Cintha Spell

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1900, Hardin Co (Precinct 2), Texas

Notes:

Census:
Mack C Spell 25 TX LA TX m 13 yrs
Lucy Spell 25 TX MS MS 7 births 6 living
Mory E Spell 13
Sterling Spell 12
Oscar Spell 11
Dave Spell 8
Cintha Spell 7
John M Spell 7/12

Magmder married Mrs. Lucy (..) Spell in 1887 in Hardin Co, Texas. Lucy was born about 1872 in Texas; died after 1901 in of, Hardin Co, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1870, Hardin Co (Precinct 3), Texas; Concord P.O.

Sterling married Mary Morris about 1856 in Jefferson Co, Texas. Mary was born in 1842 in Louisiana; died after 1870 in of, Hardin Co, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: 1850, Sabine Pass, Jefferson Co, Texas
• Census: 1860, Beaumont, Jefferson Co, Texas

Notes:

http://block.dynip.com/wtblockjr/strong_spell.htm

Strong Spell swam river ferrying lead steer of herd
By W. T. Block
Reprinted from Beaumont Enterprise, Saturday July 17, 1999.
NEDERLAND Sterling Spell had perhaps the strangest occupation in antebellum Beaumont. When farm chores were not pressing, he was a "cattle crosser" at Tevis Ferry. Spell did not cross the cattle over the Tevis ferry; he held on to one steer's horn and literally swam the herd across the Neches River.

Spell was born in Vermilion Parish in 1806 and spent the first half of his life in Louisiana. In 1830 he married Eliza Collins, and they became parents of 13 children, most of whom reached adulthood. Their sons, Benton and Sterling, Jr., served in Beaumont's Co. E, Spaight?s Battalion, Confederate States Army, throughout the Civil War.

In 1849 Spell bought a farm from Isaiah Junker in the vicinity of Concord Road. He raised moderate amounts of corn, sweet potatoes, vegetables, and cotton, principally for home consumption.

T. J. Russell, Spell's biographer, wrote much about the latter's physical strength and called him the "giant of Jefferson County." Spell stood 6 feet, 6 inches in stocking feet and weighed 256 pounds. His neighbors referred to his feats of strength as being "Herculean to the ordinary man," and noted that he could lift a 50-pound sack of potatoes with his arm straight out and hold it up.

By 1835 trail herds of New Orleans-bound cattle passed frequently through Beaumont, and the first city council of 1840 required a $50 bond for crossing a herd and charged $6 for each drowned animal removed from the river.

Among the earliest ranchers who drove cattle to the New Orleans market were James Taylor White of Turtle Bayou, David Burrell and William Carr of Fannett, John McGaffey of Sabine Pass, and Christiam Hillebandt of Labelle. C. T. Cade and the renowned "Shanghai" Pierce were the best-known cattlemen who drove large herds through Beaumont.

The shipping season for cattle lasted from October until the following May. In Feb.-March, 1856, 114 trail herds passed through Beaumont, for an average of 2 herds daily. Herd sizes varied from as few as 300 heads to as many as 2,000 steers.

Spell began crossing cattle at Tevis' Ferry in 1851, and kept up that activity until the Civil War began in 1861, by which time he was 55 years old. In Spell's biography in Beaumont Journal of April 11, 1908, the editor observed that:

"...Spell would go in among the cattle and seize a big 1,000-pound, 4-year-old steer by the horns, back it into the river, turn it around, hold to a horn with his left hand, and swim across the river with him. The other cattle of the herd would quickly follow him across. No other man has ever been known to attempt that feat of strength..."

After the Civil War, Spell moved his family to Hardin County, where he died in 1876. His wife also died there a year or two later.

The story of Sterling Spell is another notch in the history of Beaumont's pioneers who conquered the East Texas wilderness and made it a safe place for those who followed in their footsteps.
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Census:
Sterling Spell 54
Eliza Spell 49
Margarett Spell 20
Benton Spell 8
Nancey Spell 16
Cornelious Spell 14
Julian Spell 12
Sally Ann Spell 10
David E Spell 8
Daniel B Spell 3
Sarah A Spell 3

Sterling married Eliza Collins on 4 Sep 1832 in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. Eliza (daughter of Martough Collins and Susanne Andrus) was born on 27 Feb 1810 in Lafayette, Lafayette Parish, Louisiana; died on 16 Jun 1883 in Jefferson Co, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1870, Beaumont, Jefferson Co, Texas

Notes:

Collins, Elisia (Martough & Susan Andrus) b 27 Feb 1810, bt 15 Jul 1810, Spons: Hilary Andrus & Mary Andrus. Fr. Louis Buhot (Opel. Ch.: V.1-B, p 505)

Census:
1870 Beaumont, Jefferson Co, Texas (Rosedale)
residence 255/232
Marble, J.S. 24
Drusilla 25
Leen 4
John W. Collins (Collier) 10
Hugh R. Collins (Collier) 6
James J. Collins (Collier) 6

residence 256/233
C. (Clark) Ashworth 38 (white)
Sarah (Arthur) 36 (White)
William 19
Emily 17
Henderson 14
Luke 11
Kate 6

residence 259/236
J.S. Marble 55
Rebecka 19
Stephen S. 17
Jadvga 15
Alsie A. 14
Sofronia 12
Hugh C. 6
Lilla 8
Jane A. Thebo 23
James Waddle 14
Anderson Marble 23 (black)

residence 260/237 (wife of Sterling. Div? Wid?)
Eliza (Collins) Spell 59
Margaret Spell 20
Sally A. Spell 20
David E. 18
Daniel 13
Sarah A. 13 at home
William Harris 14 at home

residence 262/239
Sargent, A.G. 26
Gulia A. 22
Arxalia 1
Burd 4/12

Notes:

Married:
Spouse 1: Collins, Eliza
Spouse 2: Spell, Sterling
Marriage Date: 4 Sep 1832
Marriage Location: Louisiana
Lafayette Parish