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F. B. Gilliam  1860 Grayson County Census
Post Office: Sherman Date: August 11, 1860 pg. 186 763/716 F B Gilliam 35M Physician Virginia Mary E Gilliam 37F domestic North Carolina Tarrant Gilliam 11M Texas Mattie Gilliam 2F Texas The Galveston
Daily News
Monday, February 20, 1893 pg. 6 AN EARLY TEXAS INCIDENT For The News: Reading in The News a few days ago an account of Mr. Taylor's experience in Texas when the state was in its infancy recalled to my mind an incident in my childhood which happened many years after the experience then related. I was quite young at the time of that memorable trip, but having the tenacity of most all childish minds to retain impressions, it is as clear in my mind as if it had happened yesterday. It came about in this way: My father, who had been educated for a physician, had laid aside that calling for one which had greater attractions for him - farming. We owned a beautiful place 2 miles from where Denison now stands, in which my father took great pride. The soil was fertile and well repaid all labor spent upon it and we soon had an orchard of splendid fruit, which was a great luxury in Texas in those days. Then the surrender came, our cause was lost and slaves were free. This meant for us that my father must renounce his pet calling and again join the Knights of Escuiapius if he was to provide bread and butter for his now small family. As our own neighborhood and nearest town were well supplies with practitioners he decided to make a trip through the adjacent counties, looking up a location. Mother and I were to make the trip with him. The first night after leaving home was spent at Whitesboro, in the edge of Grayson county, where the people told us the Indians had just made a raid, carrying off many cattle and horses, and it was reported, some women and children. My mother was ready then to "sound the retreat," but being assured that they never made their appearance except during a full moon, she was persuaded to go on to visit some old friends near Gainesville. When we arrived we found the reports verified. Every house we entered had the corners of the room stocked with arms, and all persons had some harrowing tale to tell of the deeds of the Indians. The most horrible was of their entering the home of a settler and carrying off the mother and her babe. They tied the poor woman on a mule and gave her the child to carry. There was snow on the ground and the air was bitterly cold. The mother could not hush the cries of the babe, and for fear of the cries attracting the attention of those in hearing they took it from her and dashed its brains out against a tree in sight of the mother. The poor woman after going some distance managed to slip from the mule, and this in the darkness and hurry of retreat they did not perceive. Too near frozen to walk, she crawled on hands and knees until she came to a house, where after resting and warming she returned with the people and found the remains of her infant lying undisturbed in the snow. This was quite enough for my mother, who after spending a day or two with an old time settler, Mr. Hobs, in the northern part of the county (his son was afterward sheriff), returned home, and my father yielding to the solicitations of friends and relatives in Arkansas, moved to that state just in time to miss the tide of prosperity which came to this state with the new railroads. Mattie Gilliam Pryor New Boston, Tex. Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |