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The London Family Sherman Democrat July 4, 1976 LONDONS TRANSPORTED BOIS d'ARC SEEDS (Editor's Note: This story on the London family, pioneers in wagon freighting and bois d'arc apple seed business in Grayson and Fannin Counties in the 1850s, was written by H.H. London, professor emeritus of industrial education at the University of Missouri-Columbia.) Charles Marion Henry London, a native of Franklin County, Tennessee, and an ordained Methodist minister, migrated to Boone County, Missouri, around 1825. There he worked as a blacksmith, carpenter, tanner and wagon maker for a stagecoach line until 1838, preaching on Sundays. Then he moved to Schuyler County, in northern Missouri, where he continued his preaching and operated his own cabinet shop and farm implement factory for fourteen years. In 1852, London closed his implement factory in Missouri, sold his home and much of his large equipment, invested in a dozen or more young mules to pull several large wagons of his own manufacture, loaded up his hand tools, household goods and family of six sons, five daughters and two sons-in-law and headed for Texas. After a long and rugged journey, the group crossed Red River at Preston Point and drove through the woods where now the streets of Denison run. In a short time they arrived at Sherman, then only a village. They camped on several vacant lots which some members of the family had bought while on an advance trip there the year before. They began at once to construct a number of houses and a large blacksmith and cabinet shop. Later, they bought several farms northwest of Sherman where some members of the family lived for several years. Grayson County College now stands on one of these farms. At the time the London family moved to Sherman there were no railroads in that part of the country and no navigable streams nearby. Consequently, all cotton, grain, hides and other raw commodities produced there and all supplies brought in from other places had to be hauled overland by wagons. Since the Londons had some farm products of their own to get to market and needed lumber and other supplies for their shop and building business, and since they had several sturdy wagons and the group of Missouri mules, it was natural that some members of the family soon became involved in wagon freighting. Most freight wagons were pulled by oxen, but mules could go faster, pull more and last longer, thus giving the "muleskinner" an advantage over the "bullwhacker". There were two main wagon trails out of Sherman, and the London brothers freighted over both of these for ten years of more. One trail led east across to Bonham, to Greenville, to Sulphur Springs, to Winnsboro and on east to Jefferson at the west end of Caddo Lake. From there cotton, grain, hides and other farm products were shipped by boat across the lake and down the Red and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans. On return trips the wagon trains hauled lumber, hardware, furniture, groceries, clothing and other supplies. The second wagon trail out of Sherman, known as the "Old Texas Road" or "Shawnee Trail," crossed the Red River at Preston Bend and led north to Durant, McAlester and Muskogee, Oklahoma, thence eastward into northwest Arkansas, where it turned northeastward into Neosho, Missouri, and on to Springfield, Tipton, and finally to Booneville on the Missouri River. During the War between the States and up to about 1879 the old Texas Road terminated at Sedalia, Missouri, then the western terminus of the MK&T railroad. This road was used by the wagon train chiefly during the summer months and fall when the road were dry. At the time the London brothers were running their wagon trains over these two routes, barbed wire had not been perfected for fencing purposes. Farmers depended on rail, rock and hedge fences to enclose their fields and lots, and to provide windbreaks. The Osage Orange or Bois d'Arc (pronounced "Bow-dark") tree had been proven to be superior for fencing when properly trimmed and for windbreaks when left untrimmed. It was, therefore, in great demand by farmers in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and to a lesser extent in other states. The black-land counties of North Texas, including Grayson, Collin, Fannin, Hunt, Lamar, Delta and Hopkins, at that time had an abundance of Bois d'Arc trees. All across these counties in the fall and winter months hundreds of boys and girls gathered the apples and sold them to local buyers who, in turn, crushed and dried the apples and cleaned the seed. Bonham became the center of the Bois d'Arc apple seed business. On their return trips from Jefferson the London Brothers bought all the Bois d'Arc apple seed they could haul and sometimes made special trips to Bonham for a full load to take to Sedalia. The seed brought around $25 per hundred pounds at Bonham and sold for about $80 at Sedalia and $100 at Chicago. On return trips from Missouri, the wagon trains hauled such items as clothing, shoes, harness, hardware, guns, nails, shop supplies and tools. The War between the States disrupted the London Brothers' freighting business, as four of them entered Alexander's 24th DIvision of the Texas Calvary in 1862. C.M.H. London was strongly opposed to slavery, and even though he had four sons in the Confederate forces, he continued to preach against slavery after the war began. This got him into trouble with the people of Sherman, who denounced him as a "Damn Yankee Preacher." So, in 1863 he sold all of his land and city property in Grayson County and moved his family to Wood County. Eighteen months later they moved back to Missouri, where he worked in a wagon factory at Neosho. In 1869 the family returned to Wood County, where Confederate money was worthless. He died in 1872. When the war was over the London Brothers resumed their wagon freighting business over the same two routes, but the perfection and acceptance of barbed wire for fencing purposes brought an end to the demand for Bois d'Arc seed. And then the Railroad was completed from Sedalia to Sherman and the Cotton Belt Railroad was completed from Commerce to...wagon freighting ...longer profitable and ...came to an end. Many of the...remained for years and...to great widths, sapping areas on both sides ...rows and intreferring with mechanized farming....as one drives across the...states, he will see ...pushing out and piling...Bois d'Arc trees preparatory ...them into fence posts ...the branches ....reclaiming the land. For years Bois d'Arc ...commonly used for wheels, axles and other...of farm equipment...great strength and...However, steel has replaced wood for ....leaving fence..the one remaining...of the rugged ...durable native Texas tree...Bois d'Arc.  Flora & Fauna Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |