USA > Texas > Montgomery County > A History of Montgomery County, Texas > Part 4
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When the new town of Montgomery was plotted by W. W. Shepperd and C. B. Stewart, its organizers, the site chose was located about one-half of a mile from the banks of the creek where the post had been, to its present site, a higher and more healthy location.
Another local story has it that Montgomery took its name from William Montgomery, a surveyor and widower, who came to Texas in 1822 with his sons, John, Andrew, and Eddly Montgomery. In 1830 he settled some seven miles southwest of the town of Montgomery in what is present day Grimes County. Later two of his sons, John and Andrew, enlisted in Captain James Gillaspie's Company in 1836 and fought in the battle of San Jacinto. It is claimed by the descendents of these two brothers that the county was
20 Montgomery County Courthouse Records, Deeds, Vol. B, p. 321.
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named for the surveyor William Montgomery. 21
It is the belief of Mrs. A. W. Fowlkes, a local genealogist, that the families of Margaret Montgomery and the families of William Montgomery are direct descendants of Richard Montgomery.
Since the act creating Montgomery County had authorized commissioners to select a seat of justice, the citizens of Montgomery County, on December 30, 1837, petitioned the newly appointed com- missioners court to build a jail and courthouse in the town of Mont- gomery by subscription; but due to the time required for building a courthouse, immediate need for a building, and probable lack of finances, the commissioners declared the petition void. 22
At a meeting of the commissioners held on March 1, 1838, Martin P. Clark proposed that a committee be appointed to let con- tracts for purchasing or erecting the necessary public buildings needed for the county business. He further proposed that the courthouse and jail should not exceed the cost of one thousand dollars each. 23 The court then appointed B. B. Goodrich, William Rankin, and William
21 Personal interview of the author with J. L. Montgomery, Richards, Texas, July 20, 1951.
22 Montgomery County Courthouse, Minutes of the Commissioners Court 1838-1845, p. 78
23 Ibid., p. 3
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C. Clark on the committee, and in turn this committee proposed that one Lemuel Smith, draftsman and mechanic, be requested to draft a plan for the public buildings.
The commissioners did not wait for Smith's plans because, pressed for the immediate need for a courthouse, they obtained a dwelling from W. W. Shepperd. In obtaining this house from Shepperd, the commissioners were to have paid him the sum of eight hundred dollars, provided that the commissioners kept the house permanently; but if they decided to move within the year, they agreed to pay Shep- perd a reasonable rent for the time the building was occupied as a courthouse. These facts are recorded in the commissioners' minutes as follows:
. . The House purchased by the commissioners on the part of the county for a Court House in the Town of Montgomery for the sum of eight hundred dollars shall not be paid for as per contract within one year from the date hereof, then and in that case the house shall revert to W. W. Shepperd and that he shall be entitled to reason- able rent for the same for the time it shall have been occupied as a Court House, 24
In the next commissioners court meeting which was held on April 4, 1838, the committee, having already obtained a courthouse, proceeded as follows on a motion concerning the construction of a jail:
24 Ibid., p. 19
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On motion, Resolved that the Committee heretofore appointed for that purpose be and they are hereby authorized to contract for building a Jail, provided that amount shall not exceed the proceeds of the Sale of Public lots in the Town of Montgomery, after deduct- ing the amount appropriated for building the courthouse, and further provided that the expense of building the Jail shall not exceed the sum of Two thousand five hundred dollars which was adopted. . . . 25
In the October term of court the commissioners proceeded to pay Lemuel Smith two hundred dollars for his work in renovating the house into a courthouse. The commissioners court records stated Smith had made a ". . . bar, judges seat, jury boxes, et cetera as per contract with the commissioners appointed for that purpose at the March term . 11 .26
This was the first permanently established courthouse and jail that Montgomery County had, and their location was about three- fourths of a mile north of the present community center site. At the time of their establishment the main portion of the population of the town of Montgomery lived on the north side of Town Creek; therefore, the courthouse and jail were placed in that area. It was not until the new section of town -- the present site of Montgomery -- was bought from W. W. Shepperd and developed by James McCown, that the
25 Ibid., p. 15 26 Ibid., p. 18
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courthouse was moved. 27
On October 21, 1839, William W. Shepperd and his wife, Mary Steptoe Shepperd, sold to James Alexander McCown, for eight thousand dollars, their interest in the town of Montgomery. 28 To develop the new part of the town, which was south of Town Creek and on a hill, James McCown persuaded the Commissioners Court to move the courthouse to that section, as the following quotation shows:
Ordered by the Court that the proposals and contract of James Alexander McCown, agent for the proprietors of the town of Montgomery to move the Court House to the hill and to erect offices for county purposes. 29
The necessary government buildings were procured by McCown for the new site, and on April 3, 1843. James McCown re- deeded to Montgomery County the public square -- the one previously deeded to the county by W. W. Shepperd -- with the public buildings intact as shown:
I James McCown of the Republic and County aforesaid in consideration of a donation made by the court of county commissioners of the county aforesaid to one hundred acres of land being the same which William W. Shepperd of the county aforesaid donated as a site for the county Seat of said county of Montgomery,
27 Commissioners Court Minutes, op. cit., p. 76
28 Montgomery County Courthouse, Deeds, Book E, p. 184. 29Commissioners Court Minutes, loc. cit.
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do hereby relinquish all my right title, claim and interest in and to the following described tracts of Land (viz) one tract of three English acres for a public square . . . together with the Court House and two offices one for the county clerk - the other for the district clerk. Situated thereon, with all the furniture and appurtenances thereunto belonging - also one half acre of land . . . for a jail. 30
Apparently this courthouse and other buildings, that Mccown had erected, were temporary, for on May 24, 1845, a contract was let to Joseph Rhodes by Lemuel G. Clepper and Richard Willis to construct a new courthouse of a more detailed nature, The descrip- tion of the new building as it was to be constructed is as follows: That the said Joseph Rhodes shall and will within the space of seven months from the date thereof, in good and workman like manner, build and finish a Court House in the Town of Montgomery on the Public square, of the dimension and the following to wit: Said Court House to be thirty feet long and twenty feet wide, two stories high, the lower story to be nine feet nigh, the upper seven feet in the clear, to have fold- ing doors at one end and three steps to the same, the doors to be seven feet six inches by four feet, and sunk panelled, to have six windows with shutters on each side, three above and three below, and four windows with shutters at one end, two above and two below, the doors and windows to be faced, whitened and beaded, the doors to have good inside locks and bolts, the shutters to have each a short bolt on the inside. In the lower story to be a Judges bench pannelled and a Clerks Desk panelled, in front of said Clerk two jury boxes on the left hand side of the Bench, large enough to contain six people each, and corresponding seats on the right hand side of said Bench for Witness seats and a table for Lawyers, and a railing extending the width of the House, so as to include
30 Deeds, op. cit., Book F., p. 602
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the bar, with a grate in the middle, also a stair case with a hand rail attached, and a hand rail on the top of the stairs, the upper flooring to be tongued and grooved, the lower to be, "to be" squared, the plank the usual width and thickness, all the scantling to be sawed, all the heavy timber to be of oak, all the balance of pine, the House to be weather boarded with sawed stuff to be on the outside. 31 .
The agreement included, also, the description of the roof, type of singles, block, corner post, sills, sleepers, et cetera. For payment for the work done Joseph Rhodes agreed to the following:
. . . In consideration whereof the said Joseph Rhodes is to receive the subscription to be paid either in Money or property as now subscribed to the amount of four hundred twenty four and one-half dollars, and one hundred seventy-five and one. half dollars in par funds, to be paid at the completion of the building. . 32
Joseph Rhodes soon finished construction on the courthouse
and the deed records of the county show that:
. . On the Ist of September 1846 the said L. G. Clepper and Richard S. willis as trustees appointed by a meeting of the subscribers for the purpose of building a Court House in the town of Montgomery did certify that they had on the day, Ist Sept. 1846, received the Court House of Joseph Rhodes, the contractor and undertaker of said Court House. 33
In January, 1848, this courthouse had to be remodeled because
it was insufficient for the safe keeping of the county records. The
31 Ibid, Book K, p. 230
32 Loc. cit. 33 Ibid., Book L, p. 398
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lower room was divided into three partitioned rooms for office space, and the upstairs was used for the courtroom. 34
By February 22, 1853, the citizens of the county were ask- ing for a new courthouse to be built. They petitioned the com- missioners court and the court consented to build the house. Their sanctioned report is as follows:
On this day was presented to the Court the petitions of divers citizens praying the erection of a new court house with suitable offices etc.
Cn motion resolved that the county of Montgomery aided by voluntary private subscription will build a Court House, on the public square in the town of Montgomery in said county two stores high with suitable offices in Lower story and the sum of three thousand dollars, shall be . appropriated .. 35
Before the new building was begun the commissioners had to call a special meeting March 30, 1853, for reasons explained in the following:
. . . The present Building heretofore used as a Court House of this (Montgomery) County is unsafe and other - wise not suitable for the remainder of the present session of the Hon. District Court, now in session for said county. . . It is therefore considered ordered adjudged, decreed, and declared that the Baptist Church in the Town and County of Montgomery be and the same is for the time being the Court House of the County of Montgomery. 36
This article also stated that the commissioners got the consent
34 Minutes of the Commissioners Court 1845-1848, p. 195.
35 Ibid., 1848-1854, p. 156.
36 Ibid., p. 160
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from the Baptist Church trustees to use the church as a courthouse, provided that they would pay for the damages done, and also for cleaning and scrubbing the chapel. This church was used as a courthouse for almost two years while the construction was under way on a new building.
Since the old courthouse was so dilapidated, Montgomery County was once again in need of a government building; so, the county commenced construction on a new house. This house was a two story building like its predecessor, and it was also con-
- siderably larger. Its dimensions and description was given as follows:
. . . The present court house, is about 50 feet by 50 feet with a 15 feet hall and 4 rooms on the basement story 25 by 17 feet, 2 rooms on each side of Hall and on 2nd story one main hall or Court Room. All ceiled and weatherboarded with plain Box finish. 37
This new courthouse was almost finished by February, 1855, because one of the citizens of the town in a letter to his wife explained, ". . . I have just returned from dinner via the court house, it is same except some extra fixing on the top; a very pretty house and quite snug. 38 This was the last courthouse that the town of Mont-
37 Memorial Petitions, 1873, in Texas State Archives, Number 194.
38 Letter of Nat Hart Davis to Betty Davis, February 11, 1855, in Addison Collection.
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gomery built. It was used until April 1889, when the seat of government was voted to be moved to the town of Conroe.
Soon after the act creating Montgomery County was passed, an election was held with the following people elected to occupy their respective offices. They were: G. B. Barnet, Senator; Joseph L. Bennett, Representative; Jesse Grimes, Chief Justice; Joshua Robbins, Sheriff; Abraham Suber, District Clerk; and Gwyn Morrison, County Clerk. 39
Not long after the selection of the county seat, many of the citizens discovered that the town of Montgomery was a great distance from the places where they resided; therefore they began to petition congress to break Montgomery down into other counties. One of the first petitions to form a new county from Montgomery that was received by Congress was signed not long after the county of Montgomery was organized. On January 18, 1838 the people asked congress to form a new county to be called Bowie, and for it to be bounded as follows:
.. . Beginning at the junction of Kickapoo Creek with
the Trinity River, Thence a Direct course to the Mouth of Big Sandy Creek on the San Jacinto thence to the mouth of Little Sandy on the West Side of San Jacinto hence up the little Sandy to its head, Thence North 30 degrees west to the Old La Bahia road thence
Election Register 1836-1840, in Texas State Archives, Number 225, p. 365
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along said road to the Trinity River including Mrs. Robbin's House; from thence down the Trinity to the beginning. . . . This will free some of them from the trouble and expense of traveling near eighty miles to attend court at the present seat of justice for this county. 40
These dimensions included the northern portions of present day Walker and San Jacinto Counties. Congress did not consider this proposal, because it was not until 1842 that congress saw fit to make a division of the county, but congress did pass an act on January 25, 1840 to define the boundaries of Montgomery County, which are as follows:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa - tives of the Republic of Texas, in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act, the boundaries of the county of Montgomery shall be as follows, viz: Beginning at the mouth of Beesair's Creek; thence to a point now established at the head of Pond Creek; thence to the head of Spring Creek; thence with its meanders, to San Jacinto; thence north fifty degrees east to the western line of Liberty county; thence along said line to the northwestern line of Liverty county; thence along said line to the northwest corner of said county; thence, eastwardly with said northern line of the same, to the Trinity River; thence up said river, on its right bank, to the crossing of the old San Antonio Road; thence, west- wardly with said road to the Navasota; thence, down the Navasota, on its left bank, to its mouth; thence down the Brazos, on its left bank, to the place of beginning. 41
40 Memorial Petitions, January 18, 1838, in Texas State Archives, Number 17.
41 Gammel, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 396.
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By these limits, Montgomery County extended east and west from the Trinity River to the Brazos River and north and south from the city of Madisonville to Spring Creek. This included the territory of the present day counties of Grimes, Walker, San Jacinto, and a portion of Madison and Waller Counties.
In an act dated February 2, 1842 and passed by the Sixth Congress at Austin, the first portion of territory of Montgomery County was cut off to form a part of Madison County. 42 The boundary
for Madison County encompassed all of the portion of land which had belonged to Montgomery east of the San Jacinto River. The line of the boundary extended from the Harris County line, north up the San Jacinto River to its source. Later Madison County was recreated to its present bounds, and Montgomery County again got possession of the territory east of the San Jacinto River.
The next division of the county took effect on April 6, 1846, and in the acts that were passed by the First Legislature at Austin two counties were formed consecutively. They were Grimes County and Walker County. Grimes County composed of the following boundaries:
All that portion of the territory of the county 42 Ibid., p. 763.
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of Montgomery, comprised within the following limits, shall be known by the name of, and styled the county of Grimes, to wit: Beginning at the southwest corner of the county of Walker; thence, in a southwardly direction to the north-east corner of a league of land granted to W. Montgomery; thence, to the southeast corner of the same; thence, due south to the Harris county line; thence, with said Harris county line, to the head of Spring Creek, and from the head of Spring Creek to the head of Pond Creek; thence, by a straight line to the mouth of the Navasoto, and up the Navasoto to the crossing of the San Antonio road; thence, with said road to the north-western boundary line of Walker county, and down the said Walker county line to the place of beginning. 43
The boundary of Walker County was established as follows:
. That a new county be established to be known and distinguished by the name of Walker, the boundaries of which shall be as follows: Beginning at Robbins' ferry on the Trinity, where the San Antonio road crosses the same; thence, with the said road to the north-east corner of a survey of land in the name of L. G. Clepper; thence, in a straight line to the South Bedai Creek, to a point where the La Bahia road crosses the same; thence, in a straight line to the north-west corner of a survey of two-thirds of a league of land in the name of J. H. Collard; thence, in a straight line to a point on San Jacinto River, three miles below the mouth of East Sandy Creek; thence, east to the line of a new county to be called Polk; thence, with the lines of said county to the Trinity River; thence, up the middle of said river to the place of beginning. 44
These two counties cut off the western and northern sections of Montgomery County. As each new county was formed each was
43 Ibid., p. 1356. 44 Ibid., p. 1357.
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required to pay its portion of the debt of the mother county. At the same time in which they were organized, an act was passed requiring Grimes and Walker to pay to Montgomery such proportion of the debt due, and the debt was to be apportioned in a manner which the county courts of the respective counties should determine. The Grimes County line was not surveyed until February 1855. In a letter to his wife a prominent citizen of Montgomery writes, "The line dividing this and Grimes County was run by Joe Brown, received and approved by the Court; we get Austin's settlement. 45
No other counties were cut off from Montgomery County. until after the Civil War. In January 1869, the county of San Jacinto, which was in the original bounds of Montgomery County was established. The new county was created by a declaration of the Constitutional Conven- tion which was held in Austin for the purpose of drafting a new consti- tution. The declaration which established San Jacinto County reads as follows:
Be it declared by the representatives of the people of Texas, in Convention assembled, That the territory comprised within the following boundaries be, and the same is hereby erected, into a new county, to be called the county of San Jacinto.
. .. . Beginning in the channel of Trinity river, at a point opposite the mouth of Carolina Creek, in Walker
45 Letter of Nat Hart Davis to Betty Davis, February 18, 1855, in Addison Collection.
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county, running in a due line from thence to the head of the east branch of Peach Creek, in Montgomery county, thence down the channel of said Peach Creek to a point parallel with the thirtieth parallel and twenty minutes north latitude, in said Montgomery county; thence on a due line through same point where the present southern line of Polk county crosses the channel of said Trinity river; from thence up the channel to said Trinity, River with its meanderings to the place of beginning.
The last county to obtain a portion of territory from Montgomery County was Waller County. In April, 1873, the Thirteenth Legislature passed an act to create a new county from portions of Montgomery, Grimes, Austin and Harris Counties. 47 After the counties of Madison, Grimes, Walker, San Jacinto, and Waller were cut off from the original county of Montgomery, the remaining part of the county encompassed a total area of 1, 017 square miles. 48
46 Gammel, op. cit., Vol. VI, p. 78. Ibid., Vol. VII, p. 501
47,
48 Richardson, op.cit., Vol. III, p. 1125.
CHAPTER V
CITIES, TOWNS, AND COMMUNITIES
Through its history Montgomery County has had its share of towns and communities. Some are now ghost towns, while others live only in the minds of the old timers who remember something once said about them. And too, a few have been sawmill towns which lived as long as the timber which made them lasted. Some failed to survive because a railroad or highway by-passed them, or because an industrial change occurred. But for these reasons, for every community that became extinct, another seemed to spring up in its place.
Within the original bounds Montgomery County had such historical towns as, Cincinnati, Huntsville, Waverly, Robbin's, Old Trinidad (Spanish Bluff), Groce's, Fanthrop's, Navasota, Cold- spring, Swartout, Point Blank, and many others. These towns were separated from Montgomery County when the new counties in which they were located were formed from Montgomery, but even after Montgomery was divided she had many communities left. Some of these communities, many of which are extinct today, are as follows: Boggy, McRae, Dobbin, Bobbin, Hartley, Peach Creek, Lake Creek, Bethel, Mink, Pleasant Grove, Caney Station, Newleaney, Morrisville,
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Bear bend, Longstreet, Oklahoma, Lost Cane Brake, Hunters Retreat, Deckers Prairie, Goodson Prairie, Mount Pleasant, Panther Branch, Brantley, Presswood, Danville, Waukegan, Honea, Ada, Esperanza, Union Grove, Tamina, Rose Hill, Clinesburg, Beach, Willis, Timber, Montgomery, Conroe, Magnolia, Tharp, Youens, Butlersburgh, Pools, Dacus, Fostoria, Cut 'n Shoot, Pinehurst, Karen, Jackson, Bobville, Rayford, Porters, Security, Midline, Splendora, Boy, Four Corners, Granger, Wigginsville, New Caney, Cowl Spur, Bunn, Leonidas, Keenan, Bays Chapel, and Venturea. Only a few of these communities will be considered in this study, though it is with regret that the author can not give an account of each. Several are treated including the important towns of today, an early town, a ghost town, a sawmill town and some communities of unusual interest.
The town of Montgomery is the oldest in the county. It has already been stated in this study how it was thought the town of Montgomery got its name, Prior to 1837, Montgomery had been a trading post established by Owen and Margaret Shannon, and located north of Town Creek. The new part of the town was plotted by W. W. Shepperd, a land agent, who bought the land from John Corner to establish the new part of the town. The first mention of the new part of the town appeared in the Telegraph and Texas Register, July 8, 1837. The article that was in the paper was written by W. W. Shepperd on the
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fourth of July, 1837, and gave the location of the town and advertised the sale of town lots. The sale of the lots was to be held in auction at Montgomery the first day of September, and the auction was to continue for three days. However, a plat of the new town was not drawn by Shepperd until January 1, 1838. - Two months later,
Shepperd through his agent and son-in-law, C. B. Stewart, gave to the county thirteen town lots and a site for a courthouse. At the same time a more definite procedure was given as to how the sale of the town lots was to be carried out. These facts are explained in the following article:
The president placed before the court the written act of donation of William W. Shepperd to the county of Montgomery of an equal undivided half interest in the town of Montgomery and sixty acres of pine land ad- joining donated for county purposes. And it being put to the question whether said donations should be accepted. It was unanimously received and the question being also, whether the place of the town presented by C. B. Stewart as agent for W. W. Shepperd should be received. The same was also unanimously received and adopted.
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