Biographies

James Buchanan, an Alamo Defender, was born about 1813 in Alabama, a son of William Buchanan. James married Mary “Polly” McGee in Jefferson County, Alabama in 1833. Mary McGee, born 23 November 1817, was the first child of Ralph and Lydia Cude McGee. Ralph McGee, born 18 February 1796, in Tennessee, died 19 August 1851, in Polk County, Texas. Ralph McGee was a son of David S. McGee, born in 1763 and died in 1857. Ralph and Lydia had two daughters, Mary “Polly” McGee and Dorcas McGee.

James Buchanan with his wife Mary and their first child, William Buchanan, born about 1834 in Alabama, emigrated to Coahuila y Texas, Mexico. In 1834, they registered as members of Stephen F. Austin’s fifth colony. On 19 October, 1835, James received a land grant of one league, 4428 acres, from the Mexican Government. The league of land is now located in the Birch area of Burleson County, Texas. James Buchanan fought and died in the Battle of the Alamo in San Antonia, Texas, on 6 March, 1836. Mary McGee Buchanan was at least seven months pregnant when she learned of James’s death leaving her a widow with a son about two years old and not knowing when the Mexican army would be at her homestead. Mary took her son William and endured the “Runaway Scrape” by crossing the Brazos River and going east, probably to Polk County where her father Ralph McGee and family were living. James and Mary’s second and last child, James Houston Buchanan, was born 19 April, 1836, forty days after his father’s death and two days before the battle at San Jacinto where the Mexican army was soundly defeated.

Mary McGee Buchanan married John W. Overby on 25 October, 1838, in Montgomery County, Republic of Texas. John Overby was born about 1816 in South Carolina, a son of Benjamin Overby. John received a second class land grant of 640 acres in Montgomery County but they moved to the Buchanan land grant in then Washington County, Republic of Texas. John and Mary Overby had three children: Ann Elizabeth, Benjamin, and Emma Adeline Overby. John Overby died in 1844 and was buried near their homestead on the Buchanan land grant located then in Washington County, Republic of Texas, now in Burleson County, Texas. James Houston Buchanan later established the grave site of about one acre as a cemetery. The cemetery is now known as the Old Birch Creek Cemetery but should be the Buchanan Cemetery.

Mary McGee Buchanan Overby and James Hughes were united in marriage about 1845. Their known child is Lydia Jane “Liddy” Hughes. James Hughes apparently died before the 1850 Census of Burleson County, Texas. In the 25 September 1850, Census, Mary Hughes, age 32, and her children: James Buchanan, age 14; Ann Elizabeth Overby, age 10; Benjamin Overby, age 9; Amy Overby, age 7; and Liza Jane Hughes, age 3, were living in dwelling #190 in Burleson County, Texas. After James Hughes ‘death, Mary is reported to have married Robert H. Snodgrass. Robert was born in 1894 in Georgia and died in 1879. After surviving over thirty five yeas of frontier life in Texas, Mary McGee Buchanan Overby Hughes died about 1865. Her grave is next to R.H. Snodgrass’ grave in the Old Birch Creek (Buchanan) Cemetery.

William Buchanan, the first child of James and Mary McGee Buchanan, was born in 1834 in Alabama. William may have been raised by his grandparents Ralph and Lydia McGee. On 20 July 1860, W. Buchanan, a male, and A. Buchanan, a female were living with the I.N. Hitchcock family in south east Burleson County, near the Yegua Creek. The 1870 Mortality Schedule of the Census has William Buchanan, born in Tennessee, died in December 1869 in Burleson County, Texas

James Houston Buchanan, the second and last child of James and Mary McGee Buchanan, was born 19 April 1836, probably in present Polk County, Texas. He married Ellen Jones on 3 August 1875, in Burleson County, James served as a Private in Company B, 20 Texas Infantry, CSA, during the Civil War. James and Ellen had six Children: James Curtis; Aaron C. Pharaoh, Oliver Peter, Estelle, and Roxie Buchanan. James Houston Buchanan died 12 February 1881, and with his wife, Ellen Jones Buchanan (1840-1887) are buried in the Old Birch Creek (Buchanan) Cemetery. James Curtis Buchanan was born 3 December 1858, died 14 August 1876, and is buried in the Early Chapel Cemetery in Lee County, Texas Oliver Perry Buchanan was born 13 September 1872, in Dime Box, Lee County, Texas Oliver married Alice Clements Bonneville on 2 June 1902. They had six children: Gladys, Marie, Oliver Peter, George Oliver, James Houston, and Alice Marguerite Buchanan. Oliver Perry Buchanan, Sr. died 14 December 1928, in Marlin, Texas and his wife Alice died 8 June 1870. They are buried in Midland, Texas.

Ann Elizabeth Overby, first child of Mary and John Overby, was born about 1840 in Burleson County, Republic of Texas. Ann 1^st married John Ryan on 26 May 1853. In Burleson County. She married Benjamin Calvin Fugitt on 5 June 1856, in Burleson County, Texas.

Emma Adeline “Annie” Overby, the 3^rd and last child of Mary and John Overby, was born 1 September 1843, in Burleson County, Republic of Texas. She married John Flippin on 10 May 1858, in Burleson County, Texas. John Flippin, the 3^rd child of Absalom and Emilia Fugitt Flippin, was born in 1835 in Cole County, Missouri, died in 1873, and is buried in the Old Birch Creek (Buchanan) Cemetery. John and Emma Adeline Flippin’s known child is: William Benjamin Flippin, born 23 May 1860, in Burleson County, married Margarete Adeline Terrell on 25 July 1877, in Burleson County. Mrs. Margaret Flippin was born 31 August 1858, in Fayette County, Texas, died 27 May 1946, and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. William and Margarete’s known children are: Eugene Walter Flippin (1878-1949), Hattie Belle Flippin Roberts (1880-1957), Margaret Flippin Walveren (1884-1971), and Henry Flippin (1886-1961). After John Flippin’s death in 1873, Emma Adeline Overby Flippin married Edward A. Monford (1846-1927) on14 October 1875, in Burleson County and they later moved to Erath County, Texas. Mrs. Emma Overby monford died 8 August 1915, in Tarrant County, Texas with burial in the Upper Greens Creek Cemetery in Erath County, Texas.

Lydia Jane “Liddy” Hughes, the only known child of Mary and James Hughes, was born 26 July 1846, in Burleson County. She married, on 26 January 1860, in Washington County, Texas, Andrew Jackson Flippin, the 5^th child of Absalom and Martha Emilia Fugitt Flippin. Andrew was born 1 August 1839, in Cole County, Missouri. He served as a Private in Company B, 20^th Texas Infantry, CSA, during the Civil War. Lydia and Andrew’s known children are: Edward, born about 1866; Thomas, born about 1869; William Andrew, born about 1871; John A., born about 1873; Mary Lee, born about 1885; and Reuben Jackson Flippin, born about 1887. Reuben Jackson Flippin and six of his children were burned to death in the 5 January 1919, fire that destroyed their home in Clodine, Fort Bend County, Texas. Mrs. Lydia Jane Hughes Flippin died 30 January 1919, and her husband Andrew Jackson Flippin died 9 February 1930. Lydia and Andrew Flippin are buried in the Cheatham Cemetery in Colorado County, Texas.

Dorcas McGee, a daughter of Ralph and Lydia Cude McGee, and a sister of Mary McGee Buchanan, was born 8 December 1833, in Alabama. She came to Coahuila y Texas, Mexico with her parents in 1834. Dorcas married John Wesley Leggett (1824-1894) and they had at least seven children: James Walter (1851-1923); John Calvin (1853-1913); Ralph McGee (1855-1937); Lydia Ann (1857-1864); SamuelParham (1859-1899); Dorcas Beasley (1868-1904); and Martha Leggett (1872-1958). Dorcas McGee Leggett died 4 March 1916, and is buried in the Moscow Cemetery in Polk County, Texas.