“Louisa Naomi Kent Billings” Pt. 5
Feb 18, 2022
“The Journey Through Texas”
At this point in our true story, Louisa is no longer a Kent but has married James Billings. Louisa and the family of James Billings are living in Gillespie County, Texas, known as the hill country, after having moved from Green DeWitt Colony on the La Vaca River in Texas to avoid the mosquitoes and the resulting Malaria. The father of the Billings family, James, has been recently killed by Comanche Indians and Louisa is left with 7 children and no husband. To keep the story in proper alignment, Louisa and Jim had eleven children, three died before leaving Green DeWitt and one more died either before leaving Green DeWitt or soon after arriving in Gillespie County. And another alignment, Jim was killed by the Indians in January, 1863. They arrived in Gillespie County sometime after 1850, so, even though the time from arrival until Louisa became a widow would have been plenty of time to have made substantial improvements to the homestead and establish themselves as residents. The math says that Louisa and Jim were married about 22 years and had 11 children. Unlike a lot of average families today, eleven children would be an extraordinary burden, but then, today is not like those days and many children were considered a blessing. From the first kid to the last, there was a progression where the older kids took on the heavier chores like helping with the cultivation in the fields to gathering in crops, butchering, building sheds and stock pens. Back down the line from the first to the last of the brood, as soon as they were old enough they could be assigned certain chores within their abilities. They might be helping Mom in the kitchen, where nothing was easy, not only preparing meals, but canning, preserving foods, caring for the not yet big enough children and it seemed that a successful garden was essential. All of us gardeners know that a garden is in need of constant care.
So, as you can see, “back in the day,” as I like to say, a large healthy family was a blessing. And, with a large family, considering that some will unfortunately die, as the older kids grow away from the home to create their own homes there will be more kids coming up to take their places. And one day, which may be years, the last kid will leave the nest to make their own nest, the parents almost invariably will move in with the one of the children to help with the chores and help raise the Grandchildren of this family and be cared for until they achieve their eternal home. In a way, this is a beautiful picture of families grasping hands across the generations, where love and acquired knowledge and tradition are shared from generation to generation.
And this is exactly what Louisa did.
As was the custom in Louisa’s time, John and the older boys stepped up to carry the load that Jim left behind at his death.
Jim, was killed in 1863. The Civil War officially began April 12, 1861. So the question could be, “Was Jim ever called to the war?” The answer being, no. Jim was kicked in the head by a mule, possibly one of his son-in-law’s mules, and lost the sight in one eye, that being one of the many dangers of having large animals, especially mules.
One of the biggest atrocities in the life of this country was the Civil War. Or the War Between the States, as some would call it. How many families were torn apart or destroyed by the loss of family members may not be documented or even accurately known. Just the same, we don’t have to be geniuses to know that the losses were devastating.
At 4:30 AM on April 12, 1861, Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor. Less than 34 hours later, Union forces surrendered. Traditionally, this event has been used to mark the beginning of the Civil War. However, with a close study of the events suggesting that a war between the states was inevitable, would be a study of the first days and months after the election of President Lincoln. By most accounts, Lincoln was a stanch abolitionist and the first Republican President. None of these identities set well with a large part of the citizenry, especially in the southern states. To them, ending slavery would be like taking way the tractors from the modern day farmer.
Whether Louisa and Jim had a son or other family members that could have served in the Civil War, I do not know. I do know that both the Union and the Confederates recruited heavily in Texas.
Because Louisa and her family lived in Texas through two and actually three wars, we should acknowledge a few things about them. The war against Mexico and Santa Anna, which was begun right at their doorstep, which eventually ended with Texas being separated from Mexico and paved the way for Texas to become a part of the United States of America. In this war, Louisa lost her Father, Andrew Kent.
Another War, not so acclaimed, was the constant troubles with the Comanche Indians. In this war, the Comanches saw the settlers as Interlopers and adopted mean measures to discourage the settlers and hopefully drive them away. The Comanches lost this war, but Louisa lost her husband Jim and nearly a son, John.
On February 1, 1861, delegates at the Texas Secession Convention elected to leave the Union. The people of Texas supported the actions of the convention in a statewide referendum, paving the way for the state to secede and to officially become the seventh state in the Confederacy. Although not many battles were fought in Texas, The Last Battle of the Civil War was fought at Palmito Ranch, Texas, on May 13, 1865 — a month after the war ended.
“And That’s My Opinion.”
