USA > Texas > Montgomery County > A History of Montgomery County, Texas > Part 11
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Were no dangers of an insurrection of a preconcerted character to be feared, still one may be expected, (from their ignorance, folly, and late teachings of equality in all respects), when they gather in large bodies -- freed from their contracts during the holy days and feel the momentum of numbers and corporal strength with supplies of liquor and proceed from a small beginning, to breaking open stores, ending in violence, cutrage, destruction of life, stores of food, corn, and other property -- which we learn from a
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reliable Negro as to the destruction of the corn cribs. 37
By 1870 Montgomery County was in the clutch of the Carpetbag and Scalawag rule which lasted over ten years. In 1870 a petition was presented to the reconstruction legislature for relinquishment of the state tax for the years 1870 and 1871. The tax money was to be paid to the county officials so that they could pay the county debts. The reason the petition listed were clearly stated:
The County, by the effect of the Rebellion, lost the revenue (full one half of its former income) derived from the taxable value of those who are nowfreed persons.
There has not been any immigration to the county, nor any work of Public improvement undertaken, since the Rebellion. So, there has been no increase in the value of real and other property. Consequently, there had been no increase of revenue at these sourses -- which have been so largely enjoyed by other counties, neither has there been any increase of revenue to the county at any other source.
All the limited income of the County -- since the War has been expended, in the partial payment of the current expences of the county.
The jail, and the Court house of the County require material repairs or re-novation.
The present income County taxes (for the year 1870) will not be sufficient to pay the accuring Jury fees and other annual county expenses of the present year.
There is also a large indebtedness against the County, now standing from unpaid Jury fees and other expenses, necessarily incident to county organization and government. 38
37 Memorial Petition, November 1865, in Texas State Archives, Number 267.
38 Ibid., June, 1870, Number 180.
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After the war Montgomery and Harris Counties had been placed in the same state congressional district. In the state congres- sional election of 1870 two Negro representatives were elected to repre- sen t Montgomery and Harris Counties. Goldstein Dupree, Negro from Montgomery, and Richard Allen, Negro from Houston, were elected. While campaigning for Governor Davis in the next eleetion, that of 1872, Goldstein Dupree was caught by the Montgomery unit of the Ku Klux Klan and killed. 39
In the November election of 1872 Richard Allen, Negro from Houston, was re-elected to the Legislature. The Radical Republicans ran E. Anderson, Negro from Montgomery in Goldstein Dupree's piace and he succeeded in being elected to the Legislature. The election was 40
contested and Anderson gave up his seat before his term expired.
The 1872 election was one of such fraud that the whole election was contested by the losing candidates. The case was tried before the Thirteenth Legislature in the senate chamber in Austin and the trial lasted several months. The charges brought against the Radicals con- cerned their tactics and illegal methods in elections. The group that had been elected, one senator and three representatives, was charged
39 Contested Election in the Fourteenth District in the Senate, 13th Legislature, State of Texas (Austin: John Cardwell, State Printer, 1873), p. 68 -
40 Ibid., p. 249.
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with the following:
That more than fifty men, after voting for you in Harris county, again and during the same election voted for you in Montgomery county. That more than four hundred men voted for you in Harris county, who at the time of voting were not and never had been citizens or residents of said Fourteenth Senatorial District, nor were they duly registered in said district.
That more than two hundred men in Harris county voted for you upon their affidavits that they were registered and qualified voters in said county, and had lost their registra - tion papers, whose names do not appear upon the registra- tion list of said county, which was done in contravention of the General Election Law. That the same thing was done in Montgomery county by one hundred men. That more than fifty negro men were allowed to vote for you who gave
different names to the judges of election, from the name called for by the registration papers they presented, and were so allowed to vote without any one identifying them, or being known to either of said judges, and without examina - tion as to their qualification as voters. That one hundred or more men were allowed to vote for you who presented no registration papers, but merely a slip of paper containing what they said was their number on the registration list, and this was done without any examination of the voter by the judges of election, and not one of whom was known to either of said judges or other present. . . . That the man Sheridan, one of the Board of Appeal, during the time of the ten days' registration by the Registrar, was engaged as a "runner" for the Radical party, and was employed in hunting up and bringing to the Registrar colored men for registration, thereby disqualifying himself to act impar- tially and with fairness in the exercise of his "revisory power" as a member of the Board of Appeals. That the colored men, numbering from three to five hundred, and all Radicals, and your political friends, mobbed, on Wednes - day of the election, a colored man for voting the "Demo- cratic ticket", thereby intimidating and preventing many other colored men from voting for me and other Democratic nominees. . . That men who served in the penitentiary of the State for crime, and who had not in any manner to the law been restored to the right of suffrage, voted for you.
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That the Board of Appeals failed to strike from the registra - tion lists the names of those who had died or removed from the county, and that some fraudulent votes were cast for you upon the registration papers of dead Ngroes. That some negroes who had not arrived at the age of majority were registered and voted for you. 41
An example of what had happened at the polls was given in one of the testimonies of Sam Ashe. It was stated:
I heard Sheridan say frequently to the Negro voter who had given a different name from the one called for by the registration paper, "your name is so and so" calling the name called for by the registration paper, but in those instances the voter persisted in giving his name, saying that that was his right name, and that he was not going to change it, which caused laughter among the bystanders. . . . I appealed directly to Sheridan and told him that the frauds would vitiate the election, but he paid no attention to me. The frauds were so apparent that everybody could see them, and the negro policemen were laughing about it. It was a subject of joke amongst them.
Robert Ashe, colored, living in Galveston county, and voted in Harris county under an assumed name. I was standing by and knew the name he voted under was not Ashe, and I know that his name was Ashe. He belonged to me; I knew him all his life; we were raised together.
Tom Sanders, colored, handed in his ballot to Sheridan. When it was discovered to be a Democratic ticket, his papers were handed back to him as rejected, Sheridan retaining his ballot and placing it on the table outside of the ballot box.
Tom Sanders asked me to examine his papers. I examined, and told him that they were regular, and entitled him to vote, and told him to present them again to Sheridan. He did so, and at the same time a colored policeman forced him a Republican ticket, in spite of his declarations that he had already passed into Sheridan's hands another ticket.
41 Ibid., pp. 1-3.
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The Republican ticket was rapidly taken by Sheridan and put in the box. To this I made strong objections, charging Cheridan with open fraud, and manipulating Tom Sander's vote. I used some very severe language to him, because he was impertinent to me.
I was in a little difficulty myself on one occasion. I was passing into the court house from the sidewalk through a dense crowd of colored voters, when a fist fight occurred between a white man and a black man. A colored policeman named Johnson interfered and arrested the white man. About that time I came upon the scene and arrested the colored man. At the time I arrested the colored man he was striking at the white man, who was under arrest. This created a good deal of excitement among the negroes, and they threatened to overwhelm me. I held on to him, however, until other parties came up, and they were finally separated.
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The contestants won; the Negroes and Radical Republicans were ousted from their seats, and the Democratic candidates took their place. This was the point of the beginning of the ebbing tide for the Radical control in Montgomery County. The Ku Klux Klan became very active to keep the Negroes and Radicals away from the poles. Every Negro who was courageous enough to become a candidate re- ceived a call from the Ku Klux Klan. In the town of Montgomery the sound of the Negroes being punished by the Klan could be heard from one side of the town to the other. 43
In 1870 a Yankee came from Illinois to Montgomery to teach a three month school for the Negroes. In a few weeks he
42 Ibid., p. 33.
43 Personal interview of the author with Mrs. J. B. Addison, Montgomery, Texas, July 8, 1952.
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disappeared and was soon replaced by another who taught for a few weeks. One morning the Negro children went to school and their teacher did not arrive. Finally someone reported that the professor had been found drowned in Town Creek. The Negroes were told that the man had slipped from a footlog while crossing the stream and drowned. Other reports were that he was murdered and thrown into the creek by local citizens who resented a Yankee teaching the Negroes. 44
William McGrew, county attorney for two years and his half-brothers, John and Bob Oliver, and a Charles Brown (alias Tex Brown) were shot to death by the people of Montgomery in "necessary defense". McGrew was found to be a Ku Klux Klansman at night, a Republican appointee by day, and a horse thief in between. The Oliver boys would ride their horses into the stores, fire their guns, terrify the inhabitants, and commit robbery at will. Tex Brown was a law- less desperado of more renown. All four bodies were dumped on Mrs. Oliver's porch. They were the first ones to be buried in the new cemetery, because they were refused burial in the Methodist grave yard. 45
Another Federal appointee who did not stay long after he was appointed was R. B. Rentfro. He was appointed County Judge, but soon resigned for reasons set forth in a letter quoted herewith:
44 Martin, op. cit., p. 62
45 Anna Davis Weisinger, "History of Montgomery County, " Historicade Program, October 25, 1949, p. 16
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Dear Sir:
Did you know one R. B. Rentfro, a lawyer and pol- itician living in Montgomery Co. in 1878? What was his reputation politically and socially ? He is now a candidate for congress from this district and I have been referred to you. Did Mr. Rentfro have to leave Montgomery Co. and for what? Will you please give me all the information at your command. Was an attempt made to hang him by mob and for what? Reports are conflicting as to Mr. Rentfro's record in Montgomery Co. and I want to get something reliable. Did Mr. Rent- fro make threats about burning the town of Willis and taking Montgomery, and that he would not be responsible for the lives of women and children? I trust you will pardon my troubling you and consider me under many obligations for an early reply. 46
In reply to the letter the following was written:
Dear sir:
Herewith find a copy of a telegram lately wired to you in reply to you, it substantially answers much of your letter of Ist inst.
I did know Mr. R. B. Rentfro, lawyer and politician living in Montgomery County in 1878. It was prudent for Mr. Rentfro to leave Montgomery County. His life would not have been safe here had he attempted to remain till fall election. His offense was "Radicalism" and being incautious in language. His first personal unsafety was in August 1878 at a Barbecue and speaking at Bethel, a Baptist Church some miles North of Montgomery. And I understand "ropes" were talked about. I arrived there after Mr. Rentfro had left. But from what men told me on the road and from what I saw and heard after I got there I think it maybe turned a "mob. " Some of whom doubtless proposed ill-treatment to two active Republican candidates viz: Judge Polk Yell and Mr. Rentfro.
46 Letter of Oswald Wilson to Nat Hart Davis, October 1, 1884, in Addison Collection.
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I never heard that Mr. R. made threats about burning the town of Willis. There was a report that he said the town of Montgomery might be taken and that he would not be responsible for the lives of the women and children. This was greatly deversified of its offensive- ness when the real language used by Mr. R. came out. Nor is it likely that it induced the treatment of Rentfro at Bethel. Some week or two or a month after the Bethel affair (or I was told) a small crowd of men in (not citizens of) the town of Montgomery apparently wanted to shoot Mr. Rentfro. My recollection is that this was the P. M. of the Saturday that armed men rode into the town of Montgomery to hear a Democratic speech in the Methodist Church. Still later in the year some persons in or at the town of Willis -- as I have heard -- gave Mr. Rentfro notice that he could not stay there.
Thoughtful, prudent, quiet, men did not desire Mr. Rentfro to remain in this County.
The latter half of 1878 and the early part of 1879 were times of bitter strife in Montgomery County. 47
47 Letter of Nat Hart Davis to Oswald Wilson, October 8, 1884, in Addison Collection.
CHAPTER VIII INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES
Throughout the history of Montgomery County there have been two main churches, the Baptist and the Methodist. The first Baptist Church in the county was organized in 1838 with the Elder Allen Samuel as its pastor. Elder Daniel Parker, the organizer of one of the first Baptist Churches in Texas, visited this church in 1840 and wrote in his church journal the following words:
. . I proceeded to Montgomery County, where I found a church with about 20 members of the sound Regular Baptist faith and order who had constituted by the best authority in their reach some time in the year 1838 with Elder Allen Samuel their Pastor. . . . This Church is known by the name of Mount Pleasant Church of the Regular Baptist faith and order Your Humble Servant in Christian Love. 1
The next report of Baptist activities and a church being organized was in 1844 reported by Reverend Z. N. Morrell. His report contained the following:
Elder R. E. B. Baylor, then residing at La Grange, accompanied me to Colonel Richard Jarman's, some seventeen miles south-east, where we preached for several days and organized a church. . . . Greatly encouraged with the prospect, religiously, west of the Brazos, my mind was impressed strongly that my labors were in demand in the county of Montgomery, which then
1 "The Records of an Early Texas Baptist Church", The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Vol. XI (Austin: The Texas State Historical Association, 1907), p. 117.
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extended from the Brazos to the Trinity River. ...
I visited, as rapidly as I could, a number of the most important points in thie region of country, the present locality of Anderson, Colonel Shannon's, Mont- gomery, Danville, and Huntsville, inquiring after Bap- tists, and considering the facilities and difficulties relative to a general organization. The country was being rapidly settled, and large congregations met us at every point.
Seven miles west of the town of Montgomery, another monthly appointment was steadily filled, and on the twenty-fifth day of November, 1844, the Post Oak Grove Church was organized, with six members. The presbytery consisted of Elders Wm. M. Tryon and Z. N. Morrel.
On the same day the organization was formed, sister Aaron Shannon, and my son A. H. Morrell related their experiences, and were baptized by brother Tryon. 2
Another early Baptist Church was organized in the town of Montgomery, December 28, 1850. In this church the renowned R. E. B. Baylor, whose name later became affiliated with Baylor University, held many meetings. In 1855 one of the citizens of Montgomery wrote that:
. . . I took my pen in hand to say a few words about preaching etc. Well, Baptist Church was filled up. Judge Baylor made a very pretty and feeling discourse. A quo si funeral for the late Rev. M. Chilton. The text "Jesus wept" was appropriate. Baylor was not probably the ableist that Chilton had, but his sermon had more of the gospel, simplicity, and wisdom of heart about it.
2 Z. N. Morrell, Flowers and Fruits From the Wilderness; or; Thirty-Six Years in Texas and Two Winters in Honduras (New York: Sheldon and Company, 1872), pp. 197-208.
3 Letter of Nat Hart Davis to Betty Davis, February 11, 1855, in Addison Collection.
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Again in 1855 he wrote about a Baptist revival in which he stated:
. . . The Baptist are now trying to get up a revival meeting; commenced Friday night and yesterday and last night, again this morning and at night, and tomorrow at 9 A. M. they propose to meet. Men, women, children, and servants all keep it as a day of fasting and prayer, and then how much longer the meeting is to last I suppose de- pends in the excitement. I attended the two past nights and may go again tonight.
In 1838 Methodist affairs in Texas were under the supervision of the Mississippi Conference. In 1838 it was arranged by this con- ference that centering at the town of Montgomery and including all the territory between the Trinity River and Brazos River the Reverend Isaac L. G. Strickland would be in charge. In 1838 Strickland, a circuit missionary, proceeded to Montgomery, where he made his headquarters and organized the first Methodist Church in the country. Services were at first held for this church in the home of a member. 5
Since Montgomery was made the center of Methodist activities of such a large area -- from the Brazos to the Trinity -- and since it was the only sizeable town in that area, it was apparent that the Reverend Strickland would establish his residence at that place. In 1842 through the contributions of the local carpenters and cabinet
4 Letter of Nat Hart Davis to Betty Davis, July 15, 1855, in Addison Collection.
5 W. N. Martin, "A History of Montgomery, " (unpublished Master's thesis, Sam Houston State Teachers College, Huntsville, Texas, 1950), p. 66.
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makers, and through subscriptions of the local citizens, the first parsonage in Texas was erected. 6
This parsonage was replaced by a more modern building in the 1880's, which is still in use; however, it is on a different site from that on which the original building was erected. A monument marks the spot where the first building stood.
In 1850 the Methodists erected a new church on the site of the first church. The church bells, then an innovation in new Texas towns, were given by Peter and Richard Willis, pioneer merchants of Montgomery. At the dedication of this church held on July 27, 1851, it was christened Alexander Chapel. The following describes the dedication ceremony:
In the flouring village of Montgomery, Methodism seems to be permanently established. At an early period in the exploration of Texas by the missionaries of the Methodist Church, this place was visited, but of the success of their labors here for several years, we are not prepared to speak definitely. But in our visit to this town on last Sabbath we found a church of some thirty odd members, most of whom are turly devoted Christians and te-to-talists. They have evinced their Christian enterprise in sustaining a stationed preacher, and in the erection of a neat and commodious chapel, which was dedicated to the worship of Almighty God on last Sabbath.
It was our pleasure to conduct the dedicatory service of the new chapel, which is to be called Alexander Chapel, in compliment of Rev. R. Alexander, the Presiding Elder, of Ruterville District, who has preached there
6 Loc. cit.
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frenquently for His work's sake.
In the delightful services we were assisted by Rev. Bros. Rottenstein and Allexander -- the former offered the first prayer and the latter administered the holy sac- rament of the Lord's Supper at the close of the sermon.
Rev. Bros. Ogletree, Johnson, and John were present to assist in the subsequent exercisesof the meeting. Our first impressions of Montgomery were quite favorable. We learned that a Baptist Church has been organized in this town, and that a handsome subscription for a church edifice has been obtained and that the edifice will be erected forthwith.
Schools played an important part in the early history of the county. In 1837 Doctor E. J. Arnold and C. E. Clepper bought a lot and gave it to the town to be used jointly by the Masonic Lodge and public school. It was not until 1848, however, that a charter was granted and a building constructed for a school. In 1848 the state legislature passed the following act for incorporating an academy at Montgomery:
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the instiution for the educating of youth, now located at the town of Montgomery, in the county of Montgomery, shall be, and the same is hereby es - tablished at said town, by the name of the "Montgomery Academy of Montgomery County. "
Be it further enacted, That C B. Stewart, Jacob Shannon, R. F. Oliver, W. M. Rankin, Benjamin Rigly, J. H. Price, R. B. Martin, M. O. Dimon, J. Wamack, and
'C. Richardson, "Dedication of Alexander Chapel, Montgomery, Texas, "The Texas Methodist Historical Quarterly, Vol. I (Georgetown, Texas: Texas Methodist Historical Association, 1909-1910), p. 236,
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E. J. Arnold, the President and Trustee of said Acadmey be, and they are hereby constituted and incorporated a body politic in deed and in Law, by the name and style of the President and Trustees of the Montgomery Academy of Montgomery County, and by the name they and their successors may, and shall have succession and exercise the privileges herein granted them, be capable of suing and being sued, of pleading and being impleaded, of holding property real and personal, and mixed, and of granting, selling, and conveying the same at pleasure, of having a common seal to be changed at their pleasure, of establishing a Female Department, and such other de- pendent institutions as they shall deem necessary, and of doing and performing whatever else they may deem proper and necessary for the advancement of said institu- tion, in as ample a manner as persons of bodies politic or corporate can or may by law.
Be it further enacted, That said institution shall be open to all denominations of religion, and that this act takes effect from and after its passage.
Approved, March 11, 1848. 8
The building was a two story house fifty by a hundred feet and the lower story was used for the academy, while the upper story housed the Masonic Lodge. The frame work of the building was of hewn white oak logs weather-boarded outside and later ceiled inside. A partition was removed and the school became coeducational. A fire- place at either end of the building furnished the heat. The window panes were painted red and blue, thus making the light very poor except when the windows were raised. As the panes became broken they were re-
8 H. P. N. Gammel, The Laws of Texas 1822-1897 (Austin: The Gammel Book Company, 1898), Vol. III, p. 379.
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placed by clear ones and soon enough light crept through. 9
A blackboard on a stand ran the length of one long wall. This was made of boards painted black with a chalk trough where the pupils carefully put the lumps of chalk with which they wrote. The pupils who could afford it brought a chair and either a desk or table from home. The desks usually had hinged tops which could be opened or locked. The less fortunate children sat on long benches facing the teacher and when writing time came they had to march up to a special writing desk. This desk was a long table down the middle of the school room with the top divided into two tilted surfaces where the pupils seated themselves facing each other. 10
The first teachers of the Montgomery Academy were J. J. Patton and a lady who taught there before, during, and a short time after the Civil War. These two were followed by E. C. Chambers and a Miss Ames, who taught until the first free school was started in 1872. 11
Besides the Montgomery Academy there was another school that lasted for a number of years. It was built and taught by
9 Dora Davis, "The Development of the School in Montgomery, Texas, " (unpublished paper, 1933), p. 3.
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