Settlements and Neighborhoods

Chapter VIII

Although the tide of emigration had been steadily increasing in volume, it was not till 1850 that it reached its flood; then the rush, by land and by water, was continuous and immense, particularly to the eastern portion of the parish. Up to about that year, this part of Claiborne was rather thinly populated but those that had come in were of the best material. It was composed of such families as that of O'Banon, Hargis, Dr. Bush, Thomson, Nolan, Williams, Smith Barber, Wasson, Bruce, Kennedy, Hall, Nelson, Wafer, Bullock, Aitken, Stephenson, Dyer, Gee, Butler, Henderson and Henry, James Dyer, Sam'l Smith, Dr. Bush and Richard Hargis, who once, represented the parish in the State Legislature. These pioneers came to North Louisiana when it was one of the most charming countries in the west. The axe had never resounded in these forest isles, save the chipping of the early surveyor.

The forest was grand in its primeval state; the cloth of green spread interminably, presenting a vast range for all manner of stock in summer, and in winter was the switch cane on the hill­sides and dense masses of large growth in the bottoms. The huge oaks never failed to furnish a bountiful supply of mast, or acorns. Game, consisting of bear, deer, turkey, wolf, fox, cat, ducks, numerous birds, fish in such quantities that the supply really appeared inexhaustible. It was certainly the happiest community to be found. Unpretending, possessed with a bountiful supply of the real comforts of life, with elementary schools in log cabins, the pathetic story of the Cross told under some umbrageous arbor, or in a rude log house with puncheon floor and seats, with wants few, and ways just, these people were happy. But about 1849-50, this primeval land was found by the working Georgian and Alabamian, and from 1850 to 1861 lands changed ownership rapidly, the large area of public lands, then vacant, were soon entered.

Then indeed the busy hum of agricultural industry commenced in earnest.

Loud sounds the axe,
redoubling stroke on stroke.
On all sides round, the forest, hurls the oak.
Headlong, deep echoing, groan the thickets brown,
Then cracking, crashing, rushing, thunder down.

And the busy thud of the massive maul, swung by black sinewy arms, kept time to the old plantation song of the simple happy Negro, which for its plaintive melody can never be recalled on stage or in song. Roads were opened, the bayous bridged, academies were built and churches reared, in which such men as Randal, Wafer, Pennington, Fancher, Fuller, Simmons and others of equal ability and earnestness worked to develop the religious spirit of the people. Up sprang the village of Lisbon, surrounded and built by many well known families.

I recall those of Killgore, McClendon, Cook, Duke, Patton, Tate, Bullard, White, Simmons, Heard, Coleman, Tippet, Aycock, McCasland, Dawson, Williams, Pennington and many others, with Dr. Seth Tatum, making it a live village. A few miles west of Lisbon was the thriving business stand of Forest Grove, the leading spirit of which was that truly good and upright man, Frank Taylor. He now sleeps in the bosom of Texas, and the place he once made noted throughout Claiborne, is now pointed out by the cold marble shaft in its silent forest grave yard. Here rests the remains of that eloquent and active Christian, Tatum Wafer; and Dr. Scaife, a physician of note and a man of business; of Milton Barnett, and many others whose memory is yet green in the hearts of surviving friends and relatives. The Methodist Church at this place was the most noted in the parish in its day, for here the ablest men preached and the most effective work was accomplished in the name of the Master.

North from this place on the banks of the Corni flourished for years the active village of Scottsville at the supposed head of navigation on that stream. But navigation never came. Yet such men as Major Browning, Dr. Bush, Thomas Hart, the Stanleys and others like these, gave it life and vigor for years. But the village is now dead and no longer known. West of this place was situated the little inland village of Colquitt, surrounded by such men as John Wilson, Elbert Gray, the Tignors, and others, whose names we cannot now recall. Blessed with a good church and a thrifty community, it flourished as did Claiborne, but is now nearly silent. A few miles west of this place, we come to Gordon, named for Dr. Gordon, who started it, and is now, if living, a citizen of Texas. It too, was surrounded by an active, growing community, and flourished to the outbreak of the war.

We next come to Haynesville. The original name of the place was Taylor's Store, for J. C. Taylor, who opened a small retail business there in 1848. Previous to that date, in 1843, Hiram Brown had located close by, also J. C. Wagon and L. S. Fuller, in 1844. In 1846 Miles Buford and Samuel Boyd cast their fortunes in this settlement, and in 1849 Henry Taylor came among them. Yearly the settlement increased in numbers, and farms, large and small, were opened. In consequence of this increase in population and agriculture, Wm. W. and J. L. Brown began a mercantile business, next door to Taylor. Sam Kirkpatrick and Dr. Wroten opened a drug business. Up to 1848 very little of the public lands had been entered in this neighborhood, and farming was on rather a small scale. The country was full of game, and deer skins and hams were staple articles of trade. But with the rush of emigration that began in 1850 and which continued up to 1860, new ideas came, new wants and new industries. Agriculture began in earnest, and in a few years large farms were in every direction, the public lands were all entered, roads opened and a mighty prosperity was exhibited all through the region.

Summerfield, situated in the northeastern portion of the parish, is a thriving village of about one hundred and twenty inhabitants. It was settled by W. R. Kennedy in l868, by the erection of a wood and blacksmith shop, and a business house. It now has four stores dealing in general merchandise and plantation supplies, several drug stores, a saw and gristmill, and several mills in the vicinity, all run by steam. It has four churches, M. E. Church South, Methodist Protestant, Missionary Baptist, and Primitive Baptist, all with live and progressive congregations. The town has a good school building, with a good and regular attendance of pupils. The four stores do an aggregate business of about fifty thousand dollars annually. The town has two mails a week. The country around is in a prosperous condition, and with good water, pure air, good health, and a fertile soil. Summerfield and its neighborhood offer strong inducements to those hunting homes. The land is well timbered, and can be bought, at from one to five dollars per acre. The agricultural future of this section of our parish is bright for him who puts his heart in his farm work and will use progressive methods of tillage.

About six miles east of Homer is located the beautiful village of Arizona. Soon after the war a magnificent cotton factory was erected at this place, capable of employing a large number of hands. Its inconvenience to easy and rapid transportation, with other trouble, caused it to cease operating after a few years. It is now owned by John Chaffe of New Orleans, and is motionless. Arizona for a number of years, was the seat of Arizona Seminary, a very popular and flourishing school under the principal-ship of J. W. Nicholson, now the eminent Professor of Mathematics in the State University at Baton Rouge. Not withstanding the discontinuance of the factory, and the decadence of its school, Arizona has held many of its best citizens, the Willises, Wafers, Nicholsons, Drs. Calhoun and Baker, Dutcher, Corrys, etc., and is happily blessed with, surrounding community of thrift, morality, and intelligence. In addition to the school and factory buildings, Arizona has one or more stores in operation, and a large and excellent meetinghouse, the property of the M. E. Church South, in which large and intelligent congregations meet regularly for religious worship. Tulip, another small village, situated about nine miles southeast of Homer, was, until quite recently, a fine trading point. Here for many years, P. Marsalis & Sons have carried on a heavy general merchandise and supply business; but lately much of their custom has, been drawn to Arcadia, a rising town on the V. S. & P. Railroad, twelve miles south; and to meet the exigencies brought about by this change, they have moved the greater portion of their business to that place. Besides its store and post office, Tulip owns a steam saw and grist mill, a steam cotton gin, a school­house, and a commodious and very good Methodist meeting house.

There are a number of other steam cotton gins and saw mills in the immediate neighborhood, no less than five or six steam whistles being in easy hearing of the place. Tulip is noted for the steady and churchgoing habits of its people, and for the permanence and excellence of its school. The neighboring lands are among the most productive in the parish, and are occupied by a class of industrious and thrifty citizens. Among the old settlers, we may mention the Watsons, Marsalises, Whites, Gandys, Fomby, Leslie, Hays and others. The water shed of Claiborne is quite simple; Dorcheat carrying the water from the western slopes to Red River and D€™Arbonne and Corni to the Ouachita River from the eastern slope. From D'Arbonne east the country is gently rolling, but from D'Arbonne to Sugar Creek south, the ridges are more sharply defined, particularly near the bayou, as well as the valleys and plains. This portion of the parish was very thrifty in the antebellum days, and claimed the largest farms and heaviest taxpayers, of whom I recall the names of W. A. Obier, S. P. Gee, J. W. Andrews and B. C. Frazier.

The Sugar Creek and adjoining lands were fine, and here were to be found the Hood family from Alabama, Buck Edmunds, Perritt, Howard, Snider, Landers, Robinson and many others; here their numerous industrious descendants are yet to be found. We cannot close these notes of the early days in Claiborne without referring to two or three characters among the living and the dead. James Dyer, who represented this parish in the State Legislature when the country was in its primeval state left just after the war, an old gray headed man, with his young wife and several children, for Texas. He has been dead for some years. Josephus Barrow, a leading man in the Primitive Baptist Church, and who died six or eight years ago, was a worthy man and well qualified. He was a good neighbor and an active citizen, possessed of strong natural ability, considerate in the discharge of all his duties in obedience to the law of his God, as he understood it.

He was steadfast in his friendship, his word was his law, provided for his family, left them a competency and has many children to revere his memory and follow in his path of truth and honor. Joshua Willis, yet with us, a native of Virginia, but from Troup County, Georgia, to this parish, now in his 90th year, belongs to that modest but true type of Virginia, gentlemen, that secures the regard and esteem of all good people. He has a numerous family of sons and daughters, grand and great grand children around him. Courteous in manner, even in his temper, just in his ways, he can truly say he is ready to leave without an enemy. His good wife, Aunt Barbara, who had stood by his side aiding and encouraging in all the vicissitudes of his long life, has gone to her happy home. And now, as this upright old man, veteran of the War of 1812, a pensioner of the United States, nears the apex of that mount which stands before all the human family, he no doubt feels in his heart that when his eyes look out upon the pleasant, restful plains of the true promised land, that wife who was the soul and the pride of his young days, and his prop and stay in the hard toils of this life, will be the first to greet, as of yore, and welcome him home.

But here comes another character before us, with head gray but not bowed, and eye flashing as ever, Capt. W. G. Coleman. Genial in manner, with a good word for all, he was and is yet a son of Carolina. An ardent subscriber to the Calhoun school of polities, in his early manhood he was an outspoken nullifier, and in older years a bold and defiant secessionist. His first taste of war was as a volunteer, under Captain Jarnigham, in the Creek War of 1837. Returning to Carolina he married, and in his native State remained till the death of his wife. The charms of old Carolina now became dimmed to his eyes, and with his four children he emigrated in 1844 to Perry County, Alabama. Here he contracted a second marriage, and this wife, who has borne him eight children, is yet with him.

In 1846, when Mexico declared war against the United States, he was one of the first to respond to his country's call, at the head of one hundred gallant men, known as the Perry Rangers. He joined Col. Coffee's regiment of Alabama volunteers, and with that regiment: for twelve months, was engaged in all it, marches, hardships and battles. And here let us not fail to recall the name of his faithful body servant, Sep. Although in a free country and other servants fleeing to the Mexican lines, Sep stood fast by his master, nursed him in sickness, faithfully administered to his wants when worn down with fatigue and exposure, and not only to him but to others of the company when he possibly could. He had the good will and confidence of all the men, became the custodian of their little treasures and never betrayed a trust. Returning home with his master, he died in his arms, and as his glazing eyes looked up into that kind master's face for the last time, that master's stricken heart blessed the faithful African.

In 1850, Capt. Coleman moved to Claiborne Parish, and being fond of the chase greatly enjoyed the rare sports of the day. In 1854, he with Col. J. W. McDonald, in a hotly contested campaign, as the Democratic candidates, gained a signal victory over the then rampant Know Nothing party. He has refused all political preferment since. When the war of secession was about to commence he, being to old to serve, drilled several volunteer companies previous to their march to the front.

Capt. Coleman joined the Missionary Baptist Church at Lisbon in 1854, and was elected clerk of the church. For twenty three years he has as promptly taken his seat at the desk as he did at the head of his company when the long roll called it to arms on the arid plains of Mexico. Always fond of company, always, good neighbor, his friends are many. Having ever been temperate in his habits, he now, although in his 80th year, writes a clear and even hand, and can yet bring down his bird on the wing as often as the best shots among our young men. Without enemies, with hosts of friends, he now serene and happy, awaits the bidding of the Master, summoning him to the great church above.

Another character who appeared in this parish between 1830 and 1840, and is yet with us, is Col. John Kimball. A Georgian by birth, in his young man­hood he sought this part of the western world, and by strict attention to duty and business, secured to himself a competency and hosts of friends. He represented this parish in the State Legislature in 1855-1856 with credit to himself and satisfaction to his people. He is now an old man, feeble in strength but with a heart strong as ever; yet a tiller of the soil and with honor untarnished, he is beloved by many and respected by all.

Nathan Brown, with his wife and four children, left Tennessee in 1833, crossed the Mississippi River at Memphis, from which point he made his way slowly through the wilds of Arkansas, camped a day or two where now stands the flourishing town of Prescott in amazement gazed at the magnificent meteoric display in November of that year, and in the timbered lands on their route had frequently to cut their way and as often dig down the banks of streams or bridge them before crossing, finally landing at or near Crystal Springs in Claiborne Parish. Here he remained about five years. When he settled down at his home, near Haynesville, where he has resided since.

Prospering in this world's goods he reared a large family of sons and daughters, sixteen only, thus enlarging the little family that left Tennessee toward a regiment in number. Mr. Brown, after an absence of fifty two years, returned to Tennessee on a visit to a sister whom he left a young married woman. She is now a grandmother. Old and stricken in years, but with honest hearts and dear consciences, this brother and sister meeting will they recognize each other can they recall, he young manly and sweet womanly faces that separated so many years ago in Tennessee, when life's young morning was bright, and so full of promise.

Almost weekly can be seen on the streets of Homer, the tall, erect form of Isaac Gleason. He came from the swamps of the Mississippi and Ouachita to this Parish in 1835. Born on the frontier and there raised, he is one of nature's unsophisticated children, warm­hearted, liberal, just, doing evil to none. All around Homer, in the D'Arbonne bottom was his hunting grounds, and many are the bear, panther, turkey and deer that have fallen at the crack of his long flint and steel Kentucky rifle. He claims to have killed the last bear that was killed on the grounds of Homer. Nature was his school, and he has culled much profound knowledge there from, knowledge by experience, which others only obtain by reasoning. Uncle Isaac has raised a good family of sons and daughters, has given his daughters every advantage the schools of Homer could offer, and now he can safely point to all his children with pride, for they have taken their places among the just and the good.

As another of our old and honored citizens, we may mention Col. J.W. Berry, who came to Claiborne in 1834, when a mere youth. In 1836 and 1837 he resided at Overton. In 1838 he moved to Minden and engaged in merchandising, which he continued till near the commencement of the war. He has been honored by his fellow citizens with many positions of trust. In 1847 he was elected 1st Lieutenant of a company of militia, and commissioned by Governor Isaac Johnson In 1849 he was appointed on the staff of General Gilbert, of Shreveport; was elected to the Legislature in 1851; elected Colonel of Claiborne Regiment in 1855; reelected to the Legislature in 1860; appointed Colonel in the Confederate service, and assigned to duty as enrolling officer of Claiborne Parish; and was again returned to the Legislature in 1864. Since the formation of Webster in 1871, Col. Berry has resided in that parish, and has been constantly honored with public trusts.

Among the early settlers of Claiborne Parish, who yet live, is W. F. Moreland. Engaged in agriculture, he has never sought political preferment, but at the request of his people has served them m both Houses of the Legislature. In these positions he discharged the duties with marked judgment and ability, and to the satisfaction of his constituency.

In 1879, with Rev. J. T. Davidson, he represented the Parish in the Constitutional Convention, and his course was heartily endorsed by the people. Pure and irreproachable, he has passed through the trying ordeals of public life with honor unsullied; and honored of all who know him, he is now spending the evening of his life in the quiet of his country home.

Claiborne Parish History | AHGP Louisiana