1803 - President Thomas Jefferson purchased this region from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The spot that would become Texarkana is now in United States Territory. 1803 - White immigration begins increasing in this region, and during the next three decades the Caddo Indian are gradually pushed from the land. 1806 - The Freeman - Curtis expedition, under orders from Thomas Jefferson, visits and attempts to claim this land as part of the Louisiana Purchase. They are turned back by Spanish soldiers eight miles north of where New Boston now sits at a site known as Spanish Bluffs. 1810 - 1825 The first arrivals to this place were lowland farmers and mountaineers from Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas, mainly from the Appalachian Mountains. They were poor or middle class and not slave owners. 1816 - Lost Prairie, the first permanent settlement in the area is established by Ben Milam on the Red River when he opened a store and land office. 1818 - Settlers start moving into the Rondo area in what would one day become Miller County, located about four miles from what one day would become Texarkana. They brought slaves and belongings along the National Post Road that routed settlers from the East Coast to the western territories. Many of these early settlers thought when they crossed the Red River they were in Spanish land, which is where they wanted to be because of generous enticements. They were unhappy when they learned they were homesteading in Arkansas. 1819 - Moses Austin sends his son, Stephen F. Austin, to Lone Prairie, a town in what is now Miller County, to start a farm. This was a backup plan for Moses, in case his plan to populate Texas with Americans did not work. After establishing the farm, Stephen went to New Orleans and studied law. After returning to Lone Prairie, Stephen was named judge of the first Arkansas Judicial District. He was known as a fair and intelligent judge, but he was more interested in helping his father settle Americans seeking land in Texas. 1820 - April 1, The Congress of the Territory of Arkansas creates Miller County from a part of Hempstead County. But the boundaries of the county were questionable, particularly to the west, where part of Miller County was believed to be in what was then Mexico (now Texas). After Texas gained its independence from Mexico, many Miller County residents preferred to be in the United States. In February 1838, Arkansas' first elected governor, James S. Conway, recommended Miller County be abolished and added to Sevier County. This didn't happen, but later in the year the assembly voted to abolish Miller County and add it to Lafayette County. It remained this way through the Civil War and Reconstruction. 1821 - Texas became a Mexican state. 1821 - Stephen F. Austin seeks out Maj. Gen. Arthur Goodall Wavell in Mexico to participate in his plan to colonize Texas. 1821 - Before this year, Spring Bank, one of the earliest settlements in Miller County, was known as factory Bluff. But when the Indian agency, which was located high on a bluff overlooking the Red River moved downstream to Louisiana, the name was changed. 1826 - Arthur Wavell gets a grant to start a colony along the red River in east Texas, but many obstacles prevented it from ever being established. 1832 - Jesse Cowley donated land for Cowley School, the first school in the north-central part of Bowie County. It located about three miles north- northeast of where New Boston now sits. In 1919 the original building as replaced by a $1, 4000 two-room school that would allow for two teachers. 1832 - Anthony L. Ghio was born in Italy. He would purchase the third lot sold in Texarkana in 1873 for $350.00. 1834 - John Coffey is operating a ferry across the Red River at Spring Bank in Miller County. Members of the Blanton family operated the ferry until 1964. 1835 - By treaty, the Caddo Indians relinquish all their land to the United States and agree to move farther into East Texas and away from the white settlements that are beginning to spring up in the area. They would be devastated by poverty and European diseases such as small pox and measles. Their population would fall from 18,000 to 5,000. The following year, white settlers in Texas had vanquished most of the Indian tribes in this region. The Caddos initially hung around, hunting buffalo on the Texas plains. Then they were placed on a reservation on the Brazos River for four years before they fled in 1859 to Indian Territory in Oklahoma to avoid annihilation. 1835 - While the first settlers were poor, non-slaveholders, about this time the mix began to shift. Settlers from the lower South now began coming to this area, bringing with then higher culture and black slaves. They soon initiated the growing of a plant that would be king - cotton. 1835 - By now there are five post offices located in Miller County, at Jonesborough, Mill Creek, McKinneyville, Spanish Bluffs, and Sulphur Fork. 1835 - Alexander Clarence Owen of Virginia and James Saunders Trigg of Tennessee settle in RONDO. Owen sets aside land to build a town and cemetery. 1835 - Cullen Baker is born in Tennessee. Seven years later his family moves to a farm in what is now Cass County, Texas. The family was good, but Cullen Baker was not. He was known for needless violence and psychopathic murders. He joined the Confederate Army in 1862, but he left after finding out his family had been robbed by runaway slaves. He then commanded a gang of deserters and outlaws and became known as the Swamp Fox of the Sulphur River. After string of killings, the United States put a $3000 bounty on his head. But they couldn't lay a hand on him. His violent legacy continued until Jan. 6, 1869. See that date. 1836 - March. Five citizens of Pecan Point, north of what is now the town of Hooks attend the Texas Constitutional Convention, and give a decidedly Bowie county influence. All five sign the Texas Declaration of Independence, which Collin McKinney helped draft. Richard Ellis, a local attorney and judge, was president of the convention. Texas becomes a republic, freeing itself from Mexico. 1836 - April 21, Texans route the Mexican army on the battlefield of San Jacinto and capture Santa Anna. The republic of Texas is born. 1836 - Arkansas becomes the 25th state. 1836 - First Methodist Church services in Miller County are held in Spring Bank. 1838 - February, Arkansas General Assembly makes it a misdemeanor for Miller County residents to hold office in the Republic of Texas. But nobody in Miller County would enforce the law. 1840 - Eli H. Moores comes from South Carolina and settles in what would be Texarkana. 1840 - Dec. 7, Bowie County comes into existence by an act of Congress of the Republic of Texas. It was named in honor of Alamo hero James Bowie. Popular lore says Bowie carved the wooden model of famous knife while camping in what would become his namesake county. 1841 - After years of boundary disputes, an agreement between the Untied States and Texas solidifies the current boundaries of Bowie County, and the boundary between Texas and Arkansas. But it wasn't until 1843 - seven years after the republic of Texas won its independents from Mexico - that all boundary disputes were resolved. 1841 - June, Election moves Bowie County seat from DeKalb to Boston, Texas. This Boston existed before New Boston and is now Old Boston. The courthouse was a log cabin in the city square. During its glory days, two Texas governors, W. T. Lanham and Hardin Runnels, called Boston home. By the 1860's, several thousand people lived in Boston and it supported five private schools. 1844 - Joseph Ferguson comes to Bowie County and operates a small sawmill on the Arkansas side of Texarkana. His son William and grandson John were both prominent players in the lumber business. 1846 - Texas joins the United States, and an American Victory in the Mexican War effectively ends hostilities with Mexico. 1849 - Holly Springs Church is built in Miller County. This log church was later replaced by a frame house in 1893. Three Confederate soldiers who died during the first year of the Civil war were buried in a rock-covered grave at the adjacent cemetery. In 1984, the rocks were remade into the base of a monument to honor the unknown soldiers and other veterans. 1849 - Texarkana's name was foretold when Dr. Josiah Fort erected a sign north of what is now the Bringle Lake area bearing the unique title. He thought the railroad would come out to him, but it didn't. This is not the only time Texarkana's name was used during its pre-history. See 1869. ************************************************************************ USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organ izations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non- commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Submitted by Vicki Richardson mailto:GVRICHARDS@aol.com ************************************************************************