William Kincheloe

William Kincheloe(1779-1835), a member of the Old Three Hundred, was one of the first Austin colonists to arrive in Texas. William Kincheloe was a blacksmith, a surveyor, a farmer, and a stock raiser. He was born in Kentucky in 1779. Around the age of 20, in 1799, he married Nancy Taylor. Both William and Nancy moved to Missouri in 1810, and had five childred before she died. In 1821, William was in St. Louis with his second wife, Mary (Betts). They had three sons together. On October 16, 1821, he registered as a colonist and was granted two headrights in Texas. One headright for being a colonist, and one for building a mill. Soon after, Stephen F. Austin sent him to Texas in order to explore land for twenty families. In the fall of 1821, Kincheloe examined the land and chose for himself a location between the Colorado River and Peach Creek, in present Wharton County.Handbook of Texas Online.]

In 1827 he signed a resolution of loyalty to the Mexican government, in protest of the Fredonian Rebellion, and was to present it to the Mexican governor. In 1828, he was elected police commissioner of Austin's colony, and his home became a meetingplace for men gathering to fight Indians. Kincheloe died in 1835 and was buried near Peach Creek.

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