JOHN JAMES DUKES, SR. 

The following bio was taken from page 182 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

  The earliest appearance of the surname “Dukes” appears to be for Herbert Le Duc of Shropshire in 1185 A.D.  The spelling of “Duke” was adopted in the year 1198 A.D. when Adam Duke was recorded in the Curla Regis Rolls of Buckinghamshire.  The name became familiar in London at the famous Duke’s Theatre built in 1660 to 1720.

 John James Dukes, Sr. (February 12, 1836-July 21, 1928) was born in Mobile, Alabama to James Ausbarn Dukes and Sarah Wilson.  John James Dukes, Sr. served in the Civil War in the First Alabama Infantry, Confederate States Army, June 30, 1861 and was also a corporal in Company “B” 53^rd Alabama Partisan Rangers from August 5, 1862 to 1863.

 John J. Dukes, Sr. arrived in Texas in 1869 with his wife, Mary Elizabeth White (1840-1884), one brother, Daniel Tucker  Dukes, and three sisters – Emma, Ellen, and Mattie.  He also brought his five oldest children:  James Osborne (1860-1934); John James, Jr. (1863-1927); Joe (1865-1932); and Mary Sue (1867-  ); Doc (1868-  ).  Four children were born in the Goodsprings Community in Texas:  Enoch (1871-1908); Sally (1873-  ); Martha Ellen (1876-1952); and Georgia (1878-  ).  John J. Dukes, Sr. settled on land he purchased from an individual and a Texas land grant.  His first wife died in 1884.  He married Mary Jane Siler December 26, 1889.  They had four children:  Hubbard, Maude, Oscar, and Crickett, who died as a child.  Mary Jane died in 1895. 

 John J. Dukes, Sr. married his third wife, Engene (Jennie) Allen on November 29, 1896.  They had five children:  Seaborn, Eunice, Garland, Lela, and Vera.

John J. Dukes, Sr. was one of the original founders of the first Goodsprings Methodist Church in 1870.  This church was made of logs.  Five generations of the Dukes family have been brought up in this church and community where three daughters, Maude, Lela and Vera, still live, along with several grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren.

John James Dukes, Jr. worked very closely with his father.  They had several sharecroppers working on their farms.  They raised cotton, corn, cane, and other crops.  They also owned a cotton gin, shingle mills, and syrup mills.  John Jr., born in Mobile, Alabama, January 9, 1863, married Fannie Duncan (1869-1905).  They had nine children:  Doll (1887-1968); George (1888-1959); Cora (1890-1958); Tom (1891-1929); Nancy (1894-1980); Doyle (1896-1965); Ada (1898-1918); Lucy (1902-1980); and Fannie (1905-infancy).  They were all raised in the Goodsprings church and school.  John J. Dukes, Jr.’s grandchildren still own the farms.  The house he and his wife built around 1900 stands on the Lucy Dukes Alsup Estate Farm.  A barn built by John Jr. and his son, George, still stands.

 Lucy married Ollie Woodson Alsup Sr., on July 18, 1920.  Woodson’s brother was a sharecropper for John Jr.  Woodson and Lucy had six children:  Dorthy Christene, Mary Elizabeth, Helen Virginia, Janie Lee, Wellborn Oleta, and Woodson Jr.  They still own the farms which have cattle, oil and gas wells.  Oil was discovered on the farm in January 1956.  Janie, Woodson Jr. and grandson, Charles Douglas, operate the farm and the Captain’s Table Restaurant in Henderson. 

George Dukes married Myrtle Bell Chandler June 20, 1926 and lived across the branch from Woodson and Lucy.  George and Myrtle had two daughters, Evelyn and Fannie.  They, along with one grandson, Charles Lee Ashby, live in Rusk County.

 The Goodsprings School consolidated with Carlisle School in 1937.  The Goodsprings United Methodist Church  is still active with approximately two hundred members.  The church building now in use was built in 1952.

 Submitted by Ollie Woodson Alsup, Jr.