A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 12

Author:
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 954

USA > Texas > Henderson County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 12
USA > Texas > Freestone County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 12
USA > Texas > Leon County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 12
USA > Texas > Anderson County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 12
USA > Texas > Limestone County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 12
USA > Texas > Navarro County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 12

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Welch, Wm. Watkins, " Sam " Bowman, John Hilburn, - South, Corbin Jones, James Jones, Wiley Jones, J. B. Moore, Jack Sharp, - Gainor, " Jake " Hartsell, " Dan " Hartsell, with a few other names forgotten. None of these pioneers are low living that I know of."

Captain Clinton Fonty, the oldest living resident of Navarro county, Texas, was born in Pike county, Illinois, August 20, 1829. He was a son of Henry and Saralı Logan (Nesbitt) Fonty, natives of Virginia and Kentucky, who were married in the latter State and who later moved to Pike county, Illinois, locating on Government land where now stands the town of Griggs- ville, Pike county, and there engaged in farming. Mr. Fonty was one in a family of eight boys, seven of whom drifted southward, but he remained in Illinois, where his death occurred in 1831-'32.

Some time after the death of Mr. Fonty his wife married a Mr. E. Nash, and in 1844 the family removed to Texas locating for one year in Red River county, but in 1845 they removed to this county and lo- cated near Richland station, and at that time the county contained only twenty families. Dresden was the outside settle- ment. In those days milling was done by mortar and pestle, but after the first year steel mills were used and a few years later horse-mills were introduced, and considered quite a progression. Indians and buffaloes were plentiful over the plains and all kinds of game abounded. Mr. Nash did not care for hunting, and as that was the way to fill the larder in those days, this duty fell to our subject. Mr. Nash became a successful farmer and stock-raiser. He and

LIMESTONE, FREESTONE AND LEON COUNTIES.

his wife had a family of seven children, four of whom grew to maturity as follows: Angeline, now deceased, was the wife of L. H. Durham, of this county; Henry C., of this county; Minerva, the widow of James Byers, of Wortham; Mary, the wife of J. E. Byers, of Wortham. Mr. Nash died in 1867, but Mrs. Nash lived until 1886, when she passed away at the age of eighty years and was buried the day she com- pleted her eightieth year. Our subject and his brother, Montraville, were the only children born of the first marriage.

Captain Fouty received his primary education in Illinois, and it was inter- rupted at the age of fifteen. He has since been observing and has educated himself, and has displayed nothing lacking in his management of his own affairs or in those entrusted to his charge by others.

Arriving in this State at the age of fif- teen, our subject acquired a taste for out- door sports, and as game was plentiful he soon became expert with his gun and well acquainted with the Indians with whom he spent much time. On one occasion he re- lates that he saw a space five miles square covered with buffalo. Our subject was expected to provide a week's supply of game from one day's hunting, and he was always successful. At first this was all pleasure, but by the time a year of it had passed he began to tire of the sport that was work. Wild honey was also to be found in the forests, and was a very pleas- ant addition to the monotonous bill of fare.

At this time there were few neighbors, none nearer than four or five miles, and when Mrs. Nash felt like a friendly visit, there was no other way than to walk the

distance. She was always sure of a wel- come, but the Indians were so numerous that she felt very timid. > The family only had two horses and they could not be spared from work, so many were the long walks taken by the mother of our subject, either for friendly visit or to relieve somie illness or misfortune that only a woman's hand could give. Mrs. Nash was very un- easy on account of our subject being so much exposed to the danger from Indiaus, but he says that none ever harmed him, and after the country had settled and horses were stolen, he could never trace more than a half dozen that were from the county.

Mr. Fouty continued to live and work with his parents until he was nineteen years of age, when he started in company with his step-father to California, in 1849, leaving March 14 of that year, and reach- ing San Diego in October of the same year. They had started with pack mules and met a company of men at Fredericksburg, Texas, a frontier town. The company was composed of 125 men from various States, there being thirty-six New Yorkers in the crowd, all under the command of Captain McNeil; and they started from Fred- ericksburg May 8 for Presidio del Norte on the Rio Grande, 125 miles below El Paso, this being the second train that ever followed over this trail. This company was piloted by a Delaware In- dian who had passed over the trail nine years previously. When they arrived at Del Norte, the wagon train and pack train separated, the pack train proceeding up the Rio Grande in command of Captain Terry, later Judge Terry of California, who was then a young man making his first

HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

trip to California. At the start of the party front Fredericksburg, the men with the pack horses left the wagons and struck out ahead, and one evening the Indians stampeded the stock and captured the horse of Mr. Nash: consequently they had but one horse between themn. While traveling up the Rio Grande, between Presidio and El Paso, he came near losing his life on account of want of water, it was our sub- ject's turn to walk and Mr. Nash's to ride, and he in company with another man, who had lost his horse, walked along in the rear of the horseman. That morning the men had for breakfast a fine lotof mountain fish of which all had eaten heartily, and soon the want of water began to be felt. Mr. Fonty and his partner on foot had each a canteen of water. Our subject drank but sparingly but the other man quenched his thirst often: consequently both were soon left without any, as he demanded a por- tion of the water in the canteen of Mr. Fouty. The trail in the morning had di- verged from the river, but was supposed by the men to be only a short ent from one bend of the Rio Grande to the other. No uneasiness was felt in the matter until they had gone too far to turn back, and the others being mounted soon distanced them. Soon their thirst became unbearable. They would go from fifty to one hundred yards on the trail and then lie down under a large cactus for a few moments, when the horror of their situation would so impress them when they would rise and try to go on, expecting and hoping every moment that some chance would send them aid, and expecting that the Indians would find thein in this unprotected position.

At length they heard a tread on the path and fixed themselves with their guns ready to fire upon the first approaching Indian, when, to their great joy they saw two loose horses come down the path. The horses were worn almost to skeletons, and the two boys undressed to their shoes and shirts, and piled the clothing on the sharp- backed horses and turned their faces toward the way they had come. The horses were so weak that they could not make more than a half mile without stopping; but by proceeding in this way for a few miles they were overjoyed to meet some men return- ing from a hunting expedition after these same horses, who had gotten loose and had started for water. These men had but little of the precious fluid with them, but spared to each about one-half of a teacup, and this enabled them to proceed until night overtook them in a gorge of the mountain where they could not follow the trail on account of the darkness. Mr. Fouty took off his shirt and spread it out that it might catch enough of the moisture then falling; but instead of the dew a light shower fell, and Mr. Fouty greedily drank of the water lie could squeeze from his shirt! but this was so salt and bitter that it but added to his burning tbirst. By morning both men were about dead with thirst; but just in time to save life and reason, Mr. Nash appeared, having ridden back on the trail as soon as it was light enough for him to follow it. He had a supply of water with him, and after mak- ing the poor lads comfortable he rode to where they had tied the weak horses which could not carry them farther, and managed to lead them to sonie water and left them

LIMESTONE, FREESTONE AND LEON COUNTIES.

on the trail as they had promised the men. After suffering other hardships, our sub- ject reached San Diego, California, but then returned 150 miles back on the trail to assist other emigrants who might be suffering in the same way, and in this instance he was employed by the Govern- inent. From San Diego our subject pro- ceeded to San Francisco by water on the brig Colonel Fremont, and worked at different employments in that city for some time. His first venture in mining was at Rough and Ready, a mining town in Ne- vada county, and in 1851 he mined on Deer creek, where Mr. Nash left him and came home. Mr. Fouty then tramped through to the southern mines, but not liking that sec- tion went to the northern mines and worked there during the winter of 1851-'52, and then went to Trinity county, remaining but a short time, however, and then went to Shasta county. In the fall of 1853 he went to Humboldt county and engaged in rafting timber, and worked here until 1854, when came the great financial crash, and this struck the entire State of Califor- nia. Thousands of men engaged in busi- ness were financially ruined, our subject being among the lot.

At this time Mr. Fouty and his partner had paid $1,900 for four yoke of oxen, fitting themselves for the lumber business, and had thus spent their savings since coming to this country. They were to have $14 per thousand feet in the logs de- livered at the mills on the streams where it was sawed into lumber and shipped to various seaport towns. Returning to Trinity county $75 in debt, he again en- gaged in mining, paid the debt and mined

until 1859, when he left San Francisco, July 14, and came by way of New York, thence to New Orleans, and landed at home October , 1859, after an absence of ten years. While in California he had the or- dinary varied success of the miners in those early days. On several occasions he had considerable money saved up, but always spent it, thinking to make a richer strike; consequently, upon arriving at home, he was but little richer, except in experience, than when he left ten years before.

Our subject went into farming and was so engaged when the war broke out and he enlisted in Captain Melton's company, of the Thirteenth regiment, and was elected First Lieutenant and was sent to the forces along the coast, where he remained six months. Then he re enlisted for the re- mnainder of the war, in the Fifteenth Texas, commanded by Colonel Speight, and was elected Captain of his company, which was Company G, and participated in the bat- tles of Arkansas, and in the winter was sent to Red river, and from there was or- dered on a forced march back to Bnrwick's bay in Louisiana, where they crossed, and was then sent to the Mississippi river, fifty iniles above New Orleans. The first en- gagement in 1863 was at Fordoche, Louisiana, and from there to Bayou Bobo, where they were engaged with General Washburn, and then they took part in the retreat in front of Gen- eral Banks up the Red river and fought the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. They then pursued Banks down the river, but our subject only participated in an attack on some United States gun- boats lying in Red river at Montgomery

HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

Landing; and here Mr. Fonty was wounded on the right thigh, and from this injury onr subject has never recovered, and this ended his active service. He came home in the latter part of 1864, but returned to his command in the winter of 1864-'65, but was not in active duty, being assigned to post duty at Houston. Then the war closed and he returned and engaged in farming, beginning npon an unimproved farm; bnt he continued here for five years, selling out in 1870 to purchase his present place.

The present farm of Mr. Fonty consists of one hundred and seventy-five acres, but it was then unimproved. This place he has now under fencing and has seventy acres under cultivation with,good and substantial improvements. In 1876 he was elected Tax Assessor, which office he has held for two years, and in 1878 he returned to his farm, where lie has since remained, con- fining himself exclusively to farming.

Captain Fouty has been three times mar- ried: first, in 1864, to Miss Ann Meadow, of Alabama, a daughter of William and Sarah (Derden) Meadow, and to this union three children were born: William C., de- ceased, David M. and Thomas M., both of whom are at home. Mrs. Fouty died in 1879, at the age of forty-four, a member of the Baptist Church. In 1882 our sub- ject was married to Mrs. Elizabeth Pas- chall, nee Southworth, but she died in 1888 and in 1891 our subject married Miss Mary E. Houze, of Georgia. Both Captain and Mrs. Fonty are members of the Missionary Baptist Church and for three years the Captain has been Moderator of the Baptist Association of Navarro county. He is a

demitted member of the A. F. & A. M. Politically he is a strong Democrat and has served as chairman of the Democratic executive committee.

CAPTAIN STOKES' REMINISCENCES.

The slowness of settlement is well illus- trated in the words of an old settler of Navarro county: " I came to Texas in October, 1839," says W. J. Stokes in the Texas Scrap Book, "with my mother, and in company with my uncle, Colonel Thomas I. Smith, who participated in the revolu- tion of 1836, and was at the battle of San Jacinto. We settled at Yellow Prairie, then Milam county. We had all our horses stolen in the spring of 1840 by the Indians, that portion of the country being then the frontier. In April, 1843, Wm. R. Howe, the first settler in what is now Ellis county, settled on Chambers creek, where Forest's store now is located. His nearest neigh- bors at that time, and until the following fall (when John Nealy Bryan settled at Dallas), was at the falls of the Brazos, or Bucksnort, a small village, where the citi- zens had settled close together for protec- tion against the Indians, while cultivating the Weed prairie at the falls. In October, 1844, Ethan Melton, John Welch and Win. J. Ladd settled at Dresden, fifteen miles from Chambers creek. Howe had to liaul his breadstuff from the falls of the Brazos, and so did all the settlers in this section, a distance of eighty miles from Chambers creek, until he could make a farm.

" In January, 1844, in company with Colonel Thomas I. Smith, I came to what is now Ellis county, and settled or stopped with my brother-in-law, Howe, who always

AND LEON COUNTIES.

LIMESTONE, FREESTONE

had plenty of meat. Buffalo was in abund- ance. We could step ont at any time and kill one for breakfast or dinner, according to necessity. They were always close by, and often when I would get up in the morning they would be lying within a hundred yards of the house. Many of the settlers lived upon buffalo meat from two to four months without bread of any kind, from 1844 to as late as 1846.

" At the time Ellis county was settled, and until 1846, it was Robertson county, and the county seat was old Franklin, one hundred and twenty-five miles from Cham- bers' creek. In 1846 Navarro county was organized and the county seat was tem- porarily located at W. R. Howe's house, where the courts were held in 1847. After Corsicana was located, in 1850, Ellis county was organized, and the county seat located at Waxahachie.

"During the years 1843, 1844 and 1845 until 1846, there were no settlements be- tween Chambers' creek and Bucksnort, or the falls of the Brazos, which was our nearest southern settlement, and travelers had to pack their own provisions, and camp ont one night, as it was a two days' ride. We could stop before sun-down of an eve- ning and cook our supper, then put out the fire and go three or four miles and hide from the Indians. The reason we stopped before night was, the Indians could not see fire as far in daylight as in night, and by putting out the fire probably prevented any discovery of us, and by going off three or four miles in the dark they could not fol- low us, even if they had discovered us.

"In November, 1846, Captain Tom I. Smith's company of rangers, to which I

belonged, pursued some Indians, who had stolen some horses on Richland creek, near where Milford now is, to the Wichita mountains and up Red river. We were gone six weeks, returning about Christ- mas. It was very cold weather, and the Indians burnt off the prairie, which drove off all the buffalo and other game. We were therefore compelled to strike for the nearest settlement, which was Warren's trading post on Red river. Before we got there we had eaten all our provisions and were without anything for four days, with the exception of two deer-skins we had over our packs, and which we cut into strips and divided between fifty-five men. They would put them on the fire, burn the hair off and then eat them and pronounce them good. I did not eat any for this rea- son: A mule, one of two pack mules we had along with us, was led out that morn- ing to be shot, to feed the men upon; and although he was thin and had a sore back, some of the men were so hungry they were determined to slay and eat lim. I begged for and cared for the mnle. This was on the fourth morning of our fasting, and , thank God! by twelve o'clock that night we got some bread and beef from Warren's trading post.

" We lost one of our men, Buck Sutton, the day before the mule was to have been killed. Sutton was only about seventeen years old. He died on the Wichita river and was buried at night. We dug a grave with hatchets and butcher-knives. We built a brush fire over it, and next morning the company was formed in double file and

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HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

marched over it to put out all traces, so as to prevent the Indians from finding and digging him up.

" By a treaty between the whites and the Indians in 1844, the Indians agreed to sur- render the prisoners they had, and in De- cember, 1845, I was sent as one of a de- tachment of soldiers belonging to Thomas I. Smith's company, then stationed at Grape Vine Springs (now in Tarrant county) near the head of the Clear fork of Trinity river, after John McLennan, for whom McLennan county is named, a young man about twenty years of age, who had been captured by the Indians at Parker's Fort (?) in Limestone county, in 1839-[on Pond creek, much further down, and in Milam, not connected with the Parker af- fair at all]. He was so thoroughly Indian- ized that he refused to come in with us, and we had to tie him, much to the dis- pleasure of the young warriors, who strung their bows as an intimation that we should not force him off. The night after we started with him it snowed. We put a shirt on him (a hickory shirt), but after a little he complained that it scratched his arms. We gave him pants, but he cut off the waist and wore them as leggings. He refused to have his hair cut, but persisted in wearing a long cue of buffalo hair plaited into his own."

The writer goes on to tell of G. M. Hogan's account of the old Robertson colony boundary, "that all the lands north of the San Antonio road, em bracing the dis- trict of country to a point three miles nortlı of the present village of Mexia. on the Houston & Texas Central railroad, were originally Robertson colony [this

will receive proper notice in the Lime- stone sketches], an extent of land procured by Sterling C. Robertson from Mexico. The northern boundary of this colony was undetermined until long after it had been cut up into counties, when, by order of the district court of Navarro county, in 1854, it was declared to be that por- tion beginning at a point fifteen leagues north of the town of Nacogdoches, thence due west, crossing the Houston & Texas Central railroad about three miles north of Mexia, and continuing the same course to the Brazos river.

"The first county created in Robertson colony, under the Republic, was the county of the same name, so called in honor of Mr. Robertson, as has been stated, and em- braced all the lands north of the San An- tonio road, between the Brazos and Trinity rivers, up to the dividing line between the Indian Territory and Texas. From this county, from the years 1846 and 1850, inclusive, were cut off Limestone, Navarro, Leon, Freestone, and that portion of Mc- Lennan lying east of the Brazos [and Falls too]. Navarro was the largest of these counties, originally comprising a part of what is now known as Freestone, Hill, Johnson, Tarrant and Ellis counties, which were all created at the same session of the legislature in 1849.

"Colonel George M. Hogan, with his brother, William Hogan, settled near Chat- field, in Navarro county, in 1846. The former tells some amusing stories regard- ing their manner of living at that time. He and his brother brought their wives to this -- then wilderness-country. Both la- dies had been nurtured in the lap of luxury

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LIMESTONE, FREESTONE AND LEON COUNTIES.

in city homes, the one in Lexington, Ken- tucky, and the other in Washington city. Think of it, ye delicate exotics, blooming amid velvets and soft carpets, under the brilliant gas-light, and see if you know the first principle in the word 'heroism.' Their first dwellings were in rail pens, about seven feet high, three sides only closed, the open end fronting south, the cracks chinked with prairie grass; dirt floors, and the inside hung with sheets and wagon covers. Their, breadstuff consisted of corn meal, to procure which they had to travel from seventy-five to one hundred miles. This latter state of things, how- ever, was soon relieved by a Mr. Overton, who built a horse-power mill west of the Trinity, opposite the present site of Dallas. He soon began making flonr and peddling it over the country, which was a great re- lief to people in this section.

"Indian depredations have never oc- curred here since the organization of Na- varro county. Steps were taken at an early day to protect the inhabitants from the savages. In the fall of 1845 three com- panies were organized by Colonel Thomas I. Smith, for the purpose of placing the people on the defense. Captain J. C. Connor, Captain Fitzhue, and Colonel T. I. Smith commanded the three companies. Captain Ross controlled another company at Waco, constituting a fourth, on what was then known as the frontier. These four companies offered ample protection from 1846 to 1850 for the entire northwestern frontier. Nothing in the way of depreda- tions was ever committed during that time, that is, neither men killed nor women and children taken into captivity. There was

some stealing done along the border, but this was controlled to a great extent. After the disbanding of these companies, about the winter 1852-'53, the Indians ventured in along the border with vengeful purpose, the mnost enormous of which was a raid in the vicinity of the present town of Gaines- ville, in Cooke county."

The Mercer colony's immigration was so very slow that it forfeited its contract, and had to have a special law passed to give it another chance. In 1850 it took a new lease of life, and they came in rap- idly for awhile.

€

ITEMS FROM COL. WM. CROFT.

"In 1850," he writes, "Corsicana was a flourishing little place, with probably not more than 300 inhabitants, most of whom came, like other settlers throughout the country at the time, for the purpose of getting 640 acres as heads of families, or 320 acres of land as single men over the age of seventeen years, as colonists of Mercer colony. An act for the relief of Mercer colonists was passed by the legis- lature February 2, 1850, and a commis- sioner authorized to be appointed by the governor to issne the certificates. Colonel John M. Crockett, a distant relative of the Jamented David Crockett, was appointed commissioner and opened his office in Mckinney's hotel in the spring of 1850 to issue certificates. For a while he did a land-office business, and his land certifi- cates sold like hot cakes for a year or two at $30 for 640s and $15 for 320s. Amnsing incidents happened sometimes before the commissioner.

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HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

"An old gentleman on one occasion pre- sented himself for a certificate, when the commissioner asked, ‹What is your name?' 'Wantland,' was the answer. 'Yes, I know you want land, but what is your name?' 'Wantland.' The questions and answers were repeated two or three times until the commissioner was satisfied as to the name and qualifications of the applicant, when his application was granted.

"One of the questions propounded was, ' Have you done and performed the duties of a good citizen since you have been in the colony?' One fellow wanted to know what were the duties of a good citizen. The commissioner said, 'Living peaceably, obeying the laws, paying taxes, etc.' ' Well, now,' said the applicant, 'suppose I have done nearly all that, and suppose once or twice my corn gave out and I went to my neighbor's crib and helped myself without his knowledge or consent, intend- · ing to pay it back some other time: what then?' 'Well, in that case I suppose I would have to give you the land anyhow.' 'Well, let me have it, and you can put me down as an average citizen.' The average citizen walked off with his scrip, and in less than half an hour was 'as happy as a big sunflower.'"

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Author: Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 954

Author:
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 954