(1) STROUD, BEDEN (ca. 1795–1865). Beden Stroud, Republic of Texas senator and Indian agent, was born between 1790 and 1800 in Morgan County, Georgia, the son of John and Sallie (Phillips) Stroud. He moved about 1818 to Chambers County, Alabama, where he and his brothers engaged in farming and stock raising. He and his older brother, Ethan A. Stroud, moved to Texas, probably in 1837, and located near the site of present Calvert. Shortly after his arrival in Texas, Stroud took an active part in the affairs of the republic, being elected to represent the districts of Robertson and Milam in the Senate of the republic from 1838 to 1841. With the return of Sam Houston to the presidency of Texas in 1841 and the adoption of a moderate policy toward the Indians, Stroud and his brother became Indian agents and maintained Strouds' Station on the upper Brazos. Their purpose was to foster commerce and keep in friendly touch with Indians. Stroud probably moved to Burr Oak Springs near Fort Parker and Springfield in what is now Limestone County in 1844. The census of 1850 showed him to have been owner of substantial property and livestock there. He was a master Mason. Stroud died in August 1865 and was buried near Burr Oak Springs.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
J. W. Baker, History of Robertson County, Texas (Franklin, Texas: Robertson County Historical Survey Committee, 1970). Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone, and Leon Counties (Chicago: Lewis, 1893). Richard Denny Parker, Historical Recollections of Robertson County, Texas (Salado, Texas: Anson Jones, 1955). Alonzo Bibb Stroud, The Strouds: A Colonial Family of English Descent (Lakeland, Florida: Child Printery, 1919). -M.W. Comfort.
Source: Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association.
(2) E. B. Stroud.
Ethan Beden Stroud, 56, Dallas attorney, died of a heart ailment Sept. 11, 1949, at his home in Dallas. Widely known in legal banking circles, Mr. Stroud was a former general counsel for the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas. He resigned his position with the bank in 1944 to re-enter private practice as a member of the firm of Stroud & Dyer. He continued in private practice until his death.
Source: Texas Bar Journal: Volume 13, State Bar of Texas, Texas Bar Association, 1950; Pg. 41
(3) Ethan B. Stroud, a long-time Dallas resident and attorney, passed away peacefully with his family at his side on May 3, 2009. He was born in Dallas, the son of Kathleen and Ethan B. Stroud Jr. Ethan B. Stroud Jr, his father, served as General Counsel to the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas. His grandfather, Ethan B. Stroud, was Mayor of Hillsborough, TX from 1896-1914. He was also related to Ethan A. and Beden Stroud. Beden was a member of the first Republic of Texas Legislature in the 1830s and an officer in the United States Cavalry. Ethan A. was an Indian commissioner and a master Mason. Ethan B. Stroud graduated from North Dallas High School. He graduated with a BA degree from the Virginia Military Institute ("VMI") where he was Editor of the Cadet News and a writer for Turnout Magazine. In VMI athletics, he was a member of the boxing and wrestling teams. His studies at VMI were interrupted by World War II when he volunteered for service in the United States Navy. As the top graduate of his Naval Midshipmen class, he requested and was granted the quickest route to combat: attack amphibious ships. He was commissioned an Ensign and assigned to shipboard duty as a Naval Officer in the Pacific theater. He was aboard an amphibious landing ship at the Battle of Leyte Gulf on D-Day, October 20, 1944. He survived an enemy airplane crash that took the life of the ship's Commanding Officer and many of the crew. Lieutenant Ethan B. Stroud was awarded six Combat Stars and a Southwest Pacific Medal by the United States Navy. At the conclusion of World War II, he received an LLB degree in law from the University of Texas. He subsequently earned an LLM in tax law from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He worked as Special Assistant to the Attorney General in the Tax Division of the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. from 1952 to 1956. He served as Tax Legislative Attorney for the Treasury Department, Washington, D.C., in 1956. Ethan returned to Dallas in the late 1950s to enter private law practice. He worked with the Gardere firm, now Gardere Wynne Sewell & Riggs. He founded the firm of Stroud & Smith in the 1960s. His clients included: The Dallas Public Library, The Housing Authority of the City of Dallas, Braniff Airlines, Transamerica Airlines, Vaughn Petroleum and Dallas Ceramics Company, now DalTile. He had a flair for advocacy that helped him to attract celebrity clients, such as Craig Morton, at the time, the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, and Mickey Mantle. He also took great pride in his pro-bono work. Ethan served on the Board of Directors of the Dallas Public Library, the Dallas Museum of Art, and Hillcrest Bank. He was a member of Brook Hollow Golf Club and the Lyford Cay Club in Nassau, Bahamas. In law school, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He loved literature and was an avid historian. He possessed an idiosyncratic wit, a wry sense of humor, and enjoyed stimulating debate. He is predeceased by his wife Mimi. He is survived by his former wife and great friend, Joanne Stroud Bilby, and by their three children: Ethan B. Stroud and his wife, Carol; Eric M. Stroud and his wife, Sara; his daughter Natasha, and step daughter, Robin Walker and his three grandchildren. A service in celebration of the life of Ethan B. Stroud will be held in the Chapel at Sparkman Hillcrest on Friday, May 8, at 4:00 PM.
Source: The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, Obituaries, published from May 6 to May 8, 2009
(4) MRS. ORA STROUD SLACK. 40135
Born in Navarro County, Texas.
Wife of Thomas William Slack.
Descendant of Col. Ezekiel Polk.
Daughter of Ethen Beden Stroud and Olivia Polk, his wife.
Granddaughter of Thomas Polk and Lucinda Younger, his wife.
Gr.-granddaughter of William Polk and Elizabeth Dodd, his wife.
Gr.-gr.-granddaughter of Ezekiel Polk (grandfather of President Polk) and Mary Wilson, his 1st wife.
Ezekiel Polk, (1741-1824), was a signer of the Mecklenberg Declaration. He was a member of the first Convention held in South Carolina and served in the militia. He wrote his own epitaph and it shows he was an eccentric character. He was born in Pennsylvania; died in Boliver, Tenn.
Source: Lineage Book, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Volume XLI, 1918; Pg. 49
