Robert B Wilson

​First Generation
 
1.   Robert B Wilson was born on 20 Sep 1841 in Alabama. He died on 20 Jul 1893 in Brown Co, Texas. He was buried in Greenleaf Cemetery, Brown Co, Texas.
 
Sheriff of Brown Co,
 
R. B. WILSON was elected on February 15, 1876, and re-elected November 5, 1878, and served until November 7, 1882. Contributed by Patsy in Brownwood at ikesis2@juno.com
 
1880 US census - Brown Co Texas — Sheriff
 
The records in the County Clerk’s office show that a contract was let June 7, 1880, to Martin, Byrne and Johnson for building a county jail. The contract price was $5,595.00. W.H. Johnson was County Judge and Henry Ford was County Clerk. The jail was accepted January 15, 1881, when J. Stewart Cleveland had become County Judge and Henry Ford still remained County Clerk. (In the Life and Lives of Brown County People; Brown County Historical Society Book 1 Second Edition Indexed 1988, complied by Lorene Bishop assisted by Melba Coursey; pg 23)
 
“The deed records of Brown County were burned when the courthouse and all its contents were destroyed March 29, 1880. The courthouse was a small wooden building near the southwest corner of the present square. The lower story of the building was used for a jail and the upper story was used for courthouse purposes.
 
Prisoners in the jail decided they would escape by burning a hole in the floor and crawling through the hole. They succeeded in setting the floor on fire but there was not escape from the smoke and the men almost suffocated. Jim Bevans was deputy sheriff under R.B. Wilson! , and he managed to get the door open and drag the prisoners out, as they were not able to walk or stand alone.
 
One man was tried, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for this fire. He stayed in the pen less than a year. While on duty at Huntsville, he evolved a plan to secure a pardon. He ate soap and would cough and spit every direction until he was granted a pardon on the grounds that he had tuberculosis and might spread the disease throughout the prison. He returned home, and in less than six months was hale and hearty. Later he stole a bunch of horses and left the country and has never been heard from since that time.” Printed in Banner Newspaper May 6, 1936. (In the Life and Lives of Brown County People; Brown County Historical Society Book 1 Second Edition Indexed 1988, complied by Lorene Bishop assisted by Melba Coursey; pg 23)
 
On April 19, 1878 Henry Ford, who was then County Clerk, and R.B. Wilson, who was at that time sheriff. Stood talking in Wilson’s office. Outside the rain fell in roaring sheets. Ford pointed to five men who, dismounted, were tying their horses to oak trees in the courthouse yard. “Rotten weather to be out in,” said Wilson. The door swung open and the five men, all of whom were strangers to the two officials, entered Wilson’s office.
“What can I do for you gentlemen?” asked the sheriff.
“Can you stick up your hands damn quick?” said one of the men, flashing a pistol. His four companions threw their guns on Ford and Wilson as he continued: “You’ve got a few friends of ours in the jug; trot ‘em out.”
A few minutes later, liberators and liberated galloped off in the rain, to vanish forever so far as history of this section of the state is concerned. (Frontier’s Generation, The Pioneer History of Brown County with Sidelights on the Surrounding Territory by Tevis Clyde Smith, New and Enlarged Edition; published by Tevis Clyde Smith, printed and bound by Moore Printing Co, Brownwood, TX; pg 52)
 
One notorious Brown county man was leader of a band of stock thieves. This leader was indicted by the grand jury of every meeting of that body for ten successive sessions from 1876 to 1881 on charges of horse, cow or hog theft. After Capt. Maltby finished the organization of Company E of the Frontier Battalion of the Texas Rangers, he and the men went into camp on Sand Creek, northwest of Brownwood, remaining there for three weeks. Eight members of this company operated under the direction of the Brown county sheriff and aided in arresting numerous thieves who were being harbored by some of the disreputable citizenry. (Something About Brown, A History of Brown County, Texas by T R Havins, Banner Printing Co, Brownwood, Texas pg 27)
 
Robert married Emma Fisk daughter of Greenleaf Fisk and Mary Hawkins. Emma was born in 1861 in Texas. She died in 1952 in Brown Co, Texas. She was buried in Greenleaf Cemetery, Brown Co, Texas.
They had the following children:
 2F          i.              Irene Wilson was born in Jul 1876 in Texas.
Irene married W E Stricklin on 23 Sep 1903 in Brown Co, Texas.
 3F          ii.             Gertrude Wilson was born about 1880 in Texas.
 4M        iii.            Sug C Wilson was born in Feb 1882 in Texas.
 5M        iv.           Greenleaf Fisk Wilson was born on 17 Mar 1885 in Brown Co, Texas.
He died on 22 Jan 1919 in Brown Co, Texas.
 6F          v.            Mozelle E Wilson was born in Feb 1887 in Texas.
 7M        vi.           Robert Billy Wilson was born on 1 Jun 1889 in Brown Co, Texas.
He died on 9 Jan 1968 in Brown Co, Texas.
 8F          vii.          Mattie Wilson was born in Sep 1892 in Brown Co, Texas.