In the early 1600, many Catholic Irish Earls fled Northern Ireland, abandoning their estates.  James I of England (James VI of Scotland) saw this as an opportunity to settle his Protestant Scottish subjects in Ireland.  Placing Presbyterian Scots in an area where religious war raged between the English Anglicans and the Catholics, who both hated Presbyterians, created unbearable conflict.  Thousands of these Scots-Irish, including Simontons, moved on to America.

In the early 1700's Theophilus Simonton and his wife Mary Smith left County Tyrone, Ireland with their children and came to Delaware where they lived with Mary's brother.  When her brother died, they moved to Pennsylvania.  After Theophilus died about 1754 in Pennsylvania, some of his family moved west into Ohio, and the rest traveled south down the Appalachian Mountains into western North Carolina.

Theophilus Simonton's son, William Simonton Sr. (d. 1811), settled near the Fourth Creek Congregation in Anson County, a part of the Granville Grant in the Carolina Piedmont.  There he married Mary McKee (d. 1815), and raised a large family.  In Colonial times William Sr. was the Constable of the Crown's Court in this District, and his brother, Robert Simonton, was the Magistrate.

Fourth Creek was part of the Patriot Hornet's Nest which stung British General Cornwallis severely.  William Sr. was apparently in sympathy with the Revolution as was Robert's son Adam, who served in the Militia.   Robert sold his home to his brother William Sr. in 1787, then died in 1788, and his family moved to Green Co., Georgia.  Iredell County was formed  in 1788.  Fourth Creek Congregation was renamed Statesville and became the County seat in 1789.   

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William Simonton Sr. once owned this house on Fourth Creek near Statesville, Iredell County, North Carolina.  The first courts in Iredell County met here.  Originally built about 1750 by his brother, Robert Simonton, the brick house has been extensively remodeled twice.

Henry Smith Simonton, Sr. (b.1780-84 in NC) was a younger son of William Simonton Sr. (d. 1811).  He was married to another a Fourth Creek native, Mary Byers  (b.ca 1785 in NC).  Mary Byers was the daughter of Capt. James Byers, who served in the North Carolina militia under his neighbor, General William Lee Davidson during the American Revolution.  Several Byers wills mention Mary/Polly Byers, her husband Henry Smith Simonton, and their son, Joseph C. Simonton. (1) 

At the time of the 1810 U.S. Census, (Henry) Smith Simonton, his wife, Mary, and three males under 10 years were still in Iredell County, NC.

Henry Smith Simonton's family are probably the  H. S. Simingtons in the 1920 U.S. Census of Franklin County, Alabama in 1820, and the H. L. Symingtons in 1830 U. S. Census.  Henry Smith Simonton has several land records in Tennessee with dates during the 1820's.  After 1830 their names appear in many Tuscaloosa County, Alabama records, including the 1840 U.S. Census.

Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

Next we find Henry Smith Simonton, Sr. and his family in the Republic of Texas where free land was being offered.  The first to come, Henry Smith Simonton (Jr) (arrived 12/31/1839) and Robert S. Simonton (arrived 12/31/1839) each received conditional land grants in Sabine County, Texas, near the Louisiana border on 1/1/1840.  They did not reside on these grants long enough for them to became unconditional.
 

Robertson/Brazos County, Texas - Simonton Family Republic of Texas Land Grants

Henry Smith Simonton, Sr., Henry Smith Simonton, Jr., Robert Simonton all arrived in Texas by 12/1839, and Theophilus Simonton arrived by 5/1840. They settled in Robertson County which was formed in 1838. Brazos County was formed from Washington County and Robertson Counties in 1841. William Simonton arrived in Texas prior to Jan 1, 1842. They brought their families from Alabama, using ox carts to carry their possessions. All five men received unconditional land grants in Brazos County, Texas.  

1 - Robert Simonton, Theophilus Simonton, Estates of Henry Smith Simonton, Sr. and Henry Smith Simonton, Jr.
2 - William Simonton

Henry Smith Simonton, Sr. died in Robertson County Texas before September 2, 1844, leaving his estate of land, slaves, personal property and animals to his wife and executrix, Mary (1). Henry Smith Simonton, Jr. also died before September 2, 1844.

This family had two daughters, Jane and Mary Teresa.  On May 18, 1841, in Washington County, Texas, Mary married Richard C. McLester, who had accompanied the Simontons to Texas. The couple returned to Tuscaloosa, Alabama with Jane.  In Tuscaloosa Alabama, on November 9, 1847, Jane married James A. McLester, Richard's brother.

On December 24, 1845, Theophilus Simonton married Caroline F. Moore in Robertson County. (2)

Fort Bend County, Texas

Further south on the Brazos River in Ft. Bend County,  the 1850 U.S. Census finds these Simontons in the same household:  Mary (age 65), T. (male age 29 ), Caroline (age 21, (b. in TN)), and James (age 35, b. in NC).  This is the first official record of Henry Smith Simonton's son, James, in Texas.

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Before the Civil War, the Ft. Bend County property tax records say that  Theophilus and James Simonton had 105 slaves and about 4,000 acres of land where they raised corn and cotton.  This old house was near the south east corner of 1093 & 1489 in Simonton, Texas, in the Thomas Westall Survey, a part of the original Simonton Plantation. The Thomas Westall Survey was north of the winding Brazos River and west of the county seat at Richmond.  It is near the league of Jane Long, who is often called the "Mother of Texas".

The minuscule town of Simonton, Texas, which was famous for its rodeo in the 20th century, is named after Theophilus and James Simonton .  And Tell Of Time, a novel by Laura Smith Krey (1938), is about an ante-bellum Brazos River plantation family, generally believed to be the Simontons of Ft. Bend County, Texas.  

Another of Henry Smith Simonton's sons, Joseph C. Simonton, came to Ft. Bend County Texas after 1850 with his wife and family.  They are there in the 1860 US Census.  Joseph and Jane Julia Byers were married in Iredell County, NC. They lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Iredell County, North Carolina before settling in Texas.

On January 4, 1864, Joseph, James, and Theo Simonton wrote General J. B. Magruder that they were about to place in Confederate service about 40 negroes, in accordance with his last call for negroes.  The three brothers did not enlist in the Confederate military, but this donation of slaves to the Confederate cause was certainly a material contribution to the cause.  After the war, on July 19, 1865, in Houston, Texas, James Simonton signed an amnesty oath to the United States of America. 

After the Civil War, the Ft. Bend County Simontons were Jay Birds, a group of white men who exercised some control over the black administrators during Reconstruction (3).  Theophilus died a millionaire on February 2, 1867,  leaving the guardianship of his two sons to his brother James in his will.  Several years later, James and Joseph Simonton lived on two adjacent 160 acre tracts in the Nathan Brookshire Survey north of Simonton in Ft. Bend County (4).

Montgomery County, Texas

William Simonton and his brother Robert Simonton  turned up southeast of Brazos County in Montgomery County, Texas, where they established their families. Most of the information about them comes from official records, like census, probate records of their decedents estate, and newspaper articles.  The Simonton line started by William continues in Montgomery County, Texas to this day.  It didn't hurt a bit that the vast Conroe oil field was just down the road apiece.  A family treasure is a large desk that legend says was brought to Texas from Alabama on an ox cart. Some Montgomery County Simontons were elected to office or worked for the government. Others were bankers, lawyers, retailers, ranchers, and several held oil interests in Montgomery County..

Robert Simonton and Suzanna D. White married in Montgomery County, Texas in August, 1841, and had nine children. According to the Texas Muster Roll Index cards, Robert enlisted on September 25, 1863, at the age of 48, as a Private in the Confederate 17th Texas Infantry Regiment for 6 months.  This regiment fought in the Red River Campaign defending the NE border of Texas from Federal invasion. He died in 1863. One of his descendants, Mrs. Katie Dean Hill, was the Vice President of a Conroe, Montgomery County, Texas, bank as late as 1980.

My g.g.great grandfather, William Simonton, married Eliza Melinda Halbert in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  She was the granddaughter of American Revolutionary patriot, William Anson Halbert of Virginia, who moved to South Carolina after the revolution.  William Simonton was an Alabama State Representative for Tuscaloosa.  William, Eliza and their children were in Texas by 1842.  After he moved, William Simonton, was sued by the Bank of Alabama, and a  Montgomery County, Texas Court made a decision in his favor in 1845.(5)  He served as the Chief Justice of Montgomery County, Texas until his death.(6). 

William Simonton died in 1859.  He left a widow, Eliza, and 5 children.  The ages and names on Wm. Simonton's family plot in Montgomery County, Texas, are consistent with the 1850 US Census information for William Simonton's family, except for William's birth date.  William's gravestone in the Old Methodist Church Cemetery in Montgomery on Hwy 105 says he was born 12/18/1796, but his 1850 census age of 43 indicates a birth year of 1807.

William's son, Ruben Davis Simonton was born and died in Texas (ca 1842 to 1900).  He was named after his mother's prominent brother-in-law, Reuben Davis, who became a Confederate Major General in the Mississippi Militia.  Ruben Davis Simonton was a bugler and a sergeant in Company K of Terry's Texas Rangers (7) during the Civil War.  He was known as "R. D", and always rode a mule.

Eliza M. Halbert Simonton's  brothers were Texas Confederates.  These uncles of R. D. Simonton were Capt. Lucius Nash Halbert, Company B, 4th Infantry Texas State Troops (Brennan, Texas) and Capt. Joshua Long Halbert, Company E 15th Regiment Texas Infantry (Corsicana, Texas).

R. D.'s brother, Lucius Halbert Simonton, was a corporal in Company A, Mann's Regiment, Texas Cavalry (Bradford's) and Company A, 24th/25th Consolidated Regiment, Texas Cavalry during the Civil War.  He died in 1865 and is buried with his mother and father in the Old Methodist Church Cemetery in Montgomery on Hwy 105.

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The Arnold-Simonton cottage in Fernland Park in Montgomery, Texas. It has a Texas State Historical Marker and is listed on the National Registry of Historical Places.   This Greek Revival cottage built in 1845 was Dr. E. J. Arnold's second home in Montgomery, Texas. Dr. Arnold died in 1857 leaving a widow and three daughters, Francis, Evaline, and Louisa/Ludy. (8) In December, 1865, William Simonton's son, Ruben Davis Simonton, married Dr. E. J. Arnold's daughter, Ludy, who was well known for her musical abilities.  Ruben Davis, Ludy, and their descendants lived in Dr. Arnold's home. Many years later the home became the City Hall of Montgomery, Texas.  It was placed in the Park after a new City Hall was built.

After Reconstruction, R. D. Simonton was elected Sheriff of Montgomery County, Texas, (1882-1888). He was also a member of Masonic Lodge #25. The Sheriff and his wife, Ludy Arnold, had a daughter named Laura (1870 US Census) who married R.D.'s good friend and my great grandfather, Samuel N. Beard (d.1916), a native of South Carolina.  Sam Beard's headstone says he was from Ninety-Six, South Carolina. (9)     

Sam and Laura Simonton Beard were active in civic matters and owned a bank, sawmill and the King Hotel in Montgomery County.  One son, Louie Arnold Beard, graduated from West Point in 1910, and attained the rank of Colonel in the First Artillery during  WWI.  After leaving military service, he worked for the Whitney family in management positions.  He was at Greentree thoroughbred stud farm in Lexington, KY, and then was at the seed corn facility at Greenwood Plantation in Thomasville, Georgia.

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Sam and Laura's youngest daughter, Frances Beard, married 2nd Hannibal H. Scott, the grandson of Texas Lt. Gov. George D. Neal of Navasota, Texas. The Scotts lived in Lt. Gov. Neal's home at 504 Church St., Navasota Texas, after retiring from Exxon.  It has a Texas State Historical Marker commemorating Lt. Gov. Neal's life.

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MY MOTHER - LOUISE RALLS Sam N. Beard (d.1954), another son of Samuel N. Beard and Laura Simonton, was a  32° Mason, and Master of the San Jacinto Masonic Lodge #106 in Montgomery Co., Texas.  He married Grace May Ballard in 1913, in Montgomery County, Texas.  Grace was the only child of Houston accountant Walter Ballard and his wife Gertrude Macomb. The couple lived in Willis and had one child, my mother, Grace Louise Beard. In the 1920's the family moved to Houston where Sam Beard held several positions that utilized his accounting skills, including  Secretary-Treasurer of Fostoria Oil Company and Treasurer of Trinity River Lumber Company.  After his death, his widow, Grace, pursued a successful career as a Houston Realtor.  My mother, (Grace) Louise Beard, graduated from San Jacinto High School in Houston.  She married my father, George Alva Ralls, Jr., in 1935, after he graduated from Texas A & M and received a Commission in the U S Army Reserve.  (He was also a San Jacinto High School graduate.)  After 30+ years in the U S Army he retired as a Lt. Colonel.  Then he and my mother worked together in real estate in Houston until death found her early in 1975.

(1)  Mary Byers is mentioned in the 1833 Iredell Co. NC deed records in Book Q, page 73 (pertaining to Estate of Washington Byers, deceased) as the wife of Henry F. Simonton. His middle initial, F, is probably a transcription error and should be S.  The 1819 will of Joseph Byers, Sr. (and several other Byers' wills) mentions Polly Byers, the daughter of Joseph's brother James Byers, as Henry Smith Simonton's wife. Their son Joseph was also mentioned in Joseph Byers, Sr.'s will.  Polly is a common nickname for Mary. 

(2) From Texas census, and the marriage, tax and probate records of Robertson County, Texas. 1840-1845. 

(3) The Jay Bird Democratic Association of Fort Bend County: A White Man's Union by Pauline Yelderman. 

(4) From US census, tax, deed and probate records of Ft. Bend County, Texas. 

(5) District Court Records, Montgomery County, Texas. 

(6) William Simonton was listed as Chief Justice in the Marriage Records of Montgomery County, Texas. He is also the Judge of record in County Probate cases.

(7) He is listed as a private on the muster rolls of Terry's Texas Rangers, the 8th Texas Cavalry originally commanded by Col. Terry from Ft. Bend County, Texas.
Records in the National Archives show that he enlisted as a bugler, was promoted to sergeant, and was paroled at Vicksburg, Mississipi. The muster roll also mentions that he was wounded in the war. http://www.fold3.com/category_19/

(8) Dr. E. J. Arnold and his wife, Rhoda Ann Warner, were from Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut originally. They were married there in 1835.   Epaphras J. Arnold, M.D. arrived in Texas after October 1,1837, and received a 640 acre Republic of Texas land grant in Montgomery County, Texas on September 23, 1839. 

E. J. Arnold, M. D. donated land for the Montgomery Academy and Masonic Lodge #25 in Montgomery, Texas.  He was an early member of this Lodge.  Texas President Sam Houston (later U.S. Senator and Governor of Texas) was present at the organization of this masonic lodge on April 5, 1845.  (Gov. Sam Houston came fairly often to Montgomery, Texas. Opposed to secession from the union, he made a famous speech on this subject at a barbecue in this town in 1859. The citizens of Montgomery voted with Houston but were outnumbered on the State level. Their men served the South with great loyalty and bravery.)

(9) Samuel N. Beard was the son of Martha Powers and Henry Beard.  Henry and Martha Powers Beard are mentioned in DAR lineage book.  William Powers of Virginia was the patriot.  Henry Beard owned real estate, personal property, and slaves in 1860 US Census of Ninety-Six, Abbeville Dist./Co., SC.

Samuel M./N. Beard was three years old in the 1860 US Census of  Ninety-Six, Abbeville Dist./Co., SC and 12 years old in the 1870 US Census of Ninety-Six, Greenwood Co., SC.  Same location, new County name. (Greenwood County was created from parts of Edgefield and Abbeville Districts/Counties.)  In the 1880 US Census, Samuel Beard was in Brazos Co,

R. D.'s second cousin, Robert Simonton Gould,  left Alabama and pursued a legal career first in Mississippi then in Texas. His first term as a jurist was interrupted by the Civil War.  He served in the Confederate 6th Texas Cavalry (Gould's)  Battalion during the Red River campaign protecting the NE border of Texas from the Federals, and reached the rank of Colonel.  When the war was over, he returned to the law and was elected to the Texas Supreme Court for several terms.  He was appointed Chief Justice by Gov. Oran M. Roberts, serving  in this position 1880-1882.  He accepted a professorship at the new UT Law School and taught there for 20 years.  He died in 1904.  (Robert Simonton Gould was the grandson of Henry Smith Simonton's older brother, William Simonton, Jr. and Margaret Knox of Iredell County, NC, where he was born to their daughter, Zilpha Simonton Gould and her husband Daniel.)

Other notable Confederate descendants of the Iredell County, North Carolina  Simontons:

• Col. John M. Simonton - 1st Mississippi Infantry Regiment - Shannon, Itawamba Co., Mississippi
  
• Col. Charles Henry Simonton - 25th South Carolina Infantry Regiment - Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina.. Was a U.S. Federal Judge after the Civil War.
  
• Major Absolem Knox Simonton, Jr. - Iredell Blues - 4th North Carolina Infantry Regiment - Statesville, Iredell Co., North Carolina - Died at Seven Pines, Va.
  
• Commissioner William Davidson Simonton - Haneyville, Lowndes Co., Alabama

The family is thought to be descended from the Barons of Symington in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, Scotland.  The original Barony of Symington was created and given to Sir Simon Lockhart in 1165.  However the Lockharts must not have supported Robert De Bruce, for he awarded the Barony to his supporter, Thomas Dickson (or his eldest son), who was then required to use the surname Symington.

Thomas Keith, also known as Thomas Dickson, was the son of Richard Keith and the nephew of Robert Keith, Great Marischal of Scotland and hero of Bannockburn.  Because of his bravery in battle during the Scottish war for independence (ca. 1295 to 1314), Thomas Dickson was given his own Clan Dickson, a Sept of the Keith Clan.  His Grandmother was Lady Margaret Douglas.

Thomas Dickson fought the English with his cousin Sir James Douglas (the Good) and William Wallace before 1300 AD and was rewarded by King Robert de Bruce ca.1306. On Palm Sunday In 1307, he died helping Sir James Douglas in a battle with the English. 

The Symington and Dickson Clans are both Septs of the Douglas Clan. 

Three hundred years later, John Symington, Baron of Symington, sold his property in Scotland, and he and his four brothers disappeared. About this time a Scot named John Simonton acquired 1,000 acres in Tyrone County, Ireland. Later the name Simonton appears in Presbyterian Church records in County Down, Ireland.

The founders of my branch of the Simonton family, Theophilus Simonton and his wife Mary Smith Simonton, came to America from Ireland in the early 1700's, as did thousands of other Scots-Irish.  So it is possible that the Baron of Symington is an ancestor of this branch of the Simonton family.

LINKS TO HISTORY -  Simonton family migration to America and DNA

Many thanks to Jaclyn Keasler Helmke, and her husband Vernon Helmke.  Their extensive Family History of the Simonton Family and Related Families gave me solid information about this family from Ireland.  The documentation they provide for Mary Smith and Theophilus Simonton in Delaware and Pennsylvania bridges the Atlantic gap and provides a firm foundation for this American branch of the Simonton family.  The many years they spent searching records was a real boon for me as I searched for official documentation to prove my line.  The needed documentation was where they said it would be.