Martha “Patsey” Brockett Wakefield

Martha “Patsey” Brockett was the youngest child of A014746 Capt. William Ebenezer Brockett of SC.

Martha was born in 1797 in Smith County, TN where she married Henry Wakefield, Jr. in January 1817. He is believed to be the son of A120437 Henry Wakefield of Burke County, NC. Between late 1817 and 1838, Martha delivered 11 babies, raising 9 of them to adulthood.

In 1853 Henry Wakefield, Jr. purchased 320 acres of land in Denton County, TX, moving his wife, Martha, and several of their children here. In 1859 sons Simpson and Silas Wakefield each received a 160-acre land grant from the State of Texas. Their tracts were adjoining, bounded on the north by today’s FM407 with Chinn Chapel Rd south being their common border. In 1880 son, Elisha, also obtained a 160-acre land grant in Denton County.

Noteworthy in Denton County history is Martha’s daughter-in-law and Simpson’s wife, Jane, who with Mary Chinn and two other women founded Chinn’s Chapel Methodist Church before Jane and Simpson died young in 1861.

Henry and Martha Brockett Wakefield had at least 43 grandchildren.

Of their nine children, one lived in Missouri, two sons went to California, five are interred in Denton County, and the other’s whereabouts has not been determined.