From BEEVILLE WEEKLY PICAYUNE, Friday, 14 Feb 1908
EARLY HISTORY OF BEE COUNTY
By Thomas Ragsdale Akins, Editor

The following article on the early history of Bee county is the first of a series which we will publish from time to time and which should prove of interest to all.  The articles are from the pen of an old timer, who has not trusted to memory for dates and incidents, but recently went to the records and secured such data as was necessary for the compiling of same.  Any facts overlooked or misstated, or any incident that would make the record more complete or interesting we would be glad to have from old timers who may read these articles:

The bill creating Bee county was passed by the Legislature, Dec. 8, 1857. The election of county officers followed soon.

The first County Commissioners' Court was held on the Medio at Henderson Williams' residence on Feb. 10, 1858. Officers present: W. B. Thompson, Judge; Henderson Williams, Clerk; John S. Phelps, Lewis Campbell, H. T. Clare and David Craven, Commissioners.  The bonds of H. Williams and S. B. Merriman, County and District Clerks, were approved as were the bonds of James Drury, Tax Assessor and Collector, and William Hines, County Treasurer.  The bond of John O. Sullivan as Justice of the Peace was also approved.  A donation of 150 acres of land on the Medio by E. Seligson for a county site was accepted.  The bond of I. G. Campbell as Sheriff was approved and R. H. Allsup was appointed Deputy Sheriff.

At an election held the people ratified the acceptance of the Seligson donation of land for the county site.  The court then employed Martin M. Kinney of Goliad to survey and plot the town of Beeville on the Medio, for

which he was paid $30. At the August election, 1858, Ewing Wilson was elected Chief Justice, or County Judge; D. S. Page, Sheriff and J. B. Madray, Assessor and Collector of Taxes.  At a former term of the Commissioners' Court bids were received for the erection of a court house and the contract awarded to John S. Phelps.  At this term of the court the court house was received by the court at a cost to the county of $165.

Some dissatisfaction with the location of the county site existed, and donations of land in other portions of the county were offered by other citizens.  These different places were voted for and the Ann Carroll donation was selected.  At the May term of court, 1859 (H. T.  Clare, C. C. Jones and S. C. Grover, Commissioners; E. Wilson, Judge) the result of the election on the county site was declared, the Ann Carroll donation elected, and the county site removed from the Medio to its present location on the Paesta creek, and was named Maryville, in honor of Mary Hefferman, the wife of James Hefferman, who had settled on the present town survey and with his wife and family, except one daughter, were killed by the Indians in June, 1835.  The daughter was taken prisoner by the Indians.  The town tract of 150 acres was donated by Mrs. Ann Carroll and was surveyed and plotted by Chas. Russell of Helena.

The legislature would not accept the name, Maryville, but said it must be Beeville.

At the August term of the court the bond of Giles Carter as County Treasurer was approved, and at the January court the bond of Wyatt Anderson as Sheriff was approved.  At the March term of court, 1860, the town name was changed from Maryville to Beeville.

At the August election, 1860, G. D. Gay was elected Judge; G. W. McClanahan, Clerk; W. S. Fuller, Sheriff.  The new Commissioners were C. B. Palmer and J. H. Callihan.  J. H. Stephenson was elected Justice of the Peace. He was the first to hold that office in Beeville.  He is the father of B. P. Stephenson, the cotton buyer of Beeville, who has the distinction of being the first child born in Beeville.  His father now resides in Yoakum.

At the next general election John Hines was elected County Judge, James McKowen, H. T. Clare and D. C. Grover, Commissioners.

Under reconstruction, in 1869, Thomas Martin, David Craven and D. S. Callihan were appointed Justices of the Peace and constituted the Police Court, with J. L. Smith, County Clerk and J.  W. Cook, Sheriff.

T. R. A.

Friday, 21 Feb 1908 (Second Installment)

To use a modern phrase, there was at this time in Bee County a general hiatus in official circles.  We usually had some one in the clerk's office who recorded brands and bills of sale of beeves driven out of the country, issued marriage licenses, etc., though sometimes we did not have even a clerk.  And once, while such was the case, a negro couple came to town to get the necessary license to marry.  Uncle Tommy Smith, as he was universally called, was acting postmaster.  When appealed to by the candidates for matrimony he was equal to the emergency.  He at once drew up a statement of the existing judicial condition of the country, and referred to a bill that had been introduced in congress to legalize all marriage contracts among the freed men of the south, and wound up the license by saying that if the bill then before congress ever became a law its action would legalize the contract entered into by the parties to whom the paper was issued.  The paper was signed, "T. J. Smith, Acting Postmaster," and was sealed with the post office stamp.

If the parties mentioned in last week's article ever qualified and entered upon official duty the writer fails to remember it, and here is where the hiatus comes in, though we had a clerk most of the time.  In November, 1870, there was an election held for county officers are which the following men were elected for a term of 4 years:  T. J. Smith, County Clerk; W. R. Hays, County Treasurer; T. H. Marsden, Sheriff; T. R. Atkins, J. P. Precinct No. 1; Ross Morris, J.P. Precinct No. 2; R. E. Nutt, J. P. Precinct No. 3; D. W. T. Nance, J. P. Precinct No. 4.  These officers constituted the Police Court.  They found the treasury empty and public highways in a bad condition.

They inaugurated a system peculiarly their own and original.  They made the office of superintendent of public roads and appropriated $100 a year to its maintenance and offered the office to W. R. Hays, which he accepted.  This gave him full charge of all the roads in the county and authority to contract for keeping them in repair, subject to approval of the Police Court.

From early in 1871 on down to the present there have been held regular terms of court and things judicial have had a tangible existence.

In August, 1871, Alec Reed, a stockman, was out with his hands working cattle and was in camp on the Sulphur creek in the northern part of the county, when he missed some money he had left in camp in a morral while he hunted cattle in the afternoon.  He accused a Mexican cook of stealing it and told him that if he did not return the money he would kill him. While Mr. Reed and party were eating supper, the Mexican got a pistol and shot Mr. Reed in the back, killing him instantly.  The Mexican was arrested, brought to Beeville and given a habeas corpus trial before Square Atkins and committed to jail to await the action of the grand jury.  There being no jail in Beeville the Mexican was taken to Victoria and put in jail there.  When the grand jury met it indicted the Mexican, he was tried, convicted and given the death sentence, paying the penalty for his deed by hanging, Dec. 23, 1871.  The execution was done by Sheriff T. H. Marsden, and the scaffold stood just in front of where the Commercial National bank now stands.  Mr. Reed and the Mexican both were buried in the old cemetery.

T.R.A.

Friday, 28 Feb 1908 (Third Installment)

Judge W. R. Hays, as all know now and have for years, was not, in 1871, burdened very heavily by the finances of the county, whose custodian he was. There was not an iron safe in the county, no vault for the safekeeping of the county funds.  The Judge carried it in his pocket, it took but little of his

time to properly care for it, consequently he devoted much of his time to laying out and making the public roads of the county.  He laid out, marked and measured and put up mile posts to the county line in the directions of the county sites of the adjoining counties, worked and put in good condition the crossings on all the creeks and other bad places encountered in establishing the roads, and when possible he would contract with parties living near the creek crossing to keep them in good repair.  By this means our roads were kept in good condition at a very light expense and without trouble to the public.

Judge Hays had a good,strong wagon and yoke of oxen.  With this and a camping outfit he would go over the different roads to the county line and by tieing a cloth around one spoke of his wagon wheel and counting the revolutions of the wheel he accurately measured every road in the county and put up mesquite posts, marking the distance from Beeville.  These posts were very  durable and not so long ago the writer saw some of these old mile posts still standing, where they were put more than 35 years ago, silent witnesses to the honesty of he who placed them there.  The writer claims for the Police Court as it then existed the credit for enacting this novel, unique, effective and economical road law, which the wisdom of modern law makers has never equaled.

Bee county was then sparsely populated, Papalote being the most flourishing town in the county.  There were three or four stores, a good school and a large Catholic church, and the precinct polled the largest vote of any in the county, that is, there were more voters lived there than anywhere else, though there was but one voting place in the county, which was Beeville, and the elections were held for three days.

T.R.A.

Friday, 6 Mar 1908 (Fourth Installment)

The Police Court of Bee county, as organized in 1871, remained unchanged and worked together harmoniously up to March 1873, when T. R. Atkins resigned and was succeeded by J. C. Tyson, who held the office of Presiding Judge up to the time of general election under the constitution of 1876, which restored the old regime of County Commissioners' Court, composed of county judge and four commissioners, elected for two years.

The first election under the new constitution was held in November, 1876, at which W. R. Hays was elected County Judge; D. A. T. Walton, Sheriff; H. M. Wilson, County and District Clerk.  The other members of the court are not remembered positively by the writer at present, though for Precinct No. 1 we believe it was H. T. Clare, and No. 2 Jeff Porter.  Mr. Wilson had filled the clerk's office under the old regime by appointment, succeeding T. J. Smith, deceased.

During the first term of Judge Hays the contract for a new (the present) court house was let to Viggo Kohler and was finished and received by the court in 1878, at the time an up-to-date building, and for the last 30 years it has done service as Bee county's temple of justice.  Its original cost was about $5,000. It has served its day and is in no sense in keeping with the buildings of modern Beeville, and should be supplanted by a building adapated to the purposes of a court house and one that would reflect the wealth and enterprise of its citizens and would not cause the blush of shame to mantle the cheek of the citizen when asked by the stranger to point out the temple of justice.

Shortly after the installation of the new order of things and the passage of the local option law, a petition bearing the requested number of signatures praying for an election on local option was submitted to the Commissioners' Court and the election was ordered.  The result was that local option was adopted by a good majority and was rigidly enforced, and notwithstanding the dire prophesies of death and destruction to the town and county every legitimate enterprise continued to flourish.  For ten years the county was under the reign of local option, but with the advent of the Sap railway in l886 came new people who wanted to change things and soon a petition, numerously signed, asking for an election on prohibition was presented and granted, the election ordered and local option beaten.  Numerous saloons sprung up and have continued in business in Beeville since.  Under all kinds of conditions Bee county has continued to grow and expand since the first passenger train entered it June 14, 1886.

T.R.A.

Friday, 20 Mar 1908

In writing the early history of Bee county, we have, in the preceeding articles confined ourself to the organization of the county, its officers, etc., and for while we will continue along this line, after which we will speak of its early settlers, its agricultural, its horticultural and educational status and development.  Our last article brought us down to 1878-9.

During the summer of '75 or '76, a man named J. C. Dwyer passed through Beeville enroute to Rockport, there to purchase supplies for his saloon in  Tilden.  While here he imbibed too freely of "John Barley corn" and was of a pugnacious disposition and made himself generally disagreeable.  While in this condition a stranger and non-resident of the county came to Beeville and these two men soon became very intimate, and at the solicitation of Dwyer, Ed Singleton agreed to accompany him to Rockport.  Late in the evening they started for that place in Dwyer's hack.  Soon after leaving Beeville they met the mail carrier and took a shot or two at him with their pistols, but the mail carrier was well mounted and soon out of reach of the pistol balls.  A short distance beyond Dry creek the two men had a misunderstanding and pistols were used, resulting in the killing of Dwyer.  Singleton left the body in the road and drove off in the direction of Refugio and to the San Antonio river, where he left the hack and horses, having appropriated the cash and other effects of Dwyer to his own use.  Among the latter was a check on a San Antonio bank for $600, which led to the arrest of Singleton, who, about 10 days after the murder, presented it at a bank in Indianola for payment.  The bank at San Antonio had been apprised of the murder and requested to withhold payment of the draft, and when Singleton presented it at the bank in Indianola in the morning he was requested to call in the evening.  In the meantime the bank in San Antonio was apprised of what was going on in Indianola, and wired to arrest the party having the check.  So the marshal of the town was notified and was at the bank, and when Singleton presented it at the paying teller's window, the marshal grabbed him from behind and put him in prison and notified Bee county's sheriff of the arrest.  Dock Clark of Papalote was then sheriff. He went to Indianola, got Singleton and took him to San Antonio, where he was kept in jail till the meeting of the district court.  The only evidence in the case was circumstantial, but the chain was complete - not a link was missing. Singleton was convicted and given the death penalty.  An appeal to the higher court was taken, while the prisoner was carried to Galveston for safe keeping pending the result of the appeal.  The verdict of the lower court was affirmed, Singleton brought to the March term of court here and sentenced to be hung April 27, 1877.

In the meantime D. A. T. Walton had been elected sheriff.  A guard of rangers, or state police, was detailed to guard the jail, a small wooden building, in which Singleton was confined after sentence had been passed until his execution, which occurred on the day mentioned, and was the second and last legal execution in the county.  A Mexican was convicted of murder and sentenced to be hung, but hung himself a day or two before the day set for the execution.  The gallows from which Singleton was hung stood about where the Picayune office is now and was left standing for some time as a warning to wrong doers, notwithstanding the fact that the commissioners court was repeatly asked to remove it. Finally, when a strong wind partially destroyed it and did no other damage to the town, it was ordered removed and Carpenter Rudolph, who had just come to Beeville, tore it down.

T.R.A.

Friday, 20 March 1908

The first school ever taught in the present town of Beeville was under the principalship of John R. Shook, ably assisted by wife.  This was in 1861. The old court house, which stood about where the Picayune office is now located, was used for a school house and here the writer under Shook received his last schooling.  Mr. Shook was then a young man of superior attainments and had come to south Texas only a short time before going first to Atascosa county, where he invested quite a sum of money in horse stock.  He was in partnership with someone whose name is not now remembered. Mr. Shook not being a stockman let his stock out to others to be cared for while he devoted his time to other pursuits at which he was more successful, one of which was seeking a life partner, whom he found in the person of Miss Dial.  They were married in 1860 and immediately he came to Beeville and secured the school.

Mr. Shook and his wife were capable teachers and strict disciplinarians, maintaining good order and had the love and respect of the entire school. Among the larger pupils the writer remembers J. C. Thompson, J. M. McCullom, Ed Tatum, all deceased, Mat Fuller, son of Sheriff W. I. Fuller, and quite a number of young ladies, only one of whom, so far as the writer knows, is living - Mrs. Henry Ryan, nee Miss Ann Carroll.

J. C. Thompson volunteered in the Confederate army, joining Wood's Regiment, 32nd Texas Cavalry.  Ed Tatum, Jim McCullom and two other young men who did not attend Mr. Shook's school, (George Kibbie and M. V. Wright) joined Terry's Rangers.  They went to the army in Kentucky, while Ed Tatum died in camp near Boling Green.  Jim McCullom's health failed and he was discharged. M. V. Wright was killed in the battle of Missionary ridge.  George Kibbie remained with the command and fought in most of the battles engaged in by the Rangers and returned to Beeville, where he engaged in the mercantile business for while, later going to Marshall, Texas, where he died of yellow fever.  The writer joined Captain M. M. McKinney's Company, 21st Texas Cavalry, where we remained throughout the war and was honorably discharged in May, 1965.  Mr. Shook joined the army and served in Buzchell's Regiment of Cavalry, where he made a good soldier and got to be a lieutenant.  We met him in Louisiana after the battle of Mansfield, when we were driving Gen. Banks back to New Orleans.

But back to the subject.  The next school in Beeville was conducted by Ben Hunt in '62 and '63, after which G. W. McClanahan and wife taught up to shortly before the close of the war.  The first school after the war was conducted by T. S. Archer and Geo. T. Staples.  They ran a very successful school for two terms and were followed by a Mr. Shive.  In the meantime the Methodists had built a church on the block where the S. A. & A. P. depot is now located.  The building was to be used for a school house as well as a church, and all denominations had free use of it when not used by the Methodists.

The next school was taught by T. I. Gilmore and wife, then by J. J. Swan, whom we mentioned in the preceding article as county attorney and who represented the state in prosecuting Ed Singleton, who was the subject of the second legal execution in Bee county.  T. A. Blair then taught the school for a few terms.  He was followed by John W. Flournoy, though a term along about this time (which is the early 80s) was taught by a Mr. Holzclaw, who was an ex-member of Quantrels' famous band during the civil war.  He was an affable gentleman and quite reticent on his war record, and was a capable school teacher.

During Mr. Flournoy's incumbency as teacher the S. A. & A. P. Ry.  was built into Beeville, and the lot on which the Methodist church and school house stood was selected for the depot grounds.  The old building was sold to the negroes for a church and moved across the creek west of town, where it is still used.  The school secured ground north of where the High School building is now located, and put up two frame buildings, one a two-story, where the Beeville High School was established under the guidance of Profs. J. W. and L. W. Bell. Here it remained and under their charge until 1895, when the present High School (new building) was finished, and under the principalship of Smith Ragsdale, for a while, then L. W. Bell, followed by T. G. Arnold, until his health failed.  Since then W. E. Madderra has been at its head.  Under these able men a reputation for efficiency has been established, which places Beeville in the front ranks as an educational center.  In mentioning those who have taught school in Beeville, we do not claim to have mentioned all, for these reminiscences are from memory, but are, as a whole, reliable.

T.R.A.

Friday, 27 March 1908

When the writer first came to Bee county in the fall of 1860, the country presented a very different appearance to what it does now.  Then there was no undergrowth or brush, with the exception of a few trees, generally growing in groups, known as mots.  The whole country was an open prairie over which roamed vast herds of Texas long horned cattle and thousands of spanish horses. Deer, too were numerous and usually went in droves.  The grass in many places was waist high and served well for a hiding place for wild animals, consisting of coyotes, lobo wolves, deer and other animals.

At that time there were four roads that crossed the country and upon these travel was light.  The oldest and most traveled was the Goliad and San Patricio road.  This crossed the Paesta creek some miles below Beeville.  Then the San Antonio and St. Mary's road was designated through Bee county.  It was marked only by a furrow made by a plow from the upper Medio down to the county line and never got to be a plainly marked road, although at that time St. Mary's was quite a business place.  There were a number of business houses, wholesale and retail stores, a large lumber yard and other places of business. Large schooners loaded with lumber and other merchandise landed at the wharf. Its business men did a good business with all south Texas from San Antonio to the coast.  The means of transportation were ox teams and large wagons, requiring several weeks to make the round trip from San Antonio to St. Mary's. The teams subsisted exclusively on the grass.  And when the oxen would get off a short distance from camp and they had filled up on the grass and laid down the grass was so rank as to hide them from view, and many times the teamster after looking for hours for his oxen would conclude that they had left the country, but after ahile they would rise up out of the grass only a short distance from camp.  To one who has not seen it it is difficult to conceive of the luxuriance of the grass.

In those days there were quite a number of camels roaming at will over the prairies of Bee county.  If they were owned or claimed by any one we never heard of it.  They were a source of great annoyance to the horse men as they would stampede their herds in every direction and they, the camels, were of no service to the horse men, so to protect their stock they commenced a war of extermination and soon the camels were a thing of the past.  While Mr. Shook lived in Beeville he rode out on the Tropical creek and saw one of those camels and gave it a chase.  After a long run he roped and brought it to town which caused many horses with saddles on to break loose and run away.  Mr. Shook turned the camel over to us boys.  It had been used as a pack animal in Egypt or elsewhere and was well broke and by tapping it on the knees, would lie down, when three or four of us would mount and ride as long as we could hold on, then make it kneel and dismount.  It was great fun.  We kept it a few days and turned it loose.

Shortly after the commencement of the war a man named Anderson went from Goliad to Virginia to enter the army and procured one of those camels for his mount and his trip from starting point to Memphis Tennessee was pictured with thrilling incidents all the way and often he was threatened with death for the great damage he and his camel wrought.  He had caused many wrecks to buggies and endangered the lives of many people.  He was a man of means but the damage sustained by those he met almost bankrupted him and forced him to abandon his mount before reaching the army in Virginia.  Had the south had a few regiments of cavalry mounted on camels, all the cavalry of the federal army could not have stood before them, as all horses are afraid of them and will always give them a wide berth.

At the date of my coming to Bee county, 1860, it is difficult to conceive of a more lovely place.  There was almost no undergrowth, one broad prairie covered with the most luxuriant coat of grass. No roads, no fences, travel was by direction, the creeks were beautiful running streams with deep pools at short intervals all along and were full of fish and alligators.  Deer and turkey were as common as the proverbial pig tracks.  Mustangs and wild horses roamed the prairies in vast herds.  In the language of the poet, "The landscape everywhere was pleasing and only man was vile."

In a later article I may have something to say of Bee county's early settlers, most of whom have passed to the great beyond.

T.R.A.

Friday, 3 April 1908

OLD SETTLERS OF BEE COUNTY AND BEEVILLE

Before attempting to give the names of Bee county's first settlers, we will enter a gentle protest against the typo who set up the last chapter of Bee county history for the manner in which he changed the name of what at one time was a prominent water course in the territory.  The names of the creeks that in the long ago were beautiful running streams were all Spanish, the authography of which language is unknown to us.  Consequently, we use the English and spell them as pronounced in English.  We know my chirography is not up to the standard of excellence so we do not expect a typo to follow copy verbatum and usually do not complain, but in this case we trust you will see the justness of our kick and make the correction.  It was on the Tapicat, not Tropical creek, where Mr. Shook roped the camel.  There are a few other inacuracies in the same article, but as they do not affect the facts in the case we will not protest.

We know we cannot give the names and places of all old time settlers, as we made no record of them at the time.  We are relying on memory and if some prominent persons are omitted we would be pleased to correct the mistake if our attention is called to it.

The first family to settle in Bee county was the Corrigan family.  They located on the Aransas at the old Corrigan ranch in 1829.  With Mr. Corrigan was his brother-in-law, Martin Tool, a batchelor, who died only a few years ago, as did his sister, Mrs. Corrigan.  They lived to a good old age and saw wonderful changes in their adopted home.  A few years later Pat Fadden and family settled near the Corrigans, where they continued to reside until their death.  Others in the same section were Mr. Leahy, D. C. Grover, D. S. Page, G. D. Gay, William Miller and a Mr. Latting, who kept a store and postoffice at Lattington.  On the Paesta creek lived J. V. Stewart, John Sweeny, Dick Hall, Rev. Berry Merchant, David Kerr, Mr. Clemens and some others.  On the Papalote lived David Craven, Pat Quinn, Tim and Luke Hart, L. Carlisle, Major Steen, D. Callihan, C. Kirchner and the Burdett family.  In what is now the Clareville country lived H. T. Clare, Eliza Clare, Henry Ryan, and lower down on the Aransas lived John and Jim Wilson, J. B. Madray, R. H. and T.  H. Allsup, Noah Webster, Ben Fuller, W. R. Hayes and a Rev. McCurdy.  Above Beeville on the Paesta lived Felix Newcomer, C. C. Jones, Giles Carter and Pat Carrol.  On the Tapicat lived the Gilchrist family and Jas. Ryan and family. On the lower Medio lived the Himes, Foxes, Goulds, Williams, Phelps, Driscoll and Robinsons.  Farther up lived Bateses Curtis, W. M. Parchman, Dan Fuller, M. G. Fellers, Josiah Turner, Alex Coker, J. H. Pettus, Mrs. Scott and Mr. Palmer.  Mr. Pettus settled at where now the town of Pettus is located in 1854.  Two years later, in August 1856, the last battle with Indians occurred on the dry Medio in hearing of the Pettus Ranch.  The Indians were Comanches, and the Rangers were commanded by Peter Tumlinson.  The Indians were all killed with the exception of one, the guard, who made his escape.  Not a ranger was killed.  Pat Burke was then a young man.  He, of all the young men that subdued and civilized the wilderness, is the only one who has maintained an uninterrupted home all these years near Beeville.  He raised a large family, all of whom live in and near Beeville, and are among the best citizens of the county.  The old citizens of Beeville were Dr. Taylor, who built the first residence.  It was southeast of the public square on a lot now belonging to the J. D. Cleary estate.  The others were J. G. Cleary, W. S. Fuller, G. W. McClanahan, Dr. Hayden, Leander Hayden, Mr. Bettis, B. R. David, W. W. Arnett, James Wright and sons, W. C. and R. C., Mr. Roy, G. B. McCullom, Mr.Stevenson, Prof. J. R. Shook, John Atkins, Thos. Brady, Mr. Davidson, who lived on the lot where the Sims gin now stands, and John Wallace, whose house stood where Mrs. McMemy's house now stands.  This, I believe, includes all the families then living in Beeville.  Mr. McClanahan, Mr. Cleary and a Jew firm of Arnold & Bro. had stores here then.  W. S. Fuller kept the only hotel.

Mr. Dawson had a little daughter three or four years old who was playing near the door steps at about sundown when a snake bit her.  All was done for her that could be to save her life, but in vain, as she died about 9 o'clock that night and was buried the next day in what is now the old cemetery.  She was the first person interred there.  This was in the fall of 1860.  The next to be buried there was an infant son of May Foster, in March, 1861.  Mr. Foster lived at the old Morris place, a mile west of town.  Mr. Morris after lived above town at what is known as the Jim Little old ranch.

T.R.A.

Friday, 10 April 1908

We ask your pardon for calling attention to a few errors that crept into the chapter of last week.  We wrote Elzie, not Eliza Clare.  Mr. Elzie Clare was a brother of H. T. Clare.  We wrote J. F. not J. H. Pettus.  It was Mr. Dawson, not Davidson, whose home was on the block now occupied by the Sims gin.  It was his child that was bitten by the snake and died and was the first one to be interred in the old cemetery.  We overlooked a few old settlers in my last.  Mr. Robt. Graham settled the Hubbard Eeds place above Beeville about 1859.  Ross Morris came in 1860.  He lived at the Jim Little old ranch. Graham and Morris were the first to engage in sheep raising in Bee county.  In 1861 Rev. C. Cook and A. A. Scott and families came and settled on the Tapicat and were in the sheep business.  Mr. R. E. Nutt, father and brothers, lived on the Medio near old Beeville.  Later, they too, engaged in the sheep business.  For several years Bee county was one of the best sheep countries known and many large flocks were kept.  The wool crop was a large item in the business of the country.  The cow men were prejudiced against sheep, and when the land was put on the market, they bought up large sections of it and forbade the sheep men pasturing it.  This limited their range to such an extent as to drive many of them out of business and force them to buy cattle or horses, for it was an exclusive stock country up to that time.  Very few ranch men had even a garden for vegetables.  Mr. Leahy had a small farm which he cultivated and always made corn.  Mr. Carter, shortly after the close of the war, put in a field of about 10 acres at the Carter old ranch.  This was about the extent of the farming in Bee county up to 1875, except at the Pettus ranch and the old Ware ranch, where some little effort was made along this line.

Early in the 70's the land owners commenced to fence their land.  First post and plank were used, then what was known as black ungalvanized wire, then the barbed wire, soon the whole country was under fence.  This revolutionized the stock industry so far as the handling and working of stock was concerned and almost depopulated the country.  The man with a few acres and a few hundred head of stock was shut off from free grass, consequently he was forced to sell his land or his stock, and as it was not known that Bee county soil was good agricultural land, he sold the land at about 50c per acre, gathered his stock and went west.

Since then it has developed that Bee county is one of the best agricultural and horticultural sections of the Southwest and lands that in '75 were thought well sold at 50c cannot now be bought at $10 or $15 per acre and is being bought at a higher price and put into cultivation, and the farmers are prosperous and happy.  Many new settlements and towns are springing up, the population is increasing, schools and churches are to be found where only a few years ago domestic and wild animals roamed at will.  And still the spirit of enterprise is not wakened, and to forecast the future of Bee county, predicating conjectures on the developments of the last twenty years, we would be safe in predicting for Beeville a population of 10,000.  The citrus fruit crops equal or surpass in quantity and quality that of California.  Other fruits, such as peaches, pears, plums, figs and pomegranates all do well as do strawberries, dewberries and blackberries.  Soon dates will be an important crop but as we are no prophet, nor the son of one, we will bring this series of historical reminisences to a close as we have got it down to a date so modern that all can learn of the recent past from his neighbors.

T.R.A.