Vol 24 No. 05 - February 1947

Old Navajoe

Edward Everett Dale

This is story of the town of Navajoe, TX which no longer exists. Yet, in its time Navajoe was a flourishing center of commerce with half a dozen stores and other business establishments, and the dwellings of a score or more of families. Its location was some fifty miles or so north of Vernon, Texas.

Mentions: the little city of Altus * North Fork of Red River * Navajo Mountains * The foundations of Navajoe were laid about 1886 when two brothers-in-law, W. H. Acers and H. P. Dale, established the first general store * J. S. Works * Greer County * "Buckskin Joe." * Joseph S. Works * Fort Worth and Denver Railroad * `Buckskin Joe's 'Emigrants' Guide,' * the Rock Island Railroad * the Chicasaw country * Bennight Brothers, John and Lum * John Bennight * W. H. H. Cranford * the little grocery store of John Brown * Dr. H. C. Redding * Cranford * the City Hotel, originally built by Buckskin Joe * Aunt Matilda Smith * The ranchmen, as the Herrings, Stinson and Waggoner, all of whom leased lands for grazing on the Indian reservation * Uncle Billy Warren, a small dried up old fellow * Justice John Marshall Harlan * a young man commonly called "Diamond Dick," * Another very interesting character was J. M. Ferris, commonly known as Jim, who lived with his wife and some nine children in a three-room house three-quarters of a mile south of town. * Tom Anderson * Mr. Rusler * Yeakley Brothers * Joe Lee Jackson * Old Man Fink * Dave Davis * John Passmore * W. N. Howard. * George Gordon * Chief Polant of the Kiowa tribe * Hugh L. Scott, the Commanding Officer at Fort Sill * H. P. Dale * W. H. Acers * Tom and Aunt Matilda Smith * W. H. H. Cranford * Red Buck Weightman, * Joe Beckham * Peter Stuyvesant * George Blalock * Ed Clarke * W. Z. Peters * the Martin Brothers * the two Ricks Brothers * Cranford building * Bailey Brothers * Blackwell and Akin * Conn and Higgins * Mangum * Ben Hawkins * Old Man Chivers * Edson L. Hewes * Coxey's army * Lige Williams, Robert Rayel, the Petersons * Otter Creek * the Rock Island Railway Company * The Blackwell, Enid and Southwestern * Hobart, Snyder and Frederick * Quanah, Texas * the Frisco * Headrick *

The Indian Raid In Young County

Henry C. Williams

On October 13, 1864, about six hundred Kiowa and Comanche Indians came down from the Indian Territory and made a raid on the settlers located on Elm Creek in Young County, Texas where it empties into the Brazos River, about ten miles up the Brazos River from Fort Belknap. This is the eye-witness account of the author when he was seven years old.

Mentions: Fort Belknap * the old California Trail * Newcastle, Texas * the Chihuahua Trail, running from Fulton, Arkansas, at the head of the navigation on Red River, west through the northern portion of Texas to El Paso. and then to Chihuahua, Old Mexico * Judge H. D. Williams * Mrs. Sallie Williams, came from Kaufman County * Elm Creek * the Butterfield Trail * Thornton Hamby * Charles Allen. Tom Corney * David Allen * Mr. Peter Harmonson * the Widow Fitzpatrick * Britt Johnson * the George Bragg ranch * The McCoy ranch was on the north side of Elm Creek * The Charlie Neuhouse ranch * a man by the name of Durgan * Mr. Peter Harmonson * Britt Johnson * Joel Myers * Mrs. Susan Durgan * Lottie Durgan * Millie Durgan * Mr. Thomas Hamby * the Fitzpatrick ranch * Tom Wilson * the Hamby ranch * William Bragg * Joe Callen * Thomas Hamby * Tom Wilson * Rube Johnson * Sam Williams * Tom Wilson * the George Bragg ranch * Theodore O'-Hara * the McCoy ranch * Captain' Ed Burleson's Company * Knox City * R. J. Johnson, the son of Roland Johnson, * Fort Murray.

Reminiscences of Jno. Duff Brown

Written by Jno. Duff Brown in 1907.

“My father's name was John Brown. He was descended from old English stock, who settled in Baltimore, Maryland, in colonial days. Two of his ancestors, one on the paternal side and one on the maternal, were colonels in the celebrated Maryland line of the Continental army. One who was a captain fell at the River Raisin. My people have ever been among the defenders of our country.

My father was born in Madison County, Kentucky, September 9, 1796. About 1820, while he was living in Missouri, he married Nancy Ann Howell. Two or three years later he returned to Kentucky, but in 1824 he went again to Missouri. It was perhaps in December of that year that in order to obtain relief from a bronchial trouble he had he started to Cuba. In New Orleans, however, he met his older brother, Captain Henry Stevenson Brown, who induced him to try the wilds of Texas. About the last of December they reached that country, which was then a part of Mexico and was inhabited chiefly by various tribes of Indians and abounded in wild animals of almost every kind.

Captain Henry S. Brown was a noted Indian fighter, and he also traded with 'the Mexicans. He furnished my father with such goods as suited the Indians and advised him to go towards the upper waters of the Brazos and barter his goods for horses, mules, and peltries. With the expedition went James Musick, Thomas Jamison, and Andrew Scott. They secured eleven hundred horses and mules and many peltries and started for the settlements. On the third night of their homeward journey, their camp was attacked by the Indians with yelling and shooting...”

Further Mentions: Captain Henry S. Brown * Howell's Prairie, Missouri * Major James Kerr's on the Lavaca * Major John Henry Brown * Judge Maryland Jones and Mrs. Jordan * Rufus E. Brown * Miss Margaret Kerr * Isham Kerr Brown * Mr. Isham Kerr. * Carancahua Bayou * Mr. Aldridge * Marie Nazia * Captain Dimitt and John W .Smith * David Mills of the well known firm of R. & D. G. Mills & Co. * Dr. J. Duff Brown, Jr., * Waco Brown * George Washington Howell * Mrs. General Long * Collier College * Mechanicsville, now Howell * Mr. John Howell * The Irvines, Fieldses, Holloways, and McLanahans * the house of Fields & Holloway * Drs. Walker and Scott * The Cockrells and Hargises were good friends * Dr. C. S. Brown * Captain Ben McCulloch * Colonel Jack Hay's Western regiment * John McMullen * W. Kendall * Ham P. Bee * James W. Allen, a Kentuckian * Victoria, Breckinridge of Kentucky * Andrew Neill of Seguin * Miss Agnes Brown, the daughter of Dr. Hugh Brown of Kentucky * Miss Mary Annah Mayes, a native of Alabama * Mason Foley * the Pryor brothers * Jim Lytle * Lieutenants Riggins and Magill * Colonel P. H. Bell * Lieutenant Riggins and Orderly Sergeant John R. King * Mr. C. Joiner * Middle Creek, Fayette County * E. B. Nichol * Colonel Tom Henderson * Captain Ben Shropshire's company * General T N. Waul * Camp Waul * Young Lockett * General Tighlman * Sidney Johnston * Holly Springs * Fort Donelson.