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Post by stuart on Sept 19, 2007 14:46:08 GMT -5
Can anyone throw any light on the death of this gentleman, (an associate of James Grant) in Nacogdoches in 1840.
He left a diary detailing his efforts to track down what happened to Grant, to his money and to certain papers, which was published by the SWHQ and initially erroneously attributed to Adolphus Sterne.
Sterne noted on commencing his own diary in September 1840 that Ogilvie had died at his home in Nacogdoches “some time ago”. As those who have read my book will recall his death was very convenient for certain parties and indeed so convenient I would be very interested to know whether it was down to natural causes or whether some accident befell him.
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Post by TRK on Sept 20, 2007 8:43:48 GMT -5
No doubt Ogilvie's (or, according to some spellings, Ogilvy) early demise was welcome news to some, but there appears to be nothing in Sterne's diary that hints that Ogilvie died by misadventure. It seems that if, as Sterne wrote, Ogilvie was his friend and he died in his house, there would be some intimation if Ogilvie's death was from other than natural causes. Note, too, that when Sterne starts keeping his own diary, he makes frequent references to people dying in Nacogdoches; apparently it wasn't the healthiest locale.
Researching this would be tough: AFAIK there are no Nacogdoches newspapers for the 1839-40 period. There may be death or cemetery records somewhere that could shed light on this.
Not to derail the thread, but while reading your book, Stuart, as well as the Ogilvie diary in Southwestern Historical Quarterly, the name of Dr. James Cameron comes up in connection with James Grant and James Ogilvie. A bit of trivia: this must have been the same Dr. James Cameron who in early 1843 offered to assist the Mier prisoners as they foundered in the mountains and desert near Saltillo after their breakout from Hacienda Salado. Dr. Cameron was living on a ranch in the area and reportedly was a relative of Ewen Cameron, one of the leaders of the Mier men.
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Post by stuart on Sept 20, 2007 15:05:39 GMT -5
Ah well, I was hoping there might be some mention in a newspaper but if they were illiterate in Nacogdoches...
Cameron I've never quite figured out. He's a lot more shadowy that Grant, although certainly an associate. I have a feeling he may have taken over as resident after Grant got his at Agua Dulce but I really can't pin him down.
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Post by TRK on Sept 21, 2007 9:49:28 GMT -5
Cameron seems to have fallen off the map for a few years after 1843. I've never seen any references to him as a resident of northeastern Mexico during the Mexican War; someone that prominent should have appeared in accounts of the U.S. invaders. He resurfaced in March 1853, when he signed a receipt that he'd received payments due him for his services in the Texas Revolution. The pertinent documents are here: type in "Cameron, John" in the search field: www2.tsl.state.tx.us/trail/RepublicSearch.jsp |
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