USA > Texas > Wise County > Pioneer history of Wise County; from red men to railroads-twenty years of intrepid history > Part 5
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1
CHAPTER VII.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
Rapid passage is now being made over that period which Colonel Collins has described as a time "when every fellow was a law unto himself," the beginning of the end of which reign came with the conclusion of the people "to organize into a body politic and get themselves in shape to sue, to be sued and to contract debts." The territory had now been sparsely occupied for two years, and a general desire for local govern- ment became manifest. Such a desire was precipitated from numerous causes, the chief one being the existing need of civil measures as safeguards to property, and protection to person ; home rule over land matters was a second desideratum: Gains- ville and Denton still exercised sovereignty over land matters, including surveys and filings, and these towns were too far away to give convenient service. The total population was not large, vet of sufficient numbers to justify local government. The original communities had filled up and forced the overflow to find habitations elsewhere about the county. All the choice locations, from Ben Haney's on the south, to Pickett's and Hale's on the north, were pre-empted; there were colonies on Oliver and Hunt's Creek, and Jim Proctor lived near the future Decatur: Howell and Allen's remained the only trading post.
No advancements toward settled agriculture had been made, and none would follow until touched by the developing power of transportation and marketing facilities. The man with herds and floeks remained supreme in the land. The country re- mained in its crude and primary condition ; no roads ran any- where and no bridges crossed any creeks. Under these condi- tions the territory was ripe for those measures of organization which would usher in a concentrated effort toward progress and development in all lines and industries. At this juncture there appeared a man, a citizen of the county, who grasped the helm of state and guided it on to the successful culmination of its (60)
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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY. 61
hopes. This man was Absalom Bishop, a native of South Caro- lina, but who came to this territory from Hopkins County, Texas, in 1855, and settled on Sweetwater Creek, east from De- catur about four miles. The organization movement found in Colonel Bishop its prime agitator and supporter, the idea doubt- less having originated with him. The writer has attempted elsewhere to do justice in a biographical sketch to this many- sided man, but is frank to confess that the picture there drawn
COL. BISHOP.
is dim and hazy to that which nature stores in the imagination but denies the power to express.
With an inner conception he is seen in bright and livid colors, but not to be exteriorly delineated by the weak hand which at present wields the pen. Every phase of life of the pioneer period felt the guiding impetus of this one man, and if to any is to be 4
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
accorded the honor of being the Father of Wise County, that clistinction falls righteously to the palm of Col. Absalom Bishop.
In accordance with the provisions of the law governing exterior territory, the territory of Wise County still remained attached to the Counties of Cook and Denton in the manner heretofore described. Now, upon the intervention of the citizens of this territory, and in further accordance with the provisions regulat- ing the organization of new counties, it became incumbent upon the Chief Justice (County Judge) of Cook County to perfect the organization of the territory under question into Wise County.
At this juncture in these annals due reference must be made to certain contradictory statements which the writer has en- countered in respect to which one of the counties of Denton and Cook, had control of the measures of organization by virtue of which Wise County became an organized county. There are two contentions in favor of either view. Denton County is favored by special mentioning in the creating act soon to be quoted, and also by one of the living pioneers who claims that the County Court of Denton County is responsible for the organization of Wise County. On the other hand, the emphatic assertion of Mr. Charles D. Cates, is to the effect that Wise County was organized under the authority of, and by the officers of, Cook County. Mr. Cates states that he distinctly remembers the exchange of visits and transactions that occurred between Col. Bishop and the other promoters of the movement here, and the officers of Cook County. As clerk in' Col. Bishop's store, Mr. Cates was closely associated with the former which justifies his claim to knowledge of Bishop's actions. This view also accords with the provisions of the general statute which, applied to this case, made it the duty of Cook County to prepare that part of her which had applied for organization. But there is no disposi- tion on the part of the writer to arbitrate this controversy.
The preparations necessary to organization were of two kinds: first, a creating aet must be secured from the legislature, which act defined the boundaries and authorized the action ; secondly, the territory defined in the act must be divided into convenient precinets for the election of Justices of the Peace and Constables: voting places in each precinct where elections shall be held must
63
FIRST ELECTION AND REMARKS.
be appointed; elections must be declared one month ahead of the date and presiding officers appointed. The first three clauses of the Creating Act approved by the legislature, January 23, 1856, are here quoted :
"Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, that the territory embraced within the following limits, to-wit: Beginning at the southwest corner of Denton County, thenee north with the west boundary line of said county thirty miles, thence west thirty miles, thence south thirty miles, cast to place of beginning, shall comprise the County of Wise.
" Sec. 2. That it shall be, and is hereby made the duty of the Chief Justice of Denton County, to organize the said County of Wise on the first Monday of May next, by ordering an election for county officers, and conducting same in all respects in con- formity to law.
" Sec. 3. That so soon as the said County of Wise has been organized as aforesaid, and the officers of same qualified accord- ing to law, they shall enter upon the discharge of their respective offices; and all courts in and for said county shall be held at the Store House of Daniel Howell, until the county seat of said county shall be permanently located by the citizens thereof."
The passage of this act was doubtlessly secured by the repre- sentative in the legislature from Cook County. It is affirmed with positiveness that Col. Bishop selected the name which the county should bear, upon which grounds it is assumed that the name chosen was revealed to the introducer of the above aet looking to its being embodied in the enacting clauses.
The name Wise was taken from that of Honorable Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, a patriot and statesman of the early and middle portions of the last century, to whom a sketch is else- where devoted.
Thus, by virtue of an act of the Legislature of January, 1856, this heretofore territory became officially recognized as an organized county.
FIRST ELECTION AND REMARKS.
In accordance with the command of the creating clause, the election was held on the first Monday in May in 1856, with
1
64
PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
Howell's Store as the chief voting box. Colonel Bishop was in- fluential in naming the candidates, and also announced himself for the office of County Clerk. His motive for taking a hand in the county's initial experience in politics was to perfect some remaining policies held in reserve. The first Chief Justice, Wm. S. Oates, was especially friendly to Bishop and his designs.
OATES FAMILY GROUP.
Judge W. S. Oates (Wise County First Chief of Justice) on Extreme Left; Brawley Oates in Center.
The following were elected as Wise County's first set of county officials :
William S. Oates, originally from North Carolina, Chief Jus- tice.
Absalom Bishop, originally from South Carolina, County Clerk.
Granger Salmon, originally from New York, District Clerk.
John W. Hale, originally from Tennessee, Sheriff.
Robert C. Mount, originally from Tennessee, Assessor and Col- lector.
John T. Waggoner, originally from Missouri, Treasurer.
B. B. Haney, George Birdwell, Samuel L. Terrell and J. C. Kincannon, County Commissioners.
Justice of the Peace, Precinct No. 1, James Roberts.
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FIRST ELECTION AND REMARKS.
Justice of the Peace, Precinct No. 1, B. P. Earp. Justice of the Peace, Precinct No. 2, James Davis.
Justice of the Peace, Precinet No, 2, F. M. Holden. Justice of the Peace, Precinct No. 3, S. Bean. Justice of the Peace, Precinct No. 3, L. S. King.
Justice of the Peace, Precinct No, 4, S. L. Terrell.
Two justices were elected in each precinct, this office in that day being of paramount importance. Samuel L. Terrell, the forbear of that prominent family in Wise County, was elected to two portfolios in the first government.
Chief Justice Oates, a clear-headed, practical farmer, lived at Aurora: John W. Hale was a trusted citizen of Catlett Creek, as was also John T. Waggoner; R. C. Mount was a staunch citizen, and Granger Salmon was endowed with shrewdness and enterprise.
The next year, 1857, Colonel Bishop was elected as flotorial representative in the legislature from Wise, Denton, Collin, Cooke and Montague Counties, and upon resigning the clerk's office, W. W. Brady was elected to fill out the term. A spirited political contest was waging at the time of Bishop's resignation from the county office. The contest for the location of the county seat had come up, and Colonel Bishop had taken a fore- most part in it by championing the site whereon Decatur now stands. This aroused against him the opposition of the cham- pions of other places, and when Mr. Brady announced himself as the Bishop candidate for the unexpired term of the clerk's office, the remaining factions endorsed the race of Sam Woodward, of Bridgeport, and a vigorous fight ensued. Mr. Brady was elected and took office August 3, 1857.
The Chief Justice's office in those days was synonymous with that of the County Judge of the present time, with the excep- tion that no court functions were attached to it. All minor matters of litigation were adjudicated by the Justices of the Peace, and those of weightier degrees of importance were re- ferred to the District Court, of which two sessions a year were hell. The title of Chief Justice appears to have been discarded in 1876, when the Hon, J. W. Patterson was elected to the office of County Judge. 5
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
The Sixteenth Judicial District was created by the legislature in 1855, and composed of Wise, Collin, Grayson, Cooke, Denton, Tarrant, Johnson, Ellis, Parker and Dallas Counties. Nat M. Burford, of Dallas, was appointed to the judgship, and John C. McCoy, also of Dallas, was appointed District Attorney. This court held sessions in Wise County for a week each in March and September.
In 1860 Wise was detached from the Sixteenth District and placed in the newly organized Twentieth, and still later put in the Seventh. Previous to her organization, and while she re- mained a part of Cooke County, Wise was in the Fourth Sena- torial District, composed of Collin, Grayson, Cooke, Denton and Kaufman Counties, and in the Seventh Representative, com- posed of Denton, Collin and Cooke Counties.
The following list comprises the officers and members of the succeeding county administrations, beginning with the second set, elected in 1858, and ending with the suspensions which oc- curred in 1865 as a result of the downfall of the Confederacy.
YEAR.
CHIEF JUSTICE.
COUNTY CLERK. DISTRICT CLERK.
TREASURER.
1858
Wm. S. Oates
1860
George Isbell
A. B. Foster
Thos. Lester James C. Rueker J. V. Crutchfield
1864
1865
Lawrence Ward, Sr. Daniel Howell
A. B. Foster
J. W. Knight J. W. Knight
YEAR.
TAX ASSESSOR AND COLLECTOR.
SHERIFF.
SURVEYOR.
CORONER.
1858
R. C. Mount
Benj. P. Earp
John W. Hale Sam'l J. Beck
1860
J. D. White
Robt. G. Cates
John W. Hale Lem Cartwright
1862
J. D. White
Robt. G. Cates
Sam'l L. Terrell
18644
J. V. Crutehfield
G. B. S. Crews
Sam'l L. Terrell
1865
J. V. Crutchfield
G. B. S. Crews
Sam'l L. Terrell
1862
F. E. Taylor
W. W. Brady W. W. Brady W. W. Brady John W. Moore John W. Moore
A. B. Foster
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FIRST ELECTION AND REMARKS.
YEAR 1858.
Commissioners.
P. B. Bryan.
R. M. Birdwell.
Jos. H. Martin. John G. Boyd.
Justices of Peace.
David C. Cates. L. E. Camp.
James Scarborough.
Jacob Garrett.
L. S. King. Pearce Woodward.
John Morris.
M. J. Britian.
James R. Wheeler. P. P. R. Collom.
YEAR 1860. Commissioners.
J. H. Martin.
John Mann.
P. B. Bryan.
N. J. Vaughn. B. B. Haney. W. H. Shoemaker.
Justices of Peace.
James Scarborough. Henry Ward.
Thos. Stuart.
M. F. Prewett.
Robt. Brody.
J. S. Morris.
C. B. Ball.
J. D. Robinson.
Pearce Woodward.
John McCulloch.
J. H. Walker.
YEAR 1862. Commissioners.
J. H. Walker.
W. H. Langston ..
J. G. Boyd. J. Holden.
Justices of Peace.
S. M. Gose. H. E. Stevens. T. D. Robinson. Pearce Woodward.
J. W. Moore. Jas. A. Watson. C. B. Ball.
A. M. Birdwell.
M. P. Pruett. W. F. Murray.
P. P. R. Collom.
J. J. Crawford. J. F. Morris.
Sam Foster. John Brown.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
YEAR 1864.
Commissioners.
Wilson Cook. L. S. King. Pearce Woodward. Nathan Huff.
Justices of Peace.
E. C. Jones.
Win. Rice.
H. E. Stevens.
Jerome Smith. M. F. Prowett. Shepard Neel.
The following counties were created the same year with Wise County. Traced on the map they mark the frontier line at that time: Atascosa, Bandera, Commanche, Erath, Kerr, Kinney, Young, Lampassas, Llano, Sansaba, Live Oak, Maverick, Uvalde.
The task of surveying and defining the county boundary limits fell to the new County administration, and L. E. Camp, Deputy Surveyor of the Denton Land District, was employed to do the work, which was accomplished in due time, and the field notes filed for record in the Clerk's office. On May 23 and 24, the center of the county was located and designated as follows: " A black-jack marked C. W. C. 15 M," which point places Decatur one mile north and three miles east of it.
On Feb. 24, 1857, the Wise County school lands were located by William Cloud, Deputy Surveyor of the Cooke County Land District, in Haskell County. This was a body of land covering four leagues. The state and county tax at that time was .50c. on the $100.00 valuation.
CHAPTER VIII.
COUNTY-SEAT CONTEST-COUNTY-SEAT LOCATED-CALLED TAYLORSVILLE.
DECATUR THE EVOLUTION OF A DREAM AND A HARD FIGHT.
A half a century ago this spring (1907), upreared upon the spot where Wise County's superb temple of justice now stands, was a strange and wierd and yet a beautiful sight. Piercing the blue sky was a tall, slender pole, from the top of which flut- tered the stars and stripes, the emblem and the glory of the nation. Beneath it and around it was silence and solitude. The tall, waving, unclipped and untrodden grass spread out in every direction, and gay flowers nodded and swayed in the breezes. Frightened to their coverts by so strange a sight, the timid deer and antelope peered forth furtively, and from their neighbor- ing dens and seclusions the wolves wailed a melanchloy saluta- tion. No human habitation was near to catch the whispings of the flag as these were borne out on the breezes, and no human being was present to explain the flag's mysterious presence. But that it was representative of an achievement and symbolical of the victory of a redoutable man, will be revealed in the fol- lowing passages.
The incident is related to the efforts to locate the county seat, which followed as a necessary sequence to the organiza- tion of the county, and made mandatory by the Creating Act, the first three clauses of which, pertaining to the measures of organization, have been quoted. The remaining three clauses, outlining the methods to be followed in locating the county- seat, are here inserted, and read as follows:
"Section 4 .- That so soon as the county shall have been or- ganized as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the Chief Justice and at least two of the County Commissioners, to select two or more places within five miles of the center of said county, to be run for the county-seat of the said county, having due reference to donations that may be offered.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
"Section 5 .- That it shall be the duty of the Chief Justice to order an election to be held, giving at least fifteen days' notice - thereof, for the election of the seat of justice of said county, the name of which shall be Taylorsville.
"Section 6 .- That a majority of the votes polled shall de- termine the location, and in the event that no place receives such a majority in the first election, the Chief Justice shall order a new election, putting in nomination the two places.having re- ceived the highest number of votes in the first election, and the place which may receive the highest number of votes in the second election shall be the lawful county-seat of said county. And that this act shall take effect from and after its passage."
When the question came up for settlement, Colonel Bishop was the first in the field with a preconceived and finely wrought plan to have the eminence whereon Decatur now stands se- lected as the site for the county capital. But before entering upon a description of this spectacular incident in the early life of the county, certain preliminary remarks must be addressed to the elucidation of an important action taken by Bishop at a time prior to the occasion when the county seat question arose for settlement. . Also it is deemed pertinent to enquire into the motives that animated Bishop in his dealing with the ques- tion.
Looking back over the incidents of this campaign, it stands out luminously clear that Bishop was prompted by an over- powering passion to have the county capital located on the hill- top whereon the town of Decatur now stands. The idea of a beautiful town, built at this point, seems to have taken pos- session of his mind and become a besieging dream. That the idea or the dream had its birth long prior to the date when the county seat problem was definitely settled is indicated by the following circumstance.
The circumstance referred to is connected with the pre-emp- tion claim which was laid over the soil of the present site of Deca- tur, by James Proctor, in 1854, and the designs he had in view in making his location at this particular point. It is said that Colonel Bishop was behind Proctor as the advising factor in deciding him to locate where he did, and that Bishop explained
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COUNTY SEAT CONTEST.
to Proctor his preconceived plans for the selection of his (Proe- tor's) proposed pre-emption as the future site for the county seat town. Proetor's reward was to be an enhancement of the value of his property, as a result of the location of the town upon it, but it was agreed that Proctor was to donate sixty acres to the county for the town site.
These preliminary steps were taken by the far-sighted and shrewd Bishop in 1854, three years prior to the contest which came up in 1857, and found Bishop many moves ahead of the other contestants in the race.
The race was started off by half-a-dozen candidate places, all strongly backed by zealous supporters, which is conelusive that no locality possessed sufficient natural attraction to win the general regard.
Some of these locations are described as follows: Howell and Allen's Store vicinity, Isbell Springs, a locality about one and a half miles northwest of Decatur, in the neighbor- hood of Mrs. Henry Greathouse's farm; the Finley place, known now as the Jess Carpenter place, which lies east, on the out- skirts of Deeatur. The exact geographical center of the county was also put forward.
But the strongest opposition encountered by Bishop in his fight for the hill on which he had set his heart came from the Deep Creek settlement, whose people, reinforced by those of Halsell Valley and surrounding country, chose a location in Halsell Valley and prosecuted a vigorous and earnest cam- paign in its favor. This location lies a mile or so south of Decatur in the vicinity of the old Halsell farm.
The fight was now on and is deseribed as being of a truly bitter and partisan nature, and elings in the minds of the pioneers as a stirring and dramatic occurrence, replete with animosity and antagonism, and all those violent passions which aeerue to a contest wherein rugged, elemental men are placed in opposition to each other.
Chief among the backers of the Halsell Valley site were Sam Woody and Ben Crews, from the last of whom the contest was to derive a seetion of its historical name, the remainder spring- ing from that of Colonel Bishop, eventuating in the contest be-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
coming known as the "Bishop-Crews County Seat Contest," its current designation in the minds of the pioneers.
Two opposing factions developed from this fight which made their influence felt in all the political battles of the remaining years of the pioneer period.
The contest now narrowed down to a struggle between the north and south parts of the county, with the Hopkins County delegation supporting Bishop on the one hand, and the citizens of Deep Creek and contiguous settlements supporting Halsell Valley on the other.
Finally the vote was cast, and so divided was it that the choice fell, by chance, and unexpectedly, to one of the weaker candidates, with Bishop's hill-top a close second. But for- tunately for the latter and those who assisted him, certain ir- regularities were discovered in one of the voting boxes, re- sulting in its being thrown out, and leaving the choice to fall victoriously into the hands of Bishop, whereupon, to celebrate his achievement, he raised the stars and stripes to flutter gaily over the soil to which he had anchored his hopes and dedicated a long and hotly contested battle.
Numerous attempts followed to change the decision of the election, but Bishop and his friends, persistent and equal to all emergencies, weathered every adverse gale and kept the de- cision anchored to its first moorings.
BISHOP LAYS OUT THE TOWN OF TAYLORSVILLE.
The hill prominence having been definitely chosen as the place for the county seat, Mr. and Mrs. James Proctor followed by deeding sixty acres of their claim of 160 acres, to the county for the town site. The elause of the deed reciting the consideration reads as follows: "For value and for the consideration of having our land and property increased in value by having the county seat of Wise County located near our residence, have this day donated, released and conveyed unto Win. S. Oates, Justice of Wise County, and his successors in office, for the sole use and benefit of the county of Wise," etc. These original sixty acres, known as the Proctor addition, have their corners presently
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BISHOP LAYS OUT TOWN OF TAYLORSVILLE.
defined in Decatur, as follows: The S. E. corner at the home of D. W. Frazer; the S. W. corner at the residence of Mrs. R. M. Collins; the N. W. corner at the old Blythe place in Northwest Decatur, and the N. E. near J. H. Cates' place in Northeast Do- catur. Lines properly connecting these corners would define the original Proctor donation.
Colonel Bishop now assumed active charge of the details of locating and laying out the town, which was to rest on the bald hill of the prairie. These labors were in conformance with the designs he had in view, designs which comprehended the evolu- tion of the high prominence into a precise and consistently ar- ranged plat of the town. No haphazard locations and settle- ments such as are common to new towns, were to be made, so long as Bishop's brain surged with dreams and ideas of a more highly perfected result. To his natural endowments of taste and orderly mind, Colonel Bishop brought to the task before him the garnered observations of broad travel and the experi- ence of metropolitan life, which intangibles he worked into the ground plan of the county capital of Wise County.
The archstone of his idea was the limited level space which constitutes the crest of the hill in question, and which is now the public square at Decatur, which admits an uninterrupted and superb view of all the surrounding country. This he de- signed to form into a square, with the business houses facing from the four sides upon it, and with two main streets radiat- ing from each of its four corners. Some day he hoped that a magnificent temple of justice would be raised in the center of his beloved square.
The details of the plan of laying out were made after the town of MeKinney, in Collin County, which town Colonel Bishop had visited and whose plan he admired.
Now he was about to apply the practical touches to the con- summation of the dream for which he had striven and fought all these years. He gained authority from his friend, Justice Oates, to lay out the town in accordance with his own plans, after which he repaired to his farm on Sweetwater and made a large supply of burr-oak stakes, nicely hewn and painted on one side. With the aid of these, the work of surveying was
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