Arthur Henry Vollentine was born in New Jersey or Virginia about 1807. He came to Texas about 1833 as a colonist of Empresario Martin de Leon and in 1834 he married Maryland native Mary Ann May. They moved to a Mexican land grant on Brushy Creek near present-day Yoakum, Texas, that Henry had acquired in 1835.
From October 1835 through January 1836 Vollentine served in the Republic of Texas Army at Fort Goliad. They left their South Texas home in March 1836 during the Runaway Scrape, lived in the Nacogdoches district for several years, then returned to this area by 1840.
Mary Ann died about 1841. In 1845 Vollentine married her cousin, Mariah Brown, whose grandfather Bernard Brown donated land for St. Mary's Church and cemetery in 1841. Texas granted Vollentine land on the Lavaca River near Hallettsville in 1846. They farmed and ranched on their Brushy Creek and Lavaca River properties. The Vollentine cattle brand appeared as V5. Vollentine, appointed one of Lavaca County's first county commissioners soon after its creation in 1846, was instrumental in the selection of Hallettsville as county seat in 1852. Arthur H. Vollentine, his wife Mariah, and many of his descendants are buried here.
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