Pylant Geneology

History of Dallas County (Texas):
Dr. J. S. Letcher, one of the leaading physicians of Dallas county, and a highly respected citizen of Dallas, dates his birth in Coosa county, Alabama.
His parents, J. D. and Martha A. (Bozeman) Letcher, natives of Alabama, were married about 1836, are now honored pioneers of that State, and have reached the advanced age eighty-six and seventy-eight years respectively. Mr. Letcher has been engaged in agricultural pursuits all his life, and by his honorable and upright course has won the confidence and respect of all who have known him during these years. The Bozeman family was composed of four sons and three daughters. Of the former, only Nathan, the celebrated gynecologist of New York, is living. Mrs. Letcher's sisters are Elizabeth, wife of General Bulger, of Alabama; and Martha, widow of a Mr. McKinney, of Milam county, Texas. Following are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Letcher: Dr. Francis M., of Cross Keys, Alabama, married Claudia Canton, and has seven children: Susie, wife of Dr. W. R. Chapman, resides on a farm in Monroe county, Alabama, two of their four children being doctors; Hattie, wife of Henry Davis, died at the age of fifty years, leaving six children; Elizabeth, widow of K. King, lives in Rockdale, two of her six children being doctors; Mattie, wife of A. H. Pylant, died, leaving ten children, two of the daughters having married doctors; Nathan G. died at the age of thirty-three years, unmarried; John D. Jr., a large stock-dealer, of Jones County, Texas, was first married to Miss Neighbors, and have her death to Miss Zellner, having four children by his present wife; Dr. J.S., the subject of this sketch; Lulu, wife of J. H. Hughes, Burnet, Texas; and James Talbert, an attorney at Lampasas, Texas, who died at the age of thirty, unmarried. For fifty-six years Mr. and Mrs. Letcher have traveled life's pathway together, sowing the seeds of kindness that have long since ripened into a fruitful harvert. They are lifelong members of the Baptist Church.
The subject of this article received his literary education in Cross Keys, Alabama, and began the study of medicine there under the direction of his brother, Dr. Francis M., a physician of prominence at that place. He then entered the Medical Department of the University of New Orleans in 1870, and graduated at the Medical College of Alabama in 1872. He practiced medicine in Milam county, Texas, eleven years, in Lampasas six years, and since 1889 has been at Dallas. In 1882 he attended Bellevue Hospital Medical College, in 1884 took a post graduate course at Post Graduate Medical College in New York, and in 1888 attended the Polyclinic in New York, thus further preparing himself for his life work. In the practice of his profession he has been very successful. He is medical examiner and referee for several prominent insurance companies of the
East. While in Lampasas he was president of the First National Bank, which position he resigned when he moved to Dallas.
Dr. Letcher was married in 1876 to Miss M.M. Oxsheer, daughter of Honorable W. W. Oxsheer and his wife, nee Martha Kirk, natives of Tennessee and for over fifty years residents of Milam county, Texas, the former seventy-eight and the later sixty-eight years of age. Mr. Oxsheer represented his district in the Legislature several times. He is a surveyor of much experience. He and George Erath and George Green, of Milam county, established most of the county lines west of the Brazos river. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Oxsheer are F.G., and extensive stock raiser, of Colorado, Texas, who marry Mary Beal and has seven children: Viola, wife of H.F. Smith, a merchant of Cameron, Texas, has six children: and Mrs. Letcher. The doctor and his wife have three children, Oakey, Elma and Ann.
Dr. Letcher is prominently connected with the Masonic fraternity. He has served as Worthy Master of the blue lodge, and is also a member of the Royal Arch Chapter; is a K. of P. as well. In politics, he is a Democrat. He and his wife are both members of the Baptist Church.

John Letcher became a citizen of Texas and is prospering in the world.