Freestone County, Texas History [Fairfield Recorder newspaper April 1925 The published school paper of Leroy C. Emmons of Teague] HISTORY OF FREESTONE COUNTY BEFORE 1890 In order to encourage the work of gathering historical data of Freestone County, the Fairfield Recorder, the County Paper, offered a loving cup to the school whose pupil prepared the best theme on "Early History of Freestone County." Each school was given the privilege of entering three essays in this contest and three themes from the league School and two from the Fairfield School were entered. The papers were submitted to the History Department of Baylor University for grading, resulting in Leroy C. Emmons of the Teague School being awarded first place; Elizabeth Anderson and Evalina Cannon of the Fairfield School each respectively, first and second place. We reproduce the theme that carried the cup to the Teague School this year, written by Leroy C. Emmons. Leroy is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Glen Emmons. He was born and reared on the farm, five miles East of Fairfield. He graduated from the Fairfield High School last year and is now taking eleventh grade work in the Teague High School. Preface: Most of the material used in this theme was obtained from oral sources that is, from talking with old settlers. These old "folks" remember events in the early history of our County quite well, but we cannot find an account of such events in history. These people are fast passing away and I think that their knowledge of early history should be recorded while they are here to dictate to us. A complete history of the County would fill a good sized book. In collecting material on this subject I found a large and varied source of information, but could not include it all in here. The main difficulty I had was in deciding just what to leave out. I selected a few of the accounts of events which show how our County progressed, and the difficulties which our forefathers encountered. FREESTONE COUNTY BEFORE 1890: In 1830 a man by the name of PRATHER settled with his family at a place called Bean’s Saline, in what is now the eastern part of Freestone County. He settled there for the purpose of making salt, to be used in trading with the Indians. Shortly afterward trading posts were established near the same place by C.H. Sims and James Hall for the purpose of trading with the Indians. In 1832, a Mr. Walker moved near Bean’s Saline with his family, which consisted of his wife, three, grown daughters and a little boy. Dr. E.J. Debord also moved, with his family, to the same place, and in the same year Martin Lacy moved here with the first salt works ever brought to the County. More than a dozen other families moved here within the next few months. This settlement was forty-miles from the nearest white settlement. "These first settlers," according to Mr. Bonner of Fairfield, "found an old log house in the Eastern part of the County. This cabin was badly decayed by 1835, and must have been built many years before. No one lived in this cabin at the time of its discovery. A large rose bush was found a few feet from the house, and a tree nearby bore the inscription, ‘Erie.’ This probably was the man’s name who had lived here. In 1896 this old rose bush was dug up, and $300.00 in gold coin was found underneath it. The two men who found this money, Joe Manning and John Adams, had a dispute in the division of it and Manning succeeded in getting it all." In 1834 Hall moved his stock of goods to Hall’s Bluff, which was later called West Point. He wanted to trade with the Prairie. Indians, namely: Wacos, Tehuacanas, Keechis and Comanches. The Keechi tribe was at that time lord of this part of the country. The first land survey in the County was made in 1835 by Jose de Jesus Grande. Many other surveys were made soon after this time, including large individual surveys. This land had already been granted to Burnett Colony, but was not to be taken over by them until 1835, and by that time most of the land in the County had been surveyed. Settlers now came rapidly, and in 1850 the chief settlements were: Troy, which was established about 18117, by Bateman, and was for a long time the leading town of the County; Butler, which was established about 1849, by McDaniel, Manning and Gill; and the present site of Fairfield, which came to be known as Mound Prairie, and later it was called Mount Pleasant. In 1851 the County was organized with Fairfield as its County seat. A post office was opened there the same year with Dunbar Bragg as the first postmaster. A building constructed of rough hewn logs was used as a courthouse until 1855, when a two-story brick building was completed. This was the first permanent courthouse in the County, and cost $12,000.00. In 1852 provisions were made for a County. jail. The first court in the County was held in February, 1851. This court ordered the town of Fairfield to be divided into lots and sold at public auction. B.F. Lime was given $2.50 to auction off these lots. The November term of court of the same year ordered that the County be divided into four beats, or precincts. In 1855 the County had five post offices: Avant, Butler, Troy, Cotton Gin, Fairfield and Keechi. Freestone County was now a great attraction to land and slave owners and came to be a very wealthy County. Fairfield now had a reputation like a modern Waco or Austin. It was a very prosperous town. In 1859 the population of the County was 6,017, which was two-thirds as large as Waco at that time. In 1859 the County had 2,961 slaves. Fairfield’s schools were a great attraction to the wealthy planters. For several years Fairfield had been noted for its good schools. In 1858 a large building was begun and was completed in 1859. It was to be used as a female college. It had twenty-two rooms, including four class rooms, three music rooms, a parlor, dining room, kitchen, and a store room in the basement. The college was opened in 1859 with about 200 girls enrolled, including some from other states. The school was held from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and lasted ten months each year. This college was the beginning of Baylor University, now at Waco. Social customs at this time were quite a contrast with these of today. The old college was the social center of Fairfield for several years. The people would gather here for entertainment of various kinds. Some of the more wealthy people lived in homes constructed of stone and lumber, while others lived in log houses. The slave owners usually had a row of log cabins a short distance in the rear of their homes for the accommodation of their slaves. Shoes and other clothing were made almost entirely at home. Where such things could be bought in stores they were very high priced and of poor quality. Most of the furniture that the people used was also made at home. The poor means of travel, due to bad roads and unimproved carriages, brought many hardships upon our forefathers. Many men have lived and died in the County who barely knew there were other counties than Freestone. There were very few forms of entertainment in the County; occasionally dances were held at the homes of the wealthy planters, but poor means of travel made it impossible for large crowds to be present upon such occasions. Once each year camp meetings would be held in some community and the people of the adjoining communities would gather here and camp until the close of the meeting, which sometimes lasted two weeks or longer. Fairfield was for several years one of the largest educational centers in the State. At first the sons of the wealthy planters were sent away to other states to schools, but this soon proved to be very expensive and the female college was converted into a school for both sexes. Freestone County’s strength lay in her slaves, and with the slaves free the County ceased to be prosperous. In fact, the war proved to be a turning point in the progress of the County. Even in 1855 the slaves in the County were valued at more than one-million-dollars. Freestone County was bitterly opposed to the North’s attitude toward the freedom of slaves, or rather the plan for freedom and she had men in Southern army even before the vote of secession was taken. When this vote was taken, Dr. Moore was the only man to vote against it, and he was a strong supporter of the Union cause. The first man who went to the army from the County later came to be called the "Yancys," and were under the command of Capt. Moody. Seven other companies were rapidly formed, under Maddox (Cavalry), Wilson, William Pack, J.C. Means, L.D. Bradley and Joseph Davis, infantry. The first companies went to Tennessee, while the latter companies went to Louisiana and Mississippi. About 1,000 men went to the war from Freestone County, and of this number only 300 returned. Only 26 men were left in Capt. Moody’s Company, while the other companies lost heavily, especially Bradley’s company, which was struck a severe blow by the Northern forces in the Battle of Vicksburg. The Valwood Battery, commanded by Capt. Nettles of Leon County, did some gallant fighting near El Paso, Texas. "This battery captured 300 wagons and 63 cannon the first day of its battle against Gen. Bank’s army. In several battles this battery was so daring it soon became very famous. At the close of the war this battery disbanded at Fairfield, leaving four cannon, two of which were iron and two of brass. One of the iron cannon is now at Jack Creek Reunion Ground, near Mexia, and the other is at the W.L. Moody Camp, near Fairfield. The two brass pieces were buried in Bradley’s buggy house, and," continued Mr. Anderson, "one year later when the republican officers were about to search for these pieces we dug them up at night and moved them about a mile out of town. Now, Capt. Nettles was wounded in the battle in which these guns were captured, and we decided to melt them and sell the material for Nettles’ support. We did not think we would ever have need for them, because we were treated so severely by the republican officers." When the war was at an end and the few men who were still alive returned to their homes and planned to improve their County, but this they were not permitted to do, for Northern men filled all public offices and soon the County was placed under military rule. A negro, "Sandy" Braggs, was chief of police, and several of the offices were filled by negroes. Two elections were held almost at the points of bayonets, the negroes alternating with the whites to vote. Four days were required to hold each of these elections. Gradually the reconstruction days passed, however, and Freestone County came to her own once more. In the early 70’s a railroad was built to Mexia and a stage line was established between Fairfield and Mexia. Two or three days were required to make the complete trip. Three stops were between the two places, where the tired horses were exchanged for fresh ones. In this way Fairfield received its mail semi-weekly. Mexia was the nearest market for produce for a long time. In the meantime the County had grown considerably in population. Several small towns were now in the County. In 1889 there were 55-white and 18- colored schools and two independent districts, namely Fairfield and Wortham. Ten of the common schools were under the direct supervision of the County Judge, five white and five colored. The white schools were: St. Elmo, Mt. Zion, Brewer, Sunshine and Hopewell. The colored schools were: Avant, Tabernacle, Gibson Chapel, Salem and Rocky Branch. The public school system really began about 1875 and has progressed rather slowly. In 1890 all school buildings in the County were constructed of wood, and were valued at $5,000.00 with furniture valued at $2,000.00. About this time a new brick and stone courthouse was erected in Fairfield. It was three stories high and cost $23,120. It had a large clock placed in the cupola which cost $1,000.00. Notwithstanding the great changes which have taken place since the first white settlers came to the County, the people who compose our present population have ideals very similar to those of our ancestors. As we think of the great changes that have taken place, due to the constant efforts on the part of our fore-fathers, and all for our benefit we are inspired and determined to make the County even more nearly perfect for the coming generations than our forefathers have made it for us. Our predecessors accomplished great things, in spite of their many handicaps, and surely we, in this era of great opportunities, as honest, peace-loving, patriotic Americans, we can afford to put forth sufficient efforts to continue the work begun by our early settlers.