TX BIOS:  L. H. Williams, Jr.
   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
   
   FOLKLORE--White Pioneers
   
   Miss Effie Cowan, P.W.
   
   District No. 8
   
   McLennan County, Texas. Pioneer History [DEL: Life History :DEL]
   
   No. words 500
   
   File No. 240
   
   Page No. 1 W as told [?] a diary Reference
   
   Interview with L. H. Williams, Jr., and papers belonging to the
   Williams family, Mt. Calm, Texas.
   
   ("My grandfather father was L. H. Williams, Indian Agent for the
   Cherokees. He left a diary and the following story is taken from it.
   This old book was written by hand on foolscap paper and part of it was
   lost in a storm which tore our house down and more was lost when our
   home burned. But this scrap is really authentic and is the history of
   Texas in pioneer times.)
   
   "I was born in Nachodoches, Nachodoches County, December 10, 1828. My
   parents came to Texas from middle Tennessee along with Sam Houston and
   the Cherokee Indians. They made their settlements at Nacogdoches. They
   were the first white settlers, there was nothing in the country but
   Mexicans and native Indians from the tribes of Shawnees, Irroneys,
   Kickapoos. There was plenty of deer and [DEL: turkey wild :DEL] wild
   turkey and some bear and panthers, and plenty of wolves. The nearest
   settlement was on the Sabine River. We had a good deal of trouble with
   the Indians; we raised corn and potatoes and had plenty of wild game.
   The little farms consisted of five or six acres and were fenced with
   hand split rails. The Indian women did the farming.
   
   "L.H. Williams, my father was appointed Indian agent for the
   Cherokees. His duty was to obtain information for the whites about the
   movements of the Indians. On the Neches River, at the San Antonio
   crossing a trading post was established. He had control of it. The
   Cherokees paid money for dry goods and groceries. My father served
   during the whole Mexican war, at San Antonio, he received a wound
   which afterward cost him his eye. He was with Sam Houston in the
   battle of San Jacinto.
   
     NOTE: C.12 - 2/11/41 - Texas
     
   00022FOLKLORE--White Pioneers
   
   Miss Effie Cowan, P. W.
   
   McLennan County, Texas.
   
   District No. 8
   
   File No. 240
   
   Page No. 2
   
   "We moved to old Mt. Calm in 1846, this place is now in Limestone
   County. There was no settlement in this place nearer than Springfield
   which was twenty-five miles east of us. There were plenty of wild
   Indians here, among them were Comanches, Tonkawa, Keechis and Wacoes.
   They never molested us at all. But they fought among themselves[,?]
   that is the Caddoes and the Wacoes fought. There was a trading house
   on the Tehuscana which was run by George Barnard. The Caddoes lost
   some horses and the Tribes met at Trading House for council. They
   found the horses in the possession of the Waco Indians. They refused
   to give them up and they had a fight and the Caddos whipped the Wacoes
   and took their horses. Several were killed and wounded on both sides.
   The Comanches came in next day and took possession of the horses,
   killed them, claiming that would settle the dispute. Then the Tonkawas
   came in the next day and ate the horses and that settled the war.
   After that they moved the trading house where the County of Johnson is
   now. My father acted as interpreter for the Indians and he had to stay
   at the Trading House.
   
   "When we went to establish the Trading House, Mark Crabtree, Brooks
   Lee, High Estes, father and I went; we were working for Charley
   Barnard I was a teamster. We were going along about ten o'clock and we
   discovered about three hundred Comanche braves on a high line. They
   were running back and forth. I called to father to look. He saw them
   and said, "Boys, they are going to charge us." They came running
   toward us at full speed with one arrow in their bow and another in
   their mouth. As soon as the Chief recognized father, he checked the
   warriors. They tore our wagon sheet off to see what we had in the
   wagon. They foubd no women and children, nothing but [food?]. "

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