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Genealogy Division Mestgomery County Libetz Comte Texas
A HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TEXAS
APPROVED: DIRECTOR AND CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE: (Signed) Ernest C. Shearer
ASSOCIATE ADVISOR: (Signed) C. E. Pansom
ASSOCIATE ADVISOR: (Signed) M A, Miller
APPROVED:
DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: (Signed) R. Balfour Daniels
MONTGOMERY COUNTY LIBRARY P. O. Box 579 Conroe, Texas 77301
NTGOMERY COUNTY LIBRARY CONROE, TEXAS
MONTGOMERY COUNTY LIBRA 3 3543 00349 4804
A HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TEXAS
An Abstract of a Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of History The University of Houston
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts
by "ifism Harley Gandy
August 1952 29335
RO4 0056 1331
A HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TEXAS
A Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the Department of History The University of Houston
In Partial Fulfillment ot the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts
by
William Harley Gardy August 1932
ABSTRACT
Montgomery County, Texas, was visited early by the Spanish explorers and missionaries. At one time the county was a site for a Spanish mission and several of the early famous Spanish itineraries passed through its boundaries.
During the empresario regime in Texas, Montgomery County was settled by the empresarios Stephen F. Austin and Joseph Vehlein. Later their colonists took an active part in Texas' struggle for independence from Mexico. In the Consultation and Declaration of Independence conventions Montgomery County was well represented by men who later became her citizens. In combat with the Mexicans a whole company from Montgomery County served in Sam Houston's army in the battle of San Jacinto.
Montgomery County is the third county created by the Republic. It had its beginning by an act of the First Congress December 14, 1837. Ever since that date it has taken an active part in the making of history for Texas. Its towns and communities are among the oldest and most interesting in the state. Its churches, schools, lodges, and newspapers were among the first to be organized in Texas.
Throughout its existence Montgomery's citizens have taken a leading part in public affairs. During Adrian Woll's invasion of Texas from Mexico a company of Montgomery County's militia turned out to
aid General Somervell; again during the Civil War a group of the county's citizens formed a company which fought bravely in General Hood's famous Texas Brigade.
In industries Montgomery County is richly endowed with three of the most important that Texas offords: oils, lumbering, and ranching. Farming also played an important part in Montgomery's industrial expansion. At one time it was noted for its tobacco industry, and cotton, before the Civil War, was raised extensively throughout the county. Its railroads have been active in helping Montgomery to expand.
The purpose of this thesis, therefore, has been to present a story of the history of Montgomery County for the first time, showing in that story the importance of the county as related to the history of Texas. Since no continuous history of the important events of the county has ever been compiled chronologically, this study attempts to give to the reader a panoramic view, integrating the available informa- tion concerning the origin and progress of the county.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author is extremely indebted to Hart Addison for the use of his valuable collection on Montgomery County. To him the author dedicates this study. To all the others who so kindly assisted and gave encouragement, the author wishes to express his sincere thanks.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION.
1
The study
1
Purpose of the study 1
Importance of the study
1
Cther studies
2
Source of data and method of procedure 2
Sources.
2
Method.
3
Organization of remainder of the thesis. 4
II. GEOGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE AND EARLY
INHABITANTS
6
Gecphysi cal and geographical structure.
6
Geophysical.
6
Geographical .
7
Indians
9
Orcoquisac. 10
Bidai and Kickapoo 12
Cenis
13
Explorers and missionaries 13
Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.
13
Alonso de Leon. 15
ii
Don Martin de Alarcon. . 15
Pedro de Rivera 17
Joaquin Orobio y Basterra.
17
Missions
18
III. EMPRESSARIOS AND SETTLEMENT
7.2
Empresarios
,
22
Moses Austin. 2.2
Stephen F. Austin 24
Hayden Edwards
27
Joseph Vebicin.
Settlement.
33
Settlers.
3?
IV. ORGANIZATION AND EARLY POLITICAL
DEVELOPMENT
38
Organization.
38
Creation
38
Naming.
45
Political development.
.
09
County seat. 49
Courthouses
49
Division of the county
57
V. CITIES, TOWNS, AND COMMUNITIES.
63
Montgomery
64
iii
Danville. 79
Willis 82
Conroe.
88
Security. :01
Cut 'n Shoot. 105
New Caney. 109
Fostoria. 103
Splendora
:1.0
Magnolia
VI, IMPORTANT EVENTS, ISSUES, AND PEOPLE
:12
Consultation convention
122
Declaration convention.
:32
Battle of San Jacinto. 113
Selection of capitol site
115
Woll invasion.
118
Annexation convention. 124
Montgomery versus Willis 125
Biographical sketches.
VII.
CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION.
144
Civil War
144
Plantation and slaves. 144
Secession. 149
Army and county militia
153
iv
Reconstruction.
167
Emancipation. 167
Atrocities 171
VIII.
INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES
178
Institutions 178
Churches. 178
Baptist. 170
Methodist. 180
Schools 132
Montgomery
182
Montgomery Academy.
162
Jones Anddemy. 184
Public.
185
Conroe. 187
Newspapers 191
Industries
192
Early.
'92
Lumbering
Farming 197
Ranching. 199
199
Cil.
IX. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 203
V
Summary . 203
Conclusions
208
BIBLIOGRAPHY 209
APPENDIX
215
OMERY COUNTY LIBRARY CONROE, TEXAS
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION I THE STUDY
Purpose of the study. The primary purpose of this study is (1) to give historical and unbiased facts concerning the county of Montgomery, Texas; (2) to present the events of historical signifi- cance as nearly as possible as they actually occurred; (3) to aid the people of Montgomery County, Texas, who are interested in the history of their county; and (4) to help preserve the historical data of the county.
Importance of the study. The study of history should begin at home. People of the United States today do not understand each other as they should, primarily because they are continually on the move and most of them know little or nothing about the locale in which they live. Actually, if they would stop long enough to acquaint themselves with their local history, it would help them to get along with their neighbors.
Since no continuous history has been compiled chronologically of the important events of Montgomery County, this study should be of importance to those who are interested in obtaining a general survey of the progress of the county through the years.
Another phase of importance. historically speaking. is that
2
this study should be of importance to those who are interested in Texas history.
Other studies. To the author's knowledge no other study has been written concerning the entire history of Montgomery County, Texas. A number of brief papers have been done about the early phase of the county's history and one research thesis was written about the history of the town of Montgomery by W. N. Martin. 1
II SOURCES OF DATA AND METHOD OF PROCEDURE Source of data. Material for this study was obtained, whenever possible, from the original sources. Extensive research was made in the original papers, letters, documents, petitions, et cetera, at the Texas State Archives, University of Texas Archives, Archives of the Houston Public Library, original documents and records of the Montgomery County courthouse, and the personal archive collection of Hart Addison, Conroe, Texas. Much of the original material of the early history of the county was written in Spanish and has been trans - lated; this was used in preference to the original, due to the time re- quired for translation. Not only were the original documents used extensively, but also secondary source material from books, news-
iW. N. Martin, "A History of Montgomery, " (unpublished Master's thesis, Sam Houston State Teachers College, Huntsville, Texas, 1950).
3
papers, and magazines. Much of the data concerning the towns and communities was obtained verbally through interviews with old time residents of the various places.
Not much of the data of the area was found at any one place, except in the collection of Hart Addison of Conroe, and considerable time was spent cross-checking on small leads that usually led to non-usable material. It is the opinion of the author that much more 1 material than was collected about Montgomery County remains un- covered, and will some day, no doubt, be brought to light by someone interested in the lore of the region.
Method of procedure. The method of procedure used in this study was as objective as possible. There was some controversy on how several of the communities acquired their names; therefore, enough data was collected on each community so that a hypothesis could be formed. One community in particular had two sides as to how the community had acquired its name; hence, several people from each faction were interviewed; an interpretation was reached and a hypothesis formed. A similar method was used in compiling the data of this thesis whenever contradictory evidence existed. Where primary source material in its original form and secondary source material known to be authentic were used, there was no need to check its validity.
...
4
The treatment of the conclusion was presented on as unbiased basis as was possible by the author.
III ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
An organization of the history of a county whose background has been as varied as Montgomery's is quite a challenge in itself, The chapters are arranged as nearly as possible according to the chronologi- cal data with chapter one concerning the introduction and chapter two portraying the geographic nomenclature and the early inhabitants of the county. These two phases stress the location, description, land structure, Indians, missions, and early explorers of the county; the reign of Mexico with the establishment of settlements under the empresarios will comprise chapter three. Montgomery County was organized soon after Texas declared her independence from Mexico. Chapter four will contain the county's organization, naming, and early political development, which make this era of the county's history one of its most interesting.
The cities, communities, important events, and outstanding people fall into the next catagory with a brief description of the county's institutions, industries, and natural resources following. These head- inge will be included in chapters five, six, and seven, with the last chapter dealing with the summarization of the study.
It is the hope of the author that the reader will not get the im-
5
pression that this the history of Montgomery County but rather just one of many that could be written. Much material has been collected, but various limitations prevent a compilation of all the facts concern- ing the history of the county.
CHAPTER Iİ
GEOGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE AND EARLY INHABITANTS
I GEOPHYSICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL STRUCTURE
Montgomery County, Texas, lies in the southeastern cerra! part of Texas, with its latitudinal and longitudinal directions bring ninety-five degrees and thirty minutes latitude, and thirty degress and seventeen and one-half minutes longitude.1 Montgomery County is border ed on the north by Walker County, on the northeast by San Jacinto County, on the east by Liberty County, on the south by Harris County, on the southwest by Waller County, and on the west by Grimes County. Its geographical center is located thirteen and one-half miles southeast
of the town of Montgomery and approximately four miles southwest of the city of Conroe; the center is located on the survey line between the L. M. H. Washington and John Bricker surveys.2 The boundary line bordering on Harris County is a natural boundary, formed by Spring Creek; the line between San Jacinto and Montgomery Counties also is a natural boundary formed by Peach Creek. The other boundary lines of Montgomery County, i. e., those boundaries running between
1 The Texas State Highway Department, "General Highway Map of Montgomery County, Texas, " revised January 1, 1950.
2 Montgomery County Courthous ... Dend Records, Book IX, p. 337.
7
Waller, Grimes, Walker, Liberty, and the northeastern part of Harris Counties, are surveyed boundaries.
Montgomery County has a land surface area of 1, 017 square miles which encompasses three major soil types in the Lifkin-Susquehanna formation.3 These three are differentiated, with many local variations, as black waxy prairies, postoak, and pine lands. A tongue of the Houston and Wilson soils, which are dark, calcareous soils, splits the Lufkin- Susquehanna formation in the north central part of the county. 4 The northwest and north-central section of the county with rolling prairie lands, which consist of the black waxy soil, is situated in what is known as the eastern tongue of the "Washington prairie. " The eastern part of the county, except for the alluvial valleys, has a sandy surface soil and is known as the Magnolia soil belt. This belt is called the "Flatwoods" region and is comprised of the characteristic soils of the Caddo-Segno soil group. The extreme eastern portion is in the famous pine belt, and the no less famous "Big Thicket" occupies a part of this and the ad- joining soil region. 5
3 T. C. Richardson, edition, East Texas: Its History and Its Makers (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1940), Vol. III, p. 1125. (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1940) 4 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 39
5 Loc. cit.
8
The altitude of the county ranges from 150 to 300 feet above sea level, with an annual rainfall of 49. 17 inches and an average temperature of fifty degrees in January and eighty-three degrees in July.6
The county is well drained by the San Jacinto River, due to the stream's central location and its numerous tributaries. Some of the main tributaries are Peach Creek and Caney Creek on its eastern banks, and Spring Creek and Lake Creek on its western bank. Montgomery County also has many natural and man made lakes, of which the largest is a natural lake some two miles in length, known as Grand Lake.
This county is bountifully supplied with a good variety of both softwood and hardwood timber, and various classes of pine of the soft- wood variety, mainly the shortleaf and loblolly pine; and oak, gum, elm, ash, holly, hickory, magnolia, black walnut, and various others of the hardwood variety are found. In the river bottoms and semi-swamps of the lowlands, palmetto grows abundantly, while oak and hickory grow on the ridges at the other extreme. The northwest and northeast portions of the county are in part of the government forest reserve, and these sections are being administered under the name of the Sam Houston National Forest.
6Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide, 1949-1950 (Dallas: A. H. Belo Corporation, 1949), p. 568.
9
Various types of wild edible fruits and nuts exist profusely in their natural environment, mainly the dewberry, blackberry, mayberry, mulberry, May haw, black haw, plums, mustang grape, muscadine, per - simmon, pecan, hickory nut, chinquapin, and many others.
Montgomery County is a natural habitat for wild flowers which attain their greatest profusion and largest size in the moist lands of the county. Some of these are the bluebonnet, bluebell, Indian paintbrush, magnolia, dogwood, redbud, and the yellow jasmine.
Wild animals of many types and varieties exist throughout the county, such as various species of poisonous and nonpoisonous snakes, fox, bobcat, deer, squirrel, rabbit, raccon, opossum, armadillo, and numerous other undomesticated animals, Many birds and larger fowl maintain their home in the county throughout the seasons.
The various lakes and streams afford the county with an abun- dance of fish, such as catfish, trout, bass, crappie, various species of perch, buffalo, shad, and gar.
II INDIANS
The first presence of homo sapiens in Montgomery Count is not known today, but with all probability some prehistoric men dwelt there, roamed its forests, and preyed upon its game, The earliest man who left any record of his inhabitance in the county was the American Indian.
The Crcoquisac (Arkokisas or Orcoquiza) tribe roamed through
10
the county in the early eighteenth century and established several camps along the banks of Spring Creek and the San Jacinto River. They used those camps as the center of their tribal activities for the outlying camps they had along the Trinity and lower San Jacinto Rivers. A good account given of their location and whereabouts is as follows:
The center or headquarters of the tribe seems to have been located on a western branch of the San Jacinto River called at this time Arrora de Santa Rosa de Alcazar. This stream has been identified on good authority as Spring Creek. A short distance below the junction of the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa about a gunshot from the banks of the latter, was a village ruled by Chief Cancs. This chief was a close friend of the French, whom the Indians generally designated as Canos; hence the name. Some twenty miles above was the village of Chief El Gordo (Fatty). 7
Another account which more definitely clarifies the location of the village of Chief El Gordo is given in the following account:
. . El Gordo's village was located at the junction of two small branches joining the Santa Rosa, about ten leagues or perhaps twenty miles west of the San Jacinto -- evidently Mill Creek and Spring Creek. 8
Little is known about the habits and mcres of the Orcoquisac
tribes of early Montgomery County; however, some small details
Carlos E. Castaneda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas, 1519-1936 (Austin: Von Beckman-Jones Company, Publishers, 1936), Vol. IV,, pp. 49-50
8 Herbert Fugene Bolton, Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1915), Vol. III. p. 354.
11
were learned from the early traders, explorers, soldiers, and missionaries when they corresponded with their government after having spent sometime in or passed through the county. From the few accounts that were left, enough information was gathered to learn the associate tribes of the Arcoquisac and a little information about the tribal life. These facts are recorded in the following passage:
. . . On the north the neighbors of the Orcoquiza (Creoquisac) were the Bidai, and apparently, the Deadose (Agdocas, Doxsas); on the west, the Coco; on the west and southwest, the Karankawa.
Although they went periodically back and forth, with the changes of seasons, between the coast and interior the Creoquiza lived in relatively fixed villages. If they were like the Bidai, they remained inland during the winter. They practiced agriculture to some extent, raising what was called maize. They lived to a large extent on a fish diet, supplemented by sylvan fruits and game, among which deer and bear were prominent. 9
The Crcoquisacs seem to have been on friendly terms with the neighboring tribes, with the exception of the cannibalistic Karankawas. Racially they seem to have been closely related to the Attacapa, with whom they intermarried freely. The number of this tribe has been extimated between ten and fifteen hundred souls. 10
No archaeological remains have been uncovered of the
Orcoquisac Indians in the county. Their annihilation was probably due -
9 Herbert Eugene Eclton, Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1915), Vol. III, p. 351
10 Castaneda, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 49
12
to some white man's disease, such as smallpox or typhoid: or perhaps when the larger Indian nations of the southeastern United States were forced to migrate across the Mississippi River they amalgamted with them, or were driven by them into other sections of the country.
The Bidai and Kickapoo tribes ranged north of the Crcoquisac in the locality of the present day Bidai Lake, These two tribes, the Bidai and Kickapoo, left their mark in the vicinity when the early set- tlers bestowed their names on several of the creeks and lakes of this region. At the time when the first settlers came to Montgomery they encountered several of these tribes, made friends, and traded with them. An account of their location and fraternization with the settlers is as follows:
. . About six miles west of Montgomery on Caney Creek, the Bedai Indians had a village and burying ground. The Kickapoo Indians sometimes camped near the town. Arrow- heads are still found where these old camps were. These were friendly tribes, and there was much trading between them and the settlers. They made baskets, wooden bowls, chairs of rattan and hickory, and covers for bottles, also of rattan. The white boys bought bows and arrows from the Indians and learned to shoot squirrels with as much skill as the Indians themselves. When the Indians carried their baskets to sell, they filled the baskets with whatever they wanted to buy, then emptied the contents into their laps and left the baskets in exchange. Indians from the Bedai village sometimes went to the Shannon home at milking time with wooden bowls. They sat on the fence until the Negroes finished milking, and when their bowls were filled, and they had drunk the milk, they walked off leaving the bowls as payment.
13
The Bedai village was almost wiped out by typhoid fever. The Indians treated this by putting the patients on high scaffolds and making a smoke under them. . . . 1L
The Bedai and Kickapoo stock quickly vanished after the white man's pestilence thinned their ranks almost into oblivion.
Other Indian tribes, besides the Crocquisac, Bedai, and Kickapoo, visited Montgomery County. The Cenis, known as the Tejas to the Spaniards, whose main pueblos were along the central part of the Trinity River, occasionally roamed through the county. 12
III EXPI.CRERS AND MISSIONARIES
Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, a French explorer, who perhaps and miscalculated his bearing, had bypassed the mouth of the Mississippi River where he had intended to land and establish a colony. He was forced to land near Matagorda Bay, and it was here that he built his fort of Saint Louis and used this fort as a base for his treks into the interior of Texas, looking for the Mississippi River. It was on one of these excursions, beginning on the twelfth day of January 1686, that La Salle is believed to have crossed through the
11 Mary Davis, "Cld Montgomery, " (unpublished paper written for the Conroe High School senior history class, no date), pp. 1-2.
12 Castaneda, op. cit., Vel. I, p. 294
14
northwest corner of Montgomery County. 13 Upon leaving his fort of Saint Louis, an account of this trek is as follows:
Again, on the 12th of January, 1686, La Salle, with seven- teen companions, started to the northeast.
On the 21st they crossed the river of Canes, (Colorado, above Eagle Lake). Heavy rains delayed them, and they crossed the river of Sand Banks, (San Bernard) on the 26th. On Joutel's (La Salle's geographer) map are laid down succes- sively, though under French names, Skull Creek, New Year's Creek, the Maligne, or Brazos River, the Eure (San Jacinto), River of Canoes, so called because in his former voyage, La Salle had to procure canoes to cross it (the Trinity), the Neches, the Angelina and the Sabine. 14
Another account which more clearly records La Salle's trip after
he got to the Brazos River and Montgomery County is as follows:
. . . La Salle altered his course and following a more easterly direction, soon reached a thickly populated country, where the natives welcomed him with evident pleasure. This was probably in the vicinity of the Brazos River. Here they were delayed for a few days, awaiting the recovery of Naka, the faithful Shawanoe Indian hunter of La Salle, who had been bitten by a rattlesnake. Continuing the journey eastward, they found their path inter - cepted by a river which Father Douay called "La Riviere de Malheurs, " the River of Misfortunes. This was a very swift stream in which La Salle and some of his companions who attempted to cross on a raft, were almost drowned. It is difficult to tell just what stream this was, as there are no swift rivers between the Brazos and the Trinity. There are, however, numerous creeks and small streams, which during the rainy season often assume the proportions of regular torrents, any of which might fit the description.
13Homer S. Thrall, A Pictorial History of Texas From the Earliest Visits of European Adventurers, to A. D. 1879 (St. Louis, Mo. : N. D. Thompson and Company, 1879), p. 81. -
14Loc. cit.
15
After crossing this stream with much difficulty, La Salle and his companions continued their march eastward and shortly thereafter, came to the rancherias of the Cenis · . along the Trinity. 15
This expedition into Texas by the French soon became known in Mexico, and measures to dislodge the colony were taken by the Spanish officials. 16
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