Singleton tells of house were Alamo leader once lived at Claiborne, Ala.

William Barret Travis House at Perdue Hill, Ala.

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Jim Travis slept here” was originally published in the April 29, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

Born near Red Banks, South Carolina, Aug. 9, 1809, William Barret (“Jim”) Travis came to Claiborne in 1827 where he practiced law. He was admitted to the Bar before his 20^th birthday.

A house that is still standing was Travis’s home during the four years he stayed in Claiborne. There hasn’t been too much change in the old house since that time, other than a new tin roof, electric lights, a new yard fence and a new paved road out front. Near the house, on the northwest side, one will find the same water well that furnished the Travis family with water. This well is still in use today.

No doubt a lot of midnight oil was burned here while Travis pondered over his law practice. Quite outspoken, he was a man of quick temper and fast decisions.

It is said that during one trial, which was taking place upstairs in the Claiborne Courthouse, Travis was having trouble with the jury. Things were not going as he thought they should; he seemed to be losing the case. In a burst of anger, he promptly picked up the jurors one at a time and threw them out the upstairs window.

I don’t know whether he won the case or not, but if I had been a member of that jury, I think I might have decided in his favor after the window recess.

In 1831, Jim Travis left Claiborne and moved to Texas. He became a leader in the movement for Texas’ independence and was later killed in the famed battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. Although Travis stayed in Monroe County for only a brief period of his short life, he, like many others, molded his place in history which began on the high bluffs overlooking the river in Claiborne Town.

(This column was also accompanied by a photo of the house mentioned above and the caption beneath that photo read as follows: House where William Barret Travis lived in early 1800s hasn’t changed much.)

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born during a late-night thunderstorm on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from 1964 to 1987. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)