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THE RISE AHD DECLINE OF JEFFERSON, TEXAS APPROVED: s^hyyiAo $ $u, or Professor Minor Professor fj DirectoLrector or theyDepartment] t of History Dean of the Graduate School THE RISE AND DECLINE OP JEFFERSON, TEXAS THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By Ben C. Cooner, B. A. Denton, Texas January, 1965 TABLE OP CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS v Chapter I. EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF JEFFERSON AND MARION COUNTY 1 II. RED RIVER NAVIGATION BEFORE I860 13 III. RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION BEFORE I860 37 IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF JEFFERSON, 1860-1870 .... 52 V. PROSPERITY AND DECLINE AFTER 1870 81 VI. THE FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL 102 VII. CONCLUSION 137 BIBLIOGRAPHY 144 in LIST OP TABLES Table Page I. Cotton Exports from Jefferson Between 1865 and 1880 83 II. Selected Statistics of Manufacturing Marion County, Texas, 1870 86 IV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Map of Marion County 12 CHAPTER I EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF JEFFERSON AND MARION COUNTY Jefferson, Texas, once the commercial and distribution center of a large area in northeast Texas and now a small town of approximately 2,970 people, is indebted to a faulty land title for its founding.-*- In 1832 a small group of Anglo-Americans settled seven miles below the present site of Jefferson on Big Cypress Bayou. This settlement became known as Smith's Landing because of a ferry operated by Stephen P. Smith.^ In December, 1839 > Smith received a certificate for one league and one labor of land from the Board of Land Commissioners of Harrison County. Because an error by the clerk of the board showed Smith to be entitled to only one-third of a league, the certificate was in- validated. By law Smith had no recourse but to petition the Congress of the Republic of Texas for a new certificate to ^-Texas Almanac. 1964-65 (Dallas, 1963), p. 248$ Marion County. Inventory of the County Archives of Texas» No. 155 (San Antonio, 194077 P* 4 (hereafter referred to as Marion County Inventory). ^Texas, A Guide to the Lone Star State (New York, 1940), p. 379; Marion County Inventory, p. 4. one league and a labor.^ Rather than waiting for Smith to petition Congress and thereby risking the loss of their home- sites and permanent improvements, the settlers at Smith's Landing decided to move to a new location.4 Because of an offer of free land from Allen Urquart, a resident of Daingerfield and recipient of a 1,280 acre land grant from the Republic, the displaced settlers from Smith's Landing relocated seven miles further west on Big Cypress Bayou near the crossing of Trammel's Trace.^ Other factors besides free land influenced their choice of locations. Small steamboats were a familiar sight on Caddo Lake by 1840, and investigations of Big Cypress Bayou indicated that navigation of the river was possible as far upstream as the proposed settlement.^ The settlers knew the advantages of being at the head of a navigable stream, and they took this opportunity to ^Harriet Smithers, editor, The Senate Journals, Sixth Congress, Yol. I of the Journals of the Sixth Congress of _37the Republir c of Texas, 1841-1842vols. (Austin, 1940J7 ^Texas, A guide to the Lone Star State, p. 379- Smith petitioned Congress on November 11, 1841, and a joint reso- lution in January, 1842, directed the Commissioner of the General Land Office to &iMe him a new certificate for one league and one labor. Smithers, 0£. cit., p. 37. ^Texas, A Guide to the Lone Star State, p. 379i Texas General Land Office, Records of Land Grants, Pile: Morris County, Red River-2-114, Austin ^"photostatic copy_J. ^William Kennedy, Texas: The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas, reprint (Fort Worth, 1922;, I, 27; Marshall iJews Messenger, November 10, 1963, Sec. E. locate there. Perhaps just as important in their decision to accept Urquart's offer was the fact that Trammel's Trace crossed Big Cypress Bayou near the proposed location of the new settlement. Many settlers entering Texas from Arkansas and the Indian Territory used this route, and the promise of a steady flow of emigrants added to the inducements of the new location.7 The exact date of the founding of Jefferson is unknown, but a number of sources claim that the settlers obtained the Q land and moved sometime in 1836. Other evidence suggests that this date is erroneous and that the establishment of Jefferson occurred much later. The settlers at Smith's Landing had no reason for leaving before 1840, and they could not have obtained land from Urquart in 1836 as he did not arrive in Texas until April 11, 1837. Moreover, Urquart did not receive a certificate permitting him to have a headright ^Texas, A Guide to the Lone Star State, p. 379* There were actually two different routes known as Trammel's Trace. They were blazed by different men and originated at different points, but converged before reaching Big Cypress and were practically identical from there to Nacogdoches. Cf. John Arrowsmith, Map of Texas, 1841 (London, 1841), No. 438, Archives Division, Texas State Library, Austin; R. L. Jones, "The Autobiography of Andrew Davis," Southwestern Historical ;, XLIII, 161; J. W. Williams, "The National Road of e Republic of Texas," S. H. £., XLVII, 217. 8 Jefferson Daily Jimplecutet September 1, 1876; Texas, A Guide to the Lone Star State, p. 379; Mrs. Arch McKay and Mrs. H. A. Spellings, A History of Jefferson, 1836-1936, 5th edition (Jefferson, n.3\), p. t>\""Marion County Inventory, p. 4. surveyed until August 3, 1838, and even then certain conditions load to "be met "before a clear title could be issued.9 According to the 1837 Texas land law Urquart and his family were re- quired to remain in Texas and perform all the duties of a citizen for three years before an unconditional patent could be issued.10 Urquart received a certificate from the Land Commissioners of Paschal County showing that he had met the conditions and was entitled to an unconditional headright of 1,280 acres on August 23, 1841. "L1 Apparently the settlers did not begin to move until Urquart was assured of a clear title to this land. The Daily Jimplecute maintains that the first settler to enter the present limits of Jefferson was Berry H. Durrum, who arrived there in 1840 to build and operate a ferry across Big Cypress Bayou for Urquart.This would mean that other settlers did not arrive before 1840 and possibly not before 1841. The Daily Jimplecute added that when Durrum arrived the territory was located in Paschal County.^ As Paschal County was not created by the legislature until January 28, ^Texas General Land Office, Records of Land Grants, File: Morris County, Red River-2-114, Austin. 10H. P. N. Gammel, editor, The Laws of Texas, 10 vols. (Austin, 1898), I, 1414. H-Texas General Land Office, Records of Land Grants, Pile: Morris County, Red River-2-114, Austin. Jefferson Daily Jimplecute t September 1, 1876. 15Ibid. 1841, "both statements cannot "be correct.If either is accurate the year in which Durrum and the settlers from Smith's Landing reached Jefferson still is narrowed to either 1840 or 1841. Paschal County ceased to exist in January, 1842, when the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas declared judicial counties unconstitutional.If the territory was in Paschal County at the time of settlement, Jefferson definitely was founded in 1841. A number of sources substantiate the establishment of Jefferson in 1841. Emigrant guides published before that date do not mention Jefferson, and maps drawn from surveys made by the General land Office in 1839 and 1841 give no evidence that a settlement or ferry existed.^ An act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas approved November 17, 1841, to change mail routes in northeast Texas to refer to Marshall, Smithland, Port Caddo, and Daingerfield, but no mention is made of any settlement that might have been Jefferson.1? P. N. Gammel, editor, The Laws of Texas, 10 vols. (Austin, 1898), II, 520-521. -^"Stockton vs. Montgomery," James Wilmer Dallam, A. Digest of the Laws of Texas (Baltimore, 1845), pp. 473-T86. •^Kennedy, op. cit., I, 732, 782$ David B. Edward, The History of Texas~T"Cincinnati« 1836), pp. 28-29; Texas in 1840 or The^Emigrant Guide to the New Republic (New York,18T0), pp. 209-222; John Arrowsmith, Map of Texas, 1841; Richard S. Hunt and Jesse P. Fandel, Map of Texas, 1839 (New York, 1839)* •^Gammel, o£. cit., II, 675. None of these exclude the possibility of a few settlers living near the Trammel Trace crossing of Big Cypress Bayou, but if settlers were at the crossing their existence was not widely known. Allen Urquart, D. N. Alley, William Humphries, and other property owners in the area surveyed and laid off the town- site of Jefferson in 1842 and named it in honor of Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States.Their eagerness to lay out the streets indicates anticipation of imminent steamboat arrivals, and the street pattern reflected their belief in Jefferson's future dependence on river navi- gation. The streets near the river in the Urquart section were laid out so that as many as possible would terminate at the river. This would provide easier access to the river and permit property owners to make the best possible use of the river frontage. The business district was located near the widest portion of the river since this was expected to be the turning basin for steamboats.
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