Document text
'Folklore,
Miss ffie Cowan,
McLennanCounty, Texas,
District 8.
REFRF,NC3:
mO. of words
File NO. 240.
Page NO.1.
Interview with Mrs Belle Little, White Pioneer, Mart, Texas.
:717/1
I was born in tittle Rock Arkansas, on the 3rd of April 1867.
I came to Texas with my parents, J.W. and Sarah Louise Malloy in
the year 1872. We drove through the country in an old covered wagon
with oxen as our team. We crossed the Lied river in a ferry boat I
remember that when father drove the wagon on the ferry boat the wagon
was so long that it would hardly go on the boat with the oxen and
how the ferry -man swore about it.
'Before father came to Texas he frO4hted from Little Rock to Camden
Arkansas. He was a single young man an living at ktlanta,Arkansaa,when
the war between the states was declared. He was twenty- one years of age.
Ile enlisted under the Confederate flag and serve0 through -out the con-
flict under Mineral Forrest and doodp-of Texas./ can remember how be
told of their shoes wearing out and how they had to skin the bide from
the dead cattle p) rake moccasans to wear. Then they returned back to
Georgia from the Si-ge of Nashville It'lley would sing the songs of Texas.',
while on the march,to relieve their homesick longing.
I can also remember how he told of how deeply he was affected when
4.40,
he surrendered his arms at -3.ppamatox court house,,Ahe laid them down on
the steps. On his return home he took the responsibility of the Support
of a widowed mother and three young sisters. Father was a descendent of
Pat -Aulloy who with his brother Jim came to America as stowaways on a
ship from Ireland.(rhis was before the Revolutionary -war.) They brought
Folklore,
Affie Cowan,
Mo Lennan uoanty, Texas,
14strict 8.
File NO. 240.
Page 'O. 2.
their possessions in a knapsack. They fought in the Revolutionary war.
In 1866 my father married Sarah Isoaise Douglass who was the daughto-
of J.C. and Isabel JDouglasii of Springfield/Illinois, but who emigrated
to Texas before the war between the states. To my father and mother
there were five children born, three of as small children when they
came to texas. I am the oldest. All have passed away bdtmy sister
Mrs St Clair of taco and myself. The boys were Jim and 4oe,.both deceased,
1401mro a sister "Sdna-, also deceased.
When we reached the Navasota river in Aiast Texas, we had to wait two
weeks for it to go down as it was on a rise. ae stopped at the old Sterl-
inR place it was a large plantation with its slave quarters, the -owner
was an
,ancestor of the ex-oivernor sterling of Texas. The men of the plantatiok
entertained our men -folks by taking them hunting and fishing, while the
women were wonderfully hospitable and kind.
'When we finally crossed the Navasota river and after travelling
over th,as yet) unravelled roads over the prairie,after leaving the
timbered river bottom, what a beantifal sight met our eyest As far as
the eye could see the prairie of wild grass, it was sparsely covered with
a native growth of mesquite trees and the sage and wild grass intermingi
-led with the Texas wild flowers, the blue -bonnet, the red Indian head,
dandelion, wild roses, and many others made a picture to satisfy the
eri t-ct4.14_t
eye of an artist. When our pioneers, urged on by the restless 4pirit,,-
gazed,on the prairie they could not pass it by. 4#waa a land of promise
beautiful with its carpet of wild flowers and rich in fertility of soil
running streams,and an abundance of wild game.
Folklore,
ipv41ffie Cowan,
mammas*. Ooanty, Texas
District 8.
By the side of the %humans Rills there
"Oho shadows of a long hot day was
from the jolting of the ex -,drawn wagon
river roads to the prairie, the first
The more wary of or party pointed oat
File NO. 240.
'Page NO. 3.
were the cool springs.
lengthening, tired and weary
and the slow progress over the
Oloaght was to' make camp at once.
that there were still ,some Indian*
in the country and decided it was best to camp in the open. At this time
there was scarcely any timber ton. the prairie,dae to lillimininnhime* the fires'
4
which sprang up from the '0llers oameAVAlige,.41crossed the prairie
to fatare home farther westo
When we finally reached oar destination Waco, we crossed the
lirazos river on the ferry boat in January of 1872. We located near
the village of tssoeville where father made a crop this was only
a few miles north of Waco. ether carried his produce to market at,
Waco, 'which was a small village also but larger than Bosqaevillet
Weattended the little Baptist church at Ilesqaeville. It was a severe
winter when we reached Wave. My grand -father touglass had already moved
to Bosqaeville so to join him we made our first home at this place.
'However 41,1, decided to go farther west and in 1873 we moved to
Comanche, Texas, father bad a hundred acres in wheat and it was grow-.
-lug fine when in June there cams a late frost and killed it.lhis
discouraged him and then we moved to what i$ the tine Ridge settlement
southeast of the tor of "tarns, Texas. We ohildren attended the pub-
lic school in Reagan, and attended church at this plaoe. Father farmed
on a large scale, and prospered.a.t.thdielvespee, but there were a number
Folklore,
Mils Effie CCowan,
McLennan County, Texas,
District 8.
File NO. 240.
Page NO. 4.
of families from the Blue Ridge settlement who had moved to the old
*rings community ,now known as Mart. My grand father Douglass
among t emu thers were the Harlan, and Cowan familharg the year
1878 we moved to the settlement east of Willow Springs. Mrs Laura Cowan
was my first teacher at Mart, she having taught in the term of'79aand/W6.
Other families who lived in this community now known as tart, were that
of Breland, Howard, Heynolds Stodgbill, and farther east was the Hard-
wick ranch owned by Uncle Jack Hardwick, my husband's relative.
"Other teachers foliwing Lire Cowan ,(ever in the old school house,
and church which stood in the cemetery under the old elm tree wh.ie-h stood
for a century almost and under which the Mart Baptist Church, 464.4iii a
membership of eight was organized,), were Mr Westmoreland, a mr Cressop,
McJunkin and Hunt. When the new school house was built across the little
branch which was between the cemetery and the village of Mart there was
a Wr Nob All", who was a brother of Mrs Carpenter, also mr W.A.Allen,
Mr Overby ,Dancer and others at a later day.
My grand -father liouglass came to Texas from Illinois and first settled
in the Bosqueville community, later moved to Reagan and then the present
Mart community. He was buried in the old Salt Branch cemetery near Marlin
on Blue Ridge. He had a large family of boys eight boys and two girls.
They were Perry, Pole, Tom, Henry, John, Buck and Dick, and Jim. uncle Perry
and Pole were old enough to enlist under the flag of the Confederate states,
and served through out the conflict. Perry was a sergeant of Company A, 15th
Ark. regiment. Ile was born in 184A in Illinois and died May 20,1916 at his
home in Mart, Texas,
Folklore, Pile NO. 240.
Miss Effie Cowan. Page NO. 5.
Me Zeman County, Texas,
District S.
Uncle Pole is 93 years of age and lives at his home near Mart.
Uncle Tom is around 83 years of age and lives in Houston Texas, they
are the only surviving members Qf this family of children. There were
two girls, my mother Louise andAsistereallie, both deceaset.mother passed
away :initeptember of 1916*
(1“/)
In 1881 I married William LaFayette Little who came to Texas and lived
the
with his Uncle Lam Hardwick,a brother. of Captain Jack Hardwiek, of,AHardwick
ranch.Now known as the Gillam ranch. Mr Little was a native of Burnsville
Mississippi and came to Texas in 1872, W• bought our home two and a half
miles of Mart, in what is now known as the Elm Ilidge settlement. Here we
reared our family of three children; they were William Arthur who is now
acting head of the Texas Old Age Assistance Commission, and lives at Austin,
-a daughter, Dora Dean, whom I reside with, and who married John Drinkard
of the Victoria settlement. The youngest son John)is in the Federal Tax
Collecting office at Houston* Air Little passed away April 3, 1922.
Some of my earliest memories are of the continual fear of the Indians.
/vrhile living at Comanche texas, they still roved 'ever the country stealing
cattle, horses and food and feed -stuff as they were toelazy to work and
would slip away from the Indian Reservation and prey on the settlements.
°ne day(I was only a small childpfetvi while at church at Comanche a rider
came and warned the congregation that there were smoke from the Indian
camicand the meeting broke up while the congregation fled to their homes,
bat this attack did not materialize as the band drifted in another direc,-.!.
-tio#. But to this day -1 can remember the feeling of fear we bad.
Folklore,
Miss Effie Cowaal
McLennan County, Texas,
District 8.
File NO. 240
Page NO. 6.
"Texan s, had a saying that// no one bat fools and new -comers prophesied
on its weather! It has its moods of sunshine and showers, storm and calm.
It was in the 24th day of November 1096 at four clock in the afternoon
my husband was plowing in the field and I was sitting at the machine,sewinf4
had been rainy and misty, when Mr Little rashed in and caught up our
age 5,
yoanget child, Artharoand told me to follow with the Oldest, Dora, a child
of 12 years. The boy was standing on the front porch and a hammer lay
on the floor beside him. Just as we closed the door of the storm house,
ekv t_k
we saw the bones g 4t( came in a dark cloud which seemed 4. be ititAding on
the ground from the soath-westand covered a path of about half a mile,
All we bad left after Scrapping the lumber, from this cyclone was enough
to build a little smoke house. Our clothes furniture and bedding were car-
ried so far away all we ever found/14AL pk4oes which had caught ik the tree-
tops as they were carried away by the wind. The porch and hammer on which
the boy was standing was left intact. 2verthing else but the storm house
and our family were gone.
tr. j
This was due to the fact that the roofrkiS just above the ground and covert(
with earth, there are very few in this coantry,as such storms are very raised,
They are more numerous in Western Texas, since it has more prairie country
and more storms. Our house and the house of my cousin Back Douglas, were
the only houses in this cyclones path, his house was destroyed also and his
little child killed by the chimney falling on it. They escaped with their
lives, by leaving the house when the cloud came, bat in the excitement the
little child ran under the chimney of the house, when it bad reached tbe-
oat side.4-ti Vt:("
Folklore,
Miss Effie Cowan,
McLennan County, Texas,
District 8.
and
"The late frost's, cyclones were not all we had to contend with in
A
those days. I can remember how the grasshoppers came in the fal of
187$, and how they ruined the vegetation. Previous to this it is a (\fact
that they came in 1853 1857, and 1868. After three clays the vegeta-
tion looked as if a fire had swept over it, they even got into the houses
and clothing Then the droaths came and: played4-tiobig part in changg 7
from ranching to farming, as the grass was killed so that stockman bad
to take their stock to other states for range. It is said that from 1859
to 1861 there was soareely any rain in Texas for three years. As the conn-
-try was pat into ealtivation the droaths gradually ceased, until now they
are never so bad that we have a complete failure.
rile NO. 240.
Pap NO. Y.
"Notwithstanding the droaths, frosts, cyclones and insects, the climate
of texas as a whole since I have lived here cannot be surpassed. When
the spring comes with its aecompanament of Texas winds and gentle she-
-wers, the wild flowers springing up over the prairie with their riot
of color while flinging their fragrance far and near, carry -anew Matures
age-old message of the Ressarrection. Fall brings the frost king who -ti
paints his pictures in all his gorgeous shades on every bash and shrub.
In the midst of it all sits the yellow golden -rot which nods serenly
as Atitaan's flower queen. Then winters chilling blast drives all natures
subjects to seek. a long siesta in the cold light of a winters sun.
The wild sumac and the cedar trees whieh grows in profusion in the rocky
sandy soil west of Waoo,en the snow and frost comeomake a picture
worthy of the greatest artist- brash.
Folklore,
tiffs ffie Cowan,
eliennan County, Texas,
District 8*
Ftle NO. 249.
'age NO. 7
But the spiriteEA=Itare did not die out with oar pioneers. My
ti,tie
brotber-inlaw itbom my sister Sdna married had his share of it. First be
took part in the rash to the Indian Territory when it was opened by the
governemnt to the homesteaders. Fe was living at Cfebarne Texas and when
the date of the opening of the Territory was set be joined the host of
people to make the grand rash. He told how at the signal of the guns
fired by the united 6tates soldiers) thousands of men,women and children
in all kinds of vehicles, en foot and on trains made the race as if
their very lives depended on it instead of a town site or a few haresa
of a tract of land. The shouting ofadt men, the nS4gbing of the horses
and the screep‘ing of the women made it seen like pandemonium bad broken
from somewhere, to say nothing of the clatter of the horses hoofs, the
cracking of the whips, and the explosions of fire arms.
"Then as the line was crossed and
the homsteaders for a certian piece
days of the regristration the women
men just as they had in the pioneer
any chivalry of giving their place
t?ifis time meant nothing to the men.
the real race took place between
of land and bow daring the long hot
took their chances along with the
days, and bow they did not ask for
in the 'line, and bow their sex at
aow the period of dissilasion came
and the homesteader foand that be was located on what seemed to be a desert
waste of land, bow the prairie fires bad swept the land and other tracts
had been out clear of hay by the squatters before the rush. The prospect
was a dreary one also for lack of natural water. The rivers and creeks
were dry from a droath and only a few springs of natural water and the dig.-
ging of wells was the first attempt of improving his place, until the rains
came.
polklore,
Miss Effie Cowan,
mcLennan County, Texas,
"istrict 8.
plas NO. 240.
Page
"'hen along the railroad tracks boomer trains loaded to the guards
with homesteaders come creeping along and it seems to the impatient
travellers that the Texas mustangs can eakily out strip the slow moving
train as they are hadicarped by their speed limit. Horseman shoat at
the passengers as they gaily wave their hats at them as they pass the
train's. Some of the more venturesome travellers as the trains slow dn
for wateropile their belongings off and settle on the first vacant home
patch of 160 acres in their path.
"As the train pulls into the county seat its load of passengers emerge
from the coaches tired but triumphant. Townsiters swarm over the new
town sites like an army of ants. A small piece of land that not an haul'
age was nothing but a patch of prairie now bO omes a townsite. Then begin
disputes over the lots and as there are not yet officers of the law they
have their fights and it is a case of the best man who wins. As soon as
the lots are claimed and stakes driven down the tents are erected and
in a few minutes the town officers are elected and in iese time than
it hardly takes to tell it there is a little community which has sprang
up certificates are issued and many take out these certificates for
both town sites and
shop keepers opened
most of them built
of ukiihoma's
homesteads of land. Next to the home owner the
tip their tents and started their business which with
up a thriving business and many today of the state
best and oldest business houses date back to this opening
of the Indian Ierritory and the forming of the State of 6'klahomag
(rom this experience this brother-in-law gained the incentive of seekir9
his fortunes farther west and so in a few years he decided to try them
Folklore,
Mies ffie Chan
alloLennan 'uounty, texas,
District 8.
2iel o. 240
Page NO./0.
in Mexico, he lived there for several years and accamilated a nice
ranch and had a profitable 'stock business when the Diaz revolution
came end he was warned repeatedly to leave the state by the revitlation-
ist. de brought his family out and left them in Texas, then returned to
Memico to try to sell or see what he could get oat of his holdings, and
to this day that is the last we have heard of him. We naturally felt
that he had been killed by the faction which had given hi warning*
W When my husbands relative Captain Jack Hardwick first settled the
Hardwick ranch, (now known as the Gillam ranch) he sent for hi* brother
whom we callifUncle Lad and who was one of the first preachers in this part
of the county. While '.aptain jack was herding up his cattle for the korth-
ern marketslAncle Lam waft herding up the lost sheep of the Lord. It mat-
-tared not if some of the converts were of the clan which bore the bran
of "G.T.T"( Gone to Texas),which at that time meant they had reason to
leave their homes in the old states and it was true that it was not
ahcommon for a man to inquire of another whir he ran away from his home
back in another state: And it is equally true that few people felt insnl-
-ted for these questions. Justice descehded into the body of Judge Lynch,
sleeping when he slept, and waking when he awoke bat gradually oat of
this has come with as mach rapidity as could be expected the status
of oar law and order,from the days of Richard Coke who took up his fight
4
to brily_it in being-. the day he was inagurated governor of Texas
following the days of reconstruction.