Tarrant County TXGenWeb

The Spring Garden Community
of Tarrant County
A Preliminary Survey

Contribtuted by Michael Patterson
  

To place geographical bounds on the community as it existed at any one time would be impossible. In the minds of its residents it simply stretched to where the next community started--for instance, Spring Garden went northwest for a mile or so to a place where the residents began to feel themselves a part of the Pleasant Run Community. For purposes of this study, both a geographical limit and a time period were chosen arbitrarily. All those points one mile or less from the northeast corner of the Garrett Teeter survey will constitute the study area for the years 1865-1880. Some persons and events outside these limits will be discussed if relevant.

The area was first opened to settlement through the auspices of the Peters Colony, a North Texas empresario grant made during the days of the Republic of Texas. After the first of several enlargements to the original grant, the land later to become Spring Garden was added to the company's holdings in 1841,¹ though actual settlement in the study area did not begin for over a decade. Several of the pioneers who later owned land in Spring Garden or exerted an influence on its history originally came to Texas as Peters Colonists and settled first in other areas nearby.

All the land in the study area remained in the public domain until 1856, when the State of Texas granted the 320 acre Joseph Screech survey to Screech's heirs.² In 1859, the Liberty J. Teeter survey was patented to Israel Cox,³ and in the same year Jesse Doss patented the survey which bears his name.⁴ In 1860, S. C. H. Witten (1819-1891) patented the D. R. Teeter survey;⁵ in 1861 his wife, Jenetta Witten, patented the Simon Cotrail survey;⁶ and in 1862 Witten himself patented two other tracts in the survey area, both of which bear his name and border on the Screech survey (one on the east and one on the west).⁷ In 1863, Garrett Teeter patented the survey which carries his name,⁸ and in 1868 Witten patented another tract which lay to the south of the Screech survey.⁹ In 1869 the two surveys in the study area made to the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railroad Company were patented by William E. Price.¹⁰ As late as 1880, Witten and his wife still held all the tracts patented in their names, all the D. R. Teeter survey, all the Screech survey, and a large portion of the Cotrail survey.

The first permanent settler/landowner in the area was Samuel Cecil Holiday Witten, who came to Tarrant County in 1854 or 1855¹¹ from Spring Garden, Missouri.¹² He purchased the Screech survey from Screech's heirs in 1857,¹³ and built his home beside a fine flowing spring a short distance southwest of the spot where his family cemetery sits today. Witten brought his growing family with him; he and his children were quite prosperous in their new home and eventually became some of the largest landowners in the county. Throughout the community's existence, Witten was generally accepted by the other settlers as its head and guiding spirit. He served as Tarrant County Deputy Surveyor in the 1850's,¹⁴ and as Justice of the Peace¹⁵ during the Reconstruction years before the seat of justice for Precinct 3 was moved from Spring Garden to Grapevine.

Because of the disastrous Court House fire in Fort Worth in 1876, and the loss of the 1860 Federal Census schedules, it is difficult to determine when and where the earliest pioneers settled. Available county records which were re-recorded after the fire enable a fairly complete tracing of property ownership in the area, however, and give a sampling of both the transient and permanent settlers [see land ownership maps].

Spring Garden gained its name and the beginnings of its community identity near the end of the Civil War. In the early part of 1865, S. C. H. Witten proposed to a neighbor, Milton Moore (1828-1914), that a school be erected in their settlement, with the families in the community bearing the expense of its erection. Witten, using his own wagon and ox teams, hauled loads of his own farm produce to the pine mills at Jefferson, Texas. There he traded his goods for a quantity of sawn lumber which he hauled back to his home for use in the school.¹⁶

The school was built on the southeast corner of the D. R. Teeter survey, and was completed in the fall of 1865. It was named after Witten's old home in Missouri, Spring Garden. Classes were soon begun with William W. Hudson, from the Birdville community, as teacher. Pupils attended the school from as far away as Jack and Collin Counties, Texas. Pupils from outside the community boarded with Hudson.¹⁷

Milton Moore, the father of several Spring Garden students, plowed a furrow through the woods for two miles from his home on the Milton Moore survey to the school; this furrow was for small children to follow from Moore's neighborhood as they crossed the post oak forests on their way to and from school.¹⁸

At one time, Dr. James A. Bacon conducted a thirty-five day "Rapid-Fire Grammar School" at Spring Garden which was attended by fifteen or twenty area teachers as well as by Spring Garden residents. John H. Moore, later County Treasurer of Tarrant County, attended the school and recalled that "More English grammar was learned by some of those who attended the "rapid-fire" school than is ordinarily learned in a period of five or six times its length."¹⁹

The Spring Garden school building served the area as school, church, and community meeting place until it burned around 1872.²⁰ Some community functions continued for a few more years, in other buildings or homes at Spring Garden. A new school was built about 1873 at Bobo's Store, about one and one-half or two miles south of the Spring Garden site. Built on Milton Moore's farm, it was called New Hope.²¹ Several other area schools absorbed the Spring Garden students who did not attend New Hope School.

A Methodist congregation which called themselves Spring Garden Methodist Church met in the community during the years 1866-1872. The first reference to the church appears in the minutes of the "First Quarter Conference of the Grapevine Circuit of Dallas District of the Trinity Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for the Year 1867." The delegates to this meeting, held in December. 1866 at Minter's Chapel Methodist Church, reported that during the quarter $2.00 had been collected by the Spring Garden Church for the ministry. The Grapevine Circuit was abolished in 1868, and the churches comprising it were again made a part of The Denton circuit, as they had been prior to 1864 when the Grapevine circuit was formed. On July 25, 1868, the meeting of the circuit for the third quarter of the year was held at Spring Garden. At the conference for the first quarter of 1870, held at Denton on January 22, a "budget" of $300 was presented for support of the ministry during the coming year. Spring Garden was one of nine churches listed as a part of the circuit, but it was only assigned to raise $10.00 of the amount. The last reference to the church appears in the minutes of the first quarter conference of the circuit held at Grapevine on January 8, 1872. The congregation was apparently never large; at several times during its existence it was not represented at and did not contribute to its conference meetings. The burning of its meeting place in 1872 may have sent its members to other congregations nearby.²²

A Church of Christ group was meeting at Spring Garden by early 1868. During the first part of the year, the church had eighty-one additions, and was being served by Brother M. G. Elkins. In 1872, the church was visited by David Lipscomb, a nationally famous orator and church leader who recognized Elkins, having known him in Tennessee. Lipscomb told the congregation that Elkins had left Tennessee under immoral circumstances, and proceeded to outline those circumstances to Elkins's amazed congregation. The church listened to Lipscomb's story, then dismissed Elkins because of unfavorable public opinion. Lipscomb then addressed the church, rebuking them for not dismissing him on a Biblical precept. His account of the event, published in September, 1872, is the last trace of the congregation located during this study.²³ A Church of Christ was meeting as early as 1877 in the New Hope school building; this may have been a successor organization to that of Spring Garden.²⁴

During Reconstruction, Spring Garden was the scene of a few mild episodes of activity by secret societies patterned somewhat after the Ku-Klux Klan. Vigorously pursued by the County Judge in Fort Worth, these groups of men still occasionally put on their robes and rode about the community intimidating Negroes and whites who disagreed with their viewpoints. During the prosecution of one suspected north east Tarrant County leader, Reuben Hedges, S. C. H. Witten gave the following testimony about an incident which took place one night at his home on the Screech survey:
 

"...a party of men (I supposed them to be men) serenading rode around my house and a few rode through the porch. They asked me if I was a Justice of the Peace: I told them I was. They asked me how the people were getting along in my part of the country: I told them 'mighty well.' They asked me if I had much lawing to do: I told them 'not a great deal.' They said to me then suppose the people are lawabiding peacable people: I told them they were as much so as people could be. They remarked that they were glad to hear it. They advised me to tell the people to obey the laws of the country and do well: my answer was to do so as I always tried to give the people the best advice I knew to give. This was the principal conversation as well as I can recollect. They bade me goodnight and rode off. Some of them were dressed with a cloth or cape around their heads, and a gown or dress on their bodies--I could not see their faces and could not recognize any of them. I had, known in parts of the country where I live for people to play tricks on others during Christmas time. I regarded the assembly at my house as a frolic. They did not put me in fear and did not use any violence or harsh language toward me or anybody else. I consider the people in my neighborhood as law abiding. This group came to my house on the night of January 21, 1871. I did not see Reuben Hedges there."

The Church of Christ minister, M. G. Elkins, also gave testimony in the Hedges Case, saying he had known Hedges since he (Hedges) was a child, and distrusted his character, but knew nothing of his activities in, the secret order.²⁵

For a few years after the Civil War, the Justice of the Peace Court for Precinct 3 was held at Spring Garden. Ryan Harrington, who lived on the Jesse Doss and John Havens surveys, was Justice of the Peace in 1868.²⁶ S. C. H. Witten held the office for a time during the early 1870's. The Court remained at Spring Garden as late as 1877 where it met monthly.²⁷ By October 1,1879, the offices and Court had been moved to Grapevine.²⁸

During at least the years 1875-1877, the Pleasant Run Grange No. 891 met at Spring Garden.²⁹ The first local unit of this organization in Texas, officially known as the Patrons of Husbandry, was formed in 1873. This non-partisan, agrarian order offered to farm families its four-fold plan of cooperation in business, happier home life, more social contacts, and better educational opportunities.³⁰ It is believed that this organization had a building of its own soon after 1877 in the Pleasant Run Community, a short distance northwest of Spring Garden.

The last surviving physical traces of the community are found in the Spring Garden Cemetery, located in the extreme northeastern corner of the Garrett Teeter survey. In 1980, only three marble markers remained. Approximately twenty cut sandstone markers with no inscriptions and a broken sandstone with a partial inscription were located during a search made in January, 1981. All the sandstone monuments were found piled and partially buried along the eastern boundary of the cemetery. Estimates of the number of graves in the cemetery vary greatly--some informants remember as many as eighty while others say they remember twenty or less. Farming operations after World War II obliterated most traces of the burial ground. Records of the following burials have been gathered from several sources:³¹
 

	1.	R[ichard] M[cKelvey] Wade, born Nov. 29, 1841, died Dec. 20, 1870. [marked]
	2.	Mary H., Sen., daughter of R. T. And M. A. Valentine, born January 17, 1873, died February 8, 1873 or 1875 [marked with broken monument]
	3.	Infant daughter of R. T. And M. A. Valentine, born and died June 30, 1871 [marked]
	4.	John Weddle, died March 13, 1876 [unmarked]
	5.	Priscilla, wife of John Weddle, died Nov. 25, 1884 [unmarked]
	6.	Newton H., son of W. B. Cheek, died March 24, 1876 in infancy, [unmarked]
	7.	Maudie M., daughter of W. B. Cheek, died July 31, 1886 at one year of age [marked]
	8.	[John or Tom] Morrow, [unmarked, this sandstone is now lost; was seen by present property owners when they acquired the lot]
	9.	George Rice Parker, born 1844 in Wauhatchie, Hamilton Co., Tenn., died 1883, married Elizabeth, sister of W. B. Cheek [unmarked]
	10.	Sandstone marker fragment: " . . . AS . . .BORN NOV 18 AD 18__ DIED NOV 5 AD 18__"

Around 1940, several descendants of Richard M. Wade visited the cemetery and took four photographs. At that time, the Wade stone was still standing. Close examination of all the photographs has failed to detect any other markers standing in the background.

The cemetery seems to have been abandoned by 1890. Marcus D. L. Arthur (1834-1893), who bought the cemetery property in 1867 and held it until his death, buried his own son in Bedford Cemetery in 1890. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur were both buried beside their son in February, 1893. Richard T. Valentine, who buried two children at Spring Garden in the early 1870's, buried another child at Bedford in 1882, buried his wife beside the child in 1901, and was himself buried at Bedford in 1906.³² Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Cheek, who buried two of their children at Spring Garden, were themselves buried in Parker Memorial Cemetery.³³ As far as can be determined, the cemetery has never been mentioned in any deed.

One other known cemetery lies within the study area. Located on the Screech survey, it is the family cemetery of S. C. H. Witten. Established in 1857, it has been used periodically to the present time.³⁴

One intriguing document concerning Spring Garden was destroyed by the Court House fire in 1876. On December 16, 1872, S. C. H. Witten executed a deed to the State of Texas for four acres of the southeast corner of the D. R. Teeter survey³⁵ (the location of the Spring Garden school building). Searches made by a Fort Worth abstract company in 1981 of record copies made before the fire failed to find the document. By 1884, the four acre tract again belonged to Witten.³⁶

The decline of Spring Garden in the 1870's was probably caused by several factors, chiefest among them the fire in 1872 which destroyed the school building. The school ceased to meet then, and no later record of either the Methodist Church of the Church of Christ has been found. Beginning in 1870, a competing crossroads settlement with a store began to grow about two miles south of Spring Garden. Called Bobo's Store, it gained a post office in 1877 and was named Bedford. by its postmaster, W. W. Bobo, after his old home county in Tennessee.³⁷ The southern parts of the Spring Garden neighborhood quickly became identified as a part of Bedford. A thriving school and Church of Christ at New Hope strengthened Bedford's ties to the old Spring Garden settlers as the 1870's progressed. In 1876, the families to the northeast established a county public school called Pleasant Glade, to which some of Spring Garden's people sent their children.³⁸ To the northwest, the Pleasant Run Community was growing and, in 1877, gained a new Baptist Church which was attended by several of Spring Garden's residents.³⁹ The last vestiges of the community seem to have disappeared around 1877 or 1878 when the Precinct 3 Justice Court was moved a few miles away to Grapevine.

The Tarrant County Historical Commission wishes to mark the site of the Spring Garden Community because of its importance as an early-day seat of educational, church, and social activities in northeast Tarrant County. In addition, the Commission hopes this recognition will help to preserve the remnants of the Spring Garden Cemetery, which lie on undedicated, private property.
 

Narrative written and researched by:
	Michael E. Patterson Member, Tarrant Co. Historical Comm. ©1981

NOTES

1.	Seymour V. Conner, The Peters Colony of Texas, (Austin, Texas: The Texas State Historical Association, 1959), p. 41.
2.	Tarrant County, Texas, Tax Records, Master Card-Abstracts, No. 1404.
3.	ibid., No. 1517.
4.	ibid., No. 441.
5.	ibid., No. 1518.
6.	ibid., No. 328.
7.	ibid., Nos. 1734 and 1737.
8.	ibid., No. 1537.
9.	ibid., No. 1732.
10.	ibid., Nos. 202 and 204.
11.	Tarrant County, Texas, "A List of Registered Voters of Tarrant County, Texas for the Year 1867," in Fort Worth Genealogical Society, Footprints, Vol. 14, No.2, (May 1971), p. 66.
	Winna (Harrington) Hokett, interview with Patterson at Euless, Texas, December 11, 1980.
12.	Winna (Harrington) Hokett, "Samuel Cecil Holiday Witten," in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History, (Dallas, Texas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1979), pp. 399-400.
13.	Tarrant County, Texas, Deed Records, Vol. 83, p. 354.
14.	Tarrant County, Texas, Estate Records, "Estate Records of Tarrant County, Texas: Abstracts of Original Papers," in Footprints, Vol. 17, No. 4, (November 1974), p. 170.
15.	United States, Records of United States Commissioner's Court [1872]," held in Fort Worth, Texas, "United States vs Reuben Hedges," pp. 9-11, copy at Tarrant County Junior College, Northeast Campus, Local History Center, Hurst, Texas (hereinafter TCJC-LHC).
16.	Mr. Moore, son of Milton Moore (1828-1914), "A few things I Remember about the Early history of the Vicinity of Bedford Tex," unpublished MS, copy at TCJC-LHC.
17.	Glenn M. Holden, "A Partial History of Education in Tarrant County," unpublished Master's thesis for Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, 1931, pp. 38-40, copy at TCJC-LHC.
18.	ibid.
19.	ibid.
20.	ibid.
21.	ibid., p. 40.
22.	"Methodist Conference Journal," [Tarrant County], in Footprints, Vol. 10, Nos. 1-5 (1967) and Vol. 11, No.1 (1968).
23.	Stephen Daniel Eckstein, Jr., History of the Churches of Christ in Texas 1824-1950, (Austin, Texas: Firm Foundation Publishing House, 1963, p. 111.
24.	Tarrant County, Texas, Deed Records, Vol. Z, p. 261.
25.	U. S., Records of U. S. Comm. Court [1872], "U. S. vs Hedges," PP. 9-11.
26.	Tarrant County, Texas. "Estates..." in Footprints, Vol. 21, No. 4, (November 1978), p. 174.
27.	Fort Worth City Directory, 1877, p. 34, microfiche copy at TCJC-LHC.
28.	Tarrant County, Texas, Deed Records, Vol. 66, p. 257.
29.	Fort Worth Standard [newspaper], Vol. III, No. 9, (July 15, 1875) and subsequent issues through April 18, 1877, microfilm copies in Fort Worth Public Library.
30.	Walter Prescott Webb and H. Bailey Carroll, eds., The Handbook of Texas (2 volumes), (Austin, Texas: The Texas State Historical Association, 1952), Vol. I, pp. 716-717.
31.	Spring Garden Cemetery, Tombstone Inscriptions.
	Perry Wells, "John Franklin Weddle," in Grapevine Area History, pp. 383-384.
	Mrs. Robert McKinnon, interview with Patterson at Bedford, Texas, January 1, 1981.
32.	Bedford Cemetery, Tombstone Inscriptions.
33.	Parker Memorial Cemetery, Tombstone Inscriptions.
34.	Michael E. Patterson, "Witten Cemetery," unpublished MS at TCJC-LHC, 1980.
35.	The Fort Worth and Tarrant County Abstract Company, "Abstract of Title to C. E. Patterson tract, S. C. H. Witten and D. R. Teeter Surveys," Fort Worth, 1944, reference to Warranty Deed, Tarrant County, Texas, S. C. H. Witten and wife Jennetta Witten to State of Texas, dated December 16, 1872 and filed in Deed Book P, page 46 of Tarrant County Deed Records destroyed by fire on March 29, 1876; deed conveyed four acres of the southwest corner of the D. R. Teeter survey, "Said instrument has not been refiled for record."
36.	Tarrant County, Texas, Deed Records, Vol. 5, p. 234.
37.	Moore, "A few things I Remember . . ."
38.	Orville Rogers, "Pleasant Glade School," in Grapevine Area History, p. 41. Other sources imply that Pleasant Glade School became a county public school in 1886.
39.	Pleasant Run Baptist Church, Minutes, 1877. originals in possession of Pleasant Run Baptist Church, Colleyville, Texas.

THE SETTLERS

The following persons owned property, held some position, or exerted some influence on the Spring Garden Community during the years prior to 1880. The following abbreviations will be used in citing sources:
 

Tarrant County Deed Records, Vol: page		TCD 4:67
Grapevine Area History		GAH
Tarrant Co. Jr. College, Local History Center		TCJC-LHC

Richard M. Allen owned a part of the L. J. Teeter survey until 1874. [TCD V: 633]

T. B. Allen (born ca 1840) came to Texas about 1845 from Tennessee and arrived in Tarrant Co. about 1856. He owned part of the Garrett Teeter survey until 1869. [1870 Census, Tarrant Co.; "1867 Voter List;" TCD B:526]

Marcus D. L. Arthur (1834-1893), a native Kentuckian, arrived in Texas by 1861. In 1867, he purchased part of the Garrett Teeter survey, which property, with additions, he kept the rest of his life. He is buried in Bedford. Cemetery. [TCD 78:162, 33-470; 1880 Tarrant Co. Census;: Bedford Cemetery, tombstones]

Benjamin Franklin Barkley (1822-1882) owned part of the Jesse Doss survey during the 1860's, though he never lived on it. Born in Kentucky, he brought his family to Birdville in 1855. He was a lawyer, physician, and was County Judge of Tarrant County 1867-1873. He is buried in Birdville Cemetery. [TCD B:508; Duane Gage, "Benjamin Franklin Barkley," 1979, unpub. MS at TCJC-LHC] .

Elisha B. Bobo (1838-1875) came to Tarrant Co. about 1870 from Tennessee. He purchased part of the L. J. Teeter survey in 1874, and was buried the following year in Bedford Cemetery. [TCD V:633; Bedford Cemetery tombstones]

Joel H. Bobo (1845-1921) was the brother of Elisha H. Bobo. During the 1870's, he owned part of the L. J. Teeter survey. He is buried in Bedford Cemetery. [TCD 42:105; Bedford Cemetery tombstones]

William Burgess Cheek (1846-1930) came to Spring Garden in 1869 from Georgia. He owned part of the Jesse Doss and BBB & C RR Co. surveys. Two of his children were buried at Spring Garden in the 1870's. Another Spring Garden settler, John Franklin Weddle, was his father-in-law. Mr. and Mrs. Cheek are buried in Parker Memorial Cemetery. [Winna Harrington Hokett and Maybelle Baze Flories, "William Burgess Cheek," in GAH, pp. l46-l47]

M. H. Corse owned part of one of the BBB & C RR Co. surveys from 1877 until 1884. [TCD 33:470]

Simon Cotrail had one tract of land surveyed for him in the study area, though he probably never lived on it. He had arrived in Tarrant County by 1855, and was dead by the end of 1872. [TCD B:591; Mack Williams, In Old Fort Worth, p. 5]

Israel Cox patented the Liberty J. Teeter survey in 1859. He moved to Tarrant County before June, 1854. [TCD .A: 532; "1854 School Census"]

A. M. Dean owned the Jesse Doss survey during the early 1860's. [TCD P:398; B:508]

Jesse Doss patented the survey which bears his name in 1859, and soon transferred it to A. M. Dean. Doss was living in Tarrant County as early as mid-1854. [TCD B:508; "1854 School Census]

M. G. Elkins (born ca 1808) came to Spring Garden about 1867 from Tennessee. He purchased part of the J. Doss survey in 1869 and sold it in 1870. He was the minister of the Spring Garden Church of Christ until 1872. [1870 Tarrant Co. Census; TCD B:508, A:580]

Euless, Elisha Adam (born 1848) owned part of one of the BBB & C RR Co. surveys from 1871 until 1877. He came to Tarrant Co. in 1870 from Tennessee, and was eventually elected Sheriff of Tarrant County. The town of Euless is named. for him. [TCD G:320, J:219, 62:324; In Old Fort Worth, p. 107]

M. A. E. Henley (born ca 1850 in Missouri) was a widow who owned part of the Garrett Teeter survey from 1878 until after 1880. [TCD J:353, 1880 Census, Tarrant Co., Texas]

W. S. P. Hall (born 1861) came with a brother from Missouri while both were still in their teens. He owned a portion of the Jesse Doss survey late in the 1870' s; he is buried in Parker Memorial Cemetery. [TCD; Patricia Hall Howard, "William S. P. Hall," in GAH , p. 214]

Bryant Harrington (1829-1895) came to Spring Garden from Palo Pinto County, Texas about 1865, after service in the Confederate army. Born in Kentucky, he spent his early years tn various pursuits with his brother, Ryan, an identical twin. In partnership with Ryan, he bought part of the Jesse Doss survey in 1865. He died in 1895, and was buried in the Estelle Cemetery in Dallas County. [TCD P:398; Estelle Cemetery tombstones; "1867 Voter List; Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, pp. 1007-1009]

Ryan Harrington (1829-1884) came to Spring Garden about 1863 with his and his brother's horse herds, taking them from their Palo Pinto ranch because of Indian depredations there. He spent an exciting early life which included Indian fighting, gold mining, and stagecoach guarding. In 1866, he was married to S. C. H. Witten's daughter. He died on his fam on the Jesse Doss and Havens surveys, and was buried in the Witten Cemetery. ["1867 Voter List;" Hokett interview; Memorial...Dallas County, pp. 1007-l009]

William Ralph Joyce (1847-1902) is buried in the survey area in the Witten Cemetery. He came to the area about 1867 from Mississippi, and married S. C. H. Witten's daughter, Josephine Jenetta Witten (1851-1884). [Witten Cemetery tombstones; "1867 Voter List"]

Charles C. and Elizabeth Lacy owned portions of both the BBB & C RR Co. surveys during the late 1860's and 1870's. Lacy had arrived in Tarrant County by 1855, but by 1869 had moved to Denton County. He was dead by 1878, when his wife was still living in Denton Co. [TCD L: 622, H:220; In Old Fort Worth, p. 5]

John N. Mahan (born ca 1830 in Georgia) came to Spring Garden after the Civil War, and purchased part of the L. J. Teeter survey in 1875. [1880 Tarrant Co., Texas Census; TCD 42:105]

H. H. McKinley owned part of one of the BBB & C RR Co. surveys 1877-1878. He was a charter member of Pleasant Run Baptist Church on April 7, 1877. [TCD 62:324; Pleasant Run Church Minutes]

J. L. McKinley owned part of one of the BBB & C RR Co. surveys 1878-1879. He was a charter member of Pleasant Run Baptist Church April 7, 1877. [TCD L:624, R:514; Pleasant Run Church Minutes]

Green Washington Minter (1803-1887), one of the Peters Colonists, owned part of the L. J. Teeter survey from 1859 until 1875. A Virginian, he came to Texas about 1845, settling first in Dallas County, and later in northeast Tarrant County about 1852. He was a Methodist minister, and helped organize ,the first Methodist Church in the county about 1853 (Minter's Chapel Methodist Church). He was buried in Minter's Chapel Cemetery. [Bertie Cates Allen paper; Elaine Rogers Sabo, "Green Washington Minter," in GAH, pp. 287-288; The Peters Colony...; p. 343; "1867 Voters;" TCD A:532]

Levin Moody (ca1818-1866) arrived in Tarrant County by 1858 and settled at Spring Garden soon after. He or his heirs owned part of the L. J. Teeter survey from 1859 until after 1880. He was buried in Birdville Cemetery. (Birdville Cemetery tombstones; TCD B:177; Tarrant Co. "Estates..."]

Milton Moore (1828-1914) a native North Carolinian; came to the area in 1860, and brought his family to settle in 1861. He was active in the organization of the Spring Garden school, and helped to establish a new school after Spring Garden burned. He is buried in Bedford Cemetery. [Bedford Cemetery tombstones; Moore, "A few things...;"]

M. T. Morgan came to Texas about 1859 and settled. in the Spring Garden area about 1864. He owned part of the Jesse Doss survey 1868-1869. ("1867 Voter List;" TCD B:508]

[John or Tom] Morrow was buried in the Spring Garden Cemetery. [Mrs. Robert McKinnon interview]

Elihu Newton (1845-1925), a Tennessean, came to Tarrant County with his parents about 1857. An ordained Baptist minister, he was master of the Pleasant Run Grange while it met at Spring Garden. He served in the Texas Legislature during the twentieth through the twenty-third sessions as a representative from Tarrant County. He is buried at White's Chapel Cemetery. [White's Chapel Cemetery tombstones; Betty Bothwell, "Elihu Newton," in GAH, pp. 305-306]

C. H. Norvel owned a part of one of the BBB & C RR Co. surveys from 1879 until 1881. [TCD R:514, Z:417]

A. L. Oneal owned a part of one of the BBB & C RR Co. surveys from 1878 until 1881. [TCD 62:326]

J. T. Prather (born ca 1847 in Missouri) came to Tarrant County about 1857 with his family. He was master of the Pleasant Run Grange while it met at Spring Garden. His occupation, listed in the 1870 Tarrant County census was "loafer." He buried two children in the Bedford Cemetery in 1880 and 1892. [1870 Tarrant Co. Texas census; Bedford Cemetery tombstones; Fort Worth Standard]

William E. Price patented the two BBB & C RR Co. surveys in the study area in 1869, but soon moved away to Platte Co., Missouri. [TCD 62:323, B:360]

Cadwell Walton Raines (1839-1906) came to Spring Garden for a short time just after the Civil War, and stayed with the S. C. H. Witten family. Family traditions say he taught at Spring Garden School for a time. Many years later, in 1901, he married S. C. H. Witten's widowed daughter, Mrs. Isabella M. Mason. At the time of his death, Raines was serving as State Librarian of Texas. [Handbook of Texas, Vol. II, p. 431]

G. W. Sawyer (born 1834) owned part of one of the BBB & C RR Co. surveys in 1878. An ordained Baptist minister, he was a charter member of Pleasant Run Baptist Church in 1877. He is buried in Bear Creek Cemetery. [Bear Creek Cemetery tombstones; Pleasant Run Church Minutes; TCD L:622]

Joseph Screech (died about 1849) came to the Peters Colony as colonist in or before 1848, and settled in Dallas County. His heirs patented the Joseph Screech survey in 1856. By 1857, one of his sons, Joseph, was living in Tarrant County, while two other sons, William and Nathan, were living in Toulumne Co., California. [TCD 83:354; The Peters Colony..., p. 387; 1850 Census, Dallas Co., Tex.]

Garrett Teeter arrived in Tarrant County by 1854 and patented the survey which bears his name in 1863. ["1854 School Census;" TCD Abstract No. 1537]

Joseph Thomas (born ca 1801), a native Virginian, owned part of the Garrett Teeter survey in the mid-1860's. He still lived in the area as late as 1880. [1880 Tarrant Co. Texas census; TCD 78:162]

Richard T. Valentine (1837-1906) came to present day Bedford from Missouri in 1867. He buried two children at Spring Garden during the 1870's. He was a prosperous merchant in Bedford, and is buried in the Bedford Cemetery. [Bedford Cemetery tombstones; Spring Garden tombstones; Paddock, History....North and West Texas, Vol. II, pp. 160-161]

Richard McKelvey Wade (1841-1870) married a daughter of James Z. W. Witten, an early settler who lived just outside the study area on the A. J. Woodson survey. Orphaned young, he was brought to Denton County by an uncle. Wade probably lived more than once in the Spring Garden area, and lived in San Antonio for a time as well. He died of tuberculosis, and was buried at Spring Garden. [Spring Garden tombstones; Algura Beggs, "The Life and Times .,,"]

John Wallis purchased part of one of the BBB & C RR Co. surveys in 1869 and held it until his death, which occurred during the 1880's or 1890's. [TCD H:220, H:219]

Ephraim Benjamin Weddle (1858-1930) came to Spring Garden with his parents from Georgia in 1869. He owned a part of the Jesse Doss survey before 1880. He is buried in Parker Memorial Cemetery. (Parker Memorial Cemetery tombstones; Ruby Weddle, "Ephraim Benjamin Weddle," in GAH, pp. 382-383, TCD]

John Franklin Weddle (ca1819-1876) came to Spring Garden from Georgia in 1869. He owned part of the Jesse Doss survey from 1870 until his death. His widow lived on it until her death in 1884. Both were buried in Spring Garden Cemetery. His daughter married William B. Cheek. [1870 Census, Tarrant Co., Texas; TCD A: 580; Perry Wells, "John Franklin Weddle," in GAH, pp. 383-384]

George Washington Witten (1841-1868), the eldest child of S. C. H. Witten, grew to maturity in Spring Garden and spent four years in the Confederate army. While there, he met C. W. Raines, who accompanied him home. George drowned in 1868 in present-day Oklahoma while driving a herd of cattle from Spring Garden to market. His body was brought back for burial in his father's family cemetery. [Witten Cemetery tombstones; Hokett, "Samuel Cecil Holiday Witten," in GAH, pp. 399-400; Hokett interview]

Samuel Cecil Holiday Witten (1819-1891), a native Kentuckian, left his home in Missouri and arrived in Tarrant County about 1854 or 1855. He was the guiding force in Spring Garden's existence. The father of eleven children, he remained on his Screech survey homestead until 1890, when he moved to Corpus Christi, Texas where he died in 1891. His wife died in 1897, at the home of her daughter in Amarillo, Texas. Mr. Witten is buried in Corpus Christi, and Mrs. Witten is buried in Amarillo. Five of S. C. H. Witten's children are buried in his family cemetery on the Screech survey. [Hokett, "S. C. H. Witten;" Hokett interview]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen, Bertie (Cates) (born 1852). "Minter's Chapel Methodist Church," in Grapevine Historical Society, Grapevine Area History. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1979. Hereinafter GAH.

Bear Creek Cemetery Tombstones.

Bedford Cemetery Tombstones.

Beggs, Algura. "The Life and Stories of Grandma and Grandpa, Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Britain." Undated term paper for Northwest [Texas] High School. Copy at Tarrant County Junior College, Northeast Campus, Local History Center, Hurst, Texas. Hereinafter TCJC-LHC.

Birdville Cemetery Tombstones.

Bothwell, Betty Jo (Newton). "Elihu Newton," in GAH.

Conner, Seymour V. The Peters Colony of Texas. Austin, Texas: The Texas State Historical Association, 1959.

Eckstein, Stephen Daniel, Jr. History of the Churches of Christ in Texas, 1824-1950. Austin, Texas: Firm Foundation Publishing House, 1963.

Fort Worth City Directory. 1877.

Fort Worth Democrat. Fort Worth, Texas. Various issues, 1873-. Microfilm at Fort Worth Public Library.

Fort Worth Genealogical Society. Footprints.

Fort Worth Standard. Fort Worth, Texas. Various issues, 1875-1877. Microfilm copies at Fort Worth Public Library.

Fort Worth and Tarrant County Abstract Company. "Abstract of Title to C. E. Patterson tract, S. C. H. Witten and D. R. Teeter surveys, 1944."

Gage, Duane. "Benjamin Franklin Barkley." Unpublished MS, 1979, at TCJC-LHC.

Grapevine Historical Society. Grapevine Area History. Dallas, Texas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1979.

Hokett, Winna (Harrington). Interview with Patterson at Euless, Texas, December 11,1980.

_____________________. "Samuel Cecil Holiday Witten," in GAH.

_____________________ and Flories, Maybelle Baze. "William Burgess Cheek," in GAH.

Holden, Glenn M. "A Partial History of Education in Tarrant County." Master's thesis submitted to Texas Christian University, 1931. Copy at TCJC-LHC.

Howard, Patricia (Hall). "William S. P. Hall," in GAH.

McKinnon, Robert, Mrs. Interview with Patterson at Bedford, Texas, January 1, 1981.

Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas. Illustrated. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1892.

"Methodist Conference Journal." [Tarrant County] Reprinted in Footprints.

Moore, Mr. "A Few Things I Remember about the Early history of the Vicinity of Bedford, Texas." [author was a son of Milton Moore (1828-1914)] Unpublished, undated MS, copy at TCJC-LHC.

Paddock, B. B. ed. A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas. Illustrated. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1906.

Parker Memorial Cemetery Tombstones.

Patterson, Michael E. "Abandoned Pioneer Cemeteries of Northeast Tarrant County, Texas: A Preliminary Survey." Unpublished MS, 1976, at TCJC-LHC.

_____________________. "Witten Cemetery." Unpublished MS, 1980, at TCJC-LHC.

Pleasant Run Baptist Church. Minutes. Originals in possession of Pleasant Run Baptist Church, Colleyville, Texas.

Rogers, Orville. "Pleasant Glade School," in GAH.

Sabo, Elaine (Rogers). "Green Washington Minter, " in GAH.

Spring Garden Cemetery Tombstones.

Tarrant County, Texas. "A List of Registered Voters of Tarrant County for the Year 1867." Reprinted in Footprints.

_____________________. Deed Records.

_____________________. Estate Records. "Estate Records of Tarrant County, Texas: Abstracts of Original Papers." Reprinted in Footprints.

_____________________ . "Jury List, 1855." Reprinted in Mack Williams, In Old Fort Worth.

_____________________ . "School Census of Tarrant County, Returned June 24, 1854, Listing free whites aged 6-16." Reprinted in Footprints.

_____________________ . Tax Records.

United States. Department of Commerce. Federal Census Schedules. Tarrant County, Texas: 1870, 1880. Dallas County, Texas: 1850.

United States. Records of United States Commissioner's Court [1872], held in Fort Worth, Texas, "United States vs Reuben Hedges."

Webb, Walter Prescott and Carroll, H. Bailey, eds. The Handbook of Texas. Two volumes. Austin, Texas: The Texas State Historical Association, 1952.

Weddle, Ruby (Wortham). "Ephraim Benjamin Weddle," in GAH.

Wells, Perry. "John Franklin Weddle," in GAH.

White's Chapel Cemetery Tombstones.

Williams, Mack. In Old Fort Worth. Fort Worth, Texas: The News-Tribune, 1977.

Witten Cemetery Tombstones.

ILLUSTRATIONS 
 

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Last modified 15 Nov 2010.

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