TX BIOS:  Sarah Marlin Pruett
   Selected and converted.American Memory, Library of Congress.
   
   Washington, 1994.
   
   Preceding element provides place and date of transcription only.
   
   This transcription intended to be 99.95% accurate.
   
   For more information about this text and this American Memory
   collection, refer to accompanying matter.
   
   U.S. Work Projects Administration, Federal Writers' Project (Folklore
   Project, Life Histories, 1936-39); Manuscript Division, Library of
   Congress.Copyright status not determined.
   
   00011
   
   Early History
   
   Ada Davis, P.W.
   
   McLennan County, Texas
   
   District No. 8
   
   OCT 1 1937
   
   No. Words 1132
   
   File No. 200
   
   Page No. 1
   
   RECEIVED
   
   OCT 1 1937
   
   WORKS PROGRESS
   
   ADMINISTRATION
   
   SAN ANTONIO
   
   TEXAS References
   
   A. Sarah Marlin Pruett, Perry, Texas
   
   B. Maggie Strange, Reisel, Texas. [Davis?]
   
   James and John Marlin came from Ireland to the United States and
   drifted to Texas and finally, settled near what was then the town of
   Fieson, capitol of the province of Viesca in Robertson's colony, which
   was on the west banks of the Brazos river near where the town of
   Marlin now stands. The town of Perry was named for Judge A. G. Perry,
   grandfather of Mrs. Sarah Marlin Pruett. Sarah Marlin Pruett was born
   March 25th, 1863 near the present town of Perry, Texas. At the age of
   seventeen, she married Sam Marlin, son of James Marlin and they moved
   to Reagan.
   
   At the time that the Marlin family came to Viesca, the country had few
   settlers and the Mexicans and Indians were very dangerous. The little
   frontier town had no fort and no soldiers, so, when the Texans went to
   war with Mexico, many of the settlers there, and around the Falls of
   the Brazos, moved to places more densely populated.
   
   After the War with Mexico, the Marlins and the Morgans were among the
   first to return to their former home. John Marlin settled about four
   miles from the present town of Marlin. Other pioneers settled near,
   and the settlement came to be known as "Bucksnort." There were two or
   three stores and a blacksmith shop, but it was the trading center for
   the country for miles around. Bucksnort was the first post office in
   Falls county and some of the old settlers still call it "Old Marlin."
   
     NOTE: [C. 12 - 2/11/41 Tex.]
     
   After the War with Mexico, the Indians were fierce and kept the
   settlers in a constant state of terror. During this time, occurred one
   of the first Indian massacres in Falls county. This is known as "The
   Morgan 00022Massacre.(A)
   
   James Marlin and George Morgan built a cabin of hewed cedar on what is
   known now as the Rock Dam road. The two families lived together in
   this cabin. That was the custom of the time, as it afforded better
   protection from Indians and aid in case of illness or distress. The
   old couple of Morgans were quite old people, but George Morgan was
   about twenty-two or twenty-three years of age and recently married to
   Stacy Ann Marlin. Mr. and Mrs. James Marlin had a son, Isiah, about
   ten years of age and two daughters. These were: Stacy Ann Marlin and
   Adeline who was about sixteen years old and very beautiful. (A & B).
   
   On the morning of January 1839, the men folks who lived in this cabin,
   except old man, James Marlin, had gone about eighteen or twenty miles
   south of Old Marlin to get a load of corn. At that time, their roads
   were only bridle paths or cow trails, without bridges and there were
   several streams, swollen by recent rains, which the men were forced to
   cross.
   
   The women knew that the men could not be there that night, so they
   hurried through their household tasks, finished milking and feeding
   and got in wood, water and kindling before night. Also, they rushed to
   eat their supper before night so that no light would be needed other
   than that of the fire in the fireplace. They were sitting by the
   fireside carding wool when the dreaded Indian yell was heard right by
   the door. In the twinkling of an eye, the Indians had broken down the
   door and were in the house hacking the women and children with their
   tomahawks. The old couple were killed instantly and scalped. Mrs.
   James Marlin and the little blonde Adeline were mercifully killed at
   once. 00033In some manner, Isaac Marlin, the little ten year-old boy,
   managed to slip out of the house as the Indians got in, and he ran out
   in the dark and hid in a fence corner. The Indians cut Adeline's head
   off and scalped her long, beautiful hair from it. Her body was found
   in one place and the bloody, beaten head in another. The Indians beat
   Stacy Ann, the other girl, until she fainted, and they left her for
   dead. She fell through the floor where the puncheon boards had been
   palled up by the savages. When they chopped her head with their
   tomakawks, she put up her hands to try to shield her face and eyes and
   they chopped her hands up in a terrible fashion. She lay quietly under
   the floor, not daring to move, because she knew that the Indians would
   chop her head from her body to make sure that she was dead. Then she
   heard the Indians leave the house and go riding away, she began to
   crawl out from under the house. She was very weak from pain and the
   loss of blood and it was a terrible effort to try to crawl. She
   managed to crawl out of the house and into the woods nearby. She
   stayed there all night. The wolves howled around her all night,
   because they could smell the blood from her wounds. They came so close
   that she thought every minute that she would be torn to pieces, but
   she was too terrified to return to the house. The Indians often
   returned to a place where they had killed and robbed and would set
   fire to the house to get rid of the bodies. (A & B).
   
   Stacy Ann fell off to sleep the next morning and did not wake until
   the afternoon. She was feverish and very thirsty. She saw some of
   their milk cows going to a pond at a spring. The old bell cow was the
   nearest and she managed to crawl to this gentle, old animal and to
   catch on to the bell strap. In this way, the cow drug her to the water
   where she quenched her thirst. Then, she made her way to the house.
   00044In the meantime, Isaac Marlin, the little boy, had slipped back
   to the house after he was shure the redskins had really gone. He found
   that his mother had been brutally and horribly murdered. He spread a
   quilt over the bodies and started out to John Marlin's house to spread
   the news. It was after ten o'clock, but the brave little boy made the
   trip. The next morning, the men who had gone to Old Marlin joined John
   Marlin and they went to the cabin of the tragedy. That afternoon, they
   saw Stacy Ann slowly creeping to the house. At first, they thought she
   was an Indian, but her feeble cries drew them to help her. She lay for
   days, just barely alive from the shock of the tragedy and the loss of
   blood. (A).
   
   Stacy Ann lived to raise a family and outlived her husband. She told
   many thrilling stories of the early settlement of Texas and of her
   experiences. Her hands were terribly scarred from the blows she had
   received from the Indians' tomahawks and the scars in her head were so
   bad that she always wore a cloth cap over her head to hide them. She
   had a sweet face and a kind word and cheery smile for everyone. (B).
   
   Awhile after the Morgan and Marlin massacre, the Indians attacked the
   home of John Marlin. His son, Benjamin Marlin, Garrett Menifee and
   Thomas Menifee were there when the Indians came to charge the house.
   They killed seven of the Indians and this caused the others to leave.
   The settlers organized a fighting force with Benjamin Bryant of
   Bryant's Station in command. They decided to engage the Indians in
   battle and frighten them out of the country. They encountered Jose
   Maria and his Indians at Morgan's Point, near Perry, in the open post
   oak woods close to a dry ravine. Jose Maria's men won the battle, but
   the loss was so great that a treaty of peace was made with the Indians
   and James Marlin. 00055By this treaty, the Indians were not so hostile
   but pushed farther west. New settlers moved in, and schools and
   churches were built. The Indians had captured the slave girl belonging
   to Mrs. Marlin. She was never heard of again. Slave owners who came to
   settle in and around Perry brought their slaves from other states. The
   county was organized in 1850 from Milam and Linestone Counties and a
   log courthouse was built upon the square.
   
   Isaac Marlin never married. He was a prosperous farmer. When the Civil
   War broke out, he was one of the first volunteers from Falls County.
   He was killed in action, and buried in an unknown grave.
   
   The Marlin family and the Morgans were the first pioneers in Falls
   county. A monument has been erected to their memory on the site of the
   old homestead.

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