John T. Medearis - A Biographical Note on the Trip to Texas

In September of 1859, John T. Medearis initiated the fateful trip to Texas with his brother, Wiley, their families, and their worldly possessions including a few slaves. John's wife, Frances, and Wiley's wife, Mary (who was also the niece of Frances) died on the trip of "brain fever", (typhoid). Frances fell ill over a period of days, accelerating over a weekend, and the trip came to a halt because of her illness on a Sunday. They stopped in Sevier County, Arkansas, just outside Brownstown, a few miles short of the Texas border. Mary fell ill on Monday. Frances died the following Sunday, and Mary the following Monday.

John had several children on the trip, and after consulting with them decided to return to Tennessee. After returning to the Mississippi River with John and his family, Wiley decided to turn back again, and continue on to Texas, sending his infant son, John, on back to Tennessee to live with his deceased wife's family until Wiley got settled in Texas.

John apparently had prospered financially before the trip, and renewed his prosperity over the next few years, buying a tan-yard in Fayetteville, Tennessee. He supplied leather goods to the Confederate Army. As was the case with many in the post-war South, John's prosperity apparently did not survive reconstruction. Accounts indicate that some partners from the north were somehow foisted upon him, and their involvement sapped the business of capital; and John, of his prosperity.

This summary is prepared from a detailed retelling by the grandaughter of Lucy Katherine Medearis's first-hand account of the Medearis Trip to Texas, available at this blog entry.