June 13, 1805, Bedford County, Virginia — November 19, 1868, Austin, Texas
Malinda Bouldin said goodbye to her home and family twice in life. The first time was ten years after her 1825 marriage in Bedford County, Virginia, to James Edward Bouldin. She and James had three children in Virginia, and their family left around 1835. They moved to Howard County, Missouri, to build a tobacco plantation. They had three more children there and lived in Missouri for 20 years. Then, in 1852, they left their adult children in Missouri and moved to Texas.
Malinda’s parents were Col. David Saunders (1760 Hanover County, Virginia–1842 Bedford, Virginia) and Lockey M. Leftwich Saunders (1767 Bedford, Virginia–1852 Bedford County, Virginia). Both families had lived in Virginia for several generations. Col. Saunders fought in the Revolutionary War and later in the War of 1812. Melinda’s mother was from the distinguished Leftwich family of Bedford County. The Leftwich family, too, were patriots, planters and slave owners. Malinda was the tenth child and fifth daughter.
Malinda married James Edward Bouldin in May of 1825, in Bedford, Virginia. James came from a family of many sons, and he was the youngest. James inherited his share, as well as a 60 gallon still and all of his father’s books.
When Malinda married, she was twenty-one, and James was twenty-eight. James established a life as a planter in Henry, Virginia. Their first three children were born there. They were David William Bouldin (1828–?); Ann Elizabeth Bouldin (1829–1860) and James E. Bouldin Jr. (1831–1914). Their fourth child, Lucinda, was born in Missouri in 1836; so sometime between 1831 and 1836, James and Malinda moved their family and tobacco plantation to Howard County, Missouri. The 1850 Census from Howard County included James and Malinda Bouldin; their son David and his wife Belle; sons James Jr. and Charles August; and daughters Lucy and Mary.
In 1852, with their children mostly grown, Malinda and James once again left their home and family. They moved to Travis County, Texas. James Bouldin distributed or sold some of his Missouri land and slaves before making the move. Two of his sons stayed in Missouri and were planters. In 1860, James Bouldin’s first Texas Census, the value of his land was only $12,500. Also, he had many fewer slaves than in Missouri.
James Bouldin bought 1000 acres of land in the Issac Decker grant for $5,000 cash in 1852. His holdings stretched from the Colorado River south to William Cannon Drive. He built his home on land now occupied by Becker Elementary School. That mansion is no longer standing, but at the time, it was considered one of Austin’s most fashionable homes. The Bouldins were considered early pioneers in Austin. The population of Austin at this time was under 1,000 people. Col. Bouldin (“Colonel '' was probably an honorific) listed the value of his land in the 1860 Census as $12,500, down from his Missouri land evaluation ten years earlier. He did, however, have hundreds of acres of both improved and unimproved land, livestock and implements for farming.
Bouldin Homestead
In 1861, when the Civil War began, the Bouldin sympathies were with the Confederacy. James, already sixty-five years old and a plantation owner, was not required to fight. An official pardon, however, was issued to James in 1866, by President Andrew Johnson for his war efforts. Malinda died in 1868, two years after the end of the War. Col. Bouldin lived until 1876. In the 1870 Census, he listed his occupation as “tobacconist.” Several former slaves are listed as neighbors on the Census form. Land on the Bouldin plantation was distributed to Black residents either through sale or gift. At least one Black citizen even took the Bouldin name. The area became a freedman settlement, and was known as Brackenridge. Several Black churches and businesses, as well as a Black school, were established there. As a result of the minority population, the area was later redlined as undesirable for investment many years later.
Malinda died on November 19, 1868, in Austin, Texas. She had lived in Texas for sixteen years. She outlived two of her children, Charles and Ann, and was survived by her husband James, her other four children, and a goodly number of grandchildren. The Bouldin homestead included a family cemetery, and it is probable that Malinda and James were buried there initially. The land was sold in 1891, and a number of graves were reinterred in Oakwood Cemetery. In 1912, eight additional family members were transferred from the family cemetery to Oakwood, Section 3, lot 881. Her head and foot stone markers are elaborate but shorter than her husband’s. The inscription on her gravestone is as follows: In Memory of Mrs. M.L. Wife of JAS. E. BOULDIN of Travis Co., Texas Daughter of Col. D. & Mrs. L. SAUNDERS of Bedford Co., Va. Born 1805 and Died Jan. 19, 1868
There was migration of members of the Bouldin family from Missouri to Texas for the next three generations. Several of Malinda’s grandchildren were buried in Oakwood, and there are Bouldin descendants living in Austin today.
Sec, 4, lot 840