While in a reminiscent mood; ex-Governor Bob Taylor gave utterance to the following expression: "When I was a barefooted boy away up among the mountains where nature sings her sweetest song and brawling brooks laugh in the sunshine and dance in the shadows, I used to sit on the banks of the river and watch the caravans of covered wagons creeping like mammoth snails with their shells on their backs, southward to the wilderness of Texas. I did not dream then that the ragged, rosy-cheeked children who crowded under the wagon covers were the prophecies of wealth and power and glory of the greatest empire that was ever born on this continent. But so it was. The caravans landed their precious freight in the wilds of Texas. The blue smoke began to curl upward from the cabins of the pioneers, * * * the little ragged, candy-haired children grew up into a race of the fairest women and the bravest men that the sun in heaven ever shone upon."
In Governor Taylor's remarks we have a poetic description of two significant events-the abandoning of an "old country" and the settlement of a new. The scenes there depicted were enacted true to life in Wise County. We find the first blue smoke curling upward here in the autumn of the year 1853, but only that of a camp fire, around which were gathered three lonely individuals who had been attracted to the country as prospectors. The actual settlement was delayed until 1854, when the blue smoke began to emerge from the chimney top of a pioneer cabin and the settlement of the county was inaugurated.
Sam Woody was the individual whom fate had selected to stand on the threshold of the county as the advance guard of the thronging civilization to follow. Fate laid her hands upon him in the mountains of his Tennessee home, and directed his footsteps hither to this region where a glorious new community was to be established.
When Woody had reached about the age of twenty-one, the mountains of Tennessee seemed to grow more perpendicular- the valleys narrower and the opportunities for a livelihood scantier, and he became possessed of a restlessness to scale the heights in search of a broader and freer land. His desire took form in action, ending in his embarking with his wife and meager effects on a raft on the Tennessee river, on which he floated down to the Mississippi and thence down that stream to the Louisiana banks, from where he went across country to Shreveport. His first temporary destination in Texas was in Upshur County, but he did not remain there long, for in 1849 the grand onward march to California set in and swept him as far west as the little village of Ft. Worth in Tarrant County.

THE COMING OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.
Fate was gradually drawing him toward the region which he was to enter as the original occupant. He remained in the vicinity of Ft. Worth, an undecided and prospective immigrant for some time-to be exact, until the autumn of 1853, when, in company with two others, Jim Mann and Ben Crews, he approached the Trinity River at Ft. Worth and followed its winding course up stream until he emerged into the then territory of Wise County in its southern part. Prospecting about, he came upon a beautiful valley, afterwards called Boyd's Valley, about three miles north of the present village of Aurora, and the.re he located the magnet that had drawn him from his Tennessee mountains to the teeming wilds of the Southwest. This proved to be a level stretch of rich soil surrounded by timber and water, which abounded in game and fish of the greatest variety.

At its sight his restlessness grew quiescent, and he knew that he had stumbled upon the fulfillment of his hopes. Returning to Ft. Worth he spent the remainder of the winter in preparation, and in April, 1854, he again approached the Trinity River, this time accompanied by his wife and two sons, Will and Drew, and an Indian guide, and returned to the spot he had selected for a home. When, behold! rising from a fire built close to a lean-to camp structure was the smoke of another pioneer-an invader who had come in and laid the claim of proprietorship over the very spot which had appealed to him on his first journey.

The new arrival gave the name of Tom McCarroll and Dallas County as the point of his embarkation for this territory. Woody acquiesced in McCarroll's claim and set about to seek a new location. McCarroll proved to be genial and accommodating, and directed Woody to a region further to the north, which he thought to be a fit substitute for the location which, coincidentally- had enticed the two primary citizens with its attractions. At present this latter spot, a rich and productive farm, is known as the old John Prunty place.

Guided by McCarroll's directions, Woody went north until he came to the untamed region in question, when he was again pleased by the surroundings. The soil spread out in the valley was rich, the forests virgin, the environing prairie hilltops bedecked with flowers and tall waving grass. Down through the valley coursed a creek of ever-flowing water; its banks were deep, perpendicular and precipitous, from which formations it gained its name, Deep Creek.

Here on the banks of historic old Deep Creek, the first real home, the first house and the first farm in the history of the county were established.

As soon as possible Woody began to build his house, being assisted in the work by his kinsmen, Jim and John Woody, original settlers of Parker County, who had come over to help hew the logs and place them in position. The house was built solidly of logs, and still stands as a monument to that bygone period. A photograph of same accompanies these remarks. It was a one-room structure, sixteen feet square, in which all the household occupations were carried on. At one end a large open fire-place was built with a chimney reaching outside. The house faced south on the public road and a small porch faced in that direction.

When finished, Woody's home was the one lone habitation in a wild territory hundreds of miles square which had already begun to attract the attention of Eastern and Southern immigrants. A few of these began to arrive in the fall of the year, and with them land traffickers, prospectors and investigators. Among them was Senator Robert Tombs, the famous Georgia statesman, who, as a member of the firm of Crawford, Tombs and Catlett, had located many hundred of acres in the territory and came here repeatedly to attend to the interests of the firm. Senator Toombs was a guest in the humble home of Woody for many weeks. As has been said, Mr. Woody's home was the one abode to which the incoming prospectors could resort for comfort, cheer and protection. On a dreary winter's night, just before Christmas of the first year (1854), eighteen tired and weary guests lay down to slumber in this sixteen-foot room. Wrapped in their blankets, they lay stretched before a roaring fire, which was fed throughout the night by the genial and hospitable host; here they slept and dreamed of golden conquests in a land of fresh opportunities.

Mr. Woody has said of the motives that brought him hither :
"The prettiest sight I ever saw is a new country, where man has never been and which is just as the great God of Heaven left it; where every stream is full of fish and every hollow tree is gorged with honey. The wild life and nature at first hand suited me." And describing the early life he says further: "It was easy to
live in those days. Sow five or six acres of wheat and it would often produce fifty bushels to the acre; cut it with a cradle, tramp and fan it out, then once or twice a year load up a wagon to which five or six steers were hitched, and after a week's trip to Dallas you would have enough flour to give bread to your own
family and some to the neighbors for a number of weeks, until it would be the turn of some one else to make the trip. If we had bread enough, game was always plentiful. Hogs would get so fat on acorns they couldn't walk. After marking them we let them run wild, and trained our dogs to run them in whenever we wanted a supply of pork. Now and then we sent a wagon to Shreveport or Houston for coffee and sugar and such groceries, but we did not use sugar much. I paid a dollar for a pint of the first sorgum seed planted in Wise County, and molasses was the commonest kind of "sweetening.' When we got tired of game and pork we killed a beef. By swinging a quarter high up to the limb of a tree it would be safe from wild animals and would keep sweet for weeks, and it was a common sight in our country to see the woman of the house untying the rope and letting down the meat to cut off enough for dinner." Speaking of the Indians at that time he said: " I reckon I didn't know the. disposition of the Indians. I was never afraid of them, didn't have sense enough, I guess. I used to trade with them at my house until they got hostile, and for a little corn they would give me the finest buffalo robe or moccasins you ever saw. I only wish I had kept some of those things, they would be worth lots of money now."

With all the free domain stretched out before him and he alone to partake of it wherever he would, it is rather singular that this pioneer citizen encountered two obstacles that restricted his actions in a manner natural only to closely populated territories. In the first place, as has been described, his original location was pre-empted from under him by another during his absence; in the second place, when on going to run the boundary lines of his second location, he found them conflicting with the line marks of a survey which had been made in the name of Crawford, Toombs and Catlett. It was thus necessary for him to purchase title from the original locators, which he did in preference to seeking a third spot on which to pitch his home. It is natural to presume, however, that Senator Toombs treated his former host most generously in this transaction.

In closing this incident the writer is tempted in fancy to stand with Woody at the threshold of this budding community and look back over the more than three hundred years of American civilization to the time when our forefathers first set foot on the hallowed soil of the republic, and view their advancing footsteps towards this spot, every stride of which is contested by that savage race which has given way only in the face of Anglo-Saxon courage and determination, until in this the year of 1854, their furthermost western reaches are identified in the personality of Sam Woody himself.

Since the expedition of Cabeza de Vaca to Texas in 1835, three centuries and a half of waiting and preparation had been required to make it feasible for Woody to stand here on that April day, the distinguished denizen of the dividing line between an old and a rich civilization to the east and the point where its frazzled edge dips suddenly and is lost in vast primeval forests and uninhabited wastes of prairie.

It is a moment tense with romance, and I with Woody feel the pressure of it behind and before. Looking behind our position is realized as the forerunners of civilization, and looking before, our hopes spring up as we view the glorious flower of life which is to blossom forth from the germ we are planting here to-day.
No chronicles of future times of peace should fail to make due record of this romantic moment of germ planting.

A few other settler families had straggled in by the time of the waning of summer 1854. John Butler, of whom little can be learned, should be mentioned here as being one of the first of the above class. He chose a place in the eastern part of the county, in the neighborhood of the point where Catlett Creek intersects with Denton Creek, on which he built a log cabin. In July or August, William Calhoun came in with his family and pre-empted a location on Oliver Creek. The winter of 1854 and 55 seems to have been a propitious time for the beginning of an earnest stream of immigration into the county, for many arrivals are noted in that season. Heading the column in the Deep Creek community were the families of James Brooks and Dr. Standifer, who settled on Walnut Creek, as the first neighbors of Mr. Woody. Upon one of the days prior to Christmas of 1854, a child was born in the Brooks family, the first white child born on Wise County soil. The child now flourishes in the matured person of James Brooks, Jr., formerly of Wise County, but at present living in El Paso.
* Since the above reference to James Brooks as being the first white child born in Wise County was written, the writer has had communication with Mr. Manse McCarroll of Tom Greene County, Texas, and Mrs. Lou Duckworth, of Gibtown, Jack County, Texas, son and daughter of one of the original pioneers, namely Tom McCarroll. From statements made by these two it appears that Mrs. Lou Duckworth, whose maiden name was Louisa Woody McCarroll, was born m Wise County, Sept. 2nd, 1854, which would place the event of her birth about three months preceding that of James Brooks. Mr. Sam Woody was authority for the particulars relating to the birth of Jim Brooks, his statements being very positive. Subsequent discoveries, however, have mystified the situation and it remains doubtful which of these two shares the honor of being the first county born. A photograph of Louisa Woody Duckworth,whose second name was taken from Mr. Sam Woody's mother, who was in attendance at the accouchment of Mrs. McCarroll, accompanies these statements. Louisa Woody McCarroll married D. W. Duckworth of Gibtown, Jack County, Texas.


Dr. Standifer had been a surgeon in the U. S. army and established at the post of Ft. Worth, which it is said, Dr. Standifer was largely instrumental in having selected as an army post. On coming to Wise County he retired from the active practice of medicine, but gave some aid to the sick of his community which constituted him the first physician in the county.

On Feb. 28, 1855, the probable third birth in the county, occurred to Mr. and Mrs. Woody, a girl afterwards named Betty, and who, in later years, married James Boyd of that numerous and prominent family of the county. Mrs. Boyd now lives with her family in Western Texas.

Following soon after the Brooks' and Standifers' came Stanhope Paschall and family to become permanent settlers in the community.


MUSTER-ROLL OF THE OLD CITIZENSHIP.
In the following list will be found the names of the majority of arrivals in the county during the years of the settlement period, which ended shortly before the beginning of the Civil War. The list might be described as a scroll of honor on which are inscribed the names of those hardy pioneers who stood steadfastly to the task of working out the problems incident to the first troublous years of the existence of the county. Some names have been necessarily left out, because the intervention of half a century of time has operated to blot them from memory, to which defect the cause of apparent neglect is more due than to the prompting to ignore. The list was prepared under the guidance of an Old Settlers' Committee, and is submitted with a conviction of its correctness. The most of the names here presented represent the heads of families, but, much to the general regret, the list does not include the pioneer wives and mothers who bore an equal share of the privations of the times, sweetened the bitter hours with their love and sympathy, and refined and elevated the common life with the inspiration of their pure and lofty characters. The exigencies of the situation does not provide their names. The list, accompanied by the locations occupied, follows:

Deep Creek and Boyd Valley. Sam Woody and sons, Will and Drew; Ben Crews; Bob Walker; Mat Walker; John Mann and sons, Jim, William, Brice, Henry, John and Andrew; Tom McCarroll; Stanhope Paschall and sons, Dennis, Jack and John; Lawrence Ward, Sr., and sons, Henry, Frank, Lawrence and Will; Richard Boyd and sons, Jim, Tom and John; John and Polk Prunty; Ben and Dave Lewellen; Jim Gage; John Mapes; C. C. Leonard; Ben Earp;

Oliver Creek. Dr. Thomas Stewart; W. W. Brady; Parson Bebe; Marion Tefiteller; Wm. Calhoun; Andy Shoemaker and sons, Milton, William, Lauren, Tom, Jerome and Andy; Riley and Neri Hobson; Darb Pyeatt; John Crutchfield; Sam and Jim Brandenburg.

Holmes Valley. Tom Cogdell; Rev. W. H. H. Bradford; Ben Monroe; Charles Browder; J. S. Standifer; Jim Brooks; Alonzo Dill.

Walnut Creek Valley. Samuel and Richard Beck; Pleas Bryant; Jim Rucker; Nat, Rans, Clabe, Charlie, Bob, Joe and Dave Cates; Lemuel Cartwright and sons, Charlie, John, George; R. M. Collins; Billie Miller; C. H. Miller.

Sand Hill. John Roe; J. D. White; Charlie Thompson; Jack Hart, Sr. and Jr.; Wils, Tom and Steve Hart; Bob Newman; W. A. King.

Lower Walnut Creek. John Curtner, Sr. and Jr.; Earnest Curtner; John and William Galley; John Gibbs.

Aurora. Major Slimp; Ben and Nick Haney; John Boyd; John Teague; Judge W. S. Oats; Wm. Oats and sons, Mark and John.

Huff Valley. Wm. Hudson; Tom Geary; Huff and sons, Matt, Jim, Charles and Budd; Jim Hudson; Joe Dewees.

Prairie Point (Rhome). Sam Sheets; Tom, Sam and Jim Sheets;

Elihu Teague; Van Meter; Dave Fulton; John Day and sons, Jim and John; Josh King; Green Penington; Nick Dawson; Marion Edwards; Kit Simpson.
Halsell Valley. Eli Hogue; Henry Martin; Joe Henry Martin; John Williams; Electious Halsell.

Sweetwater. John Waggoner; A. Bishop; Ed Blythe; Dock Lindley.

Upper Catlett. G. B. Pickett; John W. Hale; Wm. Russell; George, Marsh, Garner, Bill, John, Jim and Joe Birdwell; Tom Weatherby; Sylvanous Bean: Grundy Kelly; --- Kelly; Jack Moore; Jim Watson; Jim Rodgers; High Russell; Perry Mills; Andy and Joe Marshall; Tom Robinson; Jim and Tom Scarborough; Archer Fullingim; H. H. Wilton; Bat, John and Sam Millholland; John Wilson; Lijah Hall; Dan Waggoner; Floyd Smith; S. M. Gose and sons, John, Dave and Coy; Jesse Fullingim; Ely Roberts; Frank Roberts; Elijah Roberts.

Decatur. Robert Wallace; John Wallace; A. B. Foster; Hugh Hardwick; Charles Hardwick; Jim Proctor; Wm. Perrin; Dan Ho well; Elmore Allen; T. Perrin; Sam Perrin.

Sandy Creek. Henry and Tom Jennings.

Catlett and Sweetwater. John Staley; Lycurgus King; John Butler; Dr. William Renshaw.

Denton Creek. J. B. Brandon; Philo Martin.

Mouth of Catlett. Samuel L. Terrell; Jacob Kellam; Felix Gose.

Hog-eye Prairie. J. B. Earhart; Brushy, Dick Reiger. Salt Creek. T. E. Camp; Jesse Kincannon; Dick Holden.

Hog Branch. George Guinn; Andy Scroggins; Balam Scroggins; Moses Followell; --- Mackey; Bob Lewis; --- Stevens.

Paradise Prairie and Salt Lake Valley. --- Toller; John Woods; Oliver Reed; Wm. Burress; J. G. Stevens.

Bridgeport, Dry and Hunt's Creek. Alex and Tom Mahaffy, Pierce, Harry and Sam Woodward; W. H. Hunt; George Isbell; Rufus Booth; John and Straud Babb; John Arterberry; Wm. Anderson.

Cumby's Prairie. Edward Cumby; Eli Roberts; Gabe Jones; Tom Jones; George Glass; Chesley Marlett; Woodford and Ben Bennett; Dick Couch.

Crafton. Elias Eden.

Garretts Creek. Jake Garrett.

Audubon. D. D. Shirey; Clabe White; Press Walker; Mose, Jim, Carlo and Bab Ball.

Black Creek. Wade Hudson; Martin and Harmon Cadell; William Weatherby; Tinville Cecil; Bob and Alex Lowry;. Jess Eads; Jesse and Warren Gage; Tom Allen; Hugh Allen.


Others. J. C. Carpenter; John and Wiley McDaniel; Ira Long; Major Holmes; Ceph Woods; Hugh Hardwick; P. P. R. Collom; Glen, Billie and R. K. Halsell: Polk Mathews; Jim Sensibaugh; Dutch Waggoner; Parson Windsor; Cal Mount; Dick Mount; Cal Pritchard; Elias Calhoun; George Stevens; John Steadman; Hezekiah Jones; Wash Conley; Tom and Bill Marshall; Pleas Cartwright; Anderson, Bill and Wilson Cook.

GREGARIOUS TENDENCIES NOTABLE IN SETTLEMENT. OTHER REMARKS.
By the time immigration was well established, three well-defined communities, composing the major part of the population, became clearly distinguishable. These were Deep Creek, Sand Hill and Upper Catlett Creek. Numerous independent locations, however, had been made throughout the county, the choice of home sites being largely governed by the accessibility to water and timber.

The fact that settlements had been made in most of the creek valleys leading into the cross-timbers from the prairies, beginning with the southern limit of the settled area in the Deep Creek community and ending with the northern limit in the region of Catlett Creek, points to the conclusion that the habit of well-digging had not as yet been formed, and that it was an industry of doubtful utility. Stock water and grass for grazing constituted the chief essentials of the people as keepers of small flocks of sheep and cattle and herds of hogs, and wherever such perquisites were found, settlements were made convenient thereto.

Western Wise County does not demand special attention here since there seems, at this time, to have been no general tendency towards settlement in that region, the only notable exception being in the genuinely picturesque example of Col. William H. Hunt at Cactus Hill, which was a cattle ranch located on Hunt's Creek, and which is to find full description in a succeeding chapter.

The gregarious spirit of the pioneers brought them together in groups of habitation, the resultant intimacies of which redounded in many useful ways. All essentials of a social, religious and educational nature were better effected through this collective system, which as well afforded mutual exchanges of labor and charitable assistance, and mutual protection against common foes. It was a time of isolation and loneliness with strong optimistic natures prerequisite to its forbearance, and the intangible factors of faith and hope, springing spontaneously from the collective community, came to succor the individual weak and faint-hearted.

The three mentioned communities were recruited from natural causes. Deep Creek got its adherents from former neighbors of Sam Woody in Eastern Texas and Tarrant and Dallas Counties, Sand Hill, from the drawing power of blood relationship, this community being principally inhabited by a population throughout which a general kinship prevailed. The originals embarked from Tennessee and other South Central states and all the " kinfolks " which were available to make the change, were prevailed on to follow, resulting in Sand Hill's becoming very nearly d large and happy family. Catlett Creek congregated its forces from the old counties of North and East Texas, principally Hopkins, Red River and Lamar, where this frontier strangely called " Keechi," had gained a rising reputation for richness and fertility.

Such marks as these can be traced throughout all Wise County's population, both of the pioneer and subsequent periods.