When William D. Travis was born in 1839, in Kentucky, United States, his father, Robert Travis, was 31 and his mother, Mahala Francis, was 33. He married Emaline Beaty on 22 August 1861, in Clinton, Kentucky, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 daughters. He lived in Magisterial District 2 Hayes, Clinton, Kentucky, United States in 1880. He died before 1920.
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U.S. acquires vast tracts of Mexican territory in wake of Mexican War including California and New Mexico.
According to the 1850 census Kentucky was the 8th most populated state with 982,405 people.
Kentucky sided with the Union during the Civil War, even though it is a southern state.
English (mainly Lancashire and Yorkshire): from Old French and Middle English travers, also Middle English travas, travis, a word with several meanings. It may denote a toll paid for the right to cross a boundary or bridge, the surname perhaps being for someone who paid or collected such tolls. Alternatively, it may mean ‘crosswise, sideways’ or ‘dispute, disagreement’. The Old French word also had the sense ‘crossing, passage’, and it is more than likely that the surname is Norman in origin, for someone who lived at a crossing place or at a place so named (compare French Travers 3). The presence of the preposition ‘de’ (and perhaps also ‘le’) in early forms of the surname appears to indicate a topographic or habitational explanation, but the French preposition and definite article were sometimes added gratuitously to Norman surnames as a sign of their high social status. See also Travers 1.
Americanized form of German Drewes .
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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