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HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY TEXAS BY MRS. GEORGE LANGSTON
HOUSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY HOUSTON, TEXAS
7
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MRS. GEORGE LANGSTON, CISCO, TEXAS
HISTORY
OF
EASTLAND COUNTY
TEXAS T 976.4 L
BY MRS. GEORGE LANGSTON
Carolynal +
DALLAS, TEXAS A. D. Aldridge & Co., Stationers, Printers and Book Binders 1904
113785
-
COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY MRS. GEORGE LANGSTON.
C
TO
MY MOTHER
AMANDA REAGAN SMITH
A DAUGHTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS, WHOSE FATHER LOCATED IN RUSK COUNTY WHEN IT WAS THE INDIANS' HUNTING GROUND
THIS HISTORY IS REVERENTLY DEDICATED
BY
HER DAUGHTER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PERIOD I-1858-1873.
SETTLEMENT.
CHAPTER I.
The New County.
CHAPTER II.
The First Settlers.
CHAPTER III.
Indian Tribes.
CHAPTER IV. "Charge, Boys, Charge!"
CHAPTER V.
1. Forted Ranches and Incidents of the Times.
2. The First Wedding.
CHAPTER VI.
1. An Indian Race.
2. A Turkey Hunt. 3. The Lost Arrow Head.
CHAPTER VII. In War Times.
CHAPTER VIII. Some Indian Fights.
1. Ellison's Spring.
2. Cisco Running Fight.
3. The Cottonwood Fight.
4. Finley, the Little Dog Scout.
5. The Stolen Boy.
6. The Battle Creek Fight.
CHAPTER IX. 1. In the Midst of Life. 2. In Search of a Wife.
CHAPTER X. The Texas Rangers.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PERIOD II-1873-1881.
ORGANIZATION.
CHAPTER I. The Moving Frontier Line.
CHAPTER II.
Organization of the County.
CHAPTER III. Some of the First Voters.
CHAPTER
IV.
The County Town, Eastland City.
CHAPTER
V.
The Advent of the Railroad.
1. The Texas and Pacific. 2. The Texas Central.
PERIOD III-1881-1904.
GROWTH AND PROGRESS.
CHAPTER I.
Cisco.
CHAPTER
II.
Rising Star.
CHAPTER III.
Gorman.
CHAPTER
IV.
Carbon.
CHAPTER V. Ranger.
CHAPTER VI. Scranton-Romney.
CHAPTER VII.
Desdemona.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Methodist Church.
CHAPTER
IX.
The Baptist Church.
CHAPTER X. Other Churches.
CHAPTER XI. School Directory. CHAPTER XII. Left Over.
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PREFACE
In compiling this History of Eastland County the author has spared no pains in gathering the necessary material, and has striven to give realistic pictures in ac- cordance with the facts. In some instances the data are so scant that it has been necessary to supply the missing material as to environment by conjecture. This liberty, when taken, has always been indicated in the text.
Thanks are due the following original settlers, who have contributed much valuable and interesting infor- mation : Judge J. H. Calhoun, W. C. McGough, T. E. Keith, Joe B. Smith, William Allen, Silas C. Buck; and also to Rev. Wm. Monk, of Iredell, and Bethel Strawn, of Strawn.
For statistics and other help, the author is in- debted to J. M. Williamson, County Clerk Ed Cox, County Tax Collector D. E. Jones, and Rev. S. J. Vaughan; to five newspapers in the county : The Rising Star X-Ray, Albert Tyson, editor; The Cisco Apert, W. L. Wilson; The Rising Star Record, Smith & Barnes; The Carbon Herald, W. T. Curtis, and to the Eastland Chronicle, Frost & Chas- tain.
For material used in local sketches, names, etc., has been furnished by the following :
Eastland City-Mayor Ed Hill, C. U. Connellee, J. B. Ammerman, Capt. Kimble and Judge Hammons.
X
PREFACE.
Cisco-Dr. Vance, Rev. I. Lamb, R. G. Luse and Rev. R. B. Vaughan, W. D. Chandler and to J. J. Butts for loan of valuable books. Rising Star- Prof. Geo. C. Barnes, James Irby, Neal Tur- ner and Rev. J. H. Chambliss. Ranger-Dr. C. E. Frost. Scranton-Rev. Geo. W. Parks. Gorman -T. L. Gates. Carbon-J. H. Cox. To Mr. L. S. Thorne, of the Texas and Pacific, and Mr. W. F. McMil- lan, of the Texas Central Railways, thanks are due for courtesies.
For hospitality extended, kind and encouraging words, the author extends her sincerest gratitude.
If there be any names, communities or organizations left out that should have been in this history, it is be- cause the personal, written and newspaper requests for information failed to elicit the material needed.
If this little volume affords as much pleasure in the reading as it did in the preparation it will have served a double purpose.
MRS. GEORGE LANGSTON.
Cisco, Texas, Feb. 29, 1904.
NOTICE Please do not write in this book or turn down the pages
HISTORY OF Eastland County, Texas
PERIOD 1-1858-1873
CHAPTER. I.
THE NEW COUNTY.
In 1858, before a white man had ventured to ex- pose himself and family to the dangers of what was then an Indian infested frontier, Eastland County was created by an act of the Seventh Legislature of Texas. By the same act Callahan, Stephens, Concho, Wichita, Coleman, Dawson, Shackelford, McMullin, Frio, Za- valla, Edwards, Haskell, Knox, Hardeman, Dimmit, Baylor, Runnels, Jones, Wilbarger, La Salle, Duval, Taylor, and Encinal Counties came into existence. The bill was approved Feb. 1, 1858. *
Eastland County is ideally located, containing with- in its limits the divide between the Leon River and Palo Pinto Creek, and the eastern extremity of the backbone of the Colorado and Brazos Rivers. The depression be- tween these two divides is cut into by Colony Creek, a tributary of the Leon River.
*The County was named for Captain William Eastland, who died a prisoner in Mexico. He is thought to have been one of the Muir prisoners, though Bean, in his memoirs in Yoakum's History of Texas, does not give his name.
12
HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
The northern slope of the eastern divide is drained by the two forks of Palo Pinto Creek, while the rest of the County is watered by the Leon, which rises just be- yond the County's western limit, and makes its exit about three miles southwest of Desdemona.
The eastern divide is characterized by high hills of numerous shapes, which lie, in the main, east and west. It is gashed with ragged ravines, and abounds in deep canyons, in confused and tilted rocks, producing a varied and picturesque scenery.
This broken ridge of high land bends northward above the first impressions of Colony Creek, and dips again southward around Cisco, the tongues of the Brazos licking into the northern slope of the backbone, playing hide and seek with the foragers of the Leon and Colo- rado on the south. As the great skeleton begins to spread itself westward, it leaves large canyons and gulches.
Trees of many kinds grow in great profusion-cedar and liveoak on the hills; postoak and blackjack on the sandy uplands; pecan and walnut, elm and hackberry, cottonwood and willow along the streams, and in the glades mesquite abounds, and in many sandy loca- tions the shinery .*
When the County was created its soil lay bare, void of fence or shack in its rugged nakedness. Under its huge boulders the wild cat found a safe home; its nu- merous caves afforded the wolves a hiding place; the
*Some call a thick young growth of oak, shinery; others affirm it is a peculiar, stunted growth of oak. The latter opinion is, perhaps, correct.
13
HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
bear, the panther, and the cougar roamed wild and free over its mountains, while the Indian, in his savage wild- ness, did not need to seek even the protection of a friend- ly canyon, so free was Eastland County from the tread of the white man.
CHAPTER II.
THE FIRST SETTLERS.
The creation of these new Counties caused a stir throughout the contiguous frontier, and several settle- ments were made even in the first year.
The first man who came to the County was a Mexican, Frank Sanches. He had worked for Thomas Donahoo, of Parker County, but came here with his own stock and located between the Jim Neal Creek and its junc- tion with the Leon.
In 1855 or '56 John Flannagan emigrated from Ken- tucky to Texas, and settled on Kickapoo Creek, in Par- ker County. When the new counties were laid off, the impulse to "grow up with the country" again possessed him, and, moving over into Eastland with his family, he built a home on Colony Creek, about eleven miles from the center of the County. He was the first white man who moved into the County. One can but wonder if he looked down the years, and, passing by the choice loca- tions of the Palo Pinto Creek section, sought the cen- ter of the County for financial reasons. Mr. Flanna- gan had a wife and four children, Golston, Wesley, Julia Ann and "Bud."
.
14
HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
It is curious that a man, forgetting things he once loved, and moved by the spirit of unrest, will sever ties of long standing and expose himself and his family to untried dangers This strange influence burned in the heart of W. H. Mansker as he sowed and reaped on his farm in Arkansas, and was fanned to flames by news of the Texas lands. With his family he pushed across the unsettled wastes of Eastern and Middle Texas, and stopped awhile in Parker County. but hearing of the Leon country he moved on and camped on a lake in the southern part of Eastland County. Later he built a home there, and the lake still bears his name.
The next to cross the boundary line were James El -. lison from Georgia; J. M. Ellison from somewhere in Texas; Dr. Richardson from Arkansas, with their fam- ilies, and the Gilberts, four or five young men from Alabama. All these took up or bought surveys around Mansker Lake; Ellison to the south, at Ellison's Springs, where he still lives ; the Gilberts, Jim, Jasper and Tom, at Jewell, and Sing and Sam, brothers and cousins to the other Gilberts, three and one-half miles below Jew- ell, on Sabano Creek. This ranch is now known as the Morgan place.
Following these was C. C. Blair, who came from Georgia to Alabama, stopped awhile in Collin and Parker Counties, and finally settled six or seven miles northeast of Mansker Lake. A little later this settle- ment became known as Blair's Fort.
W. C. McGough came from Georgia and camped at Blair's Fort. His first son, born at the Fort Aug. 17, 1861, was the first white child born in the County.
15
HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
In the northeastern part of the County like settle- ments were being made. Wm. Allen came from Palo Pinto County in 1858 and located a ranch on Rush Creek (which he still owns), some twelve or fifteen miles east of the Flannagan Ranch. J. M. Stewart was his nearest neighbor, onc-half mile away. Two or three other families settled in the same neighborhood.
In the same part of the County was the Edwards Ranch, and just across the line, from three to six miles was the Clayton Ranch, on Bear Creek. Bethel Strawn settled where the town which now bears his name is lo- cated three miles out of Eastland County.
In Palo Pinto County, at the foot of the hills, about five miles east of Strawn, Peter Davidson lived. He moved into Eastland in 1865, and made his home five miles south of Allen's Ranch. All old settlers know the location of these two ranches.
On North Palo Pinto Creek, in Stephens County, thirteen miles northwest of Flannagan's, Bruce Mc- Kean lived.
The frontier line in Eastland County at this time, (1860), formed an obtuse angle, Flannagan's Ranch being the apex.
CHAPTER III.
INDIAN TRIBES.
In 1858 the Counties of Denton, Parker, Palo Pinto, Eastland, Brown, Lampasas, Burnet, Gillespie, Kendall, Bexar and San Patricio marked the frontier line in
16
HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
Texas which, for twenty years, made little advance. The Comanche Indians and their allies, the Kiowas, held undisputed sway over the remaining two-thirds of the State, with here and there a lone settlement of some venturesome pioneer. Between this frontier line and the Indians rode the dauntless and intrepid Texas Ranger, laboring day and night for the defense of the white cit- izens.
In 1865 the United States Government, having de- cided to pursue the policy of placing the Indians on res- ervations, established the Comanches -- "the Arabs of the New World, whose hand was against every man, and every man's hand against them"-on a reservation on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River, about five miles from where Fort Griffin was located later. Forty miles below this reservation, and ten miles southeast of where Graham City now stands, and about the same distance below the junction of the Clear Fork with the parent stream, was a second reservation, called the "Tonk Res- ervation," containing, besides the Tonkaways, rem- nants of the Caddo and other tribes. The two reser- vations were connected, the former with Camp Cooper, and the latter with Fort Belknap.
The Comanches and Kiowas were always political allies and hated enemies of the "Tonks" and Caddos. When this is remembered, together with the fact that the Tonkaways were mild, and in the main, friendly, it is not surprising that reinforcements were frequent- ly drawn from this reservation for raids against the treacherous, thieving, murderous Comanches.
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HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
Five hundred of the latter were fed at the upper reservation by the Government, and given horses and cattle, but it is estimated that two thousand were roaming the Western prairies as wild and untamed as the eagle in the clefted rock of the highest peak.
The Comanches chafed under restraint and longed for the freedom of the plains-perhaps for the freedom of the scalping knife. In 1856 a few daring ones stole slyly out and made raids on the white settlements. In the early spring of 1857 the raids were renewed with sud- den vigor, and were continued throughout the year.
An expedition, commanded by Colonel Rip Ford, was sent out by the State in April, 1858, against a band of hostile Indians located on the Canadian River. One hundred friendly Indians from the lower reservation, under the Tonkaway chief, Placido, joined the expedition, which was under the command of Captain L. S. Ross. The Indian scouts having located the enemy, the Comanches were attacked at daybreak May 12, 1858, the allies leading in the charge.
The Comanche chief, Prohebits Quasho, called "Iron Jacket," from the scaled coat of mail he wore, believing, it is said, that his armor bore a charm, rode in front, inciting his followers to deeds of bravery by his own cool daring. The bullets fell around him; istill he rode unhurt. At last an Anadarko chieftain among the allies, sent a well-directed rifle bullet which pierced the charmed armor, and Iron Jacket fell to rise no more. The Comanches fled in wild confusion, and several pris- oners were captured, among them, No-po, the small son
18
HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
of Prohebits Quasho. This was known as the battle of Antelope Hills.
Some months later, October 1, 1858, the same force again surprised the Comanches at their homes just at sunrise. Lieutenant Van Camp and several soldiers were killed. The loss of the Indians was heavy. In this battle a Caddo ally recaptured a little white girl whose identity has not been determined.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Indians had agreed that anyone found off the reservations would be shot, the year 1858 had barely ended when they were in Erath County stealing horses. From the years 1855- 1859 -- the time when the government was attempting to herd the Indians, feed them, and keep peace with them -- there was continued and serious trouble between them and the white citizens, for the former would steal horses and scalp the whites nearly every light of the moon, and the latter would seek to repel and punish the invasions.
At last, however, matters reached a climax, and the Indians were removed by the Federal Government across the Red River into the Territory, where they have since remained. The Comanches were not slow to see and act upon the existing fact that they had greater freedom, and depredations continued, becoming more frequent.
It was the custom in these turbulent times for neigh- bors to work together in clearing land, plowing and planting. the women and children being placed in the nearest house.
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HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
CHAPTER IV.
"CHARGE, BOYS, CHARGE."
Early in the year of 1860, (February 7th), close to the eastern boundary line of the County, Jim Stewart, with Mack Allen and Bethel Strawn, was clearing off underbrush about a quarter of a mile from his home. Near by were Sam and William Allen and William Low- der.
In Mr. Stewart's little one-room cabin, with its lean-to, were his wife and Misses Emmaline and Mar- tha Allen, the latter being a sister of William Allen.
While the two girls carded, Mrs. Stewart presided at the spinning wheel, all discussing, the meanwhile, the colors they would use in their new dresses.
"Mine is to be solid red." said Martha.
"I'm going to make mine red and green," announced Miss Emmaline.
"Mine'll be the prettiest of all, then," followed Mrs. Stewart, "for Jim wants me to make it red and green and blue."
"Listen !" suddenly cried Miss Martha Allen, who sat near the door. The wheel stopped instantly, for the girl's face was blanched with fear.
"Indians !" gasped Mrs. Stewart.
"Ye Gods! Such a lot of 'em!" added Martha, as twenty Indians swung around the bend of the road out
20
HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
of the dense undergrowth bordering the Palo Pinto Creek, and bore down upon the little cabin.
Quickly shutting to and barring the door, Mrs. Stew- art caught up her gun, and, placing the muzzle against a crack in the door jamb, said :
"Now, girls, let's keep cool."
"Yes, and our scalps, too," * grimly added Miss Ein- maline.
The Indians began plundering the place of harness, saddles, pans, buckets-anything. Now they were on the gallery !
"Girls, I'm going to shoot," whispered Mrs. Stew- art, with her finger on the trigger. "I'll kill that big fellow right now."
"Don't," cautioned Miss Emmaline, afterwards Mrs. Bethel Strawn, who is still living. "Don't! Wait until they try to get in !" This wise counsel prevailed.
The Indians kept up a hideous yelling all the while, presumably to frighten the inmates of the cabin, but, instead, it proved their salvation, for the men over across the ravine, heard the terrible noise and, recog- nizing it at once, feared the worst, and rushed with breathless speed to the rescue.
As the men came shouting together, and rushed wild- ly down the bank of the deep ravine back of the cabin, Mack Allen called in wildest frenzy :
"Charge, boys! Charge !"
The Indians, cowards in the face of danger, and thinking, doubtless, from the noise the six men made,
*Her exact words.
21
HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
that a whole company of Rangers was rushing upon them from out of the wood, mounted their ponies, and were gone as suddenly as they came.
The men hurriedly followed. Upon arriving at the house of Mr. Woods, seven miles below, they found it deserted, and spurred their horses onward. Two miles further they came upon the dead bodies of Mrs. Wood and Mrs. Lemley. Gently lifting and placing them in the limbs of the trees, far from the reach of the prowl- ing wolves, they again pressed on for fear a worse fate awaited the Misses Lemley, who, at the time, were at Mirs. Wood's home. Although the white men were re- inforced as they pushed on, and made frantic efforts to overtake them, the Indians successfully eluded them and escaped.
The two girls were kept over night, robbed of their clothing, and turned loose with only one garment each to protect them from the night's chilling frost or the norther's keen blast.
Think of it! Before the hills and valleys and up- lands of this beautiful country had ever been trod by the white man's feet; when the hungry coyote howled his mournful lamentation through the dreary night ; when the panther and the catamcunt lay-perched upon the limbs of the forest, waiting for prey; alone, despair- ingly, shuddering over their awful fate, shivering with cold, not knowing which way to turn, possessed with a horrible sickening fear that the Indians would return- the two girls hiding among the rocks, running from one covering to another, finally made their way back to the
22
HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
settlement and found themselves at the home of Tur- key Roberts, five miles north of Stephenville.
One of the girls has since died. The other married. and lives in Palo Pinto County. *
CHAPTER V.
FORTED RANCHES AND INCIDENTS OF THE TIMES.
During the years 1857-1862 the Indians were un- usually active along the frontier. When one remeni- bers the topography of the counties forming the bound- ary line of civilization, the numerous streams which cut their way through mountains, leap into canyons, and tumble out pell mell into the valleys, where they wind in sinuous, undulating way, is it to be wondered at that the red man of the forest yielded to the temptation of his environments and sought revenge for the appro- priation of his domain to the' uses of the white man ?
Although the primal object 'of the Indians in mak- ing raids into the white settlements was to steal horses; yet, if there were the slightest pretext, they murdered with all the zest of their ancestral inheritance.' During these perilous years the pioneer settlers were forced to come together for mutual protection.
In the southeastern part of Eastland County eight
*Messrs. William and Sam Allen and Bethel Strawn, who were in the chase after the Indians, are the authority for the above incident. Mr. Sam Allen lives at Van Horn, the other two gentlemen at Strawn.
23
HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
families were forted at C. C. Blair's Ranch. The houses were built and the tents stretched around an open square, and these were enclosed by a close picket fence eight or ten feet high. The families living at Blair's Fort were those of Ellison, Kuykendall, the Gilberts, Mansker, C. C. Blair, W. C. McGough, and a little later, William Arthur. There were others who found refuge in the Fort from time to time.
As the largest number of families were gathered here, and it was also a frequent stopping place for the Ran- gers on their journeys hither and thither, large supplies of bread-stuff and ammunition were kept on hand. * As the traveler went northward, however, he found Flan- nagan's Ranch practically unprotected, guarded only by an elderly man, "Bad Reece," who was kept about the house. In the Allen neighborhood were three forted ranches-Allen's, Clayton's and Edwards'. Smaller ranchmen built their houses in groups of two, three or four. McCain in the edge of Stephens County, and Uncle Peter Davidson at the foot of the mountains in Palo Pinto County, both had their ranches well forted.
On Gonzales Creek, a little further up the country, in Stephens County, lived the pioneer settler, Mr. John Reynolds, whose sons, George, William D. and P. W., have large interests in Cisco.
It was in 1860, shortly before Blair's Ranch was forted, that the Indians stole all the horses belonging to the Ranch. The men followed hard after them, and the
*There was later a road opened between Stephenville and Fort Griffin, which passed through Blair's Fort.
24
HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
women were left to guard camps. A daughter of the Fort writes: "We children were kept in a little two by four house, and the women sat under the wagons, expect- ing every minute to see the Indians come.
"By and by the Indians got so bad we all went to Stephenville and stayed six weeks. At that time there was one store, one drug store and a blacksmith shop in that town.
"On our way back to the old Fort we had a narrow escape from the Indians. We had just passed Mr. Elli- son's, the only house between the two places, when his dog began to bark, and, as he stepped to the door, the Indians shot, one arrow striking in the ground at his feet. He had only to shut his door and get his gun. They left him, but, providentially, did not overtake us.
"When we reached home we found three or four hogs killed and laid in a heap, and one old sow walking around with an arrow sticking in her back. Presently a cow came running home with seven arrows in her. Poor thing! We had to pen her before we could pull them out. That is one time we expected every minute to be attacked."
Billy Cross and family. a wife and five children, lived at Mansker's Lake. It is presumed that it was these same Indians, above referred to, who stole sixty of Mr. Mansker's horses, and were pursued by Mr. Mansker, his son, Tom and Billy Cross. They overtook them on Flat Creek and had a furious fight, Cross being killed, and Mr. Mansker's and Tom's mounts shot from under them. The Indians escaped with the horses, not one of them ever being recovered. Mr. Mansker and Tom made their way home separated and afoot.
25
HISTORY OF EASTLAND COUNTY.
Shortly after this fight, Mr. Cross's family and a Mr. Dalton's at Blair's Ranch, moved back East. It was just about this time that the fort was built.
One night Mr. and Mrs. Blair sat around their own hearthstone alone with their children. This was before the ranch was forted. A large and ferocious cougar, emboldened by hunger, came up to the yard fence and, catching a pig, made off with it. Both Mr. Blair and his wife ran impetuously after it, "sicking" the eager dogs on in their violent efforts to regain the shoat. The dogs outran them, but by the excited barking they knew the cougar was "treed," and followed on to the creek. Not until the "nasty var- mint" * fell, with a bullet through him, down among the tingling, quivering dogs, did this father and mother think of aught else.
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