Hopkins CO. TX - Hargrave Family From: June E. Tuck ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** From the historical files of June E. Tuck, who does not validate or dispute any historical facts in the article. People have used Eli Hargrave^Òs histories of the county. Please, lets give Mr. Hargrave his deserving credit. INCIDENTS IN LIVES OF SOME MEMBERS OF THE HARGRAVE FAMILY By Eli Hargrave - S.S. Gazette - 1938 The Hargrave family were perhaps natives of Germany, from thence to England and afterward to America where they settled in South Carolina about 1760. The parents of this family, whose name was William, had three sons, James, a stock farmer and slave owner, went to Louisiana. William Jr. went to Carmel, Illinois. Nothing more was positively known by the writer of these two brothers. Hezekiah, the third son, was married to Susan McMurtrie in 1790 in South Carolina. In 1792, they moved to Kentucky where they lived for a time on Mud River in what is now Green County. They afterward moved to Illinois, but failed to contact the brother William. Here they remained till ten children were born into their home, seven boys and three girls. The family then moved to Indiana where they lived in and around Boonville, county site of Warrick County. In this vicinity these children were all married and many of the descendants of this family reside in Warrick County today. In the summer of 1842 a preparation was made by four of these brothers, William, James, Eldred Glen, and Harvey, for a trip to the south, hoping for their destination the new Republic of Texas. Early in the fall William and Harvey, the eldest and youngest members of this family, loaded their meager belongings with their young families into ox wagons and made the start on this three months journey. There were 18 persons in this caravan, William Hargrave and wife, Letis (Lettie) with six children and one grandchild, Elizabeth Woods with her father, John Woods. Also Harvey Hargrave and wife, Peggie, with four children and one niece, Frances Hargrave, and according to our best information, a man named Hunter. He was later to be the second person buried in the McFall cemetery. After these families had been on their way for a few weeks, James and Eldred Glen, having completed their preparations began the same route of travel and contending for the same destination. They also were in ox wagons with their families and house wares, making a merry trek in search of a new home. This caravan consisted, to the best of our knowledge, of about 25 persons, all in covered wagons and on foot, trudging in the dense woods and bleak prairies, in dim roads or pathways with few bridges, the streams being crossed by fording or on rafts built of logs and poles cut by the men and boys in this party. With a scarcity of money and feed, the teams must have time by the wayside to graze for grass that the journey may be continued. This second caravan consisted of Eldred Glen Hargrave and wife, Nancy, with seven children and one grandchild, Melissa Moore, with one niece, Jane Hargrave, sister to Frances mentioned in the other caravan. They were daughters of Seth Hargrave, deceased. Also James Hargrave and wife, Hannah, with three married sons, Hezekiah, Ratliff, and Robert, with their families, though I do not know the exact number in each. The first families arrived in Clarksville, Red River County, the latter part of December, 1842, and made their way to what became Sulphur Bluff in Hopkins County, in time for Perry Hargrave, son of William Hargrave, to celebrate his 21st birthday anniversary, December 30, 1842, in Texas, he being the first person to reach his majority in what was to be Hopkins County, Texas, being a Republic at that time. The second party were still on their way and while making the trip, a year-old child, Lewis Morgan, son of Glen and Nancy Hargrave, sickened and died October 17, 1842. No one now knows his resting place. After he was put away the journey was resumed and about the middle of February 1843, this second party reached their destination, now the northern part of Hopkins County. Here they found William Hargrave and family domiciled in a pole pen where they had pitched their tents and prepared to spend the winter. This settlement was near the present site of Nelta and was made the home of Uncle Billie and family 40 years before Nelta was known. Here the family resided, building log houses and barns, clearing some good bottom land which was enclosed by a brush fence, later by oak rails and then barbed wire. This patriot remained here for 30 years till his death in 1872, his wife going in 1880. Both are buried at McFall graveyard. This home was afterwards occupied by his son, Perry, in his later years who was living on the same land at his death in 1906. Then a grandson, John Car, occupied the same log house which during these years had been remodeled until his death in 1925, and now his son, Stinson, is living at the same place and some of the logs are being used in the dwelling that were put there by Uncle Billie in 1843, and this same land in the edge of Sulphur River bottom is being cultivated and has been cultivated during all these 95 years by members of this same family and it still produces some of the best corn in this county. Harvey Hargrave made his settlement three miles farther west toward Birthright, though the Birthrights were not there till after the Civil War. Here he and his wife, Peggie, remained for a number years in their log settlement till their last children, a pair of twins, were born at her death June 5, 1858. He was afterwards married to Kate Putman in 1862, when he moved with his family to Old Tarrant where he had a business establishment with Mr. William Sickles, father of Ham and Bob Sickles, as his partner. After this business career had ended, he with his family moved back to the old home where they resided till his death, April 18, 1881. His was the first Masonic burial the writer ever witnessed. His wife, Aunt Kate, as we called her, taught the first school, a subscription school, at Oakdale. The building stood a few hundred yards northwest from the present Oakdale school building. It was named Oakdale by Stella Putman, who afterwards married J. H. Dinsmore, who became a prominent educator and lawyer in this county. She was sister to Aunt Kate. The second caravan with Jimmie and Glen Hargrave as principals, found their brothers penned up for the winter and on arrival were invited in to share with them their rude (crude) hospitality. Glen Hargrave, who was my grandfather, made his settlement on the brink of Sulphur River bottom, where he built the first hewn log house in what was afterward Hopkins County. Here he remained on his little farm where he raised some stock on the free range to help him to earn a living. He was a gunsmith by trade and a fine marksman with his rifle. At this time, this country was infested with all kinds of wild animals such as raccoons, bob cats, panthers and occasionally a black bear. The woods were full of deer, squirrels and wild turkeys, so it was no trouble for them to have plenty of fresh meat. He died October 24, 1859, and was buried near his home in what is known as the Hargrave graveyard, his being among the first bodies put there. His wife died January 6, 1897 (86) in California. Jimmie Hargrave^Òs settlement was made some two or three miles farther east on the same ridge and northeast from Nelta on what is now known as the Billie Hudson home place and owned at present by Horace Spears. His home stood northeast and across the branch from Horace^Òs home. The Nelta community was then and for a long time afterward called Pleasant Hill and became Nelta when they secured a post office in 1882. It is said that William Kyle suggested the name Nelta for the post office, he having had a sweetheart by that name in time passed. When these Hargrave brothers landed here they found that one white man, John Bivins, and family located in a camp on Wolf Pen Creek, east and south from the present site of Flora. He, with his family, soon disappeared, no one knowing his whereabouts. Hezekiah, Ratliff, and Robert Hargrave, sons of Uncle Jimmie, were young married men at this time and members of this second party that arrived in February 1843. They had been directed to these parts by one Cealon (sic) Stout from Red River County, which had been a settlement since 1830. He advised them to go to Sulphur River where wood and water would be plentiful and where they might have protection from the marauding Indians tribes. So, these young adventurous boys took his word and made a settlement on the bluff bank of this stream where they built a work shop and blacksmith shop where they were very proficient, soon had some land cleared for the raising of corn, potatoes and the like. They at once saw the necessity of a grist mill for the grinding of corn so they set to work and founded this enterprise with Robert Hargrave preparing the mill rocks and Hezekiah and Ratliff aiding him in the manufacture and making of their necessary tools such as plows, hammers, chisels, etc. They were real mechanics and could do this work at their own initiative. They put their mill in the bed of the creek near a steep bluff bank where they could utilize water power for the running of their machinery. They erected a log hut to be used for school and church purposes, built another for a drug store in which the post office was kept with Robert Hargrave as first postmaster. Mr. South served as their doctor and drug man, and while he was unlettered, could not read a line of print, he was a fair success as a practitioner. The mail was brought from Paris, Texas, then called Pin Hook. As they were subject to bad roads, swollen stream and overflowed bottoms, it was often days and sometimes weeks before they could have the news, as mail was carried on horse-back. From this bluff bank on the river the burg was named Sulphur Bluff. Their first preacher was the Rev. Joe Bishop of the Baptist faith, and while he was an interesting talker and full of his subject, he could not read a line of print. The first death to occur was William Wallace Hargrave (5,) son of William and Lettie Hargrave. He died August 26, 1843, and was the first person buried at the McFall graveyard. The first wedding was October 16th on the same year, Thomas Car Clark and Elizabeth Barilla Hargrave being the contracting parties. Abner McKinzey came from Clarksville on horse-back to perform the marriage ceremony. They became Ned Clark^Òs grandparents. The first election at Sulphur Bluff was in September of 1844, when Anson Jones was elected President of the Texas Republic. The first barbecue was on July 4, 1845. At this primitive burg there are signs of an old graveyard though we have no knowledge of any one being put there. This settlement was inhabited by a dozen families or more that remained there for a few years when the village of New Sulphur Bluff was established on the prairie at its present site. The writer has visited this old historic spot on the creek where you see signs of a settlement, such as ancient china and cedar trees, plies of rock and dirt that would indicate a stick and dirt chimney had once been in evidence. Not many summers past Mrs. Hargrave and I , with our good friends, John E. and Mrs. Stribling, visited at this point. While we were viewing the scenes and pondering over some of the happenings of the past, we incidentally enjoyed a nice juicy Hopkins County watermelon just as near this old bluff bank as we could get. We spent the remainder of the day farther down the river where Dr. John caught the best fish that was hooked in our crowd. We think, if the Echo man will take his good wife into their limousine and drive through that rough and tumble wooded country to this memorable spot and look over it carefully, he would never again express surprise at the Indian tribes of that day being unable to find and molest this first Hargrave settlers in Hopkins County. Eli Hargrave