Cusseta and nearby Cusseta Mountains
I have been dreaming of and loving this area in northern Cass County, approximately three miles south of State Highway 77 on the Cusseta to Linden county road, since I was a very small girl. I was born and grew up in the Cornett area and driving along the road to Hughes Springs over the high hills, we/I would look into the beauty of the Cusseta Mountains with my father telling the family the mountains were named by his grandfather John Robin Heard.
Cusseta and the Cusseta Mountains were named after Cusseta In Chambers County. Alabama, near the Georgia state line in the east central part of the state, from which John Robin Heard had moved to settle in Cass County, Texas. He was born in Wilkes County, Georgia, in the northeastern part of that county almost bordering on the South Carolina state line.
His grandfather Lt. Charles Heard served in the American Revolutionary War from South Carolina under Captains John Calhoun and Armstrong Heard 1779-1783- John Robin was a great-grandson of the immigrant ancestor Charles C. Heard, who came from County Tyronet Northern Ireland and settled in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1720.
There were seven grandsons by his son Joseph and Consequently many Heards in the area particularly Georgia, Col. Stephen Heard the Paul Revere of the Southern Colonies, would alert the colonists with “The British are coming” and they would madly load into the vehicles and wildly set out for refuge north to as far away as Virginia. The cattle would swim the streams with children holding on to their tails.
Elizabeth Dardon, a cousin of George Washington, was one of those children. She later became the wife of Stephen Heard. He was Governor of Georgia in 1780-1781. Heard County, Georgia midway on West side of the state bordering on Alabama is also a lasting mark the family made on that state, but back to John Robin.
I researched Cusseta with a dear old cousin, Mrs. Mollie Floyd Bohannon, whose home is still standing on the old Cusseta Road approximately one mile south of Highway 77, almost fifteen years ago together with her older sister, Carrie Floyd Taylor of Denton, who was living in her home at that time.
From the notes I made there and later the same after noon at the home of Mrs. Irene Curtwright Baker in Texarkana I give you the following facts: Mrs. Baker was born August 10, 1860 near Greensboro Georgia in Green County. Her aunt Miss Jennie Sledge, born in Stuart county, Georgia in 1851, became Jennie Sledge Cunningham, taught school in Woodland Academy situated about two miles south of Cusseta on the right side of the Linden road.
These young women attended school there and at the time Cusseta was a bustling, thriving community.
There were several general merchandise stores one operated by a Y. Fulcher The Saloon was operated by a Mr. Bob Floyd. A bachelor by the name of Sanders ran a store.
There were two doctors, one of whom was Dr. Henderson the husband of Carolina Heard who were the parents of Quitman Henderson.
I remember Quitman very well, He provided in his will funds for placing the chain link fence surrounding the John Robin Heard historical Cemetery located on the side of the most southern of the Cusseta Mountains.
He was buried there in 1934 and to my knowledge this was the last grave there. This cemetery is on land only about 100 yards from the John Robin Heard homes.
This site was set aside as the family burial ground. Mrs. Carrie Kathleen Henderson Farmer, a niece of Quitman Henderson and great grand daughter of John Robin Heard, now living in Linden, was greatly responsible in helping carry out her uncle’s wishes of fencing the cemetery.
Gen. Sam Houston passed through this area enroute to Nacogdoches, Texas in 1832 and David Crockett came through about 1835 on his way to join Col. Travis at the Alamo in San Antonio.
John Allen Heard, son of John Robin and father of the late Milton N. Heard of Naples, was the first postmaster of Cusseta, June 18, 1856. There were six postmasters including Henry C. Fulcher. October 23, 1874. There was never a railroad through Cusseta, so it died in time almost like Jefferson.
The Heard families naturally are excited about honoring John Robin Heard, who no doubt suffered great hardships in making the long trek to Northeast Texas, with the dedication of the Historical Marker to be placed on the side of State Highway 77 at Cusseta County Road on Sunday May 30. 1979 at 2 O’clock.