USA > Texas > Montgomery County > A History of Montgomery County, Texas > Part 5
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Motioned that a sale of town lots of the town of Montgomery be made on 4th Monday in April next for the purpose of raising funds to defray in part county expenses. It was ordered unanimously that a sale should be made on that date. Three previous advertisements being made in the Telegraph etc. etc. Question being made upon what terms and the time of credit given or to be given purchas - ers of town lots, It was ordered that sales be made for
1 W. W. Shepperd, Map of the Town of Montgomery, January 1, 1838, Addison Collection.
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one fourth cash, one fourth payable in three months, one fourth within six months, and the remainder fourth 12 months. Purchasers giving liens upon lots until final payment receiving certificates at the time of purchase and giving the notes for respective amounts and on respective time.
W. W. Shepperd having made certain improvements in the town of Montgomery by his agent C. B. Stewart, claimed the selection of thirteen lots giving an equal selection of thirteen lots to the County Commissioners and registered the action of the Court in relation to the instruction of the donation to Wit, of an equal undivided interest in the town proposing that when the county or its agent should have sold thirteen lots to counter balance the thirteen selected by W. W. Shepperd. All sales of other lots the proceeds thereof should be equally divided between the county and the said W. W. Shepperd after each and every sale, 2
On October 21, 1839, W. W. Shepperd sold his interest in the town of Montgomery to James McCown for eight thousand dollars. 3 James McCown influenced the development of the new part of the town and through his inducement it became one of the most progressive towns in the Republic. Montgomery prospered from the start, because it was the county seat and main trading town of the county, As conditions im- proved Montgomery received a generous share of the tide of immigrants. Places of business were established, professional men located their practices there, and soon Montgomery became one of the most im-
2 Extract from the minutes of the Commissioners Court, March 1, 1838, Addison Collection.
3 Montgomery County Courthouse Records, Deeds, Book E, p. 184.
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portant towns in Texas.
Two of the first professional men to arrive in Montgomery to contribue to the advancement of the town were Dr. E. J. Arnold and Dr. J. H. Price.
In 1836, Dr. E. J. Arnold came to Texas and in 1837 formed a partmership with Dr. James H. Price of Houston. These doctors practiced both in Washington and Montgomery, going from Washington to Montgomery in about the year 1839. Dr. Arnold was joined by his wife sometime during his earliest years in Texas, and in the early 1840': they bought land and built a small home. In the early 1850's this first home was replaced by a handsome one in which one of his grandsons, R. Q. Simonton, lives today. 4
Dr. Arnold was very popular in Montgomery and took part in almost every movement for civic improvement. He and C. E. Clepper donated land for the Montgomery Academy, and later, Dr. Arnold offered a site for the construction of a female college, but this dream was never realized. When he died in 1860, he was buried in Montgomery: but in 1880 his body was disinterred to be buried beside that of his wife in Willis, Texas. 5
4 W. N. Martin, "A History of Montgomery, " (Unpublished Master's thesis, Sam Houston State Teachers College, Huntsville, Texas, 1950), p. 19.
5 Ibid,, p. 20
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The other physician, Dr. James Howe Price, arrived in Galveston in May 1837 on a steamer sailing from New Orleans. He continued his journey to Houston, where he arrived on May 25, and in his diary he recorded the following:
Found myself in what they call a Cut-throat town that afforded me not a single friend and scarcely an acquaintance -- without a particle of experience in my half acquired profession -- no medicine, no instru- ments -- nor no office or books.
In Houston Dr. Price formed a partnership with a Dr. Matthews who had had some experience and had been practicing there. Dr. Price set up practice after the necessary equipment was obtained on credit, and for several months he found Houston a very good place for a doctor's business.
In April of 1837, Dr. Price decided to visit his home in Ten- nessee; so he left his practice in the hands of a friend and departed on a steamer for New Orleans. In the fall of that same year he decided to come back to Texas, and on the way overland he was joined by two more men who were also riding through the country on horseback. They were several weeks on the road, traveling through swamps, forests, and over almost impassable trails. They came through Arkansas, Louisiana, and into Texas, entering by the way of Natchitoches, Louisiana. They came on to Houston by way of old Cincinatti on the Trinity River, and 6 Diary, Dr. James H. Price, Sam Houston Memorial Museum, p. 1.
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then to Montgomery, where Dr. Price spent several days with the Worsham family. The account of this in his diary is as follows: July 3, 1838.
. The Trinity at Cincinatti is the most beautiful stream I have seen in Texas. Got this evening to Hadleys. No corn or oats had to hopple out. Wed. 4th. Left this morning after breakfast. Stopped at McDonalds, no person at home, gave our horses a feed of corn. . . Came this evening to Lindleys and stayed all night. The people were celebrating the 4th of July all over the country at Crockett, Montgomery, etc. etc. July 5. Stayed at Johnsons -- came on to Mr. Worshams. . . . Fri. 6. Concluded this morning to stay all day, we are much pleased with the family, fine lady, etc. Sat. 7. This is my sick day (had a chill) we have concluded to stay all day again. I have been well all day, went to Mont- gomery today. Returned this evening to Mr. Worsham. Sun. 8. Left this morn after breakfast for Houston, got this evening to Wynns. 30 mi. and horses are out.
Upon his arrival in Houston, Dr. Price found that the doctor he had left to take charge of his practice while he was gone had taken his business. It was an account of this incident that he decided to come back to Montgomery.
In Montgomery he met Dr. E. J. Arnold, and formed a partner - ship with him. Dr. Price was not only a successful physician, but also he was a successful farmer. He owned much land and many slaves, and was very prosperous both as a farmer and a trader. 8
7 Ibid., p. 20.
8 Martin, op. cit., p. 23.
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In addition to the professional men, the town of Montgomery drew men of a business nature. They established mercantile houses which caused Montgomery to advance commercially. Two of these early business men were the Willis brothers, Peter J. and Richard S.
In 1836 Peter J. Willis landed in Nacogdoches, where he stayed about one year and then went to old Washington-on-the-Brazos, where he stayed another year before coming to Montgomery. He married Caroline Womack of Montgomery, and they had two sons and four daughters, the youngest daughter dying at Montgomery when a child. Peter Willis built a small log house when he first arrived; soon, how- ever, he was able to build a fine new home furnished with the best furniture that he could buy. He bought his furniture in Galveston and had it shipped to Montgomery on ox-drawn wagons. He had the grounds about his home landscaped, and the whole place, when completed, was one of the very finest homes in Montgomery. The home, with the furniture, still stands today and is owned by Mr. Raymond Weisinger. Peter Willis was z personal friend of Sam Houston, and it is said that Houston spent many visiting hours in Montgomery in the Willis home. 9
When Mrs. Willis dies in 1863, Mr. Willis closed his store and his house and left two old Negro servants as caretakers. After a few 9 Ibid., p. 26.
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years, however, he sold his home and moved to Galveston. The last surviving child of Peter Willis was Mrs. George Sealy of Galveston, who died only recently. Her name was Magnolia, and it was from her that the Magnolia Petroleum Company took its name, since she was one of its largest stock holders. 10
Richard S. Willis, a younger brother of Peter J., and a boy of sixteen, came to Montgomery in 1837, a year later than his brother. He joined partnership with his brother, and, after getting started in the mercantile business, the two brothers established the Willis Brothers General Mercandise Company. 11
Business prospered and so did the town as more people moved into Montgomery. In the early 1840's Dr. J. H. Price established a grist mill at Montgomery; and, some years later, he built a gin on his property about three miles west of the town. Another industry that started was a pottery which was located on a farm south of the town. It was established in the late 1840's and the remains of the old kiln and a few broken pieces of pottery still mark the location where it stood. It was short-lived, but to this day, the stream that furnished water for the pottery is called Juggery Creek. Most of the pottery was sold to a nearby whiskey still for whiskey jugs and to local house wives for bowls
10 Ibid., p. 25. 11 Ibid., p. 27
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and churns. Many crudely molded jars from the pottery are in the hands of several citizens today. 12
Another industry which made Montgomery progress was a tannery started by Antony Martin in 1843. He purchased a bark mill from P. J. Willis and installed a tannery on Martin's Creek about three miles east of Montgomery. He operated the tannery until the Civil War, when it was abandoned. Hides were purchased from local settlers and tanned into leather which was usually sold to the local shops in Montgomery. 13
By 1845 Montgomery had grown large enough to have a news- paper, a Masonic lodge, a telegraph station. The newspaper published by John Marshall Wade was the Montgomery Patriot, and the first regular issue appeared on April 26, 1845. 14 The Montgomery Patriot of July 2, 1845, advertised the places of business of M. O. Dimon, General Merchandise; B. F. Duncan, Fashionable Tailor; M. Shaben and Bros, Merchandise; Lem. Smith, Cabinet Manufacturer and Upholsterer; and P. J. Willis and Brothers, General Merchandise. In one of the advertisements James McCown advertised: ". . . Will sell cheap, and on accommodating terms, a pair of first rate STILLS,
12 Ibid., p. 43 13 Ibid., p. 42 14 Montgomery Patriot, July 2, 1845, Sam Houston Memorial Museum.
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together with all the apparatus to carry on a distillery. " Also in the same issue James McCown advertised the sale of town lots, and in the advertisement he gave a good description of the prosperity of the town, which is as follows:
. The lands surrounding Montgomery, known as the . Lake Creek Settlement, being of such a rich and fertile character, and having a rich and industrious population, it is destined to be, in a short time, a town of consider- able importance.
Montgomery is the county site of the most flourishing, populous and intelligent county in the Republic. It is situated on an elevated ridge, which divides the waters of the San Jacinto River and Lake Creek -- In point of health, Montgomery is not inferior to any place in the world, lying in the same latitude.15
The Masonic Lodge Number 25 was organized April 25, 1845 in Montgomery. The minutes show that some of the people who helped organize the lodge were W. H. Grand Master B. Gillespie, John Gillespie, L. G. Clepper, Sam Houston, Buford Oliphant, and others.
16
The first telegraph line wae built through Montgomery in 1845 and it added to the prestige of the town. The line extended from Houston to Huntsville by way of Montgomery. The line traveled the old Stage Road, and even today old insulators can be found on the trees along the old road.
15 Loc. cit.
16 Martin, op. cit., p. 68.
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Besides being the center of government and industry,
Montgomery was the center of school and church activities for the county. The Methodist as early as 1838 held meetings in the town, and in 1842 the first Methodist parsonage of Texas was erected there. The Baptists in the town organized a church in 1850. 17
Montgomery was one of the leading town in the state for the advancement of education. An academy was organized in 1848 for the purpose of educating its youth. The school was called the Montgomery Academy. 18
Montgomery advanced so rapidly that by 1848 an act was passed by the Legislature to incorporate it as a town. The act in part is as follows :
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the citizens of the town of Montgomery in Montgomery county, be, and they are hereby, declared a body politic and corporate, under the name and style of the Corpora- tion of the Town of Montgomery, who shall have the power of suing and being sued, pleading, and being impleaded, and to hold property real and personal within the limits of said corporation, and at their pleasure to dispose of the same.
Be it further enacted, That the corporate limits of said town shall extend one half mile in every direction from the center of the public square. 19
17 Ibid, p. 66.
18 H. P. N. Gammel, The Laws of Texas 1822-1897 (Austin: The Gammerl Book Company, 1898), Vol. III, p. 379.
19 Ibid., Vol. III, p. 361.
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The act also designated the duties of the town officials, their term of office, and the days of election. The first mayor after the act was passed was Nat Hart Davis. His first duty was to clean out the town well.
Nat Hart Davis was one of the most prominent lawyers and distinguished citizens of Montgomery. In the spring of 1840 he came to Montgomery from Madison County, Alabama and applied for his Texas citizenship. 20 He set up a law office in the town and when his business was established he went to Mississippi and married Sarah Elizabeth White. He brought his bride back to Montgomery, where the two lived until their deaths. During his lifetime Nat Davis not only had the honor of being the first mayor Montgomery, but also he had the honor of holding many other positions. He held the position of Justice of the Peace and District Judge for many years, and it is said by the old timers that no one in the county since his death has excelled Nat Davis in the art of handling the procedure of civil law. 21 Today, a portrait of Nat Hart Davis hangs in an honored position in the District Courtroom of the Courthouse.
Montgomery prospered, and it became one of the most im-
- 20 Deeds, Book A, p. 26.
21 Personal interview of author with Hart Addison, Conroe, Texas, April 10, 1952.
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portant trading centers in Texas. Long teams of oxen from up country around Crockett passed through the town drawing loads of cotton, lumber, and other products. They plodded their way slowly to Houston and Galveston, the nearest markets. These wagons on their return trips brought back all kinds of merchandise shipped from New Orleans, New York, and other places. 22
Montgomery was on the main stage line from Houston to Huntsville and from Washington to Bevil's on the Trinity River. The stage coaches brought both passengers and mail, and the arrival of the stage coach was the most exciting event of the day. As it came up the stage road, the driver blew his musical horn so that it might be heard by the citizens in town long before the stage drew up before the Price Hotel.
The stages usually met at the Price Hotel, which was erected in 1858 by Dr. J. H. Price, and as they arrived from different direc- tions the passengers exchanged news. Then they rested or ate while the horses rested or fresh ones were hitched to the coach. 23
In 1854 one of the local citizens who had been away from Montgomery on a visit wrote a letter in which he said, ". . . The town is greatly improved in buildings but not in morals -- liquor is
22 Martin, op. cit., p. 39. 23 Ibid., p. 73
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still retailed by Gay and Hooker, and Gafford -- and gambling is going on. Our town and county are quite healthy. ,24
The town continued to grow until the opening of the Civil War. Around 1857 a new school was started to replace the Montgomery Academy which had been discontinued. This new academy was es- tablished by Charles L. S. Jones and it was called Jones Academy. It was a very popular institution and lasted until Mr. Jones' son and many of the larger boys of the community enlisted in the Confederate army. 25 In the Texas Almanac of 1857 Montgomery is described as
". . . a village of considerable size occupying an elevated situation and containing many tasty residences, and other evidences of refine- 26 ment. 11
By 1860 Montgomery had reached its peak of development, when the Civil War broke out it drained the town of its able bodied citizens and wealth. In 1864 a Confederate soldier who was passing through Montgomery on patrol duty described the place in his diary as follows:
. . Thence through a country of timber to Montgomery, in the suburbs of which we camp. This is my first visit to the Montgomery of Texas. It is a very small town.
24 Letter of Nat Hart Davis to Betty Davis, December 16, 1845, in Addison Collection.
25 Martin, op. cit., p. 69.
26 Texas Almanac for 1857 (Galveston: Richardson and Company, 1856), p. 77.
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Public buildings, an academy, church, Court house and jail; and these of very ordinary qualities. The war has dried the little place up -- not a door open in it, 27
Montgomery never recuperated from the Civil War. The war had sapped its life blood and before it could regain its strength the reconstruction era came and brought it back to its knees. Then too, the coming of the railroads caused an industrial change and many of its businessmen and other citizens moved to the new railroad town of Willis.
Montgomery's population had diminished so much by 1873 that Montgomery had a feud with the town of Willis over the site of the county seat. Willis claimed she had a larger population and that she was nearer the center of the county; but Montgomery kept the honor of being the capitol city until 1889, when by popular vote the county seat was moved to the new railroad-sawmill town of Conroe.
The maneuver of Willis awakened Montgomery to the fact that she needed a railroad or an industry to keep her citizens from leaving; so in 1877 the citizens of the town decided to build their own railroad. Substantial contributions were made by the people in the form of land, money, labor, and materials. The right-of-way was donated and a 27 H. C. Medford, "Diary", Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume XXXIV (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1930) p. 138
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charter was granted to the Central and Montgomery Railroad on December 31, 1877. In return for the aid given by the people of the town, the railroad company agreed to maintain a depot for passengers and freight service in the town within a distance of not more than a
thousand yards from the courthouse. 28 The railroad was built and only recently it was abandoned.
Montgomery has not changed much since the courthouse was moved to Conroe. Today (1952) it has a population of five hundred and twenty people. 29 A citizen of the town in 1950 wrote:
. The character of the town has not changed greatly; that whenever possible, the old families have kept the lands of their forefathers in family hands; that new industries will continue to be discouraged because the citizens dislike the stepped-up tempo and often undesir- able population shift that come with certain industries. It is the desire of the present inhabitants that the popula - tion in general will continue to have a high regard for culture; that the town will not grow greatly but will strive to keep its churches and lodges among the most highly respected and its schools as progressive as the scholastic census will permit.
It is noted that all those who have once been of Montgomery continue to love and respect the old town and at every opportunity return and visit with the friends of their fathers and mothers. 30
28Martin, op. cit., pp. 51-52.
29 Texas Almanac 1949-1950 (Dallas: A. H. Belo Corporation, 1949), p. 568.
30 Martin, op. cit., p. 84
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Danville is one of the extinct town of Montgomery County. It was located about five miles northwest of the present-day town of Willis. Not much is known about the old town today, because it has been gone for over eighty years. It had its beginning not long after the town of Montgomery, because in the Telegraph and Texas Register of April 8, 1846, it was listed as one of the towns of Montgomery County for election returns of that year. 31 During the 1850's, Dan- ville, like Montgomery, had a building boom. Many plantation owners with their slaves from the Old South moved to the vicinity, cleared land, and built their mansions. One of these plantation owners was Judge Goldthwait, who came to Danville in 1854 and brought with him about two hundred slaves. In a letter to his wife, Nat Davis wrote:
Judge Goldthwait of Alabama bought the H. G. Johnson place at little over $5.00 per acre and has some 100 Negroes on it, and about as many over on the San Jacinto. 32
Then in the next year, 1855, Nat Davis wrote to his wife and said, "I saw some fine cotton when I went over to Danville on the 3rd at Goldthwait's plantation on the San Jacinto. " 33
Another plantation owner was General A. J. Lewis from
-31 Democratic Telegraph and Texas Register (Houston), April 8, 1846
32 Letter of Nat Hart Davis to Betty Davis, December 16, 1854, in Addison Collection.
33 Ibid., July 10, 1855.
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Virginia, who built a grand three story home with a ballroom on the third story. The brick used in the house were shipped from Holland and the wooden beams were fastened together with wooden pegs whittled out by his slaves. He called this grand house Elmwood, and it stood until 1940 when it was torn down and the lumber used for a new and modern home. 34
By 1856 Danville had reached a population numberinf about three hundred inhabitants, 35 and in the next year the Texas Almanac described the place as ". . a small village some fifteen miles north of Montgomery, its trade being from the surrounding country, which is rich and productive. " 36
In January 1860 Danville had grown large enough to seek incorporation; therefore, by an act passed by the Texas Legislature it was incorporated as a town. 37
Danville, at its peak of prosperity, supported about fourteen business houses; however, they were short lived, because like Mont- gomery, the Civil War and the coming of the railroads caused Danville and its business houses to decline. 38
34 Martin, op. cit., p. 7.
25 T. C. Richardson, East Texas: Its History and Its Makers (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1940) Vol. III, p. 1126.
36 Texas Almanac 1857, op. cit., p. 77.
37Gammel, op. cit., Vol. V, p. 82.
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When the Houston and Great Northern Railroad was clearing its right-of-way toward Houston, the railroad officials asked the Danville citizens for permission to run the railroad line through the town. The majority of the citizens did not want the railroad because they were afraid that the type of people that a railroad would bring into their town would be undesirable; therefore, the railroad passed about five miles east of the town, and it was not long until the citizens of Danville saw their mistake. All of the business houses moved to the railroad at the newly established town of Willis, and today all that remains of Danville is a few broken bricks in an open field. 39
Willis came into being as one of the towns of Montgomery County in 1870. It was named Willis by the Houston and Great Northern Railroad, the predecessor of the International and Great Northern. The town was called Willis in honor of the Willis brothers, Peter J. and Richard S., who had been citizens of Montgomery and were at that time owners of the P. J. Willis and Brothers firm in Galveston. The Willis brothers had rather large land holdings and timber interests near the townsite; therefore, they deeded to the Houston and Great 38 Martin, op. cit., p. 7
39 Personal interview of author with Lula Dukes, Willis, Texas, May 12, 1952.
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Northern Railroad a place for a townsite along the railroad. "
Construction for Montgomery County's first railroad was completed in 1872. When the trains began to move on the new rail- road, Willis began to prosper. Most of the business houses from Danville and many residents moved to the new town near the rail- road. Others from Montgomery and Old Waverly also located in the new town. 41
By 1873 the population of the town had grown so much that an agitation to move the county seat to Willis was begun ; then on September 7, 1874 a called election was held and Willis by a majority of one hundred and forty-two votes was chosen as the county seat. 42
In 1875 the Willis Observer, a newspaper in the town, gave an account of the town's merchangs and the newly organized Grange. The article explained as follows:
The merchants of this place have good stocks on . hand, and are selling more goods than we thought could be sold these hard times. They sell principally for the cash -- though some little "trusting business. "
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