(Writer’s note: This is one of a series of Brown County Legends. Many of the biographies were written in their lifetimes, by writers that knew them personally. This bio. Was written in 1895)
Mr. Baugh has been a cattleman for thirty-six years, and has a fame almost as extensive as an Indian fighter. He is a native of Mississippi, born in 1842, on October 28th, and lives at Brownwood, Texas.
His father, David Baugh, was born in Georgia, in 1802. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and married Miss Pensy Collins, of Alabama, a lady of English extraction, born in 1816. They were married in Mississippi, in 1832, and had fourteen children, ten of which lived to maturity, as follows: Alabama, Mary, Elizabeth, Levin P., Amanda, David C., Anderson, William M., Jesse 0., and Harriet P.
He followed farming in Mississippi until 1844, when he moved to Kaufman County, Texas, and added stock raising to his previous pursuit. In 1857 he moved to Brown County and devoted his whole attention to stock raising and was very successful, leaving his family in good circumstances at the time of his death in February, 1867.
Levin P. Baugh married Frances E. Mosley, daughter of Capt. Daniel H. Mosley, at Brownwood, Brown County, Texas, September 23, 1868. They have six children: Arizona Isabelle, John Morgan, Mary Blain, Frances E., Levin P. Jr. and Urolla.
He was a typical Texan and obtained his education on the range running cows, hunting buffalo and fighting Indians. He began business for himself in Brown County in 1858, one-and-a-half miles from his present home. He was an exclusive stock raiser and a successful one until 1870, when he began farming in connection and has since conducted both prosperously. In 1882 he added hogs to his other interests and built a five-foot stone fence around 4,000 acres of fine hog pasture, comprising both pecans and acorns. In 1884 he began raising mules on a large scale, which proved a grand success. He is still engaged in raising cattle, mules and hogs for market on a large scale. On his farm he produces all that is necessary for both stock and help, besides a surplus for market.
Mr. Baugh is an Indian fighter and never lost an opportunity to take a redskin’s scalp. He has lost several friends and two brothers-in-law by them which accounts for his bitter feelings against them, but he claims to have killed several Indians for each of the friends they had butchered. He has been in a number of fights and close places with the savages, but has never received a wound. At one time he was a participant in a running fight with the Indians and succeeded in killing the chief and roped his squaw, but the fighting got too hot and he had to abandon his prize and fall back on his trusty six-shooters. This fight occurred in August, 1866, at the head of Pecan Bayou. Mr. Baugh’s life story and his battles with the Indians during the bloody time of the 60’s on the Texas frontier would make a very interesting volume. He has now laid aside the warpath and is enjoying the results of his labors, privation and dangers.
Note: Levin P. and Frances Elizabeth Moseley Baugh, lay at rest in Baugh Cemetery, along the banks of Pecan Bayou on land he homesteaded.
Source: Historical & Biographical Record of the Cattle Industry & the Cattlemen of Texas, by James Cox – 1895
Photos: Brownwood Public Library – Genealogy & Local History Branch
This and many other stories are available at the Brownwood Public Library – Genealogy & Local History Branch at 213 S. Broadway. Volunteers from the Pecan Valley Genealogical Society are there to assist you in your family or local history research.
Clay Riley is a local historian and retired Aerospace Engineer that has been involved in the Historical and Genealogical Community of Brown County for over 20 years.
Should you have a comment, or a question that he may be able to answer in future columns, he can be reached at; pvgsbwd@gmail.com.
