H.D. ERASMUS REDWINE

The following bio was taken from page 356 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

The first Redwine to come to Rusk County was Hullum Duke Redwine.  Born in Georgia in 1809, he migrated to Mississippi in 1828.  Here he served as a representative to the Mississippi Legislature from Lafayette County.  He moved to Rusk County, Texas in 1852.  Hullum Duke was elected Chief Justice of Rusk County in 1859 and represented the county in the Texas State Legislature.  He died April 4, 1864.

 Hullum Duke’s son, H.D. Erasmus (Ras I), also known as Major Ras Redwine, was born in 1837.  He married Victoria Antoinette Cameron, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Benjamin B. Cameron of Rusk County.  Benjamin B. Cameron is the grandfather of Mr. T.L. (Rebecca) Mitchell of Henderson.

 In 1861, H.D.E. raised a company of Rusk County men for the Confederacy and set off to fight in the Civil War.  After he returned, he tried to help rebuild the wrecked fortunes left behind.  He joined with Webster Flanagan and promoted the building of the Henderson and Overton Railroad, making Henderson a major shipping point in East Texas.  He built the courthouse and most of the buildings standing on the Henderson public square today.  He died in 1881.

 H.D.E. and Victoria had five daughters – Mary R. Bagley, Nina R. Bateman, Finna R. Smith, Nettie R. Hazelwood, and Bennie R., who married C.B. McLemore, and whose daughter, Maria M. Camp, was the mother of Mrs. G.T. Pitman and Mrs. Frances Custer of Henderson.  They also had two sons, Buddie, who died as a baby and Ras II, who was born October 30, 1875.  He married Buena Vista Baker of Nashville, Arkansas.  A graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Art, Miss Baker had come to Henderson to teach art in the Henderson school.

 Ras II was a man of many interests.  He raised sugar cane and owned the Redwine Jewelry Store.  Some people say that he invented the syrup bucket; others say that he brought the first tin cans to Texas.  Whatever the circumstance, he needed something to put his syrup in and contacted the Continental Can Company.  The company was so impressed with him that they hired him to represent the company in Texas.  Ras was very involved in the First Methodist Church.  He was in charge of building the two-story fellowship building that was replaced in the late 1950’s.  Ras II was also a director in the Farmers and Merchants Bank.  When it failed, he repaid its depositors out of his own pocket.  The Redwine family has stayed away from the banking business since then.

 Two children were born to Buena and Ras II, their son, Ras III (Ras, Jr.) born in 1904, married Virginia Turner of Garrison, Texas.  Ras, Jr. had a Whippet car agency (Redwine Whippet Company).  The Whippet suffered from the same popularity as the future Edsel.  Both father and son enjoyed the excitement of the early East Texas oil boom days.  The excitement faded for Ras II when Ras, Jr. died suddenly at the age of twenty-six. Ras, Jr.’s widow and their five-year-old son, Ras IV, moved to Galveston.

 Ras and Buena’s daughter, Antoinette, was born in 1910.  She traveled with her father for Continental Can until she married Clifford H. Matthews of Marshall.  Cliff and Antoniette lived in Henderson.

 as II died April 2, 1940 and Buena died May 9, 1945.  After Ras II’s death, Cliff ran the Redwine Estate.  Cliff and Antoinette had two daughters.  The eldest, Martha M. Langhorne, lives in the family home with her four daughters – Laura, Nancy, Wendy, and Jean Langhorne.  The other daughter, Jean M., lives with her husband J.W. Gammel, in his hometown, Baytown, Texas.  They have two sons, Cliff and Bill. J.W. teaches at Lee College.

 Young Ras IV grew up to become a lawyer in Austin, Texas.  As his namesakes, he had many interests.  While he was a law student in The University of Texas, he formed a construction company that built, among other things, the Alamo and Alamo village at Bracketville, Texas, where John Wayne filmed his movie, “The Alamo.” Ras IV married Helen Jane Schieffer, and they had three children.  Their son, Ras Redwine V, is married to Elizabeth Whitenburg, and they live in Amarillo, Texas.  Ras and Jane’s daughter, Suzanne, represented Austin in the San Antonio Fiesta.  She is married to Mike Fischer, and they live in San Antonio.  Ras IV and Jane had another son, Brian, who was killed the day after he graduated from high school.  Jane died in February of 1975.  Ras IV married Beverly Cunningham.  He died at the age of fifty in 1978.

 Submitted by Martha Matthews Langhorne