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 14

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 14
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 14
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 14
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 14
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 14
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 14

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).

the air put in motion by the men. But whilst it could be and was done, yet amid snch a scene the men would tremble, for it seemed that not only the fire but all na- ture joined in the carnival of destruction."

This same veteran frontier missionary tells of some notable years for weather changes and plagues of considerable interest. " On December 8, 1848," he continues, " a heavy rain, accompanied with lightning and thunder, came on just before day. Soon after daylight it began to turn cold, and then to freeze and sleet, which contin - ued at a lively rate until evening; then began to snow until the ground was cor- ered to the depth of some four or five inches, with ice and snow, which remained on the ground about ten days or two weeks. It was so cold that it not only froze the branches and creeks, but the rivers. The Brazos river was frozen over and persons crossed it on the ice below Waco. Red river was also frozen over to such a degree that the ferryboat was stopped for about a week and people crossed on the ice.

"In the fall of 1853, in September, grasshoppers, grasshoppers, grasshoppers! around, above, below, grasshoppers every- where, and as to numbers no estimate could be made; they were simply without apparent number. The appearance of their approach was that of a dark cloud of a reddish tinge, in the northwest, which arose gradually as though they were real clouds. By the time the cloud reached apparently the fourth of the distance to the zenith, a low, heavy sound was heard, which increased as they approached, until it sounded like a heavy wind. Now and then a hopper would fall like single drops of

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rain from a passing low cloud, increasing in numbers until they amounted to a sprinkle, and still increasing till like a heavy rain they poured down, covering the earthi a couple of inches deep in some places, and crawling and hopping and squirming like a mass of mammoth brown skippers. They pounced upon all vegeta- tion, whilst the air as far as the eye could penetrate was filled with them, and so thick that they cast a dark-reddish shade on the earth. The sun looked as though it was enveloped in a dense smoke, and gave a feeble reddish light. The earth, which was covered with a heavy coat of vegeta- tion green and growing, after the arrival of the hoppers about the third day, looked as though a fire had swept over it: not a spear of anything green was to be seen. The invading host infested every house, cutting clothing and even devouring grains of wheat and corn. We had to wait until they passed before we could sow wheat, the voracious marauders preventing all farm- ing operations. They were of a dark brown or black color, and having a very strong, peculiar odor. Hogs and fowls got fat on them; but the fowls, partaking of the same odor, could not be eaten. The hogs were not tested at the time, and by ' hog- killing,' later on, the odor had disappeared, if they had had it at all. The bulk of the hoppers left in about two weeks, but vast numbers remained and died, or were de- voured by the fowls and hogs. They de- posited eggs in the ground, which hatched ont the following spring, and the young ones destroyed much of our vegetation as well as injured some wheat. In the falls of 1857 and 1858, again, the grass-

hoppers made their appearance, but they were not nearly so numerous as in 1853. In the fall of 1873 they came once more, almost as numerous as in 1853, and the young ones next spring destroyed the gardens; and as it was a drier season and consequently produced less vegetation, the hoppers were more troublesome about the houses, cutting clothing and eating dried grain. We have not been much troubled since.

"The year 1859 was fearfully hot, and in summer winds having the characteristics of regular siroccos prevailed. It was so hot that numbers of buildings in town and county were burned to the ground. The burning was charged to the negroes, as at that particular time, not long before the war broke out between the Northern and Southern States, abolitionism was rife in Texas, stirred up, doubtless, by scalawags for the sake of gain, the emissaries of the North making the negroes believe that they would be set free and the places of their masters given to them. This was supposed to be the state of affairs, and, al- though the negroes were ignorant and easily deluded, yet, be it said to their credit, they were peaceable and attended to their work as a general rule. Whilst this was the case, the mass of the people thought otherwise, and they 'went crazy' on the subject, to use an exaggerated expression. A number of negroes, as well as some whites, were roughly dealt with. It was thought that the fires were the work of in- cendiaries, as in most instances no cause could be traced whereby the buildings could have taken fire from accidental causes ; but finally matches in old Uncle Billy

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Oldham's store in Waxahachie took fire whilst lying on a shelf, right under the sight of the clerks and proprietor, in broad daylight. The cat was out of the bag; the explanation of all the mysterious and alarm- ing conflagrations was plain-spontaneous ignition. To test the inatter, and that all might see the cause for themselves, matches were placed on the sidewalks, and in other situations, which, in a short time, burst into flames. In fact, as soon as the matches, in many instances, touched the heated pave- ment they ignited.

"In 1859-'60-'61 there was almost no rain for three years, and still good crops, especially wheat, rye, oats, barley, etc .; corn, moderate, but very little of it was planted. Wheat made from twenty to forty bushels per acre, and the heaviest wheat I ever saw, weighing from sixty- eight to seventy-two pounds to the meas- ured bushel. The question naturally arises, How could such a crop be produced with almost no rainfall? We had what was known as a sea or gulf fog, which came up nearly every morning about daylight or shortly after, and continued until about eight o'clock. All vegetation would be wet with it. These fogs have very nearly disappeared. From the tinie I came to Texas, in 1846 up to the '60s, they oc- curred almost every morning; but they have become fewer and fewer, until now, 1891, they scarcely ever appear. As to the cause of the cessation I have thought considerably, but have not yet been able to solve the problem. I never saw one of these fogs beyond the Red river, and have been on this side amid a heavy one, whilst across the river there was no sign of a fog.

They originated in the gulf, but just why they came then and not now is one of those inscrutable mysteries which seem beyond our ken. A further evidence of some great, change in our meteorological conditions is the presence of those pestif- erous little gnats, which very seldom an- noyed one at work out doors. For instance, in 'chopping' cotton, as it is termed, in those former days it was rare that any one was annoyed; but now the little insects are so numerous and persistent that one at work in the field is often compelled to wear a veil over his face. Even in travel- ing it was rarely the case that one was annoyed; the wind blowing the gnats off; but now they are extremely bad at times. The beautiful phenomena of the mirage accompanied these gulf fogs; that is, they preceded the fog. Pictures suspended in the low clouds, consisting of landscapes, hill and dale, groves, farms, houses and farms, appeared, and it would last for some time. They were similar in principle to the mirages seen on the desert and in the Arctic regions, and were formerly thought to be optical illusions superinduced by the wants of the traveler, as in passing over a desert when water was needed. These would see beautiful streams, and those in the Arctic regions see boats of rescue: but investigation has shown that these images of the mirage are the reflec- tion in the clouds, under peculiar circum- stances, of real objects."

THE COUNTY ORGANIZED.

As has been seen this territory, in the time of the surveys of 1838, was a part of the vast old county of Robertson, created

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in that year. The Mercer settlements of the early '40s were sufficiently rapid to bring a large area up here into the great county-making schemes of the banner year in that respect-1846. It took far more than the present territory, however, to secure the requisite number of votes for a new county.

Says an old settler, writing in the Prai- rie Blade of October 14, 1854: " Navarro was created by the first session of the leg- islature in 1846, and was organized during the same year; and at that time it con- tained all of that territory now composing the present counties of Navarro, Ellis, Tar- rant, Hill, Johnson, and part of McLennan. At the first election for county officers in all this territory there were polled ninety-six votes. Since that time Navarro has been reduced and now contains 600 voters."

"In April, 1846," says Colonel Croft in an old number of the Observer, "the leg- islature ent off from Robertson county a large portion of territory, and called it Navarro county. It was then a wilder- ness, and such a large scope of country was necessary in order to embrace enough population to organize a county. But so great was the influx of population that in December, 1849, it was found necessary to lop off a considerable portion of this terri- tory into Ellis and Tarrant counties. Sub- sequently other counties were made, and Navarro was thus soon reduced to her proper limits. During all this time the Indians and buffaloes were familiar ac- quaintances to the early settler."

The correct date of creation by the leg- islature was July 13, 1846, the day that Leon, Henderson, Anderson, and others

were formed. The county seat was only temporarily located at that time, however, at the home of William Howe, in the part that afterward became Ellis county. One court was held in a grove near Forrest's store on Chambers creek, where the county judge was General Tarrant; the county clerk, R. W. White, who "carried the records in his hat," as he afterward said; and the sheriff was. Allen Johnson. It was finally determined to place the perma- nent county seat at the point where Rev. Hampton Mckinney had his "tavern."

"The county seat," says Mrs. C. M. Winkler, "was surveyed and laid off by David K. Mitchell, Thomas I. Smith and C. M. Winkler in 1847. When the lat- ter, a young lawyer who had received his license under the Republic of Texas, came that year to make his home in the new county, he found only one family living in the present city, and with them he found a place to board, becoming the second male inhabitant of the place.

" Rev. Hampton Mckinney came from Illinois, and stopping first near Dresden came to what is now Corsicana, with a family of wife and seven children, three boys and four girls, leaving one married daughter in Illinois, who afterward became a widow and brought her children to make their home also among her kindred. From these girls are descended the Beatons, Jes- ters and Millers.

" Upon their arrival they found two cabins, one upon what is now the public square, and the other some distance.

"This sturdy Methodist pioneer moved into one cabin, purchased the other, joined the two, and, building another, proceeded

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to open a house of entertainment for strangers, which, after other additions, was known for years as the ' Mckinney Tavern,' where both man and beast could find comfortable quarters, a well prepared table and courteous attention. This host, who was a local preacher, and his estim- able wife (called for years ' Mother Mc- Kinney'), were soon known not to tolerate rough characters, never had a bar-room at- tached to their house, and quietly but firmly intimated to all their boarders that as long as they were their guests they must preserve the manners of gentlemen. This worthy couple directed public sentiment, steadily continued their business, which became quite profitable, rearing their large family in a new place in a careful manner, eminently respectable, the mnost prosper- ous descendants among the best citizens in the country.

"The temporary seat of justice was on Chambers creek, at the residence of Will- iam K. Howe, now a portion of Ellis county.

" In 1848, after annexation had been effected, Clinton M. Winkler was chosen as the representative from the new county to the State legislature. He prepared a bill providing for the permanent location of the seat of justice; and, calling on Colo- nel Navarro in the Senate, told him, as the county was named for him, he would offer him the naming of the county seat.

" This was considered quite a compli- ment by the brave colonel, who, after de- liberating several days, handed him the name ' Corsicana,' stating through his interpreter, he not being familiar with the English or young Winkler the Spanish

language, that his (Colonel Navarro's) fam- ily came from the island of Corsica, Napo- leon's birthplace, and the name Navarro and Corsicana, when taken together, signi- fies Navarro the Corsican."

Sidney J. Crossland has translated from the Spanish the following interesting ac- count of this Texan patriot, who himself could talk only in the Spanish tongue:

A great Spanish galleon lay rocking on the wharf of a seaport on the island of Corsica nearly a century ago. The moon had just arisen as two small ragged boys came up to where the vessel lay chained to a bier. The great ship was loaded down to the water-line, and at dawn it would sail out on the green Mediterranean, under the rocky cape at Gibraltar, and on across the blue Atlantic until it reached the haven at Vera Cruz, Mexico. For an hour the two boys stood with clasped hands, talking in whispers.

"Good by, Antonio," repeated one as the other turned and entered the ship. Returning his farewell, Antonio climbed upon the deck and disappeared down the gangway.

The next morning, when Antonio's little friend came down to the wharf, the big ship looked like a speck on the western horizon, and finally disappeared as if swallowed up by the sea. Antonio was now at work, in the menial duties of a cabin boy; and well he discharged the duties, without a murmur. Twice, when shipwreck was imminent, Antonio, the cabin boy, showed the courage and pres- ence of mind of a man. For this, he won the captain's respect, and when his time came to leave the ship, at Vera Cruz, that

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officer kindly gave him a recommendation which secured honorable and profitable employment. * * *

Twelve years later, a battalion of dusty, sun-browned soldiers broke into a ringing cheer as they reached the mighty Rio Grande. The great river and the green banks of Texas on the other side were in- deed a relief to the men who had marched for weeks over the hot alkaline plains of northern Mexico. At sunset every man had crossed to the Texas side and chatting gaily were eating the evening meal or bathing in the river. The commander of the little army sat in front of his tent reading. anon pausing to receive a report or deliver an order. As he raised his mild but flashing black eyes, an observer could have seen in the bronzed, resolute features, something to remind him of Antonio, the cabin boy. It was indeed he. The stalwart soldier in a colonel's uniform was Antonio, the cabin boy, who had worked his passage to Vera Cruz, so many years ago. His in- flexible honesty and unfaltering devotion to duty had advanced him step by step, until he now held a responsible commis- sion from the Republic of Mexico, to con- conduct an army into Texas as the defence of its settlers against the hostile Indians.

But on reaching San Antonio, our cabin-boy soldier soon found that the real object in sending these troops to Texas was to enslave the people. One after an- other of the presidents of Mexico con- spired for absolute power, and the liberty- loving Americans of Texas were especial objects of their hatred. At last, for refusal to carry out their tyrannical designs, our friend Antonio was removed from com-

mand, and watched with jealous suspicion.

At last when the Texans determined to endure this oppression no longer they rose in their might and Colonel Antonio was with them. Gonzales, Goliad and finally San Antonio yielded to the Texans and our friend's house in the latter place was the scene of a bloody conflict. * * *

On the 2d of March, 1835, a body of determined patriots met at San Felipe de Austin and a paper passed from hand to land declaring Texas a sovereign and independent nation.

Men in the prime of manhood and others gray and scarred with the battles of many wars fixed their names on this im- mortal document. Our friend Antonio wrote his name with the same determina- tion that had characterized his life. The die was cast, and the decision lay with the God of human destinies to say whether or not Texas should be free. And if God did require the sacrifice and holocaust at the Alamo and the butchery of patriots at Goliad, he heard their blood cry out front the ground, and at San Jacinto the hosts of Santa Ana fell before Houston's fire like ripe grain before the reaper.

When the first congress of the new- born republic met, honor had been main- tained, the martyrs avenged, the liberty achieved. Among the representatives was a tali, dark foreigner whom everybody honored. His once black hair was white as driven snow, and the lines of care were deeply furrowed around the still smiling eyes, as le greeted his fellow-citizens of the nation his sword had help to build. It was our cabin-boy, J. ANTONIO NAVARRO,

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the Corsican soldier, patriot and statesman, to whom Texas owes lionor second to none but the great Houston.

Much as the people of Texas have hon- ored Navarro, no monument of marble or granite tells of his deeds: his memory de- pends upon no perishable shaft of stone, but a memorial tribute enduring as time itself tells how he is remembered. One of the fairest and richest counties in the State is honored with the name, and its capital reminds us of his native island. Even his fellow countryman, the great Napoleon himself, has no suchi imperish- able monuments as Navarro, the Corsican.

EARLY RECORDS.

On account of the fire of 1855 the earli- est records of the county court are not in existence; the earliest that were preserved are a few sheets of sessions held for record- ing stock brands. This reads as follows, and must have been the first of its kind: 1846.

"State of Texas, County of Navarro. S

"At a county court held on the 17th day of Angust, 1846, it is ordered by the court that the following marks and brands be recorded." Here follow those of Henry Cook; at the October term those of John R. Lunsford; these were all in 1846. In 1847 were recorded those of Nancy S. Howard, Shepherd Bailey, W. J. Stokes, B. P. Hammett, W. B. M. P. H. Nicholson, with plenty of initials; Rhoda J. Howe, Moses M. Hughes, Jacob Hartzell, W. W. Fullerton, Jefferson Mckinney, Henry Warren, S. K. Lee, Hiram Estes, W. C. Crabtree, Ethan Melton, Thomas Jordan,

Jos. Bartlett, N. T. Byars, John Stubble- field, Daniel Fuller, Daniel Boils, Warren Sidwell, John Bailey, William Green, Marialı McCoy, Susan Cox, Wm. Tanker- sly, S. B. Jackson, and two others wliose names cannot be gained from the mutilation of the records. In 1848, however, these were William Richey, Bradford Ellis, Wmn. Hamilton, J. A. and M. E. Johnson, E. H. Tarrant, J. L. McKinney, Grisson Lee, G. W. Hill, Henry Garlick, Lathan Gar- lick (Jr. and Sr.), Charles Garlick, Susan L. Anderson, James C. Reagan, William Smith, E. S. Wyman, Martha Wyman, Wm. Hawkins, Jas. W. Lane, Henry Her- ril, John J. Mccollum, Nicholas Berkley, Sr., F. S. Williams, B. L. Ham, Clayton C. Harris, Allen Williams, Jesse C. Bol- ing, Thos. R. Dunaghee, and one other. As many of these lived in the Ellis dis- triet of the county, the names given for 1849 and 1850 will be a better index of the residents of the present bounds of the county. In 1849 were Thos. J. Timnery's record of stock brands, those of F. R. Ken- dall, Jacob Elliott, John A. Harlan, John P. McCauley, Newel C. Hodges, Jackson Griffin, William H. Beeman, Joshua On- stott, William F. Henderson, William Roberts, William Bright, David Onstott, Augustus Barry, John H. Bean, John J. Hammonds, John T. Barnaby, William S. Powell, Britton Dawson, Dred Dawson, Amanda Hutson, C. Carter, Sarah Brown, Jolın C. Jeffers, James Gordon, Martha C. Hughes, J. J. Wright. In 1850 the names preserved are Martin Caddell, James T. Caddell, Thomas and William Herron, Sarah Mayfield, Martha Pene- house. Marshall Wantland, I. D. Bright,

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William Sperlin, Joshua S. Hanley, Ame- lia H. Fisher, Elijah Anderson, W. W. Taylor, Joab Richardson, John Hilburn, William Cook, D. W. Campbell, D. R. Mitchell, William Howard, William Ward, Benjamin Roberts, Robert Brown, David Johnson, John Richardson, D. D. Ander- son, Ann W. and Eleanor Missouri, Zach. White, J. N. Duncan, W. Parmer, Thomas Stevenson, J. C. Jones, Mary Forsyth, D. White, Mason White, Aaron Kitchel, T. K. Miller, M. Anulty, Abner Simmons, and F. and N. Owens.

The first full record of the county court, however, is the following: "At a county court being held at the court-house in Corsicana, according to law, on the 21st day of August, 1848, present and pre- siding the Hon. S. C. Cross, Chief Justice for said county ; Jacob Hartzell and Archi- bald Sloan, commissioners and associates; J. A. Johnson, sheriff, and R. N. White, clerk of the county court. Court was called by the sheriff." The record has reference to the road overseeing of Eleazer Nash on the Springfield road, and other road business and routine settlements or arrangements for them.

David R. Mitchell, who had charge of the land, had donated the site for the county seat, which was laid out about the public square. The first courthouse was not built on the square, but on block 13, now owned by Mr. Kerr. Here was built a log one- roomed house on the corner of First avenue and Twelfth street, at a cost of about $150. Courts were held here until about 1853. Meanwhile the county had been cut down to the following limits, in 1850:

"Beginning on the west bank of Trinity river, at a point one mile north of Robert H. Porter's house, thence on a straight line to Chambers' creek, at a point opposite the mouth of Mill creek; thence south 60° west to a point thirty-four miles from the place of beginning; thience southi 30° east with the line of Hill county to a point north 30° west, thirty-eight and a half miles, and north 60° east from the east corner of Falls county; thence in a direct line with the line of Limestone county to the northwest corner of Freestone county; thence with the line of Freestone county north 60° east to the Trinity river; thence up the channel of the same to the begin- ning."

In 1853 a frame two-story courthouse was erected on the square itself, at a cost of about $4,000, by T. J. Haynes, who after- ward became county judge. This was the building that was burned in 1855. The present beautiful structure was erected in 1880-'81, by a direct tax of $56,000, after plans made by Architect Rufini, of Austin. Up to about 1890 the county fathers had never indulged in bonds, but at that date there was issued $4,500 in that form to build fire-proof vaults. The county has given equal attention to her jails, and in August, 1892, issued $30,000 in bonds to erect a fine structure of that kind, which is now nearly complete. In 1883 a county farm was purchased, at a cost of $4,000, a property that is now valued at $25,000. It contains 1,000 acres, with 450 in cultiva- tion, a work done almost entirely by the county convicts.

Attention was early given to good roads through the county, the first work being

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on the roads to Dresden, to Porter's Bluff, to Waco, and in a few other directions. The first bridge was a toll one on Chambers creek, while Richland had to be satisfied with a far less pretentious one of poles. The best work in bridges did not begin un- til about 1883, when four iron ones were put on Chambers, Rush and Richland, and a good system of wooden ones provided in other parts of the county. About 1889 the attention was turned to the roads them- selves, and road machinery procured at a total cost of about $33,000.

Navarro's scrip is good anywhere at par; she has never issued but $42,500 in bonds, -those for the purposes before mentioned, including $9,000 for the wooden bridges. This is her full bonded debt now, but she holds her own bonds in her school fund. Her annual receipts and expenditures reach about $52,000, not including about $34,000 for school purposes.

Of course such a financial condition in- dicates a good growth in the wealth of the county; this is well shown in the succes- sive decades of valuation ; in the year 1870, before it had fairly recovered from the ef- fects of the war, the valuation was $1,885,- 765; in 1881 it was $5,436,393, and in 1892 it scores almost double, even with the railway shops removed, or the sum of $9,570,341, of which $2,705,000 belongs to Corsicana.

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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