Mustang Prairie

George William (or Washington) Hallmark, early settler, son of George and Leanah (Mynatt or Mynott) Hallmark, was born in Botetourt County, Virginia, in 1778. He married Sarah Calvert around 1800 in Tennessee, and they had eleven children. The family moved to Alabama in the early 1800s. Sarah died sometime before 1828. Hallmark married Elvey Dukes in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, on April 9, 1828. They had no children. Hallmark was married again on April 6, 1831, to Jincy Box Thompson in Blount County, Alabama, and they had two children. In 1834 Hallmark moved to Texas. On August 15, 1835, he applied for land in the colony of Joseph Vehlein and settled in what is now Houston County, where he received a grant of one league. He built a fort used for protection against Indians and also operated a store. He was postmaster at Mustang Prairie in 1840 and 1843 and served as a justice of the peace in 1841–43 and 1845. Hallmark married a woman named Salena on June 30, 1839, in Nacogdoches County. They had one son. Hallmark listed ten slaves in the 1850 census and at the time of his death in 1852. When his will was probated in October 1852, his holdings were appraised at $17,000.