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If you copy this information, please cite this as your source:
Betsy Mills and Ron Brothers. The Death and Cemetery Records of Lamar County, Texas, ReBroMa Press, 2008, http://www.lamarcountytx.org/cemetery. (12/15/2025)
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Notes
From ‘1850 MORTALITY SCHEDULE OF LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS’: Male; Born in NC; Age: 27; Died in Mar; Cause - B Fever.
Information from Nancy Webb Wood, El Dorado, AR, 11 Nov 1999,nwood@arkansas.net: Ziporah ‘Zippie’ Roland, daughter of Sherrod and Elizabeth (Pace) Roland, married Rufus H. Black on 29 Oct 1844 in Lamar County, TX. Rufus was born about 1823 in NC. The Blacks had a daughter, Martha A. Black, born abt 1845, and a son, James H. Black, b 29 Jul 1849. Nothing is known about the daughter other than what is listed on the Lamar County census.
James H. Black was a favorite of my grandmother, Jimmie Etta (Roland) Webb. She was named for Cousin Jim, and he gave her a thoroughbred colt when she was a young girl. One member of the family tells of the time Jim was racing horses and an opponent tied a thin wire around the ankle of his finest racer and ruined the horse’s leg. Jim was listed on the 1880 Lamar County census, precinct 7, Vol. 21, Sheet 31, E.D. 131, Line 38.
Jim Black ran for sheriff of Lamar County and won against
incumbent Mack Crook on the Democratic ticket in the first primary.
Crook then ran on the Independent ticket in the second primary, but was
again defeated by Black. Crook had served as sheriff from November 1882
to November 1884. On November 16, 1884, while still acting sheriff,
Crook released a horsethief, John Middleton, who was the beau of Belle
Starr, from jail to kill Jim Black. There was a knock on Black’s door
while the family was eating supper one night. Black was holding his
little sick child and set the child down to open the door. His wife
asked him not to open the door, expressing her fears of Crook and saying
he was capable of doing anything. Black opened the door and was shot
and killed by Middleton. Middleton then fled to Oklahoma and was wanted
for the murder of Black.
R. H. Black died at Pattonville in March 1850. The 1850 mortality schedule of Lamar County states he was age 27, born in NC, and the cause of death was B Fever. After her husband died Zippie married Matthew Skeen and had one son by this marriage.
This information was taken from 1850 Lamar County, Texas census; 1850 Lamar County, Texas Mortality Schedule; 1860 Ellis County, Texas census; 1880 Lamar County, Texas census; Sherrod Roland Probate Records; History of Lamar County by Neville; A Magazine Article on Belle Starr in my possession; and family tradition.
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