William Henry Hitch

Wiliam H. Hitch purchased 640 acres of land from Francis Jordan for $800 in Tarrant Co., TX on July 21, 1857 (Tarrant Co, TX Land Records, Deed Book E, folio 134-135).

Civil War Veterans of Northeast Tarrant County
William Henry Hitch
Compiled by Michael Patterson
Copyright 2008-2009. All rights reserved.
William Henry Hitch was a Confederate veteran who settled in far-eastern Tarrant County before the War. He lies buried in his family cemetery near where Big Bear Creek crosses from Tarrant into Dallas County. Hitch was born November 18, 1818 in Kentucky. Several researchers have placed information about him at Ancestry.com, and there is some difference of opinion about his parentage. Family sources say Mr. Hitch was married in Franklin County, Tennessee on January 15, 1846 to Esther Ann Trigg. She was born January 10, 1821 and died March 17, 1899. Mrs. Hitch's father, Hayden Trigg (1793-1857), was a native of Bedford County, Virginia. By the time the 1850 census was taken, Hayden and his family were living in Bedford County, Tennessee.
A biographical sketch of Mrs. Hitch's brother, Daniel C. Trigg, was published in the Lewis Publishing Co., History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Tarrant and Parker Counties, (Chicago, 1895). A portion of it pertinent to Esther (Trigg) Hitch's family background says: "…[Esther Trigg's] parents were Hayden and Juda (Worder) Trigg. Grandfather Trigg, also named Hayden, was a native of the Old Dominion, a veteran of the Revolutionary war, and an early settler of Kentucky. He was a member of the Kentucky Legislature for several terms. The father of our subject [John W. Trigg] was born in Virginia, went from there to Kentucky, and thence to Tennessee, where he died in 1856. He was a farmer and slave-owner and a prominent man in his
community…The mother of [Esther Trigg Hitch] passed away in 1841. She was a evoted member of the Baptist Church, and was a true Christian in every sense of the word…" In the biographical sketch, Daniel C. Trigg said W. H. and Esther Hitch had been in Tarrant County since 1855. William Hitch appears in the 1860 tax lists of Tarrant County. He owned 320 acres of the P. Goodman survey, worth a total of one thousand dollars, and three slaves. His gravestone says he was a member of the 20th Brigade, Texas State Troops. He also served a term of six months as a first corporal in Co. H, 2nd Regiment Cavalry, Texas State Troops. He enlisted in Tarrant County on August 11, 1863. The 1870 census taker found the family living in Tarrant County. Mrs. Hitch said she was a native of Tennessee. The children with them in that year were Richard M. Hitch (born about 1857); Mary E. Hitch (born about 1862); and Grace T. Hitch (born about 1866), Hitch and his family appear in the 1880 census of Precinct 2 of Tarrant County, south of Big Bear Creek. With Mr. and Mrs. Hitch are three of their children: Richard (born about 1857); Mary E. (born about 1862); and Grace T. (born about 1866). In that year, the census taker made a notation that Esther was "cripple in hand." The Hitch home appears on Sam Street's 1895 Map of Tarrant County. In modern-day terms, it sat in far eastern Fort Worth, along the western boundary of the airport property, south of State Highway183, east of Amon Carter Blvd., somewhere near the eastern ends of Kingsport and Diplomacy Streets.

The Texas Historical Marker placed in the
Hitch-Leggett Cemetery in 1986 says: "This
cemetery was once part of a large farm owned by
Kentucky native William Henry Hitch
(1818-1893), who brought his family here from
Tennessee in 1855. The oldest grave in the
cemetery is that of Haden T. Hitch (1846-1858),
son of William H. and Esther Hitch. Besides the
graves of Hitch family members, the graveyard
also contains the burials of relatives in the
Trigg, Liggett, and Martin families, all of whom
had moved to Texas at the urging of William H.
Hitch. The Hitch Cemetery stands as a visible
reminder of those early pioneers. Texas
Sesquicentennial 1836-1986."

To reach the Hitch Family Cemetery, heading east on State Highway 183 take the Amon Carter Boulevard exit and go south to the access road along the south side of 183. Take the access road east a few blocks and turn left (south) onto Diplomacy. Go to the first right, which is Kingsport Road. There are two large warehouse-type buildings in the northwest corner of this intersection. The cemetery is tucked into a small space between them. It can be reached from parking lots on the north or south sides of these two buildings. Three of the Hitch children buried with headstones in the family cemetery are Haden T. Hitch (Sept. 28, 1846-July 26, 1858); Betty Hitch (March 15, 1851-July 16, 1862); and Billy Hitch (May 22, 1855-Aug. 7. 1862). Descendants say a fourth son, Richard W. Hitch (born Feb. 1857, died October 1, 1885) is buried there in an unmarked grave. Other sources say he died in 1900. One Richard Hitch appears in the 1900 Tarrant County census. Family sources Mary E. Hitch (born about 1862) married J. Sam Martin., and that they are both buried in Hitch Cemetery in unmarked graves.

William married Esther Ann Trigg, daughter of Hayden Trigg and Judith Warder, on 15 Jan 1846 in Franklin Co., TN.^{1 2} (Esther Ann Trigg was born on 19 Jan 1821 in Bedford Co., VA,^{5 8 9} died on 17 Mar 1899 in Tarrant Co., TX ⁵ and was buried about 20 Mar 1899 in Hitch-Liggett Family Cemetery, Euless, Tarrant Co., TX ⁵.)