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Jackson County, Texas Old Stories |
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The Local History of Jackson County By
Mindora Bagby, Edna, Texas Each county in Texas has its own peculiar history and traditions, but with the modern comforts, conveniences, and luxuries surrounding every department of domestic and business life, few of the living have any clear conception or just appreciation of the privations and hardships which those brave and determined pioneers endured in their efforts to redeem this country from a wilderness. With the data I have collected I have endeavored to write something of the early progress and development of Jackson County. I found this work interesting and I have heard many curious tales from the old settlers of this vicinity, though I have encountered some difficulty in procuring the information I wanted. I collected my material from scrap books, newspapers, old letters, and by listening to the reminiscences of the old settlers. The first settlement in Jackson County was made by Robert Cavalier de la Salle when he entered the Lavaca River in 1685 while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi. This settlement was a failure, and the first settlement made by Americans was at Cox's Point about twenty miles from Edna. It was here that a colony belonging to Stephen F. Austin landed. A town was laid off on this site, but was soon abandoned on account of the Karankawa Indians. The historic town of Texana, the former county seat of Jackson County, was the first real town. It was named after Texas and Santa Anna when Mexico owned Texas. At that time the country was so sparsely settled there was very little communication between the people. The lamented George F. Simons, an old citizen of Texana and later of Edna was accredited with saying, "When I was a boy only seven years of age, my father sent me with Captain Sam Wildy across the Colorado River, a distance of forty miles or more, to purchase fifty cents worth of flour to make biscuits and tea cakes for the children's Christmas stockings. The flour was procured, and that Christmas is still remembered by me as one of real childish joy and happiness." There is a tradition that claims the town of Texana was cursed. The story ran thus: a capitalist, representing a northern firm wished to buy Texana; he offered quite a fabulous sum for it, but the price demanded was $200,000. This so angered the rich man, that he mounted a stump and said: "Never will this place amount to anything. I curse it. People listening within the sound of my voice will live to see rabbits and other animals inhabiting its street." The time came when the curse began to fall. In 1881 the New York, Texas & Mexican Railway was built through the county, and Edna, eight miles north of Texana, was laid out and established. The inhabitants of Texana at once commenced to move their buildings to Edna, and today only a few land marks remain like silent and gloomy monitors, of the past, to mark the spot where one of the oldest towns in Texas once stood. Touching this tradition, this quotation is appropriate: "On the banks of the deep Lavaca "News one day had reached the village, "And they called the new town Edna, "Years have come and years have vanished, "Thus dreaming old Texana departed, Edna, known as the "Gem of the Prairie," is the county seat. It consists of eight hundred acres of land out of the southeast corner of the Job Williams league. In 1882 it was only a place where meat was taken on the train to be distributed among the railroad hands. The town was named for a daughter of Count Telferna, an Italian, who built a railroad between Rosenberg and Victoria. While building the railroad the count established commissaries at various places with nothing in them but maccaroni. He worked so many people of his own nationality, that the road is still known by the nickname bestowed thenThe Maccaroni. It might be mentioned here that Mrs. George S. Gayle of Edna now keeps as a family relic an old-fashioned mahogany desk that was buried three times, twice to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Mexicans, and once to keep it from the Comanche Indians. Miss Nettie McDowell, also of Edna, owns a gold slide which came from the watch guard worn by Santa Anna at San Jacinto. It was presented to her grandfather by an officer in the Texas army. In the early-day development of Jackson County the people were considerably annoyed by bands of Indians. These red warriors made no attacks upon the citizens, but stole stock, and under the cover of the night they would stealthily visit premises and carry away ropes, bridles, axes, and other things they needed. The depredations of the Indians became so intolerable that the settlers began to scour the country for them. They surprised them at their camp about a mile above the point where the railroad now crosses the Navidad River. The Indians immediately fled, at the same time sending a volley of arrows at their pursuers. One Indian received a fatal shot and about six months later his bones were found in a field near the camp. It is said by Mr. Frank Rogers, the present tax assessor of Jackson County, that this Indian's skull is still at his father's old home. The late Mr. Lafy Ward of San Antonio is said to have told a story about an old pioneer who took dinner with some Indians. Their bill of fare consisted of bread and meat without salt. The old chief prepared the bread and used his leg as a board for rolling out the dough and then cooked it in the ashes. It might be stated that the Indians protected themselves against mosquitoes and sand flies by smearing themselves from head to foot with aligator oil, and thus they enjoyed perfect immunity from these pestiferous insects. While the Indians are forever gone from this section, they have left many traces behind them to mark their old camp sites. Along the streams that flow into our bays are found large banks of oyster shells, arrow heads, and broken pottery. The fact that there is no flint rock to be found in this country is evidence that the Indians brought their flint from some other section of the country. The late Mr. Lafy Ward's ranch home, near the head of Karankawa Bay, covers the site of one of these ancient Indian villages, and in the yard and around the premises many old Indian relics have been found. Along the bay shore there can still be found old arrowheads that were evidently shot at fish by the now extinct Karankawa. In relating the historical events of Jackson County, I wish to call attention to the fact that in the LaSalle Flats, now the Lavaca River, scarcely ten miles from Edna, La Salle in 1685 built Fort St. Louis, planted the cross and claimed all the country in the name of King Louis XIV of France. Referring to this event I quote: "Sailing up the Lavaca for some six miles, he (La Salle) found on the western bank of the river a beautiful spot for a settlement. It was an elevation from which could be seen to the north and west extensive undulating prairies covered with grass and relieved by occasional clusters of timber; to the south and east were spread out the bay, and timber along the coast and banks of the river. Having selected this point, he began in good earnest to think of making a settlement and fortifying it." The fort was soon completed and named St. Louis. Incidentally, it may be stated in connection with this fort, that the first European marriage in Texas was performed here. It was at this fort that history records the first fight on Texas soil between the whites and the Indians. The first mission in Texas, established in 1670, was at the same place. It was named San Francisco in honor of St. Francis d'Assisi. It was on the Lavaca River where La Salle's traitorous captain wrecked one of the boats, and departed for France in the other. It was along this stream where such herds of wild buffalo were seen that La Salle christened it with the name of Lavaca. According to the topography of the country, it was probably at old Texana where La Salle's exploring party visited a flourishing Indian village and secured two boats and a lot of blankets which the Indians had picked up from the wreck of La Salle's vessel. Two leagues of land owned by Stephen F. Austin touched the south bank of the historic Lavaca, below the junction of the Lavaca-Navidad River. A few miles above this point was the home of Captain John McHenry who was once captured and held as a prisoner by the buccaneer Lafitte, and furthermore, somewhere along the shores of this memorable river, lie buried in tradition, gold and silver treasure of this renowned Lafitte. It was also on this stream where Hon. W. P. Laughter of "square bale" fame resided, and claimed to have found evidences of a prehistoric village. And really, it may be mentioned that a long time ago, it was on this stream where old Captain Mills purchased and set at considerable expense what he pronounced "a perfect goose trap," but the geese had too much sense to be caught in it. As late as 1832 the Mexican Government kept soldiers in a fort that stood on a high bluff on the west side of the Lavaca River. The traces of the fort and the old mission have almost disappeared and there are very few people living in the county at present who can locate the sites where they stood. At Dimmett's Landing on the Lavaca/ the Texans, in the revolution with Mexico, received many of their supplies and ammunition. About thirty-five years ago some of this land was put in cultivation and old cannon balls, bayonets, sabers, and muskets were plowed up. During the fall of 1836, the Texas army was camped on the east side of the Lavaca River, at Hatch's place four or five miles from Texana. General Albert Sidney Johnston of Civil War fame, having been appointed to supercede General Felix Huston in the command of the army, was challenged by him and they fought a duel, in which General Johnston was wounded. He was brought to Texana where he remained until he recovered. The old Cedar building which he occupied while the Texas army was encamped on the Lavaca was torn down about ten years ago. While recounting historic and reminiscent facts in connection with the early development of Jackson County, I must mention an authenticated tradition handed down by the early settlers to the effect that the first declaration of Texas Independence that was ever written was framed at the old Menefee gin and mill house on the Navidad River. The Hon. Francis M. White, at one time commissioner of the General Land Office at Texana, and who was at the meeting, stated the facts about as follows: "The citizens in this part of Austin's Colony, becoming weary and exasperated at the revolutionary government of Mexico, met at the place named, and after due deliberation they formulated and signed what is often contended was the first Declaration of Independence The plan was to pass the document from settlement to settlement and secure as many signers as possible before formally publishing it to the world. In keeping with this plan Major McNutt was commissioned to take the sacred document to the settlers of San Felipe who were expected to sign it, and pass it on to the next colony, or settlement. Before reaching San Felipe, however, Major McNutt, seeing he was going to be captured by a detachment of Mexican soldiers, destroyed the paper to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Mexicans. Before he could secure his release and return to get the same duplicated, the real Declaration of Independence was formulated and published to the world."
Bibliography Faires,
Mrs. E. L., Edna, Texas, unpublished manuscript concerning incidents in Jackson
County, May, 1914.
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