A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 20

Author: Paddock, B. B. (Buckley B.), 1844-1922; Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing co.
Number of Pages: 968

USA > Texas > A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I > Part 20

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COUNTY-

I860.

1870.

Jack

1,688

1,000

Montague

890

849

Parker

4,185

4,213

Tarrant

5,802

6,020

Wise

1,450

3,160

Young

I35

592

These figures bear the more striking testimony to the argument when taken in connection with the fact that the increase of population for the state as a whole during the same period was fully one hundred per cent.

With reference to some of the political condi- tions following the war, Capt. J. C. Terrell gives this interesting reminiscence of Tarrant county :

"Just after the close of our Civil War, far more cruel and devastating than other wars, we of Tarrant, like all other counties, were without any local form of government whatever. From former decisions and from the very nature of things, we knew that de facto government existed with us, but the people at large were unsettled as to our exact legal status. For instance, marry- ing people wanted to know that a license issued by a de facto county clerk was in deed and in truth valid. A mistake might be horrible and might be irremediable. Civil law must obtain. It was a question of bread and meat to us attor- neys. By the reconstruction laws of Congress nearly all the intelligence of the country was barred from office and disfranchised, hence we were restricted to the aged and carpetbaggers. So, at the instance of several good people, Edward Hovenkamp of Birdville, who had been district attorney in war times, and myself went to Austin, and there we two held an election and named a full set of county officers. Arriving in Austin, I saw Provisional Gov. A. J. Hamilton, my brother's old law partner, who left Texas in 1861 and was made a Brigadier General in the Union Army, but never saw active service. In 1859 he was elected to Congress over Gen. Thomas N. Waul, who organized Waul's Legion.

123

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Texas was then entitled to but one member of Congress, who was elected from the state at large. Both were fine orators, the former a rough, the latter a finished talker. Hamilton was by a few votes beaten for Speaker of the House by Gen. N. P. Banks, who at Mansfield and Bras- hear City, La., we called our 'Confederate Quartermaster of subsistence.' Gov. Hamilton gave me a pencil note to his Provisional Secretary of State, Judge James Bell, whom I well knew. He was a native Texan and had been on the Supreme Bench. Handing the note to Judge Bell, he asked me for a list of names for appointment. We retired and returned him a list. The next morning the Judge handed me the commissions, signed and sealed. Among them were County Judge Stephen Terry, County Clerk G. Nance, District Clerk Louis H. Brown, who was an aged man, his wife being Miss Patterson of Maryland, sister-in-law of Jerome Bonaparte, brother of the great Napoleon. Mr. Brown was an elegant, hospitable gentleman of the old school. He came here in 1858 with an accomplished family and a few negroes and settled on Marine Creek. His son, Horatio, was a member of my com- pany."

Of the economic conditions in North Texas during the years just subsequent to the war, with particular reference to Tarrant county, perhaps no one is better qualified to speak than Major K. M. Van Zandt, who located at Fort Worth in August, 1867. Coming here from another part of the state, where industrial and living conditions were quite different, and ever since having iden- tified himself in a foremost manner with the de- velopment of this portion of the state, his impres- sions as to that period are clearly defined and strike at the fundamental facts which are neces- sary to a proper understanding of that initial epoch.

"Several considerations influenced me to locate at Fort Worth," began Mr. Van Zandt in answer to a series of inquiries. "Not being very robust as a boy, I believed that the higher altitudes and the invigorating climate of North Texas would furnish me the physical environments best suited to my nature. Also, I-and there were many others like me-came here to escape the political

and industrial regime which was being in- augurated in other parts of the south by the bestowal of the predominating power upon freed- men. 'And, principally, no other portion of Texas so appealed to me as containing unlimited possibilities of growth and development in every department of material affairs. To me, this was the best section of Texas-then as a matter of faith and anticipation, now as a demonstrated fact.

"Without faith in the future, the outlook in August, 1867, was dreary enough. Although two railroad lines had been surveyed through the county, there were no indications that such roads would be built for years to come. In Fort Worth most of the business buildings were with- out tenants, only two or three shops were open, a few old men were sitting around, and the pall of industrial death seemed to hang everywhere. Two hundred people would account for the entire population, whereas there were a thousand before the war. Indeed, it was as late as June, 1868, when the Indians raided within a mile or so of this town. There were not many farms, and those were for the most part in the timber or along the creeks. Without fences to obstruct, save here and there where some man had enclosed a little patch of ground with a rail fence, I rode all over this section, and found nearly all the good farm- ing confined to the eastern part of Tarrant county. In those days of the free range, cattle were a source of wealth, cattle trading and round- ups were familiar features of daily life, and what little wheat and grain farming was done was car- ried on only for family supplies. I, myself, al- though I was in mercantile trade, made garden and raised some corn during those first years. It was not until about 1870 that the farmers turned their attention to King Cotton in any considerable degree, and in response to the need that thus arose I brought the first cotton gin to Fort Worth.

"As to the political situation in general, it was the happy lot of North Texas that reconstruc- tion in its worst phases never appeared. This was still a pioneer country, there was no necessity that individuals should jostle one another as they went about their daily affairs, and the constraints

124

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

imposed by a complex civilization were seldom felt. Therefore, public opinion, in its modern, concentrating power, hardly existed., The mental strain and disappointments of the past had nat- urally been followed by a lethargy and hopeless- ness so far as concerned creative politics. Of the general government our citizens had no other means of judging save by its local representatives, who often lacked the tact needed for delicate sit- uations that arose. The state police also per- formed their duties with a lack of sympathy that put the people on the defensive and increased the friction instead of securing their co-operation. The freedmen's bureau, fortunately, had little to do in this part of the state, owing to the compara- tively small number of their proteges and with reconstruction evils thus reduced to a minimum our people directed their energies to material progress along lines that differentiate us from all other portions of the south in great and perma- nent · results.".

It will be interesting to notice, in connection with the above general summary of conditions, some detached opinions and facts from various parts of North Texas as having more or less par- ticular bearing upon the period between 1865 and 1870. That the general tendency was toward revival and expansion, there is evidence from numerous sources. This is seen, along the eastern counties by a renewed interest in railroad build- ing, and meetings of citizens for discussion and resolution upon this vital question are reported in almost every issue of the papers beginning with 1867. The tide of immigration also resumed almost immediately after the conclusion of hos- tilities, and has never ceased to the present time.

The following item from a Decatur corres- pondent to the Dallas Herald brings us to the consideration of a subject which is generally overlooked in a history of this period. "The town of Decatur," says the correspondent, "is the point where the Overland Southern Mail stage line touches on its way through Wise county. Now that peace has been established, the people of North Texas and elsewhere desire the re-establishment of the Overland Mail."

When the southern states seceded they merely continued on a lessened territorial basis, the same

government under which they had always existed; they manned anew the ship of state, without remodeling its lines or changing its essential methods of management. Finding the postal system in satisfactory operation, they simply changed its directing heads and en- deavored to continue its work on its original basis. But when the armies of the north destroyed the Confederate government, they likewise de- stroyed all its machinery, and it therefore became necessary, when peace came, to "reconstruct," or rather to extend the old systems over this con- quered territory. As is well known, this required both time and patience, and the slow rehabilita- tion of the postal system in Texas illustrates, as well as any other phase, the difficult task of re- construction. The importance of mail routes in developing a new country has already been com- mented upon, and it is easy to understand why the people of Wise and other counties were urgent that the old facilities should be restored.

In line with this extension of mail routes, there were published, early in 1866, the following pro- posals, asking for bidders : Waco to Weatherford, via Fort Graham; Meridian to Decatur, via Weatherford and Veal's Station; Waxahachie to Fort Worth, via Johnson's Station and Birdville : Stephensville to Jacksboro, via Palo Pinto and Salt Hill; Weatherford to Palo Pinto; Birdville to Fort Belknap, via Weatherford and Russell's store; Denton to Weatherford; Denton to De- catur ; Decatur to Prairie Point ; Decatur to Bel- knap, via Antelope and Jacksboro. These stations mentioned in these routes were no doubt the prin- cipal frontier settlements at that time.

Besides the flow of immigration into North Texas which proceeded from what might be termed natural causes, there were, about this time, several agencies established in other parts of the country to promote immigration to the southwest, the Texas Land, Labor and Immigra- tion Company being formed for this purpose in 1866. In the latter part of 1868 the Texas Land Company, with headquarters in New York, issued this prospectus of its purposes : "The objects of this company are to promote immigration into Texas; to facilitate the sale, purchase and settle- ment of lands through active business agents in

125

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Europe and the United States; to disseminate correct information about climate, soil, popula- tion, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, mechan- ical and other resources ; also to establish in New York a well organized agency to secure for Texas a portion of the immigration from foreign coun- tries." This seems to have been one of the first of the systematic efforts which from time to time have been made to divert the stream of continen- tal Europeans from the eastern cities and the northwest states into the south and southwest.

The Texas Almanac supplies some valuable in- formation about North Texas counties during this period. Of Grayson county the issue for 1867 thus speaks: "The county seat, Sherman, is a small town with two churches and one fine school established and supported by the Odd Fellows. Schools and churches are found in various parts of the county. The negroes do tolerably well. There have been few if any federal troops in this county. The number of negroes has diminished by their leaving and going north." The Sherman Courier, for May .II, 1867, adds: "Were it not that we are continually reminded by the news- papers that we are under military rule, we would forget that such an institution exists so far as Grayson county is concerned, although about one hundred troops are quartered in the town."

From Montague county comes the following lament in September, 1866: "We stand as a break- water for the protection of the state against the Indians-have done so for years. We will be forced to give up the frontier unless sustained ; sustain us and we will still protect you." Then in July, 1870, N. H. Darnell writes that the In- dians are all around Montague county settlers, whose exposed situation on the extreme frontier renders constant vigilance necessary, and that very recently attacks have been made on Victoria Peak and Henrietta.

Wise county was faring better. In spring of 1867 "there is not a mill in Wise county, the nearest being at Weatherford, forty miles away. A large quantity of wheat is raised in the county, and large numbers of cattle are raised and driven away to market." In January, 1870, a Decatur citizen writes that there have been no Indians for three months, and "most of our citizens who

moved away last spring are moving back again. This county, although on the borders, is establish- ing three good schools, at Prairie Point, on Deep Creek, and at Decatur." A traveler in Wise county in the next year speaks of Boyd's Mill in the south part of the county, the town having been located soon after the war, where at the time of writing there were a postoffice, steam mill, two dry goods stores. "While there," con- tinues this observer, "I was informed of a new town that had sprung up two miles away, and rode by. On the roadside is a handsome new storehouse, kept by Mounts and Stephens, while Young and Woods are constructing another neat dry goods house. This place we propose to christen 'Aurora.'" Wherein is described the origin of that now well known Wise county town. The Almanac for 1867 gives the voting popula- tion of Wise county as about four hundred, and goes on to state that there are "few freedmen in the county ; we have no bureau and they are quite happy and contented. There are as yet no post- offices established. Decatur and Prairie Point were two flourishing villages before the war, and are beginning to look up again. Owing to the defenseless state of the frontier Indian raids are frequent."

In Clay county, the Almanac for 1867* records, "stock raisers commenced moving in about 1858, but have mostly left on account of the Indians." Hardeman county, according to the same author- ity, "is not settled and probably never will be to any great extent"; the latter statement has since been successfully controverted by the'building of three lines of railroad into the county. Jack county is another stated to be "but partially set- tled." Palo Pinto is "principally devoted to stock raising, though Indians keep the inhabitants in constant alarm." In Stephens county "the greater portion of the land was located and surveyed by the Texan Emigration and Land Company or for state university and asylum lands, and most of the settlers in this county are stock raisers who have squatted on the company and state lands." Also in Shackelford county "the asylum lands are the best portions of the county, which is but little

*In fixing dates it should be kept in mind that the matter con- tained in the Almanac for 1867 was prepared during the preced- ing year.

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

settled." Taylor county is said to lie considerably beyond the frontier settlements, and in Throck- morton county some settlements have been made on the Clear Fork of the Brazos. In this year of record, 1867, no settlers had reached Wichita and Wilbarger counties.

Of Young county the 1867 Almanac states : "Fort Belknap has long been a place of rendez- vous for surveying, exploring and scouting par- ties. This county was included in the Peters Colony and a great portion of its best lands were located by the Texan Emigration and Land Com -. pany. Young county was settled some five years in advance of the surrounding counties, but dur- ing the war became nearly depopulated."

In the election returns published in October, 1871, the following counties are mentioned as "once organized but now abandoned on account of Indian raids and not voting": Clay, Harde- man, Haskell, Jones, Knox, Stephens, Shackel- ford, Throckmorton, Taylor, Wilbarger, Wichita, and Young.

Among those who came to Fort Worth during the period that has just been discussed was JOSEPHI C. TERRELL. He is referred to today as one of the best informed men in North Texas on the history of this section from the early days to the present, and not only does he possess the judgment and powers of observation of the his- torian, but in most matters of which he speaks he has participated as one of the prominent ac- tors. Belonging among the "men of affairs" of Fort Worth, he has likewise been a student of both men and affairs, and his life has been en- riched and broadened by constant association with the leaders in thought and action in his state and country. He has been a contributor to local history, and his reminiscences, covering the eventful period of the past half century, combine the charms of the modern short story with the fidelity of the historical narrator. His pen is a faithful copyist of the words of his mouth, for the pleasing diction of his writings is character- istic of his habitual converse. Like Ulysses, he "is a part of all he has met," and through the arch of a broad experience he views "the dim and

untraveled world" with the calmness of some- thing better than human philosophy.

Joseph Christopher Terrell was born in Sum- ner county, Tenn., October 29, 1831, while his father's family were en route from Virginia to Missouri to make a new home. His paternal grandfather was a Virginian, and his grand- mother, whose maiden name was Johnson, was of the same state. They were Quakers, and when they died left two children. Dr. C. J. Terrell, the elder, was a graduate of Jefferson Medical Col- lege at Philadelphia, emigrated and settled in Booneville, Mo., in 1831, and died there in 1832, leaving a large estate to his three children. These children were : A. W. Terrell, now state senator, and, during Cleveland's administration, minister to Turkey, and one of the best known public men of Texas; Dr. John J. Terrell, of Virginia; and J. C. Terrell.

Joseph C. was reared on the farm near Boone- ville, left by his father as part of his estate. Hav- ing wealth and therefore no necessity to work, his boyhood was spent in idleness and in doing what- ever his fancy dictated. He had no taste for books and despised study, a disposition which contrasts strangely with his subsequent applica- tion and studious habits. Notwithstanding his antipathy to the acquisition of knowledge, he was sent to school, his teacher being Prof. F. T. Kemper, of Booneville, one of the most finished scholars, strictest disciplinarians and accom- plished instructors in the West-accurate, methodic and energetic. From his teacher, there- fore, young Terrell learned useful lessons in system and order, which he has appropriated and made useful in later life. Although his educa- tion thus forced upon him had little effect at the time, yet Prof. Kemper has influenced his whole life.

Leaving the Kemper school, he began the study of law in the office of his brother, A. W. Terrell, and after two years' reading was admitted to the bar at St. Joseph, Mo., in 1852. Immediately after receiving his license, he set out for a visit to the Pacific coast, his journey across the plains forming the subject matter of his most inter- esting chapter of reminiscences. In 1853-54 he

I27

HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

practiced law in Santa Clara, Cal., and in Monte- rey in the same state in 1854-55. But he had as yet no fixed purpose in life, and was rather "drifting on the surface of occasion and trusting to the sublimity of luck." He had gone to the West rather for adventure than for work, and steady employment in a fixed place was exceed- ingly distasteful to him. In 1855-56 he wandered in Oregon, and although he could scarcely be said to have had a habitation there, he occasionally practiced his profession there, and now and then picked up a stray fee. He returned to "the states" in 1856, and spent some months in Vir- ginia, visiting relatives and friends. In 1857 he visited his brother, Judge A. W. Terrell, at Austin, Texas, and thence set out to return over- land to California.

He reached Fort Worth in February, 1857, where he met his old schoolmate, D. C. Dade, who was then practicing law in that place. He was persuaded to pitch his tent in Fort Worth, and form a partnership with his old schoolfellow. This partnership was continued' several years and until the Civil War began. Mr. Terrell opposed secession and concurred with Gen. Houston in his plan to effect the co-operation of Texas with the northern border states in an armed neutrality. When the war could no longer be avoided, he re- cruited a company in Tarrant county for the Confederate service and joined Waller's battalion in Green's cavalry brigade. He took part in the battles of Yellow Bayou, Camp Bisland, Foe- doche, etc., and was present at the capture of the gunboat Diana and when Capt. Waller received her surrender. When the war closed he returned to Fort Worth and resumed the practice of law among a people impoverished by the war, and there and in the surrounding country he con- tinued to pursue his profession until his retire- ment some twenty years ago.

In politics Capt. Terrell was originally an old- line Whig, voted against secession and since the war has had nothing to do with politics, but has voted an independent ticket, generally, however, with the Democrats. He has always made money, but had no disposition to amass wealth until his marriage, he being thirty-nine years old at that event. He owes his success to promptness in

business matters. He is orderly and systematic in all his affairs.

In May, 1871, Capt. Terrell was married to Miss Mary V. Lawrence of Hill county, Texas. Her father was David T. Lawrence, formerly of Tennessee, and a descendant of Capt. Lawrence of the famous Chesapeake. He was a successful farmer and large landholder, who died in 1867, leaving four daughters and several sons. Mrs. Terrell was born February 28, 1842, in Marshall county, Tenn., and was the eldest daughter of D. T. and Anna B. Lawrence. She was educated in the common schools of the country, but was al- ways a close student and reader of general litera- ture. At the age of eighteen she taught the village school of Covington, Texas, where she grew to womanhood. She continued alternately to teach and attend school for five years. She was for three years first assistant in the female de- partment of the Port Sullivan school, and for two years first assistant in Waco Female College. While at Covington teaching and attending school, she took a thorough course in Latin and higher mathematics, besides giving considerable attention to French, Spanish and Greek. She was well regarded as one of the best educated women in Texas, and is remembered both for cultured mind and for the kindness of heart and great beauty of character which all who knew her ascribe to her as the pre-eminent attributes of her noble womanhood. Reared in the Cross Timbers and self-educated, after her marriage she devoted herself to training her children for usefulness in the world and at the same time cultivating in them a taste for the true, the beautiful, and the good. She was the mother of five children: Sue A., John Lawrence, Joc-e, Mary V., and Alex- ander W.

March 31, 1887, Capt. Terrell married Mary Peters Young, eldest daughter of Dr. Benjamin Franklin Young and Anne Peters Young, who were among the earliest settlers of Marshall. Both the Young and Peters families were of the best old Colonial stock, being among the colonists of Virginia and the Carolinas.

Marshall was a noted center of education and culture in Texas of ante-bellum days. There Dr.

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

Young was a prominent citizen and Mason, also widely known as a successful physician. He died in 1864, soon after his daughter was graduated from the old Marshall Masonic Female Institute, which he had been instrumental in founding and of which he was long a trustee. Soon after grad- uation Miss Young entered the profession of teaching, in which she continued, mostly in her home town, until her marriage, and removal to Fort Worth.

In her new home, Mrs. Terrell soon became prominent in church and educational interests, as a Presbyterian and a friend of teachers, as a member of one of the oldest women's clubs in the state, the Woman's Wednesday of Fort Worth. Mrs. Terrell was one of the earlier promoters of the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs, being its second president, in which office she served two terms, 1899-1901. She was further honored in being made a director for the National Federation, from which office she voluntarily re- tired in 1904.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 20

Author: Paddock, B. B. (Buckley B.), 1844-1922; Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing co. Number of Pages: 968

Author: Paddock, B. B. (Buckley B.), 1844-1922; Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing co.
Number of Pages: 968