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PIONEER HISTORY
OF
WISE COUNTY BY
CLIFF D. CATES
1800
Class F392
Book V8 CZ
Copyright N.º. Copy 2
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.
F
.
1.
HENRY A. WISE
Statesman and Orator. Born December 3, 1806; died September 12, 1876.
Pioneer History of Wise County
From Red Men to Railroads- Twenty Years of Intrepid History
BY
CLIFF D. CATES 11
Compiled under the auspices of the Wise County Old Settlers' Association
"Let us search more and more into the Past; let all men explore it, as the true fountain of knowledge; . by whose light alone, consciously or unconsciously employed, can the present and the future be inter- preted or guessed at."-Carlyle.
"A people that take no pride in the noble achieve- ments of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants."-Macauley.
DECATUR, TEXAS. 1907.
Lepuy ?
.118C2
LIBRARY of CONGRESS
Iwn Cantes Renewed SEP 14 1908
De2:26"1907
CLASS Q MC NO. 195167 COPY A.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1907, by CLIFF D. CATES In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.
Press of Nixon-Jones Printing Company Saint Louis, Mo.
1
" { PLN
Reverently dedicated to the Old Settlers of Wise County whose memories and faces I am profoundly gratified to perpetuate,
TEXAS.
Empire majestic, with thy head so proud, Pillowed on mountain heights of snow and cloud; And kingly feet laved by the tepid tide Of Aztec waters, sun-kissed, free and wide ! Realın of eternal spring and blessedness, Of flower's breath, and mock-bird songs that cease Not, all the golden months of all the year! Land of cerulean sky, low-dipped, and clear! Oh, prairies boundless, breeze-tossed, cattle-nipped! Oh, hidden streams, translucent and deer-sipped! Oh, sweet hills verdant-footed, purple hazed! Olı, fields of cotton-snow and golden maize, Oh, valleys of low-lying, blue-green wheat, Up where the mesa and the cold waves meet! What wonder that men's blood leapt fortli, to flow Chivalrie, for thee, at the Alamo?
Land of my birth, and soul's intensest love! Dear is thy soil, thy calin, blue sky, above: Dear are thy aims to all my eager heart,
And dear thy people, of myself a part.
Dear is thy soil? It holds my sacred dead,
And precious living! Thus, I lift my head, And eyes, and heart, across a continent,
Bearing to thee this holy sentiment, This little volume, and its fate, I lay
Upon thy big heart's largess. Is it "Nay, We are too busy, empire-building, child,
To loiter, dallying with thy blossoms wild, And pretty little heart-songs. Go thy way; We'll hearken to thee on some idler day" ? But, friends, some idler day we may be dead, And all these words, so comforting, unsaid. See, I am speaking to the personal heart,
And it is well: no great things ever start From cold coneretions. Give me one heart's smile, And I will win the whole world, after-Awhile. -MRS. BELLE HUNT SHORTRIDGE -
NEW YORK, November 1, 1890.
(Dedicatory poem to her volume of verses entitled "Lone Star Lights.")
CONTENTS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
PAGE.
9
13
SECTION ONE.
CHAPTER I.
1. The Coming of the First Settlers-First Home and Environments 25
2. Subsequent Arrivals and Localities Sought 32 .
3. Gregarious Tendencies Notable in Settlement 37
CHAPTER II.
1. Cactus Hill
39
CHAPTER III.
1. The Pioneer Store and Merchant
46
CHAPTER IV.
1. Land and Pre-emption Claims 49
CHAPTER V.
1. The Delaware Indians 51
CHAPTER VI.
1. Church and School Beginnings 54
2. Sand Hill as a Center 54
3. Old Swayback .
55
CHAPTER VII.
1. Organization of the County
60
2. First Election and Remarks . .
63
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6
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII. PAGE.
1. County Seat Contest 69
2. County Scat Located-Called Taylorsville 70
3. Bishop Lays Out Town of Taylorsville 72
4. Beginning of Decatur
74
5. First School, Church and Other Beginnings at De- catur 78
6. Miscellaneous Notes-Pioneer Infant 79
CHAPTER IX.
1. Second Village in County Established-Prairie Point 81
CHAPTER X.
1. Analysis of the Citizenship-Study of the Times and Manners-Problems and Conditions 82
2. Early Markets and Commerce SS
3. Farming Modes and Conditions 90
4. Wild Game-Buffalo-Wild Horses-Trained In- stinct in Horses 95
5. Cattle and Hogs, and Conditions . 99
6. Home Life .
93
7. Social Life, Amusements and Pleasures 103 .
CHAPTER XI.
1. Summing Up First Period
108
SECTION TWO.
WAR PERIOD.
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT . 112
CHAPTER I.
1. Local Attitude Toward Issues of War .
114
CONTENTS. 7
PAGE.
CHAPTER II.
1. Military Organization 116
CHAPTER III.
1. Raising Companies for Confederate Service 120
CHAPTER IV.
1. Changes and Conditions Incident to War 127
CHAPTER V.
1. Conspiracy of the Peace Party 130
CHAPTER VI.
1. A Glance at Decatur in War Time 134
CHAPTER VII.
1. Pursuit and Arrest of Deserters .
139
CHAPTER VIII.
1. Changes in County Administration at End of War . 143
CHAPTER IX.
1. Demonstration of the Union League 148
CHAPTER X.
1. Conditions Briefly Summed Up 154
SECTION THREE.
INDIAN DEPREDATION PERIOD.
INTRODUCTION 157
1.
Sad Death of Brave Young Bill Birdwell
163
.
S
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
2. Death of Jake Moffut and Escape of Alonzo Dill 166
3. The Extermination of the Russell Family . 168
4. Big Raid in Which John Bailey and Mrs. Viek were Killed 171
5. Massacre and Capture of Babb Family 174
6. Murder of Nick Dawson . 178
7. Captain Ira Long's Hot Engagement 181
S. Death of Conelly and Weatherby and Wounding of Clabe Cates 183
9. Captain Earheart's Exploits 186
10. Capture of the Ball Boys 188
11. Killing of Johnson Miller 189
12. Brave Fight of Frank Coonis 190
13. Death of George Halsell . 191
14. Pleas Bryant Wounded 191
15. Capture and Detention of Ran Veasey 193
16. Captain George Stevens, John Hogg and Jennings Brothers' Fight on the Wichitas 195
17. Raids and Killings in South and Southwest Wise County 197
18. Brief Comments on the Times and Indian Marauding Characteristics 207
19. Epoch-Marking Event in Savage Depredation His- tory-Last Raid in Wise County-Assassination of Huff Family . 210
20. Result of Huff Massacre-End of Trouble-Summing
. Up . 217
SECTION FOUR.
BIOGRAPHICAL 222
SECTION FIVE.
MODERN WISE COUNTY 355
.
SECTION SIX.
ADVERTISEMENTS .
387
PREFACE
Beyond a half century of time has intervened since the drama of settlement was enacted on the pioneer stage of Wise County: The memory of the events are growing dim in the minds of the remaining actors, who themselves are dropping, one by one, behind the scenes, never to return again before the foot-lights of time. Recognition of these somber truths has led to the compilation of the facts introduced in this book. The language used is inartistic, yet the facts themselves are there and must remain. For the errors of composition glaring forth from every page, it would be appropriate to apologize, but such an act would convict the writer of attitudinizing as a professional in the art of composition, a position that is at once waived and disclaimed. It has profoundly gratified me to be the means of the perpetuation of the lives of the pioneer fathers, their loyal acts and doings, into indestructible record, and while the struc- ture is humiliating, it is none the less true that the opportunity to perform so felicitous a service has been responded to with the gratitude that a recognition of the high merit of the general task confers.
Perhaps more experience in the general details of the kind of work would have resulted in a more satisfactory volume. As respects the details of composition alone, Prof. Arlo Bates' meaning is acutely realized in his statement "that the fault of a great deal of unsatisfactory writing is that the author is endeavoring to inform himself as he composed. He has been feeling his way, and is really ready to begin only when he has finished," based upon which the writer aims, in a measure, to justify the crudities of his work by pleading guiltiness to Prof. Bates' charge. Obviously improvements could be made if the work were begun over and completed again; however, the lack of time makes such impracticable.
But it would be nurturing hypocrisy to think that the language used has not conveyed some idea of the spirit of the times com- prehended. Truthful conceptions of former experiences and
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PREFACE.
phases of existence have been interpreted from far more com- plex and indistinguishable mediums than modern, amateur, vulgarizations of the English language. As Mr. Carlyle has said: "History has been written with quipo-threads, with feather-pictures, with wampum belts, still oftener with earth mounds and monumental stone-heaps-whether as pyramid or cairn," assuredly from the jumble of incoherent statements to be here encountered, readers can decipher a sufficiently clear realization of the character of the foundation upon which the structure of their present county life is established.
From the same message in which was embodied the above quotation from Mr. Carlyle, another is found which expresses a principle adhered to by the writer in the preparation of this record. Relating to the office of historian and the character of fact to be presented, the quotation in full is as follows: "For whereas of old, the charm of history lay chiefly in gratifying our common appetite for the wonderful, for the unknown; and her office was but that of a minstrel and story-teller, she has now further become a school-mistress, and professes to instruct in gratifying." In most of the so-called histories of Texas counties examined in connection with the present labors, em- phasis has been found, too often, to have been placed on the ephemeral or ludicrous phases of the lives of the people repre- sented, a temptation that has not been yielded to in the present instance. The admixture of anecdote with fact tends, as pres- ently viewed, to weaken the latter, which admittedly is the most important; further, could the issue be left to posterity, there would unquestionably be a decision in favor of fact. It will not be here assumed that the lighter sides of life have no relative value; on the contrary they have, and the instances of this character gathered in connection with other matter, but eliminated for certain just reasons, will doubtless be pre- sented in a second volume at a later date.
While the aim has been to present the substance of the topic investigated, and that truthfully and accurately, it has not been possible, in every instance, to reach this high and well nigh unattainable ideal. From the point of view of the numerous witnesses there will be many misstatements and much garbling
11
PREFACE.
of fact, upon which account anticipations of criticism abide uncomfortably in the prospect. The hope of any two witnesses seeing the same occurrence in the same light has long been annihilated by our courts of justice, and in this book, which focalizes the statements of many, entire harmoniousness in this respect, is not to be contemplated. "The old story of Sir Walter Raleigh's looking from his prison window on some street tumult, which afterwards three witnesses reported in three different ways, himself differing from them all, is still a true lesson for us."-(Carlyle.) Because of this human char- acteristic it is hoped that some of the essence of charity will be . combined with the vitriol of criticism in the consideration of this work.
In the matter of compiling data relating to court and county administration, the task of accumulation has been rendered difficult by the two court-house fires which the county has sus- tained, and which destroyed all the old pioneer books and documents of value. On this account very little of the early transactions of the kind could be presented.
The few remaining pioneers have lived free, open and un- fettered lives; in most all instances they have rebelled against being subjected to restricted and narrowing routines, which condition, coupled with the impatience natural to their advanced ages, has rendered the work of securing the treasures of their in- formation, a delicate and subtle task, necessitating in most every case the invoking of patience, diplomacy and tact. It is in justice to say, however, that all have withstood the fire of questioning creditably, and with a degree of willingness manifested that reflected their great interest in and appreciation of the ends to be attained.
Those who have contributed valuable assistance and material would constitute an elaborate list, all of whom cannot be men- tioned; it remains, however, to name a few whose contributions have been found of especial importance. Mr. Herbert E. Bolton, of the Texas Historical Association, Austin, was instru- mental in piloting the writer over some of the preliminary shoals of the historian's route; the Dallas News kindly loaned copies of its early Texas Almanacs; Col. B. B. Paddock's " History of
12
PREFACE.
North West Texas " has been of the greatest assistance in out- lining the status of affairs in this section of Texas at stated periods, helps which will be found noted in the numerous quota- tions to follow; the old settlers have demonstrated encouraging enthusiasm all along; Col. G. B. Pickett has been especially approachable and cordial on all occasions; Mr. J. D. White has shown a fatherly interest; his keen intellectual grasp and memory of the situation has been of inestimable value. Mr. Charles D. Cates has sat for hours patiently and kindly divulging himself of the comprehensive knowledge so strikingly retained of the whole of the pioneer life. The county press, without exception, has been loyal and helpful; the Wise County Messen- ger, the Decatur News, the enterprising Proctor Bros. of the Bridgeport and Boyd Indexes, the Chico Review and the Alvord Bud,et are all deserving of commendation.
The writer is further under many obligations to Mrs. Kate Hunt Craddock, of Terrell, Texas; Mrs. Mary G. Shown, of Jacksboro, Texas; Mrs. Julia A. Stewart, of Frederick, O. T., and Mrs. Susie Newton Long, of Denison, Texas, for many favors. The Executive Committee of the Old Settlers' Associa- tion, Messrs. W. D. Pasehall, W. J. Mann, C. V. Terrell, J. G. Gose, H. L. Ward, J. A. Renshaw, T. L. Ball, and T. Perrin, has made the work its own. President John H. Wallace has ably and energetically advised, guided and directed, while the persistent and unflagging friends of the effort have been Messrs. Wallace, Gose, White, Terrell and Charles D. Cates, without whose countless kindly assistances this work in its present shape could not have been evolved.
The simple lessons to be conveyed from the contemplation of the lives of the pioneers, reflected in these pages, are those of bravery in the face of real danger, persistency in the teeth of great obstacles, and joyousness in the midst of gloom. With Carlyle you are asked to " look with reverence into the dark, untenanted places of the past, where in formless oblivion, our chief benefactors, with all their sedulous endeavors, but not with the fruit of these, lie entombed.
CLIFF D. CATES.
Decatur, Texas, October 19th, 1907.
INTRODUCTION
WISE COUNTY SPAWNED IN THE MIDST OF ALARMS AND PRESAGES OF ALARMS.
The settlement of the territory afterward to become Wise County began in the fall of the year of 1853, when the first prospective white settlers arrived to view the country. From this date until the latter fifties immigration continued to flow in, but in 1858 or 1859, it was stopped on account of a sanguinary occurrence of far-reaching importance which happened within the wilds of what is now Jack County, when outlaw Indians massacred the Mason and Cameron families on Lost Creek. This murder dampened the impulse of immigration, and not until many years were normal conditions of safety such as were conducive to the influx of civilization, restored.
Following upon this initial act in a bloody drama of twenty years' duration, civil war burst with a fury over the land, lash- ing the nation from its center to its outermost frontiers. Caught between these two destructive forces, the little community of Wise County pined and almost gave up its existence, and twenty years later, when white man's war and red man's war had arisen like black carrion wings from prostrate prey, the lines of progress had receded and a new era of building must be begun again.
It is needful to obtain a glimpse at the position of these ponderous forces, so fraught with violence to the people, at the time of the beginning of settlement in Wise County. Three hundred years of the dogged disputation of the advancing foot- steps of the white man had made Indian savagery and butchery a nation-old problem. Its final extinguishment occurred a little less than a third of a century ago, and while it was not an ob- stacle to be encountered in this county during the first few years of settlement, yet its great ugly cloud hung sufficiently near to make it a situation for the first incomers to conjure with.
A certain group of causes had brought a temporary cessation of savage attack on the chain of counties of which Wise was
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14
PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
destined to be a link, and in this ominous pause Wise County was spawned. A few short years of infant repose was granted, and then the swirling winds of civil war and savage fury burst over her fair dominions, driving many of the elements of her cit- izenship to seek safety outside her borders, and converting the rising labors of the land into defensive efforts on the one hand, and industrial death and stagnation on the other.
The causes mentioned which operated to stay the savage blade for the time being, will reward any who study them with the conviction that they were weak and insecure barriers to savage encroachments; furthermore, that it remained only a question of time until murders and depredations would be committed in Wise County.
An analysis of the situation shows the following conditions to be responsible for the reign of peace at this point during the carly years of settlement. (1) The fewness of numbers of people, a condition contributing to the allaying of savage resent- ment and jealousy. (2) The direct influence of President Houston's conciliatory policy and the treaty of peace negotiated at Bird's Fort, Tarrant County, in 1843. (3) The confinement of many of the warlike tribes on the reservation at Ft. Belknap under guard of United States soldiers. (4) The diversion of the attention of the remaining wild tribes to the Pan Handle section, where active punitive operations were being pursued against them by Texas Rangers. That these were weak and insecure barriers, was demonstrated in later years when the Indians easily burst through and began their hostile attacks on the people.
The general political conditions obtaining at the time was the rapid sway which the fanaticism of abolition was gaining in the nation. This anon reached a cuhnination in the conflict be- tween the North and the South, which, having its beginning contemporaneous with the early years of settlement in Wise County, was the second great obstacle placed in the pathway of the community then on its first walking legs. Since most all observant persons are acquainted with both the causes and the general historical detail of the civil and the Texan Indian Wars, it is not deemed necessary to include any such explanation here.
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INTRODUCTION.
Such space as would be allotted to same will be occupied with brief descriptions of other political and industrial questions and movements which were in suspension at the time of the first settlement of Wise County.
The settlement of the county was begun in that era of develop- ment which followed the annexation of Texas to the Union, when the burdens of an independent republic were shouldered by another power, leaving the energies of the state free to work out its salvation. The state was now rid of the necessity of settling the questions of the state boundaries, the state debt, and of the Indians, and could turn its attention to railroad build- ing, and to the perfection of an educational policy, both great departments having long been neglected.
Two great lines of railroad now traverse Wise County, yet the first spike in the railroad system of the state which has the greatest railroad mileage of any state in the union was not driven until 1854, contemporaneous with the building of the first home in Wise County. The road was the old Buffalo Bayou, Brazos Valley and Colorado, started at Harrisburg with Austin as the prospective termination. Many landowners in Wise County will recognize the initials of the above names in their abstracts of title, a circumstance brought about from the fact that much of the land granted by the state as a bonus to the promoters of the B. B. B. & C. lay in this county.
A second line started about this time was the Houston and Texas Central, the first railroad that started its track into the wilds of north Texas. Contemporaneous also with these be- ginnings was that of another which the writer yields to the temptation to mention here. This was the Memphis, El Paso and Pacific, one portion of which had actually been surveyed from Texarkana to the "West Fork of the Trinity River in Wise County," a distance of 2242 miles. This survey was made in the year 1856, the year Wise County was organized, so it is seen just how many years the famous " East Line " has been in a state of promotion.
The above passages reflect the larger industrial and political matters of interest obtaining in the state and nation at this date, which became of much significance to Wise Countyians.
16
PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
STATE POLITICS.
The two administrations of Governors Elish M. Pease and Hardin R. Runnells comprehend the period in which the settle- ment and organization of the county was perfected. It was about this time also that men began to be selected for office for the political views entertained by them as opposed to the old mode, which was to make selections on the strength of reputa- tion or personal popularity. In 1854 the taint of "Know- nothingism " appeared in the state. "It was a political excres- cence" inimical to foreign immigration and antagonistic to the Roman Catholic Church. After prospering for a while the cult waned and died. Governor Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, the man after whom Wise County was named, achieved great prom- inence as an opponent of "Knownothingism," and doubtless contributed more than any other statesman to its deserved destruction. Hardin R. Runnells was elected governor in 1855, and his administration was chiefly distinguished by his advice to the state to secede from the Union.
The impression to be gained from the above resumé of con- ditions appertaining at the time of the county's first settlement is one freighted with prophecies of much coming evil for the county. The Indians were all but ready to defile upon the people, and in the high councils of the state and nation, the rep- resentatives of the people were citing just causes of alarm, forewarnings that civil strife lay not far distant. It was indeed an inopportune hour to hang the frail fabric of a new community in the whispering breezes that presaged the advance of a double- funnelled storm.
But to the hardy pioneer there was nothing before but a smiling landscape, bedecked below with wild flowers and arched above with heaven's smiling blue skies. Here he found the consummation of his dreams, the freedom which his imagina- tion had pictured for him. That ominous cloud resting on the horizon was not to cast a shadow on the sublime prospect that lay before.
17
INTRODUCTION.
EXTENT OF SETTLEMENT IN CONTIGUOUS COUNTIES PRECEDING
AND FOLLOWING SETTLEMENT OF WISE COUNTY.
What is known as the Peters Colony grant exercised more influence in the settlement of North Texas than any other factor. The old settlements of north and northeast Texas had long clung to these sections, and were slow to advance. Even when they had reached out as far as Lamar, Red River, and Fannin Counties, the impulse of westward movement seems to have waned, not to be resumed until the Peters Colony scheme was set on foot. This great grant involved many counties stretching over the north and northwest part of the state, numbered among which was Wise County and others still further west. Settlements in most of these rich counties were due to the direct influence of this grant, but before the tide of immigra- tion had reached Wise County, the contract between the Peters promoters and the state had expired. This left the territory of Wise County to hew out its own destiny, but the wave of immigration which had been set in motion soon rolled over into Wise County, and the first white settler entered as a pros- pector here in the fall of 1853.
The lands covered by the Peters grant were extensively adver- tised in the leading Eastern and Southern papers, so that when the contract with the state had expired, north Texas lands had gained a rising reputation throughout the East and Old South. As soon as the lands again came under the control of the state, very generous inducements began to be offered in the way of free gifts of land as a means of inducing immigration. It was in response to these inducements that Wise County and others were settled.
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