Freestone County, Texas History News of 1856 Dallas Weekly Herald May 10, 1856 The editor of the Pioneer is descanting on an inspiring theme - Man's inhumanity to - hogs. According to the editor, all the hogs of the flourishing village of Fairfield are mercilessly left without any better shelter from sun or storm than afforded them underneath the Masonic Hall, where they are so crowded as to be uncomfortable, and he fears, unhealthy. In proof of their bad situation, the young ladies of the academy say they "squeal incessantly," and the inference is irresistable too, we think, that they are much bitten by fleas, and haven't room to scratch. The editor c??????es the changes of these fleas going off on the aforesaid young ladies and church-goers who assemble at the Hall on Sundays; and conclude that though a great his humane and kind-hearted article by recommending that sheds be built about the lodge, church, and other fit places for such things &c., for the neglected hogs. =========================================== State Gazette published in Austin, Texas July 5, 1856 edition Page: 2 The Condition of Texas 1855 Slaves 1855 Bales [of cotton] Freestone 2,167 4,517 =========================================== Cherokee Sentinel June 28, 1856 Sad Accident - On Saturday morning, says the Fairfield Pioneer, of the 3d inst, a Scotchman by the name of McDaniel, descended the well of Mr. Williams, when he came in contact with carbonic acid gas which soon ended his earthly career. He had. however gone into the well the day was taken out breathless. After he had recovered he boasted that he had taken negroes out of such wells before, and intended to clean out that one. He recently came to the county, but we did not understand from whence. =========================================== State Gazette published in Austin, Texas appears in June 28, July 19 and August 9, 1856 editions Front page TAKEN UP AND COMMITTED TO the possession of the undersigned, Sheriff of Ellis county, Texas, on the 3rd day of May, 1856, a slave, who says his name is Allen, and further says he belongs to John A. Wynn, a citizen of Freestone county, Texas said slave is of a very black complexion, five feet seven inches 1/4 high, supposed to weigh 145 pounds, quick spoken, said slave says he is twenty-eight years old, and left home this Spring about the second week in April, A.D. 1856. The owner or owners of said slave are requested to come forward, prove property, pay charges and take him away or he will be dealt with according to the law. JOHNATHAN E. PRINCE, Sheriff E. C. June 7th, 1856 no 42. =========================================== A Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon Counties, Texas (published 1891), p. 905-906 [Bio of Oliver Carter Kirven contains the death notice of William Alexander Kirven] After the death of his wife, William A. Kirven started, in August, 1856, on a visit to his mother in Alabama, intending to bring her and other relatives to his home in Texas at Galveston. He took passage on the steamship Nautilus for New Orleans, but fate ordained that he should never again behold his mother in this existence: the vessel was wrecked and every soul on board of her, except the steward and one other, found their last, long sleep on the bottom of the turbulent Gulf of Mexico. The two little boys, doubly orphaned, Oliver Carter Kirven and his brother, Thomas L., were adopted by their material grandfather, Colonel Oliver Carter, and his wife, Mary Livingston Carter, and taken to their home and their hearts. =========================================== Cherokee Sentinel November 29, 1856 edition (also December 6 edition) Page: 2 Writ of Publication Thomas A. Scurlock vs. Julia Ann Scurlock District Court Cherokee County THE STATE OF TEXAS, COUNTY OF CHEROKEE : To the Sheriff of said county -- Greeting: To Mrs. Julia Ann Scurlock; you will please take notice, that after this notice shall have been published thirty days, I shall issue a commission to take the depositions of S. B. Pharis and William Pharis, who reside in the county of Freestone, and State aforesaid, which depositions, when taken are to be read as evidence on the part of the plaintiff, in a certain suit, now pending in the District Court of said county; wherein Thomas A. Scurlock is plaintiff and you are defendant. Test: Frank M. Taylor, Clerk of said Court. {L.S.} Given under my hand and official seal at office, this November the twenty-seventh, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and fifty seven. Frank M. Taylor, Clerk Issued November 27th, 1856 F. M. Taylor, Clerk --------------- Received in office November 28th, A.D. 1856, and handed to the Editor of the Cherokee Sentinel, same day, for publication. James T. Bloomfield, Sheriff C.C. By John F. Williams, Deputy November 29, 1856 n50-30d =========================================== Commissioners' Court - November Term 1856 - page/entry 235 "Ordered by the court: J. H. Blain, William R. Daviss, D. H. Love, J. B. Robinson, F. M. Bradley be and they are hereby appointed a committee and requested to devise and draft a plan or plans for a jail *1* in the county and report at the next regular term of this court together with a probable expense for said jail." *2* [So the committees full names are assumed to be: James Holman Blain, William Riley Daviss Sr., David Hall Love, James Bonner Robinson, and Francis Meriwether Bradley Sr. *3*] Later, the jail's contract went to D. H. Love and J. G. Wallace for $5,992 and was built from heavy timbers and handmade brick. [I assume these contractors were David Hall Love and Joshua G. Wallace. *3*] =========================================== =========================================== FOOTNOTES: *1* = This is for the SECOND Freestone County Jail (1857-1881). The original first jail was built from heavy logs. *2* = This was researched by Linda Mullen for the Freestone County Museum. She provided an image of the original minutes in question. The cause of concern was that it has been mistranscribed in the past. *3* = This is my assumptions. Any errors are mine. (Eric Wood)