MARIA ANTOINETTE MCLEMORE CAMP

The following bio was taken from page 141of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Maria Antoinette McLemore, who was born November 4, 1889, in Henderson, Texas, Rusk County, married Walter Thompson Camp June 9, 1909, died June 21, 1978. Maria was our mother.

In addition to strict adherence to traditions of genteel southern ladies, Maria was dedicated to her Graham family lineage and the preservation of family and family history. This trait is apparent in most of the Graham lines for generations as evidenced in the detailed genealogy of the Grahams beginning in 1128 with William de Graham who witnessed the Charter founding the Abbey of Holyroodhouse, Scotland. His great great grandson, Sir David De Graham, founded the Montrose line from which our family is descended.

The first American of the line was John Graham, a descendant of the Duke of Montrose and Claverhouse, the Earl of Dundee. John Graham, loyal to the House of Stuarts, and suffering hardships, there upon requested and received a land grant of one hundred acres in 1767 in the Cape Fear area of North Carolina. Born in 1710 in Scotland, he came to America in 1776 to claim his grant. He married Elizabeth Smiley in Scotland, and among their children was a son, Archibald, who was born in Inverary, Argylshire, Scotland in 1735.

Archibald married Mary Baxter in Inverary and they had several children, one of whom was Euphemia, born December 25, 1766 in Inverary. Then in 1776, at the age of forty-three, Archibald and his family emigrated with John Graham to the land grant in North Carolina. John Graham was a schoolmaster and established many schools in the area. Some referred to him as the "Johnny Appleseed" of education in the Cape Fear area.

Euphermia Graham married a Major Baldy Graham (same name, but no relation), who was also born in Inverary. They reared a large family, and it is their children who earned the title of "Statesman Grahams." Major Baldy Graham fought with the patriots in the Revolutionary War. His son, William Archibald Graham, was born September 18, 1787, in Cumberland County, North Carolina.

From 1812-1817 William Archibald Graham served in Congress from his district. He was also a tax assessor during the War of 1812, as well as State Treasurer in Alabama, after moving there from Quewhipple Creek, North Carolina in 1818. Until 1860 he served in various positions of high authority in the State of Alabama. In 1822 he married Sara Ann Foster. William Archibald Graham died April 7, 1860 and is buried in the family cemetery on the Graham plantation in Autauga County, Alabama.

The second daughter of William Archibald Graham and Sara Ann Foster was Maria (Maria) Euphemia Graham, born in 1828, and married to Simeon McLemore in 1847. Simeon served in the Civil War and died around 1869. Their sixth child was Charles Billingslea, born in 1857 in Alabama. He moved to Rusk County, Texas, where his uncle, Dr. Alfred Graham is thought to have lived. Here he married Bennie Redwine in 1888. Their only child was Maria Antoinette McLemore. Charles Billingslea McLemore was a merchant and landowner in Rusk County.

Bennie Redwine was the fourth child of H. D. E. Redwine (Ras 1) and Victoria Antoinette Cameron. H. D. E. Redwine was prominent in building many of the business buildings still standing in downtown Henderson. Ras came from Mississippi to Rusk County in early 1850 and was the son of Hullum Duke Redwine.

Maria Antoinette McLemore was preceded in death by her husband, Walter Thompson Camp of Rusk County. Their children living today are: Maria Antoinette Camp, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Frances Camp Custer, Henderson, Texas; Benjamin McLemore Camp, Lufkin, Texas; Jo Margaret Camp Pitman, Henderson, Texas. Two deceased children are Walter Thompson Camp, Jr., and Charlene Camp. At this writing, Maria McLemore Camp leaves eight grandchildren, ten great grandchildren and three great great grandchildren.

Submitted by Carol Camp Moore