Winn Parish, Louisiana (Also applies to Grant Parish, Louisiana) Submitted to USGENWEB by Greggory E. Davies 120 Ted Price Lane Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** This parish is bounded on the west by Saline Bayou, Saline Lake, and Red River; on the south by the north line of Grant Parish, on the east by Little River, and north by the southern lines of Jackson and Bienville Parishes. The greater part of Winn is a long-leaf pine forest, containing a great quantity of excellent timber. The lands roll heavily, and partake of a hilly character. There are many flats here, marked by salt springs, such as Price's Lick, Drake's Salt Works on Saline Bayou, Cedar Lick near Winnfield, the Kyiche Creek bottoms, Pendarvis' Prairie in the fork of Dugdemona River, and Bayou Castor and other places. Of the total area, 970 square miles, the long-leaf pine country covers 850 square miles, the oak uplands 90 square miles, and prairie patches 30 square miles. In 1879 there were 22, 548 acres in cultivation, of which 7,379 acres were in cotton, 8,588 acres in corn, 250 acres in sweet potatoes, 41 acres in sugar cane, and 4 acres in rice. There were 3,002 bales of cotton produced, averaging 585 pounds of seed cotton, or 195 pounds of cotton lint. The cotton grows from four to six feet in height. W. T. Jones, of Winnfield, states that fresh land will yield about 1,000 pounds of seed cotton per acre, and after fifteen years will still continue to yield 800 pounds per acre. The pine lands present an area of great trees, capable of supplying all the mills of the country for some years, or a large number of extensive mills in their midst for a quarter of a century. Within five miles of Winnfield, near the old Mathis house on the Natchitoches Road is what is known as the Marble Quarry. It is a beautiful variegated stone of the lime-rock variety, and, when burned, makes an excellent white lime. The quarry was developed by Samuel L. Houston. The rock is found here in sufficient quantity to yield lime for the whole state. In the Coochee Hills, near the south line, a marble is found which takes fine polish. The asphalt lands, south of Winnfield, are extensive and the mineral is said to be as good as the Swiss asphalt. Along the bayous, Saline and Dugdemona, are the salt springs, some of which were developed before and during the war. The Drake well, artesian, was drilled at least forty years ago, and Drake established his saw and grist mills there. He also cleaned out Saline Bayou and shipped salt and lumber to the Red River and thence to market. The silver mine, near Winnfield, the property of William H. Jack, is said to be rich in ore. In 1881, William H. Boult discovered in Section 19, Township 11, Range 3, near the lime kiln of war days, a large cave. John Matthews, the owner of the land, states that before the mouth of this cave lowered in 1871, the heaviest rock would be removed therefrom during the night. The population in 1880 was 5, 846 or 4,797 white and 1, 049 colored. In 1870, there were 4,044 whites and 909 colored, and in 1860, 5,481 whites and 1, 354 slaves and 41 free colored, or a total of 6,176. The population in 1889, according to assessor's statistics, was 8,387 while in 1890 the United States census enumerators found only 7,082 in habitants. The parish is well watered by the tributaries of Little River, flowing southeast, namely Beaucoup Bayou, Caney Creek, Dugdemona, meandering through the northeast half of the parish, Big Iatt and other streams in the southwest quarter flowing into Iatt Lake, and several small streams flowing into Saline Bayou and lake. The bayous bounding the parish on the east and west are navigable streams, except during the seasons of low water. When Bienville and St. Denis returned to the Fort of Biloxi they found that the country through which they intended to travel was under water, so that they turned to the village of the Ouachitas. Here they learned that the greater number of the tribe had gone to Natchitoches carrying salt to the Coroa Indians of the Yazoo. After this visit the troubles with the Choctaws and other Indians began, the tribes became movable bodies of men, women, and children and camp followers. The earliest settlements in this division of Louisiana were made on Red River and on the Saline, years before the country was surveyed, as told in the history of Natchitoches and Rapides. The Indians of the Pascagoula and Choctaw tribes as well as bands of Tunicas and other resident savages, found pleasant and profitable hunting grounds along the rivers an on the highlands of this parish until the jingle of the surveyor's chain signaled the approach of what is termed civilization. Toward the close of the third decade of this century a new race appeared, and within a period, not exceeding twenty years, spread their claims over the greater area of productive lands, drove out the Indian and the animals which he hunted simultaneously, and won complete control of the territory of the Dugdemona. The section of Winn in the Natchitoches Land District, as established in 1838, comprised all from Township 9 north, Range 4 west, up to Township 13 north, Range 5 west, and in the Ouachita Land District from Township 10 north, Range 1 east, to Township 13 north, in that range, with Township 11, in Range 2 east, and Townships 10 to 13, in Range 1, west; Townships 10, 11, 12, and 13, in Range 2 west, and the same townships in Range 3 west. The early land buyers in eastern Winn (part of Ouachita and New Orleans Land District) were: John Cooper, T. F. Smith, John A. Roberts, T. J. Farnell (killed during the war), Daniel Boyett, John G. Whitehead, Menan Monk, James Crawford, Jack S. Hewett, George C. Couch, A. J. Nelson, J. L. W. Brittain, T. J. Haddock, Thomas Davis (murdered during the war by bushwackers, Adam Tyrone, Allen McCarty, Joseph Peters (Samuel Herring and John Tyrone entered lands in 1840), R. D. Wall, Isaac George, Christian and Adam Riser (Christian Riser was killed about 1864), W. Lee (1850), Charles W. Bullock (1841), B. J. Boyett (killed about 1861), Allen Jenkins (1840), Jacob Riser (1839), Joseph West, William and James Kelly, Reddick Blake, S. N. West, James Rentz, Richard Cole (1840), Charles Peters, Leroy Harvey, Squire E. Hart, Henry and D. G. King, Jacob E. Willis, Lemuel Bullock (1840), Willis and Pleasant Smith, W. A. Griffin, Thomas W. Ramsey, Matthew Devoe, George Starks (killed during the war), George H. Woodruff, D. A. Mills, Wade A. Wright, D. M. Wharton, James T. Gilmore (died during the war), George W. Harvey, Matthew Devore, Edwin Holley, Egbert H. DeLoach, (came in 1836), Zatter Johnson, Joseph Williams), John Cockerham, William Caves, James A. Carroll, Jesse F. Gulledge, Harbin Smith, Edmund Price, Absalom and Alex Wall, Bryant Smith, Thomas and James Richardson, Martin Smith, William T. Beall, J. M. Lang, William T. Bell, S. I. Collins, C. N. Mercer, Marshall Jones, Sr., Hugh W. Holmes, J. L. McGinty, George W. Dyess (killed at Mansfield), Joshua P. Willis, James M. Thornton, Joseph B. Adams (ex-sheriff succeeded in 1887), Henry Rolen, Willis McCarty, Shadrack Emmons, Lemuel Alford, J. H. Beavers, T. James, William Caves, J. L. Clark, John R. Bradley, George M. Sowers, George Bohanon, Zack Boyd, J. E. Lucas, Dan Southern, William Hatten, R. Tatum, Ben Thompson, Elisha W. Sims, Wilson Thomas, B. G. Adams, A. J. Perkins, L. L. Thomas, Jacob Shelton (killed by John Dove in 1870(I believe this date to be in error), Ed Eagles, Hollon Miller, Bryan Bailey, C. E. Slocumb, James Arrington, James P. Swindle, Adoniram Lyons, Thomas D. Milling (an old merchant of Winnfield), James Durham, William Applewhite, William T. Mathis, George W. Gray, Q. A. Hargis, John Rayborn, Leander Walker, H. M. and Nathan Bolton, Spencer Wyatt, E. P. Martin, Darling P. Morris, J. T. Teagle, M. G. Jackson, Richard B. Williams, D. Williamson, James Brock, C. G. Campbell, Andrew J. Kelly, John H. Bilbs, Jacob Langston, A. D. Reeks, Reuben Drake (owner of Salt Works), Samuel Earnest, T. A. Jourdan, Dr. I. B. Payne, Luca Radescich, D. M. Tannehill, Pleasant Mulligan, J. M. Smith, F. Shumake, A. J. Welton (Melton?), T. L. Terry, George Starks, J. J. Hearn, J. E. Tison, G. W. Horn, W. M. McDonald, Atwood Violett, John T. Murrell, James R. Bevill, Dave Peoples, J. C. Compton, Jesse Womack, G. J. L. Brown, William Crump, William Holten, L. M. Hatten, Elisha Pepper, Albert Churchill, J. D. Denegre, Michael J. Gaar, J. S. Dickenson, I. Parker, Christian Lewis, E. P. Foster, E. Pruett, Thomas Johns, W. Wilson, Ben, John, and William Albright, S. M. Shillings, S. S. Stevens, Mason Jones, R. A. Key, W. Pennywell, J. McGee, B. McMillan, B. F. Smith, T. S. Collier, J. B. Lemoine, T. F. Swafford, J. G. Teagle, A. C. Banks, W. J. Teddlie, D. J. Warner, J. D. Buttell, Syl. G. Milam, Elisha Walker, James W. Holston, R. L. Stovall, David Caldwell, David Hagler, William Stone, John O. Morris, Alphonso Stinson (representative in the 70s), Goodrich Terrill, A. C. Davis, J. M. Wasson, John Welch, T. Moffitt, Samuel L. Dean, J. T. Milam, A. E. Hardee, Joseph Soss (1839), and Christian Lewis. In 1838 the first land entries were made in the eastern (Natchitoches District) townships of the parish. The first buyers in Township 9, Range 4, were Robert H. Rogers, J. R. Brady (1850), J. T. Hickman (1851), Benjamin F. Butler and T. S. Woodward (1855). In 1840 Benjamin Metoyer entered lands in Township 9, Range 5; Joseph Thompson, Jared J. Brady, Willis B. Neal, T. G. McCracken, Onezireme Rachal, Lemuel McGee, William Prothro, Wolcott A. Strong, Lorenzo DeSoto, William H. Strong, Charles Noyret, John Waddell, Jean B. Prudhomme (1839), Edward Hughson, A. J. Upshaw, J. S. Hooter, Major Lyon, R. L. Eubank, Diana Spencer, Haynes Waddell (1839), Richard W. Hertzog (1839), Ambroise Lecompte (1839), James Harper (1840). Township 10, Range 6: Ambroise Sompayrac (1839), Peter McDaniel (1841), McCally Franks (1840), Samuel Hobart (1839), William O'Neil, James Ratcliff, William Miles, J. W. W. Durbin (1859), J. A. Rains, James Irvin (1857), Pernoce Radescich, William Carter, Allen Cockerham, H. W. Shows, Solomon Aswell, Franklin Kelly, Everett Bates, J. B. Lowe, James L. Williams, Josiah H. Lacey, Marshall Frazier (1838), J. J. Liles, William Cloud, Elizabeth Brantley, William E. Tanner, Allen P. Morris, Abbott Mixon, J. A. Roberson, Cassa McCarty, Conrad Starks, Abram Brady, William Barnes, W. I. Kidd, C. B. Parsons, J. J. Green, G. W. Harville, Robert Underwood, J. G. Elliott, Wiseman Box, J. M. Hodges, William Ross, William Hogan, Zachius Lard, Joseph Hadden, Noah Cloud, A. K. Haynie, John Babers, and G. D. Clifton. Winn Parish was established under legislative authority in 1851, and organized in 1852. The first meeting of the police jury was held in a log building erected for courthouse purposes in 1851-1852. Subsequently a more pretentious house was erected, and in it the sessions of the police jury and district court were held until 1868, when fire destroyed both building and records. Another public building was erected, but the same fate awaited it, for, on January 12, 1888, this house and the records of twenty years were destroyed.