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Johnson City in Blanco County, Texas — The American South (West South Central)
 

Thomas C. and Eliza V. Felps

 
 
Thomas C. and Eliza V. Felps Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Richard Denney, March 21, 2019
1. Thomas C. and Eliza V. Felps Marker
Inscription.

Born in Tennessee in 1836, Thomas C. Felps came to Texas in 1850 and to this area in 1856. He earned a living by freighting and joined the Blanco County Rangers during the Civil War. In 1863 he married Eliza V. White (b. 1846), a native of Ohio. In the summer of 1869, the couple lived with Eliza's parents while Thomas recovered from a fever. Her father, newly-appointed County Judge S. T. White, had gone to Blanco on July 21, 1869, when Thomas and Eliza were killed by a band of Indians on Cypress Creek. Only Eliza was scalped. The couple's orphaned children, Thomas and Caroline, were cared for by Eliza's parents.
 
Erected 1975 by Texas Historical Commission. (Marker Number 6386.)
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Native AmericansSettlements & Settlers. A significant historical date for this entry is July 21, 1869.
 
Location. 30° 11.767′ N, 98° 19.94′ W. Marker is in Johnson City, Texas, in Blanco County. Marker is located on Miller Creek Cemetery Road, inside the Miller Creek Cemetery, near Johnson City, Texas. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Johnson City TX 78636, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 8 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Mt. Horeb Baptist Church (approx. 5.4 miles away); Peyton Colony (Board House) (approx. 5.4 miles away); Lyndon B. Johnson and Hill Country Electrification (approx. 7.2 miles away); The LBJ Legacy (approx. 7.2 miles away); Johnson Settlement Trail
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(approx. 7.2 miles away); Johnson City (approx. 7.2 miles away); Pedernales Electric Cooperative, Inc. (approx. 7.2 miles away); E. Babe Smith (approx. 7.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Johnson City.
 
Additional commentary.
1. Cypress Creek
The Cypress Creek referenced on the marker is a creek that feeds into the Pedernales River. At its closest, it is about 10 miles northeast of Johnson City. The creek runs through Cypress Creek, Texas. More information on Cypress Creek, TX is available on the Handbook of Texas.

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrcbf
    — Submitted March 24, 2019, by Richard Denney of Austin, Texas.

2. Dates of death, 1869 vs. 1873
The killing of the Felps (elsewhere spelled "Phelps") precipitated what is known as the Deer Creek Fight, or Battle of Deer Creek. While dates of death shown on tombstones here are 1869, as was noted in a news article "Most information indicates the Battle of Deer Creek was in 1873 [and that] Many facts concerning the history of Johnson City and Blanco County were lost in a courthouse fire in 1876 in Blanco." [Johnson City reenacts battle to celebrate founding, The Austin American Statesman, Jul 3, 1979]

Indeed the
Thomas C. and Eliza V. Felps Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Richard Denney, March 21, 2019
2. Thomas C. and Eliza V. Felps Marker
Marker is behind headstone.
book written by Capt. Dan W. Roberts who was in the Deer Creek Fight gives a date of August, 1873, and states the "Phelps" were killed "just a few days before". [Rangers and Sovereignty, Wood Printing & Engraving Co., San Antonio, TX, 1914, p.19]

The tombstones in the cemetery are replacements of the originals which are in very bad shape. It could well be the dates were illegible when the new ones were put up and or other sources suggested the date of 1869.
    — Submitted March 27, 2020, by Richard Denney of Austin, Texas.
 
Thomas C. and Eliza V. Felps Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Richard Denney, March 21, 2019
3. Thomas C. and Eliza V. Felps Marker
Close-up of headstone in front of marker.
Thomas C. and Eliza V. Felps Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Richard Denney, March 21, 2019
4. Thomas C. and Eliza V. Felps Marker
What appears to be the original headstone is located near the front gate to the cemetery and is barely legible, but enough so to identify it.
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on March 27, 2020. It was originally submitted on March 24, 2019, by Richard Denney of Austin, Texas. This page has been viewed 381 times since then and 28 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on March 24, 2019, by Richard Denney of Austin, Texas. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 28, 2024