Elisha S. Rector was born around 1837 in Missouri to Charles and Isabella Rector. His father was a stock raiser who owned $2,000 of real estate and $9,000 of personal property by 1860. The family lived in Cooper County, Missouri, until the 1850s, when they moved to Collin County, Texas. By 1860, he was also working as a stock raiser.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on October 9, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in the 9^th Texas Infantry on November 26. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with dark hair and dark eyes. The regiment took part in the Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Perryville, the Battle of Stones River, the Battle of Chickamauga, and the Atlanta campaign. In March 1864, he attempted to leave the regiment “because of deformity of leg & arm caused from a protracted case of fever which renders me entirely unable to perform the duties of a soldier in the field.” His application, however, was unsuccessful, and he remained in the army. He surrendered as part of General Richard Taylor’s command in Meridian, Mississippi, in May 1865.

 

He settled in Walnut, Missouri, after the war and earned a living as a trader. By 1870, he owned $1,000 of real estate. He married Jane R. McKay on February 2, 1873, and they had at least four children: Charles, born around 1874; Drennen, born around 1876; Jessie, born around 1877; and Jane, born around 1880. His wife died in the early 1900s, and he died in Fort Worth, Texas, on November 19, 1915.

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