Who Was John Calhoun Isbell of Texas?
Historic Suspension Bridge in Waco
According to page 146-147 of A Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas (The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1893), “Mr. Isbell was born in Georgia, 1836, son of Penilton and Susan (Cleveland) Isbell. Both the Isbells and Clevelands were descended from Virginia families. The grandparents of our subject, however, were born in South Carolina. Penilton Isbell was a planter and slave owner. His grandfather, Sidney Isbell, fought in the Revolutionary War, and his father, Livingston Isbell, participated in the war of 1812, and he, with eight sons and two grandsons, in the Confederate war.
…
JC Isbell was reared to farm life and received a common school education. At the age of eighteen he commenced farming on his own account. From 1856 to 1861 he traveled throughout Arkansas, Texas and the Indian Nation. In 1861, May 28, he entered the Confederate service, as a member of Company E, Third Texas Calvary.
…
Mr. Isbell was married in 1867, to Miss U L Moffett, daughter of PCP and Unie (Davis) Moffett, natives of Mississippi and old settlers of Texas. Mrs. Isbell was born in Texas in 1850. Her father died in 1878 and her mother in 1884. To Mr. and Mrs. Isbell have been born nine children—T P, Georgia, Willie, deceased, Jennie, Estell, Jossie, Bolivar, John C, and Maud J., deceased. Georgia is now attending Waco University. Mr. Isbell and his wife and five of their children are members of the Baptist Church.
He is an Odd Fellow and is also a member of the Grange organization.”