Marcus Dewitt Carlock, Sr.

Born:  December 3, 1852 (Hempstead County, Arkansas)

Died:  May 10, 1931 (Winnsboro, Texas)

Born in Hempstead County, Arkansas, Marcus DeWitt Carlock Sr. was the eldest son of Samuel Green Carlock and Julia Reynolds Carlock.  Marcus DeWitt always believed his ancestors to have been Dutch or German.

Marcus DeWitt lived in Hempstead County until the war of 1861 to 1865.  During the war Marcus followed his father expecting to return home in a short time, but after a few months the command received a hurry call and left for the front.  After days and days of marching the enemy was encountered at Elk horn, sometimes known as Pea Ridge, where a battle took place.  This would be the last time Marcus would see his father alive.  He was given word arrangements had been made for him to return home, some two hundred miles away.  It is still unknown to this day how Marcus made it home, but it is believed he walked most of the way.

Upon his return, the family moved to Falcon, Arkansas where they lived until 1865, when they moved to Pittsburg, Texas.  Marcus was a messenger from on army camp to another, carrying dispatches twenty-four miles each day, until the war was over.  Post war Marcus attended school in Pittsburg, Texas.  In 1880 he was appointed enumerator for that county and took the census of Camp County in 1881. 

He then moved to Winnsboro, Texas, where he was appointed Justice of the Peace an office he held for fourteen months until he took up the practice of law, having been admitted to the bar in April 1876.  He lived and practiced law in Winnsboro, Texas along with many other interests he also owned a manufacturing sawmill in town. 

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On September 28, 1888, Marcus DeWitt raised a company for service in the National Guards, he was later elected and made captain of the company.  He served for three years; at which time the company was disbanded.  

In 1912, Marcus DeWitt was chosen one of the presidential electors on the Democratic ticket and voted for Woodrow Wilson for President.  He was executive committeeman for four years for the Democratic State Conventions.

Marcus DeWitt offered to raise a company of cavalry in the World War, but his services being rejected on the account of his advanced age.  Instead Marcus DeWitt was appointed to the legal advisory board in 1917 and served during the war as such.  He was instrumental in capturing about 1800 volumes of German propaganda.  The material was burned and the circulators arrested and turned over to the government.  At this time, he assisted in the sale of government bonds and was honorably discharged at the close of the war.