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Note: Enoch Grigbsy Mays was born in Edgefield County, South Carolina July 29, 1816 posthumously after his father's death and died in Dallas, Texas, February 14, 1875 at the age of 59. Enoch relocated to Florida by 1837. Records indicate that Enoch G. Mays married Clotilda Elizabeth Linton August 29, 1837 in Jackson County, Florida. He was near the age of 21 years when he married. Most of his older brothers and sisters moved to Florida, and most stayed there and became influential citizens in the state. Many served as political, educational and church leaders in the state up to the present time. The 1840 Florida census does not give a breakdown on Enoch Mays' family members, so little information can be gained from it except that one of his neighbors was Thomas Linton who likely was related to his wife. In the 1850 Madison County, Florida census taken December 18, 1850, the children's names are listed for the first time. The first born was Mary Elizabeth Mays, 10 , Samuel Rhydon Mays, 7, William Anderson Mays, 6, Sarah Carolina Mays, 4, and Margaret Mays , 1. All the children were born in Florida. Enoch�s occupation is farmer with a worth of $9000. Enoch is 34, and Clotilda is 31. Clotilda is listed as Carolina in the census. The census slave records indicate that Enoch Mays had 25 slaves in 1850. According to Samuel Elias Mays, a first cousin of Enoch Mays, who also lived in Florida, and served in the Civil War as a soldier in the Confederate Army of Tennessee, and wrote a book on Mays family history in 1929, Enoch had ten children. He lists them as Mary Elizabeth Mays,William Anderson Mays, Samuel Rhydon Mays, three infants that died young (Sarah Caroline Mays, Margaret Rebecca Mays, and James L. [probably Linton] Mays), Enoch Grigsby Mays, Jr., Dannett Brevard Mays, Ida Linton Mays, and Lula Jane Mays. His source was Mrs. Lula Jane Mays Connor in 1928/29. Margaret Rebecca Mays was born November 20, 1849 in Madison County, Florida, and died May 25, 1851 in the same county, and is buried at the Oak Ridge Cemetery in this county. She was less than two years old. Sarah Caroline Mays was born May 21, 1847 in the same county and died August19, 1854 and is buried also in the Oak Ridge Cemetery. She was seven years old when she died. Neither one of them would make it to Texas. Land records indicate that Enoch and Clotilda together acquired over 720 acres of land in Florida in the period between 1841 to 1859. Enoch acquired 400 acres and Clotilda separately acquired 320 acres. It is unknown why the land was listed under separate names but likely Clotilda bought her land with inheritance from her parents and for whatever reason she kept it separate from her property with Enoch. Enoch arrived in Texas by late 1857 or early 1858 but no later than a few months before August 7, 1860 when the Grimes County census was taken. The information given on the census was effective as of June 1, 1860. Some of his children obituaries later verified that the family came to Texas at this time. A three-year old child (Dannett Brevard Mays) was born 1857 in Florida and a three-month-old child (James L. Mays) was born in Texas shortly before the census was taken. This child was probably born around March, 1860. This is the time frame for his arrival. We know from land records that Enoch bought a plot of land in Florida in June 1859, but I believe that when he came to Texas, he moved in increments. He probably came in the time frame 1857/58 and purchased land in Texas for his new venture to grow a lot of cotton, and then over a period of time moved all his slaves, property and family to his new home in Grimes County. He may have operated both plantations for a brief period while insuring that all the crops were harvested at the old location and planted at the new location.The 1860 Grimes census is the first record showing Enoch is in Texas, he is 44 years and a farmer with a total worth of $100,000. He is better off financially compared to the Florida census taken in 1850. Enoch was reported as being one of six men in Grimes county with this amount of wealth. He had sixty-six slaves in the 1860 census. His wife C.E. is 42, daughter, Mary E, 19, ,son, Sam E., 17, son William, 15, son, E. G. Jr., 6, son, D. Boyd (Dannett Brevard), 3, and son, James L, 3 months. Enoch's plantation was ruined by the civil war and the emancipation of his slaves. During reconstruction, he decided to seek his fortune elsewhere. By September 8, 1870, when the census was taken, Enoch and his family had relocated to Dallas County. Enoch's occupation is a merchant with a retail dry goods business in the downtown Dallas area. He probably also carried groceries and other supplies since most of the stores in those days carried general merchandise and had to deal in all goods to make it. He settled in the area of Dallas that eventually become the center of the downtown area cloistered around what is now Dealy Plaza and the old courthouse. The Trinity River was south and west of the city. In an newspaper article published in 1910, W. O. Connor who became Enoch�s son-in-law and arrived in Dallas in "1868 when the population was about 600, is quoted as saying that in the early days all business in Dallas was conducted on the city square which was near the Trinity River (before flood dikes were built), and when the river flooded due to heavy rains the downtown area would be flooded and the water would be so deep in the streets that horses had to swim to get across it. All the stores downtown carried mixed stocks, groceries, dry goods and so forth. Since there was no river navigation on the Trinity (and no railroads before 1872), all merchandise and goods had to be hauled in by wagons from Shreveport, Louisiana or Jefferson Texas the closest river transportation points. Transporting merchandise and goods was an expensive but growing business in Dallas. The great hotel in town was the Crutchfield House, which was very primitive and located on the corner of Main and Jefferson Streets. There were actually several versions of this hotel over the years. Most of them burned. Most houses in the city were roughly constructed during the early days. Hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Most were little more than log cabins. It would be years before nicer houses began to be constructed from cut lumber. There was little manufacturing locally so goods had to be ordered from the north. Sales representatives from New York would arrive in town to spend a week or so taking orders. partying and entertaining then return to New York to have the goods shipped. There was little farming in the county during the early days because most settlers thought the land was only suitable for cattle grazing. T.C. Jordan and E. G. Mays had their offices on the west side of the square and started the first bank. The original capital of their bank was contributed by Mr. Mays and was $20,000 in gold. Mr. Jordan contributed his services and ability. The interest rate in that time was as high as 5 % a month, or 2 % on gold edged security." This bank would develop into the first banking industry in Dallas. 1870 Census records indicate that E. G. Mays, 53, a merchant lives in Precinct 1. His total worth is $16,000; down from the $100,000 in the last census (1860) before the war. His wife, Clotilda E. Mays, son, Enoch Jr., 16, Daniel B (Boyd) (Dannett Brevard), 13, Ida, 11, Lula, 8, and a domestic servant, Francine Dobbins , 14, white female, born in Louisiana live in the household. E. G. Mays Sr. is listed in the 1873 city directory living on Bryan near the Texas and Central Railroad, but not working. Enoch Mays Sr. is living at 62 Bryan but not indicated working in the 1875 city directory. I believe that the Mays home was at 62 Bryan and the Mays store was located at 82 Bryan. The street numbering system was different in those days, so I don't know which present block he lived on. By this time, E. G. Mays Sr. was likely in poor health and this was the year of his death. The fact that only one of his sons is still working in the Mays� business indicates that it was not a large or growing concern by this time. Enoch was probably living off the money he had loaned out in the years when he was involved in the banking business. The early city planners of Dallas lay out and reserved Pacific Avenue for a future railroad in the 1870's . The railroad was approaching the city from the south, but there were few financial reasons for it to come into the town. It planned to bypass Dallas originally, which had nothing to attract it. It is possible that the railroad wanted concessions from the city, such as donated right of way or favorable tax considerations and used this as a bargaining chip? They could make or break a city and thus used this to their advantage when possible. The city officials knowing that without a railroad the city would not thrive wanted to entice the railroad and made promises to them in hopes of getting them into the town. Without a railroad, the city would have probably withered and died. To entice the railroad they needed more right-of-way land. Some of the city property owners balked at giving up [donating] the right-of-ways. Some landowners who were more farsighted donated land because they thought they would profit from it, but there were a few holdouts who wanted to be compensated by the city. It looked like the effort to get a railroad would fail, but the city officials made a last ditch effort and appointed a committee of three men, W. H. Prather, E. G. Mays and F. M. Hammond [son-in-law of Enoch Mays] to calculate the damages [what it would cost], contact the balking landowners, and persuade them to sale and then report back to the mayor. The men on the committee came [up] with an award amount for the reluctant landowners in a day or two. They recommended that a Mr. Petty be paid $1200 in specie, Mrs. Fisher be paid $150 in specie, and R. H. Harris be paid $1500 in specie. They ignored two other reluctant owners who did not want to sell and did not recommend any payment to them. As soon as they reported to the mayor, lawyers [who saw a chance to profit] representing the landowners showed up and threaten to sue the city in court. The city did not have any money available for a court fight and wanted to avoid court action. They decided to appoint another committee and finally were able to raise the money for the reluctant owners by floating a city promissory note to get the money to purchase necessary right-of-way. The railroads were persuaded to come into the city. The city floated a loan to get them in. This turn of events opened up the city for development and the impact on the city of Dallas was immediate.The Mays estate, which covered two city blocks in the center
of present downtown Dallas was subdivided by Connor-Gannon [sons-in-law of E. G. Mays]who operated a partnership, Dallas Guarantee and Investment Company at the time. This subdivision consisted of city blocks, number 478 and 477. When Lula Mays Connor died in her 90�s in the 1950's her obituary stated that Enoch Mays, her father, an early pioneer of Dallas once had a farm in the downtown area, but I do not believe that he ever actually farmed it. There is no record that he farmed after he left Grimes County. Bryan, Hasten, Live Oak, Pacific, and Hardwood were the streets that bordered the �farm�. This area is now prime Dallas real estate. When Enoch died he had acquired valuable holdings and several people owned him substantial sums of money that had been loaned out while he had been engaged in the banking business. This resulted in several lawsuits being filed on his behalf after he died by his executor, Mr. W. H. Gaston, the trustee of his estate, and the heirs. The heirs also filed several lawsuits against each other and against their mother during the late 1870's and early 1880's. She in turn suited some of them. The person who appeared to have filed the most law suits during this during the period [1876-1881] was E. G. Mays Jr. It is probable that some of the family members had disagreements over the terms of the division of the estate, and this may be the reason that most of them left the Dallas area immediately after their parent's deaths. Most of the older married children had already received sums of money from Enoch before his death when they married, and this appears to have been a contention point during the litigation process by the younger children who had not received what they considered their fair share from the estate before probate. Some of the younger children attended fashionable college and schools in St. Louis and in North Carolina according to contemporary documents of the time. Dannett and Ida attended a Presbyterian College in North Carolina, and Lula attending a school in St. Louis during the 1870's. No obituary has been located for Enoch or his wife since newspapers for this time is unavailable. Both are buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Dallas, and have marker, that are old and barely readable.
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