History
General Ernest O. Thompson
Acknowledged world leader in petroleum conservation. A third generation Texan, born here in Alvord. Left college to enter service in World War I, earning a battlefield commission as lieutenant colonel -at the time the youngest in American army. In 1930 gained national acclaim as crusading mayor of Amarillo. Appointed (1932) to Texas Railroad Commission, served by election until 1966.
History
George Lafayette Ramsdale
George Lafayette Ramsdale (1820-1884) was a native of Devonshire, England. By 1836, he had come to Texas and enlisted in the army during the war for independence from Mexico. After the Revolution, Ramsdale, his wife, Elizabeth (1825-1909), and their children lived in Harrison, Rusk, Houston, and Bosque counties. During the Civil War, he served the Confederacy by protecting the frontier.
History
George Lawton Bledsoe
Georgia native George Lawton Bledsoe (b. 1805), a carpenter and cotton gin builder, came to Texas in 1834. A veteran of the Texas Revolution and the Battle of San Jacinto, he received a pension for his military service and patented land grants in Brazoria, Cooke, Jack, Fannin, and Wise counties. He was married to the former Ellen Bowdre (d. 1850) and had five children.
History
Greenwood
Pioneer settlers came to this area as early as the 1850s. Local tradition states that the Greenwood and Hart families were among the first settlers in the area, and that the community was named for the Greenwood family and the creek was named for the Hart family. As the town of Greenwood began to grow, businesses, churches, a cemetery, school, and Masonic Lodge were established.
History
Hanna-Robinson-Richey Drugstore
Alexander Virgil Hanna (1860-1921) erected this native sandstone structure to house his drugstore in 1893. He provided office space in this building for a doctor, lawyer, jeweler, and the first telephone switchboard in Chico. Hanna sold the business in 1920 to Rueben R. Robinson (1872-1955), whose daughter and son-in-law, LaBeth and William Marston Mead (d.
History
Huff Family Massacre
An atrocity of 1874, in one of last Wise County Indian raids. While C. W. Huff and son worked in remote part of land recently settled by the family, Indians killed Mrs. Huff and daughters, Palestine and Molly. Neighbors buried the scalped and mutilated victims in a wagon bed, in the grave. It is said that lumber was later obtained for coffins and the victims were reburied.
History
Hunt, Col. William Hudson
(1815-1864) Born in Ithaca, New York, William Hudson Hunt became a principal figure in the development of Wise County. He came to Texas in 1836, joining the War for Independence. He then served in the Army of the Texas Republic, participating in the Santa Fe Expedition. His engineering and surveying skills led to an appointment to the council which located the site of the Texas capitol.
History
Hyde Cemetery
J. E. Barnes purchased this site in 1885 from P. J. Hyde and his wife Mary E. Hyde. The earliest marked graves are those of Barnes' wife Dizania (b. 1861) and son Felix, both of whom died on December 4, 1879. Many early settlers of the abandoned Jim Ned community (two miles north) are also buried here.
History
Indian Captives Dot and Bianca Babb
Two of Texas history's best-known Indian captives, 13-year-old T. A. "Dot" Babb (1852-1936) and his 9-year-old sister Bianca (1855?-1950) were stolen by Comanches from their home near here in September of 1865. While at play one day, the children were surprised by a raiding party of 35 to 40 Indians. Mrs. Babb was killed and Dot, Bianca, and Mrs.
History
Keeter Cemetery
For over 100 years beginning in 1882 this cemetery has been the sole graveyard serving the community of Keeter. The oldest recorded gravesite in the cemetery is that of Ida Mae Ryan (1881-1882). Albert Lafayette Keeter, for whom the community of Keeter was named, donated this property for use as a cemetery in 1891.
Military
Lake Bridgeport WWII Training Site
When the U.S. was drawn into World War II in 1941 the federal government increased the number of training facilities across the nation. The area around Lake Bridgeport (built in 1931) made for an ideal site to train airmen and test equipment without undue impact on local residents.
History
Masonic Lodge #479
Built 1877 at Old Aurora (2 miles east). Lower floor used first as school with rent $2.50 a month, then as drug store, post office. Second floor always lodge hall. Moved here 1900, in one piece, as Aurora, missed by railroad, began to decline.
History
Mount Zion Baptist Church and Jonestown Cemetery
In 1833 early settler Andrew Jackson Jones deeded four acres of land to be used for a church and cemetery. The earliest marked grave in the cemetery dates from that year. After the first church building burned in 1893, the members of Mount Zion Baptist Church met in the nearby Jones School until 1909 when they erected a one-room church building.
History
Oak Lawn Cemetery
Oak Lawn Cemetery was officially established in 1878 when William T. Perry deeded property to R. M. Collins, the mayor of Decatur, for a public burial ground for area residents. At that time however, at least one marked grave, that of Eli Lindley (d. 1867), existed, indicating that a private cemetery had first been established here.
History
Old Campsite of Jesse and Frank James
Famous western frontier outlaws, who had many Texas hideouts along a line from the Rio Grande to the Red River. The camps - extending into Missouri, their home state - were used for hiding stolen horses until posses could be thrown off the trail. The campsites were sometimes known to scattered settlers, who feared or befriended the bandits.
History
Old Stone Prison
First stone house in Decatur. Erected by prison labor about 1859. Main house was residence of sheriff or deputy. Basement was used as jail. Meals were sent down a dumb-waiter located outside the east end of the house. County sold property in 1888 to A. H. Whitehead. Used as city water works until 1938. Kept as private residence until 1967 when purchased by Wise County Historical Society as museum.
History
Olive Branch Cemetery
The first burial at this site occurred in the early 1870s. Area settlers H. H. Bradford, B. P. Cox, J. C. Cartwright, and J. C. Weaver, donated the property for the interment of a young girl who had died on a wagon train. The earliest marked grave is that of Maria B. Smith (1805-1875). During the 1890s, a sanctuary was built north of the burial ground for a Methodist Episcopal Church.
History
Paschall
Robert A. and Molly Paschall settled in this area in 1876 and purchased 160 acres of land near Salt Creek in 1890. In 1902 the Paschall, Texas post office was established in their home which also housed the Paschall-Cottondale Telephone Company.
History
Perrin Log Cabin
William Perrin and his wife, Charlotte, along with two other families, left Rock Castle, Kentucky in the fall of 1853, arriving forty days later in the Peters Colony near Dallas. They moved west again, arriving in Wise County on Christmas Eve 1854 and settling on 160 acres southeast of Decatur. They sold that land in 1860 to blacksmith Joseph Dannelley for $1,000.
History
Pleasant Grove No. 2 Cemetery, School and Church
This community is one of three in Wise County named Pleasant Grove. The earliest marked graves in the cemetery date from the late 1870s. A community school was started here in 1879 and a frame schoolhouse was built north of the burial ground on 1.5 acres deeded by H. T. Boyd. The building was also used for church services and community functions.
History
R. C. Mount House
A surveyor, part-time Methodist preacher, and Wise County's first tax assessor-collector, R. C. Mount (1826-97) began this structure in 1872 to house his large family. Built of rock that Mount and his sons hauled by wagon from Palo Pinto County, the original 2-story section was completed in 1874. Contractor H. A. Saye of Amarillo enlarged the house in 1890, and further remodeling was done in 1920.
History
Randolph (Uncle Ran) Vesey
(1832-1908) Born a slave near Savannah, GA., Randolph Vesey was body servant to Confederate General William Lewis Cabell during the Civil War. In 1868, while living on the Montague-Wise County line, Vesey was captured by Indians and taken to Kansas. Black scout Brit Johnson ransomed Vesey with horses contributed by friends in Texas.
History
Randolph Vesey
(1832-1908) Respected Negro citizen and homeowner. Champion pioneer fiddler, popular at Forts Belknap, Griffin and Richardson and over county. Once when he was an Indian captive, held in Kansas, Texans sent ponies to ransom him. He is buried in Oaklawn, Decatur. Born in Georgia. He served during the Civil War as body servant and voluntary battle aide to General W. L.
History
Rush Creek Community Cemetery
Named for a stream that flowed through the area, the community of Rush Creek contained a school, two churches, and a cemetery. The oldest recorded burial is that of Harry Houston, infant son of John and Mary Houston, who died in 1875. The site contains 110 graves; nearly half are those of children under 20 years of age. Also buried here are veterans of the Civil War and World War I.
Architecture
S. W. Tilghman House
Born in Gibson County, Tennessee, S. W. Tilghman (1846-1913) came in 1870 by wagon train to Wise County. In 1872 he married a Decatur native, Eliza Bland Miller (1856-1931), and became father of a daughter and three sons. A master builder, he erected this house in 1882 for his own family.
Elsewhere in Texas
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