History
Governor S.W.T. Lanham
(July 4, 1846 - July 29, 1908) A South Carolinian, Samuel Willis Tucker Lanham volunteered at age 15 and fought 1861-65 in the Civil War. In 1866 he married Sarah Beona Meng and moved to Texas. The Lanhams taught school, first in Bowie County, then in Weatherford. Admitted to the bar in 1869, Lanham in 1871 became district attorney for five counties, including Parker.
History
Greenwood Community
Greenwood formed by the 1880s on land sold to T.D. Wythe and W.J. Fain, developing as a farming community. There were a number of vital institutions here, including the general store owned by Millard Cleveland, a sheriff from Missouri; the Greenwood Cemetery; Greenwood School, built in 1883 and home to area social activities and early worship services; and several church buildings, two of which…
History
Hiner
According to local tradition the community of Hiner was established mainly through the efforts of James J. Barnett who settled in Parker County in 1857. Area family legends and accounts of Barnett helping newcomers with transportation and temporary housing abound. Wade Chapel Methodist Church, built on land donated by Mary W.
History
Hoggard-Reynolds Cemetery
According to oral history, pioneer farmer and Confederate widow Sarah Hoggard gave a plot of her land for the burial of an African American child who died while traveling through the area with his family after the Civil War. Though there may be earlier graves, the first marked burial on this site if that of Francis Reynolds, who died in 1865.
History
Isaac Parker
To the memory of Isaac Parker pioneer, soldier and law maker. Born April 7, 1793 in Elbert County, Georgia. Came to Texas in 1833. Served in Elisha Clapp's Company in 1836. Member of Congress of the Republic of Texas, 1839-1845, of the Constitutional Convention in 1845. State Senator. Died April 14, 1883 in Parker County. (1936)
History
Isaac Parker
(Apr. 7, 1793 - Apr. 14, 1883) A native of Georgia, Isaac Parker came to Texas in 1833 as part of the pioneer family that built Ft. Parker in Limestone County. He fought in the Texas Revolution and served in the Republic of Texas Congress, representing part of East Texas. He participated in the 1845 statehood convention and later represented Tarrant and Ellis counties in the State Legislature.
History
J. J. Hamilton Log Cabin
By Affidavit in 1855, J.J. Hamilton (1805-1890) settled land in this area and was one of the petitioners in the creation of Parker County. In 1856, he purchased two town lots on the southwest corner of East Church and South Walnut Streets. Also in 1856, Hamilton and his wife Susanna (Little) Hamilton became founding members of the Christian Church where Hamilton eventually became minister.
Architecture
James Claude Wright House
On September 20, 1898, Robert P. Lowe and his wife purchased the property at this site. The commonly held belief is that the house was built by Robert Lowe, who retired from Mobile and Ohio Railroad in 1894 and settled his family in Weatherford. He built the home sometime between 1897 and 1899 during construction of the building that would house his hardware business.
History
James Robertson Couts
(1833-1904) A native of Tennessee and a veteran of the Civil War, James Robertson Couts brought his family to Parker County in the mid-1860s. With proceeds from a cattle drive to California, he opened a bank in Weatherford (now Citizens National Bank). An influential citizen of the town, he left an endowment to Weatherford College in his will. Married twice, Couts was the father of six children.
History
Jay Bird-Union School, Church, and Cemetery
This well-traveled route, known locally as Jay Bird Lane, dates from the early 1860s. In 1883 land-owners donated three acres to preserve the nearby Jay Bird camp meeting grounds. Residents soon built a frame building, officially serving the Union Grove School Community.
Military
Lawson Daniel Gratz
Born on September 15, 1839 in Mason County, Kentucky on the plantation of Benjamin Gratz, Lawson Gratz worked as a farmer for his owner prior to the Civil War. Lawson was directed by his owner to enlist in the Federal army on July 24, 1864 at Lexington, Kentucky. Enlistment papers show that Lawson had received some education as his papers displayed his own signature.
History
Lemley Cemetery
The earliest marked grave in this cemetery, that of Elizabeth Moore, dates to 1857. She was buried on part of a 160-acre tract of land settled by the Thomas B. Martin family in 1853 and patented to Martin by the state of Texas six years later. The existence of the cemetery is reflected in the Parker County deed records as early as 1869, when Martin sold his property to John H. and Thomas J.
History
Merchants and Farmers State Bank
Chartered on January 22, 1889, as the Merchants and Farmers National Bank of Weatherford, this institution opened for business on March 15, 1889, with capital of $100,000. In 1909 the bank's directors voted to apply for a state charter, and the institution's name was changed to Merchants and Farmers State Bank.
History
Millsap Cemetery
Deeded to the trustees of the Millsap Graveyard from W.L. Nail in 1885, the cemetery (also known as Old Millsap Cemetery) is situated on a gentle slope near the Bankhead Highway. The cemetery is the final resting place for early Parker County settlers, tradesmen, and brick, mine, and railroad workers.
History
Nelson Cemetery
Hugh Nelson (1821-1884), a native of Tennessee, donated the original two acres of this burial ground. The earliest dated stone marks the grave of his infant son Hugh, who died in 1864. Earlier burials were marked only with field-stones. A number of children's graves date from a dysentery epidemic in 1884.
History
New Hope Cemetery & New Hope Baptist Church
Pioneer settler Joseph Wren donated five acres of land at this site in 1875 for use as a community cemetery. The church, which had been meeting in a log building (2 miles northeast), moved here later that same year. The name "New Hope" was suggested by Mattie Brookshire. The first interment in the cemetery was that of an infant girl, Mary Sudduth, who died in 1876.
History
Old City Greenwood Cemetery
This cemetery was formally established by the Weatherford town council in 1863 when lots were surveyed and the exact cemetery location was staked. Previous interments were made in the unmarked streets of the town. The mayor directed those remains be moved to the new cemetery. Historian H. Smythe noted in 1877 that the cemetery was a "sadly neglected spot," without a fence.
History
Oliver Loving
Founder of three major cattle trails, Oliver Loving came from Kentucky to Texas in 1845 and to Parker County about 1855. During the Civil War (1861-65), he supplied beef to Confederate forces. With Charles Goodnight as partner on a drive to New Mexico, Loving scouted ahead of the cattle, was badly wounded by Indians, lay five days without food before his rescue, and died of gangrene on September…
Industry & Science
Original Plant of Acme Brick Company
(4.3 miles northwest) First manufacturer in Texas to make high grade pressed brick. Founded 1891 by industrial pioneer George Bennett (1852-1907), developer of coal mining and other natural resources. Located here because of large deposits of shale near Brazos River. Bennett community grew up around plant, with dormitory and store. The kilns were fired with local fuel; coal, then wood.
History
Parker County Courthouse
Scene of many noted trials. Built 1884-86. Cost $55,555.55. Fourth courthouse in history of county, organized 1856. An oak on Fort Belknap Road was court site that year. In this building practiced S.W.T. Lanham, who was Governor of Texas 1902-1906. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965.
History
Parker County Poor Farm and Cemetery
Created in 1883, a farm near this site housed the county's indigent citizens. Farm residents and some county convicts worked to grow crops and raise livestock. Although entire families were once housed at the farm, by the 1930s the residents were mostly elderly. Their barracks-style house was moved to Weatherford in the 1940s after the farm was closed.
History
Parker County, C.S.A.
Part of a colonial grant to S.M. Williams and Stephen F. Austin, father of Texas, but with no permanent settlers before 1850, this county was created in 1855 and named for Isaac Parker, its legislative sponsor. By 1860 it had 4,213 people and in 1861 its voters favored secession 535 to 61. Oliver Loving, a settler, was an official stock raiser, furnishing beef to the Confederacy in the Civil War.
History
Parsons Station
For more than 100 years, this was the site of the Parsons community, which developed around the homestead and ranch of Amsley Parsons, who came to the area with his family in 1854. Another early settler was Sam B.
History
Peaster Cemetery
South Carolina native Henry H. Peaster purchased 160 acres here in 1870. The village of Peaster began with Henry Peaster's sale of town lots here in the late 1880s. The earliest recorded burial is that of Mary D. Hunt in 1886. In 1893 Peaster donated two acres here for cemetery purposes.
History
Poe Prairie
The Poe Prairie community, made up largely of farm families, was named for early settler James William Poe (1853-1934), a Baptist minister who had moved here with his family in the mid-1870s. A cemetery was begun in 1879 with the death of one-year-old Johnie McCasland. Land for a cemetery, school, and church was later given to the community by the McCasland family.
Elsewhere in Texas
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