Mary E. Riggs

Mary E. Riggs

Mary E. Hefferman (later Riggs), during her life made the following statements, “I left New York with my father John Hefferman and a number of other colonists for Texas in December 1830.  The Brig upon which we sailed was to pout in at the mouth of the Aransas, but through a mistake, we were landed at Copano.  From there we went to Mission Refugio, where we remained one year, then to San Patricio, where my father john Hefferman, located his head-right.  James Hefferman going further inland located on the Poesta where Beeville now stand, where he was living when the war between Texas and Mexico broke out.  My father and my cousin, John Ryan, went to James Heffermans to assist him in lying by his crop, when they all intended joining General Fannin’s command at Goliad.  The day before they finished ploughing they were attacked in the fields by Indians and Mexicans and killed.  The Indians then went to the house and killed the family of James Hefferman, consisting of his wife Ellen and five children.  The first intimation of the sad fate that had befallen these early settlers was received by relatives and friends in San Patricio by finding at the cow pen one morning, the cows of James Hefferman, which had been moved with him to his home of the Poesta.  The aroused the suspicion of the Colonists who at once sent three boys to eh Hefferman Ranch to find out what was the matter.  They got within sight of the settlement and seeing no one, returned saying “No one thereâ€.  Then a party of men went to investigate.  They found the three men, John Hefferman, James Hefferman and John Ryan dead in the field, the oldest son of James between the field and the house.  Ellen and her four children dead at the house.  They had been dead several days.  Their remains were collected, put in one large box and buried near the scene of the murder; the exact spot cannot be located.  The calves were dead in the pen.  The only living thing was a little dog.  Thus ended the first attempt to settle Beeville, which however did not receive its name until 1859, in which year the County seat of Bee county, was located in the valley.† This ends the statement by Mary E. Hefferman, when she made it in 1895 to her grand-daughter Josephine Elizabeth Riggs.  The land grant to James Hefferman is dated June 30, 1835.  When he came to where Beeville is now, we can only guess.  Mary E. Hefferman says they left Ireland in 1830, we can guess James Hefferman also left with them, so they arrived in Copano about one year later, as they stayed in New York one year.  The massacre occurred in 1835, as they were intending to go to assist Fannin at Goliad.  The cows retuned to San Patricio from where they had been moved so I guess they settled on the Poesta in 1834, on the east bank near where there is a school house for smaller children, and where one stood Mrs. Whitehead home.  Their cow pen was near where Dr. Long’s residence now stands.

The family of Mrs. John Hefferman continued to live in San Patricio until after the battle of San Jacinto when General Houston ordered all settlers on the frontier of Mexico to either go east or into Mexico. Mrs. John Hefferman with the rest of her family went east, locating at Brazoria, where the subject of this sketch was married to Hiram Riggs in 1838.  Then they moved to Goliad where Mr. Riggs farmed for six years.  In 1844 they moved to Corpus Christi, where he engaged in the mercantile business until his death July 1855.  They had eight children, which follow, only were living then, one of which was Lee Riggs living in Corpus Christi, the daughter not named.

 

Mary E. Riggs, b 1821 d 1903 married Hiram Riggs, 1838 died 1855.  Their

children: John James Riggs b. 1838 d. 1969.  Mary E. Riggs b 1842 d

1867, Richard Riggs b 1844  d same day.  Margaret Riggs b 1846 d 1847,

Leonidas (Lee) Riggs b. 1854 d 1903.  Fannie Riggs b.  1850 d. 1885,

Susan Alice Riggs b 1854 d 1903, Annie Eliza Riggs b. 1852 d 1885 the

land grants for Bee County, Texas, are dated 1834 and 1835.

 

Source:

Rountree, Joseph G., II.  History of Bee County Texas.  Beeville, Texas: Rountree, 1960.

Research by:  Msgr. Michael A. Howell

Transcription by:  Geraldine D. McGloin, Nueces County Historical Commission