USA > Texas > Wise County > Pioneer history of Wise County; from red men to railroads-twenty years of intrepid history > Part 4
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THE PIONEER STORE AND MERCHANT.
Upon locating the county center in the timber he paused again to reflect, and concluded that the future county seat would be built on the prairie as nearly to the center as possible. So coming back out of the timber, he had not emerged far when he encountered a large spring flowing up out of a ravine, which formed the eastern boundary of a prominent rise. Hereon he decided to place his store-house, a location which made him accessible to the settlement trade, placed him near the center of the county and near at hand to the large ever-flowing spring.
If an air line should be drawn in Decatur from the Baptist College to the Cotton Oil Mill, the site of Howell's store would rest upon it at a point slightly less than half the distance be- tween the two institutions. More exactly, if the building re- mained intaet it would stand a few steps northeast of the resi- dence of Rev. W. C. Carver in south Decatur. The spring ex- isted still farther east at the base of the hill.
To this store the early citizens came for those commodities which were not raised for consumption on their farms, and also to procure their mail, the only postoffice in the territory being kept at this place, regular weekly trips being made by carrier to Old Alton to bring mail. Crowds congregated there for the transaction of such business of a public and private nature as demanded attention. In these several ways Howell's Store responded to the needs and gained a celebrity which has lasted to the present time.
Coming along from Old Alton with Mr. Howell was a young man by the name of Elmore Allen, who acted as clerk in the store and who presently assumed an interest in the business; upon which the firm name was changed to Howell and Allen, remaining so until the partnership was dissolved years after in Decatur, where the business was latterly removed.
The store was sufficient to supply the wants of the people, and no other businesses were planted in the neighborhood of Howell's, and only two other structures were erceted there. One of these was a family residence, constructed of logs, which Mr. Howell had built just under the south brink of the high hill which stands directly south of the original location of the store- house. The other was a frame structure sixteen feet square,
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
which Henry Martin, a citizen of the territory, raised a few yards west of Howell's store. This house was weatherboarded with four-foot hackberry boards cut in the West Fork bottoms, and shaved with a drawing-knife. It was roofed with two-foot clapboards and floored with cottonwood puncheons. These minute details are given because this building is later on to as- sume historical prominence in the county. Howell and Allen's business thrived until Taylorsville was established in 1857, to which place it was removed.
CHAPTER IV.
LAND AND PRE-EMPTION CLAIMS.
The strongest magnet which attracts immigration to new countries is the availability of free lands. From the beginning of white man's rule in this state, magnanimous offerings of land have been extended with the hope of inducing a flow of immigra- tion. Prior to 1836 a head right certificate of the first class was granted to each permanent settler in the state arriving before that time. Such a certificate constituted a title to 4,605 54-100 acres of land-a gift offering from the state.
The stream of immigration, however, soon made such ex- travagant gifts impossible, and the quantities of free domain to which settlers were entitled were gradually diminished and the price per acre increased.
The most of the settlements of Wise County were made under the law of February 13, 1854, which granted to the actual settler 160 acres, with provisions that, in each instance, a house must be built on the land and occupied for a term of three years, at the expiration of which time the land was to be surveyed by the county or district surveyor and field notes, accompanied by an affidavit of residence for the required time, returned to the gen- eral land office at Austin, whereupon a patent would be made out, signed by the Governor, and sent to the settler or locator.
The legislatures were constantly modifying and raising the fee charged by the state. First the price was 50 cents per acre; finally $1.00.
Where previous locations had not been made, all the lands of the county were subject to entry. All the settler had to do was to make his choice, move in, erect a house, and at the end of three years survey the lines and make applications for a patent. There is reported much trafficking and hawking about of worth- less certificates and pre-emption claims during all of the days of settlement. Land sharks and victimizers generally did a thriving business with new-comers as prey, and there was no end to the nefarious practices until the free lands were exhausted. 4
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
Land sales and trades among the citizens were made during these first days on a basis of a range in price from 50c. to $1.00 per acre for improved land with entire sections selling at $300.00.
During the first years of the settlement of Wise County the counties of the state were arranged into land districts for con- venience in regulating land matters. Ordinarily a few counties composed a district, with the central office located at the most convenient point. To these various distriets were attached the unorganized counties for land purposes, and to these the latter looked for authorized surveyors and the safeguarding of records. Under this system the unorganized territory of Wise County fell to the equal jurisdiction of Cooke and Denton Counties, the line running centrally through the county from east to west. Thus locations in the southern part of Wise were legalized and surveyed by the Denton office and those in the north part by the office at Gainsville. The distance of these headquarters from Wise made the necessity of applying to them, in the multitudinous details of land matters, difficult and troublesome, and the settlers here welcomed the day when by organization this county gained jurisdiction over its own land affairs. The early surveyors were freighted with many responsi- bilities and much labor.
CHAPTER V.
THE DELAWARE INDIANS.
A circumstance more suggestive perhaps than any other of the truly primitive condition of Wise County at the time of its settlement, was the discovery here of a band of aboriginees peacefully inhabiting its confines and rarely emerging beyond them. What is known of this tribe of Indians was gained prin- cipally from their own revelations and is of a nature so meagre as to leave their ancestry and prior history shrouded in mystery. Through them it became known that they were a branch of the Delaware tribe, but from, whence they came or what land they had originally occupied was never learned.
The band found here numbered about 65 men, women and children, and was presided over by two chiefs; an elderly one named Jim Ned, and a younger one named Tom Williams. These English names they doubtless achieved from the settlers themselves. Jim Ned was supreme in command of the tribe, Tom Williams being a sub-chief of a division. When the band was first discovered Jim Ned had the appearance of a man of about fifty years of age, was slightly grey-haired, and of much darker complexion than Tom Williams whose shade of color was more that of a Mongolian. The tribe lived true to their original customs and habits, which were to forage about the country in search of game and fish, the most of the time united, but occasionally separated into two bands which occupied different territories, but pursuing the same ends, hunting and fishing. After they had been separated for some time they would then reunite and seem thoroughly to enjoy the coming together. A district would be occupied until its fish and game supply was diminished, and then a removal would occur to another section. In this way the Indians hunted over every por- tion of the county, but it was observed that their operations were being more and more confined to the western part as if gradually being pushed out of their wonted haunts by the in-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
coming settlers. Their relations with the sparse settlers were at all times of a peaceable and friendly character, and no criminal acts are recorded of them, yet in their personal habits they were truly barbaric, upon which account no women could visit their camps with impunity. The tribe is remembered to have first been in camp in the eastern part of the county near Piper's Springs, on Catlett Creek, in 1853. Dr. Renshaw found them there when he came out to make his land locations in that year. From Piper's Springs they removed to the vicinity of Sand Hill, and established their village near the farm of Lem Cartwright. Next, they moved and camped in what is now the Muse neighbor- hood and from thence on their movements were towards the west with stoppings in Jennings' Valley, on Sandy Creek, and Martin's Valley on the West Fork. Their last camp is thought to have been near the Jim Ned Springs, in Jack County, from which place they were removed by United States soldiers and confined on the reservation at Ft. Belknap.
In Wise County the chiefs mingled freely with the settlers and eagerly partook of the supplies of tobacco, food and fabrics that were given them. They also exchanged hides and furs, beads and moccasins with the settlers, receiving such articles of use and others of frivolous value as they needed or admired. Horse trading was also one of their chief accomplishments, and a herd of ponies was constantly kept to enable them to indulge in the practice.
Their living abodes were constructed of crossed upright poles, over which blankets were thrown for protection. The squaw members did all the manual labor about the camp, building the fires, cooking the food, dressing the skins and making the moccasins which were to be sold or traded.
The establishment of Howell's Store had the effect of quicken- ing the endeavors of the tribe at providing hides and furs for sale and exchange. Mr. Howell brought large supplies of gaudily colored fabrics and shining trinkets which appealed to the Indian eye and quickened their endeavors to secure them. They came to the little store to trade, and their presence added that touch of color to the picturesque scene which rendered it typically frontier in aspect.
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THE DELAWARE INDIANS.
In coming to market, they rode single-file with the bucks in the lead and the squaws behind, and if strangers were met they grunted an austere "how," their interpretation of the English "howdy." Upon arriving, all dismounted, the squaws sat flat on the ground and the bueks did the trading. They bought brown sugar, tobacco, whiskey, blankets and gaudy ginghams and calicoes. They always brought along buckskin robes, furs and moccasins to trade to the store-keepers and to the settlers.
They were skilled at many games and experts at riding, and shot the arrow with such sureness of aim as to astonish the natives. Shooting matches, foot- and horse-racing always fol- lowed their visits to town. Small coins in forked sticks were put up at distances and the Indians won them by striking with the arrow. Their fleet foot-runners were rarely outdistanced, and their racing ponies were trained to astonishing speed.
In the tribe was a small boy, nearly white of complexion, whose presence there was a constant source of mystery and sus- picion to the settlers, but with a bow and arrow he was a deadly shot, rarely failing at any target.
The tribe developed an iniquitous habit; they would come to Howell's store, thoroughly intoxicate themselves with whiskey, and then retire to the neighboring hills, cover themselves with blankets and lie down to let the sun absorb the spirits from their bodies by the sweating process. Sometimes they would lie in the blazing sun for two days at a time.
In 1859 this friendly tribe of Delawares was removed to Ft. Belknap, to secure them against the murderous designs of the wild tribes, whose enmity had been aroused because of the Delawares' peaceable relations with the whites. Finally they were caught unprotected by an atrocious band of Comanches and exterminated.
CHAPTER VI. CHURCH AND SCHOOL BEGINNINGS-SAND HILL AS A CENTER - "OLD SWAYBACK."
The neighborhood a few miles south of Decatur in which Sand Hill Church and camp-grounds are located, has been a center of religious and educational activity since the earliest history of the county. During the whole of the preliminary period, a quar- ter of a century of pioneerism, the religious and educational factors and forces at Sand Hill dominated these sentiments in the county. Thus this ground became a mecca where all re- sorted for worship and for educational purposes, and as a stronghold for piety, sanctified to the demands of religion and education, has left the seal of its impress for moral elevation clearly stamped on the body politic of the county.
Its proximity to the surrounding settlements contributed to its origin. The present location of the church is not the original one. The church was organized in the home of Jim Brooks, an carly citizen to whom reference has been made. In the sum- mer of 1854 the following persons met at Mr. Brooks' to organize the first church body of the territory: Rev. W. H. H. Bradford, Jim Brooks, Thomas Cogdell, Charles Browder, Benjamin Mon- roe, Dr. Standifer, Lemuel Cartwright and Rev. John Roc.
Rev. Bradford, commonly called "Buck," officiated at this early religious ceremony, ordaining and dedicating the church to the doctrines of Wesley, and became its first pastor. Thus the Methodists were the first to unfurl the banner of the Cross in Wise County.
Situated a short distance from Mr. Brooks' home stood 'a large sand hill from 'neath which a large spring issued, from which natural formation the church took its name-Sand Hill. In the fall of the same year a brush arbor meeting was held east and across the creek from the present Sand Hill camp-grounds. approximate to the home of Lem Cartwright. In 1855 the present Sand Hill community had been generally occupied, and
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OLD SWAYBACK.
its convenient center became the natural assembling point of the people for miles in all directions. That center was the home of Lem Cartwright above mentioned, and to this home the church was moved in the same year from its original location at Mr. Brooks', some miles to the south. Soon afterward, Mr. Cartwright vacated his home, surrendering it to the people for a church, and built a new house on the hill-ridge to the east.
"OLD SWAYBACK."
This was the inception of "Old Swabyack," a building and a church revered in the memory of Wise County pioneers, and the scene of the carliest manifestations of religious enthusiasm and pious enterprise.
"Old Swayback " stood on the west slant of the prairie hill almost directly east of the present Sand Hill church, and was constructed of home-made boards for covering and green slabs for framing. A long ridge-pole ran along the center of the gable roof as the upper support of the roof boards. Finally the ridge- pole sagged downward at the center, carrying the roof along and leaving the two ends projecting upward, from which peculiar defect the church got its name-"'Swayback," affectionately re- ferred to now as "Old Swayback."
By 1856 the increased citizenship demanded more commodi- ous church quarters and a meeting of all denominations was held at "Swayback" to confer upon the matter. The conclu- sion to build a new church was arrived at and a committee ap- pointed to locate a place for same, which was done at a spot near the one on which the present church now stands. The groves and contiguous spring were deciding factors in locating the church, as was also a gift of the land by W. A. King. Here the first building for religious purposes in the county was erected -- a log structure twenty feet square with a dirt floor, built by the general help of the community.
Alternate Sunday services were held in it by the different denominations, though it is not reported that any other church organizations occurred there. Among the carly ministers who preached here were: Rev. W. H. H. Bradford, Methodist ; John
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
Roe, Methodist; Rev. J. T. Willis, Baptist; Parson Windsor, Methodist; Rev. Gregory, Cumberland; Wm. Bates, Methodist : Rev. Aikens, Presbyterian; and Rev. Withom.
The custom of holding annual brush arbor camp-meetings was then begun and has been conducted as a time-honored practice to this day.
BAPTIST CHURCH ORGANIZED.
The Baptist Church holds ground with the Methodist as a pioneer church organization, and some of the earliest and most devout preachers were of that denomination.
The organization took place in the fall of 1856 in the home of Samuel Perrin, who lived about a mile southwest of the present Decatur. Rev. J. T. Willis, of Denton Creek, officiated at the exercises, Colonel G. B. Pickett being one of the witnesses. Some time after this a small log school house was built by Wm. and Samuel Perrin, Rich. Beck and - Millholland, near where the Decatur and Boyd road crosses the Beck or Brady Branch, and to this place the church was moved and services afterwards held.
CHURCH ON CATLETT CREEK.
The above were the two early enterprises, the third occuring in the upper Catlett Creek community north of Decatur, which had as yet been without church advantages except those afforded by the Sand Hill and the Baptist church. But upon these latter the old settlers attended faithfully. It may bestated, parenthet- ically, that a serious and earnest piety distinguished the old set- tlers as a body. It was an hour of loneliness and isolation amidst the danger of which the people recognized the imminent need of divine assistance and guidance, hence their faithful journeyings to the altars for support and consolation. The strength and drawing power of Sand Hill lay in its ability to supply that meed of Christian nourishment demanded by the pioneers in their struggle with life. In this way the old shrine at Sand Hill be- came one at which all gathered for supplication and to receive the outpourings of spiritual blessings: the holy fount from
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SCHOOL BEGINNINGS.
which gushed the waters of life bathed away the general fears and soothed the aching hearts. Small wonder is it that Sand Hill is revered in memory and affection, for there falling foot- steps and drooping spirits have been strengthened and dull eyes brightened, and through the lowering clouds of grief and trouble, have been made to shine the brightening rays of comfort, hope and cheer, presaging a happier to-morrow and a joyous future- the bequeathings of an all-wise and kindly Father.
The Catlett Creek settlement had their religious beginnings in a service held in the home of Capt. John W. Hale, in the fall of either of the years of 1855 or 56. Rev. Stubblefield, a Method- ist missionary to Sand Hill, was in charge. The following year a two days' brush arbor meeting was held in the timber mid- way between the homes of Col. G. B. Pickett and Capt. Hale, and continued there for many summers. Church services were continued in Capt. Hale's home during the winter for some time. No church house was built in the community before the war, and during that trying period the people went to Decatur to worship, this upon the advice of Rev. Bellamy who had moved into the county.
Tradition points to Gage's school house, which would now stand in the vicinity of Sycamore, as the first church and schoolhouse built north of Sand Hill and Decatur. This was a union church, built near the home of Jerry Gage, from whom it took its name.
In about 1870 the Gose schoolhouse and church was erected on upper Catlett proper, at a point north of Decatur, in the immediate vicinity of Major S. M. Gose's home, which furnished school and church facilities for many years
Reference has been made to the building of a schoolhouse and organizing of a Sunday school in the western part of the county by Col. Hunt. This perhaps was the lone example of religious and educational enterprise in that section for no other is reported for the period. The next activity oceurs at Decatur, which will be described in another place.
SCHOOL BEGINNINGS.
The pioneers very early displayed a recognition of the value of education. The first little school is reported to have been
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
started a year before the territory brought itself under the restraints of organized local government. The first school was taught by Eli Hoag in the summer of 1855, but the exact location is in controversy.
The school was conducted either at " Old Swayback " church or in the house of W. S. Hoag, a brother of Eli Hoag, the pioneer teacher. The latter dwelling stood on the banks of Walnut Creek, a few miles south of Decatur, and was afterwards torn down and moved to Decatur. This first school was sparsely attended and lasted only for a short season. A second and more successful term was conducted by Mr. Bleffins in the summer of 1856, the year of organization, in the little log school house described as having been located on Beck or Brady Branch, near the point of the Boyd and Decatur road crossing, which place is about half a mile south- cast of the Baptist College in Decatur. Professor Bleffins was a young and educated Virginia gentleman who had sought this mild climate in pursuit of health, and was highly equipped for the duties of teaching. A list of a few of the pupils is provided, to-wit :- The children of the Beck family and the following children of the two Perrin families: Jim, Mary, Will, Sabina, Sallie, Mandy, Mahalie and William. William and Susan Hunt, Charlie and Clabe Cates, Sam, Bartholomew and Simon Mill- holland, John, Ben and Nannie Howel.
The third of the pioneer schools was taught in the fall and winter of 1856, in the church house at Sand Hill, then but recently completed. Professor Wmn. Fletcher, another educated Virginian, who had come out in search of health, conducted this school in a highly efficient manner. Among the pupils who attended here were Joe, Lee, Jim, Fronie and Phoebe Crutch- field, the Beck children, the Pleas Byrant children, Clabe and Charlie Cates, Mary and Barnett Pauley, Robert M. Collins, John and Addie Newman, Cisely Ann, Thomas, Will, George and Glenn Halsell, and the Cartwright boys.
J. D. White, one of the living pioneers, succeeded as teacher of this school in 1857. Pupils attended Mr. White's two terms from both Wise and Denton Counties, and some of them in after life attained to position and prominence, noted as follows:
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SCHOOL BEGINNINGS.
Rev. Z. B. Carroll, Baptist minister; Rev. Lafayette Bullard, Presbyterian divine; Banfield Cogdell, a successful citizen of Hill County; Thomas Cogdell, a prominent banker of Grand- bury, Hood County; T. S. Cogdell, a prominent farmer of Hood County, and R. M. Collins, who gained wide prominence as writer and editor.
Successful schools are also reported from Deep Creek and Prairie Point. In 1859 or 60, the third Virginian who was to come to Wise County for the restorative climate began a school on Deep Creek, this teacher being Robert Walker. The school was conducted successfully for a number of years, and almost all the children of the Deep Creek community had their educational beginnings there. Among them are mentioned: Brice and John Mann, Laura and Jim Young, Will Drew, Joe and Betty Woody, Ripley, Julia and Bettie Standfield, Jim Brooks, Will Holmes, Lawrence, Jr., Henry, Mary, Frank, and William Ward, Jim, Martha, Tom, Jess, Emma, John and Pink Boyd, Jim, Charles and George Reed, Frank and Marcellus Broadstreet, Jim Foster, Cephus Woods, Jess Carpenter, Mary, Emma, Ella, Annie and John Holmes, Alfred and William Manning, Jack, Dennis, Mary and Bettie Paschall, Willis Millholland, Mary and Micajah Britt, Sam Woody, Jr., the Cogdell children, Jasper Armstrong, Wm. Shoemaker, Jess, Jim and Chesly Walker, Mary, Jane and Jim Paschall, John and Mart Houston, Emma and Tom Crews, Francis Cherry and Seg Bradford.
The Prairie Point School was taught by John S. Morris, and continued with success for a number of years. The schools in the north part of the settlements were not so numerous nor so well attended, due to the sparser population. A school is ro- ported to have been taught at a very early date by a Mr. Rod- man, near where the New South Church now stands, and later Benjamin Shrews taught there. Another school is reported from the neighborhood where the Gose school was afterwards built, with Joe Wilson as teacher. These schools furnished* facilities for the children of Colonel Piekett, J. D. White, J. W. Hale and others of that community. The only school in the western part of the county was located near Colonel Hunt's ranch house, and Mrs. Salmon is said to have been the first per- son to teach there.
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