USA > Texas > The history and geography of Texas as told in county names > Part 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21
STERLING.
This county was named for Captain Sterling, of whom we know little or nothing beyond the fact that he was a buffalo hunter and some time in the sixties pitched his camp on a creek in what is now known as Sterling County. Here he hunted buf- faloes for their hides. He shipped the hides to Fort Concho and engaged in the business as long as there were buffaloes in the country. He left that country about 1881 and went to Arizona.
TARRANT.
E. H. Tarrant was born in North Carolina in 1796. He re- moved from there when quite young to Tennessee and served under General Jackson in one or two campaigns against the Indians and participated in the battle of New Orleans, Janu- ary, 1815.
In 1835, he came to Texas and joined the army and at the close of the Revolution in 1836, joined the Ranger service and commanded the forces of the northwestern frontier. In 1838 he was chosen to represent Red River in the Congress of the Republic, but resigned to engage again in command of the Rangers for the protection of the northwestern frontier. His most notable conflict with the Indians was on Village Creek in 1841 in what is now Tarrant County, at a point where the Fort Worth and Dallas Interurban Railroad crosses that stream between Dallas and Fort Worth. He was, after annexation, several times a member of the Legislature and died in Ellis County in 1858.
96
THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS
TAYLOR.
Edward Taylor was one of those typical Tennesseeans that came to Texas, bringing with him his wife, two sons, and two daughters to settle in Robertson's Colony. Arriving at Nash- ville, on the Brazos in 1833, he went up Little River to the Three Forks, about five miles southeast of the present site of Belton and selected a spot for a home.
He built himself two log cabins with a covered passage be- tween and made a clearing, and was making himself and his family comfortable. The nearest settlement to him was sev- eral miles down the river.
One bright moonlight in November, 1835, eleven Indians made an attack upon the house. A stalwart savage presented himself at the door, violently shaking the shutter and demand- ing admittance. Being refused, he said, "Friend, no want to fight. Open door and give poor Indian tobacco."
Taylor replied that there were ten men in the house; that he would open no door, and had no tobacco for red devils, at the same time punching him in the stomach with a board push- ed through the crack. The Indian then left.
Mrs. Taylor threw open the door leading across the hall and called the boys to come to her room, which they did amid a shower of balls and arrows. The doorway was now securely fastened and a table placed against it, upon which the young- est boy, only twelve years old, stood. He was given a gun and instructed to shoot through an open space above the door whenever an Indian came near. A large Indian, who had procured an ax from the woodpile, started toward the door and had reached the place between the two rooms when the child fired and the Indian dropped dead.
Another Indian ran up to drag his body away and the father fired and mortally wounded him. They had now run out of bullets, but there were some coals in the fireplace and Mrs. Taylor and the girls immediately began moulding bullets.
The Indians now set fire to the vacated end of the house and danced with glee in seeing the flames climb up the roof and
97
AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES
to the adjoining room. The joists of the roof over the pas- sage had suspended to them large pieces of fat bear's meat. The burning room soon began to cook the meat, and blazing sheets of oil fell upon the wounded savage and set him afire. Mrs. Taylor, seeing this from the inside and listening to the agonizing howls of the savage said: "Howl, you yellow brute. Your meat is not fit for the hogs but will roast for the buz- zards."
Seeing that the house was about to be consumed, Taylor expressed a wish to go out and surrender, but Mrs. Taylor would not consent. Fortunately there was a supply of home- made vinegar and plenty of milk in the house, and with it she declared she could put out the fire. She mounted a table, from which she could reach the roof, and the boards not being nail- ed, she began to tear them away, making open space far in ad- vance of the flames. She mounted the table and had her daughters pass her the fluid with which she soon quenched the flames.
During all this time the savages were yelling and shooting arrows at her and while many entered her clothing she es- caped unharmed. Mr. Taylor and his oldest boy were also during this time shooting at the Indians as they came within reach, wounding one severely. When Mrs. Taylor came down from the roof she discovered an Indian in the outer chimney corner trying to start a fire. Seizing a shovel she threw it full of coals into his face. Seeing their plans defeated, with two of their braves barbecued, they retired and held council of war and decided to retreat.
THROCKMORTON.
Dr. William Edward Throckmorton, in whose honor this coun- ty was named was the son of a revolutionary soldier, and was born in Virginia in 1795. He was reared and educated there and graduated in medicine in 1817. He practiced medicine there several years and was married to Elizabeth Webb. About the year 1821, he moved to Tennessee and located at Sparta, where he practiced his profession until 1837 when he remov- ed with his family to Arkansas and located at Fayetteville,
7
98
THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS
where his wife died leaving five children, one of whom was James Webb Throckmorton, who became Governor of Texas, in 1866.
In 1840 he was married a second time and in the winter of 1841-2 moved to Texas and settled on the east fork of Trin- ity River about ten miles north of the present town of Mc- Kinney. He and several other parties who came with him were the first settlers of that region which was at that time infested with Indians, who robbed, murdered and committed many outrages upon the settlers. This was about five years before the County (Collin) was created. He practiced med- icine there and in the settlements within reach until his death in 1843.
TITUS.
This county was named for A. J. Titus, a native of Tennes- see. He was born in Rutherford County on March 4, 1823. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, and at the close of the Revolutionary War moved to North Carolina, and from there to Tennessee in 1800. In 1832, James Titus, the father, was employed by the United States Government to assist in removing Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians to Indian Terri- tory. Young Titus accompanied them and stopped about fif- teen miles north of the site of the present town of Clarks- ville in Red River County. After visiting various parts of Texas they returned to Tennessee, and in 1839 they came to Texas and settled twelve miles east of the site of the present town of Clarksville and opened up a farm and also established the first postoffice in the county. A. J. Titus was an active advocate of annexation; opened the first road from Red River County to Jefferson, then the head of navigation. He built the first Presbyterian church in that part of Texas and organized the A. J. Titus Lodge of Masons. He was a Royal Arch Mason and Knight Templar. He was a soldier in the Mexican War. Later he was a member of the Legislature. Between 1846 and 1855, the year of his death, he spent the larger part of his time in Austin and Washington. He was one of the most public spirited and useful citizens of the State.
99
AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES
WILBARGER.
Josiah Wilbarger, was born in Rockingham County, Vir- ginia, September 10, 1801, and with his father's family moved to Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1818. In 1823 the family moved to Pike County, Missouri, where he was married.
With his brother, Mathias, he came to Texas in 1829. In the spring of 1830, Stephen F. Austin came to his "Little Col- ony" on the upper Colorado with two surveyors and some im- migrants who had already been there and selected locations. After Josiah and Mathias had their locations identified and their lines established, they went to work and erected log cabins and opened up farms. The location was at the junc- tion of what is now known as Wilbarger Creek and the Col- orado River, in Bastrop County, about twenty-six miles south- east of Austin. They were the first and only outside settlers until July, 1832, when Reuben Hornsby came up and occupied his league of land, on the same side of the river about eight miles from the site of the present city of Austin, his land be- ing mostly beautiful, fertile bottom land.
Hornsby, being now the outside settler, his home became a great place of rendezvous for prospectors and general gather- ings of young men who frequently came up and organized into parties to hunt wild game, then abounding all over the country.
Hornsby was a most hospitable man and his wife a most excellent housekeeper. In August, 1833, one Christian and wife and several young men were stopping with Hornsby. Two young men, Standifer and Haynie, had just come from Missouri to look at the country. Early in August Josiah Wilbarger came up to Hornsby's, and in company with Christian, Strother, Standifer and Haynie rode out in a northwesterly direction to look at the country, carrying their guns, as was the univer- sal custom. When they had gone about six miles northwest they discovered an Indian, who fled to the mountains. They gave chase as far up as where Duval Station of the Interna- tional & Great Northern Railroad is located, and then aban- doned the pursuit.
100
THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS
Returning, they stopped at noon at a spring to rest and eat lunch. This spring is about three miles from the present City of Austin, and in sight of the road leading to Manor. Wil- barger, Christian and Strother unsaddled their horses and staked them out to graze, while Haynie and Standifer left their horses saddled.
While eating they were suddenly fired upon by Indians. Each man sprang to a tree and returned the fire. The party had fired two rounds when a ball struck Christian and broke his thigh bone. Strother had already been mortally wounded. Wilbarger sprang by the side of Christian, when a ball from an Indian shattered his powder horn. Wilbarger then primed his gun and sprang behind a small tree, when an arrow from an Indian passed through the calf of his left leg, while his other leg was pierced by an arrow. Up to this time Standifer and Haynie had helped to keep up the fight, but when they saw that Strother was mortally wounded and Christian totally dis- abled, they mounted their horses and fled. Wilbarger pleaded with them to take him up on one of the horses, and, wounded as he was, ran to overtake them, when he was struck by a ball from behind which penetrated near the center of his neck and came out on the left side of his chin. He fell, apparently dead. The Indians came up to him, completely stripped him and tore the scalp from his head, all of which he remembered, among other things that the tearing of his scalp from his head sounded like the roar of thunder. The Indians then cut the throats of Christian and Strother, but left Wilbarger for dead.
When Wilbarger regained consciousness the evening was far advanced. He had lost much blood, and his wounds were still bleeding. Consumed by an intolerable thirst, he dragged him- self to a pool of water below the spring, slaked his thirst and lay down in the water for an hour. Although this occurred in the month of August, he had become thoroughly chilled. He crawled out to dry land and soon fell into a profound sleep. When he awoke the blood had ceased to flow, but he was again consumed with thirst, and crawled back to the pool and slaked his thirst.
The flies and maggots were now at work on his wounds, and
101
AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES
as night approached he determined to go as far as he could toward Hornsby's. When he had gone about a third of a mile he sank to the ground exhausted, crawled under an oak tree, well nigh despairing of life. The next day a relief party started out to hunt for his body and those of Strother and Christian, and he was found, presenting a most ghastly sight, all covered with blood and entirely naked except for a sock on one foot, which the Indians failed to take. Mrs. Hornsby had provided the relief party with a sheet for each of the dead bodies, and Wilbarger was wrapped in one of them and placed on Roger's horse, Hornsby mounting behind, holding him with his arms around him to the Hornsby house. His wounds were thoroughly dressed and bear's oil applied to his scalp. Here he was tenderly nursed until able to be carried home. Al- though the scalp never grew entirely over his skull, he sur- vived eleven years, dying at his home in 1844. He left sur- viving him his wife and five children. His brother, Mathias, died a few years later.
CHAPTER V.
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF TEXAS AND EVENTS LEADING TO THE REVOLUTION OF 1835-1836.
When the presidential term of Guadalupe Victoria expired, that long series of revolutions began in Mexico, which have continued, with more or less frequency, down to date. One of the results of the first revolution was the elevation of An- astasia Bustamente to the Presidency. During his term of office the first measures hostile to the interests of Texas were adopted. They resulted in armed conflict in 1832 between the Texans and Mexicans, and but for his overthrow by Santa Anna disastrous consequences to Texas might have followed.
Santa Anna, up to that time a loyal republican, now changed his policy, disregarding the Constitution, reorganizing state governments and finally turning his attention to Texas. The following county names represent every phase of the events leading up to the Texas Revolution.
Archer
Grimes
Rusk
Burnet
Hardeman
Somervell
Carson
Hardin
Waller
Childress
Martin
Wharton
Ellis
Mitchell
Williamson
Fisher
Navarro
Zavala
Grayson
Potter
103
AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES
ARCHER.
This county was named for Branch Tanner Archer, who was born in Virginia in 1780. He studied medicine in Philadel- phia, and for some years was a physician and politician in his native state, where he served one or two terms as a member of the Legislature. In 1831 he came to Texas and became a prominent actor in the move- ments preliminary to the revo- lution. He was appointed by the citizens as a commissioner to negotiate with Bradburn at Anahuac for a modification of the orders issued by the military commanders of Texas. This was his first appearance in public life in Texas. He represented Brazoria County in the conven- tion of 1833, and he announced himself in favor of immediate separation from Mexico. With Stephen F. Austin and W. H. Wharton he was appointed as a commissioner in December, 1835, to visit the United States and enlist financial aid and sym- pathy from that quarter. He was a member of the First Con- gress of the Republic and was elected Speaker of the adjourned session in 1837, and was for a time Secretary of War in Pres- ident Lamar's Cabinet. Although in feeble health in 1845, he was an active advocate of annexation. He died in Brazoria in 1856.
104
THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS
BURNET.
Burnet County was named for David G. Burnet, originally of Newark, N. J., where he was born April 4, 1789. He re- ceived a liberal education and at the age of sixteen years en- tered the counting house of Rob- inson & Hartshorn, New York. Finding this work unsuited to his taste, he joined the expedi- tion of General Miranda to South America. When that ex- pedition failed he returned home and remained there until about 1817, when he removed to Nach- itoches, La. Being threatened with lung trouble, his physician advised him to go into the dry atmosphere of Texas and live outdoors. He went among the Indians of Western Texas and followed their mode of living for a year or two. Recovering his health he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained seven or eight years. He came to Texas in 1826 and obtained, on December 22, 1826, a contract to colonize a large tract of country in East Texas. He sold his rights under this contract to a New York company. He was married in New York in 1831 and returned to Texas. In 1833 he was a member of the convention at San Felipe. In 1834 he was appointed Judge and held court once or twice. In 1835 he was a member of the Consultation. In 1836 he was elected by the Constitutional Convention President Ad Interim of the Republic of Texas, and held the office until the succeeding October. In 1838 he was elected Vice President of the Republic, and at the end of his term retired to his home near the San Jacinto River. He was appointed Secretary of State in 1846. In 1866 he was elected a United States Senator, but was not permitted to qualify as such. He returned to Texas and died in Galveston Decem- ber 5, 1870.
105
AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES
CARSON.
This county was named for Samuel P. Carson, Secretary of State in Burnet's Cabinet. He was born January 22, 1798, at Pleasant Gardens, Burke County, N. C. He was a member of the State Senate of North Carolina for two consecutive terms, and in 1826 became a candidate for Congress from the extreme western district of North Carolina. He was opposed by James Graham, Felix Walker and Dr. R. B. Vance, father of the late Senator Zebulon B. Vance. Carson was defeated. During the canvass Vance charged that Colonel John Carson, father of Samuel P., had been untrue to the colonies in the Rev- olutionary War. He was called upon to retract, and upon his refusing to do so, was challenged to fight a duel, and the chal- lenge was accepted. Carson went over into Tennessee and en- gaged Davy Crockett to drill him in pistol practice. The duel took place at Saluda Gap, in South Carolina, in 1827. Vance fell at the first fire and died at midnight. While public opinion sustained Carson, he ever afterward regretted the affair. He was elected to the United States Congress from that district in 1827, and in 1829 and again in 1831. He was a brilliant and fascinating orator; was a trusted friend of Andrew Jack- son, but, being a Calhoun Democrat, he became estranged, and in his campaign for re-election in 1833 was defeated, his dis- trict being overwhelmingly in favor of Jackson's policies. His health beginning to decline, he came to Texas in 1834 and se- lected a location for temporary residence on Red River. Dur- ing his absence from home his constituency elected him a mem- ber of the Constitutional Convention which was held in North Carolina in 1835. He returned to his native state and served in the Constitutional Convention, and when its labors were over came back to Texas, and in March of the next year was appointed Secretary of State by President Burnet. He was immediately sent upon a diplomatic mission to the United States, the only work, however, he accomplished on that mis- sion being to obtain protection for the settlers in East Texas against the Cherokee Indians. As soon as he heard of the vic-
106
THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS
tory at San Jacinto he tendered his resignation and went to the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee to recuperate his health. He returned to Texas late in 1836 and continued to travel in search of health. He died at Hot Springs, Ark., in 1840.
CHILDRESS.
This county was named for George Campbell Childress, au- thor of the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Texas. He was born in Nashville, Tenn., January 8, 1804. He was a son of Elizabeth Robertson Childress and James Chil- dress, his mother being a niece of General James Robertson, the founder of Nashville, Tenn. Through the influence of his uncle, Major Sterling C. Robertson, the empresario, he came to Texas in 1832 and located at Nashville, on the Brazos, in the colony of Robertson. He was by profession a lawyer, but in the absence of courts he could do little more than act as counselor for the settlers in perfecting their titles to the lands acquired under the colonization laws. In 1836 he was elected a delegate to the convention which declared independence and framed the Constitution of the Republic of Texas. He was a brilliant lawyer and orator, a man of great magnetism, and profoundly versed in political science. These qualities and his record as an ardent advocate for independence commended him to the convention as the proper person to head the committee to draft a declaration. After the adjournment of the conven- tion President Burnet appointed him as a commissioner to go to Washington and present the claims of Texas to President Jackson, the personal friend and Tennessee neighbor of Chil- dress, for recognition as an independent Republic. Childress went to Washington, but had not arrived when the battle of San Jacinto was fought. He remained in Washington until the adjournment of Congress and his mission was ended. Later he returned to Nashville and entered the practice of law. In 1840 he committed suicide at his boarding house. He was never married.
107
AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES
ELLIS.
This county was named for Richard Ellis, who was born in Virginia in 1782, and was liberally educated in that state. He removed to Franklin County, Alabama, about the year 1813, and engaged in the practice of law and planting. He was elected as delegate to the Constitutional Convention which framed the first State Constitution of Alabama in 1819. He was elected Judge of the Fourth Circuit in 1820. At that time and up to 1832, the Supreme Court of Alabama was composed of the Judges of the different circuits. At the end of his term, in 1825, he removed to the Red River section of Texas and en- gaged in cotton planting upon a large scale, in what is now Bowie County. He was chosen a delegate to the convention of March, 1836, which declared independence and framed the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, and was elected Presi- dent of that body and later a member of the Congress of the Republic. After annexation he ceased to take an active inter- est in political affairs, retired to his plantation and died in 1849.
FISHER.
S. Rhoads Fisher, after whom this county was named, was born in Philadelphia in 1795, where he was reared and edu- cated. He removed, about the year 1825, to New Jersey. In 1831 he came to Texas and located at Matagorda, where he engaged in merchandising. In 1836 he was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Convention from Matagorda, participated in all its proceedings and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In the organization of the Cabinet of the reg- ular government, in 1836, he was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Houston and resigned that office in 1837. He resumed his business at Matagorda, and died there in Jan- uary, 1839.
108
THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS
GRAYSON.
Peter W. Grayson was born in 1788 in Kentucky, which was then embraced in Virginia. He sprang from a distinguished family in Virginia, which state also has a county named Gray- son. He was a man of supe- rior culture and was a lawyer by profession. He came to Texas in 1832, bringing with him his slaves, acquired two leagues of land in Matagorda County and opened up a plantation to which he devoted most of his time, as there was little to do in his pro- fession. In 1835, when trouble between Texas and Mexico came to a crisis, he repaired to Gon- zales and joined the army of Texas and became aide to Gen- eral Burleson in November, 1835.
When the provisional govern- ment was organized, in March, 1836, President Burnet selected him as Attorney General in his Cabinet, to succeed David Thomas, who died shortly after his appointment. Later on, President Burnet sent him on a diplomatic mission to the United States. He succeeded Hen- derson as Attorney General in Houston's first Cabinet.
At the close of President Houston's first term as President, Grayson became a candidate to succeed him, with M. B. Lamar and Chief Justice James Collingsworth as opponents. Dur- ing the canvass he returned to Tennessee and committed sui- cide, as did Chief Justice Collingsworth about the same time.
GRIMES.
Jesse Grimes was born in North Carolina in 1788. In 1819 he removed to Alabama and engaged in farming. From there he came to Texas in January, 1829, and located in the region that now bears his name and again engaged in farming. His
109
AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES
educational advantages in early life were meager, but he was a man of great force of character and of strong native intel- lect. He was chosen a member of the convention of 1833 from the municipality of Washington, of which the territory of Grimes County was then a part. In 1835 he was a member of the Consultation; he was also a member of the convention of March, 1836, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Senate of the First Congress and President Pro Tem of the Lower House of the Sixth and Sev- enth Congresses of the Republic of Texas, and Senator in the Eighth and Ninth Congresses. He died on his plantation in Grimes County March 16, 1866.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.