Elizabeth Huling was one of the pioneer women of Texas. The daughter of John Bullock and Mary Dooley, she was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, on April 12, 1820. When she was six years old her mother died, and she was taken by her mother's brothers, Hardin and Ashbrook Dooley, to their home. When about twelve, she went on a visit to her mother's sister, the wife of Jesse Moppin, who was living at Paris, Kentucky. The aunt and uncle treated her with great kindness, and, as they were talking about going to Texas, asked if she would not like to go with them. Delighted with the idea, she assented without hesitation, and, in a short time they started on their long journey going down the Mississippi river to New Orleans, and thence, in 1833, to Nachitoches. Traveling by ox wagon from this point, they crossed the Sabine river at Gaines' Ferry, and settled near San Augustine. There they stayed at Mrs. Milton's boarding house, and made many acquaintances in the neighborhood, among them being Mrs. Hines, who lived near by, and Mrs. Hines's granddaughter, Mrs. Carter, whose home was at a greater distance; but, as she and Elizabeth were greatly attracted to each other, they spent many happy days together. It was during a delightful visit at Mrs. Carter's that Elizabeth received word of her Uncle Jesse Moppin's violent illness. Going immediately to his bedside, she helped to nurse him through the long suffering, which ended in his death.
Her aunt returned to Kentucky, but, having tasted the indefinable charm of life in a new country, she determined to remain in Texas and share the fate of her new friends, who were overjoyed at having this bright maiden of fifteen as a member of their households. Among them was X. B. Mudd, who, with his family, lived at the village of Zavala, in Jasper county, ten miles northwest of the old town of Jasper. Mr. Mudd was a Frenchman, then holding the office of sheriff, under the Alcalde Almonte, and Elizabeth went to live with his family in the early part of 1835, participating with them in all the dangers and excitement of the revolution. Many years afterward she gave the following brief account of her recollection of the “Runaway Scrape”: “In 1836 came the terrible panic caused by the invasion of Texas by Santa Anna. Most of the men were in the army. The women and children and the few men who were at home went fifty miles to the Sabine river, reaching a point called Salem. One of the refugees, Mrs. Dulaney, had four small children. On her pony she fastened a feather bed, and placing three of the children on it carried the fourth in her arms as she led the pony. Mrs. Donahue, another refugee, started from home in a wagon with a baby only nine days old. While she was camping one night there came up a terrific storm; the other women of the camp held blankets over the sick woman for her protection from the elements.
“The refugees had driven some stock cattle with them and some milch cows; the men split rails, of which they made pens to keep the cattle. This was at a place called Cow Creek Bend, on the Sabine River, near the Indian village of Biloxi. The Indians had deserted their village only a few days before, but the houses were too filthy for occupancy by white people. The refugees were in constant fear of the return of the Indians with hostile intentions, as it was known that the Mexicans were trying to incite them to warfare against the whites. The young people, however, being free from care, were never more happy, and regarded the whole affair as a holiday excursion.”
It was while here that Miss Bullock formed the acquaintance of Philip Smith, who was cultivating some of the Indian lands at the village of Biloxi, and, before she had completed her seventeenth year, she became his wife.
In the fall of 1837 the Mudd family, accompanied by Philip Smith, his wife and child, moved back to the village of Zavala, where, within the year, the young wife suffered the double bereavement of the loss of husband and babe.
The years 1838 and 1839 witnessed a great influx of immigrants into Texas, and this portion of the Republic shared the general revival of prosperity in an eminent degree. There were many public gatherings, barbecues, balls and other festivities. It was no uncommon thing for the women and girls to ride ten miles to a barbecue, and then dance until daylight. As General Houston was making a tour among all the Eastern settlements the citizens of Jasper resolved to give him such an enthusiastic reception as could be tendered only by loyal hearts and hands. There was a grand barbecue by day, patriotic speeches galore, and by night a ball in the court-house. A moment of fluttering suspense among the assembled fair as the General entered the room, and then,—he invited Mrs. Elizabeth Smith to accompany him in the opening dance,—an honor always cherished with becoming modesty by the lady up to her latest days. The friendship then begun lasted through life.
On May 15, 1839, Elizabeth Bullock Smith became the wife of Thos. B. Huling, of Jasper county. They settled in the village of Zavala, where they lived for many years in prosperous circumstances.
During the Texas Revolution Thos. B. Huling transported ammunition and provisions for the army, using his keel boat in making trips to and from New Orleans for that purpose. He served in the Fifth Congress of the Republic of Texas, 1840-1841, representing the Jasper District.
The Huling home at Zavala was noted for its hospitality, where the hardy pioneer and the herald of the cross alike found a hearty welcome. In 1842 Mr. Huling and his wife joined the Methodist Episcopal church at the old Williams Chapel, in Jasper county. Fortune smiled upon them, and their home was blessed with the laugh of merry children; but ,the ever-widening tide of civilization bore them onward toward the setting sun, and, in 1855, they moved to the Lampasas country, settling on the east prong of the Sulphur Fork of the Lampasas river. There, surrounded by nature's own garden, they reared another home, where the buffalo roamed at will and the savage red men were wont to make their nocturnal visits, which boded ill to his white brothers and their possessions. But the native courage which inspired the orphan girl of fifteen to choose a pioneer life was now strengthened by Christian faith; and, upborne by the fortitude which belongs to women of heroic mould, she did not falter at danger. Mrs. Huling's frontier home was blessed by the many who shared its shelter, and here her quiet, generous charity was dispensed, and her unostentatious life left its imprint upon the hearts of the people of her day. On November 2, 1865, she suffered the loss of her husband; then came the loss of property, the days of reconstruction and carpetbag rule, which required all the latent strength of character which distinguished her and brought forward a reserve fund of financial acumen and mental grasp hitherto unknown and undreamed of by those who knew her best. She was the mother of twelve children, one by her first marriage and eleven by the second, five of whom still live, with grandchildren and greatgrandchildren proudly to bear her name.
In 1871 Mrs. Huling moved to the flourishing city of Lampasas, where her strong Christian character illuminated and strengthened those around her. Her influence, always thrown on the side of truth, law and order, will long be felt in this last place of her abode, where she died March 8, 1906.
Her surviving children are all here in Texas. They are Mrs. Rebecca Huling Hill, of Lampasas; Mrs. Almonta Huling Abney, of Brownwood; W. M. Huling and Proctor H. Huling, of Lampasas, and M. B. Huling, of Toyah.
Mrs. Huling's devotion to Texas influenced her to unite with the Daughters of the Republic of Texas at their first annual meeting held at Lampasas, April 20-21, 1892. It was on this occasion that an interview was had which drew from her the few jottings on the “Runaway Scroape,” now made a part of this sketch. Texas had no more worthy daughter, and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas no more devoted member.
How to cite:
Looscan, Adele B., "ELIZABETH BULLOCK HULING. A TEXAS PIONEER ", Volume 011, Number 1, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 66 - 69. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v011/n1/article_7.html
[Accessed Thu Dec 4 0:42:06 CST 2008]
