USA > Texas > Dallas County > History of Dallas County, Texas: From 1837 to 1887 > Part 1
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GRAD F 392 .D14 B87 BUHR
A 814,569
Price, 25 Cents. 3h-
HISTORY -OF-
Dallas County,
TEXAS,
From 1837 to 1887.
BY JOHN HENRY BROWN
COPYRIGHT SECURED.
DALLAS, TEXAS MILLIGAN CORNETT & FARNHAM. PRINTERS. 1887.
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THE . THE UNIVERSI
IVERS
. LIBRARIES
MICHIGAN . SE
HISTORY
DALLAS COUNTY,
TEXAS:
FROM 1837 TO 1887.
BY
JOHN HENRY BROWN .. =
COPYRIGHT SECURED.
DALLAS, TEXAS: MILLIGAN, CORNETT & FARNHAM, PRINTERS. 1887.
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392 014 B87 Buhr
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INTRODUCTION.
IT is both wise and just that the correct history of the original settlement and reclamation from savagery of every district in the United States should be preserved by the inhab- itants of such locality. It is a source of pleasure to the descendants and successors of the first occupants; and, when its accomplishment may have demanded, as in all this section of country, both moral and physical courage, combined with intelligence and steadfastness of purpose, its preservation tends to the elevation of each succeeding generation occupy- ing the same soil. It descends as a higher title to true manhood and womanhood than are the merely inherited titles of rank in the old countries of Europe. It is the base upon which rests a degree of laudable self-respect and inherited patriotism unknown to the old and intensified populations of the old world.
The settlement of Texas was altogether unlike that of .ny other State or territory in the Union, so far as the Anglo- 'axon race is concerned. All the hazards elsewhere under- taken were ventured under the ægis of the United States. In Texas every adventurous immigrant entering its domain risked the uncertainties, the despotisms, the internecine strifes, the crude ideas of republicanism, and the demoraliza- tions of a nation of mixed blooded people, who had been bold, for three hundred years, in abject subjection to a
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
foreign, absolute monarchy, followed by eleven years of cruel relentless war, from which they had just emerged-in th self-same year in which our race first essayed the attempt settle Texas-1821. Too feeble to afford protection to th American colonists invited by them to settle and occupy thei northern wilderness, comprehended under the designation o the "Province of Texas," and from time immemorial don inated by roving and hostile tribes of Indians, the colonist from the first, were thrown upon their own resources f existence, and for protection against these ever-moving an ever-watchful American Arabs.
Settlements feebly began in the lower or coast country January, 1822, in Austin's colony, followed by others in I Witt's colony in 1825-6, and continued to increase, from tl Nueces to the Sabine, along the inner coast belt and as far bac in a few spots, as the ancient Spanish military road from S Antonio de Bexar to Nacogdoches. So it was when Texas rev lutionized in 1835 and won her independence in 1836. Five yea passed away and brought the close of 1841, twenty years aft the first settlement, and still all of North Texas remained much a wilderness as it was when Cortez conquered Mexi in 1521. This more immediate section, though occasional traversed by adventurous hunters and trappers, was simp known by the people elsewhere by the somewhat appropria designation of the "Three Forks of the Trinity" counti the Elm and Main forks uniting near Dallas and the B. d'Arc or East fork about thirty miles below.
The first incident connected with the immediate territc of Dallas county, of which we have knowledge, was stat by the author of this sketch, in an address to the Texas V eran Association, at their reunion in Dallas, on the semi-ce tennial of San Jacinto Day, April 21, 1886:
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FROM 1837 TO 1887.
"Forty-nine years ago, in the autumn of 1837, when all is country, known as North and Northwest Texas, was an peopled wilderness, excepting in its occupancy by roving bes of hostile savages, a company of about fifty volunteers, der the command of Capt. William M. Eastland, left Grange, on the lower Colorado, on an expedition against e savages in the upper country, the commander being a Idier of San Jacinto, and the same Christian prisoner who ew a black bean in the lottery of life and was one of the venteen martyrs shot unto death as malefactors, by the order Santa Anna, at the hacienda of Salado, in the interior of exico, March 25, 1843. In due time this company reached e highlands, now in Eastland county, dividing the waters
Pecan bayou, the Leon and the Clear fork of the Brazos. here they divided into two parties-the larger under Capt. istland, returning south on the Colorado slope of the untry-the other, consisting of twenty men, under Lieuts. an Benthuysen and Miles, moved northeastwardly, crossed e Brazos near the mouth of the Clear fork, and struck the Bin or West fork of the Trinity, in what is now Wise county. here, on the 10th of November, they were suddenly attacked ' 150 Indians, but found refuge in a ravine, where they re besieged from forenoon to night, losing Lieut. Miles and ght men, besides several wounded and all their horses.
"Through the shelter of the night they reached the river ttom, and along its serpentine banks they were harrassed tring the succeeding day, but their unerring rifles finally mpelled their pursuers to abandon the conflict with a severe 38. For five days they followed the river down its meanders I they reached the junction of the Main and Elm forks, ree miles above this city. On the sixth day they crossed to e east side at the mouth of Turtle creek, and, a mile and a
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
half below, came to the bluff, rising above overflow, wher the village of Dallas was founded or first settled four year later. Some suffering with wounds, all well-nigh denuded c clothing and their flesh torn with thorns, they resolved to hal for repose. With mud and oak ooze their wounds were pou. ticed, buffaloes were killed for meat, their hides converte into moccasins and "leggings," and after three or four day thus spent at the spring near where Jackson street crosses th town branch, they recrossed the river and traveled sout along the prairie, but always near the timber for protection if attacked, and finally reached the border settlements in th lower country."
THE MILITARY ROAD.
The next point of known interest, preceding the settle ment of Dallas county, was the opening, or rather the marl ing and partly opening through it by the government of th Republic, of a military road, the initial points being Austi and (as finally fixed) the mouth of Kiamishi, in Red Rive county. From the forthcoming volume entitled "The India Wars and Pioneers of Texas," by the author of this history the following account of that expedition is taken:
"The Congress of 1839-40, in its first session .at Austin made provision for opening a military road from that plac to Red river. . Col. William G. Cooke, who had succeede Col. Burleson in command of the regulars, was ordered t take charge of the expedition destined for that service. Th entire route lay outside of the settlements, it being approx mately a direct line from Austin to Bonham, then known & Fort Inglish and the home of a worthy pioneer named Baile Inglish.
"Col. Cooke joined the troops on Little river (now i Bell county) on the 9th of September, 1840, where 1
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FROM 1887 TO -1887.
remained five days waiting for mules promised, but which were not delivered. In the meantime the beeves escaped. Without waiting for others, which were to follow as soon as possible, Col. Cooke moved north, arriving at the Waco vil- lage on the 17th, where he had ordered Capt. Holliday to meet him. This village, by the march of civilization, is now the handsome and prosperous city of Waco. He remained here till the quartermaster came up with supplies, including beeves, when he took up the line of march for the Trinity, the objective point being the vicinity of the city of Dallas.
"His march was slow, owing to the difficulty in crossing the creeks with wagons. A drouth prevailed, and in two or three cases he was compelled to camp without water. This, however, for lack of knowledge of the country, as water was abundant in streams near the route. On one of these occa- sions, in the region of Chambers creek, some of the men, in disobedience of orders, went back unarmed on the trail for water. They were attacked by about fifteen Indians and five of them killed. During the succeeding night a severe "norther" blew up, and the beeves again escaped and were doubtless driven off by Indians, who prowled about every camp from the Brazos to the Trinity. Their daily march averaged about eight miles. After this second loss of beeves, they had no provisions excepting sugar and coffee. They had found buffalo abundant from Little river to the Brazos, and also north of Chambers' creek; but as they approached the Trinity, game became scarce, and before they had reached the main bottom they were obliged to subsist for several days on dogs, mules and horses.
"In this condition of things, Col. Cooke became satisfied that it was impossible to reach the Red river settlements with the wagons or even the sick; and being informed by his pilot
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
that it was only two days on horseback to settlements on the Sulphur fork of Red river, determined to leave a part of the command and march on for supplies, expecting to reach the settlements in five days. Lieut .- Col. Clendenin, at his own request, was left in camp on the west side of the Trinity with the wagons, the sick and forty men as a guard. This camp was not far from Miller's Ferry of later years.
"On the fifth day after leaving the Trinity. Col. Cooke came in contact with a thicket, supposed by him to be the head of the Sabine, through which it took five days to cut. [The present population of the country will readily recognize this as the "Journegan thicket," on the boundaries of Collin and Hunt counties, made locally famous by events connected with the civil war between the States. The writer of this was once an ambassador, bearing a conditional olive branch to six or seven hundred disaffected men, enjoying the seclu- sion of its retreat and not without favorableresults. ] On the tenth day after leaving the camp on the Trinity, Col. Cooke struck a trail made by Chihuahua traders which, being fol- lowed, led him to the house of Bailey Inglish, on the Bois d'Arc fork of Red river, by whom he and his troops 'were received very hospitably and furnished with supplies, after having been without beef for twenty-two days.' This is the language of Col. Cooke himself.
"Col. Cooke made immediate arrangements for relieving the party of Clendenin. A detachment was sent back with beeves and oxen to draw the wagons. This relief reached the camp on the Trinity on the 5th of November, to find that Clendenin, in despair of relief, had temporarily abandoned the camp for the settlements below, on the 3d, leaving a note stating that he had been "starved out;" that he had eaten most of the mules; that he was obliged to leave for the settle-
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FROM 1837 TO 1887.
ments (doubtless old Franklin), and that he expected to return in eight or ten days. On the next day, the 4th, Capts. Sker- ret and Houghton, of the regulars, with forty men, having followed Cooke's trail from Austin, arrived at the deserted camp, to find Clendenin's note, and a day later, as stated, the relief arrived.
"Four of the relief party, with this information, returned to Col. Cooke, on the Bois d'Arc, making the trip in four instead of eleven days, evidently avoiding the dreadful thicket. As soon as Capt. Skerret reached the Bois d'Arc, the work of laying out the road began and was prosecuted until com- pleted.
"The northern initial point of this road was the mouth of Kiamishi creek, on Red river, in Red River county; thence it ran southwesterly, passing at or near where Paris stands; thence nine or ten miles west of the present town of Greenville; thence to what was afterwards known as "Mckenzie's," and later as "Barnes'" ferry, on the East fork of Trinity; thence to the present county road crossing on White Rock, four miles east of Dallas; thence to the Trinity near where the Santa Fe railway crosses, a little below Dallas; and thence by the Waco village and fort, on Little river, to Austin, an entire distance of about three hundred and sixty miles. It was "staked" through the prairies and "blazed" through timber, but not opened through timber and timbered bottoms till 1843, and then only to the Trinity from the north, when, a few settlers having located where Dallas is, it was deflected from White Rock so as to cross the river at that point and fall on the marked line a little beyond. But the changes in the country, by immigration in the next few years, were such as to supersede portions of the road and eclipse its original national intendment, insomuch that many persons now living
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
who came to the country but a little later are unaware of or have forgotten its origin and character.
"On the 14th of November, 1840, from his camp at Inglish's, on the Bois d'Arc, Col. Cooke officially reported all the facts herein recited, up to that date, to Branch T. Archer, Secretary of War. That report now lies before me, and has been carefully followed in this narration. In it he says that he had selected an eligible location for a post, at which to store supplies and station men for the protection of the Red River settlements against the Indians.
"The point finally chosen, and at which barracks were immediately erected, but not occupied or garrisoned, was at or in the immediate vicinity of the present town of Denison, a few miles below Coffee's trading house on Red river. In May, 1841, the Village creek expedition, in which Denton was killed, halted on the outward trip, for two or three days, at these barracks, and on the return trip disbanded at the same place."
BIRD'S FORT.
In the fall and winter of 1840-41 the fort, since known as Bird's Fort, about twenty-two miles westerly from Dallas, on the north side of the Main or West fork of the Trinity, was built by a company of three months Rangers, under Capt. John Bird, all residents of Bowie and Red River coun- ties. They soon returned home and left the post unoccupied. Not far from the same time, but the precise date is unknown, Robert Sloan, in command of a detachment from a company of "minute" men in Red River county, made a hasty scout through this country, and while here one of the men, named David Clubb, formerly of Illinois and a soldier in the Black Hawk war of 1832, was killed by Indians at a small lake on the Elm fork of the Trinity, a short distance above its mouth
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FROM 1837 TO 1887.
and below the Keenan crossing. It has been erroneously said that this man's name was Samuel Chubb, and that he was killed on the east side of White Rock creek. Sloan was not the captain of the Red River company, but a leader of one of the squads into which it was divided for alternate scouting purposes.
In the fall of 1841 the families of Hamp Rattan and Capt. Mabel Gilbert, with a few men, reached Bird's Fort, and a little later the family of John Beeman. Late in November, 1841, a wagon was sent back to Red river for pro- visions. It stayed so long that three men were sent to find and assist it, if necessary. These men were Alex W. Webb (yet living near Mesquite, in Dallas county), Solomon Silk- wood and Hamp Rattan. On the east side of Elm fork, about a mile and a half southwest of where Carrollton is, while cutting down a large ash tree to get the honey found to be in it, and on Christmas day, 1841, Rattan was killed by a small party of concealed Indians. Webb and Silkwood killed one Indian and escaped to reach the Fort. The snow was six inches deep. It was intensely cold, and so remained for sev- eral days. Silkwood, from the exposure endured, sickened and died. A single man was again started to meet the relief wagon. He succeeded, and on the 30th, five days after the killing, the wagon reached the scene. The body of Rattan was still guarded by his faithful dog. The remains were conveyed to the Fort, and there, in a rude coffin made of an old wagon body, committed to the earth. His brothers, John and Liddleton Rattan, had been in the fight of Village creek, in the previous May or June, when Denton was killed. He was also a brother of Mrs. A. J. Witt, deceased, of Dallas county, and Mrs. J. W. Throckmorton and Mrs. Wm. Fitz- hugh, of Collin. He was a neighbor in Illinois of our esteemed
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
old fellow-citizen and pioneer of Dallas county, Elder John M. Myers, of Carrolton, (so near the spot where he was killed) who assures me that he was a worthy man.
BIRTH OF DALLAS.
Late in November, 1841, John Neely Bryan, a Tennes- sean, who had spent some time in the settlements on Red river, camped alone and erected a tent on the banks of the Trinity, near the site of the court house, and remained alone till the succeeding spring, excepting when visited by persons looking at the country. In the spring of 1842, several other families having in the meantime arrived at Bird's Fort, the families of Capt. Gilbert first and next John Beeman-the former in canoes, the latter in an ox wagon-abandoned the Fort and removed to Dallas, that of Beeman to remain permanently, but, after two or three years, Gilbert returned to Red river. Mr. Beeman, with his brothers and their families, had come to Bowie county, Texas, from Calhoun county, Illinois, in the year 1840, and thence he had moved out, as stated, to the Fort. Later in 1842, James J. Beeman, half brother of John, and family, came directly from Bowie county to Dallas. A few others came during that year, and a few single men and prospectors visited the place in that time. Mr. Bryan finally secured, as his headright, 640 acres of land fronting on the river, long in its front, but very narrow in its parallel course, being confined to a strip previously left between the square league and labor, surveyed for John Grigsby, of Houston county, and the Trinity river, a large portion of Bryan's tract being low bottom land, subject to overflow, but having a plateau of higher ground, above overflow, abutting on the stream for about four hundred yards and rapidly widen- ing as it receded from the front, so as to form a good site for a village; and, when united with the Grigsby league and labor of
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FROM 1837 TO 1887.
4,605 acres, (both tracts containing 5,245 acres) forming an admirable location for a city, as is now demonstrated, for it ex- tends from Grand avenue on the southeast to Turtle creek on the northwest, and from the river on the southwest to a line beyond the outer boundary of East Dallas on the northeast, containing an area equivalent to about three miles square. The land, however, was not patented to Mr. Bryan till the 16th of February, 1854, while the headrights (640 acres) of John, James J. and John S. Beeman were patented December 3d, 1850, and the league and labor to John Grigsby on the 28th of August, 1842. The prior survey of Grigsby was unknown to Bryan, and hence arose complications which delayed his patent.
Anticipating events in the order of date, it may be said that, in 1874, a very remarkable suit, or rather a suit develop- ing remarkable facts, was instituted by heirs to recover from three or four hundred citizens, resident on the Grigsby league, certain shares in the same. By severance of defendants, two or three cases thus far have been decided by the Supreme Court in favor of the heirs as to lands held by the particular defendants, while other holders have compromised with them. As a matter of peculiar interest, involving, by the growth of Dallas, property now of large value, a brief statement of the facts is here given:
John Grigsby came to Texas with a second wife, by whom he had two children. By his first wife he had four or five children, all of whom came with him. The land was granted to him as the head of a family. By the law of Texas, such land is community property, belonging equally to the husband and wife. Grigsby died. His widow married Edens-by him had a child, and then died. Edens, father of the infant. afterwards married a daughter of Grigsby by his first wif
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
and became administrator of his estate, which was adminis- tered in the proper county and before the proper court. In the distribution of the land, in 1848, it was equally divided between all the children of Grigsby, by both marriages, and nothing set apart to the child of Mrs. Grigsby by her mar- riage with Edens. In 1874, the children by the second mar- riage (or the survivor of the two) and the Edens child (then a married woman) brought the suit. The plea of the first was that on the death of the parent or parents, one-half the land descended equally to all of the children of Grigsby by both marriages-the other half equally to all the children of Mrs. Grigsby by her respective marriages with Grigsby and Edens. Hence the second Grigsby children had an equal share in the whole league, and the Edens child an equal share with them in the mother's half. This has been held by the Supreme Court to be the law.
The case, however, is complicated with the question of limitation as against the plaintiff heirs and perhaps other points not necessary to state, as the facts stated clearly show the law of the case as an original proposition.
[Of the original 4,605 acres, Grigsby, before his death, had legally disposed of three tracts, respectively containing 1,000, 733 and 200 acres, in all 1933 acres, leaving as the quantity in which the plaintiffs claimed an interest, 2,672 acres. The 1,000-acre tract embraces the heart of Dallas, and is not involved.]
PETERS' COLONY.
The year 1841 was ushered in by an act of the govern- ment of Texas to encourage the settlement of this wilderness. On the 4th of February the Texian Congress passed "An Act granting land to immigrants," in which a grant was made "to Joseph Carroll, Henry J. Peters and others, their associates,
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