Young County, TX - History - I Remember Grandpa ************************************************************************************* This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Dorman Holub Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ************************************************************************************* I Remember Grandpa by Alwana Vaughan © Article was used by permission Article was originally written in 1972. The following is an account written from the actual words of Mrs. Alwana Vaughan of Graham remembering her grandpa, Mr. John H. Wood. Daddy told me that Grandpa John Henderson Wood was a Texas Ranger in 1861 at Fort Phantom Hill, along with Buffalo Bill. While they were out on a skirmish, they ran out of provisions and they only had buffalo liver to eat. Grandpa and Bill found a turkey's nest full of eggs. While grandpa and Bill were eating the eggs, Bill said: "John, there's a rotten egg in this bunch." But, Grandpa stirred it right on into the skillet. Grandpa and Bill were the only ones who ate the eggs, the other guys hadn't realized that they had been tricked. There were no rotten eggs in the bunch. Later, the two men camped on a little branch and Grandpa went to sleep. Bill took his pack saddle and rattled it over Grandpa's head, and Grandpa took off over the saddle and into the branch. They had seen Indians that day and they had pickets out watching for them. Grandpa thought for certain it was an Indian raid. Negro Bill Britt was in the same company. He would draw his rations and sit alone to eat them. Bill went out to shoot a buffalo and Indians got after him. He came running into the crowd of soldiers, jumped off his horse and cried, "I can whip any Indian in the county." The Rangers were following a trail and stopped at a creek to water the horses. As one soldier dismounted, a gun went off and shot one of the men in a leg. So, the party turned back. That night, at camp, three Indians came up under a white flag and told them they had a trap for the Rangers with 1,000 warriors, and that there wouldn't have been a one of them alive had they not turned back because of the accident. To return the wounded man to the fort, the soldiers put a pole on each side of a pack mule and stretched a blanket across it. Once, in a running fight with Indians, Grandpa picked up a war shield with 72 bells on it. After one man and two horses were killed, the Indians ran into a live oak thicket. At short intervals, a little Indian boy would run out of the grove, and shoot at the guards with his bows and arrows. After staying all night guarding the thicket, the soldiers went in as soon as it was light, but the Indians had slipped away under the cover of darkness and all that remained in the thicket was blood and blood-soaked rags. The Civil War John H. Wood enlisted the first day of the Civil War, doing so in San Antonio. He went through the five years of strife without a scratch. He was a scout and at one time was 20 miles inside the Yankee (Mr. Wood was a Confederate) lines. Mr. Wood was in the company commanded by M.M. Boggess, made up of volunteers who answered the call from General Van Dorne to hold the regulars back who refused to give up their arms after succession. This company was kept on the frontier for 12 months contending with Indians. Then after the regular army was captured near Brownsville, the company was mustered out and Mr. Wood enlisted with Parson's Brigade. He served the Brigade, or Calvary in Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana and Texas, taking part in many encounters and suffering the hardships of warfare. For three long years, he slept out in the rain, sleet and cold, often with very little to eat, and at times with only corn meal and poor-grade beef, which he had to prepare himself. At times mule meat was utilized. Often times, meat was infested with maggots. At the conclusion of the Civil War, Mr. Wood returned home to Henderson and found that his family was all living and in good health. His fortune consisted of one Mexican dollar worth 75 cents in exchange, and with this he purchased a marriage license to marry Miss Mary Wade. He often said it was the best investment he ever made. With her sparkling blue eyes and cold black hair, sweet smile and Irish wit, she always kept Grandpa Wood happy. They moved to Denton County and stayed a year and that was where daddy, Jim Wood, was born. On to California Later, the three joined a group of immigrants traveling by ox-drawn wagons on a trip to California. They made up a group of more than 100 persons, all struck with the fever to go to California. There were 35 wagons in all. The party left Fort Worth in 1868. On the way, they would hold prayer meeting one night, and a dance the next night. They had the oxen shot at Fort Concho at what is now San Angelo, Texas. The party traveled the Southern route by El Paso, then a sleepy village, and Tucson. It was near that New Mexico city that Apache Indians attacked. Mrs. Vaughan's father said he could never forget seeing an Indian fall off his paint pony. It is strange how a small child could remember this, but he said that he sensed how afraid his mother and father were and that he supposed it was probably the most terrified that they had ever been, seeing the Indians running furiously by on their horses, all painted up and hollering. Once, on a trip to California, Mr. Wood stopped the car and he pointed out the spot to his family that he thought was where the Indian raid had taken place. On September 6, 1868, while the wagon train was camped at Sacaton, Arizona, a daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. John H. Wood. She was named Arizona Sacaton Wood, after the town and territory. Sacaton was, and is, an Indian reservation. The Indian agent asked if he could name the new child. And, the same agent traded Mr. Wood a span of horses for his oxen and gave him $10. The agent said that when the newborn baby was 18, that Mr. Wood should take the $10 and buy her a hat. So, the day before she was 18, Mr. Wood said to her: "I've owed you a debt for 18 years. Here is a $10 gold piece." With this, she bought shoes and a hat. Mr. Wood grew impatient with the progress made by the wagon train and decided to go it alone. He started on and was told to wait for the others and stop only at halfway houses. So, he rode, and that day stopped for Grannie to cook dinner. Wood said he would go up on the mountain and see if he could kill a deer. So Grannie started cooking and Wood said that something told him to climb up on a big rock off to his right some 400 yards. When he looked from his vantage point, he saw an Indian on horse, another on foot. He stood and watched them as they lit out in a trot to the wagon where his mother was. Wood ran, too, and got there as the Indians arrived, then held a gun, which persuaded the two Indians to leave the camp area. The food was not done, but was thrown away. Wood then hitched up the horses and trotted them the rest of the day until the family reached the halfway house. They traveled with the wagon train the rest of the distance to California. Each train had a boss and since the whole route was endangered by Indian raids, lookouts were placed around the circle every night. In this train, the people and the trail boss had had a fuss, because he would not make his kinfolks set guard, so he said that he and his kin would go on alone. They ran into a band of Indians killed one man and took one yoke of oxen from each wagon. There were two horses, and the Indians took them, while the Indian Squaws went through each wagon taking clothing, food, and other items. The train got through to California and Grandmother Wood was washing baby clothings. She would hang them on a bush and turn around to wash another, and a Squaw would steal them as fast as she would put them out to dry. That ended when help came and the Indian Squaw vanished. It was in the location of the present city of Anaheim, California, that Mr. Wood bought 80 acres of land, then sold it for enough to return to Texas. Today, Anaheim is one of the largest suburbs of Disneyland. While in the area, he came upon a gold scare in White Pine. A dutchman living near sold his place, wagon and team and left. Some time later, the same was coming down the road with one shoe off and Mr. Wood offered him a ride, but later stopped at the Wood home and spent the night. Soon after, Wood and his family returned to Texas. They went to Wilmington, California, and took a boat for San Francisco. >From there they took a train to Washington State, and from that state took every known travel convenience known to return to Texas because Mr. Wood through Graham would be a healthy place to live. However, the family first landed in Kilgore, where a son, John, was born. The family moved to Young County, to South Bend, in 1876, where a third child, Beulah, was born. It was here that Jim, who was 10 years old, was going down the road to visit a neighbor, looked down the road and saw 18 Indians. He gave his pony a good whip, and rode to a farm house and told neighbors that Indians were coming. A short time later, a group of Tonkawa Indians rode up, on the road to Weatherford and court, and said: "Little boy, heap scared." At South Bend three well-armed, well-dressed men stayed at a cabin that had been vacant for some time. They had fine horses. Young Jim Wood would go over and visit with them, and they would call him "Jimmy" and would give him 25 cent and 50 cent pieces. One day the spokesman for the group told Jimmy that he could tell his friends that he had seen Sam Bass notorious outlaw. The three men went to Round Rock from there, and Sam Bass was killed while robbing a bank. Jim Wood once said to his dad that while the pair was in Weatherford, they saw a man in jail. Grandpa Wood peeped in, and the man in the jail cell, called his hand. Grandpa Wood said: "I'd rather be outside peeping out." Grandpa Wood went on to build one of the most successful brick works in North Texas. He had as many as 100,000 bricks burning at one time. The City of Graham lost a great leader and friend when Grandpa Wood died. It was during his service in the Army that Wood visited the area and realized that it was a healthy country. He spent many years in Graham, and as the city grew he engaged in brick and building business. He had more brick and built more brick buildings than any other man during the early days of the county. John H. Wood was a respected member of the Graham community. Perhaps, this is best exemplified by the first paragraph of his obituary which appeared in the August 1, 1929, issue of The Graham Leader: "As the hour hand of the clock reached 8 Tuesday evening, the last spark of life in the body of John H. Wood, aged 89 years, 1 month and 11 days, one of the pioneer settlers of Graham and Young County, an ex-Confederate soldier, and a highly esteemed citizens, went out, and his soul winged it way to everlasting peace and rest." The funeral services were held the following day, and all businesses in Graham closed in honor of the pioneer.