CHAPTER X.

Pioneers, Continued. - Logan and Abe Landers. - The Nutts. - A Fervent Prayer. - Saddles As Trophies of Indian Warfare.

Logan Landers came from east Texas and settled, about 1855, on the Brazos river at Stockton. He has long been dead, leaving several children, among who are W.H. and Lee Landers, jr., citizens of Hood. This family of Landers' were not destined to remain on the frontier long separated from their kindred, for in 1858 they were followed by a brother, Abe Landers, with his large family, and his son-in-law, Jesse F. Nutt, and since then the families of Landers and Nutts, by their numerical strength and moral force have swayed perhaps a greater influence in the public affairs of Hood county than any other single connection of kindred people. In the year following (1859) David Nutt, the father of Jesse F., with his other sons, Jacob, Abe and D.L., came and settled on the west of the Brazos, and shortly afterwards Mrs. Wright, a daughter, whose husband, A.J. Wright, had enlisted from Missouri in the Confederate army, came with her children and made their home here. Abe Landers was a man of considerable note. He was a native of Tennessee, but had removed thence to Missouri in 1840, where, prior to coming to Texas, he had served three terms in the legislature as representative from Newton county, and one term in the senate. After settling in Texas he seems to have led a quiet life on his Brazos farm until the organization of Hood county, some years later, when his prominence and character again brought him into public life and he was chosen the first County Judge, which office he held through the term. His antecedents as an incumbent of political office perhaps were not such as to have developed in him those qualities most essential for a judge, but however this may be, his faithful adherence to his friends in both public and private life gave him power and influence which seems to have been wielded in the overruling of "beastly majorities" in the settlement of that vexed question of the location of the county seat, the first difficulty which confronted him and his associates in office in the newly formed county. The details of his official life, however, will more properly occur in a future chapter. Judge Landers, upon again retiring to private life, was now aged and infirm, and having well served his generation, died about 1870, lamented by his many friends and kindred. His children, as well as those of his brother Logan, as already mentioned, have been among the most staunch citizens of Hood County. He had eleven sons and daughters, among whom are A.R. and C.L. Landers, now residing in Erath county, William and Charles Landers, and the wives of J.F. Nutt and Jack Gregory.

Jesse F. Nutt, as already stated, came to Texas with Judge Landers in 1858. From his own account he does not seem to have prospered for several years. He, too, was a Tennessean, but removed to Missouri and thence to Texas. He had lost his eye-sight several years prior to his settlement in Texas, and his affliction occasioned him to lead for some time an inactive life, but the spirit of the man was not to be suppressed by such a circumstance, and during the early part of the war he employed himself in traveling about the country selling hats of a Confederate make. This, however, did not seem to be a profitable business, and, as there seemed at this time to be a great demand for "groceries," after the close of the war he secured a capital of $30 and entered business at Stockton. At that time merchandise had to be hauled in wagons from Houston or Shreveport, and possibly it was owing to this fact that "Uncle Jesse’s" groceries always arrived in a "wet" condition. However this may be, such condition did not affect them as a marketable article, most of his customers from long habit preferring them wet, and his business grew and he prospered from that time on. Uncle Jesse Nutt was often surrounded by danger from the Indian forays in this section. They stole horses from the farms, both at Stockton and at the Jack Wright place within the present bounds of Granbury. On one occasion during the war Uncle Jesse, while en route to Stephenville as a delegate to the Baptist association, had parties of Indians to pass both in front and in the rear of him, and while attending the association the news reached them of the killing by these same Indians of a white lady on Paluxy; and the circumstance enkindled the zealous spirit of the association to such an extent that prayer was immediately offered up, and Bro. Slaughter, a distinguished pioneer preacher still living in Palo Pinto county, led in the prayer and fairly raised the hair of Uncle Jesse’s head; this may be the reason he escaped the scalping knife. It is proper to state just here that Uncle Jesse long ago ceased the sale of "wet" groceries and has prospered in other business.

Uncle Jesse Nutt tells of an incident that happened during the war, when the old Indian fighters were probably away from home. The red-skins came in on a foray of plunder, passing down Paluxy, and the Landers boys, Lee Nutt and others hearing of them, made up a party and proceeded at once to the divide in the western part of what now constitutes Hood county to intercept them as they went out and recover the stolen horses. Arriving at the proper place, the young men unsaddled and lariated their horses on the prairie and secreted themselves in the brush close by to await events, which shortly proceeded to happen, by the Indians coming suddenly upon their horses and so stampeding them as to cause them to break loose, whereupon they were driven off by the Indians along with their other booty. And these gallant young Indian fighters returned home covered with the trophies of war in the shape of their saddles lugged in upon their backs.

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