CHAPTER XXV.

Andy Walters and His Connections-Dr. Mansil Mathews Arrives in His Strange Craft and Holds a Big Meeting on Squaw Creek-The Freshet of '59-John Bull-Jesse Sutton-John Idom-Customs of Stockmen.

During 1859 our territory acquired from Cherokee and Smith counties a considerable influx of population, headed by Andy C. Walters and his several sons and sons-in-law, with others of their connections. "Uncle Andy," as he pleased to call himself and by which title of respect he was usually addressed, settled on the west bank of the Brazos and near Comanche Peak. He brought several slaves with him and soon opened up a considerable farm in the fertile valley of the Brazos, from the products of which he continued here in prosperity, a somewhat noted character, till about 1877, when he moved to Coleman county, where he subsequently died. He was corpulent in appearance, and his voice in ordinary conversation, when exhilarated by the jovial spirits he surrounded, and surrounding him, could be distinctly recognized several hundred yards away. He was exceedingly good natured, and his language replete with expressions which could not properly be pronounced "profundity." He and his several sons-Moses, W.C., Cook and George, and sons-in-law-John Ashton, T.C. Arrington, J.H. Haley, Dan Hemmins, B.A. Magness and Larkin Prestidge, have been influential in shaping the public affairs of the county. Moses Walters was defeated for county clerk at the first county election by A.S. McCamant, by only eleven votes. He became a prosperous stockman and preceded his father in his move to the west. With the exception of Cook, who also went west, the other sons remained here. Hemmins and Haley, as partners, were for a long while prominent as mill men, having succeeded to the Goather water mill on Paluxy, which, under their efficient skill, turned out a grade of flour of the best quality. John Ashton settled on Squaw creek and proved the fertility of its soil by a long experience as a good farmer. He was of feeble health, but by hunting and other activities lived till considerably past the middle age, and died at his home about the latter part of 1894. He was a truly reliable citizen, of sober habits and friendly nature. Larkin Prestidge had also settled on Squaw creek, and was esteemed a reliable stockman. He moved to the west about 1885, where he still lives. T.C. Arrington settled on the east side of the Brazos at the mouth of Walnut creek, in a valley of great fertility, where several of his children still live. He died about 1880. This settlement has long been distinguished in local parlance, as "Dogtown." Dr. B.A. Magness has practiced medicine since his early settlement in Hood, and has made himself felt in the influence he has exerted in many of the affairs of the county.

After the Walters' settlement here they hauled their bread corn and lumber from Cherokee county, a distance of about 160 miles.

There was a sort of neighborhood postoffice kept by a preacher on Squaw creek above Ashton's, and near by was a small log meeting house, where the people met for early religious services, which, with an occasional sermon, consisted mainly of exercises in singing. The only means of transportation in those early days being the road wagon and horseback, it was therefore a matter of great curiosity to those people when, one day, a dignified gentleman came driving up Squaw creek to the little meeting house in a top buggy, the first that had ever been seen here. The occupant of this strange craft was Dr. Mansil Mathews, a man of such wonderful versatility of talents as to be able to not only preach with great force, but also to conduct himself in the practice of the professions of both law and medicine, and besides which it is told of him that he was useful to his fellow citizens in many other respects. On the occasion of this visit to Squaw creek, although the Doctor was of the reformed Christian church, whose polity eschews the excitement of the mourner's bench, yet so powerful were his sermons in their influence upon these souls, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, that a rousing big meeting fraught with loud shouts of joy and glorification after the manner of the Methodists and Baptists, was the result.

Among the noted events of this period, a tremendous freshet swept down the valleys of Paluxy and Squaw creeks in August, 1859, carrying away some of the early improvements in the lower valleys and drowning some stock, teaching the people caution in the matter of building their houses in the low land.

John Bull, still living on Pony creek, was among the earliest settlers here. He was active, and in the troublous period engaged in Indian warfare. In an expedition to the plains he was severely wounded in a battle on Dove creek, and while being carried by his comrades from the battle field he jocosely reminded them of their enormous load of carrying off a Bull. The Bull family, of which there were several, are all citizens of good character.

Jesse Sutton and John Idom were enterprising stockmen of the Paluxy country at this period; and it is related of Sutton that he was the only man who had ever succeeded in "turning down" that active spirit, Allen Haley, in the business. It happened in this way: It was the custom of the stockmen to appoint a certain day in the spring for branding to begin. Haley had the enterprise to anticipate the event by the collection of a large herd of "mavericks" (unbranded calves) the day prior to the appointed time for branding, within his pen; but Sutton learning of it, during the night stole a march on him by turning out the herd and driving them to his own pen; be it said, however, to his credit that on the following morning he sent word to Holly and his other associate stockmen to come over and brand their respective shares, which were estimated always on such occasions according to the number of the mother stock each had the credit of owning. The stockmen of those times, owning upon the open range thousands of head unrestrained by fences, had laws and customs among themselves, unwritten, which, when properly respected, well subserved the purposes of justice, and when violated were often the occasion of turbulence and bloodshed.

2000 HOOD COUNTY TEXAS HISTORICAL DOCUMENT TRANSCRIPTION TEAM