Genealogy Links:
http://www.genealogy.com/users/w/e/s/Gloria-Rice-West/http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/e/s/Gloria-Rice-West-OK/index.html
(Above links furnished by Roy and Gloria West)
http://www.cemeteries-of-tx.com/Oklahoma/Jackson/ListJackson.html (this link is to the Jackson County Cemeteries--photos and information to several Eldorado and surrounding area cemeteries have been published here by Patti O'Bannon from Eldorado.)
Roy West's great grandfather, H.P. West was one of the first 3 county commissionsers of Jackson County and his name is on the Courthouse NE Corner on a Marble plaque. This took place in 1907, when OK became a state. www.jacksoncountyok.com
H.P. West was Sheriff of Navarre Co. TX in the late 1800s. He was involved in helping bring the Range War to a head. He, his mother Martha Jones West and a brother left KY with a wagon train and went to TX to receive land grants. He married Mary Florence Durham, was sherrif, ran a dairy, and then followed his father-in-law to Greer county TX; and he and his mother built a home directly on two homesteads down on Red River. They received their Land Grants from the President while it was still Greer Co. TX. H.P. then became one of the 1st 3 county commissioners of Jackson County in 1907
Built in 1910 by County Commissioners
E. C. Ballow
S. L. Boulware
H. P. West
Architect: C. E. Hair & Co.
Contractors: Rowles & Bailey
"My Eldorado Homesite"
W.C. Rice Farm
(Following books by Roy and Gloria West)
AMYX AND ALLIED ANCESTORS - SIXTEENTH CENTURY TO TWENTIETH CENTURY
RECORDS OF OUR RICE - TYSON - HURST - NEIL - EPPERSON - MORRIS RELATIONS
ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS - THE DURHAM AND WEST FAMILIES: FROM THE OLD WORLD TO THE NEW WORLD
Information from Mr. Dan Speight of Jacksonville, FL, great-grandson of Mr. Seth Wescott Speight, originally from Eldorado, Oklahoma. (Note: photos to be added at a later date)
Seth Wescott Speight 
1841-1937
Seth Wescott Speight was born on 3 January, 1941 in Como, Henry County, Tennessee. He was the son of farmer William Thomas Speight (1813-1899) and Frances Fields Speight (1809-1871) who moved to Cottage Grove, Tennessee in 1834 from Greene County, North Carolina. He was the eighth generation descendent of original American “Speight” Francis Speight who arrived at Jamestown, Virginia from England on June 16, 1635. Seth had 5 brothers and 2 sisters.
On 20 May 1861 Seth Speight and his brother Francis Marion “Dock” Speight enlisted in the Confederate Army on the courthouse lawn in Paris, Henry County, Tennessee. Henry County earned the title “Volunteer County of the Volunteer State” after sending more than 2,500 volunteers to the Confederacy. The Speight brothers were assigned as Privates in Company “H” of the 5th Tennessee Infantry Regiment.
Private Speight took part in the battle of New Madrid, Missouri in February 1862. He then headed to Fort Pillow, Memphis and finally to Corinth, Mississippi. Assigned to Stewart’s Brigade, he participated in the Confederate victory at the Battle of Shiloh, Kentucky in April 1862. His regiment was reorganized after Shiloh and Co. “H” consolidated with Co. “F” to form 2nd Co. “E” on 6 May 1862.
Joining General Bragg on his expedition into Kentucky, he participated in the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky in October 1862 under the command of Cheatham and Stewart. The regiment suffered 90 casualties in the battle and retreated to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Because of heavy losses the regiment was consolidated to form the 4th/5th Consolidated Tennessee Infantry Regiment. In the Battle of Murfreesboro in December 1862 the regiment formed the right wing of Stewart’s Brigade and helped in the capture of Federal pieces. They then withdrew to Shelbyville and did outpost until June 1863 when the retreat to Chattanooga began. In July 1863 Colonel Strahl was promoted to Brigadier General and took command of the brigade, now known as Strahl’s Brigade.
In September 1863 the brigade, assigned to Cheatham’s Division of Polk’s Corps, was victorious in the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia. At Missionary Ridge in November 1863 the brigade was in Stewart’s Division, Gen. Breckinridge’s Corps. They were posted in rifle pits in the rear and held the line when Strahl’s Brigade were forced to retreat from the ridge. The brigade helped cover the retreat to Dalton, Georgia for the Winter.
In May 1864 Pvt. Speight spent the next 3 months under fire from Dalton to the seige of Atlanta to the Battle of Jonesboro, Georgia. After the war, Seth Speight told gruesome stories of Sherman’s campaign to take Atlanta. He said the fighting was continuous, day and night, taking 90 days to cover 90 miles. During this time he was shot in the shoulder on the Chattahoochie Bridge and wounded. The ball was removed and he continued the march to Tennessee with General John B. Hood until they finally reached the Tennessee River in October 1864.
On 30 November 1864 the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee began. It was a huge loss for the Confederates and General Strahl and 5 other generals were fatally wounded. Seth Speight’s wounds forced him to be sent to a sanitarium in Franklin. After the Union victory in Nashville on 15 December 1864 the citizens and soldiers of Franklin were forced to flee for safety and leave the wounded and sick behind. Due to his condition, doctors ordered Private Speight to submit to capture on 18 December 1864. He was then transferred to Camp Chase Prison in Columbus, Ohio. On 17 February 1865 he was paroled from Camp Chase and transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland for exchange. He finally reached home in Cottage Grove, Tennessee on 2 May 1865.
After settling back in Eldorado after the war, Seth Speight joined the local Masonic Lodge and took his master’s degree in September 1865. On 11 January 1866 he married local girl Virginia Albertine Carter and moved into a farm next to his brother Jim and parents William and Frances. He converted and joined the Methodist Church of Eldorado in 1879.
In 1882 Seth and family moved to Round Rock and then to McGregor, Texas in 1884. In 1899 Seth and his wife, along with son Fred and daughters Frankie and Anna, moved to Eldorado, Oklahoma under the Homestead Act. His other children remained in Texas with the exception of son Wesley who moved to Jamaica, Queens, New York. When Seth’s daughter Bettie (Wynne) died in 1901 two of her four children, Ferd (1) and Paul (11), came to live with Seth and Virginia.
On 7 January 1911, Seth’s wife Virginia died at the age of 65. All churches in Eldorado dismissed their congregations to attend her funeral on Sunday morning at 11:00 AM at the Eldorado Methodist Church. Virginia Speight was a hard working and very religious woman and known by all. After his wife’s death, Seth Speight turned 70 and began living with his daughters Annie (Bodenhamer) and Virginia “Jennie” (Patterson).
In 1925, Seth Speight was appointed as a Delegate to the 35th Annual Reunion and Convention of United Confederate Veterans (U.C.V.) held in Dallas, Texas. He was a member of U.C.V. Eldorado Camp No. 1709.
In September 1935, at the age of 94, Seth Speight received the degree of Master Mason on the 70th anniversary of his membership. At the time he was the oldest Mason in Jackson County and Eldorado’s oldest citizen. Over the years the town folks of Eldorado began referring to Seth Speight as “Captain” and did so until his death.
At “High Noon” on Thursday, 7 October 1937, “Captain” Seth Wescott Speight died at the age of 96 years, 9 months and 4 days. His funeral was held at the Methodist Church on 8 October 1937. He was buried in the Eldorado Cemetary.
Biography compiled by Daniel Speight, Great-grandson of Seth Speight, Jacksonville, Florida
-----Rick Sylvester
bravenet.com