Paschal County: ‘The Ghost County’ of Cass County

The area that includes present day Cass County was first organized in 1820 as Miller County, south of the Red River, Territory of Arkansas. Some Miller County records are located in Lewisville, Arkansas, Although a part of the province legally claimed by Mexico, the Mexicans had no interest in settling these north woods which they called The Department of Nacogdoches. Possibly too, they were never aware that Arkansas laid claim to it.

In 1836, after the Texas Revolution, this same area became known as Red River County and the seat of government was established at Clarksville, The new county included present Bowie, Cass, Franklin, Marion, Morris, Red River and Titus counties. The first settlers had come in 1814., with or without Mexican knowledge, but far ahead of the much-publicized Austin Colonies. One early resident was BEN MILAM who settled in what is now Bowie County in 1819. By 1840 Red River County was very well covered by settlements and in the same year Bowie County was created out of the larger county, Boston was established as the county seat.

By this time same year, 1840, those in the present counties of Cass Franklin, Marlon, Morris, and Titus began to feel that Boston was too distant from them to properly serve their needs as a seat of justice. They petitioned the legislature of the Republic to form a new county of that area between the Sulphur (Fork of the Red River) and Cypress Bayou.

On January 28, 1841, the Fifth Congress of the Republic of Texas authorized the creation of a new county to be named Paschal, after a close friend of SAM HOUSTON, GEORGE PASCHAL. They designated that a seat of justice be named Daingerfield for the Indian fighter, Captain LONDON DAINGERFIELD, who had been in the area earlier. A committee was appointed to “locate” the site of this new town. EBENEZIER FRAZIER and ROBERT HUGHES from the present area of Cass County were part of that committee.

The officials of the new county were O. H. KING, Chief Justice; WILLIAM PEACOCK, Sherriff; EDWIN ROGERS, Justice of the Peace, and JAMES TERRELL, Land Commissioner. Terrell later held the same post in Cass County while Marion was still a part of it. One provision of the new county’s founding was that it could have no representation in the legislature. One year later in 1842, the Texas Supreme Court ruled the new county unconstitutional. Its disgruntled citizens continued to “hold court” at Daingerfield for the next four years calling themselves the Southern Division of Red River County.

In 1846 the Republic of Texas had become the State of Texas. The first legislature, possibly in an effort to appease these discontented citizens of our area, created Titus and Cass County from Bowie. The increase in population finally justified the creation of Marion from Cass County in I860 and Franklin and Morris from Titus in 1875. Paschal County had become a. “ghost county” and forever lost to history. GEORGE PASCHAL was gone, but LONDON Dangerfield Is still around. Maybe this calls for a historical marker to bring the Paschal memory back to life.

EXCERPTS FROM MORRIS COUNTY CENTENNIAL

1875-1975 by JEAN CONNOR

In the fall of 1835 an entire church congregation, led by MANSELL W. MATTHEWS, wag guided from Kentucky across the Mississippi River by DAVY CROCKETT. From the western shores of the Mississippi, Crockett gave them dire directions for reaching Texas, and made his way to the Alamo after leaving this group.,. By foot, horseback, oxcart and covered wagon, the early settlers came to East Texas. From 1844. tax rolls, deed records and records of the Primitive Baptist Church of Bethlehem (near Concord), a nearly complete list of the family heads before 1846 had been compiled. Some stayed in this area, and their descendants are living among us, justly proud of their heritage and the contribution their ancestors made to the development of Morris County.

Among these early settlers, JOEL BOSTON (the first saloon keeper), JOHH G. CHAMBERS (a member of the committee to organize Titus County), JOHN V. CHERRY (fought in Texas War of Independence and appointed by SAM HOUSTON as interpreter for the Indians), SMITH R. CHERRY (veteran of Texas War of Independence), O. H. KING (Chief Justice, Paschal County), M. W. MATHEWS (member, First Congress, Republic of Texas), WILLIAMS PEACOCK (Sheriff Paschal County), HENRY S. PROCTOR (veteran of Texas War of Independence and District Clerk of Paschal County), EDWIN G. ROGERS (Justice of the Peace, Paschal County), J. H. ROGERS (admitted to the bar in 1844), PASCHAL ST. CLAIR (first realtor), JAMES TERRELL (member of the Land Commission of Paschal and Cass Counties), ALLEN URQUBART (sold town lots to Daingerfield and Jefferson, surveyed the line between Red River and Lamar Counties).

Dr. SMITH’S report lists the temperature, prices of land, products and articles of merchandise. Also, the cost of carriage and labor. At Daingerfield, they interviewed Dr. PEACOCK who had a mill turned by water power on Lilly’s Creek and a cotton gin. He also interviewed London-trained DR. FREEMAN, who was planning to move to California., DR. FREEMAN reported that “the Presbyterians have just determined to found a college in Daingerfield on account of the great healthfulness of the neighborhood and its excellent springs.”

ALLEN URQUHART was an entrepreneur. He owned the townsite of Daingerfield and desired to sell some lots. In 1849 he gave the Marshall Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church 40 acres of land and half interest in another 120 acres if they would establish a college in Daingerfield. . . The General Mercantile business established by W. T. CONNOR in 1866 served Daingerfield and East Texas for over one hundred years.

The oldest remaining tombstone in the county is that of “DORGASA GRIFFITH, born July 19, 1830, died December 1844” in the Reynolds Cemetery west of Boggy Creek on Highway 49.

A partial listing of the cemeteries is: Reynolds (largest in acreage), Hayes, Snow Hill, Finley or Lilley, Old South Union, New Hope (Peacock), Slayton, Cherry, Concord, Spring Hill (including Loving and Ragland), Huff, Barrier, Glass, Rogers, Wheatville, Bradfield Chapel, County line, Terrell-Jones, Skinner, Clark (west of Jenkins), Clarke (north of Naples), Daingerfield Public (including Connor, Hussey, McReynolds, Urquhart, Beeson and Willis cemeteries), Chambers, Wilder, Naples, Omaha (Elliott’s), Richard Moore, Burrell Moore, Motley, Morris or Heard, Donaldson, Hood or Stanfield, Hamilton, Rivers and Whitmore.

Indian or animal trails formed the earliest routes of entry into this area. Trammel’s Trace, through the northern part of Morris County and western Cass County, was & crudely marked route from Clarksville to Nacogdoches, cut in 1825. It is joined near Naples by a route from Washington, Arkansas, to Nacogdoches laid out by NICHOLAS TRAMMEL, and supposedly used to transport JEAN LAFITTE’S contraband from Galveston Island to St. Louis, Missouri,

The Cherokee Trace, and Indian route, ran from near Tyler to Oklahoma near the western edge of Morris County.

The Caddo Trace wended its way from Shreveport west across Morris County through Daingerfield and Snow Hill. In 1846, a military road from Memphis, Tennessee, to San Antonio was built through the northern part of the present Morris County, crossing Boggy Creek, and is still identifiable to the Concord community. Early records also mention several Mexican traces in this county.

The republic of Texas surveys for this area were authorized for 1838 and some of the surveying parties included WILLIAM BROWNING, A. TAYLOR, A. UQUHART, D. S. WARDLOW, W, J. HAMILTON, and ROBERT HUGHES.

About The Cass County Genealogical Society

The Cass County Genealogical Society is a non-profit organization run by volunteers.

Our Mission is to inform the public of the genealogy and history of the people of Northeast Texas. We make our home in the Family History Section of the Atlanta Public Library, 101 West Hiram St. Atlanta, Texas 75551, U.S.A. We have published well over one hundred books and journals chronicling the people and history of Cass County and Northeast Texas. We maintain a diverse collection of books and other resource material (5700+ books and 800+ reels of microfilm) including all the CCGS publications, many histories of near-by counties, family histories including Cass County families and many others. We maintain a massive vertical files collection of Cass County church, ‘school and family histories, an ample collection of books on the U.S. states especially those states that border Northeast Texas, – Arkansas, Louisiana, & Oklahoma. The Best collection in the Ark-La-Tex of Native American. African American and Oklahoma research material. A huge map collection of antique and newer maps. This collection includes the Texas General Land Office survey map of Cass County with ownership up unto 1953. We also maintain a large collection of newspapers on microfilm of old Atlanta, Linden, Jefferson & Clarksville newspapers. As well as early tax rolls on microfilm of Cass, Bowie and Marion Counties. A collection of school yearbooks for Atlanta, Queen City, McLeod, Linden and Texarkana College. A large military collection including the 100 + volume set of the Correspondence of the War of the Rebellion (Civil War). And many DAR lineage books and other DAR material.

If you need help researching your Northeast Texas ancestors please contact us by e-mail at evanjevans@yahoo.com , call us at 903-796-3081 or write to us at:

Cass County Genealogical Society

P. O. Box 880

Atlanta, Texas 75551

The Society meets on the second Tuesday of each month. The meetings include a guest speaker or speakers that will tell about their search for their ancestors, a unique tidbit from the history of Northeast Texas, or some other genealogical or historical topic. The meetings start at 6:30 pm and we hope that as many of you as possible will join us for this interesting and informative monthly meeting in the Fellowship Hall of the First United Methodist Church of Queen City, Texas at the corner of Marietta and Fourth Streets. We always serve a light meal and beverages and the public is invited.

For more information on our meetings please call 903-796-3081.