Henry Smith Simonton, Sr.(b.1780-84) was the son of William Simonton (d. 1811), the first sheriff of Iredell County, NC, and Mary McKee Simonton (d. 1815), a family with roots in Scotland and Ireland.  He was married to another Iredell County native, Mary Byers(1) (b.ca 1785).  At the time of the 1810 U.S. Census, (Henry) Smith Simonton, his wife and three males under 10 years were still in Iredell County.  They are probably the family in the U.S. Census of Franklin County, Alabama in 1820 (the H. S. Simingtons) and in 1830 (the H. L. Symingtons).  After 1830 their names appear in many Tuscaloosa County, Alabama records, including the 1840 U.S. Census.
 

Sheriff William Simonton 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.

Next we find Henry Smith Simonton, Sr. and his sons Robert (born in TN), Theophilus, James, Joseph C. and William (all born in NC), and possibly Henry Smith Simonton, Jr. in the Republic of Texas where free land was being offered.  Henry Smith Simonton  (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.  In the part of Robertson County, Texas that later became Brazos County, Theophilus Simonton (arrived 5/1840) and Robert Simonton (arrived 12/1839) each received land grants. 

Henry Smith Simonton, Sr. died in Robertson County before October, 1844, leaving his estate of land, slaves, personal property and animals to his wife and executrix, Mary(1).  On December 24, 1845, Theophilus Simonton married Caroline F. Moore in Robertson County(2). Then in 1850, further down the Brazos River in Ft. Bend County,  Mary (age 65), T. (male age 29 ), Caroline (age 21), and James Simonton (age 35) are shown in the same household in the U.S. Census.  Before the Civil War, Theophilus and James Simonton acquired at least 105 slaves and about 4,000 acres of land in Ft. Bend County.  Theophilus died a millionaire shortly after the Civil War, leaving the guardianship of his two sons to his brother James in his will.  The minuscule town of Simonton, Texas, which is famous for its rodeo, is named after these two brothers and is in the Thomas Westall survey on the Brazos River where part of  their corn plantation was located. 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.
 

This old house was near the south east corner of 1093 & 1489 in Simonton, Texas, in the Thomas Westall League, a part of the original Simonton Plantation.

Joseph C. Simonton, a merchant, also appears in Ft. Bend County, but he does not seem to be a partner of Theophilus and James Simonton. 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).  Several years after the war, James and Joseph Simonton are each living on 160 acre tracts in the Nathan Brookshire Survey north of Simonton in Ft. Bend County(4).

Well, what of Robert and William Simonton?  They turned up just south of Brazos County in Montgomery County, Texas, where they established their families.  Most of the information I have about Robert comes from the census, except for a published story about an Reconstruction era altercation Robert got into with a black man who spoke to his daughter.  Robert was married to Susan White and had several children.  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 was William Simonton (died 1859, Texas).  In 1837, he was a State Legislator from Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. He married Eliza M. Halbert on May 11, 1831, in Tuscaloosa.  Eliza (Elizabeth) M. Halbert (born ca. 1816, SC, died 1870, Texas) was the daughter of Joshua Halbert, a Baptist minister, and Matilda Nash.  A 1842 Alabama petition to sell the land of Joshua Halbert, deceased, refers to Eliza's husband as William Simonton of Montgomery County, Texas.  A  Montgomery County, Texas Court made a decision in William's favor in 1845(5) in a suit brought against him by the Bank of Alabama..  He served as the Chief Justice of Montgomery County, Texas(6).  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 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 a sergeant in Company K of Terry's Texas Rangers(7) during the Civil War and the Sheriff of Montgomery County, Texas, after Reconstruction (1882-1888). He always rode a mule. Ruben married Dr. E. J. Arnold's daughter, Ludy (Louisa), of Montgomery, Texas.  Ludy was well known for her musical abilities.  He and Ludy lived in Dr. Arnold's home. This Greek Revival cottage built in 1845 was Dr. Arnold's second home. For many years the home was the City Hall of Montgomery, Texas, until 2003.  It has a Texas State Historical Marker and is listed on the National Registry of Historical Places. 
 

The Arnold-Simonton cottage in its new location as the City Hall of Montgomery, in Montgomery County, Texas.

Dr. E. J. Arnold(8) was instrumental in establishing the school and Masonic Lodge #25 in Montgomery, Texas.  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.  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. The citizens of Montgomery voted with Houston but were outnumbered on the State level. Their men served the South with great loyalty and bravery.

The Sheriff, Ruben D. Simonton, and his wife Ludy, had a daughter named Laura (1870 US Census) who married my great grandfather, Samuel N. Beard (d.1916), a native of South Carolina.  Sam and Laura were active in civic matters and owned a bank, sawmill and hotel in Montgomery County.  Their son, my grandfather, also Sam Beard (d.1954), was the Treasurer of the Trinity River Lumber Company and a 32° Mason.  Another son, Louie Arnold Beard, graduated from West Point in 1910, and their daughter, Frances Beard, married 2nd Hannibal H. Scott,  the grandson of Texas Lt. Gov. George D. Neal of Navasota, Texas.   

Lt. Gov.Neal's home at 504 Church St., Navasota Texas. The Scott's lived here after retiring from Exxon. It has a Texas State Historical Marker commemorating Lt. Gov. Neal's life.

My mother, Grace Louise Beard, was born in Willis, Texas on December 11, 1914, to Sam Beard and and his wife, Grace May Ballard.  She married my father, George Alva Ralls, Jr., on December 7, 1935, in Fort Bend County, Texas.  Death found her early on February 10, 1975, in Harris County, Texas.

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. Several Montgomery County Simontons were elected to office or worked for the government. One was a banker, one a lawyer, another an automobile dealer and several held oil interests in Montgomery County.

The author of this article is Marilyn Ralls Johnson, Bellaire, Texas.   Email mj@marilynjohnson.info

Land Grant information came from The Daughters of the Republic of Texas web site, and various books listing Texas Land Grants. Information about the Montgomery County, Texas, Simontons came from the County's Historical Society census and cemetery records, as well as from various articles published about the Simontons. 

The family is thought to be descended from the Barons of Simonton in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, Scotland.  The Barony was created and given to Sir Simon Lockhart in 1165.  During the Scottish war for independence in the early 1300's, Thomas Keith, the son of Richard Keith and nephew of Robert Keith, Great Marischal of Scotland and hero of Bannockburn, was known as Thomas Dickson.  He fought the English with Sir James Douglas (the Good) and was rewarded by King Robert de Bruce with the Barony of Simonton.  He was the first to use the surname Simonton. 

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

The founders of this branch of the Simonton family, Theophilus Simonton and his wife Mary Smith Simonton, came to America from Ireland in the early 1700's.  So it is possible that the Baron of Simonton is an ancestor of this branch of the Simonton family.

LINKS TO HISTORY

• The story of the Scottish migration first to Ireland and then to America during this period
• The history of the Simonton's of Scotland. ("Simonton" is an American version of the Scottish name "Symington".) Rev. H. Paton's book on Simonton Geneology (9)
• The Scottish "Symingtons" are a sept of Clan Douglas. This link goes to a Clan Douglas site with history, tartan and affiliated septs.

(1) This is probably the Mary Byers 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.  Mary and Polly may have been the same person or two persons.
(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) From Marriage Records of Montgomery County, Texas.
(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. The muster roll also mentions that he was wounded in the war. Andrew Jones of TerrysTexasRangers.org tells me that records in the National Archives show that he enlisted as a bugler, was promoted to sergeant, and was paroled at Vicksburg, Mississipi. Stephen D. Forman, 2003 Commander of Grandbury's Texas Brigade SCV Camp #1479 says that he never surrendered. 
(8) Dr. E. J. Arnold and his wife, Rhoda Ann Warner, were from Connecticut originally. Epaphras J. Arnold arrived in Texas after October 1,1837, and received a 640 acre land grant in Montgomery County, Texas on September 23, 1839.
(9) THE SYMINGTONS - THEIR PART IN SCOTLAND'S HISTORY by Carol Symington (New Zealand)
"The Paton history made me curious as to how the Symington family fits into the wider context of Scottish history.  Having scoured the shelves of Auckland's libraries for suitable reference books, (not an extensive collection), I have written this amateur potted history of the times during which the Symingtons held their barony, the hereditary title of keeper of Castle Douglas, and the offices of sherrife-depute and bailie in Lanarkshire.

Except for the incident of Douglas Castle I have been unable to find any further references to the Symington family, the barony, or Thomas Dickson. Auckland City Library does not a have a large section of books on Scottish history! Maybe someone living in England or Scotland can find more references than I have been able to. However, the rise and fall and rise of the Douglas family is well documented. Because the Symingtons became the hereditary keepers of the Douglas family castle it must be supposed that their fortunes were linked to that powerful family. 

When the Black Douglas’s fell, the Symingtons appear to have retained their keepership of the Castle, and later were given more power by the Red Douglas’s. John Symington is mentioned as being Captain of Douglas Castle in 1488 and in that year was appointed Bailie (magistrate) of Douglas by Archibald, Earl of Angus. This minor Castle remained close to the Douglas heart - many of the family were buried in the parish church,

Black Douglas:  Sir William Douglas had been a supporter of King John Balliot and had died in an English dungeon. His son, Sir James Douglas joined Robert the Bruce and had led many daring raids against the English. He gained the name "Black" from the terrified English living in the border area. After Robert became king, James was granted extensive lands and titles. While taking Robert's heart on a crusade in 1330 he was killed in Spain. His nephew became the first Earl.

Robert Bruce's son David II (1329-1371) was a weak king and for the next 100 years a pattern of stagnation and mayhem held sway. Warfare and pillage were endemic. People flocked to the protection of a powerful baron, and the power of the barons increased. The Douglas family made good marriages, which bought them more land and in time they controlled vast estates and their wealth and influence threatened the Stewart kings.

Robert II (1371-1390), the first Stewart king ruled well for the first six or so years of his reign. But he developed senile dementia and became physically weak. Disorder flourished. Chroniclers speak of "Horrible destruction’s, burnings and slaughters done though all the Kingdom. ' (4) During this period Paton notes that Thomas Symington granted a charter of some of his lands to Thomas Cranston (1382). 

Robert III (1337-1406) was a weak depressive, 'there was no law in Scotland. The strong oppressed the weak and the whole kingdom was a den of thieves'. (10) During the Regency of 1406-1420 the powerful nobles were unopposed. Lawlessness was a way of life. "The Douglas’s robbed the Exchequer of its custom revenues with impunity' (4). The 6th Earl Douglas was known to travel with a retinue of at least a thousand armed retainers reputed to have been mustered from thieves and murderers (5). In 1419 William of Symington Lord of that Ilk was Captain of Castle Douglas.

Before he was murdered in 1437, James I (1424-1437) had begun to regain regal authority. The new king, James II (1437-1460) was six years old. Another period of Regency followed. Sir William Crichton was the most powerful of these Regents. In 1440 Crichton arrested and beheaded William, the teenage 6th Earl Douglas, and his younger brother. In this he had the co-operation of Douglas’s uncle, James the Gross, who inherited the title but who died three years later. 

During the period of the king's minority neither the Regent nor the Queen Mother were ever the real powers in the land. The Black Douglas’s and their allies were far more powerful. They were extremely wealthy, and well connected by marriage; enough to be considered possible contenders for the throne. During 1450-51, while Earl William Douglas was in England, the king took the offensive against him by besieging his castles, and slaying a number of his tenants. Douglas returned and it seemed that he and the king had reached a compromise. However, Douglas was tempted to threaten the king by harrying and killing the king's supporters, even his relatives. 

One history (2) tells of a tutor (guardian) of the heir of some lands who refused to support Douglas. He was imprisoned in Douglas Castle. His uncle obtained letters signed by the King asking Douglas to deliver him.
The uncle was courteously entertained at dinner, (by Baron Symington?) then told that he could take back the body, which unfortunately lacked a head.

Determined to take control, King James invited Earl Douglas to dinner under safe conduct and at the table knifed him to death. The 9th Earl, after burning and looting Stirling in revenge, was exiled and forfeited his estates in 1455. Others of the family were captured and killed. The Black Douglas family had been destroyed. It is noted that during this time all of the Douglas Castles except Threave were levelled to the ground. 'The Douglas wars brought great pestilence and mortality throughout the whole kingdom’. 

Red Douglas:  After the accidental death of his father, James III (1452-88) became king. Taking advantage of another period of minority and civil unrest the Red Douglas’s, the junior branch of the family, "rose upon the ruins of the Black" (1) and by 1474 had regained the power once held by the Black Douglas’s. In 1476 John Symington was Captain of Castle Douglas (Obviously re-built). 

Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, head of the Red Douglas’s, played a leading role in the overthrow and death of James III in 1488. In that same year Archibald, Earl of Angus, appointed John Symington bailie of his lordship of Douglas. He is thought to be Sheriff depute of Lanark 1478 and 1490. (The sheriff acted as the king's local judicial, financial and administrative representative. The sheriff court was held at the baron's castle).

James IV (1473-1513) was killed while fighting the English at Flodden Field in 1513, along with thirteen of his earls and thousands of soldiers. The Earl of Angus promptly married the widowed queen and took the baby King James V (1512-42) into his care. Another intrigue-filled Regency followed. 

By 1526 James was declared ready to govern - but to all intents he remained a prisoner of the Douglas’s. The Hamiltons, the only real opponents of the Red Douglas’s, had been routed and slaughtered in a battle on the main street of Edinburgh in 1520. And so Archibald Douglas ran the country as he wished until the boy king escaped from him in 1528.

James vowed that Scotland would not hold him and the Douglas’s. The Earl of Angus was driven into England. (To return sometime later). However, during this period those Douglas "henchmen", the Symingtons, appear to have survived. William Symington is styled Captain of Castle Douglas, and bailie of the lordship of Douglas. 

In 1538 Archibald Symington granted a charter of part of the lands of Symington to James Hamilton. In 1541 he "had a charter to himself, as heir and successor of John Symington of the Ilk, his great grandfather, and Christian Baillie, his spouse, of the lands of Hazelside and others, erected into the barony of Symington with the offices of Bailie of the Lordship of Douglas and Captain of the Castle of Douglas."

The reign of James V lasted only until 1542. He died leaving a baby, Mary, to inherit the throne. A tumultuous period of Regency followed. Both the English and the French kings attempted to marry Mary to their heir. At the age of fifteen she married the Dauphin. At eighteen she became Queen of France. But following the death of her sixteen year old husband Mary reluctantly returned to Scotland as Queen. 

Her six-year reign was a disaster for her and for Scotland. She had no concept of Scottish politics, and scandals surrounded her. She was Catholic in a land which had become firmly Protestant. Mary was forced to abdicate in 1567. In 1556 John Symington was infeft as heir to his father in the barony of Symington and the offices of bailie of Douglas and keepership of the Castle of Douglas.

The new king was Mary's son James VI, (1567-1625) one year old. Until he took control in 1583 he was fought over and seized by rival Regents, including the Douglas’s. He proved to be a clever, astute king who gradually made himself acceptable as the heir of Elizabeth I of England. Upon her death in 1603 James became king of both countries. He lived in London where he said about Scotland 'Here I sit and govern with my pen ....which others could not do by the Sword.' (4) From 1597-1637 Scotland was at peace, 

The reign of Charles I (1625-49) led to anti-government violence in Scotland and England. John Symington succeeded in 1605. In 1616 he entered into an agreement with the Earl of Angus, whereby he resigned the offices of Bailie of Douglas and Captain of Douglas Castle: but resignation was not made until 1621.
(The family seems to have maintained close relations with the Douglas’s. It is noted in the Register of Deeds 1607, that Margaret Symington, daughter of John Symington, had received a legacy bequeathed to her by the deceased Archibald, Earl of Angus).

John Symington along with his father fell into great monetary difficulties and between 1630-1648 sold the lands of Symington. The Douglas title became extinct in 1703."

Main References:  A Concise History of Scotland; F McLean,  Scotland-the Making of a Kingdom; Voll&2, 
Robert the Bruce; R Scott, Castles and Strongholds; Muir, Robert the Bruce a Scots Life; Telfer,  Scottish Local History; Moddy, Highlanders; F McLean,  Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland, The Stewart Dynasty; S Ross.