Jones County, Texas - History - Jones County was founded in 1881 *********************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Dorman Holub Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm *********************************************** Jones County was founded in 1881 By G.D. Triplett, 1937 From a rolling prairie dotted with mesquites and scrub oaks and inhabited by coyotes, wild animals and horned toads. Jones County has grown into one of the best known agricultural areas in Texas and a prominent place in the production of oil. Earnest Zipp, an early pioneer and a few of his neighbors planted a few acres of cotton as an experiment. Some of the cotton was sown broadcast and one bale was picked from the patches. With the pioneerÕs contempt of obstacles, Mr. Zipp hauled the cotton 50 miles to a gin at Cottonwood Springs, in Callahan County, the second gin in that county. After ginning the cotton, he obtained nine cents a pound for it and started the return trip to Jones County. On the way, he broke his lumbering wagon down, and almost froze to death according to early day reports. Upon his return here, he is credited with the saying, ÒTo hell with cotton.Ó From this small beginning, Jones county has become one of the major cotton producing counties in Texas with a top production of 107,265 bales in 1932, a banner year. From 1917-1937, Jones county has produced 1,055,000 bales of cotton. The first cotton gin in Jones County was constructed by a one-armed man. Doc Pass and Mr. Schoffield built the plant located at Anson where the city lake is now located. Power for the gin was furnished by a thresher engine. Two years later, the second gin was erected by Martin Duvall and Uncle Jeff Martin in the townsite. In 1937, there were 37 cotton gins in Jones County which ginned 90 percent of the cotton produced. Two cotton compresses, one at Hamlin and one at Stamford are ample to care for the crop. The first wildcat drilled in Jones County was in 1916. In 1937, there are seven producing fields located in the county and another pool opener has just been tested, the Iron Mountain No. 1 Carl Olander, in the northeast part of the county. The first well to be a producer was the Phillips Petroleum No. 1 Joe Winters, located 20 miles southwest of Anson and came in for 1,000 barrels in 1926. Overnight, Jones county became oil conscious and leases became valuable. Later developments failed to produce until June of 1927 when the Higgs field was discovered with production found at less than 2,000 feet. A good showing in the Texas and Wheeler and Atlantic Oil company test on the Sayles ranch four or five miles south of Hawley in 1920 led to further exploration of that territory in 1932 when the Condor Petroleum company found a producer that flowed 275 barrels through eight-inch casing. In 1937, there were 23 producing wells in that field. The Hawley field, once the hunting grounds of Indians, got its first producer in 1928. Gillette and Hickey and Cowboy Evans drilled the first wildcat, spudding in on June 3, 1926. On January 11, 1927, there was 800 feet of oil standing in the hole, bottomed then at 2,070 feet. By January 21, nearby leases were being bought for $100 an acre. The well lost tools in the hole was making loads of oil and water and on March 30, the well was deepened three feet and failed as a producer. Later, a few offset wells were drilled last it was 1935 before the Hawley field had its first real producer. The field is situated on land which has an interesting history. In an early day Indians roamed over the ranch, hunting small game. Not far up the river was an Indian village and burial ground. On March 16, 1835, a head right certificate was issued to M. Bueno by the Board of Land Commissioners of Bexar County and Bueno on the 13th of August 1840 signed a deed of conveyance by his mark, to John R. Cunningham. Later the land sold several times for less than $2.00 an acre and finally came into the hands of F.N. Cockrell of Missouri. It was run by Judge J.V. Cockrell, Jones CountyÕs only congressman, who later moved to Abilene, and also served as district judge. His son, Fred Cockrell and a daughter, Mrs. Ella Duke lived in Abilene in 1937. During this time, the ranch was operated as a sheep ranch but following the early day depression in that business was transformed into a cattle ranch and farm. On February 5, 1917 the land was sold to E.L. Williams and wife who in turn sold it to S.W. King, Jr. It later was disposed of to the Dorsey estate of Dallas in 1935. The Guitar pool was opened when the Farris, Fikes and Ungren Frazier No. 1 Guitar estate, with an initial production of around 130 barrels an hour, was brought in October of 1936. The Sunday Ridge pool was discovered in 1934, the Lueders field in 1935. To serve these fields Jones county had five pipelines and four refineries. In 1851, the Shackelford county commissionerÕs court called an election for the purpose of organizing Jones County and selecting a county seat. The county had been created by an act of the legislature on April 18, 1858 and had been attached to Shackelford county for judicial purposes. The election of county officers was an easy matter, but it required three elections to determine where the county seat should be located and in the third election Jones City, now Anson received the honor of being the county seat. The first election was thrown out because of a large number of voters who were not qualified and the second was thrown after charges of fraud. Places hoping to be chosen as county seat were Fort Phantom Jill, Jones City and Paint City. The first officials elected were: E.M. Johnson, judge; W.M. ÒRedÓ Smith, Clark; A.J. Carr, tax assessor; P.T. Knox, treasurer; Martin Duvall, surveyor; J.F. Cole, Sheriff; John A. Roberts, inspector of hides and cattle. The four commissioners elected were: T.J. ÒCottonwoodÓ Scott, precinct 1; C.J. Chapman, precinct 2, A. Calhoun, precinct 3; J.J. Elliott, precinct 4. Later, B. Frank Buie was appointed county attorney. The first meeting of the commissionerÕs court was at Fort Phantom Hill, then temporary county seat on July 17, 1881. The first person in Jones County to obtain a marriage license was Joe Pinkston who lived in the Hawley area. He also voted in the election for the organization of the county. The first courthouse was a one room structure of crude construction and served until Jones county obtained the two-story hotel. This was used until 1885, when a brick courthouse was erected. In 1900, the present courthouse was built at a cost of $100,000. The first postmaster of Anson was William McBowyer, known as the ÒFather of Anson.Ó