Jones County Texas Archives - History of Swan Chapel - 1927 *********************************************************** Submitted by: Dorman Holub Date: 19 January 2020 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/jones/jonestoc.htm *********************************************************** The Stamford American Thursday, June 30, 1927 J.F. Swan, Founder of Swan Chapel, gives Interesting Account of Early History of this Territory and First Twenty Families Interesting facts concerning the people who lived 40 years ago in the territory where Stamford is now located are related by J.L. Swan, the man for whom Swan Chapel is named. Mr. Swan came to Jones county in 1886. He gave the names of 20 families whom he said were all he could recall who lived at that time within a radius of 15 miles of where Stamford now stands. Most of those whom Mr. Swan named lived along California Creek in what are now the Spring Creek, Avoca and Swan Chapel communities. A family by the name of Galbraith lived about a mile and a half east of the present site of Stamford, said Mr. Swan. He also mentioned Patty Shaw, Captain Ragsdale, the McCowan family. A Mr. Matthews lived on California Creek near where the highway and railroad bridges are now located, just outside the present town of Avoca. A.B. Crow also lived in this vicinity and J.R. Moore had a place near where the Spring Creek cemetery is now located. A man by the name of Taswell bought a quarter section from Moore. Captain Suggs lived on California Creek near the T.M. Caton place. Mr. Caton had not arrived in this county at that time. Henry and Wesley Stevenson also lived on California Creek. M. Samples and P.A. Beaty and Mrs. Griffith and her two sons, Ward and Will were among the first and Creed Roberts and ÒUncle JeffÓ Scott lived down on Cottonwood creek. Dr. Zimmerman, father of E.P. Zimmerman, and his brother-in-law, Dr. Youngblood, lived out toward Funston. A Dry Hole Soon after coming to this country, Mr. Swan decided to drill a water well. After digging and blasting for a month with the aid of one man he reached a depth of 96 feet. He had three pounds of blasting powder left. The well was dryer than some of the oil wells which have been drilled in this territory recently, so with his three pounds of powder, Mr. Swan proceeded to ÒshootÓ the well. The force of the explosion blew the windlass from the top of the well, but instead of water, a cloud of dust arose from the bottom of the shaft. The well was abandoned, and several hundred yards of brush fence used to fill up the hole. However, Mr. Swan made an important discovery from the well. The dirt taken from the bottom of the well nearly 100 feet down in the earth, proved as rich as the top soil and grew some of the finest sunflowers he had ever seen, Mr. Swan said. After that, he was convinced that Jones county farm land would never wear out. Build School House In 1888 Mr. Swan and some of his neighbors decided to build a school house. They built the Swan Chapel school on land donated by Mr. Swan. The building was 24x36 feet and was the finest school house in Jones county at that time. The lumber was hauled from Abilene. In those days, the people reached Abilene by fording the Clear Fork at the point where Nugent is now located. Crossing at times was difficult. After a few wagons had crossed, the banks of the river would become slick with water and mud and it was necessary to double up the teams to pull the wagons out of the river. Mr. Swan says his principal crops were sorghum and wheat. Sorghum was sold to the ranchmen for feed or at times the seeds were threshed and sold. Mr. Swan says he made a good wheat crop. He also raised a little cotton. Mr. SwanÕs parents were among the pioneers of Bell county. The Wallace family, parents of former Governor Miriam A. Ferguson, were neighbors of Mr. Swan. He was also acquainted with Former Governor Jas. E. FergusonÕs father. When he came to Jones county, Mr. Swan was 38 years old. He is now 79. For the past 10 years he has lived in Wheeler county, but has been here this summer visiting his daughter, Mrs. W.D. Olinger.