GCHC NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

Grimes County Historical Commission

Issue 8 Volume 2 August 2016 Meetings of the Grimes County Historical Commission are held on the Second Monday of the Month at 7:00 pm in the Courthouse Annex in Anderson, Texas

For more information call 936-873-4422 or email us at grimescountyhc@gmail.co m

Photo of the Month

Grimes County Historical Commission Executive Board Chairman Vacant Vice Chairman Joe King Fultz Secretary Vanessa Burzynski Treasurer Joe King Fultz

COMMITTEES Historical Markers Denise Upchurch Heritage Preservation Sarah Nash

City of Navasota City Hall Erected in 2011

Newsletter & Publicity Vanessa Burzynski

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

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The Houston Daily Post (Houston, TX) November 16, 1901 Both Men Were Killed: Buford Allen and Jim Grissett Engaged in Duel Disagreement Came Up Over a Business Matter and Little Time was Lost in Appealing to Guns.

Navasota, Texas, November 15 – News came this afternoon that a double tragedy occurred at the store of John Barron at Iola, in North Grimes County, yesterday evening. Buford Allen and Jim Grissett were the actors and the victims.

As the report goes, they were not the best of friends. They met yesterday at the above mentioned place and had a quarrel about some cotton. A fight ensued and they were separated by John R. Davis.

Then both drew pistols and fired. Allen was shot in the eye and back of the neck.

Grissett received wounds in the side of the head and over the heart. Shooting ceased and when the smoke cleared away both men lay quietly in the repose of death; neither spoke a word. The bodies were conveyed by friends to their respective homes.

Jim Grissett was about 25 years old and engaged in farming and stock raising.

Buford Allen was about 21 years of age and worked at this father’s gin nearby.

One Man Wounded Bryan, Texas, November 15, 1901 A terrible tragedy was enacted at Iola, in Grimes County yesterday evening.

In which two men were killed and another badly wounded. Parties were here early this morning after coffins and reported the trouble.

The fight was between Jim Grissett and his friends and Buford Allen and his friends. Grissett and Allen were both killed and Wash Greer on the Grissett side was seriously wounded. Constable John Davis arrested the participants who were not killed and secured five pistols from them.

The Houston Post (Houston, Texas) 21 July 1910 - Were Released on Bail NAVASOTA, Texas, July 20 – The examining trial of Officers Averett and Cuthrell was held yesterday afternoon before Justice C. C. Francklow. Each of the officers was placed under a $750 bond pending action of the grand jury. The bonds were signed by the best citizens of the town as long as space on the document would permit.

The defendents were charged with killing an unidentified Italian while resisting arrest.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

The Houston Post (Houston, Texas) 21 Jul 1910 Act Resented – Navasota Citizens Object to Resolution by Legislators - Facts were Garbled Concerning Recent Tragedy by Afternoon Papers and Newspaper and Terrell and Schluter Were Rebuked.

NAVASOTA, TEXAS, July 20 – A rousting meeting of the citizens of Navasota was held at the city hall this morning at 9 o’clock of which meeting former Lieutenant Governor George R. Neal was unanimously chosen as chairman. It was the sentiment of the meeting that a committee be appointed to draft resolutions or otherwise express the indignation of the citizens because of the scurrilous matter in reference to the citizens of Navasota and Grimes County which appeared in the Houston Chronicle of Monday, the 18th instant, and of a certain resolution offered in the legislature by Representatives Terrell and Schluter in reference to asking the governor to appoint several school teachers for Grimes County to teach the people thereof the English language, etc.

After the appointment of such committee by the chairman the meeting adjourned to meet again at the same place at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, at which meeting the committee made its report in the matter and form following: “Suspected attempt at bank robbery brought tragedy.

Ranger Avriett and Companion encounter two Greeks near Courtney who refuse to surrender and one is killed and the other is captured, both are said to be unidentified and the survivor can speak no English.”

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“The above appeared as a head to an article in Monday’s Houston Chronicle and is very misleading. In the first place, the words ‘Suspected attempt at bank robbery brought tragedy’ is absolutely incorrect, since no tragedy accrued out of the occurrence which really happened. The facts in the case are: As Special Officer Avriett of the State Ranger force, acting in the capacity of special office of Navasota in the absence of Special Officer Hammer, who is temporarily absent on a vacation, was making his usual rounds in the rear of the Levy Furniture company’s building at 9 o’clock at night Sunday, July 17, 1910, he was fired upon by an unidentified white man as he stepped around the corner of the above building. He returned the fire, but owing to his eyes being filled with flying plaster which covered him by the bullet from his adversary striking the rock wall within a few inches of his face, his aim was bad. He shook the dust from his face and quickly fired again, running towards his assailant. Stumbling over a depression in the walk Mr. Avriett fell to the ground and the would-be assassin escaped, leaving a trail of blood clear across the cement walk.

These are the absolute facts connected with the attempted assassination last Sunday night and all of the facts.”

A SLAP AT NAVASOTA “The Chronicle, however, not satisfied with the report sent it by a reporter here, must need add a lot of presumption which completely hid the facts, establishing an entirely different phase of the situation, all of which is considered a direct slap at Navasota and Grimes County gratuitous in the extreme and particularly nasty from a journalistic standpoint, as note the second paragraph in the above heading which they add as a connected heading.”

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

“This latter has absolutely nothing whatever to do with the attempted assassination of Officer Avriett, which occurred at 9 o’clock the night previous.

The facts in this instance are: The officers of Brazos County telephoned Officer Avriett that two men had stolen a horse and buggy Sunday night at Bryan and were headed south, which direction naturally brought them through and near Navasota.

Officer Avriett, acting in the capacity of special officer of Navasota and not as State Ranger, got busy on the case and discovered that the suspects had already passed through Navasota enroute south.

He secured an automobile and in company with J. E. Cuthrell, the local ticket agent of the Houston and Texas Central and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe railways, and who also commissioned from the city of Navasota as special police officer and who is further a native citizen of Grimes County and in no way connected with the State Ranger force now or ever, gave pursuit.

The men were first seen a short distance below Courtney as they were attempting to go through a gate near the Central railroad. One of the men was engaged in opening the gate, the other sat in the buggy holding the horse. The one on the ground threw up his hands at the command to do so from the officers. The other not only refused to do so, but reached in the foot of the buggy and laid hold upon a sixshooter, where upon both officers fired into him, killing him instantly. The dead man and his companion were brought back to Navasota and the officers of Brazos County notified.”

“These are the whole facts connected with the killing of the foreigner brought out at the examining trail.

The survivor can speak English perhaps as fluently as any members of the Chronicle force and talked with a number of our citizens, and is now lodged in the jail at Bryan, taken there by the officers of Brazos County. The horse

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and buggy was fully identified as the stolen property by not only the officers, but the owner who came to Navasota and drove the same back to Bryan.

OBJECT TO RESOLUTION “What the people of Navasota protest against is, in so far as the Chronicle has to do with this matter, is that through its evident zeal to perpetrate a possible scoop on the morning newspapers in Texas, it has adopted a continuance of its tactics of not publishing facts, glaringly setting forth a lot of gush to the people of Texas in a garbled and jumbled manner, calculated to injure the good name of the town of Navasota and Grimes County. As proof of this we have but to call attention to the infamous resolution offered in the House of Representatives at Austin Tuesday, July 19, all of which was probably actuated through reading the garbled report in the Chronicle. These facts are patent to the reader of their State dailies, which papers used the matter sent them by their correspondent here, accepting the facts as sent in and not presuming to manufacture a lot of stuff absolutely incorrect, unwarranted and misleading both as to the facts and the part played by the officers connected therewith.

The people of Navasota are unanimous in approving the act of Officer Avriett Sunday night and again Monday afternoon and also the case with Officer Cuthrell.

Both gentlemen acted solely in the capacity of officers and were within the scope of their authority and sworn duty in each instance.”

“The Chronicle, for some reason best known to its management, has studiously sought every opportunity to put Grimes County and Navasota particularly in an unfair light before its readers. We have naught to do with its policies, nor shall we

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

offer any gratuitous advice to its management, but we do protest against such a species of journalism, and here and now make it plain to the Chronicle that we do not propose as a people to tamely submit to any more of its misrepresentations.”

The above article was adopted as expressive of the sentiment of a largely attended mass meeting of the citizens of Navasota and Grimes County held in the city hall of said city today. The following resolution was also unanimously adopted:

RESOLUTION BY CITIZENS “Whereas, There appeared in the evening papers of the 19th and the morning papers of the 20th instant, in the report of the legislative proceedings the following, to wit: Terrell and Schluter offered the following resolution: ‘whereas, the Texas Rangers killed one citizen and wounded another at Navasota yesterday because they did not understand the English language, therefore be it resolved by the house of representatives that we request the governor to appoint several school teachers for that county so that all the people may become familiar with the English language and thus protect themselves from the State police.’

“Just what the purpose of the proponents of said resolution was may be debatable, but that it is an unwarranted and gratuitous reflection upon the citizenship of Navasota and of Grimes County is beyond question.

Whatever the reason for the resolution, it cannot be justified upon any ground. If it was intended to express their estimate of the intelligence of the people of this city and county it was as ill-advised, unwarranted and uncalled for as it was devold of truth.

Our people are not boastful, nor would they violate the

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proprieties by laying any unseemly claims to superiority in an intellectual way over that of other educated and refined communities in our great State, and yet it yields to non in this respect and whatever may be the shortcomings of its citizens they at least know some things not yet learned by the distinguished gentlemen offering said resolution namely, to attend to their own affairs.”

“If their purpose was to manifest their antagonism to the Texas Rangers in order to indulge in a little piece of cheap politics that is an affair exclusively their own, but we do solemnly protest against any unwarranted reflection upon this community as a vehicle upon which to convey their long range opposition to a certain branch of the State constabulary.

If it be claimed that their action was due to a simple disposition to be facetious, we yield them cheerful monopoly in the occupation of building jokes upon libel and slander unqualified, conditioned, nevertheless, that our citizens be eliminated from any connection, either directly or indirectly with such profitless and harmful avocation; therefore be it “Resolved by the citizens of Navasota and Grimes County in mass meeting assembled, that we unqualifiedly denounce said resolution as a gratuitous and contemptible insult to our citizenship and the authors thereof meddlesome mischief makers, void of any conception of civilities that characterize true men.”

The following resolution unanimously adopted:

was

also

“Resolved by the citizens of Navasota, in mass meeting assembled that we endorse the work of the members of the State Rangers in all their official acts in the City of Navasota.”

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

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mounting cannons and repairing wagons for the Confederate Army and grinding cornmeal for Bates Company.

DANCE BROTHERS -- PISTOLS FOR THE CONFEDERACY -- MADE IN TEXAS Civil War firearms manufactured by J. H. Dance and Company are among the most highly prized antique weapons, valued for their fine craftsmanship as well as their rarity. From July 1862 through May 1865 the company produced six-shot Coltpattern revolvers in both .44 and .36 caliber; total output was fewer than 400.

The Dance family, originally residents of North Carolina, moved to Daniels Prairie in Greene County, Alabama, around 1835. In 1848 James Henry Dance traveled to Brazoria County, Texas, and in 1853 he moved to Texas with most of his family, including father, brothers, cousins, and slaves.

The family jointly purchased 450 acres of land in the Cedar Brake section, where they established a plantation. In 1858 they built a spacious home in the thriving river port town of East Columbia, on the Brazos River. Across the street from their residence they opened a manufactory for metal and woodwork, named J. H. Dance and Company and operated by James Henry Dance and his brothers David Etheldred and George Perry. J. H. Dance and Company prospered before the Civil War manufacturing gristmills and cotton gins.

At the outbreak of the war James Dance enlisted in the Brazoria Volunteers; he later became first lieutenant in the Thirtyfifth Texas Cavalry. His brothers George, David, and Isaac enlisted, but because of their abilities and skills they were detailed to their steam factory at Columbia by early May 1862. Isaac died of measles in 1863.

Initially the Dances' primary tasks were

In April 1862 George Dance wrote Governor F. R. Lubbock requesting an advance of $5,000. He claimed that this sum would enable the Dances to begin firearm production with an output of fifty revolvers a week. Evidently they received some aid, for on July 5, 1862, a letter written by George's cousin Mattie Duff states that "the boys think they will soon get some three or four of their pistols finished." While production may have been at a somewhat slower pace than originally anticipated, by October 2, 1862, the Dances were able to ship a dozen revolvers to the San Antonio Arsenal.

By November 1863 the Dances had decided to sell their business to the Confederate government. Cousin Mattie wrote that "the boys think it quite possible they will quit the shop soon" and added that George had left for Houston "to see if he could make a government affair of it."

Further, "he thinks perhaps it will be done." Revolver production had come to an end in East Columbia by December 10, 1863, and Mattie wrote that she had been "in town all week helping the boys to leave."

The federal occupation of Matagorda Island, located just off the Texas coast near Brazoria County, prompted the belief that the county was about to be invaded.

The Confederate government doubtless wanted to consolidate the Dances' skills farther inland and out of harm's way.

The Dances relocated to a site three miles north of Anderson in Grimes County, and here the Confederate government built a powder mill and pistol factory.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

On February 7, 1864, Mattie Duff received word from Uncle Harrison that "they were not quite ready for making pistols but soon will." One of the last known shipments of Dance revolvers took place on April 18, 1865; a lot of twenty-five six-shot pistols was sent from Anderson to the Houston Depot of Supplies. At the end of the war the Dances returned to East Columbia and the manufacture of gristmills and cotton gins.

Info courtesy: Association

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Texas

State

Historical

When the war ended the Dance brothers closed the Anderson facility and returned to East Columbia to restore their factory while adding the manufacture of furniture.

The 1900 hurricane ruined the factory. It was never rebuilt.

Today, Texas Historical Marker #8603 marks the site of the J. H. Dance and Company's facility. If anyone happens to own one of their less than 500 manufactured pistols they not only have a valuable, sought after and desirable firearm but an historic piece of Texas history. It is estimated that they manufactured about 350 of the .44 caliber revolvers and about 135 of the .36 caliber.

The factory also produced cannon balls, bayonets, sabers, swords and gun powder.

Historical marker is located off of FM 244 in Anderson near Hwy 90.

Photo: J.H. Dance and Brothers "Army" Revolver, Confederate. Columbia, Texas 1863-1865. Dance made two models of the revolver, an "Army" style in .44 caliber (above) and a .36 caliber "Navy" model.

Both were pretty much copies of period Colt pistols.

Picture shows the Apache Chief Geronimo, armed with a Dance .44 caliber revolver.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

PIEDMONT, TEXAS (Grimes County).

Piedmont is on Farm Road 3090 seven miles west of Anderson in west central Grimes County. In 1843 William W. Arrington bought the site and built bathhouses and one-room cottages for a campground and health resort. There were three springs of sulphur water, named White, Middle, and Black or Bitter, after the strength of the minerals in the water. The area was called Sulphur Springs until 1850.

In 1858 Arrington sold the property to H. Lee and C. S. Taliaferro, and they sold it to Leander Cannon in 1860. By then a fourstory rock and wood hotel had been built, with a hundred rooms, broad verandas, a ballroom, and a turreted roof. Sam Houston, Gen. John B. Magruder, Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard, and Governor Marmaduke of Kentucky stayed there at various times. In 1865 John G. Walker's Greyhound division of the Confederate Army camped at the springs for six days. In 1871 John K. Spears bought the inn at a bankruptcy sale for $5,940. Thereafter the site was used as a campground. The inn deteriorated and was finally torn down.

A church and a school were constructed at Piedmont in 1886, and a new school opened in 1916 near the springs. In 1940 this school was consolidated with the Navasota school system. The Freewill Baptist Church met at Piedmont until 1979.

In 1982 the Little Flock Missionary Baptist Church, which was established in 1906 by the black community and which served as a school until the 1940s, still had twentyfour members. In 1906 the Mexia Cut-off, a branch of the Houston and Texas Central Railway, was built through Piedmont, and the town gained a general store, a post office, and a commissary. The post office closed in the 1920s. By 1939 Piedmont had one business and a population of 100, but by 1948 its population had dwindled to fifty.

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It had an estimated forty-six residents in 1990. The population remained unchanged in 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Irene Taylor Allen, Saga of Anderson-The Proud Story of a Historic Texas Community (New York: Greenwich, 1957). Joseph P. Blessington, Campaigns of Walker's Texas Division (New York:

Lange, Little, 1875; rpt., Austin: Pemberton Press, 1968). Grimes County Historical Commission, History of Grimes County, Land of Heritage and Progress (Dallas: Taylor, 1982). Marker Files, Texas Historical Commission, Austin.

Site of Piedmont Springs Resort In operation as early as 1850 as a health spa and resort because of three nearby sulphur springs (varying in taste from mild to strong). Numerous drinking places and bathhouses allowed guests to move freely about grounds. Grand four-story hotel with 100 rooms built about 1860, was social center for area where guests enjoyed billiards, poker, horse races and Gen. Sam Houston once danced the Minuet. In 1865, hotel became hospital, headquarters for John G. Walker's "Greyhound Division" Confederate Army. Owner closed the building after loosing money in panic 1870's.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

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The Eagle (Bryan, Texas) 11 Aug 1909 More Skeletons Dug up in Grimes Thirty-seven have been unearthed Vicinity of Piedmont Springs

in

Anderson, Tex., Aug 11 – About a month ago while excavating for the Mexia cutoff of the Houston and Texas Central Railway, near Piedmont, eleven skeletons were discovered by the men at work. Since then, as the work progressed, there have been twenty-one more unearthed. The finding of these skeletons has created quite a sensation around Piedmont, as the oldest inhabitant does not remember of there ever having been a battle at that place. While the bones are fairly well preserved, they must have been in the ground for along time.

P. H. Arrington

Pinkney H. Arrington Among the citizens and officials of the county who are clearheaded, conservative, straight forward, active and determined in the discharge of duties in private life and public service, no one perhaps holds a warmer place in the hearts of his people than Commissioner P. H. Arrington. Some men are never right, others are right sometimes, few, if any are right all the time. Mr. Arrington, we believe comes as near doing what he believes to be right just as equitable as the next one, and if he fails sometimes, it is an error of judgment and not intention. P. H., better known as “Pomp” Arrington was born in Grimes County July 4, 1842 and inherited that spirit of American patriotism that hovers around his historic national day. His early education was received in the common schools of the county, his boyhood as well as his later life having been occupied by farming and stock raising. His father came to Texas in 1889, and there continues the occupation of farming.

He has been elected county commissioner two successive terms, first in 1892 and still serves with credit and efficiency in that capacity. He was married in 1869 to Miss Sallie Webb near Piedmont Springs, Grimes County, and has one daughter, an only child. He has a pleasant home in Millican with every convenience for comfortable living.

Mr. Arrington is a member of the Methodist church and a staunch life-long democrat, never having voted any other ticket. He is a genial whole souled fellow and a typical Texan, of the free and easy, optimistic sort, who makes friends where he goes and does a favor more gracefully than he could possibly receive one.

Taken from The Eagle (Bryan, Texas) 12 Sep 1895

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

The Bryan Weekly Eagle (Bryan, Texas) 17 January 1918 Captain Arrington Died in Bryan this Morning at 3:30 Captain P. H. Arrington, chairman of the Brazos County exemption board, died this morning at 3:30 am at the home of his sister-in-law, Mrs. Johnson, near the high school in this city. Pneumonia was the cause of death, coupled with the fact that owing to his advanced age he was unable to withstand the encroachments of the disease. He had been ill about a week and his wife and daughter from Millican, where he resided, had been with him. While he had all that care and attention could provide, and seemed to be improving at times, there were conditions which gave the physicians considerable uneasiness yesterday, and as these could not be overcome the end came as stated.

The body was taken to Millican on the Houston and Texas Central train this afternoon, and the funeral is to be held tomorrow at 3 o’clock. It is expected that a large number of Bryan friends will attend, as Captain Arrington was known not only here but all over the county. The active pall bearers are: S. C. Williams, Ben Priddy, G. G. Griffin, Roger Astin, W. C. Boyett and J. D. Battle.

The honorary pall bearers will be A. J. Edwards, Knox Williams, James Harrington, Geroge W. Dunlap, George Wicker, Lamar Bethea, L. E. Morehead, Amos Buchanan.

Captain Arrington was born and raised in Grimes County, but came to Millican twenty-eight years ago, where he has resided constantly ever since. He was married in Grimes County to Miss Callie Webb, and to them two children were born, one a boy who died at the age of 16, and the other Mrs. L. B. Simpson, who with Mrs. Arrington, survive.

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After a residence of two years at Millican, Captain Arrington was elected county commissioner from that precinct and served continuously for eighteen years, being defeated for re-election eight years ago by a younger man. He was a leader in political matters in that district and usually was found foremost in anything for the progress and betterment of the district. He was active in the recent good roads bonds election and was a valuable assistant to the county commissioners in that matter through his intimate knowledge of every person in the district. He was a constable, and held the position at the time of his death. These are the only political offices he has held. His other occupation was that of farming and since its organization in the middle of the summer, he was appointed chairman of the local exemption board and as such hewed strictly to the law and the rules and regulations showing no favoritism and personal feelings.

Notwithstanding he was a Confederate Veteran and fought the union for four years, he was intensely patriotic in this war and hard pressed the slackers and others who sought to evade their military duty. He was a member of the Methodist church and of the Woodmen of the World, in which he held an insurance policy.

In a statement which he wrote and was published in the Bryan Daily Eagle of October 4, 1917, Captain Arrington stated that he was born on July 4, 1845, wherefore he would be 72 years old on July 4th next. He was the only surviving child of Mr. and Mrs. William Willis Arrington. His father was born in North Carolina, in 1808 and fought through the Mexian war, afterward locating with his wife in Grimes County, where the three children were born.

His mother was Miss Jennie Morrison of Gonzales, where they were living at the time the Texas-Mexican war broke out. He was a veteran of the battle of San Jacinto. Captain Arrington, in that statement thus described his entrance into

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

the war between the states and what followed: “In the year 1860 the war between the northern and southern states begun and during the first months of this war the two older boys, John and Jim, joined the ranks of the southern forces. At the age of 16 years I sought to enter this conflict and was accepted into Tom Green’s regiment, Company C, under Captain Kluff’s command, of Navasota.

I served continuously for 26 months, being in the battles of Pleasant Hill and Mansfield in Louisiana and at Jennings Ferry in Arkansas. I saw Tom Green at Blair’s Landing receive his death wound. I was only a short distance away. Soon after the Red River campaign in the last year of the war our regiment began a march back through Texas and continued until we reached Clear Creek, about four miles below Hempstead. One morning after a number of us had been on patrol duty and reached Plantersville, Texas we were told that the war was over. Every man went in the direction of home, leaving his few and minor possessions at camp. I was with Pat Fuqua and John Linch, of Grimes County.

We proceeded to Anderson as fast as it was possible, rejoicing that we were soon to be with our people, yet crushed at the thought of defeat by the northern army. I returned to civil live and served eighteen years as county commissioner.”

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Funeral of Dr. Harrison Navasota Examiner-Review January 17, 1918 The funeral of Dr. Bev. Harrison who was killed at Bedias last Tuesday morning about 9:30 was held yesterday afternoon at 3:30 o’clock at the Bedias cemetery. The funeral was under the auspices of the Masonic lodge of which order the doctor was an honored member. Many friends from Navasota and other points in the county were present and paid their respects to the memory of their friend.

The Houston Post (Houston, Texas) Jan 9, 1918 Dr. Bev Harrison Killed near Bedias Navasota, Texas, Jan 8 – Dr. Bev Harrison, a prominent citizen of the north end of this county, a former commissioner, is dead as the result of a shooting near Bedias, about 10 o’clock this morning. Up to the present time it has been impossible to secure any details. It was reported that a prominent white man has surrendered to the sheriff, but no confirmation has been secured.

Bryan, Texas, Jan. 8 – Dr. R. H. Harrison of this city received a message this morning stating that his brother, Dr. Bev. Harrison had been killed at Bedias, Grimes County, his home. Dr. Harrison and his two sons, Henry and Sam, left at once for Bedias.

This was the third of the Harrison brothers to meet death in this way and Dr. R. H. Harrison himself was shot from his horse many years ago and left for dead while residing in that county.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

The Bryan Weekly Eagle (Bryan, Texas) 10 January 1918 Dr. Bev Harrison Waylaid and Shot near Bedias Today Dr. Bev Harrison was waylaid and killed this morning while going from his home at Bedias to one of his farms. The news was telephoned to Dr. R. H. Harrison shortly after the body was found lying beside the road. The party who telephoned gave no details beyond the fact that he had evidently been waylaid and shot, and gave no hint as to who had done the shooting, if that face were known. It is supposed that he was riding a horse at the time. Dr. Harrison and his two sons, Henry and Sam, left at 11 o’clock within about a half hour after the news reached him. Henry, having been summoned from A. and M. College where he is a student, was to accompany his father. They departed in an auto.

Dr. Bev Harrison was born in that section of Grimes County about forty-four years ago, graduated from the University of Tennessee in the same class with Dr. J. T. Mize, who has just come to Bryan to reside, and returning to his home section, practiced medicine for a time, later engaging in the cattle business and about six years ago engaging in banking in Bedias, where he was president of the Citizens National Bank. He also owns three or four farms thereabouts.

Besides his wife and three children, the oldest of whom is about eight years of age, he leaves one brother, Dr. R. H. Harrison here, and three sisters, Mrs. Emma Spell and Mrs. Dr. N. M. McDougald of Bryan and Mrs. Dr. Weatherby of Bedias.

Dr. Harrison, prior to his departure, had not been advised concerning the funeral arrangements.

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Beverly Harrison was born in Bedias May 5, 1874. After attending the local schools he followed his ambition to study medicine by enrolling in the University of Nashville Tennessee from which he was graduated in 1897.

In later years he abandoned his practice to devote all his time to farming and ranching. He married Zula Isbell December 8, 1901. To this union were born three children, Lucy Loree, Willie Ione, and Sam B. In 1903 when the I. & G. N. Railroad was built near the old town of Bedias the young couple were the first to build a new home near the station, which later became the present site of Bedias. Dr. "Bev" was one of the foremost cattle growers in Grimes County, and the importance of Bedias as a market was largely influenced by the forty or more carloads of cattle which were shipped out of the section every season as a result of his enterprise. He was also a stockholder and director in the Bedias Hardware Company, as well as President of the Citizens' Bank of Bedias. The Harrisons were leaders in social activities of the community. Their home was a gathering place for the young folks of the community and continued to be, even after Dr. "Bev" was killed in 1918.

After his death his wife carried on his work and his hospitality.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

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Pankey Cemetery

Pankey, Texas

Pankey Cemetery is located in Grimes County. Take South Hwy 39 out of North Zulch go 8 miles to intersection of Hwy 39 and FM Rd. 1696 turning East. If coming from Iola going North 3 miles turn right on FM Rd. 1696, go 5.2 miles. Pankey Cemetery will be on your left side of road next to the Shiloh Baptist Church. Families buried there include Shiflet, Upchurch, Isbell, Stephens, Trammell, Small, Reed, Pritchett, Plotts, Norman, Post, Newton, McWhorter, McDougald, Lawson, Lewis, Lassitter, Jerrell, Kemp, Glass, Hall, Freeman, Forester, Dean, Ellison, Carroll, Brown, Barkley, Allen, Beard, Dollor, Gant, Gentry, Lambert, McGinty, Pointer, Yeager, Younts. Confederate Soldiers buried at Pankey Cemetery.

Former Students of Pankey School Gather at Bedias

CRUTCHFIELD, JASPER JACOB 3 NOV 1827 ~ 5 FEB 1902 Pvt., Co. D, 13 Texas Infantry FAIN, J. B. 1811 ~ 11 MAR 1905 Pvt., Co. G, 7th Texas Cavalry (No marker) HARRISON, RICH HENRY 25 SEP 1824 ~ 13 MAY 1905 Cpl., Johnson's Co., 17th Brigade Texas State HOWARD, GEORGE W. 2 APR 1837 ~ 29 OCT 1914 No Unit Given ISBELL, WILLIAM L. 10 APR 1825 ~ 12 DEC 1894 Pvt., Co. G, Cavalry, Floyd's Legion RICE, FREEMAN 22 APR 1820 ~ 5 JAN 1895 Co. B, 1st Mississippi Light Artillery SNOW, JOHN ROBERT 26 DEC 1828 ~ 17 APR 1909 Pvt., Co. H, 59 Alabama Regiment

Former students and teachers of the Pankey school now consolidated with the Bedias high school, met at the Shiloh Baptist church at Pankey recently for a reunion and made plans for the affair to become an annual one. Serving as Master of Ceremonies for the day was the Rev. Sam Shiflet, pastor of the church and also a former student. Oldest teacher present in regard to service was John Isbell of Conroe, who attended school at Pankey in 1893, and taught there in 1908 until 1910.

Mr. Isbell’s sister Miss Emerold Isbell of Bryan, a teacher at Pankey in 1918 was also present. H. H. Williamson of Bryan and Bedias talked on the early settlers of Pankey and Bedias. Following officers were elected for the coming year to further plans for the annual homecoming to be held next year on the first Sunday in July.

Mrs. Ocy Midkiff Standford of Galena Park, president; Mrs. Lois Gilpin Knott of Huntsville, vice-president; Mrs. LaVerne Isbell of Pankey, secretary-treasurer; W. E. Barkley, Mrs. W. E. Barkley, Mrs. Horace Plotts, W. T. Trammell of Pankey and Earnest Shiflet of Madisonville, publicity and general committee.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

Plaster-Ross Cemetery Plaster-Ross Cemetery is located in north Grimes County, 4 miles north of Bedias.

The first burial there in 1835 was a young slave. T. P. Plaster brought his family to Texas to join Sam Houston's rag-tag army.

He was at the battle of San Jacinto manning one of the twin sisters. His name was Thomas Pliny Plaster.

T. P. Plaster's mother, Margaret Plaster – 1780 - July 4, 1844 is the first white buried here. Dollie Burton Samuel Plaster died in childbirth along with her baby daughter.

This Dollie was and is the baby daughter who died and is the daughter of Thomas Pliney Plaster and Dollie Burton Samuel.

Baby Dolly was buried with her mother thus the same date of birth and death.

This is a pre-Texas cemetery. Two slaves were buried here in the winter of 1835.

Thomas P. Plaster's family held a Mexican grant and he was at the battle of San Jacinto, manning one or the cannons. His Mother, Margaret, was buried in this cemetery on July 4, 1844. There are fortyfive marked graves and seven or more unmarked. It is located about three miles north of Bedias, Grimes County, Texas off State 90 and County 142 about on mile in Will D. Smith's private property across Sims Creek. In 1985, the Plaster-Ross Reunion Association was formed to promote family unity and to care for this Historic Cemetery. V. C. Robinson and wife Sue Ross, erected a Texas memorial plaque to Thomas Plaster who is buried in Austin, Texas: C. Shack Ross, killed in Italy WW11: Tommie E. Ross died captive in Korea. The memorial plaque honoring T. P. who is buried in the Austin city cemetery, Shack Ross, killed in Italy during WWII and Tommy Ross killed in Korea, is missing.

(SRR)

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GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

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PLASTER, THOMAS PLINEY (1804-1861).

Thomas Pliney Plaster, soldier and planter, was born in North Carolina on June 26, 1804. He moved from Giles County, Tennessee, in 1835 with his wife, Dollie B. (Samuel), and established a plantation near the site of present Bedias in Montgomery (now Grimes) County, Texas.

From March 1 until April 1, 1836, he served as a lieutenant in Capt. L. B. Franks's ranger company on the northern frontier.

On April 2 he enlisted in Lt. Col. James C. Neill's so-called "Artillery Corps" and was elected second sergeant. At the battle of San Jacinto, Plaster manned one of the "Twin Sisters."

Thomas Pliney Plaster

Who Manned One of the Twin Sisters Cannon at the Battle of San Jacinto and was a Veteran of the Mexican War, 1847 Born in Tennessee June 6, 1804 Died March 27, 1861 Erected by the State of Texas 1936

He was tried by court-martial for a now unknown offense and sentenced by Brig.

Gen. Thomas J. Rusk to be reprimanded before the entire army on parade on the evening of June 27, 1836, and dismissed from service. He rejoined the army on July 5, however, as a private in Capt. George Washington Poe's First Artillery Battalion, and by August 1 had been promoted to quartermaster of the First Cavalry Regiment of the First Brigade, Army of the Republic of Texas. From then until November 22, 1836, he was stationed at Camp Johnson, on the Lavaca River.

Thereafter he returned to his plantation, where by 1840 he owned 2,952 acres. By 1850 his Grimes County real estate had increased in value to $1,400. By 1860 it was worth $11,000, and that year he reported $6,000 in personal property. His wife died in 1857, at age forty-nine, in giving birth to their ninth child, named Dollie after her mother. Plaster served for several years as postmaster at Bedias, and after annexation he was elected to the First Legislature of the State of Texas. He died of pneumonia in Austin on March 27, 1861, and is buried in the State Cemetery. At the time of his death he was doorkeeper of the Texas House of Representatives.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2016

We have copies of the Navasota Bluebonnet on sale for only $30 each. This book has 100 years of newspaper articles from 1854-1954 in Navasota.

We also have the Grimes County Cemetery Books Volumes 1 thru 4. They are $30 each or you can purchase all 4 for $100 Volume 1 - North (Bedias/Iola/Keith) Volume 2 - Central (Anderson/Shiro/Roans Prairie/Singleton) Volume 3 - South (Courtney/Plantersville) Volume 4 - Navasota

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The Grimes County Heritage Book is a great addition to your family library. It contains the history of our county as well as family histories of Grimes County Residents. Each book is $75 each.