fervor. Shortly after his baptism at Addield Church he was licensed to preach, and he served several churches in addition to continuing as a farmer before moving to Alabama. Despite his junior status Alexander became something of a family patriarch because of his religious leadership. [see Notes - Alexander Travis]
Mark Travis, on the other hand, was more earthy. Indeed, his activities have contributed to an uncertainty about the legitimacy of his eldest son, William Barret Travis. There are many legends connected with Travis' birth. Some are easy to explain: others are still unsolved. Mark Travis married Jemimia Stallworth in the fall of 1807, and in the years they lived together produced eleven children. The eldest was William Barret Travis, who was born in 1809. There is little agreement among historians or genealogists, however, about the exact number, about how many were boys and how many were girls, and under what circumstances the earliest child was born. Gossip, tradition, imagination, and possibly a little hypocrisy, have livened the stories. One of the most persistent stories yet the easiest to dispell deals with Travis' legitimacy. Another county tradition claims that Frances's Marshall Ney and Jefferson Davis were native sons. Topping that is the yarn that there was once a man named Travis who lived on Mine Creek
