THOMAS BENTON DANIELS

The following bio was taken from page 169 of 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

My father, L. C. Daniels, can trace his family’s Rusk County roots back to the early 1800’s when his maternal grandfather, Captain Wiley Moyers, born in 1833 in Surry County North Carolina, settled in Rusk County. After arriving in Rusk County, he married Polly Waggoner in 1850. Captain Moyers, who was a Confederate officer in the Civil War, settled in the Goodsprings-Hickey area of Rusk County. He was a ginner and farmer by trade. My father’s grandfather, Isom "Dock" Barnett, was the first of twelve children born to Captain Wiley and Polly Moyers. Dock was married twice. He and his first wife, Jacythia Moore, had four children. Their second child was Ollie Elizabeth, my father’s mother. After the death of Jacythia, Isom married Emma Fannie Gardner. They had a total of seven children. Captain Moyers died in 1899 and is buried in Moyers Cemetery in the Hickey Community.

The Daniels first appeared in Rusk County with the arrival of Thomas Benton Daniels and Sarah Walsh Daniels, who moved to Rusk County in the late 1800’s from Fanning County, originally coming to Texas from Durant, Oklahoma. Sarah was park Cherokee Indian. Sarah and Tom had seven children, and the son with whom we are concerned was Wilbur Vester Daniels, who was born in 1878 in Durant, Oklahoma. Wilbur Daniels and Ollie Moyers, my father’s parents, were married on January 1, 1900 in Rusk County.

Shortly after their marriage, my grandparents built a farmhouse in the Goodsprings Community, near the log house which had been built by Wilbur’s father. This farmhouse was typical of the architecture of the period with a dog run down the center of the house. The house still remains in the Vernon Daniels family, although not on the original building site. My father was the youngest of six children: Lourell, Floyd, Vernon, Daisy, Elmer, and L. C. My father, L. C., was born on September 4, 1914 in Rusk County. He is the only surviving child.

My father, along with his brothers and sister, grew up on the family farm, where their father primarily ranched but also grew corn and cotton. For a brief period, the Daniel’s were owners of a store and boathouse called Daniel’s Landing, located on the old County Lake in the Hickey community.

Although times were often hard, my father recalls his early school days with fondness. Along with the other children, he walked to the Goodsprings Elementary School, located just below the present day Goodsprings Methodist Church. The school consisted of grades one through nine.

After leaving the Goodsprings School, my father attended Henderson High School. After graduation, he became a rancher and farmer like his father before him. My father married my mother, Velma Lurean Harris, in 1950. They bought a farm adjacent to his father’s farm. During the 1950’s, he was one of the largest watermelon growers in the county. During the late 1960’s, he entered law enforcement as a Rusk County Sheriff’s Deputy. He was later appointed Sheriff after the resignation of Lloyd Arthus. He was re-elected to two terms, winning both elections without run-offs. In 1980, he and my mother moved back to their farm. I am the only child of their marriage. I have one son, Chris Terry, and we live on the land which is an inheritance from Wilbur V. Daniels.

Submitted by: Shirlean Daniels Earley