 The Sherman Courier Wednesday, August 15, 1917 Pg. 19 Fiftieth Anniversary edition UNCLE DICK CHAPMAN RELATES SOME EARLY INDIAN EXPERIENCES R.A. Chapman, perhaps the oldest business man in Sherman, and who is today younger than many men half his age, gave The Courier the following interview on August 1, 1910: "You ask me what I know about the early days of Texas. Of my own knowledge I know nothing of the real early days but I could fill a volume of what I have been told by the early settlers. Burl Yarborough told me that the Indians once stole some horses from him and he afterwards found the horses in the Indian camp at Fort Sill, but the commander would not make the Indian give them up. At one time a young man from somewhere here in the State found his sweetheart in the Indian camp whom the Indians had stolen, and he tried to buy her from them and offered all he had - pony, gun, everthing - but the Indians refused to give her up. I remember the killing by the Indians of one of our neighbors, Enoch Jones and his son and a Negro who went from here out about Jacksboro to put up hay. Then the Custer fight in which Luther Hare, son of our deceased ex-congressman and Judge, took part and who would no doubt have been slain with the others had he not been sent back for reinforcements and thereby his life was saved. Old Judge Hare, father of Luther Hare and Silas Hare, always took an active part in the Old Settlers Reunion and it is due largely to him that the organization was perpetuated. I came to Texas with Mrs. Chapman and our two oldest boys in February 1862 from Gallatin, Tennessee by rail to New Orleans and from New Orleans to Jefferson by boat. On the boat I met J.E. Ranney, known to many of the old settlers of this county as a merchant in McKinney for years after the war. Ranney built the first flour mill in McKinney. Later Ranney moved to Sherman and took quite a batch of stock in the M. & P. Bank, which he still owns. He gave a church bell to the "Old School Presbyterian" church up here which still tolls to inform the people when to come to service. Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |