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The Negroes
Hunted Cover. "The
negroes, some fifteen or twenty of them, sat speechless and too
terrified to move during the few seconds while Uncle Perry was
continuing his preparations for his smoke. But the moment Uncle
Perry sat down and began smoking, they recovered from their stupefied
terror. Chairs were turned over backward as they jumped up from
the table. Some of them scrambled under the table, some dashed
into a closet at the end of the room and others ran into the
kitchen, but Uncle Perry calmly puffed his pipe through it all.
"This incident is a typical
illustration of the Indian traits which Uncle Perry had inherited
from his mother, who was half Cherokee. He had jet black and
straight hair and a very brown skin.
"Uncle
Perry is said to be the only man Frank James ever surrendered
his gun to. He was a neighbor to the James family in Missouri
and in his youth, played with Frank and Jesse James. One day,
Uncle Perry beat Frank shooting at a shooting match. Frank handed
over his gun and said: 'Here, take my gun. You are the only man
I ever surrendered my gun to.'
"Years
later, in the late '80s or early '90s, after Frank James had
been pardoned by the Governor Missouri, he came to Dallas to
visit his boyhood friend. He had been here but a few days, when
he was stricken with typhoid fever. For seven weeks, he was sick
in this house. He was cared for in a room upstairs. That room
is now just like it was when Frank James occupied it. The same
bed and other furniture are yet here. After he got well and strong
again, he went to Dallas to get a job. A few days later, Uncle
Perry and Aunt Jessie went to Dallas to do some trading. They
found Frank clerking in one of the store. Aunt Jessie wanted
to buy some calico and Frank waited on her. Frank seemed to be
embarrassed at selling ladies' dress goods. Uncle Perry, sensing
the humor of the situation, remarked: 'Frank, I never thought
you would ever come to this, selling calico for a living.'
"Frank said: 'Well, a man
must have a job. I won't be doing this very long, you can bet
your boots.'
Built Cabin Near
Kidd Springs. "My
father settled in Dallas in 1844 after a two months' trip from
Missouri in an ox team wagon," Joe Overton related. "He
was accompanied by his father, Aaron Overton, and his brother,
C. C. Overton. Aaron Overton took up his headright were Oak Cliff
now stands and built his cabin near Kidd Springs. Father took
up his headright to the southeast farther down the river and
a little later, began building the house in which I now live.
"Grandfather
and his two sons were the only members of the family coming to
Texas at first. Grandfather made a trip back to Missouri each
fall to visit his wife and family. In 1847, he brought them to
Texas with him to share his home with him in the new country.
One of the first things he did after settling in 1844, was to
put up a mill operated by horse power. This was the first mill
built in Dallas County. I have heard my father tell of settlers
coming to his father's mill from as far as 100 miles away to
get their corn and wheat ground into flour and meal. The mill
would grind 100 bushels a day by keeping it going from daylight
to dark. He operated this horse mill until 1841, when he built
a water mill.
"Grandfather
died in 1860 at the age of 76 years. He was buried on the hillside
near Kidd Springs and a stone marker was put over the grave.
Several years ago, some of his nephews from Missouri came to
Dallas, and we were going to remove his remains from Kidd Springs
to the old family burial grounds, a few hundred yards west of
my home. When we went to Kidd Springs to locate the grave, we
found that houses had been built over the place. All the trace
we could find was the old stone grave marker which one family
was using as a door step. Grandmother reached the age of 87 years
and died in 1874. They had twelve children, eleven of whom married
and reared families. My father, William Perry Overton, was the
ninth child.
"Father was married on July
22, 1847, to Miss Martha Ann Newton. The Rev. W. H. Hord officiated,
with Ned Wilburn and Milt Robinson as witnesses. She was born
in Saline County, Missouri, and came to Dallas County in 1845
with her father. Seven children were born to them and she died
in 1884. A year later, Mr. Overton was married to my mother,
Mrs. Jessie Overton. She was the daughter of Henry C. Davis,
a native of Hampshire, England, who settled in Dallas County
and was killed on the railroad near the old home place at the
age of 73 years.
To California by
Ox Wagon. "Father
caught the gold fever when the great rush to the gold fields
of California started in 1849. He made arrangements for the care
of his wife and family and joined a California-bound caravan.
He started with an ox team and wagon, but at El Paso, traded
the oxen for a team of mules and continued his way to the Pacific
Coast. He started on San Jacinto Day, April 21, and arrived at
San Diego five months later. They experienced great hardships
on the way and many died, or were killed by Indians. After spending
eighteen months mining for gold, he decided that he had collected
a sufficient quantity of gold dust and nuggets and began the
return journey. One trip across the deserts of New Mexico and
Arizona was enough for him, so he determined to come back by
boat.
"Taking
a coastwise sailing boat, he went to the Isthmus of Panama. He
walked across the Isthmus at about the point where the Panama
Canal was later built. He then took another boat to New Orleans,
then traveled by river steamboat to Shreveport. There, he exchanged
some of his gold dust for a horse and rode from there to Dallas.
"He arrived home after an
absence of two years. He was attired in the typical costume of
the gold fields of California and had not shaved for several
weeks. His own mother did not know him when he rode up. She thought
he was acting a little fresh and was about to get a gun after
him when he told her that he was her son. She examined him a
little closer and recognized him. His wife did not know him,
either. When they informed his small son that the newly-arrived
stranger was his father, he walked up, and, reaching his little
arms about his father's knees, inquired rather doubtfully, "Are
you my pappy?' There was one, however, whom he could not fool.
His dog was in the yard when his long-absent master arrived and
ran joyfully to greet him, jumping upon him playfully.
"After
returning from California, father went into the milling business,
operating for many years, the old Honey Springs mill on the headright
of Honey Springs Creek. He ground wheat and corn for the Confederate
soldiers during the Civil War. He retired from the mill in 1866
to give his full time to his farming interests. He died on Jan.
26, 1903, eight days before his eighty-first birthday anniversary.
He lived until his death in the house he built when he first
came to Texas, although it had been enlarged and repaired and
a new roof put on a few times."
An insight
into social life and customs of the first settlers in Dallas
County is given in an address prepared and delivered by Uncle
Perry Overton on July 14, 1893, at the eighteenth annual reunion
of the Dallas County Pioneers' Association at Garland. He was
71 years old, but was able to get about actively and spoke clearly.
John Henry Brown, president, was in charge of the program. The
association was organized on July 13, 1875, with John C. McCoy
as president. Vice presidents were William H. Hord, Mrs. Elizabeth
B. Durgin, Isaac B. Webb and Mrs. Nancy J. Cochran. Edward C.
Browder was secretary and John W. Smith, treasurer. Mr. McCoy
continued as president until his death in 1887, after which,
John Henry Brown was elected president at each reunion for several
years.
Uncle Perry lived for ten years
after this address, which follows:
"When I first came to Dallas,
there was a little pole hut on the bank of the Trinity, occupied
by John Neely Bryan, and a rough courthouse made of post oak
logs, and that's all there was of Dallas. John Neely Bryan was
living under bond to marry his wife. It was too far to go to
get a marriage license then. I think license for the first marriage
in Dallas County was issued from Nacogdoches, in 1845. There
were very few preachers in the county in those days. Among the
number was Amy McComas of Missouri, long since dead.
"My
father put up the first gristmill ever built in the county. It
was horse-mill and the first bushel of wheat ground was for old
Uncle John Cole, Jack Cole's father. Before the mill was put
up, the people ground their corn and wheat in mortars or hand
mills. Coffee mills were frequently used to grind the meal. When
we put up our mill, people brought grist to it from 100 miles
away, and I have seen as many as twenty-seven wagons there at
the same time waiting for their turn. We ground out about 100
bushels a day, which was considered a good day's work. I have
lived in Dallas County ever since I came here, except two years
that I was in California along in 1849-50.
"Texas
is the best country, in my opinion, under the sun. California
is a good county, but is has only two seasons, wet and dry. I
don't think that God ever made a better country than Texas. Take
a belt through Grayson, Collin, Dallas, Ellis and Navarro Counties,
and you have, in my opinion, the best country in Texas. In its
early settlement, it was dry, but we always made enough to do
us and sometimes something to spare. We have as fine crops this
year as I have ever seen in the county. We had better times before
the railroads came, we could sell everything we raised, money
was more plentiful and everybody had it then. A 10-year-old boy
had more money than the average farmer has today. It has gone
into the hands of the few and we can't get it as we used to.
The winter that I returned from California, I bought pork, but
I never have bought any since, though I have sold thousands of
pounds.
"When I first came to this
country, it was no more like it is now than chalk is like cheese.
Men were not trying to swindle each other. I could go into Dallas
and lie down with $100,000, and it would be there next morning.
There was no stealing those days, and, if you wanted to borrow
$500, or such an amount, you didn't have to give a mortgage to
get it. I knew men to borrow $500 and never give a note.
"I was a member of the first
jury impaneled in Dallas County. A woman was asking for a divorce
from her husband. We gave it to her, and before sundown that
day, the foreman of the jury married her. The first legal hanging
was in 1853 or 1854. A negress was executed for knocking a man
in the head with an ax at Cedar Springs. He had her hired and
she murdered him while he was asleep. I can't recall their names.
"The
town of Dallas burned July 8, 1860. A lot of men had been smoking
that Sunday around Sam Prior's drug store, and I think the fire
started from that. Crill Miller's house, the burning of which,
was mentioned in last Sunday's News, was not burned, but his
wheat stacks and cribs were burned. A chunk of fire had been
placed on a bed beneath the mattress, but when the mattress was
turned back, it smothered the fire out and the house did not
burn. Crill's negro boy, Bruce, told about another negro, Spence,
giving him a dollar to fire the house. I think the hanging of
the three negroes for burning the town was unjust, because I
don't believe they were guilty. At the courthouse, when the committee
was investigating the fire, there came near being a squally time
between Judge Nat M. Burford and Col. John C. McCoy.
"I am a broad and a dyed-in-the-wool
Democrat, and I am a Clark Democrat. I believe in giving every
man a show at office."
- March 4,
1928, Dallas Morning News, Feature Section, pp. 7, 8.
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