Buena Vista

 

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BUENA VISTA - BUCK SNORT

THE FOLLOWING IS  CONDENSED FROM ARTICLES APPEARING IN THE MAY 16, 1915 CHAMPION AND SEPTEMBER 30, 1929 CENTER DAILY NEWS

        Buena Vista is one of Shelby County's oldest communities.  The year of its beginning is lost, but it ante-dates the beginning of all Shelby county towns except those from the the Attoyac River to Caledonia and from Shelbyville to Port Hamilton.   The name Buena Vista is a Spanish phrase, meaning "Good View".   There are a couple of stories as to how the name Buena Vista was chosen.   --Originated when a band of Mexican horse traders camped on Flat Fork creek for the purpose of trading horses among the Indians. ---Originated in honor of the battle of Buena Vista between the Mexicans up on the one side and the United States forces upon the other.

        The town was frequently referred to as "Buck Snort" in the early years.  That came about that Granny Richards, one of the very earliest pioneers of the settlement,  was trying to chase a large buck from her pea patch and instead of fleeing as was customary for a deer to do, this buck just pawed the earth and snorted in wild defiance back at Granny Richards.  Hence the name "Buck Snort". The town was situated on land pre-emptied by the family of Granny Richards.  She deeded the land to Buena Vista with a provision that "those oaks standing there should never be cut, if so, the land shall go back to my estate".  The oaks are standing, except they have withered and yielded to time and nature. 

        In the beginning, Buena Vista or "Buck Snort"  used to be a thriving and populous town in the western part of Shelby county, Texas.  It was near the Attoyac River. There was no railroad nearer the Shreveport.  There were no telephone, automobiles or good roads, and the primeval woods were full of wild turkeys, deer, bear, wildcat and many other kinds of game to attract the attention and time of the old settler and sportsman.  Around Buck Snort the country was thickly populated by a hardly and industrious citizenship.  The men worked five days a week  in the field and spent Saturday at Buck Snort where they carried their corn to have it ground into meal, or else carried their plow tools to the blacksmith shop for mending.   There they spent the day meeting friends, running horse races, taking an occasional drink  and  pulling off a fight or just passing the time.  But they were men of the old time and true type of manhood.  Their woman folks were busy at home on week days spinning and weaving and knitting that the family might be comfortable and happy.  What pen will ever be able to write, as it deserves to be written,  the true and full story of the dear old time backwoods mothers and daughters of  long ago, and tell as it should be told of their true virtue, their work and their patience and great loving hearts as they filled their parts of the winning of the wilderness to civilization?

        Barron D. Sapp, who was a great hunter, opened the first liquor establishment in Buck Snort. The stock of which consisted of one barrel.,  but from this small beginning he died one of the richest man in the county.  He left several sons and daughters, all of whom made good citizens.  It is said of B. D. Sapp, who was six feet, six inches and weighed two hundred fifty pounds, and always lived an outdoor life, that he was the strongest man in Shelby County.  His Son, Sam D. Sapp, who was a prominent citizen living in the neighborhood of Timpson bantered his father for a wrestle, after the old man had become somewhat enfeebled from age.   A crowd had gathered upon this occasion to see this famous combat between father and son, which the old man had reluctantly agreed to take part in, telling the boy however, who was a giant himself, that he did not want to disgrace him by throwing him in the presence of all the neighbors, but the boy insisted and the old man yielded.   There was one round.  Before they had more than got fairly hold of each other, the boy felt himself going through the air and finally landed on his back, twenty feet away.  This was the last time Sam ever proposed to his father to have nothing more to do with him in that line.

          Another one of the old settlers was John B. Ross, who was sheriff of the county on two different occasions and who also lived in sight of the town square. Judge Robert Turner was another of these old settlers, who lived in Shelbyville and moved to Buena Vista where he built a large hotel on the north east corner of the square.  There he entertained the public, engaging also in the sale of merchandise.  He was also a Baptist preacher.   Another Judge was R. L. "Bob" Parker.  In 1860 he was elected clerk of the county court.  He carried the first stock of goods form Logansport to Buena Vista and in connection with his business he used to purchase and sell at Shreveport great quantities of venison hams.  B. D. Sapp and others were hunters and made a   practice of killing deer and selling the hams to Bob Parker.  Hide business was also a great business at that time. 

        John, Frank and Simon Farrar, three brothers, whose mother was the celebrated orator.  Frank Farrar married a sister of Judge Parker and with his brothers went to Ellis county.        

          A. W. Brown was sheriff of the county for twelve years, as well as a good Confederate Soldier.  One of his daughters was the wife of John Mills.  She was quite a talented woman, excelling in painting.

          The Brinson family were quite numerous and have intermarried with other settlers, among whom was the McLamore, Booth, Graves, Johnson and Cozart  families.  A. McLamore,   Z. Booth, M. T. Thompson, R. R. Graves and Hiram Cozart married a daughter of the Matthew Brinson family.  McLamore was county judge of Shelby county at one time and his son John T. McLamore was collector.  The Brinson farm, near Shelbyville, covered 1500 acres and has been the subject of more litigation than any tract of land in Texas.  The first suit was filed in 1841 and the last in 1912. 

        John W. Turner, a son of Judge Turner, was one of the famous merchants in Buena Vista.  He was so popular and so successful that when Captain James W. Ballard opened up business, he bought out John Turner, including his good will.  He paid considerable money for his promise in writing never to open up a business in Buck Snort again.  Turner went to Ft. Worth and died there.  Captain Ballard died in Buena Vista in 1898, fifty years after he first located in Buena Vista. 

        John C . Morrison, another old settler of Buck Snort came to Texas from Alabama in 1839 with O. M. Roberts.  O. M. Roberts later became the Governor and supreme judge.  Uncle Dan Watkins, quite a character in his day and time was one of the Methodist preachers.  His visits to the community always created comments.  He was a typical Methodist preacher and had no patience with the past times of the boys and girls.  Dancing especially was, in his eyes, all evil and the young people of Buck Snort were great hands to dance.  Uncle Dan never failed to hurl his dislike against the dance in season and out of season.   He was an old Texan and used to wagon for a livelihood and acquired a reputation of being the best "cusser" on the road.  W. R. Maxwell was another preacher and teacher.  He filled the Baptist church on Sundays and teaching on the week days.   It is said that he was the most accomplished teacher the town has ever had.

        Richard Yarbrough was another prominent man and early settler.  He and John King and John C. Morrison opened up one of the first mercantile establishments.  Dr. J. H. Pursley was the first physician in town.  Other prominent persons of the town were:  Cornellous Bogard, S. H. Sapp, a brother of B. D. Sapp and Rollie Raines a brother of Emory Raines, for whom Raines county and the town of Emory in Raines county were named.  Also, lived there was William Mayes, Charles B. Daggett a brother of E. M. Daggett, A. H. Johnson, James S. Richards, John H. Richards, and C. H. Richards, James Bouland, S. H. Runnels H. H. Dillard, Reddins Sessums .  William E. Gaynor, James Wilfs, Stephen King, Nathan Timms.  Nathan Timms married a sister of Frank Bowden and was father of Amos Timms, who was a shoemaker. 

        Moses F. Roberts, commonly called "Dog Roberts", because of the great number of dogs he kept about him, was a member of the 7th legislature and lied in Buena Vista.  His son, Elijah was clerk of the county, preceding Dick Roberts, who was a nephew of Governor Roberts. 

        James S. Richards was the largest land owner in the county.  He had a passion for buying slaves and bought several after the war closed, under the idea that slavery would be restored.  It is said that he never allowed the fire to go out of his fireplace for fifty years.  He was a great smoker and a tiny box of matches would last him a year.  He kept a large number of slaves around him, and having no children, he looked after their welfare and   cared for them.  At his death his left large acres of land, which Judge H. B. Short divided among his brothers and sisters and their descendants without recourse of courts.

        The school of Buena Vista was always a big institution, and for many years was the pride of the surrounding country.   Captain Ballard donated a large campus in front of his residence where a most pretentious school building was built.  Children from neighboring counties came to be educated, as well as those of the immediate community.  Among the most prominent educators was Parson James H. Scates, who was a Baptist preacher.  Both he and Captain Ballard were treasurer of the county at different times.

        P. N. Bentley, another educator and a Baptist preacher died by his own hands in a hotel in Center.  A man by the name of Hamilton was associated as principal of the Buena Vista school.  His wife, whom Mr. Hamilton had educated and afterwards married, was the prime factor of building up what was the best school in Shelby county.

        There were never any lawyers living in Buena Vista, since the county seat was located in Shelbyville, some twenty miles away.  Buena Vista had doctors galore.  Among them where Drs. J. H. Pursley, R. A. Young, W. P. Smith, J. L. King, R. W. Burns, John E. Hooper and J. B. BusseyDr, Young was an extremely genial man and very popular.  In fact, it is said he cured his patients more by his genial treatment than by the use of drugs.  Though he was accounted a learned man, Dr. W. P. Smith was another popular physician, but only survived the war a few years.  He died in New Orleans in 1872 of yellow fever while take a post-graduate course in Tulane University.  He married a Bouland, another prominent family of Buena Vista, and his widow later married Captain Ballard.

        The story of Buck Snort would not be complete without mention of the race track which was long one of its chief attractions.  The "Sport of Kings" used to be a favorite past time of the citizens living in the surrounding country.  The track was five hundred yards long.   One end resting on the public road immediately in from of Uncle Joe Burns's residence.  His son, Billy, had a famous mare whose speed was the pride of Buck Snort, and many a dollar was lost and won by the participants.  Dick Yarborough owned another great race horse, so did M. T. Johnson, who lived just across the line in Rusk county.  Judge Bob Parker, who weighed only about one hundred pounds was one of the riders.  It is said he won more races by his skill than any of his competitors.   The Morrison boys, sons of John C. Morrison, also owned fine animals, as did Captain Ballard.  They were always the favorites of the immediate community.  In those days there were no laws against races, and the best citizens of county indulged in the past time.  The last race on the Buck Snort track was between a gray horse from Sabine county, belonging to O. H. Polly  and a bay horse belonging to Billy Burns.   Many people gathered, the largest crowd perhaps, in its history since the war.   Buck Snort, as usual winning.  As in those days it won everything it contended for except a new county with the courthouse to be located in the midst of its beautiful and extensive plaza.  Had this been accomplished, the story of Buck Snort would have a different ending.  Just as it would had if application been made to the engineer who established the H.E.&W.T railway line from Nacogdoches to Logansport.

        According to the best authority, the wagon road from Shreveport forked right about the spot where the S.P. depot at Tenaha was located, the right fork leading to Caledonia and Mt. Enterprise, and the left went on about 7 miles to Buena Vista.  The old timers recall a sign board that was placed approximately 3 miles down the Buena Vista fork which read "CALEDONIA -- 12 MILES BUENA VISTA -- 4 MILES LOGANSPORT -- 22 MILES".

        Outstanding merchants, in the early days of Buena Vista were Captain J. W. Ballard, Dr. J. B. Bussey and Silas Banes,and some four or five others whose names are not available.  However, these become evident when the Houston to Shreveport railroad right-of-way was being surveyed.

        This was done under the authority of Paul Bremond, who approached the business men then in Buena Vista on the proposition of laying the rails through the town. , for the sum of $85,000.  This offer was refused on the pretext that the rails would pass through Buena Visa anyway.  But Mr. Bremond moved his compass a few degrees to the north from Nacogdoches to cross the Sabine River at Logansport .  This left Buena Vista 7 miles to the south.  Had the road followed the original right-of-way, Timpson, Tenaha and Joaquin might have been located on another site.  The rails were stopped at Timpson for several years and the gap between Timpson and Logansport remained unfinished until 1884. 

        As measured in time, most of Buena Vista or Buck Snort history lies in the early 1800's and immediately following the Civil War.  But its material and cultural progress slowly declined after the coming of the railroad.  However, descendants from these pioneer families have played a large part elsewhere, in the progress of new Shelby county towns.

THE OLD CEMETERY

   THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN IN 1915 BY JUDGE H. B. SHORT

        The old cemetery contains acres.  Near the first grave put there, that of Mrs. Elizabeth Richards Burns, is a great cedar, almost three feet in diameter and about 75 feet in height.  As the years come and go this great tree grows and thrives and sings the requiem over the dust of those who sleep in its shadows.  It has seen desolate mourners come and go and has heard the cry of many a heart breaking cry as loved ones were lowered into the tomb to be seen no more by those who loved them.  Many old timers whose names have long since been forgotten sleep in this silent city of the dead.

        Following is a partial list of names found on the tombstones. Clic here for a complete list of persons buried in Buena Visa Cemetery.

NAME DATE OF BIRTH DATE OF DEATH
Stephen Hairgrove   1858
Mary Richards   1879
Uncle John Richards 1816  
Sallie Richards 1832 1892
J. S. Foster 1794 1869
James W. Ballard 1823 1898
Allen Hammer 1831 1899

In this cemetery is also buried Lieutenant Clyde Morrison, killed in the war.  There are graves which repose the ashes of men who fought in the Mexican and Civil Wars.  There is one grave that is laid out north and south rather than east and west.

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