Typed as spelled and written
Lena Stone Criswell
THE DAILY DEMOCRAT
Thirty-First Year - Number 232
Marlin, Texas, Saturday, January 30, 1932
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MORGAN REBUILT
BY PRESENT OWNERS
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Building Occupied by Pio-
neer Family Will be
Preserved as
Lodge.
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From an historic old
cabin, the pioneer of J. W. Morgan, one of Falls county's earliest citizens,
Misses Jim and Allie Gill of Mart have built a lodge or camp--out in the woods
near Morgan's Sandy creek four miles west of Perry on the old Marlin-Waco
road--where almost 100 years ago a desperate struggle took place between a
family and a wilderness, beset with coyotes, Mexican lions, bears, and more
dangerous than all--Indians.
The family never knew what their next
moment held. It had already experienced tragedy--double tragedy--but
undaunted, continued the conquest of the wilderness.
Concerning this historical setting, Miss
Allie Gill writes:
"The Morgan homestead was bought by my
grandfather, Robert Allen Oakes, in 1871, and was deeded by him to his mother in
1911. You can readily see that since the claim was filed, in 1835, it has
been sold only one time.
"For a long time the house was occupied by
tenants and was finally used as a storage place for feedstuffs, but during the
summer of last year, we decided to restore it. In doing this, we used no
new material at all, except for the roof, which is made of hand rived boards.
They are weathering nicely, and in a short time will look as old as the walls.
Because of the danger from fire, we have a rock chimney instead of the
traditional stick and dirt variety.
"The iron fireplace fittings, including a
basket for wood, are copies of museum pieces, and were made entirely by hand.
"A cabinet and a low cupboard of unfinished
pine, a few chairs, a splitlog table and bench, together with some Mexican
pottery and comfortable cushions constitute the furnishings.
"Although we are preserving the old house
because of its historical interest, it also serves as part of a camp, so we have
built another cabin which we use for a kitchen. It is smaller, but
otherwise an exact copy of the Morgan cabin. It is, of course, modernly
equipped--containing stove, ice-box, cabinet, tables, and all of the cooking
vessels and dishes necessary for preparing and serving meals.
"Aside from grading and leveling, and
enclosing it with the familiar "stake and rider" fence, we have left the site
very much as we found it. The gates
are, as yet, unfinished, but will be of oak saplings held together by iron
bolts. When they are completed, we expect to put out quite a bit of native
shrubbery.
"Much of the credit for the success of the
undertaking goes to Ben Dreyer of Otto, under whose supervision all of the work
was done. Mr. Dreyer happened to have among his hands two negroes who are
uncommonly skilled--one with an axe, the other in rock work. But with the
exception of these two, only unskilled negro laborers from our farms were
employed.
"It may, perhaps, interest you to know
that, if we exclude nails and bolts, we used our own material for practically
everything. Only two purchases were necessary--the flooring for the
kitchen, and the cement for the mortar in which the rocks are laid up.
Sand in plentiful quantities is at the door, as is also the clay for clinking
between the logs. All of the timber was cut from the very beautiful woods
which surround the clearing in which the cabins stand. The unusual rocks
which form the entrance pillars, well-head, chimney, and stepping-stones were
the deeply appreciated gift of Alec Stone, who lies near Odds.
"The information concerning the Morgan
house that I have been able to get together is as follows:
"Among the colonists brought into what is
now Falls county by Sterling C. Robertson, empressario of the Nashville Colony,
was George Washington Morgan, who secured land on the east side of the Brazos
river in the northern part of the county on September 9, 1835, and soon
thereafter began to watch the smoke rise from his own log cabin. There
were two claims north of his--that of Marcelline Martinez, October 18, 1833; and
of Gregoria Basquez, October 19, 1833. A claim controversy with the
resultant litigation arose between Basquez and Morgan. Although the matter
was settled long ago, and titles are perfectly good now, deeds today describe
tracts of land on these surveys as being a part of the Basquez and Morgan
conflict.
"Since the Morgans came to Texas in 1835,
when the great struggle for independence was taking place, their little frontier
was in constant danger--from Mexicans on the one side and Indians on the other.
Viesca, the colony seat, was a town of probably two hundred population, so it
did not take long for them along with settlers to decide to leave the frontier
for the more populous districts to the south and est--both for protection and
fighting.
"The worst of the struggle of 1836 was
scarely over when the settlers began to return to their homes. It is not
known just when the return was made, but it was probably in 1837, '38, and '39.
G. W. Morgan, with his own family and other relatives, was among the first to
return, but he was hardly settled when tragedy befell a part of his clan.
On the night of January 1, 1839, the family of George Morgan, who lived near
Morgan's Point, were massacred by the Indians. In the fighting which took
place a few days later between the Indians and the whites, G. W. Morgan was
seriously wounded.
"The only other record that we have
concerning him is that, in the first election for officers of the newly made
county of Falls, he was elected commissioner, receiving thirty votes. This
was on October 5, 1850.
"I do not know the date of his death, but
he was buried in the Morgan family burial ground, only a short distance from the
little log cabin which had sheltered him for so long. A few rude, wooden
crosses are scattered about on the burial plot, but only two of the graves are
marked. The story is that the stones for these were carved in Italy and
shipped to Galveston, being brought from there in a wagon by a yoke of oxen.
G. W. Morgan lies in an unmarked grave, but I always think that the inscription
best suited to him is this: "He has made a lodgement in the waste; he has opened
a track for the vanguard of civilization."
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Permission granted to Theresa Carhart and her volunteers for printing
by The Democrat, Marlin, Falls Co., Texas.
