Lewis Medlin married Rachel Smith in Pendleton District South Carolina about 1793.  They moved to Bedford County, Tennessee when it was part of Rutherford County.  They were charter members of the First Church, New Hope Baptist, organized April 1, 1809.  Lewis was elected Lieutenant of the Militia, and by March 1812 was a Captain.  They moved form Bedford County to Marion County, Alabama in 1821.  From there the families moved to old Cole County, Missouri to join his brother and Rachel's sister.  Robert Medlin and wife Mary Smith.  The Medlin family, after Robert's death, came to Texas in 1847.  Lewis Medlin died between 1835 and 1839.

Lewis Medlin's children and widow moved to Platte County, Missouri.  His son, Jarret Medlin and daughter Elizabeth Bowlin went back to Moniteau County, Missouri where they lived and died.

In May 1844, Lewis' widow, Rachel Medlin with her sons, Owen Medlin and Hall Medlin, and her daughters with their husbands, James and Nancy Gibson, John and Malissa Hallford, also James and Sarah Hallford, arrived at Peter's Colony Headquarters before July 1, 1844 in present Dallas County, Texas.  They had no cabins.  No settlements were in present Tarrant County, and only a very few were close or east of the Elm Fork of the Trinity.  James Gibson was living on his Peter's Colony land by 1845, and Owen Medlin said he was in Tarrant County in 1844.  John H. Hallford had a General Store about one mile north of James Gibson, in Denton County.  He is the only one who received his Peters Colony Headright in Denton County.

Several more children and grandchildren of Rachel Medlin joined her here in 1845.  Seven children came to Texas.

Susannah "Susan" Medlin (1796) wed in 1813, Ambrose Foster.

Nancy Medlin (1798) married James Gibson.  He was a cousin of Ambrose Foster through their Armstrong mothers by legend.  They lived on Denton Creek in Tarrant County, six miles west of the confluence of Denton Creek and the Elm Fork which was in Dallas County.

William Owen Medlin was born December 11, 1800 and married Elizabeth.

Hall Medlin (1806) first married Lucinda Eads, sister of Jesse.  She died in Platte County, Missouri.  He then wed Nancy Baker, daughter of Larkin Baker who came to Texas with them and was father of James M. Baker of the Northeast Tarrant area.  Hall Medlin was Tax Assessor and Collector of Denton County in 1846 and 1847.  He was Commissioner in December 1849 when he resigned and went to Travis County, Texas.  Several who lived in Tarrant County, an isolated part of old Navarro, thought they were in Denton County.  The area was called the Denton Land District.  No one knows where he actually lived before going to Travis County.

Malissa Medlin (1808) wed John H. Hallford in Cole County, Missouri.  Hallford Prairie in Denton County is named for him.  He had a General Store there very early.  They left the area in November 1854 for Hays County, Texas.  He sold his land to Mary Medlin who was probably his wife's aunt.

Mary Ann Medlin wed Andrew W. Anderson.  Annals of Platte County, Missouri state "Anderson and Medlin did the stone work on the new Court House".  They came to Texas in 1845, and on to Travis County in late 1852 or 1853.

Sarah Medlin (1812) married James P. Hallford.  His Peters Colony Headright of 640 acres was surveyed at present Euless, Texas.  He sold it around 852 to James Cummins, and purchased in 1852 the William Dooley 320 acre Peter's Colony land which is the Main Street of Grapevine from site of the old Depot to present Wall Street.  Hallford sold it November 1, 1854 to E.N. Hudgins and moved to Hays County, Texas, near Dripping Springs.  He bought it for $100.00 and sold it to Hudgins for $675.00 after two years.  James P. Hallford was one of the first Commissioners of Tarrant County.

Of the first twenty-four members of Lonesome Dove Baptist Church which was organized in February 1846 within a quarter mile of Grapevine, Texas, eighteen were members of the Medlin families.

By Pearl Foster O'Donnell