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    Lancaster
    Lancaster
    Lancaster
    Ebook199 pages55 minutes

    Lancaster

    By Lancaster Historical Society

    ()

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    About this ebook

    In 1841, the Republic of Texas was on the brink of bankruptcy, and it needed to attract new immigrants in order to survive. With this important goal in mind, in 1844 the Texas congress authorized the republic’s president, Sam Houston, to contract with individuals to colonize the state. In September of that same year, one group headed by Capt. Roderick Rawlins from Illinois came to Texas and settled in what would become the town of Lancaster. Farmers grew grains and cotton, and Lancaster became a trade center with a lively town square. A commercial club organized in order to coordinate advertising for local businesses, and it also held trade days that later became town fairs. Local residents worked hard all week and enjoyed horse races, baseball, “forty-two” parties, music performances, and other entertainment on the weekends. By the late 1800s, Lancaster was connected to the rest of the state by the railroads, but the town still retained its independent, small-town Texas character.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439624586
    Lancaster
    Author

    Lancaster Historical Society

    The Lancaster Historical Society has used almost 200 photographs from its collection along with images from Lancaster residents to document the history of the town from its origin until 1915. Many of the images in this collection have never been published.

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      Book preview

      Lancaster - Lancaster Historical Society

      www.lhsweb.org

      INTRODUCTION

      Texas became a republic in 1836 around the same time that the United States was experiencing poor crops and economic problems. This opened the door for immigration to Texas. The rush began about 1837 and continued until 1842 when Mexico threatened to reclaim Texas. Few Native Americans lived in the area at this time. Prior to 1841, the Texas Rangers, led by Gen. E. H. Tarrant and Gen. James Smith, organized to clear the Native Americans from this area. On September 23, 1843, a treaty was signed stating that Native Americans would stay west of the junction of the West and Clear Forks of the Trinity River, some 30 miles west of Bryan’s settlement (Dallas).

      On February 1, 1841, an act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas authorized the president to enter into an impresario contract with William S. Peters and 19 associates. In return for their services in procuring immigrants from outside Texas to settle specific areas of North Texas, they would be granted certain lands within the same area. The Peters Colony introduced about 600 families to Texas from 1841 until 1844. The Peters Colony contract was altered three times between August 31, 1841 and January 20, 1843 to give more land.

      Lancaster came after the final area was granted. It was bounded on the north by the Red River and on the east beginning at the mouth of Big Mineral Creek. The southern edge was expanded several times but the eventual edge was near Ten Mile Creek close to Ellis County. The southern boundary went west 164 miles through what is now Johnson, Hood, Erath, and Eastland Counties and half of Callahan County. The western line went north for about 140 miles back to the Red River.

      The Peters Colony included all of Dallas County except a 3-mile strip on the east boundary. Various Native American hunting parties searched for game in the Ten Mile Creek area. The Tawakonis, possibly the Cherokee, and some nomadic tribes had campsites along Ten Mile Creek.

      Much of the land around Lancaster lay in the Robertson District formed in 1837. This district was famous for its black land, rich and well adapted for growing small grains. Wild grass grew to the height of an ordinary man and covered much of the range. While the grass was tall, trees were generally short and scrubby, except along waterways. This meant cultivation was easy because little timber had to be cleared.

      The Peters’ group advertised heavily in Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee, and for that reason, many of the early settlers to Lancaster were from those states. The Republic of Texas had several categories for land grants. Most Lancaster immigrants fell into the category that gave a married man 640 acres and a single man 320 acres of land. It was up to the grantee or his assignee to locate the land, survey it, and secure his patent. The story of Peters Colony contains inaccurate surveys, boundary disputes, and problems with getting title to lands, but through it all, the settlement of Lancaster began.

      Hardscrabble was the first settlement and the origin of Lancaster. The settlement was established in December 1844. Eventually Hardscrabble took supremacy over a settlement farther north called Pleasant Run due to the 1860 untimely death of its founder, M. M. Miller.

      Roderick Rawlins brought the first settlers to South Dallas County. He was 68 years old in 1844 and had already lived an extraordinary life before arriving in the county. Rawlins and two of his sons-in-law came ahead to select the general area in which they would settle. The group passed through Dallas to Ten Mile Creek, which was void of inhabitants, and chose this as the site of their settlement. In December, the three men went back to Lamar County near the Red River to bring the rest of their wagon train.

      Their settlement was located on the high point just southwest of present-day Nokomis Road and Beltline Road intersection. They chose this base because it was in easy walking distance to a flowing spring on Keller Branch; it had sufficient drainage in all directions; there was timber for construction and fuel; grazing land, such as it was in wintertime, was near the campsite; and the area had good visibility to the open prairie.

      All settlers had arrived by January 2, 1845. Their crude cabins were erected in a double row with a street between, running north and south. The people in this first settlement were Roderick Rawlins and family, Valentine Wampler and children (his deceased wife was a daughter of Rawlins), Pleasant Taylor and family, David Lewis Hall and family, Samuel Keller and family, Carlos Wise, John Kiser and family, John Mullican and family, and maybe Benjamin Cox. In total were 30 men, women, and children in Hardscrabble.

      Soon to follow were Middleton Perry and Jones Greene with their wives. Following them were their wives’ parents, Thomas McKee Ellis and Mary "Polly Witt Ellis and their children. Shortly after came the William Lavender family and his wife’s kin, the John Little family. Archibald Lavender and his family were also early settlers.

      The main trail went from the Trinity River west towards Johnson’s Station, which is now Arlington, Texas, and then on to Fort Worth. People who traveled this way had to cross the Trinity River on Mr. Dawdy’s Ferry, now known as Dowdy Ferry Road. This road is north of Pleasant Run Road in Lancaster. It was along this road that Madison Moultrie Miller opened a

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