Dr. John Leonard Randal (TX State Senator)

[] John Bull-Randal's best known son was probably John Leonard Randal (born February 11, 1800, in Stokes County, North Carolina).

Some time between 1803 and 1807, his father John Randal moved the family to Franklin County, Georgia.

After receiving his medical training at Cincinnati Medical College, John Leonard Randal moved to Tennessee and married Sarah McNeil (Kyle) (a descendant of Lord Stanhope), of McNairy, Tennessee; which is in the county next to Hardeman County, Tennessee (where his Uncle (Hannah's brother), Oney Scyprett Harvey had moved).

John L. and Sarah Randal had four children in living in McNairy County, Tennessee, then left for the new Republic of Texas in the late fall of 1838, and had four more children:

• Lois Almedia Randal, b. 1832, McNairy Co., TN; d. 1861, Dallas, TX. Married 1st to William T. Hughes in 1851. After William T. Hughes died, Lois Almedia married her 2nd husband, Thomas Logan Ledbetter.
• Horace Randal, b. 1833, McNairy Co., TN; d. 1864, Battle of Jenkins Ferry, AR, buried in Harrison Co., TX.
• Susan E. Randal, born ca. 1835, McNairy Co., TN. Married in 1851 to John T. Simmons at San Augustine Co., TX. Died after 1860.
• Mary Emily Randal, b. 1836, McNairy Co., TN; d. 1910, Hale Co., TX. Married 1st in 1855 to James A. Broocks – and 2nd to Lafayette E. Speed.
• John Leonard Randal, Jr. was born 1838 in Benton Co., MS (while En route to Texas); died 1919, Montague Co., TX, buried Baylor Co., TX. Married Elizabeth H. Felton in 1860 in Smith Co., TX. They had 15 children.
• Sarah E. Randal, b. ca. 1842, San Augustine Co., TX; d. after 1913. Married John Bellefont Hardeman in 1859 in Smith Co., TX.
• Eliza Randal, b. 1845, San Augustine Co., TX; d. 1918, Houston, Harris Co., TX. Married in 1865 to Josephus D. Brooks.
• Solon Randal, born 1849, San Augustine Co., TX; died 1885, Bastrop Co., TX. Married in 1872 Brazos Co., TX to Lascuia Eolien Gertrude Johnson.

John L. and Sarah Randal settled about a mile and a half south of San Augustine, Texas. Randal received his conditional certificate for land on June 7, 1839, and his unconditional certificate on May 6, 1844. He constructed a large two-story house that functioned as his residence and as a hospital for his patients.

He then succeeded James Gaines in the called session of the Sixth Congress in 1842, as a representative of the Shelby, Sabine, and Harrison districts in the Texas Senate. He was re-elected to the same office in the Seventh Congress, 1842–43.

On March 3, 1845, U.S. President John Tyler preempted incoming U.S. President James K. Polk by forwarding a U.S. House approved legislative offer to immediately annex the Republic of Texas. When Polk entered the White House the next day, he proceeded to encourage Texas to accept the Tyler offer. The Lone Star Republic ratified the treaty with popular approval from Texans. The bill was signed United States President, James K. Polk on December 29, 1845, accepting Texas as the 28th state of the Union. Texas formally relinquished its sovereignty to the United States on February 19, 1846.¹⁾

Outrage from Mexico over the U.S. annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory despite the 1836 Texas Revolution, led to the US - Mexican War. Combat operations lasted a year and a half, from the spring of 1846 to the fall of 1847. American forces quickly occupied Santa Fe de Nuevo México and Alta California Territory, then invaded parts of Northeastern Mexico and Northwest Mexico; meanwhile, the Pacific Squadron conducted a blockade, and took control of several garrisons on the Pacific coast farther south in Baja California Territory. Another American army captured Mexico City, and the war ended in a victory for the United States.

Dr. John Leonard Randal joined the United States Army during the Mexican War and was appointed assistant surgeon on March 3, 1847. He was assigned to the Twelfth Infantry on April 9 and resigned on August 3, 1847.

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In 1858 he sold his property in San Augustine County, TX and moved to Smith County, TX, where, on September 27, 1859, he purchased 640 acres a few miles northeast of Tyler, TX.

On August 23, 1861, Dr. John Leonard Randal's eldest daughter, Lois Almedia Randal-Hughes-Ledbetter, died in Dallas County, TX., two days after giving birth to Lois Davis Ledbetter. Thomas Logan Ledbetter, only 24 years old, was now a widower with five young children to care for. His step-mother, Elizabeth Ogle Ledbetter, who also had five young children of her own, tried to help out, but it was just too much for her. However, when Dr. John Leonard Randal, Thomas Logan Ledbetter's father-in-law, learned of his daughter's death and the likelihood that his five grandchildren would not be adequately cared for, he came to Dallas and took them to his home in Smith County to live with him.

On May 10, 1862, at 62 years old, John L. Randal enlisted in the Army of the Confederate States of America (CSA), Twenty-eighth Texas Cavalry, as regimental surgeon; he was recruited by his son, regimental commander Col. Horace Randal. He was later appointed surgeon of the Second Brigade of Gen. John G. Walker's division. His service, primarily in Arkansas, was cut short by his failing health. On March 22, 1863, he submitted his resignation, which was accepted on June 9, 1863.

[] He sold his farm in Smith County, TX on August 22, 1863. In 1867 he was paying taxes on a section of land in Grimes County, TX. In 1868 he disposed of that property and purchased a 130-acre farm in Brazos County, TX, a few miles from Bryan, TX.

When the 1870 United States Federal Census was taken, it contained a couple of understandable errors. First, John Leonard Randal spelled his name with one “L”, not two. Name spelling errors were common with census takers at that time (if it sounded the same, it was considered the same). Second, John Leonard Randal was born in Georgia (as indicated in the previous 1850 & 1860 census), but the family in general was from North Carolina. Considering his age, John Leonard Randal have have either misunderstood the question — or had difficulty remembering some of these details.

John L. Randal, an Englishman by descent, reputedly inherited a considerable estate in England but preferred to remain a citizen of Texas and refused to claim his inheritance.

John Leonard Randal died on his Brazos County farm in April 11, 1874 and is said to be buried in the old Boonville Cemetery. Although his grave is unmarked, there is a marker in the general area.

Sources:
Tom Jones, “RANDAL, JOHN LEONARD,” Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fra29), accessed January 15, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
George L. Crocket, Two Centuries in East Texas (Dallas: Southwest, 1932; facsimile reprod., 1962).
Texas House of Representatives, Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congresses, 1832–1845 (Austin: Book Exchange, 1941).
E. W. Winkler, ed., Secret Journals of the Senate, Republic of Texas (Austin, 1911).