DARST, ABRAHAM (1786-1833). Abraham Darst (Durst), early settler, received a league and labor of land from the Mexican government in 1831. This property is the site of the present town of Damon in Brazoria County, named for Samuel Damonqv who married Abraham's oldest daughter, Lorena; in early days the A. Darst league was in Fort Bend County. Darst was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, on May 14, 1786, the son of David Darst and Rosetta Holman. He was the brother of Jacob Darst,qv who died in the Alamo. The family moved to Missouri, and in 1810, in Saint Charles County, Abraham married Tabitha Callaway, the daughter of Flanders Callaway and Jemima Boone, and granddaughter of Daniel Boone and Rebecca Bryan. To this union, five children were born; when the fifth child was born in 1818 Tabitha died. According to legend, Abraham left the children with Daniel and Rebecca Boone for a time and married Jemima Brownfield in Fayette County Illinois, about 1820. In the late 1820s, before railroad transportation was available, they moved to Texas with children from both marriages, coming down the Missouri River on a raft to the Mississippi, then on to New Orleans where they took a boat to Velasco at the mouth of the Brazos River. They stopped at Bailey's Landing on the Brazos River until they located their land. Abraham and Jemima Darst had five children. Abraham Darst and his sons were farmers and ranchers. Darst died on December 23, 1833, and is buried in Damon Cemetery. On his tombstone with his name is the following: "Emigrated to Texas from Missouri in 1827 as an Austin Colonist. Participated in the Battle of Velasco, 1832. Five of his sons were in the Army of Texas in 1836. Born May 14, 1786. Died in December, 1833."
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Houston Post, August 14, 1966. Andrew Jackson Sowell, History of Fort Bend County (Houston: Coyle, 1904; rpt, Richmond, Texas: Fort Bend County Historical Museum, 1974). Clarence Wharton, Wharton's History of Fort Bend County (San Antonio: Naylor, 1939).
Virginia Scarborough
