DeSoto Parish, Louisiana; History of the Towns in DeSoto Parish - (names, dates, history, etc.) --------------------------------- Submitted by Gaytha Carver Thompson Typed by Trudy Marlow ************************************************ Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Mansfield dates back to 1843. The location was selected as the seat of justice, and the name suggested June 5, 1843, by Thomas Abington, an admirer of an Irish peer named Mansfield. The population of the town, within its original or corporate limits, is 604, but the town proper contains 1,804 inhabitants. The deed of the southwest quarter of Section 9, Town 12, Range 13, to De Soto Parish, was ac- knowledged at the town of Grand Cane before Par- ish Judge James Welsh, June 5, 1843, by Charles A. Edwards and John A. Gamble. The consider- ation was $200.47, which was paid by John Wag- ner, president of the police jury. In 1845 lots were sold on the town site of Mansfield to James Welsh, John J. Clow, Squire Pate, W. J. Massin- gale, P. W. Caspary, Caleb Pate, Daniel Lee William Crosby, C. E. Hewitt, J. D. Wemple, E. J. Cockfield, George Gaskins, J. Jones, S. M. Quarles, L. B. Singleton, Elisha Basse, C. Flores, C. W. H. Haislip, Louis Phillips, H. Pressy, W. H. Terrill, Methodist Episcopal Church, William Craig, William Sebastian, E. D. Anderson, H. C. Angee, J. Y. and E. W. McCalla and D. J. Land prior to 1879. The town of Mansfield was incorporated April 15, 1847 [Act 128. page 93, laws 1847]. The supplemental act of March 17, 1852, conferred judicial powers on the mayor, while the two acts of 1856 provided for a poll tax and the regulation of liquor selling, and that of 1857 for the election of officials. The bill of incorporation was drafted by J. B. Elam, then a member of the Legislature and, it is said, he was first mayor. The mayors since 1850 are named as follows: A. R. Mitchell, 1850; William Chalmers, 1853; A. M. Campbell, 1854; James E. Cunningham, 1855; J. B. Elam, 1856; R. Mundy, 1857; C. M. Pegues, 1858; J. C. Porter, 1859; W. F. T. Bennett, 1860; J. H. Shepherd, 1861; Jason Meadors, 1866; W. B. Taylor, 1874; M. Ricks, 1876; B. T. Carr, 1877; James Constantine, 1878; B. T. Carr, 1880; B. W. Sutherlin, 1882; John Pugh, 1883; George B. Head, 1885; Thomas M. Tramel, 1886; M. Ricks, 1887, and Jason Meadors, 1889-90. Keatchie, sometimes written Keatchi, Keitche, Keachi, is an old college town named after some lazy Indian of fifty years ago. A reference to the chapter on pioneers will point out the names of the early resident land owners in this vicinity, while in other chapters many names and some im- portant incidents connected with the village are given. During the war this section sent forward a large number of old and young men to recruit the De Soto legions in the field, and even before the injudicious attack on Fort Sumter was made the modern warriors of this old Indian land were prepared to defend their property and homes against Northern fanaticism. In 1865 G. W. Pey- ton established a mercantile house at this point. Hungerford and Mason, W. B. Peyton, E. Schuler, P. N. Scarborough, J. M. Peyton and others es- tablished their houses since the war. In Septem- ber, 1866, the post-office was restored, and Miss H. Schroeder placed in charge. Logansport, on the Sabine River, was founded in 1830. For years it was a celebrated trading point, but the establishment of new towns in Louisiana and Texas, the removal of the Red River Raft, and establishment of Shreveport, abolished much of its old-time prosperity and left it poor indeed. Immediately after the War of 186l-65 A. M. Garrett established his business house and carried on trade without local opposi- tion for twenty years. On the completion of the Shreveport & Houston Railroad in 1885, new traders located here, and in 1886-87 and 1887-88, the receipts of cotton jumped to 7,800 bales annu- ally, and in 1889-90, there were no less than 10,- 441 bales marketed here. Besides this a consider- able quantity of ribbon cane molasses is brought here from the Texas counties, to the cultivation of which the farmers are paying greater attention. Another great element of wealth is the lumber interests, which are being rapidly developed, mills are being established every few miles along the Houston, East & West Texas Railroad and off of it. At this place the old mill was replaced by one of the finest in the South, capable of handling 75,000 feet or eight to ten carloads per day. In 1888 the officers of the town were E. Price, mayor; A. M. Garrett, W. J. Hicks, S. Kemp, H. A. Mize and A. Odom, councilmen, and J. Thomas Hall, marshal. One common school for white pupils and a Union church existed then. In 1890 W. C. Hardy was mayor, L. Middleton, marshal, and C. C. Chatham, comptroller. Mount Vernon Lodge No.83, A. F. & A. M., was pre- sided over by James K. Pyle, with L. H. Adams, secretary; the New Baptist Church was erected under the supervision of Rev. A. A. Owns, of the Missionary Baptist Society; Rev. A. A. Cornett, was pastor of the Methodist Church. The News was issued this year by J. H. Chatham, No.33, of Volume I, being dated September 4,1890, and a hotel building erected. The River Lumber Com- pany is an association of modern business men who intend to render their mills equal to the advant- ages which the country and great forests afford, and in connection with the mill reservoir, the council entertain the idea of establishing a system of water-works. In March, 1887, the first steam- boat seen at Logansport since the days of Civil War arrived, Capt. Isaac Wright. Grand Cane is the name given to an incorpo- rated town six miles distant from Mansfield, in latitude 320 4' north, and longitude 160 42' west. The name is derived from that bestowed upon the neighborhood years ago by the early travelers. The surrounding country presents the appearances of alluvial lands, though forming the summit of a plateau, which slopes into Grand Cane Creek and to the Red River. The site of the town was a cane brake, through which the explorers had to cut a road, and to-day, after a half-century of cul- tivation, the lands in the vicinity are very fertile. In 1849 an anti-missionary Baptist society was organized here, and continued in active existence up to 1855, but ceased to be represented in the association in 1859 or 1860. The Baptist Society took its place, and the Grand Cane Baptist Asso- ciation is to-day one of the influential religious societies of the State. The Methodist Circuit of Grand Cane comprises 169 white members. There are two Methodist Church houses in the circuit, and one Presbyterian house here. Pleasant Hill Village was on the mile-wide plateau on the Mansfield & Fort Jessup Road, Col- lege Hill being its most elevated point. Here on April 9, 1864, the battle commenced near Mans- field, before the day was closed, and the Federal forces driven down Red River. Pleasant Hill Lodge No. 86 was organized March 4,1850. Among the first masters were S. D. Chapman, John Jordan, J. J. Fike and Joseph W. Foster. T. J. Hopkins and J. D. Brown were recorded as dead in 1874. Oxford is a new railroad town. Here, on Au- gust 29, 1890, a male and female college was established under direction of the Red River Pres- bytery. The officers are: President, Judge N. M. Smith, of Jackson, and secretary, Thomas Steele, of De Soto. The college starts with the donation of half the town lots in Oxford, twenty in number, and $1,000 in cash from Thomas Steele, and $1,000 from a citizen of Ohio. Pelican is the name given to a new town, fifty- two miles southeast of Shreveport. It was sur- veyed in August, 1889, while the old saw-mill stood there. Before the close of twelve months a new saw and planing-mill, stores, and a 400-bale cotton market were brought into existence, and in September, 1890, the new high-school building was opened. The Pelican Banner referred to in the press article was issued in 1890. Blanchard post-office was established in Janu- ary, 1887, at the Womack farm, in Bayou Pierre Point. Kingston is an old settlement or village which Lost its commercial importance long ago. In 1854, J.M. Prather was appointed post-master here. Starlight plantation and other historic points are referred to in the general history.