USA > Texas > A pictorial history of Texas, from the earliest visits of European adventurers, to A.D. 1879. Embracing the periods of missions, colonization, the revolution the republic, and the state; also, a topographical description of the country together with its Indian tribes and their wars, and biographical sketches of hundreds of its leading historical characters. Also, a list of the countries, with historical and topical notes, and descriptions of the public institutions of the state > Part 50
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64. HENDERSON .- Created from Houston and Nacogdoches in 1850; named for J. Pinckney Henderson; Athens is the county seat. It is bounded north by Kaufman and Vanzandt, east by Smith, south by Ander- son and west by Navarro. It is an agricultural county, with an abundance of good water, timber and soil. Population in 1870, 6,786 ; assessed value of property in 1876, $960,000. The first settlement made in this county was in 1846 ; T. Ball and S. J. Scott settled on Walnut creek; Mr. Godard settled Buffalo, a town on the Trinity ; Chas. Sanders settled near Buffalo ; H. and J. A. Mitcham settled Wildcat creek, in the south-west corner of the county ; Dr. Adams and Wm. Hytower settled in the east end ; Judge Rob- erts presided over the first court ever held here, which was under the shade of an oak tree, near the centre of the county, which tree is still preserved. Mr. J. A. Mitcham, who gives us these statements, also adds, that on the bluff on Cedar creek, in the west end of the county, a number of human bones have been found, together with some guns, etc. ; this discovery was made in 1851. The surface is rolling and well timbered with pine, oak, etc; the soil upon the uplands is a light sandy loam, producing cotton and
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corn abundantly, during favorable seasons. Springs of pure water are found in all sections, and well-water is generally good and cool.
65. HIDALGO .- Named for Guadalupe Hidalgo, a leader of the Revolu- tion in Mexico. Edinburg, on the Rio Grande, is the county seat. Bound- ed north by Nueces, east by Cameron, south by Mexico, and west by Starr. It is a very large county, having an area of 3,200 square miles ; was created from Cameron in 1852. In the southern part of the county, on the river, the land is good ; the northern part is sandy. It is a stock-raising county. Population in 1870, 2,387; assessed value of property in 1876, $300,705. The county has a wonderful salt lake, (Sal del Rey). The lake is about one mile in diameter, in a flat surrounded by higher land. It is supposed to rest on a salt mine, as the water is very strongly impregnated with saline matter; and when the salt is removed it immediately fills up again with salt by precipitation ; so the supply is inexhaustible. It is situated forty miles north of Edinburg and eighty-five from Brownsville. During the civil war it furnished salt for a large portion of Southern Texas.
66. HILL .- Created from Navarro and Ellis in 1853; named for George W . Hill; Hillsborough is the county-seat. Bounded north by Johnson, east by Ellis and Navarro, south by Limestone and M'Lennan, and west by Bosque. Fort Graham, on the Brazos river, was settled by Mr. Kimble in 1834. It is a prairie county, well adapted to agriculture or stock-raising. It is watered by the Brazos river and Noland and Aguilla creeks. Population in 1870, 7,453; assessed value of property in 1876, $1,764,648.
67. HOOD .- Created from Johnson in 1866; named for John B. Hood. Granbury, named for General Granbury, is the county-seat. Bounded north by Parker, east by Johnson, south by Somervell, and west by Erath and Palo Pinto. It is small, having but 450 square miles. The county has a fair supply of timber and the land is rich and productive. Population in 1870, 2,585; assessed value of property in 1876, $689,523. Granbury is thirty-five miles from Fort Worth, the present terminus of the Texas Pa- cific Railroad. The county is situated on both sides of and embracing in its boundaries, nearly two hundred miles of that crooked stream, the Brazos river, into which Long, Rucker's, Walnut Fall, and George's creeks in the east, and Paloxy, Squaw, Stroud's, and Robinson's in the west, all supplied by springs and clear as crystal, empty. This county presents the combined advantages of abundant pure spring and well water; plenty of convenient- ly located timber ; numerous fertile valleys, elevated rich post-oak table land, mingled prairie and timber lands, profusion of superior building- stone, while its location between the 32d and 33d degrees, and its romantic, picturesque, and, to a considerable extent, broken and rugged surface, ren- ders its climate mild, equable, and salubrious. No malarious swamps, hog wallow prairies, or miasmatic ponds of stagnant water exist to sow disease and death. Near the centre rise the huge outlines of Comanche Peak, towering some 600 feet above the Brazos, a noted land-mark, and visible from nearly all parts of the county. The eastern and western edges of the
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county consist of prairies, bisected every few miles by beautiful, limpid running creeks, fringed with timber, and through the center runs the Bra- zos river, with its belt of timber from five to ten miles wide, and dotted here and there with many large, thrifty, and productive valley farms. The Brazos and its numerous tributaries furnish abundant water-power, and hundreds of fine manufacturing sites can be found at its countless falls, and in the numerous bends of the river.
68. HOPKINS .- Created in 1846, from Lamar and Nacogdoches; named for a pioneer family. Sulphur Springs is the county seat. It is bounded on the north by Delta, east by Franklin, south by Wood and Rains, and west by Hunt. It is a rich agricultural county, well watered, and with an abundant supply of timber. Population in 1870, 12,651; assessed value of property in 1876, $1,855,581.
69. HOUSTON .- Created from Nacogdoches in 1837 ; named for Sam Hous- ton. Crockett is the county-seat. It is bounded north by Anderson, north- east by Cherokee, south-east by Trinity, and west by Madison and Leon. One of the old routes of travel, one hundred and fifty years ago, passed through this county, and it is probable that the old mission La Trinidad, one of the first projected in Texas, was at the river, near the present town of Alabama. Relics have been picked up there; among others a bell bear- ing date 1690. The county possesses an abundance of timber; has good land, and is well watered. Crockett is on the International Railway, one hundred and fifteen miles north of Houston. Population of county in 1870, 8,197 ; assessed value of property in 1876, $1,764,648.
70. HUNT .- Created in 1846 from Fannin and Nacogdoches; named for Memucan Hunt. Greenville is the county-seat; named for T. J. Green, (Mier prisoner). Bounded north by Fannin, east by Delta and Hopkins, south by Rains, Van Zandt and Kaufman, and west by Rockwall and Col- lin. This is a fine agricultural and stock-raising county, about equally divided between timber and prairie. From Greenville it is thirty -five miles to M'Kinney, on the Texas Central Railroad; thirty miles to Terrell, on the Texas Pacific, and thirty-three miles to Bonham, on the Trans-conti- nental Railroad. Population in 1870, 10,241; assessed value of property in 1876, $1,852,681. It is abundantly watered by numerous creeks and branches, which form the head waters of Sabine river; springs are fre- quent; the surface is rolling, and in some sections, quite hilly, and very well supplied with post-oak, elm, ash, bois d'arc, etc. The soil is black and rich, both on bottom and prairie, producing wheat, corn, cotton, potatoes, etc.
71. JACK .- Created from Cooke in 1856; named for William H. and P. C. Jack. Jacksborough is the county seat. It is bounded north by Clay and Montague, east by Wise, south by Parker and Palo Pinto, and west by Young and Archer. The country is undulating, with prairie and timber lands; is suitable for small farmers and stock raisers; is watered by the
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Trinity river and a number of creeks. Population, in 1870, 694; assessed value of property, in 1876, $403,509. Jacksborough is 2,000 feet above the level of the sea.
72. JACKSON .- Named for Andrew Jackson. Texana, at the head of navigation on the Navidad river, is the county seat. It is bounded north by Lavaca, east by Wharton and Matagorda, south by Calhoun and west by Victoria. It was at Dimitt's Point, in this county, that La Salle built Fort St. Louis in 1686. The county was settled by Austin's colonists in 1827-28. In 1833, the Ayuntaimento of Brazoria created the precinct of Santa Anna, afterwards changed to Texana. In 1836, Patrick Usher was Chief Justice. The first Declaration of Texas Independence was made at a public meeting on the Navadad river, July 10th, 1835, of which James Kerr was Chairman and Samuel Rogers, Secretary. Jackson is one of the coast counties; it is well adapted to the raising of cotton and sugar; and has a fine range for stock. Population, in 1870, 2,278; assessed value of property, in 1876, $670,512.
73. JASPER .- Named for Sergeant Jasper, of the American Revolution. It is bounded north by Angelina, San Augustine and Sabine, east by Newton, south by Orange, and west by Hardin and Tyler. Jasper is the county seat. This is one of the heavily-timbered counties of Southeastern Texas, and has water communication via Neches river, with Sabine Pass, and is accessible to the Houston and New Orleans Railroad. The first settlement in the county was known as Bevilport, from John Bevil. In 1830, Antonio Padilla, the Land Commissioner, organized the precinct, in connection with the Municipality of Nacogdoches, and laid out a town on the Neches, to which the name of Teran was given. Teran had four leagues of land and a small garrison of Mexican soldiers under Colonel Bean. December 1st, 1835, the Executive Council changed the name from Bevilport to Jasper. Population in 1870, 4,218; assessed value of property in 1876, 393,194. George W. Smyth furnished the following interesting historical sketch of old Jasper, and some of the neighboring counties:
" When my acqaintance first commenced with the region of country now embraced in Jasper county, which was in 1830, in consisted of a settlement of about thirty families, scattered from the Sabine to the Neches, and known as 'Bevil's Settlement,' from John Bevil, Esq., the ' oldest inhabitant.' Bevil's Settlement, was, at that time, separated from the settlement above, known as the ' Ayish Bayou Settlement' (now the counties of San Augus- tine and Sabine) by a wilderness of forty miles, and from that below, as ' Cow Bayou Settlement,' by an uninhabited region of seventy miles. This county was included in the colony granted in 1829, to Lorenzo de Zavalla, by the State of Coahuila and Texas, with the consent of the general government of Mexico. In 1830, it was organized into a precinct of the Munic- ipality of Nacogdoches, with a ' Commissario of Police,' by Juan Antonio Padillo as Commsssioner. In 1834, it was created into a separate munici- pality by the name of the 'Municipality of Bevil,' and the town of Jasper, as the seat of the municipality, located under the authority of George
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Antonio Nixon, Commissioner of Zavalla's colony. At the first organiza- tion of counties after the revolution, the 'Precinct of Bevil,' as it is called in the Constitution of the Republic, became one of them, under the name of Jasper. The county of Jasper at first included both Jasper and Newton, . but was divided into two, when the counties were re-organized under the State Constitution. Among the early settlers of this county, I may mention Messrs. John Bevil, James Chesshur, Thomas Watts, John Watts, John Saul, Isaac Isaacs and Hardy Pace. All of these, I think, emigrated before 1828."
74. JEFFERSON .- Beaumont, the county seat; both named for Jefferson Beaumont, afterward Chief Justice of Calhoun county. Created by the Executive Council, in 1835, it was included in Zavalla's colony. It is bounded north by Hardin, cast by Orange and Sabine Lake, south by the Gulf of Mexico, and west by Liberty and Chambers. It is a stock-raising county, with some very rich land adapted to the cultivation of sugar, rice, etc. Beaumont is thirty-five miles, by water, from Sabine Pass. and about ninety-five from Galveston. It is on the Houston and New Orleans railroad, eighty-three miles from Houston. Population of the county, in 1870, 1,906; assessed value of property in 1876, $832,941.
75. JOHNSON .- Created from Ellis and Navarro, in 1854; named for M. T. Johnson. Cleburn, (for Pat. Cleburn) is the county seat. It is bounded north by Tarrant, east by Ellis, south by Hill and Bosque, and west by Somervell and Hood. In 1854, Captain Charles E. Bernard established a trading post in the county, around which settlements were formed. The trade of the county goes to Fort Worth and Dallas. It is a splendid county of land, producing both cotton and wheat, and all the cereals; and an abundance of fruits. Population in 1870, 4,923; assessed value of property in 1876, $2,186,402.
The Brazos river runs through the western part of this county, and Nolan's river, Chambers' and Cedar Bluff creeks head in the county. East of the Brazos the surface is rolling, and west of that river it is very hilly. There are some vegetable and animal petrifactions. In these hills Comanche Peak is the highest elevation, being two hundred feet above the surrounding country, and Caddo Peak rises like a potato hill, about one hundred and fifty feet. The former is four miles west of the Brazos, and the latter in the west edge of the Cross Timbers.
76. KARNES .- Created from Bexar and Goliad, in 1854; and is named for Henry Karnes; Helena is the county seat. It is bounded north by Wilson, east by Gonzales and De Witt, south by Goliad and Bee, and west by Live- oak and Atascosa. This is emphatically a stock county, a considerable por- tion being inclosed in large pastures. There are some small farms: and when the ground is well cultivated, it produces remunerative crops. Popu- lation in 1870, 1,705; assessed value of property in 1876, $922,556.
77. KAUFMAN .- Created from Harrison, in 1848; named for David S. Kaufman; Kaufman is the county seat. It is bounded north by Rockwell
T.& H. ST.LOUIS.
COURT HOUSE, DALLAS.
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COUNTY SKETCHES.
and Hunt, east by Van Zandt, south by Henderson and west by Ellis and Dallas. The Texas Pacific Railroad runs through it. Population in 1870, 6,895 ; assessed value of property in 1876, $2,316,676.
It is watered by the Bois d'Arc, or East Fork of the Trinity, which flows through its west side, and by numbers of creeks tributary to it; the surface is rolling, and the southeastern portion generally timbered with a variety of oak, elm, etc., while the northwest consists almost entirely of prairie, away from water courses, which are bordered by a scrubby growth of elm, and other varieties ; bois d'arc is found in large quantities, and of good sized trees, attaining a growth of a foot and a half or more in diameter; the soil of the prairies and bottoms is black and waxy generally, and a number of feet in depth, finely adapted to wheat and small grain; large crops of corn are also made during favorable seasons.
78. KENDALL .- Created from Bexar and Kerr, in 1862, and named for George W. Kendall. Boerne is the county seat. It is bounded north by Gillespie and Blanco, east by Comal, south by Bexar and Bandera, and west by Kerr. This is a hilly region, noted for its health. It is a splendid stock range, especially for sheep. There are, also, a goodly number of small farms in successful cultivation. Boerne, thirty miles nortwest of San Antonio, is 1,200 feet above the level of the sea. Population in 1870, 1,536; assessed value of property in 1876, $419,737.
Agricultural products, wheat, corn, rye, barley, oats, sorghum, sweet and Irish potatoes, good yield; climate is one of the best in the world, with health unsurpassed; soil, black loam; seasons nearly regular; timber, cypress, cedar, live-oak, post-oak, white-oak, black-jack, elm, poplar, wal- nut, hackberry, with a good variety of wild apple, plum, cherry, etc. The county is well watered, the Guadalupe and Cibolo running through the county, with their many tributaries, such as the Balcones, Frederick, Spring, Sabinas, Wasp, Block, Sister, Cypress and Curry's creeks. Pasturage ex- cellent, particularly for sheep, there being about 15,000 of the latter in the county, doing well, and all cured of the scab.
79. KERR .- Created in 1856, when there was a military post at Camp Verde; named for James Kerr; Kerrsville is the county seat. The descrip- tion for Kendall county will apply to this. Population in 1870, 1,042; assessed value of property in 1876, $334,428.
It is bounded north by Kimble and Gillespie, east by Kendall, south by Bandera, and west by Edwards.
80. KIMBLE .- Created in 1858; named for one of the victims of the Alamo massacre. It was organized in 1876; Kimbleville the county seat. It is bounded north by Menard and Mason, east by Mason and Gillespie, south by Kerr and Edwards, and west by Crockett. This is a hilly county, but has some excellent land. On the creeks there are some extensive cedar brakes. It is a superb county for stock-raising. Population in 1870, 72; assessed value of property in 1876, $57,606.
It is situated upon the head waters of the Llano river. The surface of
37
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
this county is very uneven, being a succession of narrow valleys and rocky highlands. It is drained by the Llano river, and its north and south forks -Elm, Paintrock, Viego, Mills, Bluff, Ionia, Bear, and James creeks- which flow over rocky beds, and through deep ravines, and narrow valleys. The water of these streams is clear and pure. The soil is rich, of black and chocolate color, and there is plenty of rock-generally limestone-for all building purposes in the county. There are also some good valley lands for agricultural purposes, still its best adaptation is for stock-raising, particu- larly horses, sheep and hogs. The timber consists of live-oak, post-oak, black-jack, cedar, mesquite, elm, pecan, hackberry, etc.
Fort Terrill is located on the south side of the North Llano, near the western line of the county.
81. KINNEY-Created from Bexar in 1850, and named for S. L. Kinney. Del Rio is the county seat. It is bounded north by Crockett, east by Uvalde, south by Maverick, and west by Mexico. In 1834, Messrs. Beale and Grant attempted to plant an English colony at Dolores, in this county, but the attempt failed, and the county was not occupied by an English- speaking population until quite recently. Small tracts of land are irrigated, and produce abundant crops. The county is generally hilly, but admirably adapted to stock-raising, especially sheep. Brackett (Fort Clark) is about 125 miles west of San Antonio. Population in 1870, 1,204; assessed value of property in 1876, $85,304.
82. LAMAR-Created from Red River in 1840; named for M. B. Lamar. Paris is the county seat. It is bounded north by the Indian Territory, east by Red River county, south by Delta, and west by Fannin. The lands in this county are unsurpassed for fertility. Cotton, all the cereals, and a great variety of fruits are produced in great abundance. It was settled as early as 1818, by Emory Rains, Travis G. Wright, George W. Wright, and others. Mr. Clab Chisholm settled the town of Paris in 1836. Population of county in 1870, 15,790; assessed value of property in 1876, $4,059,275. Paris is on the northern branch of the Texas Pacific Railroad, 91 miles west of Texarkana, and 65 miles east of Sherman.
83. LAMPASAS-Created in 1856; named from the river. Lampasas is the county seat. It is bounded north by Brown and Hamilton, east by Coryell, south by Burnet, and west by San Saba. It is a rich, rolling prairie county, famous for its health, and its sulphur springs near the town, which are resorted to by invalids from all parts of the State. The town is sixty-eight miles northwest of Austin. Population in 1870, 835; assessed value of property in 1876, $678,304. This county is hilly and mountainous, with the richest valleys in the world. The water being pure and healthful; the range is good; game is scarce, though there are some deer, bear, wild turkeys, ducks, &c .; fish are in great abundance, such as buffalo, cat- fish, suckers, &c .; wild honey abounds. Almost three-fifths of the county is prairie. There are large bodies of limestone, suitable for building, and immense quarries of marble of various colors, and some admitting a fine
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polish. There is one salt spring, from which salt has been profitably made at the rate of thirty-five bushels per day. We have more than a dozen sul- phur, and several chalybeate springs. More than two thousand persons annually visit what are known as the Lampasas sulphur springs, some from the remotest parts of the State. Some coal mines have been found in the county. Many are now building stone fences, though cedar fences are more . common.
84. LAVACA-Created from Gonzales and other counties in 1846; named for the river of the same name. First Petersburg, and afterward Halletts- ville (from a pioneer family of that name) became the county seat. It is bounded north by Gonzales and Fayette, east by Colorado, south by Whar- ton and Jackson, and west by DeWitt. The county has no railroad, but Shulenburg is but sixteen miles distant., on the Sunset Route, and Cuero, on the road to Indianola, but a little farther off. This is an old-settled, popu- lous and desirable county. Population in 1870, 9,168; assessed value of property in 1876, $1,937,467. Lavaca is one of the finest counties in the State. There is scarcely an acre that has not the advantage of wood and good water convenient. More than half the county is timbered uplands, covered with post-oak, black-jack, pecan; and the finest white oak and wild cherry are found on the rivers. The soil of the uplands is not what is generally termed rich. It is a light and sandy loam, and produces remarkably well, and crops rarely fail. On the bottom-lands the soil is black, alluvial, deep and very productive. The prairies are mostly hog-wallow and stiff and clayey, but very productive when once under proper cultivation. The Lavaca and Navidad rivers, Clark's creek, Big Brushy, Little Brushy, Rocky, Mustang, and Nixon's creeks are all in this county; and these, together with numerous fine springs, give, this county an abundant supply of water. There is no better pasturage than on the prairies, and the abun- dance of timber affords the vast stocks of cattle, horses and sleep an excellent shelter from the winter northers. The small grains-wheat, rye, oats, &c .- do better in this than in most of the lower connties. Tobacco yields well, and considerable is raised for market. The sorghum cane is raised successfully on every farm, and some make the syrup for market.
85. LEE-Created from Washington, Burleson, and others, in 1873; named for Robert E. Lee. Giddings is the county seat; named for J. D. Giddings. The county is about equally divided between timber and prairie ; is on the dividing ridge between the waters of the Colorado and Brazos rivers, and is watered by the head branches of the Yegua, Cummings and Rabb's creeks. It is a good stock raising and agricultural county. It is bounded north by Williamson and Milam, east by Burleson, south by Washington and Fayette, and west by Bastrop. Giddings is on the western branch of the Texas Central Railroad, 106 miles from Houston and 59 from Austin. Assessed value of property in 1876, $1,428,298.
86. LEON-Created from Robertson in 1846 ; named, probably, for Alonzo DeLeon, the Spanish commander, who penetrated Texas in 1687. Center-
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
ville is the county seat. It is bounded north by Limestone and Freestone, east by Anderson and Houston, south by Madison, and west by Robertson. It is watered by the Trinity river and its tributaries on the east and the Navasota on the west. Is well timbered and a good agricultural county. The old San Antonio and Nacogdoches road passes through this county, and it was one of the earliest settled by Americans west of the Trinity river. William Robbins kept a ferry on the river, when visited by Long in 1819. The International Railroad passes along the northern boundary of the county. Population in 1870, 6,586; assessed value of property in 1876, $1,365,808.
87. LIBERTY-One of the original municipalities of Texas. This was at an early period called Arkokisa, one of the names of the Trinity river, probably a corruption of Orquisaco, the name of an Indian tribe on its banks. At a later period it was called Atascosita, because the Atascosita road there crossed the river. In 1806, the Cantonment of Atascosita was created by Governor Cordero. In 1817, some French refugees from the army of Napoleon settled on the Trinity river, and commenced planting vineyards, but the settlement was broken up by the Spaniards. In 1830, the municipality of Liberty was created by the Land Commissioner Madero, but was soon afterward transferred to Anahuac by Bradburn. In 1831, it was restored to Liberty by a popular vote. Liberty, the county seat, is on the bank of the Trinity, 110 miles from Galveston, by water, and 41 miles from Ilouston, on the Houston and New Orleans Railroad. The munici- pality originally included all the territory between the Sabine and San Jacinto rivers, below the jurisdiction of Nacogdoches. The present bound- aries are north by San Jacinto, east by Hardin, south by Chambers, and west by Harris and Montgomery. Population in 1870, 4,414; assessed value of property in 1876, $555,584. There is about an equal quantity of prairie and timbered land in the county, the upper, or northern, part being heavily timbered with pine, oak, hickory, ash, magnolia, wild peach, sassafras, wal- nut, elm, linn, and the usual variety of forest growth. There are extensive cypress-brakes bordering on the Trinity, and fine pineries within a few miles of the town of Liberty. The lower Trinity is skirted, for a distance of six miles on either side, by dense forests, suited for lumber and fuel; and the " wood business " for Galveston market is carried on extensively, and is increasing in importance daily, as the increasing demand of that rapidly-growing city must be supplied from this section.
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