USA > Texas > Wise County > Pioneer history of Wise County; from red men to railroads-twenty years of intrepid history > Part 6
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
begun. The square was staked out precisely on top of the hill, and the streets and lots surveyed in conformance with it. All lines were deliberately and carefully made, as is reflected in the present systematic arrangement of the town.
After the streets and lots had been surveyed and plainly marked, the plat was turned over to the county authorities and Colonel Bishop, having realized his ambitions, stepped aside, his next move being to abandon his home on Sweetwater and locate in the new county capital.
PUBLIC SALE OF LOTS.
A public sale of lots was soon after held. The business lots around the square brought $100.00 each, with the following as some of the buyers: Howell and Allen, south corner lot of west side; Joe Henry Martin, central lot on southwest corner; Dean, south corner, south side; Thos. Stewart, central lot, west side; Colonel Bishop, west corner, north side; Colonel W. H. Hunt and Marshall Birdwell were also buyers.
The county next demanded a courthouse, and being without material to build one, the little building heretofore described as having been built by Henry Martin near Howell and Allen's store was bought, moved to Taylorsville and placed on the north- east corner of the public square. This was the first house to adorn the Decatur hill and was Wise County's first temple of justice.
BEGINNING OF DECATUR.
Now followed the real beginning of the town of Decatur (still called Taylorsville). Three houses were begun simultaneously. One of these by Howell and Allen, who saw the necessity of moving their store to the new town-site. As previously noted this firm had bought the south corner lot of the west side of the square upon which they contracted for a two-story business house, the ground floor to be used by them and the upper story as a lodge room by the Masonic fraternity. Henry and Tom Jennings were awarded the contract to build this house. The second of the three houses was designed as a dwelling for Mr. Howell, to stand on the lot now occupied by the old Ford Weekly, and
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BEGINNING OF DECATUR.
Johnston warehouse just off the northeast corner of the square. George Stevens was the workman employed upon this building. The third house was begun by Electious Halsell on the south corner of the east side of the square, now occupied by the Terrell building and D. W. Frazer's furniture store. This was to be a log structure with two front rooms, sixteen feet square, with a wide hallway between. Shed and side rooms were attached to the rear and standing detached and still further to the rear was the kitchen, in true ante-bellum style. Mr. Halsell designed the building for a tavern, Decatur's first enterprise of the kind. On this Charles and Joe Cates and W. W. Brady began work.
It is not reported that a race for first completion was engaged
AN OLD DECATUR HOME. (J. G. Halsell's Home.)
in by the workmen employed on these pioneer structures, but at all events the last named building was finished in advance of the others and in consequence became the first house erected on the Decatur townsite. The event was celebrated in true pioneer fashion. Mr. Halsell moved into the tavern and gave it an auspicious opening by entertaining with a dance and supper, which was attended by all the aspiring gallants of the county.
The four rude structures resting on the crest of the hill, changed its appearance very greatly, but it was to be made to resemble a village still more by the addition of other buildings. One of these was the old Howell and Allen store which was moved off the prairie and stationed on a lot in the middle of the west block
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
of the square, to be used by Dr. Thomas Stewart as a drug store, known to the people as the "apothecary shop." Dr. Stewart was a native of Illinois and on coming to Taylorsville, found himself the pioneer physician of the village.
Another of these original structures was that erected by Colonel Bishop, who by this time had abandoned Sweetwater and moved to the village where he engaged in selling goods. Colonel Bishop's store was built on the northwest corner of the square where the Jones Dry Goods store now stands. For several years the post office was kept there and continued during the years of the Civil War, with John MeDaniel as the postmaster. V But the first post office of the village was kept in Howell and Allen's, having been retained by the firm as one branch of its business. At this time the mail was still being brought weekly by horseback from Old Alton, in Denton County, and as regu- larly returned. Later on the overland mail route was established as well as regular service between Taylorsville and Ft. Worth, also between Taylorsville and Springtown, Denton and Montague.
The little court room on the northeast corner provided suffi- cient space for the county's meagre business and left a surplus to be rented. This surplus was occupied temporarily by the store supplies of David Cates and P. P. R. Collom, pending the comple- tion for them of a building on the east corner of the south block which they later occupied. Colonel R. M. Collins and Charles D. Cates are named as youthful elerks, the first named being attached to Howell and Allen's store and the latter with Colonel Bishop.
With these preliminary details accomplished the village was established, the event marking the close of the measures of county organization as well as the beginning of Decatur as a town. The original village was called Taylorsville, a name given it, it is said, by Colonel Bishop, who honored General Zachary Taylor in the naming. This name was retained until January 7, 1858, when Colonel Bishop, as a member of the legislature, secured the adoption of a resolution which officially changed the name from Taylorsville to Decatur, from which (late the village became known by the latter designation. A pretty story is told in relation to this circumstance which is
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BEGINNING OF DECATUR.
here described, not as a historical faet, but as a traditional report. It is that Colonel Bishop sought to change the name of the county seat because Zachary Taylor had turned Whig in politics, which views comported not at all with Bishop's, which were radically Democratic. The incident, if true, is illustrative of the strong prejudicial nature of Colonel Bishop, a trait of mind which he is known to have possessed.
The language of the legislature creating the change is as follows : "Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, that the name of the town of Taylorsville, in Wise County, be, and the same is hereby changed to that of Decatur, and that all writs and process, records and proceedings of whatever na- ture and kind, returnable or relating to the courts or other tribunals of Wise County, shall be as valid and binding in law and equity, as if no change had been made in the name of the said town. And that this act take effect from its passage."
The name, Decatur, said by Mrs. Edward Blythe, the surviving daughter of Colonel COMMODORE DECATUR. Bishop, to have been sug- gested to Bishop by Mrs. Bishop, his wife, is derived from that of Commodore Stephen Decatur, the American admiral of the revolutionary period, to whom a sketch is elsewhere devoted.
Wise County at this period was fortunate in not being incum- bered with a criminal class of any consequence, upon account of which no jail was deemed necessary. At least accounts no special provisions were made for the detention of the breakers of law. Whenever detention became necessary resort was had to
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
unoccupied buildings wherein prisoners were bound and chained to the stout door plates and guarded, if the infractions charged against them merited extreme measures of watchfulness. No jail building was constructed for some time afterwards, and when built, was made a tight frame structure, located on a lot near the present water works.
FIRST SCHOOL, CHURCH AND OTHER BEGINNINGS AT DECATUR.
Decatur's pioneer school was taught in the little log house that stood on the lot now occupied by the City Hotel. The house had formerly been the dwelling of W. S. Hoag and rested on the banks of Walnut Creek some two miles south from Decatur. In 1857 it was torn down and brought to Decatur, where it was made into a dwelling-place for David Cates, following whose death it remained unoccupied. Here in the fall and winter of 1857, Frank Pettit, a young Tennessecan, lately come out, con- ducted a school, having for his pupils the few children of the village. He was succeeded by Mrs. Salmon, a kinswoman of Colonel W. H. Hunt, who had come from England to Cactus Hill and from there to Decatur. Mrs. Salmon was a woman of high culture. Schools in various places were conducted in Decatur during this period, the sessions being confined to empty build- ings and residences. The first school, church and lodge building was built at a later date near where the Methodist Church in Decatur now stands and was large enough to accomodate a large school attendance on the lower floor and the lodge room of the Masonic fraternity above. The various church denomina- tions of the village held alternate services in the building.
Decatur did not attain to much importance as a school center until following the war.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
Among the early incidents of the life of the youthful county- seat it is remarked that the first lawyer to arrive and set up shop was a gifted young man from Red River County, Wm. Ellette, by name, who latterly so far ingratiated himself into the general esteem as to be chosen to succeed Colonel Bishop in the legisla-
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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES,
ture. Quite singular also is it that the town's second luminary of the law, Robert Graham, also of Red River County, was to go to the legislature as the successor of Ellette.
In addition to Dr. Thomas Stewart, previously described as the pioneer physician, there were two others, Dr. Wm. Renshaw, of Tennessee, and Dr. James Stuart, who soon moved in to be- come permanent residents and practitioners. The village found considerable trouble in distinguishing between the two Dr. Stuarts, when occasion made such desirable, and a solution of the difficulty was found in attaching such descriptive titles to the respective gentlemen as would end in their being discrimi nated, one from the other. Dr. Thomas Stewart was of a sandy complexion and to him was given the name of "Sorrel" and to Dr. James Stuart, who sported a flowing black beard was given the name of "Black." "Sorrel Doc" and "Black Doc" are now common references in the old settler's talk.
On October 28, of the year 1859, the first birth of a white child occurred in the village. Mr. and Mrs. Elmore Allen at that time lived in the house now occupied by Charles D. Cates, on East Main Street, and in the southwest corner room of this house Benjamin Franklin Allen was born on the above date. Mr. Allen is at present a popular cashier in the Herring Na- tional Bank of Vernon, to which latter place he removed from Decatur some years ago. He married Miss Stella Cates, daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Clabe Cates, original Wise County citizens. The room in which the pioneer infant of Decatur was born remains unchanged.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
BEN F. ALLEN. (First White Child Born in Decatur.)
CHAPTER IX. SECOND VILLAGE IN THE COUNTY ESTABLISHED PRAIRIE POINT.
Taylorsville, which in 1857, became Decatur, and Prairie Point remained the principal villages of the county during the period that preceded the war. Outside of these there were no places where supplies could be bought, with the exception of the little store which Samuel L. Terrell kept for awhile on Catlett Creek.
Prairie Point was the original of the present town of Rhome and was recruited from a neighborhood of Missourians, who by 1857, had come in such numbers as to justify a market in their midst. Among the citizens reported living in the vicinity at that date are Samuel Sheets, John Kerr, Ben Haney, Judge W. S. Oats, Thornton Huff, John Boyd, Dr. Marshall, John Morris, Zebediah B. Carroll and Moffat, the latter of whom the Indians afterwards killed. Because the most of these were originally from the state above mentioned the name "Missouri Community" was given to the region. A small store had been set up to supply the needs of the people.
The land on which Rhome now stands was taken up in the fall of 1857 by Samuel Sheets, who in the spring of 1858 laid out a town and named it Prairie Point. On the day that the platting and surveying was being done a general fight occurred on the scene which prompted one of the wits of the community to sug- gest the name of "Scuffletown" for the new village, but the suggestion met the fate which is commonly meted out to projects which haven't the semblance of practicability about them.
Samuel Sheets' dwelling stood near where the Decatur and Ft. Worth road and Denton and Weatherford stage route, inter- sected, and was called the "Cross-Roads Tavern," because ac- comodation was provided travelers there.
Among the first storekeepers were Henry Patton, the grocer, and - Stevens, who ran a drug store. In about 1859 Tom Allen and brother opened another store. Prairie Point was the center of the Wise County Peace Party rebellion, a dramatic in- eident to be later described.
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6
CHAPTER X.
ANALYSIS OF THE CITIZENSHIP-STUDY OF THE TIMES AND THE MANNERS-PROBLEMS AND CONDITIONS.
The foregoing descriptions have prepared the way for the gen- eral remarks to be introduced under the above heads. Consti- tuting a discursive comment on the people, their characteristics, modes and manners and the problems and conditions of the times, the chapter is planned to throw an illuminating light over the most important part of the pioneer life. The remarks here presented are intended to comprehend the full preliminary years of the county history, a lapse of time during which no radical changes occurred in the character of the population nor in the elemental problems to be solved.
It is true, there followed many stressful years during which violent outside factors and forces interposed a changed order of events which necessitated the formation of new policies and measures, but these on fading away left the people where prima- rily they had stood, with their old selves unaltered and with no variations having occurred to the quality of the times. An every day life of the people and the character of the people themselves, as were revealed in the actual working out of the settlement of the county is intended to be conveyed by these remarks. The hour is favorable to the purpose. It is a time of dreamy repose and the people and the times fall naturally into poses and con- ditions essential to being viewed in their true situations.
Speaking generally of the citizenship it will accord with the facts to state that the old South furnished the majority of the population, with the second best represented section lying on what was fast erystalizing into the border between the North and South. North and South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama sent forth sturdy sons, innoculated with pro-slavery views, to set up here institutions patterned after those of the land from which they had departed. The border states, Tennes- see, Kentucky and Missouri, were also well represented. From the far North, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York, had come
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ANALYSIS OF THE CITIZENSHIP.
a few to tint the prevailing political atmosphere with unwonted color. Scattered over the country were to be found a small sprinkling of Kansan's and other middle westerners and still others from the remaining non-slave holding states. These latter were of Northern sympathies and in the great crisis to come, consti- tuted the small minority here which arose to dispute the sway of the local elements of the Confederacy.
But with the exception of a few slaves, all who came were Americans. Wise County has ever remained singularly free from the infusion of foreign blood into her pure and sturdy American stock.
Reverting to a more intimate view of the characteristics of the people as these were manifested, the writer readily disclaims the power to act in full accordance with the implied responsibility. To do so would be to transcend the whole complex system of human manifestations, an emergency in this instance not to be met; "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."
There were, however, certain well-defined traits and tendencies peculiar to the pioneer individuality, which attempt will here be made to portray.
The ideal human character has many shining virtues and attributes, but what one of them is brightest and the most potent for good remains for the recording angels to judge. If there is a virtue that outsplendors, rugged honesty, then the brightest gem in the diadem of the old pioncer is bedimmed. Honesty that not only applies to word of mouth but to every act and deed in which self and others are concerned, is here implied. And does not this comprehend the virtues of charity, which is understood to be the greatest of all? Rugged honesty, the kind that does not present a rose in which a thorn is hidden. An officially unclassified species of honesty, about which there can be no garnish, nor decoration, no dissimulation. A steely pointed frankness that goes straight to its target, but does not wound because it is not poisoned.
The exigencies of the times generated this virtue in the bosoms of the pioneers. Among the sparse population, those of doubtful and suspicious characters were easily detected and accorded those extreme measures of correction which small
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
bodies of honest men commonly visit upon betravers discovered in their ranks. Those who tried to live contrary to the high standard of morals in the community found themselves swiftly isolated from that freedom of association and general esteem which is not only the yearning of every human breast, but a vital essential to individual happiness. Thus shut out, and with every hand turned against them, the violaters of the law, both human and divine, found themselves forced to the necessity of seeking more hospitable elimes where their nefarious practices were regarded with a more tolerant degree of consideration.
It is due to the operation of this code that the criminal record of the pioneer period is of inconsiderable proportions, hardly justifying any comment. A material proof of the general reverence for law and order exists in the failure of the county to provide a jailhouse for the detention of malefactors, an expedieney which was deemed unnecessary.
The pious nature of the average pioneer has been alluded to, so that a backward glance cast into the gathering dusk of that far time is privileged to alight on numerous of the virtues that shine forth resplendently. Hospitality is discovered existing in its ideal state. That which has been said of the pre-eminent virtue, honesty, can with truthfulness be ascribed to this second crowning quality of the original settlers-that it was genuine. No people of any age, time or country, has surpassed the people of that era for the degree of sympathy and thoughtfulness which neighbor accorded unto neighbor and citizen unto stranger. The boundless generosity of their hearts stands as a reproach to these latter times of selfishness and greed.
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Both simplicity and unaffectedness of manner adorned the pioneer character. The speech was direet and the dress plain. The prevalence of these qualities countenanced no class dis- tinctions and resulted in all men being esteemed in degrees pro- portionate to the sterling qualities possessed by them. Thus substance remained in ascendency above the seeming, suspended there by the faculty that "looks through the show of things to things themselves."
Thrift and intelligence constitute two other qualities which heightened the personal worth of the citizens of this era. Both
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ANALYSIS OF THE CITIZENSHIP.
sprang from a restricted environment in which men's wits were sharpened as a means of escape from dire want and impoverish- ment.
One other prominent trait of character will be mentioned. Described as a turn for practical joking, it might further be elucidated as the humorous sense of the people bursting forth from its fetters. The character of the times provided little in the way of amusement and entertainment, and the people fell upon their own resources instead. Joking and prank-playing were the inevitable accompaniments of whatever else was occurring whenever men gathered together. In the midst of their fortitude and troubles the people evinced a cheerfulness and bravery that brought them to see the bright side of every clark picture.
Recurring to a thoughtful consideration of the environment and of the people, as each reacted on the other, it is only by guaging the past with the present that a satisfactory idea can be gained of the conditions of the remoter period. And at the outset he that has the task of guaging before him is confronted with the temptation to exaggerate in favor of the by-gone era, which seems to furnish so much that is representative of the best in human nature. Glancing back, one's eyes fall on a big, whole- some and cheery life, with nature in her true and undefiled state as a background. We find a man-making, character-building atmosphere, the parallel of which will not again exist unless new planets are invaded, and new, strange and wild countries are thrown open to settlement. Absorption in its study becomes intensified because of the refreshing appeal made to our human kind love of nature and natural manifestations from all objects endowed with the capacity of expression; it is absorbing because of its utter contrast to modern modes of living; because of the reality of the life lived; because of the revelation as to how man would live, uneribbed and unconfined by civilization's later usages, conventions and restrictions: because it shows how far man has departed from plain living and high thinking; lastly, because it was the apotheosis of the simple life.
It was an experience common to American life; had been en- acted in every State in advance of civilization, and chronicled
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
in every history, but its commonness is growing increasingly rare-yea, has faded away from the earth, and is deserving of being perpetuated in every record in nature historical. Some one has suggested that " its passing must be noted with respect and appreciation of what we owe to it."
Should the hurrying present pause sufficiently long to pass in retrospect the life lived by the forefathers, many inspiring examples would be the reward. Doubtless we should become impressed with the evidences of economy everywhere prevailing. The home and farm stood aloof from all connection with the pro- ducing and providing world beyond, except that unreliable and expensive mode of slow-moving ox team, transportation, from which state of affairs the habit of economy and home production was developed. To live and to enjoy life the people fell upon their own resources in providing the articles necessary to existence which ended in its becoming a purely homespun and home producing age.
" Nothing will ever be again as in the old times," says one ;* and continuing: "We see men elad in the wool clipped from their own flocks, women wearing the product of their looms; and at once we know their industrial order, their manner of life, and their virtues. The thread from the home spindle is the clue to every passage in their civilization. With great zest the orator shows how in an age of homespun there are flocks of sheep in the pastures, spinning wheels buzzing and looms thwacking in the house, and how food as well as clothing is produced on the farm, with the slight exception that the lads must go on horse- back to mill; how families thrive in sturdy independence of the world, but united in the closest domestic co-operation and affection; how character grows frugal, austere, honest; how common ideals and an approximate equality favor friendly intercourse; how thrift is linked to intelligence and establishes the school; how these sturdy traits culminate in the earnest discharge of duty towards the infinite source of all good in solemn and heart searching worship."
* L. Anderson, in "The Country Town"; remarks based on an address en- titled "The Age of Homespun" delivered by Horace Bushnell.
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ANALYSIS OF THE CITIZENSHIP.
At this time economic independence was necessary because of the absence of rail transportation. As revealed in the intro- duction, railroad building in the State was in the infancy of its development, and overland hauling of goods, wares and mer- chandise to the frontier from the ports of entry, an average distance of 200 miles, was too expensive a process to be accorded a place of absolute reliance. Where the produce of the farmers could not be sold, and where merchandise could not stand the high rate of transportation, the people had no recourse but to raise their own raw materials and convert them by hand into useful articles. The settlement in reaching maturity before the time of the railroads thus became a typically homespun civilization. The people attained through sacrifices, self denials, and self resourcefulness, a remarkable strength, capability and dignity of character which should be the envy of the best races of mankind. The women, free from the bondage of fashion and convention, evolved into sane and healthy types of woman- hood, equal to the task of accomplishing their part of the duties of the hour.
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