossed, gave Texas her independence.

Many Texas heros are lauded, honored and their names blazoned on history's pages.

But--what of Grey King, who gave his life in the service of the homemakers--the wives and children of the Heroes of Texas?

This story was told to one of Grey King's descendents by an old lady who, as a little girl, stood with her mother on the bank of Buffalo Bayou and was an eye witness of the tragedy.

This event was also documented in:

Hardin, Stephen L., A Hard Lot: Texas Women in the Runaway Scrape. East Texas Historical Journal, 1991, Vol. XXIX, Number 1, page 35

as follows:

A Mrs. KING made her way through the treacherous East Texas Swamps. Quicksand was a constant danger, and when the wind rose, the refugees were buffeted by high waves. Worst of all, the waters were infested with alligators. Mrs. KING's husband, having secured hisfamily on dry land, swam back to retrieve the horses. Dilue HARRIS told what happened:

He had gotten nearly across with [the horses], when a large alligator appeared. Mrs. KING saw it first above the water and screamed. The alligator stuck (sic) her husband with its tail and he went under water. There were several men present, and they fired their guns at the animal, but it did no good. It was not in their power to rescue Mr. KING.

After a short stay in Harrisburg, the widow KING and her two children moved to Galveston. She died before the year was out.

A third documentation is in:

Griffin, SC. History of Galveston, Texas: Narrative and Biographical, pages 341-342. Galveston, Texas: A. H. Cawston--Managing Editor and Publisher, 1931

His (Charles A. VEDDER) mother, Margaret KING, was a daughter of Gray KING whose life ended just before the battle of San Jacinto. He was ordered by the Commander of the Texas Army to assist in the removal of the women and children from the path of the advance of Santa Anna, and it was while engaged in this work that he lost his life. (the webmaster's mother Mary Kate CROW SINCLAIR inserts: "In trying to see if a bayou was safe to cross, he disappeared under water; an alligator probably killed him.")

Yet another documentation:

"The Reminiscences of Mrs. Dilue Harris," The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Vol. IV(3), January 1901, pg. 155-189.

April 1836--On the way back Home
We staid one night at a Mr. LAWRENCE's, where there were a great many families. Mrs. James PERRY was there. She had not gone east of the Trinity. Her husband, Captain James PERRY, was in the army. Mrs. PERRY was a sister of Stephen F. AUSTIN. My parents knew them in Missouri, She had a young babe and a pretty little daughter named Emily.

After crossing the Trinity River we had a disagreeable time crossing the bay. It had been raining two days and nights. There was a bayou to cross over which there was no bridge, and the only way to pass was to go three miles through the bay to get around the mouth of the bayou. There were guide-posts to point out the way, but it was very dangerous. If we got near the mouthof the bayou there was quicksand. If the wind rose the wves rolled high. The bayou was infested with alligators. A few days before our family arrived at the bay a Mr. KING was caught by one and carried under water. He was going east with his family. He swam his horses across the mouth of the bayou, and then he swam back to the west side and drove the cart into the bay. His wife and children became frightened, and he turned back and said he would go up the river and wait for the water to subside. He got his family back on land, and swam the bayou to bring back the horses. He had gotten nearly across with them, when a large alligator appeared. Mrs. KING first saw it above water and screamed. The alligator struck her husband with its tail and he went under water. There were several men present, and they fired their guns at the animal, but it did no good. It was not in their power to rescue Mr. KING. The men waited several days and then killed a beef, put a quarter on the bank, fastened it with a chain, and then watched it until the alligator came out, when they shot and killed it. This happened several days before the battle.(1)

(1)Mr. KING's widow and two children, a son and daughter, lived at Harrisburg for a time after the Revolution and then moved to Galveston. The daughter married a Mr. VEDDER, of Galveston, and is still living there. The son also married and lived in Galveston.--Adele B. LOOSCAN.

To this Mrs. HARRIS adds that Mrs. KING died of yellow fever in Houston in 1836, leaving one son, a printer, Ben F. KING.

Grey B. KING and his family were listed in Stephen F. Austin's Register of Families, Edited by Villamae Williams, From the originals in the General Land Office, Austin, Texas:

Grey B. King, 29 years of age, took the oath
Susan S., his wife, 21 years of age
One male one female children
Moved here from Tennessee and arrived in March 1833