The Paris News from Paris, Texas • Page 17

TEXAS PAGE FIVE SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1937 THE PARIS NEWS, PARIS, CHAPTER Thirty THE The Claiborne Wright Family Gearge W. Wright, lacking three months of being seven fears old, arrived at Pecan Point, September 5, 1816, with his parents, Claiborne Wright and wife, his sister, Henrietta, his brothers, Travis William Adam and a female Negro slave and probably a Negro man. Claiborne Wright was born in North Carolina in the latter quarter of the eighteenth century and emigrated to Tennessee, settling at Carthage. He married and there his five oldest children were born. In 1815 he went to Sbawneetown, and engaged in the manufacture of salt, there being saline beds in that neighborhood, but the venture proving unprofitable he returned to Cartbage.

Believing that the great southwest offored opportunities for better fortune he built a keel boat at Carthage, loaded it with household goods and food supplies, christened it the "Pioncer" and having taken his family aboard he cut the cable March 5, 1816, and six months later tied up at Pecan Point on the north bank of Red river, in what was claim. ed as United States territory. It was included as part of Ar kansas when that territory was organized in 1819, and later was found to be in Indian Territory when the boundary was voyed between Arkansas and the lands set aside for the Choclaw, Cherokee and other Indians from east of the Mississippi. Their Boat Sank In River Claiborne Wright believed when he started for this place that there was a settlement there and some semblance of civilization. Ale found it a trading post of a man named Mabbitt.

Whether he would have remained there or gone further on, or back, is unknown, but the decision was taken from him-soon after his arrival the boat sank in Red river and with its remaining cargo wAR forever Inst. It bad floated down the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi, been poled and cordelled up the Red and through the great raft above where now is Shreveport. The voyage had weakened its timbers and its work was done. George Wright and his people had come to Texas. The voyage of Claiborne Wright and his family, could it be fully told, would cqual the most exciting story of adventure ever conceived and penned by writers of fiction.

The six months on the rivers were filled with perils and hardships and these continued for years after they made their home in Texas. George and Travis Wright, in their lifetime, told and wrote of some of the incidents, but much of the detail will never be known because the actors in the drama long since have passed away. Getting Through The Raft The "'Pioneer' was believed to bare been the first boat that passed through the raft on Red river, except perhaps the canoes of traders and trappers. At. Nachitoches, then the outport of settlements of any size, a Pascagoula Indian guide was secured and they set out about.

May 15 to make their way through a dismal and seemingly interminable swamp and orerflowed country. There were no inhabitants, nothing living except mosquitoes, alligators and wild fowl. The boat arrired at the raft at the mouth of what was called Conshatia chute, at that time a narrow bayou overhung with willows from which long gray moss festooned. The first. raft appeared about a quarter of a mile in extent and cottonwood trees with boles a foot thick grew in it.

It took five days of chopping and maneuvering to got through this part of the raft and the boat then was in 8 large lake formed by the raft damming the water. Here the boat stopped one day and several deer were killed and bee trees cut and the craft then pussed up another bayou, taking about ten days, as the timber was so close some bad to be cut to allow the boat to pass. The river was out of its banks at this time and presently anotber lake was reached where the party bunted and fished two days, then entered another bayou where much fallen timber had to be cat. This continued for nearly three months from the time the raft was first reached and finally the "Pioneer" was in the open river at the head of Willow chute. Boat Robbed By Indians Going up the river several days they reached a Coushatta Indian village where they tied up and the Indians were friendly, but when they started to leave the Indians prevented loosing the cable, went aboard the boat and belped themselves to whatever they feucied.

Several days after this disaster they resched Long Prairie where was the first white men they had seen since leaving Nachitoches. George Wright said he believ. ed two men, named May and Berry, were there, and after staying a few days the boat was headed up the river, and river. passed a Delaware Indian village, on the north bank of the Buffalo were plentiful on all the prairies along the river, but they killed none. They then reached Pecan Point, near where, in addition to Mabbitt.

there were two or three other families lately arrived. HISTORY OF This closing chapter of the History tells of the arrival of Claiborne Wright's family at Pecan -their six months travel on the rivers -how they lived after -Claiborne Wright was Miller county sheriff--George, The Gun Supplied Living Here, said George Wright, was the long-sought home of the family, amidst a band of Indians, against whom the family was naturally prejudiced because of having been robbed by the band down the river. The family was without a house, cow, horse, hog or chickens and no money to buy them even had any been for sale. No corn, no meat except wild game. The gun was for with it food was procured and protection afforded, In the neighborhood were the families of Walter Pool and all-in-all, Charles Burkham and a trader named Wetmore and if meat was needed Captain Burkham's dogs were called and treed a bear, or deer or buffalo could be found on short notice.

All this looked strange to Claiborne Wright and his family who had come from Tennessee where society was good and comforts and even some luxuries could he had. The boat bad been loaded with provision estimated to be sufficient for two but the flour the Indian robbers had not taken was by this time so musty it was unfit for use and had to be thrown years, and there was a lack of salt to season their meat. The away, next year after their arrival Claiborne Wright learned a man nmed Price had raised some corn near the Sabine landing on Little river, about 150 miles away. He horrowed two horses and he and one of the boys went there and traded for five bushels of corn, two bushels being laid aside for seed and the other pounded into meal for bread. During 1818 corn was planted in small patches and when gathered was worth five dollars a bushel.

That fall about fifty families arrived in Red river valley, some bringing cows and horses and the next year corn was grown as far up the river as Horse Prairie. The Osage Indians made a raid on the settlemenis, stole most of the horses and killed several people. Corn then had to be made with hoes but enough to supply the need was made and thercafter there was no lack of bread. Fleeing From Indians After the settlers' houses on the north side of the river had been burned by Captain Combs 10 clear the country for the Indians from the southeastern states, the settlers came to the south side of the river, and there were subject for some time to Indian raids. Once when there was a report that Indians were coming, Claiborne Wright put his wife and daughter and their Negro girl slave on a rude raft, and with him and his oldest son swimming and pushing the raft from each side and the spaller bors holding on behind they crossed the river and hid in the canebrake on the north side until the men returned to the south side and found the reported Indian raid was a false alarm.

For several months after arrival the family bad lived in a Jeanto and shack at Jabbitt's place and in 1817 built a log cabin on Pecan Bayou not far from the trading In 1818 they moved further up the river and built a house on a higher bank and the next Fear moved still further west and built on what was known as Jonesboro Prairie when the town of that name was establisbed. Arkansas Territory was organized in 1819 and all the south. west part of it was Miller county. United States claimed to the Sabine river, instead of the Red, and Miller county exercised jurisdiction over the land, at least as far west as what is now the western boundary of Lamar county. The county scat was at Shawneetown, on the north bank of Red river, now A "deserted village" in McCurtain county, Oklahoma.

Claiborne Wright was elected sheriff of Miller county in the 'twenties and served until his death in 1830. In 1820 Claiborne Wright, who then lived. at Jonesboro, traded his Pecan Bayou place to Colonel Nathaniel Robbins for two borses and two cows and their calves. At Jonesboro that year another son. Alexander W.

Wright, was born and I the same year Claiborne Wright's wife died. Three years later he married again and the two sons of this marriage were John, born in 1824 and Ashley, born in 1826. The daughter, llenrietta, married Judge Gabriel Martin in 1825 and went to her own home. Claiborne Wright and his wife are buried in the old cemetery at Shawneetown. Oklahoma, in graves from which the markers have long since disappeared.

William Wright. the oldest son, died in 1833 and there is no record of Adam or of John and Ashley available. Jonesboro Was the Crossroads At Jonesboro Claiborne Wright and his sons were al the 'Travis and Alexander Wright--brief notes of their descendants the Centennial marker that serves as an admonition to Lamar County to live bravely today as yesterday. LAMAR crossroads of two routes into Texas--by Red river and overland from northeast, the government road across Arkansas coming 10 Fort Towson, on the north side of the river not far away. liere came Houston and Crockett when they entered Texas and some years before Stephen Austin had come, conferring with Claiborne Wright on the best route for his emigrants from Missouri and other states, to reach the lands which the Mexican had agreed to give them.

Wright advised him to Texas of Nacogdoches as there would not be so government enter by way rivers to cross, nor so much danger of being attacked by many Indians. and Travis Wright were sent to Kentucky to school George but their stay was brief and they came back to Texas to do their part in lifting the burden Mexico was bent on laying on the settlers. The education they lacked was replaced by that innate knowledge that comes to men who are called to meet emergencies and who do not shirk their responsibilities, and their manners were attuned to those of the men and women with whom their lives were associated. Both were active and liberal in assisting in establishing schools in later years and their children were given the education the fathers lacked. George Wright Married In 1832 George Wright married Matilda.

daughter of James folman of Sevier county, Arkansas. and when Mexico and Texas came to death grips he became a member of Captain Hart's company of mounted men, and was elected first John lieutenant of the company, which included John R. Craddock, Harrison Brummett, John Deck, Bradford Fowler. Mitchell Keller and other men who became citizens of Lamar county it was created. Answering the call from South Texas for when men to resist Mexico, George Wright took his wife and their children to the home of her father in Arkansas and rode two with his companions to join Houston's little army.

They reached there too late to be engaged the battle of San Jacinto. but Lieutenant Wright. riding his black Spanish mule, did good service to Houston and the Republic in the days that followed. Brothers Represented Two Governments 'The congress of the new Republic was elected while George in the army and he. with M.

W. Matthews aud Becknell, elected to Red River county in Wright was yet William was represent At the same time his brother, Travis G. the First congress. who lived in the same house with him at Jonesboro, Wright, member of the convention which wrote the constitution WAS a that territory being admitted as a state in the of Arkansas, Union that year. Returning from southern Texas after performing his duty as a soldier and legislator, George Wright went Arkansas to bring his family back to Texas, but instead of to children he was told they had sickened and died while he absent, and he and bis wife returned to a childless greeting his was home.

George Wright and his wife presently settled on the plantation at Kiomatia, west of Jonesboro, and lived there until they of frequent illnesses, to get away from the in 1839 they came to where now is Paris and made decided, because The of his life after this move has been told river, and their home. story be in a bare and brief chronicle such as this. The as fully as can detailed telling would require a volume. Planter. Indian fighter.

legislator, member of constitutional and secession conventions, provost marshal and other services to Confederacy, county duty offiin times that tried men's souls as well as cer, promoter of schools and churches, he performed every 88 a man and citizen in the piping times of peace. Travis and Alexander Wright Travis Wright, like his brother, rode with his neighbors marauding Indians, and later gave his energies to naviagainst trade, commerce and agriculture. He gation of Red river, to bought the Kiomatia plantation of his brother when George left the river and developed it into one of the finest properties in Texas. He was brigadier general to organize the Ninth commissioned by Governor Sam Houston, his Lamar and Hopkins counties, in 1560. personal friend, as Texas Militin brigade, but declined and during the war refused a commission as capquartermaster service and recommended William WAS tain in the McMasters for that position.

Full pardon and amnesty President Andrew Johuson, December S. 1865, granted him by and the remainder of his life was devoted to management of his plantation and briefly to mercantile enterprise in Paris where he had built a house which today is the home of his only grandson. Alexander W. Wright, the younger brother of the family, born after they came to Texas. made his 1:0:20 near Paris when grown to manhood.

He married Nancy. a daughter of John Johnson, served two years, 1852-54, as tax assessor and collec. tor of Lamar county, then returned to his farm southeast of Paris and died in 3368. Two of his daughters. Alice and Laura (Mrs.

Luther Rees. have their homes in Paris, the only living members of the family of three sons and five daughters. Travis Wright in 1638, married Miss Mary F. Johnston while living at Kiomatia. She with her mother.

brothers and sister, had come to Texas in 1836 from Edentou. North Carolina, where she was reared and educated. Their only child, a son. Samue: Johnston Wright. was born at Kiomaria.

educated fat University of Virginia and was in the Confederate service three years, first lieutenant, Ninth bartery, Texas Field artillery. He inherited the Red river plantation and in addition to its cultivation he was interested in banking and public utilities in Paris and was one of the leaders in securing the Frisco railroad for Paris. His son, George Travis Wright, lives in the home built by Travis Wright on Bonham street in Paris, and cultivates the Red river plantation once owned by his grandfather. S. J.

Wright's widow lives in San Antonio and his three daugbters, Mrs. R. D. Bowen. Mrs.

W. H. Atkinson and Mrs. Irvin Scales, survive. Huddle Painted George Wright George Wright, some years after the death of his first wife, married Sarah Jane Mebane who died little more than a year later and in 1860 he married Sarah Wingo.

To them were born two daughters, the younger of whom is Mrs. Thomas E. Brazelton, living with her husband and two daughters on the site of her father's last home on Sherman street in Paris. In that home hangs a portrait of George Wright, painted by Witliam Huddle, the artist. whose home was in Paris before he moved to Austin.

Mrs. Brazelion recalls her first sight of the picture, a day when she and her sister returned from school and their father told them to "go into the parlor; there is a big bear I have brought you. but be and when they opened the door, not knowing what to expect, they saw the picture in its frame and were delighted. That was typical of George Wright. He was of a lively disposition.

a lover of children and beloved by them. always with a smile and cheerful word to all he met. He was five feet ten inches in height, of compact build, with blue eyes and an erect carriage that gave him dignity, and with a character that was a guarantee of the worthiness of any cause or enterprise that he espoused. William oldest son of George Wright and his first wife, was educated at McKenzie Institute, started to California when 18, stopped in Nevada, became a miner, built waterworks in Virginia City, became an assayist and died in the city that saw most of his life. James H.

married Miss Lou Hancock and their son, Edgar Wright. is legal adviser to the mayor and city council of Paris, a position he has filled almost continuously many Emma B. married Captain J. J. Daniel and Mary E.

beyears. came the wife of W. H. Jennings. Some of the children of both are living in Paris, the city their grandfather founded nearly a century ago.

By A. W. NEVILLE Editor THE PARIS NEWS On a billtop not far from Red river, in the northeast cor-. ner of Lamar county, stands a granite marker erected by the Centennial Commission of Texas in 1936. The inscription, written by Ed H.

MeCuistion, reads: Site of the First Anglo-American Settlement In Lamar County Legend tells of French and Spanish forts, before the families of J. G. W. Pierson, Luke and John Roberts and the Mason brothers settled here in 1820. Within a year, in the absence of the men, women, children and slaves were victims of an Indian raid.

Five of the men pursued but outnumbered, they too were killed. Be silent, friend, Here heroes died To blaze a trail For other men. The men and women who followed these pioneers carried in the way they had blazed -and Lamar county came into on being. May she continue to live and grow in accord with the example they set. (THE END) (Copyright, 1837, The North Terns Publishing Co.I In Answer To Popular Demand The History of Lamar County Will Be Published in Book Form THE PRICE OF THE BOOKS The History of Lamar County WILL BE OFF THE PRESS BY NOV.

25TH PLACE YOUR ORDERS NOW. FABRIKOID BOUND EDITION, edition is printed Gil good quality book paper with Fabrikoid binding. Cover contains outline inap of Lainar county. Tins will be known as the edition. If book Tells of Since the first chapter of "The History of Lamar County" appeared in The Paris News there has been a growing demand be mailed add 15 cents extra for mailing charge.

book- is to to have it published in book form. This popular demand will be answered. The history will printed DE LUXE EDITION, This edition limited to 100 copics, is printed be in attractive form and offered at popular prices. on high quality rag-content Glenbourn book paper and has high-grade -The first white settlement within its borders dark-blue limp leather binding. Each copy of the De Luxe edition will be autographed by the author.

For 30 cents extra the nana of purchaser life history of George W. Wright, or recipient will be stamped in gold on outside front cover. Add 15 the eminent statesman to whom this history is A WORD OF WARNING TO THOSE WHO WISH TO BUY cents extra it book is to be mailed. dedicated the fascinating story of John there will be another available after the Orders should be mailed, phoned or sent promptly to The Paris News The edition is limited and at this time no assurance can be given that ever copy Chisum, cattle king bloody Indian massa- been exhausted. You are therefore urged to place your orders promplly, for delivery as soon as the his- office.

frontier hardships customs anu first edition has cres fashions of ox-wagon days the law south tory is off the press. ORDER BLANK of Red River: how early day justice was meted out when -steamboats churned their way BEST QUALIFIED TO WRITE IT THE PARIS NEWS, THE ONLY HISTORY EVER WRITTEN OF LAMAR COUNY-BY THE MAN PARIS, TEXAS up. and down waterways of commerce the beginnings of business and industrial de- It is conceded by all who know that A. W. Neville, editor of The Paris News, who is author of "The History of Lamar Enclosed find tor which enter my order for: velopment when the first railroad came County," is the best qualified man to write it.

For mcre than a half century ite has collected historical data and has spent Regular Edition at $2.00 each to Paris Captain Webb's Border Defend- years searching the archives of county and state records. Added to this is his own personal knowledge and records, gainThis history is ACCU. De Luxe Edition at $4.50 cach ers and the part Lamar county played in the ed through his work as a newspaperman and his desire to sec local history properly preserved. War Between the Sections legal lights of RATE and is interestingly written. The history was not written for personal gain on the part of the author nor The HISTORY OF LAMAR COUNTY frontier days pioneer preachers, teachers, Paris News, but as a SERVICE to the people and is therefore being sold for much less than such histories normally sell If hook to be mailed add 13 vents per book malm; 10 name desired in gold on De Luxe edition add 50 cents additional doctors highlights in the careers of early for.

Place your order now for your personal copy and for those you wish to give to others, book. per day settlers, the men and women who founded NAME Lamas countyADDRESS A Chronicle of the Red River Netos If are purchasing the De Luxe edition and wish name staniped for past 121 Years Valley East of the Cross Timbers The on cents cover, extra for please write stamping: name desired on line below and includo 50 Paris TEXAS you.