Document text
VA.t..R1...0eite Pioneers
etas gins Cowan, F.*.
Matiennan County, Texas
District No. e
Interview S. ..,radlay. Jroesbeok. Texas.
ro. words 2,000
File No. 240
Page No. 1
I am of Scot.th Irish descent and was born in Fentuoky during the Civil ar. I atter-dad
such schools as the 74:)unt.,- afforded 4.1 lab -,red on a farm. ile I was a. young boy, es oame
to :jexas, soon after the war ended. No same in sovered wagons
rd I havo limed jr Lieeetons
'..lount, since we cams here. I attended Thornton Institut* throe yieNrs; taught school three
years and then practieed lam oontinuoisly. I studied len at n10t. OS Saturday. Sudsy and on
halide s. I stol t.'!* exa'nailer for V., tar a d was lisseneJld to practice. wrote
several articles or, Alit* :moral Practice lard Published a be -A on•TOZAAkractice.
For more ban thirt; ears, I have been a member of the, American ear Association and woe
I -resident of t.,.J3 Texas Bar Association. Mile I have novel been a eanlidate for office, I
was elected as t.e first wfor of .4nesbeck .01(1:Jr its rei-organisation 1.7; an ex-t3mpors
contest.' I hav(1 served, by ap ointment of th,1 cvernment a d b, election of thl ar. on 41t
the loll ourts the: Aate and have solinod regular aprointmente on them.
,7AJCW Ar!I rr %Iv .4rxr 7uNry
en Li ostons -"Aunty MKS created and named, it embraced all or its present territory
and also that later team e i4reestome County. Opringfield as made county seat. rho
greut,r cart of Om eastern emotion of the 7.ounti was owned kJ lexicon citivens who were in-
ter,Jeted ineellin land. This resulted in a more rar.id evelopovint of this section. There-
fore. the greatr number of the first settlements were in the eastern part of the county and
outside of the towns, ecaztee of theirandy fA.,mation and the hear,- timber for protection of
N,stock, also, b•,calee of. the slivly of watA• at shallow depth. About the time that steel
plows an,j barbed Are mites Into use, the black land in the western ;-art of the Iounty began
to be cal4ivated and that part of the comity settled rapidly and was put under the plow.
"After tt.e. ,,.nded at Jkvomatox, te onfeisrates returned to their homes
broken in health and ir fortun, but strse in their ;?atriotie determination to begin all
oversgaioi which. with Ole basistance of such mon as lovernor ';oke and !Mail on, would have
succeeded quickly had it not beer for the mwmies of the 5-uth and the ?linkee elemont of
designing politicians who lived by the misfortune* of the south. These' swooped like vultures
roLia.cait. -bite Fioneers
oiss zIfitli Cowan, 11„,,
McLain's* County, rotas
Distrist No. 8
Fit. No. 240
Page No. 2
upon the patriotio, but misguided South.
'About tlie time my parents removed from Kentucky to Texas, Limestone ;aunty was
the *alter of the storm 7f Reconstruction. When the radieal element in Congress over..
powered the i-resident and disenfranchised practically the entire white population of the South
they gavotte vrAid to the Ignorant, black, es -slaves and a few less worthy white renegades.
The people of the county suffered frms the .be. and domineering of the Carpet baggers
as white poispl have eldon suffered. Thee. Anises have often been recited. :he actors,
with few exceptions, have now answered th last roll call. Under Providential guidanee,
we have wonderfall reconstructed and rebuilt that which we had lost. The blacks, aloe with
the white people, suffered as the; have not suffered since. There is told the story of
many a bleak who was misled into trouble by the carrot baggers, and renngade whites. Thy
had their dens in the banks of the Nismoota iiver, and ons, Merrick rralvel Renfro was a
typical outlaw. He as credited with the slaying of a 'hits naneby the name of 4plewhite,
in Jroesb,iek. Ibis eased the comity to be pieced under martial Law. )uring t is leo, many
negro** were slain in the county.
"In the earky. seventies, the present Southern Pacific Railway so then known as The
Houston and aka. Aontral, was ssestructsd thrAigh the county. The construction
company dswepoed upor the donations of right-of-the..way, through the zountry, and upon the
help of the towns and upon contributions to blur in paying the cost of building the
road. The most suitable place for the railroad to cross the Navasota River was at old
Springfield th,..1 county sat of Li Intone County. Above and below that point, the River
am" difficult to roes. The railroad requested donations of land and a not unreasonable
sum of money. This was ref,ased by the citisene of Springfielli. The Surveyors for tho
railroad, frisnd another place at which the River could be crossed. The railroad wee
built ftw miles asay from Springfield and this destroyed the town. 3roesbeek, five
miles south of old ipriagfietd and tioxia,' seven miles north of springfield sere bAlt.
The tow, of .,pringfield remained the county set of Li-estone 4/inty until tho railroad
was completed and the tows of lroesbeek was built. Thee the County Seat and the County
records were moved to Croesbeek. In 1873.
,OLKLORSeerihite :iousers
WAS ffi. Covina, P. W. File so. 240
McLennan County, Texas Page No. 3
District se., 8
There were four :,:ourt Ammo ereeted in Springfield. The first was a palisade structure
near the old lake. rhan a log house was built. The newt was built of plank cad the
last one was built of brick. Phis brick building was erected on a hill and yes de..
stroved by- fire after a ti e. some of its remains are still vieible.
',nor the county seat wee moved to 3reesbeek, an old store house wee %teed for court
7urposes ad the count) regards were destroyed by firs at this plum. The newt court
house was built *here the present :,ammunit: 'ones now stands. This court house was
rebuilt in v.:el ane again a few y.re loter. That was rep/aced by he building which is
no• used a a ,:oemuniti 4ouse.
was erected.
en the present beautiful and imputing court 'rase
cut 1517 $Ør; Lk,- FalTNOFTTLP
'Irk= nature designed this soot, it wrote in i!that'. oharacters 'Straw, atm:
There is a beeutiful spring in Springfield from which a large stream of blue utter
has been fleeing for ages. Ms spat is noe being transfc;rmed int one of the most
attractive and beautiful State harks in the Aide. Reeently, the -"Muses of 3reesbeek
and 4exia purchased and donated to the State Park Hoard shook seventeen hundred acres of
land along TJAI slavasota Alver bed and each side of the river. ibis is iovely scenic
land and a Ca.ii. is now at week building Lake Springfield. This lake will cover
eight hundred acres and be from eight to thirt feet deep. A concrete as, footed on
solid rock fifty feet 1)010.4 the surfaao is being eonstrueted. The basin of the lake is
beingred of Unbar and when this part is finished it will bee very attractive
park ar4 lake with fishing, hunting 1n4 boAting and camping futilities.
"This 7,z)unt eas a pioneer in adwaneed edioation. Xs early as the middle of the
last century, the -esbfterien,r;burch had established endives suecessfUlly operating
Trinity .Ittiversity, in Tehuseana. This see. first .41asst school and while it was
Located at rehuacana, it furnished may leaders in :axes affairs. Judge D. U. Fendergast
and Wtlonel John R. Henry and other public spirited eon donated Large amounts to this
institution. Later, this institution :was moved, to waashaehlo Aare it *aorta a meaderftl
faLKI.Whits Pioneer*
Mies Uri* Cowan, P.
NOLoaaan County, Texas
Distrito' No.
ills Me. 240
Page No. fi
the late seventies and earl; eighties, ',Central Institute, located on Honest
Ridge, WKS a fine private school. It was located atria ten miles northwest of lroesbeek.
John Parker was trle president. from Thi. institution own. many young men who became
prominent in uuiness lad other lines. About the same ti et the Aate granted a charter
to the fhornton Institute with Judge C. Chambers as its head. This school was
affiliAted with other schools of higher learning. ewbninister College was located on the
original site of Trimity niversity, which had mowed to 71exahashio. fhie is now a
ree,gelsed Jurior College and Tehuseana to very prowl of its work. This a Protestant
Methodist school. It is looatek! in a pituresque and charming spot amidst the
old '24,huseana hills. In the erring, the ground is a zarpet of Indian blankets, and
bluebonnets Aw! other wild flowers. The swimaimg pools at Usti& an Cr **beck are
fed by water from the oll Tehuaaana Springs.
The ct7..ati 1.es always boon active in polities eine, the days of the asoometructiOa
period and over, farth,ir hack, before the days of the Awn Air. It has furniehed,
among other notables, two C=ptrollers and one Judge of the Court of 3riminal Appeals;
an Atorney ',7Teneral, a ,:ommissiener of Igriculturel a 3uporintendent t ‘11)Lie Instruction;
And a ;ollector Internal Revenue; and, indirectly, a member of the :.:ourt of Civil
Appeals. It has furnist-40 other sta!,es with a United Aates Secretor, a Judge of the
Unitek4,.tates Circuit CAirt of kpeale, G:;:verner and, at least two members of Congress.
"The town of ehuaeana as settled first by lajor John Dor, who was .Atren a
large grant of land that included a good rart of Tehmeana tills. In the old esmetery
an the hill there is a tall marble *haft which arks the rooting piece of
Major John Boyd, and many of t.1.141 el pioneers also rest there. The inscription on
the Bay(t monument st&tes that he name to Tem in 1835; folight in the Texas Revolution;
was a member of the first Congress that met in the FtwAshitz of Texas; and .s .et as
Lez *labor. ih lt9 11, eve 1.500 acres of land on which to establish Trinity University.
"The poneer minister, Rev. J. A. Pearson, was closely associated with the early
days of ,'•Ituaeana andhe was a close friend of many of the ~limit settlers; and an
sorties leader in the affair* of the -minty. Re graduated from Trinity OiltversttY
irOLMLOR.F.... hit: Pioneers,
Miss ffie tlevran, P.4.
McLennan Colaty, Texas
District No. 6
Pail.1140. 240
Page No. 5
in 1879 t.v won outstanding recognition as a leader in the :oral forces of Texas.
In 110-J, he was drafted nd placed 1 th rase for vrnor of reuse against
Ton Ca:10011, who was also an exa.student of rrinity at ehuaciana. But the minister lost in
his race, tut with calm eatiefaetion he stated that he rein for principle."
According to Rev. rearson. lajor Boyd located his league of land'about 1135 or'36.
By this ti e, most of the tribe of rehmeana Indians had beendestro ed. ThilOr strong hold
was at Tehuesana and the story of their destrAotion has been handed doe,- as legend. Low
a40, when the Indians roamed this country, the interests of the different tribes often
clashed, causing bloody warm and the savae mo-,:orl never forgot the scars of battle.
Aist of the :4hulteamas lived the powerful Cherokees And the two trfh,it were very un-
friendly.
"The *tory goes that the warlike Comanches stole a band of horses from the
erokees d fled, followed by the '.::herokee braves who were bent nn reevering their loss.
:he Comandhes were eictorioue and made their get-eo-kay. The angry and diemovAnted
Cherokees turned their steps toirard their home end rot:I:mad by we; of ehuamana. hen
they SEW the peaceful homes of Vs nbuseams, the old grudge against then returned to
the minds of the ';nmarehes. A bloody battle was:foight between thee tan tribes ane the
ishuacana wigmols were h_arned; the women and ildren murdered :01,1 the rib, almost
eompletely destro,ed. sight warriors fled with t•e Omn son of their chiefteen. It is
believed they joined the Lipan tribe. At eons time ir tho sixtios, tf7e son of
Hajor John Boy the roomier of the tyen, was standing near one of the beautiful bluffs
on the west side when he saw an Indian. Mejor Houses Boyd gave the Indian a friendly
greeting but the Indian stood *neatly geeing upon :he land of his fathers. Drawing
himself up to his full height, the Indian took one long look at the beautiful :Aandsoape,
then silently irJed ever the bluff and disappeared in ts valley below.
"Mani ears lutes-, Row. Pearson learned that ILIA Indian answering his deeeription
joisml two email tribes In hat is ire Oklahoma. Of these -ombined tribe, this Indian
buss, shier. Treeing one llue atter-enother, Re*. marson learned that the chief over a
is seattered tribes had died at the 4410 90 vows. 11110.16 as Lam that it is
FOLDLCARm...4bite Pioneers
ass Xffis Jones, F4* -44'
MOLOWSSU Count Texas
District Mo. 8
rile Me. 240
Page No. 6
thought gajor Horace '1.0yd see at the !shamans bluff. There are any Aber tories rich in
legend and lori,Aor.tered around rehuaonaa. The old pioneers point sat a lar.e raek
as the place where the sole wirvivor of the astut. Creek Vassaore, hid after crawling eighteen
-Aies sttr baing wounded in an Indian fight in which all his comrades were killed.
fehuasana is a var.,: importust histories" point in the history :4 Tenon.