BRIGHT STAR
There were other settlers who came to this locality many years before this time. About 1840 when this part of the country was known as the western frontier, many people of all classes and conditions emigrated from Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, and other states. It seem that everyone was looking for a new place to settle. 
After the Stuckeys became permanently settled, the little settlement became known to travelers as Stuckeyville. It was located about eight miles west of Red River, eight miles north of the Louisiana line, and five miles east of the Texas line. The Stuckeys were thrifty and industrious people, the settlement grew and became a landmark on the western frontier. 
The story of Bright Star: Two men traveling on horse-back arrived at the little village of Stuckeyville, one of the men looking up at the stars, observed one of unusual brightness and called his companion's attention to the bright star. The two travelers, being strangers and not knowing the name of the settlement, frequently mentioned it as the place of the Bright Star. They simply designated the place in their conversation with each other as "Bright Star", thus it became known to many travelers as Bright Star. 
Some time before the Civil War, a post office was established at Bright Star. The mail route which supplied this area extended from Linden, Texas to Lewisville, Arkansas, Bright Star, and Spring Bank. 
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At this time the territory now composing Lafayette and Miller Counties was all one county, known as Lafayette. The site of the government was at Lewisville, about forty miles from Bright Star. The Red River was between the two places and consequently the people were a "law unto themselves," but there were afew law-abiding people in Bright Star. 
Bright Star was once one of the most widely known communities in the South back in it's hay days. The village gradually grew well known to travelers and at the beginning of the Civil War it had grown to be a trading center for a large area of the surrounding country. The merchandise was transported from Jefferson, Texas in wagons drawn by oxen and up Red River by steamboats which landed at Spring Bank, about eight miles east of Bright Star. 

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