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1OLYLOP.7 7ioneer
:Kiss -ffie Cowan, P,
McLennan County, Texas.
District No. 8
No. of words 1,2b0
File No. 240
Page No. 1
_Reference
Interview with Jamce ()liver Billingsley, 'Whits Pioneer, Merlin, Texas.
"Uy father, James oliver Billingsley, wee a son of Hezeklah Billingsley,
and was born in Hinds County, Nississippi, March £7#11, 1828. VT grandfather,
Be7ekinh Tlillingsley, was a descendent of ''cotch ancestry, who emigrated •to
Vnlon r7ounty, North Caroline in the year l7515. My grandmother, Ierush Lang,
was the daughter of Alliam tang, of Chesterfield district, South. Carolina,
who WRE one of the bold riders in Captain Francis Merlons' famous cavalry
oomand in the Rrl-tionary Ier.
0Cr,Aamother Was the sister of Allis, ftephen and illiamAs Lang of
Wayne Countiv, Vississippi, end lived for several years with the family of
-General leap, finally settling in the city of Jackson, Minds
County, lere; rrendfather iillin,crsley died in 1842.. He left two children,
e daughter, ;roline, who wee married to F:amuel Cole end who moved to Cass
County, Isxs, end a son James Boliver, my father, who was thirteen ,:ears
of a e It the tIe of prendfathers death.
"soon fter the death of grandfather Billingsley, my uncle General
William A. Lang moved aiy mother and my father to his house in Ilsyne County,
where they becairie mere,hers of the feadly. My father was treated as a son
lend my uncle illiem pave him the cw,e consideration as his own children.
To wy uncle and 'As wife ;my father and 14 grandmother was indebted for s
horde and all the core end kindness that could be showered upon the My
grandmother Billingsley died in 1847.
FOLYLOJE White Pioneer
!Ass Effie Cowan, 1. h.
McLennan County, Tcxas.
District No. 8
File No. P40
Page No. 2.
°my father was sent to the common schools of the county and then placed
in Montrose Academy, under the Rev. John N. Waddle, where he remained until
the death of his mother. At that %I e there wLre private finishinr schools
in the state, it was the custom for young men and women to attend these
schools. His preference wee for the industrial pursuits.
"Tn 1849, General Long tiled but father still remained in the family,
end in let0, his uncle John ttolls Billingsley died, leflvinp him .en estate
of about '5,000. ith this suri and such contributions as were mede to him
by his cousins, the Len's, he commenced business as 8 farmer. Tn November,
of 18t0, he was united in marriage to ,iss irginie C. thaw, daughter of
Judge 'haw and his wife maryllis "law, of ayne county, Vississivpi.
To them care born six children, I Vie the only one who lived to mature years.
°At the battle of Vol Verde during the war between the states, father's
cousin, Captain Willis Lang, who had raised a company at Merlin, end was
mortally wounded at this battle, left the Bre7os bottom plantation to my
father, in a will he made before he left to enter the Confederate service.
And in November of 1865 my father moved from Mississippi to Fells County
Texas where he took possession of this estate. His success as a farmer was
complete. At one time it was said of him that he was the largest tax -payer
in Falls County. The tribute paid by his friends was ell any one could
desire. After his death my mother moved to Neco where we lived for a few
years end later moved to rerlin end lived until her death in 19r2. She wee
buried in the family cemetery near the town of Perry,' where my father end
the children lie.
'Captain "tillis Lang vio bequeathed his estate to my father, who was
his vourin end whose relationship were as brothers, was born November Peth,
in 1839. He was the son of General William Lang, who was a native of
FOLKLORE 'Mite Pioneer
Mies 'Effie Cowen, P. W.
McLennan County, Texas.
District No. 8
File No. 240
Page No. 3
South. Carolina. They were perents of five children, Clement D. Albinos, who
was married to Aillis L. Horne, in 1847; Zerushe E., who wee married to
Thomas Falconer; William end Willis.
°The family moved from South Carotins in 1817, locating near Winchester
in Wayne County, ,ississippl. On their way to Mississippi they passed
through the Creek Indian nation who were in hostility to the whites at that
time. After many narrow eseapes they reached their destination end settled
on a plantation as farmers. They were owners of slaves and the plantation
was a typical one of the Old Cbuth. Captain Willis was reared at home,
receiving his preliminary education et the plantation school. When he
reached suffioient age he wee sent to Oxford, where he was graduated with
honors. He lived about home for a time, then entered the law office of his
brother-in-lsw, Mr. Falconer, of Alabama and began reading law.
"fter the death of his father he returned home end gave his attention
to raising cotton on the home plantation. This he continued for two years
but without success on account of the proper rainfall. He decided to try
a ner eountry and with seventy-five slaves he started for Texas end located
in Falls County in the Bre7os bottom, tWelve miles from the town of Norlin,
he brought e complete out -fit for opening up a new plantation, mechanics,
farming implements, teams etc. he was audoessful in his operations, and
lived in rosierIty, with occessional scouting trips, such as when he joined
a company of rangers in 1860, at Aco, Texas, under Captain I. v. Fmith,
enswerinr a cell of Covernor houston to pursue, repel and punish the Indians
mersudinp upon the frontier of Texas."
FOLKLORE White Pioneer
Miss Effie Cowen, P. W.
Motormen County, Texas.
ristriat No. 8
File No. ro
Pegs No. 4
"".hen the war between the states came on he reisede company known as
Company B. Fifth Texas Cavalry, Army of the Confederate flatus of America.
Before taking pert in the war he made his will and gave my father the Brimos
bottom plantation and to vise Ida Anders, a daughter of James Anders, twenty
thousand dollars. She later married L. B. Chilton, now deceased, Copt. Lens
never married.
"General Ailliam Lang, the father of Captain illie, was a native of
Wales end emigrated to the United ftotes at an early day end some of the
descendents are still living in South Caroline end Mississippi.
"The wife of James Bolivar Billingsley was Maude Sparks from Johnson
County and James Bolivar 131.11inpsley had one son, J. Allen Billingsley born
at Merlin, Texas, JPnuery P9, 1909, end he still lives at Marlin. The mother
of James Bolivar Billingsley moved from her home in vaelo to Merlin in 1901.
She died in 1VT. James Bolivar Billinreley, wife and son are all that are
left of the Billingsley
A a child I can remember our life on the plantation in the Borzoi
bottom. It was a wonderful hunting ground end the Morrison family, the
Ross family, runklins, ullins, end the Cokes families, each had their
plantation homes, we had our little community schools and church, 7 can
remember well the brush arbor meetings, as we called them, in the summer,
how the people up and down the river oame from tar end near and would camp
for the whole time of the protracted meetings. There was old brother
deceesed, one or the first Baptiet ministers in this section of
the country who often preached for us and later Dr. B. B. Carroll, deceased,
who would come from Naco to help in these meetings.
Wive little Cowan, v.
VoLennan ounty, Texae.
Pistrict NC. 8
FAXIORE -111te Pioneer File No. P40
Page No. 5
"I have often heard my fetter tell of (:)IN the country was so thinly
settled when Captain long Caine to the Prams bottom long before the war
between the states. The nearest trading post was the old Torrey Brothers
store farther up on the Tehuscana Creek. This was later owned end oper-
ated by Ceorr-e Bernard and celled Bernardo Store. Waco wee just a little
village eWi it ras many years before the first railroad was built into
rMiE WOE the 1;ouston and Texas Central and was built in just a few
miles of the plantation in le7o, I believe. After the railroad was built
tiA':.)wh the country, tne neareet toet office for many years was Ferry.
ILis ww, before the town of diesel was located. The stook men and planta-
tion -owners eA.1:ped their stock flnd ootton by rail from floo end Varlin
after tis railroad was built.
riother old landmark that I have heard my father speak of, was old
Fort Criffin, tliis fort ens established two years after he come to Texas.
Tt was situated on one of the trails over which provision trains end the
oattle drives were mede. 'It one time as mfiny as six thousand federal
troops were stationed here. It grew into a town of two or three thousand
people, sod almost every type of bueiness flourished. "elloons where the
cowboys stored on their way up tl:e trails for e drink end to ramble their
stake at NAcer, hunters who were passing through on their way to market
with their supply of hides end their stories of the close calls with the
Indlans. %:be parade grounds overlooking the clear fork of the Brazos
7-?iver, the buildings used as a jail and stores, now lie in decay end
ruins --a place shut in by big ranches, and just ten miles away, the oil
fields.
FoLYLORE 'Mite Pioneer
Ivies 'ffie Cowan, 1.
McLennan County, Teta..
1:letrict o. 8
File No. P40
Page No. 6
"On the rite of the old fort rows of stones outline whet was once the
hospital and men's quarters. The wells of the adjutants buildings stand
roofless against the sky. Over the hill is the old powder magazine hidden
from view by a clump of trees, 9nd beyond it is the cemetery. Buried in
this cemetery are many of the early citizens who died with their boots on,
as wee the fashion of t ore days. 1 e Masonic Lodge building which was
oonstrw.ted in 18C7; the old calaboose, and a store building are about all
that is left. The Masonic Lodge building now houses a school. Only the
rocks and trees still stand 88 silent sentinels of the past.
"Times were pretty hard at the end of the war between the states,
ace rdinv to my fathers old day book. There wee no salt to be had in
Texas scarcely and the old smoke houses yielded up its treasure of this
article from its dirt floor. The cooking utensils were iron pots and
gourds, water buckets were of buckskin, end terrapin shells were used for
Pleases. Gourd fiddles tok the place of the modern radio during the days
before the war, so Captain Lang wrote to my father on the conditions in
Texas. He recalled a dance he attended when a misunderstanding about who
was to pay the fiddler resulted in the old tune making gourd being smashed.
They dinoed t'r,e rest of the nieht to the tune of music mode with tin pane.
Distance zee no object then even though they did not have any automobiles,
when there we to be anything to attend their Texas mustangs were ell they
needed to pet them where they wanted to go.
"The old '900 7arlin road ren near our house on the Brazos bottom place.
The old atnge passed our house on its way from Waco to merlin, and robberies
were not unoommon. The robb;re had an easy way to make their pet -away in
the river bottom. Our family could often hear the baying of the blood-
WI.TLORE '4hite Pioneer
Miss Effie Cowan, P. w,
McLennan County, Texas.
District No. 8
Tile No. 240
Page No. 7
hounds as the officers were following them in the hunt for escaped bandits,
or prisoners. The fact that there were few banks in the country accounted
for the people carrying their money with them on their travels.
"The road no longer goes by the old home, but passes farther east, to
the new ae arlin highway. where the old rood passed on to the lend of
many n traveller's dreans as they sought a new home, the new highway with
its P4st care as they speed to their fiestinstion. These travellers find
no time for tt,e dreem- those others fund such, pleasure in. And the old
house sits quietly witL its iaemories as it possibly thinks of the families
it h9e sheltered end the travellers for whom it has furnished warmth end
food."