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WILLIAM GOYENS
by Archie P.
McDonald, PhD | |
This is the story
of a free black man who lived and thrived in Nacogdoches during the days of slavery.
William Goyens' saga is documented fully in a Master of Arts thesis written by
Diane Prince at Stephen F. Austin State University nearly thirty years ago.
Goyens -- sometimes spelled Goings -- was born in Moore County, North Carolina,
in 1794, to a free mulatto father and a white mother. He arrived in Nacogdoches
in 1820 and lived there until his death in 1856. He remained illiterate but became
a successful businessman and respected citizen of the community.
Goyens
operated a blacksmith shop, made and sold wagons, operated a freight line between
Nacogdoches and Natchitoches, Louisiana, and ran an inn, or hotel-boarding house,
in his home, which was located near the Plaza Principal. Goyens married Marey
Pate Sibley in 1832. Sibley was white. She had one son by a previous marriage,
but no children were born to her marriage with Goyens.
Despite his community
standing, Goyens was a victim of slavery's harsh realities. Several times whites
claimed that Goyens was a runaway slave and therefore their property. Goyens escaped
seizure by taking such matters to court, where he was represented by such community
leaders as Thomas Jefferson Rusk and Charles Stanfield Taylor, both signers of
the Texas Declaration of Independence.
The best known incident of this
nature involved a man named William English, who had Goyens apprehended while
he was visiting Natchitoches in 1826. Goyens convinced English to allow him to
return to Texas, where once again he established his free status in court.
Goyens performed good service for Texas during the Revolution from Mexico.
With Adolphus Sterne and Sam Houston, he helped negotiate a treaty with the Cherokee
to keep them pacified in East Texas while the Texans fought for their independence
to the south and west.
Goyens grew prosperous during the days of the
Republic and statehood. He built a large home and a gristmill west of Nacogdoches.
His death on June 20, 1856, and subsequent burial near the junction of Aylios
and Moral creeks launched a legend and a mystery: what became of Goyens' gold?
Another story of buried treasure--not yet found--was launched.
A dozen
years ago, another familiar story to an organization such as the East Texas Historical
Association occurred in the Association's office. A father and daughter from North
Carolina named Goings came looking for information on a long-lost descendant of
their own ancestor, who turned out to be William Goyens' father. They were white.
Slavery's legacy is long indeed.
Jan. 20-26,
2002
(Archie P. McDonald is Director of the East Texas Historical Association
and author or editor of over 20 books on Texas) |
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