Towns: Beech & Flat Creek Communities, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by: Laura L. Weatherford, 161 White Oak Lane, Natchitoches, LA 71457 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** TIPS FOR SEARCHING RECORDS ON THE INTERNET Netscape & Ms Explorer users: If searching for a particular surname, locality or date while going through the records in the archives or anywhere....try these few steps: 1. Go to the top of the report you are searching. 2. Click on EDIT at the top of your screen. 3. Next click on FIND in the edit menu. 4. When the square pops up, enter what you are looking for in the FIND WHAT ___________blank. 5. Click on DIRECTION __DOWN. 6. And last click on FIND NEXT and continue to click on FIND NEXT until you reach the end of the report. This should highlight the item that you indicated in "find what" every place it appears in the report. You must continue to click on FIND NEXT till you reach the end of the report to see all of the locations of the item indicated. SOURCE: Enterprise -- News American, Thursday, December 13, 1962 WINN PARISH AS I HAVE KNOWN IT by H.B. Bozeman Article 301 The pioneer settlers of the Beech Creek and Flat Creek communities of Winn Parish -- They and their descendants developed one of the most prosperous farming areas in the parish -- Established the Beech Creek Baptist Church and the Beech Creek Academy and when the Railroads came, people from these communities materially helped in developing the City of Winnfield, and the Towns of Olla, Urania, Tullos, Rochelle, and Georgetown -- and some of the "boys" at the last all night dance at the "Bucksnort" at Urania in 1897, were from the Winn Parish side of the Castor. Two years ago, December 15, 1960, I printed my Article 205, Land Patents before the Civil War, in Township 9N-3W., -- the Allbright (Tancock) Prairie area of Winn Parish. This was the first Winn Parish township that I listed the names of those securing U.S. Land Patents, prior to the Civil War. This week, with the listing of the names of those who secured Pre-Civil War, U.S. Land Patents in TOWNSHIP 11, NORTH - RANGE 1 EAST, the Beech Creek Church section of Winn Parish, I will have printed a complete list of ALL PERSONS who obtained U.S. Land Patents in Winn Parish, from the time the United States acquired Louisiana from France in 1804, until the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. This is the FIRST TIME such a list has ever been printed, from the official records of the old Monroe and Natchitoches District U.S. Landoffices. These old U.S. Land Office records have given me an understanding of the early history of Winn Parish, and a knowledge of who, and where our pioneer families came from, that has satisfied a curiosity that had haunted me since I was a school boy. Now, lets get down to facts and figures about TOWNSHIP 11 NORTH - RANGE 1 EAST, out around Beech Creek Church. The township boundary lines were surveyed by Thomas Lyon, Deputy U.S. Surveyor in 1832. He established Section lines and completed plat map in 1834, of the 36 Sections in the Township. No traveled road was shown on this plat map, but all streams and swamps were outlined. About 1830, Adam Riser, from Newberry County, South Carolina lead a party of settlers that located near the forks of Buckoo and Castor creeks, on both sides of what is now the Winn-Caldwell parish line. Adam Riser established his home in Section 36-12N-1E., and Section 1-11N-1., Josiah Newsome established his home site. These two Sections join each other. Both Adam Riser and Josiah Newsome secured U.S. Land Patents to their places in 1839. Josiah Newsome was the first settler to get a Land Patent in Township 11N-1E. Below is a list of those getting U.S. Land Patents in TOWNSHIP 11 NORTH -- RANGE 1 EAST, WINN PARISH, LOUISIANA, before the Civil War. SECTION NAME DATE 1 Josiah Newsom 1839 1 Samuel H. Newsome 1859 4 William Fletcher 1859 4 James M. Smith 1860 4 James M. Smith 1859 5 William Fletcher 1858 5 Tim F. Smith 1859 5 Tim F. Smith 1859 5 Daniel Boyett 1858 5 William D. Smith 1860 5 William D. Fletcher 1859 6 William Fletcher 1859 6 Zack Boyd 1860 6 Moses McGee 1860 6 Daniel Boyett 1860 7 John Cooper 1859 8 John Cooper 1859 8 T.F. Smith 1858 8 T.F. Smith 1859 9 John W. Shumaker 1859 9 John W. Shumaker 1860 11 John A. Roberts 1859 11 John A. Roberts 1860 14 John G. Whitehead 1859 14 John G. Whitehead 1859 14 John G. Whitehead 1859 14 John G. Whitehead 1860 14 John G. Whitehead 1861 14 John G. Whitehead 1861 15 William D. Fletcher 1859 17 Menan Monk 1859 19 James Crawford 1859 19 Jack Hewett 1859 21 George C. Couch 1858 23 Andrew J. Nelson 1859 26 Christian Nelson 1858 28 George C. Cough 1858 30 Thomas Davis 1859 30 James L. W. Britton 1859 30 Sarah A Parish 1859 30 James M. Haddox 1860 30 Thomas T. Haddox 1859 30 Thomas T. Haddox 1859 30 Thomas Davis 1859 31 Thomas Talbert 1858 31 Thomas T. Haddox 1859 31 Thomas T. Haddocks 1859 31 John Roberts 1859 31 John Roberts 1859 31 Thomas Davis 1856 32 Thomas Haddox 1859 Most of these pioneer families of Township 11N - 1E., came from Mississippi to Winn Parish, but their ancestral lines stretched back to the early Colonial families of North and South Carolina and Georgia. On the whole, they were peaceful, law abiding, honest and religious, and above the average in intelligence and ability to profitably manage their business affairs. After the Civil War, the farming communities of Beech Creek and Flat Creek, recovered quickly and became one of the most prosperous farming sections of Winn Parish. Both communities had post offices. At Beech Creek the Beech Creek Baptist Church was established in 1872, and the Beech Creek Academy established in the late 1880's, became the cultural and religious center; and Flat Creek, with two or three stores, cotton gin, blacksmith shop and grist mill, the commercial center of the township. The community doctor, Dr. John W. Shumaker, lived about half-way between Beech Creek and Flat Creek. Mrs. I.J. McCartney, in an article in the Winn Parish Centennial Edition of the Enterprise in 1952 said: "The Christian people of Beech Creek Community, Winn Parish, LA met on October 1, 1872, for the purpose of organizing a church, consisting of Rev. T.J. Humble, from Pinehill Church presiding as moderator. "The following brethren and sisters came forward bearing letters: The Holmes, Couches, Currys, Pinkstons, Williams, Guytons, Smiths, Boyds, Russells, Coopers, and Weems. "The church was named Beech Creek Missionary Baptist Church and adopted the articles of faith of the Ouachita association. "The church met and held its first conference on the second Lord's Day in December 1872, and elected Rev. T.J. Humble as pastor, and Hugh White Holmes, church clerk. The church quickly began to grow, as other pioneer families, namely: the Risers, McCartneys, Fletchers, Newsomes, Shumakers, Whiteheads, Peters, Roberts, Mayes, Stranges, Spanglers, Merediths, Willis, Becks, and several others." In the early 1890's the Beech Creek Academy under the directions of Riley J. Wilson, had exceeded in enrollment the other two Winn Parish academies -- the Atlanta Male and Female Institute and the Mt. Zion Baptist Academy, and was generally considered the best school in Will Parish above the elementary level. Riley Joe Wilson was the son of Wiley J. Wilson, who was one of the early pioneer settlers in the St Maurice area from the Savannah River section of Georgia. Wiley J. Wilson, was the president of the Winn Parish White League, that was organized here in Winnfield, July 18, 1874, and spread over all Louisiana, and brought the final downfall of Carpetbag rule in Louisiana in 1876. Riley J. Wilson, was a native son of Winn Parish. After leaving the Beech Creek Academy, he became a lawyer and for nearly 30 years before his death, was Congressman from the Fifth Louisiana District. Several of my old time friends, like R.H. (Bob) Fletcher and Henry Willis, who went to school at Beech Creek, said Riley Joe Wilson was a most inspiring educator. In the middle 1890's, when Jay Gould build his Iron Mountain Railroad south from Columbia east of Castor Bayou, instead of through the fertile farm lands of Newport, Goodwater, Flat Creek, Beech Creek, and Bertrand's Prairie, west of the Castor, there was great disappointment in these Winn Parish communities. People from these Winn Parish communities began flocking to the new towns and villages that sprang up along Jay Gould's Iron Mountain railroad, such as Olla, Urania, Tullos, Rochelle, and Georgetown. Then, in 1901, when the Arkansas Southern railroad built into Winnfield, most of the substantial citizens of the Beech Creek and Flat Creek communities moved to Winnfield, and materially helped to make Winnfield a town, and their descendants now living here -- and there are many -- are among Winnfield's most prominent citizens today. Today, December 4, 1962, as I was working on this article, a friend of mine brought me a copy of the Olla-Tullos Signal of November 22, 1962, with an excellently done article by Mr. L. H. Taylor of Olla, about the last all night square dance ever held at Mike Strickland's famous old "Bucksnort Inn, Tavern & Dance Hall" in 1897. The "Bucksnort" just across the Castor from Beech Creek and Flat Creek communities, in Catahoula Parish -- Now LaSalle, was a place for the weary traveller to rest, and a rendezvous for those seeking fun and frolic on Saturday nights, for many years. The "Bucksnort" was right about where Urania is now. According to Mr. Taylor, everything had been going along peaceful on this fateful night, until about 2:00 a.m. when Squirlly Wade and Wirth Bertreau, two uninvited guests, barged in and caused a "free for all fight" that could have been heard from the banks of Dugdemona in Winn to the Chalk hills of Catahoula Parish. Mr. Taylor tells in detail who was there at the last dance at the "Bucksnort," and what they did. It was both interesting and amusing to note that some of the participants in the "free wheeling" affair had family names indicating that they might have been descendants of some of those who got U.S. Land Patents in the Beech Creek and Flat Creek communities before the Civil War. Submitted by: Laura Lawrence Weatherford 161 White Oak Lane Natchitoches, LA 71457 LauraFW419@aol.com