Provided by Debrah Modrall
According to court records in Uvalde Co. Tx. James is the brother of John H. Lafferty that married Maggie Cox. Do you have a list of John’s brothers & sisters? You don’t have a James as his brother? Who were John’s parents?
James also was one to get into a little trouble. He had been in prison before in Rusk, I don’t know if that’s the town in Cherokee Co. Tx. or the county of Rusk in Texas. Do you know of an old prison there? And according to a history book of the area, Breaks of the Balconies he had run with a gang and was involved in at least one murder.
It is sort of a long story of why I got interested in James Lafferty (born about 1848) brother of John H. My Gr.Gr. Grandfather is Benjamin Franklin Maples. He was murdered in Uvalde Co. Tx. Sept. 20, 1892 by James Lafferty. At that time James was living with his brother John and his wife Maggie near Reagan Wells on the Dry Frio River. Maples was married to Serilda Cox, probably cousin to Maggie. These families are really all mixed up. I suspect I will find a connection between the Cox, Maples & Lafferty families besides with Maggie. Anyway, James admitted to the murder but said it was self defense. He was found guilty of 2nd degree murder & sentenced to 75 years in prison. Though he was only in there about three years because according to that same history book he was shot by Dan McMillan a son-in-law of Maples who worked at the prison. James’s prison record just says he died of heart failure but I can understand why they wouldn’t want it to be recorded that he was shot by one of there (probably drunk) guards.
When I became interested in family history & found out about the murder I was just more than interested. I’ve actually been obsessed with learning the reason behind it. My family said it was over a fence line and my Grandmother was very very secretive about her family and swore she’d never talk to me about them. I was not even allowed to talk to my Grandpa about his family in her presence. She meant what she said! But before she died of Ahlsheimers? she said some things that made me think there had been sexual abuse by her father.
I talked with many people. The Maples still living in that area thought the murder was because Lafferty had something to do with Bens wife, others said his daughter and when Lafferty said “You can just keep the half breed.” Ben called him an SOB and Lafferty killed him. A historian from there George Nelson that has written a few books & whose family has been there forever had some good stories to tell about the murder but he did say it was here say. It had been passed down in his family that it was because Serilda was part black. He said Maples & Lafferty had gotten into a fight and Lafferty said quote “If you’re married to a Nig__ you ain’t no better that a Nig__
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