USA > Texas > Cherokee County > A history of Cherokee county (Texas) > Part 4
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Deed references show that it lay north of the old San Antonio road, three miles west of the Angelina River, on a fifty-acre tract just east of the present Old Palestine church, now owned by Mrs. S. F. Sparkman. From the same source one learns that Doctor and Mrs. Absalom C. Denson, the latter a cousin of James H. Durst, had a Lockranzie summer residence. Doctor Denson was doubtless the first of Cherokee County authors. His medical work, entitled "The Southern and Western Waybill to Health," was copyrighted May 19, 1847.
At least as late as 1854 Lockranize was a post office. The early postal records include the word "Anglin's," while deed records refer only to Lockranzie. Mrs. T. D. Miller of Alto vividly recalls spending rainy days in the attic at Forest Hill, reading letters addressed to her grandmother, Helena Berryman, at Anglin's Lockranzie. Miss Jessie Boone of Rusk has letters written to her grandfather, William Roark, at Lockranzie.
In 1849 a certain Francis Smith owned a lot on Ochiltree and San Antonio streets. In 1851, Doctor P. H. Butler was writing receipts for "medicinal services" in Lockranzie. In 1854, W. W. Frizzell, a notary public, was taking acknowledgments to deeds
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A HISTORY OF CHEROKEE COUNTY
in his Lockranzie office. Tradition has it that Peter Ellis Bean was once proprietor of a store and stage-house in Lockranzie.
As Linwood later lost to Alto, so Lockranzie must have failed to meet the competition of Linwood.
Linwood, known in the '40s, if not earlier, as the "Town of Angelina," was located on the west bank of the Angelina River, just south of the old San Antonio road. James H. Durst and Ann Harrison, formerly the wife of George Whitfield Terrell, were apparently the promoters of the townsite surveyed around a public square. Charles Chevaillier and C. & H. W. Raguet, prominent Nacogdoches merchants, had Linwood stores in the '50s. In 1860 Gates and Powdrill were the big advertisers in the Texas Enquirer, published at Rusk, heading their ad with the slogan, "A steamboat at Linwood." Other Linwood citizens included the McGaugheys, Wolfes, Selmans, Spruills, Evans, Beans, Easters, Moffats, Frizzells and the Terrells.
George Whitfield Terrell, founder of the Cherokee County branch of the Terrell family, was one of the most distinguished citizens of the Texas Republic. Born in Kentucky, the son of Colonel James Terrell, who was a favorite officer of General Andrew Jackson, he was admitted to the bar in Tennessee, where he held high political offices until his removal to Texas in the late '30s. After a short stay in San Augustine, he settled near Linwood. The Republic of Texas was quick to recognize Terrell talent. As the first district judge in East Texas, as attorney- general in President Houston's cabinet, as Indian commissioner and as special minister to England, France and Spain for the purpose of securing recognition of the Republic of Texas, he served his newly-adopted government. The suit of cream-colored flowered silk which Minister Terrell wore to a reception at the court of St. James became a family heirloom. When annexation made it no longer necessary to have a foreign minister, he returned to Texas and was again appointed Indian commissioner. He died while on a business trip to Austin in May, 1846, a few weeks after the organization of Cherokee County. The Masonic lodge at Alto, Terrell Lodge No. 83, was named in his honor.
The Honorable George B. Terrell, a grandson of the county's first distinguished Terrell, still owns the ancestral home. As a member of the House of Representatives for sixteen years, as state commissioner of agriculture for ten years and as con- gressman at large, he, too, has rendered worthy service to his
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EARLY COLONIZATION
state. At the end of his present term in Congress he will retire to private life.10
In 1860 and doubtless later a mail line was running from Lin- wood to Jacksonville, via Rusk. As Alto grew, Linwood declined. Today the name is applied to two stores and a school, the latter also known as Grange Hall, located some distance west of the original town site.
10George B. Terrell was born near Alto, the son of Sam Houston Terrell and Julia Butler Terrell; attended the State Teachers College at Huntsville and Baylor University at Waco; taught school fifteen years and served one term on the State Textbook Commission; married Miss Allie Turney of Jacksonville, to which union five children were born.
CHAPTER III
ORGANIZATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT
THE expulsion of the Indians marks a new era in Cherokee County history. The trickle of immigration grew to a steady stream : pioneers who had first built homes in the San Augustine and Nacogdoches country ; eager homeseekers from the old states -especially Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi ; some- times along routes blazed only by tree hacks; by ox-wagon and by horseback, with household goods and without.
The act of Congress, January 27, 1844, validating all titles properly obtained under the Mexican laws and declaring vacant land subject to entry and location, followed by the admission of Texas into the Union in 1845, gave added impetus to immigration. In the late '40s and early '50s travelers were seldom out of sight of covered wagons.
As a result the legislature, in accordance with its policy of forming new counties out of the vast territory embraced in Nacogdoches County as soon as population warranted so doing, authorized the cutting off of another section, comprising 1,049 square miles lying between the Neches and the Angelina rivers, to be known as Cherokee County.
Its long, narrow shape, however, was destined to cause future dissatisfaction. Although in our day of swift means of transpor- tation the matter has not been an issue, there were occasions in earlier years when the division of the county was the subject of petitions to the legislature, one of the arguments being that the great distance involved undue inconvenience to jurors. As late as 1874 it was proposed to establish a new county, called Dillard, the division line passing no more than two miles north of Rusk.
The new county was bountifully endowed by Nature-healthful climate, plenty of wood, good water, game, fertile soil and unsur- passed beauty.
Early settlers found the country much more open than it is today. On many a prairie, now timbered, grass grew from knee to waist high. Alto residents could see deer grazing at the head of Larrison Creek as late as 1860. Game was present in abun- dance-deer, wild turkey, prairie chicken, quail, coon, wolf, wild-
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33
ORGANIZATION and EARLY DEVELOPMENT
cat, panther, fox and even bear. In 1877 Dallas hunters reported bagging sixty-one deer in Cherokee and Anderson counties. The streams abounded in fish. In addition to the two rivers watering its borders, Cherokee County has an abundance of perpetual streams and springs, some of which have mineral waters with curative powers.
The act authorizing the organization of the county, approved April 11, 1846, also provided for a commission, composed of Elisha Moseley, John H. Irby, Colonel Parks, Nathaniel Killough, William Roark, W. Y. Lacy, Samuel Box and William S. Box to select a site for the county seat, within three miles of the geographical center, provided such radius afforded proper eleva- tion and water facilities, otherwise within five miles. After due deliberation, including the consideration of Cook's Fort, the locating committee selected one hundred acres on the west half of the John Hundley headright, which had been purchased by James F. Timmons in 1839. Absalom Gibson and William Roark are both credited with surveying the town site. Roark made the map reproduced in this volume.
According to tradition, this land was donated. The records show that the locating commission paid Timmons $600 for the 100-acre tract. The deed, dated April 13, 1847, refers to a con- tract between Timmons and the commission, July 20, 1846, which, if available, might throw some light on the tradition that the town site was a gift. Timmons did donate four acres as a cemetery site.
The legislative act creating the county named the county seat in honor of the distinguished soldier, jurist and statesman, Thomas Jefferson Rusk.
Born in South Carolina, December 5, 1803, young Rusk studied law under John C. Calhoun. Soon after being admitted to the bar, he moved to Georgia. In 1834, in quest of money invested in a fraudulent mining scheme, he entered Texas, found its charm irresistible and moved to Nacogdoches in 1835. The General Council of the Provisional Government soon elected him com- missary of the army. In 1836, as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence and then fought gallantly at San Jacinto. Pending the recovery of General Houston from his injuries, he was made brigadier- general. In President Houston's cabinet he served as secretary of war until he resigned to resume his law practice at Nacog- doches. As a member of the Second Congress he again served his state. In August, 1838, he led the Texans in suppressing the Cordova rebellion and in October directed the force against the
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A HISTORY OF CHEROKEE COUNTY
Cherokees who massacred the Killoughs, Woods and Williams. In December he was elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but left the bench long enough to command a Texas regiment in the Cherokee War of 1839. Resigning as Chief Justice in 1840, he once more returned to private practice and soon afterward formed a partnership with James Pinckney Henderson. In 1843 he became Major-General of the Army of the Texas Republic. In 1845 he was chosen president of the convention which framed the first state constitution. The first legislature honored him with a seat in the United States Senate. In this capacity he served his state until shock, caused by the death of his wife, finally led him to end his own life with a rifle shot on the back steps of his home in Nacogdoches, July 29, 1857.
Never seeking office, yet never defeated when drafted to run, Thomas Jefferson Rusk is said to have held more high official positions than any man who lived during the days of the Texas Republic. Had he not steadfastly refused to allow his name to be used as a candidate, he would doubtless have been President Rusk. The town of Rusk honored him on visits during his lifetime and still takes pride in bearing his name.
After designating lots to be reserved for a courthouse, jail and school, the locating commission ordered the remainder to be sold to the highest bidders, the proceeds to be used for the construction of the needed public buildings.1
Subsequent records indicate that all financial problems were not reserved for current administrations. On January 11, 1847, the county treasury contained $56.17. By April the balance had dropped to $24.71, while orders filed for payment amounted to $72.00.
The first election was held July 13, 1846, and the following officials took the oath of office: L. H. Gideon, chief justice; William Roark, R. J. Banks, A. C. Walters and William Isaacs, county commissioners; Cosby Vining, sheriff, with Joseph Hol- comb, Lee Vining and I. R. Goodwin as bondsmen; Jesse Gibson, tax assessor and collector, with James, David and Joseph Cook as bondsmen; John S. Thompson, county clerk; John Conner, dis- trict clerk. The commissioners court chose H. C. Crossland as treasurer. In November R. D. Rutherford was elected coroner. Nathaniel Killough made the first bond as notary public.
It will be noted that the combination of the offices of tax
1Prior to February, 1850, $4,618.19 had been received for lots. At this time the county commissioners took over the sales hitherto handled by the locating commission.
35
ORGANIZATION and EARLY DEVELOPMENT
assessor and collector, effective in 1935, was merely a return to an old form of county government; that the offices of county judge, superintendent and surveyor were not on the first ticket. Until 1867 the chief justice performed the duties of judge. In the absence of public schools there was no need of a superintendent. Surveyors for the Nacogdoches district served Cherokee County until the legislature authorized each county to have its own sur- veyor. In accordance with this law, William Roark was allowed $139.50 for furnishing supplies and drafting a Cherokee County map. B. B. Cannon was appointed to transcribe the records from the Nacogdoches office. In 1850, A. J. Coupland was elected county surveyor.
The first commissioners court met October 12, 1846, to begin its task of providing roads and road overseers, granting permits for ferries, approving applications for land grants and finding some means of meeting expenses.
Its first recorded act was a revenue measure, it being ordered that "371/2 per cent be assessed on the state tax for county pur- poses upon all property and money at interest, upon all incomes, trades, occupations and professions upon which a tax is levied by the state." In 1847 the assessment was reduced to 33% per cent, in 1848 to 30 per cent. In 1850 it was raised to 50 per cent, the new courthouse probably being one cause of advance. In 1933 the county tax rate was eighty cents on the $100 valuation.
Tax collectors with delinquent rolls sigh for the quick action of early days. Tax Assessor-Collector Jesse Gibson found a certain Denson owed one dollar and sixty-five cents for taxes in 1849. After due warning he still refused to pay. The land was ordered sold and struck off to the highest bidder for one dollar and sixty-five cents, July 6, 1850. One dollar was added for costs and Gibson "entered satisfaction" on his tax list.
At the second meeting of the court James Thomason, Thomas Cook, Granville J. Carter, Milton Vining and L. Rutherford were appointed to "mark out and review a road in the nearest and best route to the Nacogdoches line in the direction of the town of Nacogdoches." Similar orders were given for roads connecting the new county seat with Palestine, Henderson, Crockett and Tyler. In addition, intra-county roads were rapidly surveyed, connecting Cherokee communities with each other and with the county seat roads. Road overseers were authorized to "warn out hands" to work them.
Some Cherokee roads, however, long antedate the organization of the commissioners court. One hundred and seventy-five years
36
A HISTORY OF CHEROKEE COUNTY
before there was a town of Alto, St. Denis, the French governor of Natchitoches (Louisiana), named the then ancient east-west trail from San Augustine (Florida) to Mexico City El Camino del Rey, later to be distinguished as one of the most historic of American roads.
The East Texas link in this "Road of the King," known as the old San Antonio road, or the road to Béxar, traversed the present Cherokee County in the Alto section, following practically the same route as the King's Highway.2 Cherokee citizens who speed along this route today follow famous travelers-La Salle, Bernard La Harpe, Moses and Stephen F. Austin, Zachary Taylor, Sam Houston, James Bowie and a host of other Texas heroes. What was known as the middle San Antonio road crossed the Angelina River at Mrs. Luckett's ferry in the John Durst grant and inter- sected the upper road near Lacy's Fort.
The earliest Nacogdoches settlers, in search of salt, blazed trails to the Trinity and the Neches Salines which crossed the present Cherokee County. The old Nacogdoches-Fort Houston road also traversed Cherokee soil prior to 1846.
Fords and ferries usually served as bridges. The first ferry permit was granted by the commissioners court to John Stinson, November, 1846, authorizing him to establish a ferry on the Neches River at Matthews Bluff, the crossing of the Rusk-Crock- ett road. The following schedule, allowed by his permit, is typical of ferry fees : wagon, when water is in banks, 75 cents ; wagon, when water is out of banks, $1; man and horse, 10 cents; loose horse, 5 cents; cattle, 2 cents ; hogs, sheep and goats, 11/2 cents. In 1851 William N. Bonner became proprietor and it was after- ward widely known as the Bonner ferry. Among the ferries existing before the county was organized were the David Rusk ferry, afterward the Hatchett ferry, on the Angelina ; the Cannon ferry on the Neches, near the present railroad crossing; and the Williams ferry at the old San Antonio road crossing on the Neches. Ferry proprietors were required to pay an annual license fee and executed bond.
The few bridges in existence in early years were privately owned, the owners paying tax and collecting toll for service. Posey's bridge on the Neches and the James Durst bridge on the Angelina were in use before the county was created. In Novem- ber, 1846, the commissioners court authorized Jesse Bean to build
2 According to Highway Department data, the old San Antonio road crossing on the Angelina River was about two hundred and twenty-five feet downstream from the present bridge.
37
ORGANIZATION and EARLY DEVELOPMENT
another Angelina bridge. Judged by the number of state charters issued to Cherokee companies for the construction of toll bridges and turnpikes, the '50s, '60s and '70s must have brought a growing recognition of transportation problems.
According to the usual charter stipulations, bridges were sub- ject to inspection by commissioners, appointed by the court, with authority to open toll gates when the company allowed the bridge to get out of repair. Persons who wilfully went around a toll gate when a bridge was in good condition were subject to prose -. cution. The following receipt seems to indicate that if charges were paid in advance there was a reduction in the rate: "William Roark and family are entitled to cross and recross the Angelina Toll Bridge from the first of September, 1847, to the first of September, 1848, for which he has paid three dollars, September 30, 1847. Signed, A. C. Denson." A charter issued for a Neches bridge in 1870 specified the following toll exemptions : ministers of the gospel, all persons going to or returning from church, all jurors and state witnesses going to or from court and all per- sons going to or returning from a gristmill. Mail carriers always passed toll free.
The first courthouse, built of logs with open halls which fur- nished wandering sheep with comfortable sleeping quarters, was begun in 1846. In July, 1847, however, the court called for bids for flooring it, lining the cracks, making a shutter for the door and the window, a judge's seat and an attorney's bar. In April of the same year a contract was let for a jail; in August for a two-room frame building, "with good brick chimneys," to be used as offices for the county and district clerks. In August, 1849, Robert Green was awarded the contract for the construction of a two-story frame courthouse at a cost of $5,475. The old log courthouse, together with the offices of the court clerks and the unsold and forfeited Rusk lots, was ordered sold at auction. In 1855 a contract was let for a two-story jail to cost $4,250.3
In 1859 need for greater safety for the county records led to the erection of a brick building for the county and district clerks' offices. It still stands in the northeast corner of the courthouse square, the oldest brick building in Rusk.
Stock evidently continued to give trouble. In 1853 the court
3In 1882 a new jail was built on the present site. In 1888 the old courthouse was condemned and sold. The new courthouse, completed in 1889, was remodeled and enlarged in 1925.
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A HISTORY OF CHEROKEE COUNTY
supplemented the funds raised by the citizens of Rusk and had the courthouse surrounded by a "dressed plank fence" to which horses were not to be hitched.
Adequate courthouse furnishings seem to have been acquired slowly, Cicero Broome being paid $40 for making a desk for the district clerk and William Hood $35 for making bookcases and a desk for the county clerk in 1855.
From the beginning the courthouse square was a favorite polit- ical arena. Here Sam Houston crossed oratorical swords with the matchless Franklin Bowdon, termed by Henry Clay the greatest living orator. Here was inaugurated the stormiest polit- ical campaign ever waged on East Texas soil, by the nomination of Tyler's distinguished statesman, Colonel William S. Herndon, as congressman in 1871. The Colonel was escorted to Rusk by two hundred men, with the Kickapoo band heralding their com- ing. On the courthouse square, from the tallest pine pole in the county, floated a strange flag. Its United States stripes were almost covered by a Texas star. In the midst of the celebration an officer from the Federal post at Tyler ordered it down. After a squally interval the command was obeyed. The courthouse square of his native county was also the choice of James Stephen Hogg for the opening shot in his gubernatorial compaign. Here he swayed three thousand people with his three-hour masterpiece. Here through the years have stood Richard Coke, O. M. Roberts, General Thomas J. Rusk, Colonel Edward Burleson, R. B. Hub- bard, the loved John H. Reagan and a host of other Texas sons.
Joseph T Cook, Jr., and Ann Moseley, daughter of one of the members of the locating commission, were the first Cherokee County bride and groom. William Daugherty, probate judge, performed the ceremony, August 19, 1846. William Martin and Mrs. Carmelita Bean, widow of Samuel Bean, were a close sec- ond, Nathan G. Allen, justice of the peace, officiating at their wedding, August 27, 1846. Records show seven other weddings during the year.
If one takes time to decipher the faded entries in the early commissioners court records, he is rewarded by interesting side- lights on pioneer days. The following excerpts are taken at random :
"November, 1848-Francis A. Shelton shall be allowed $10 for guarding prison ... seven days and nights."
"February, 1855-Degerian tipe (daguerreotype) takers and proprietors of all and any shows shall pay for every day and night they occupy the courthouse $50 and $5 to the sheriff. Dancing
39
ORGANIZATION and EARLY DEVELOPMENT
masters, for each school taught in the courthouse, shall pay $50 and such fees to the sheriff as he may charge for guarding the courthouse against conflagration."
"May, 1856-William T. Long allowed $9.50 for candles while W. F. Reynolds was a prisoner."
"John F. Williams, sheriff, allowed $1 for furnishing candles the night of the August election."
"Fifty dollars shall be paid to the county treasurer for every ball or party held in the courthouse and $5 to the sheriff for fires and lights each day and night."
Early records also show occasional departure from routine mat- ters, revealing the commissioners court dealing with affairs now under federal jurisdiction. In July, 1856, a certain Augustus Miller, born a subject of the Duke of Brunswick, was admitted to American citizenship.
The first district court met October 5, 1846, with Judge Wil- liam Ochiltree presiding. Examination of the criminal docket from 1846 to 1852 shows that out of two hundred and fifteen cases recorded, the offense in one hundred and two cases was card playing, in eleven permitting cards to be played in the house, in thirty-two gaming, exhibiting faro banks or betting at monte, in two passing counterfeit money, in one cruelty to slaves, the verdict being not guilty. The first recorded fine for card playing was fifty dollars, but the usual amount was ten dollars.
In 1848 Cherokee, Anderson and Houston counties constituted Senatorial District No 10, entitled to one senator. In 1853 Chero- kee alone elected one senator, the county comprising Senatorial District No. 11. In 1860 it was still one of the three counties with sufficient population to constitute a senatorial district, Rusk and Béxar being the other two. By 1869, however, it was again grouped with Houston County in District No. 3. In the senate Cherokee County was first represented by Isaac Parker of Hous- ton County, one of the counties making up the senatorial district.
Benjamin Selman was the first Cherokee County citizen to sit in the House of Representatives. Together with his brothers, Willis and Thomas, he had emigrated from Mississippi in the late '40s. Had it not been for his opposition when the question of location was up for discussion, the federal court now at Tyler would probably have been at Rusk. On the floor of the House he declared that the county had enough courts. Benjamin Selman died in 1873, at the age of seventy-eight, and is buried at Old Palestine Church, which he helped to organize and long served as a deacon. W. W. Glass is the present representative.
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