Zachariah Davis was born circa 1770 and died between 1808 and 1830. The death date is derived from his youngest child being born in 1808 and his wife being head of the household in 1830. He married August 19, 1790 in Madison county, Kentucky to Prudence Roberts. She was born 1780-1790 and died 1831-1839. An article in a Gurdon, Clark county, Arkansas newspaper dated January 13, 1906 by S.D. Callaway tells of the John Hemphill family moving from Bayou Sara, Louisiana in December 1810 to Clark county, Arkansas. The Hemphills went by boat and the Barkmans and Davises brought his negroes and drove his stock through by land. They arrived in Clark county, January 1, 1811. From this newspaper item, court and census records, the following information has been assembled. Some birth dates (year) are calculated. Nine children are known:

Rebecca Davis born March 24, 1791 in Kentucky; married Jacob Barkman; died January 12, 1837 in Clark county, Arkansas.
Hannah Davis born 1793 in Kentucky; married John Barkman; died after 1850.
Zachariah Davis born 1795; married Mary, maiden name unknown; died October 1, 1846, Clark county, Arkansas.
Nathaniel (Nathan) Davis born 1797; name of wife unknown; died April 2, 1843, Clark county, Arkansas.
Edward Davis born 1799; the records of Clark county, Arkansas show two marriages: Edward Davis to Elizabeth (Betsy) Sorrells or Sorrels, July 31, 1823 and Edward Davis to Nancy Barr or Bear, October 9, 1825; died August 21, 1846.
Lavisa Davis born 1802 in Kentucky; married Dr. John H. Peak, January 8, 1825; filed for divorce, March 30, 1849; died 1859 in Clark county, Arkansas.
Greenberry (Green) Davis born 1804 in Kentucky; married Nancy Parker daughter of Samuel Parker; died 1854, Sevier county, Arkansas.
Elizabeth Davis born 1806; married John Murphy; died after 1850.
John Davis born 1808; married first Matilda Burk; married second Mahala, maiden name unknown.

I suspect the Davises moved from Rowan county, North Carolina with the Roberts. Nathan Roberts and wife Hannah were in Rowan county, North Carolina in 1770 with children: Mary or Polly, Rachel, Nathan Jr., William, Gracey, James, and possibly Prudence and Edward. Edward Roberts had children named Nathan, Rachel, John and others. Mary and Rachel children of Nathan, married brothers John and Thomas Bradley, November 22, 1792; Nathan Jr., married Pricilla (Sellar) White, November 29, 1792; Prudence married Zachariah Davis, August 18, 1790, all in Madison county, Kentucky. Nathan Sr. apparently migrated to Madison county, Kentucky circa 1787. The early Madison county, Kentucky records show Nathan, Edward, William and a Francis Roberts came from North Carolina to Kentucky.

Apparently Nathan and wife Hannah migrated to Howard county, Missouri about 1818. From the minutes of Salt Creek Church in Howard county, Missouri for Friday, October 23, 1818 . . . "received Brother Nathan Roberts and Sister Hannah, his wife" and "Brother Thomas Bradley and Sister Rachel Bradley, his wife."

ANNA SPENCER

Zachariah Davis by Anna Spencer, Paris, Texas, 1982. Revised and edited.

In the year 1810 about the first of December, one John Hemphill, our grandfather on our mother's side, left Bayou Sara, La. in perogues for Arkansas with his wife and children. His wife's name was Nancy Lawson before their marriage (and) his children were: William Hemphill the oldest, my mother Emily Hemphill, Andrew Hemphill, Harriet Hemphill, Narcissa Hemphill, Samuel Hemphill, John L. Hemphill and James Hemphill. Jacob and John Barkman and the Davises brought his negroes and drove his stock through by land and they all landed at the bluff or steamboat landing on January 1st 1811 at what is now Arkadelphia. My grandfather settled on the place now owned by Charles Henderson on Mill Creek, one mile north of Arkadelphia, and as soon as he discovered salt near Daleville, he went to New Orleans with his perogue and bought a lot of salt kettles. The perogues were rowed and pulled up and down the river. He made the first salt ever made in Clark county.

My grandfather was an Irishman with a No. 1 education and it is said that he killed a pumpkin thinking it was a varmint. He died in 1819 and was the first white man ever buried in the Blakeley graveyard. When my grandfather came here there was but the following persons living in what is now Clark county: Adam Stroud and family, Abner Hignight and family, Abram Newton and family, Hendrix White and family, Isaac Cates and family and Jo Butler and family. Old man Dick Tate lived at Tate's Bluff at the mouth of the Little Missouri river.

William Hemphill married a Miss Jacobs. Emily Hemphill married Thomas Fish. Harriet Hemphill married David Fish and Narcissa Hemphill married Robert S. Tate, father of our Bob. Andrew Hemphill married Margaret Welch. Thomas Fish, my mother's first husband, after serving a term in the legislature, died.

About 1815 the Tweedles came to Clark county, and about 1820 one of them married a Miss White and they separated, and the other (married) Adam Stroud's daughter, they also separated.

The names of the Davises were: Green Davis, Zachariah Davis, Nathan Davis, Edward Davis, John Davis, and the girls names were: Rebecca Davis married Jacob Barkman; Hannah Davis married John Barkman; Lavisa Davis married Dr. John H. Peake; and Elizabeth Davis who married John Murphy.

My father's folks came from Missouri in the year 1818 and my grandfather settled on the place Pettit's Creek known now as the Tom Townsend place and built a mill on Caney Creek just above the road running from Arkadelphia to Rome or Gurdon and lived there a few years and then moved to the place that W.A. Trigg lived on for 25 years known in former days as Raymond, where he, my grandfather, died in 1837. He had a very large family. His wife, my grandmother, was Amy Stamps and had twelve children, seven boys and five girls, as follows: J.O. Callaway, J.S.T. Callaway, P.S. Callaway, Thos. M. Callaway, Nat C. Callaway, William A. Callaway and James M. Callaway; and Mary Callaway, Elizabeth Callaway, Nancy Callaway, Amy Callaway, and Charity C. Callaway. Aunt Charity (is) still living in Arkadelphia at the home of her son John Phillips. Mary Callaway, the oldest child, married William Arnette who died at or near Washington, Hempstead county. Elizabeth Callaway married John Forbes and lived only about five years after she married; Anny married A.G. Johnston and lived about seven years and Charity married Phil Johnston. He lived only about seven years after they married.

My father and mother were married in 1825, and "Big Bill" was their first child. He was born September 7th 1826. All the parties in the foregoing are dead except Aunt Charity Phillips.

The foregoing was handed down to me by my mother. In my next chapter I will give some things by tradition and some of my own knowledge.

S.D. CALLAWAY

The Gurdon Times, Twelfth Year, Early Reminiscences by S. D. Callaway, January 13, 1906.

Jacob Barkman before his death in 1852 had become the wealthiest man in Clark County, Arkansas. Early on he owned a large number of slaves as indicated by the 1830 census, there were thirty five, and in time owned several thousand acres of land along with enterprises in cotton, salt, a steamboat line, and horse racing. The first courts for Clark County, Arkansas in 1819 were held in his house built of "sun dried" bricks. He was born in Kentucky on December 20,1784. He was living in Rapides Parish, Louisiana when with a caravan of families led by John Hemphill came to Arkansas. S. D. Callaway a grandson of John Hemphill writes in "The Gurdon Times" newspaper for January 13, 1906: that "Jacob and John Barkman and the Davises brought "John Hemphill's "negroes and drove his stock through by land and they all (arrived) at the bluff or steamboat landing on January 1, 1811 at what is now Arkadelphia."

Jacob Barkman married first Rebecca Davis about1810. She was born March 24, 1791 in Madison County, Kentucky the daughter of Zachariah Davis and Prudence Roberts. She died January 17, 1837 in Clark County, Arkansas. They had three children:

Leanah Barkman born February 14, 1814 in Clark County, Arkansas died September 14, 1831 in Pulaski County, Arkansas. She had been attending school in Little Rock.

William F. S. Barkman born January 26, 1816 in Clark County, Arkansas married Mary M. Scott on November 12, 1845 in Clark County, Arkansas; died July 11, 1862.

James E. M. Barkman born February 23, 1819 in Clark County, Arkansas married Harriet Eleanor Maddox on March 9, 1841 in Clark County, Arkansas. She was born May 22, 1821 near Montgomery, Alabama and died May 16, 1912. He died on September 13, 1865. They are buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery, Clark County, Arkansas.

In 1834, George William Featherstonhaugh [Excursion Through the Slave States (New York: 1844)] traveled from Washington on the Potomac now D.C. to Texas and through Arkansas visited the Barkmans on his way to and from the frontier of Mexico and provides a very descriptive account of his encounters with them:

Jacob Barkman married second Mariah DICKINSON on August 9, 1837 in Clark County, Arkansas. He died August 23, 1852 "after illness of thirteen days" according to his family Bible record. His estate was administered in Clark County, Arkansas.

Blakleytown - The people of Clark County were saddened to learn of the death of Rebecca Barkman in this year 1837. She was the wife of Jacob Barkman, a planter, a river trader, and one of the earliest settlers of this region. Jacob Barkman and his brother John, arrived here around 1811. The Barkman brothers were married to sisters, the daughters of the famous Kentucky bear hunter (Zachariah) Davis. While Jacob's frequent trips to New Orleans transformed him into a gentleman, the frontier born and bred Rebecca kept her rough edges. Little Rock newspaperman Hiram Whittington described her in 1830 as "a woman about fifty (she was actually about 40) weighing in the latitude of 200. She is ill-bred, or rather not bred at all, smokes a dirty pipe, talks all manner of nonsense, and never had a bonnet on her head in her life." Whittington continues, "But when she comes to town . . . she has a kerchief tied around her head, and bear skin shawl over her shoulders. And what is worse than all the rest, she has an awkward way of boxing her husband's ears when he displeases her . . . ."

Rebecca had, however, a gentle nature. She was . . . (accounted) a gracious hostess . . . It is said that the loss of her beautiful daughter Leanah, who died in 1831 while attending school in Little Rock, broke her spirit. Only months before her own death, Mrs. Barkman . . . spent many long hours administering to the needs of a group of Choctaw Indians who had gotten cholera and camped at the Barkman plantation on their way to new homes in the Indian Territory.

The Arkansas News, Old State House, 1990. Printed in Clark County, Arkansas Obituaries and Death Notices 1869-1900, Volume 1, compiled by Allen B. Syler, edited &c. by Bobbie Jones McLane, page 1: excerpts edited.

HOLY BIBLE
Old and New Testaments together
with the Apocrypha:

Translated out of the Original Tongues
By Special Command of King James I of England

Printed for Matthew Carey,
No. 118 Market Street
Oct. 27, 1802

This book was Purchased
Anne Dominee 1803
By John Brown

Jacob Barkman's Book
Born 1784, 20th of December

Rebecca Davis was born 24th of March, 1791 married Jacob Barkman died 17th day of January, 1837.
Jacob Barkman married (2nd wife) Mariah Dickinson, 9th of Aug. 1837.
Jacob Barkman died 23rd day of August, 1852 after illness of thirteen days.
Leanah Barkman was born 14th day of February A.D. 1814 died on 24th day of Sept. 1831.
James E.M. Barkman was born 23rd Feb. 1819, 1840 married (9 March 1841) Harriet E. Maddox born 22nd May, 1821, Montgomery, Ala., she died May 16, 1912.
V.C. Barkman was born on 11th Jan. 1842.

Births.

Rebecca Davis Barkman was born on the twenty-fourth day of March, 1791.
Leanah Barkman was born the fourteenth day of February, 1814.
Wm. F.S. Barkman was born the twenty-sixth day of January, 1816.
Jas. E.M. Barkman was born the twenty-third day of February, 1819.
Harriet E. Maddox Barkman was born the twenty-second day of May, 1821.
Vivian Caddo Barkman was born the eleventh day of January, 1842.
Leila Caddo Barkman was born the thirty-first day of August, 1844.
Leanah E. Barkman was born the third of April, 1847.
Rebecca M. (Marion) Barkman was born the twenty-third day of August, 1850.
Sallie Harriet Barkman was born the eighth of October, 1857.
James Sumner Barkman was born the fourteenth of December, 1859.
Walter Eugene Barkman was born the twenty-seventh day of January, 1862.

Marriages.

J.E.M. Barkman was married to Harriet E. Maddox the ninth of March, 1841.
Leila Caddo Barkman was married to John D. McCabe the twenty-sixth of November, 1863.

Deaths.

Rebecca Davis Barkman died on the eleventh day of Jan., 1837.
Valeria (or Vivian) C. Barkman died on the eleventh of September, 1844.
Jacob Barkman died on twenty-third of August, 1852.
William F.S. Barkman died on the eleventh of July, 1862.
James E.M. Barkman died on the thirteenth of September, 1865.
Leanah E. Barkman died on the fourteenth of July, 1873.
Marion R. (Rebecca) Barkman died on the second of May, 1875.
Harriet E. Barkman died on the sixteenth of May, 1912.
Lelia Caddo Barkman McCabe died on the twenty-sixth of Nov., 1933.
Kathleen Barkman Gates died on the nineteenth of Jan., 1939.
James Sumner Barkman died on the twenty-fourth of May, 1941.

Hunters and trappers first pushed into this area the previous year of Jones' arrival in search of beaver, buffalo and wild mustang horses.  One of the--if not the very--first hunters to arrive in the Red River area was a William D. Steward (Stuart), a "free man of color" who arrive on May 15, 1815 from Kentucky.
William B. Dewees, writing from Jonesborough, describes an 1820 buffalo and bear hunt as follows:  "I have just returned from a five months' buffalo hunt....I joined a party of about thirty men, who were going up Red river to the Cross Timbers on a  buffalo hunt."   "Our encamptment during the winter was at the Tallow Cash Hills, a short distance below the mouth of the Fo [sic] Washitaw [sic] river.  The company were engaged in salting up buffalo meat to take down the river to New Orleans.  Strange as it may seem to you, we have lived entirely upon the game which we took in the chase, during the five months that we have been gone.  In fact, we did not see a mouthful of any kind of food but buffalo and bear meat while we were out, and a more rugged, healthy set of men you never saw in your life.  One might suppose, as we were dependent upon our rifles for our daily food, that we were sometimes placed on short allowance for fresh meat.  But it was not so!  We could see large herds of buffalo in any direction to which we turned the eye.  It was with perfect ease that we rode out in the morning, killed a horse load of buffalo meat, and brought it into camp."  

Jonathan Pool, who as a youngster accompanied Jones and Varner in their move from Missouri, recalled that "the Buffalow was as plenty as the cattle has been in Falls Couty [sic]   it was not uncommon of mornings to see from twenty to thirty elks feeding in sight of the house   Deer Bear Turkeys & mustang horses eaquly [sic] as plentiful   Our grate skin buisness soon enviteed some Northern men from New Orleans with a boat load of goods . . . ."
The prevalence of hunting was described in the recollections of George Wright, whose father moved to Pecan Point in 1816:  "Buffalo was plenty all along the River in all the praries [sic]...[we] Raised no corn or meat only wild meat...I think I have seen as many as five fine deer shot down and slain in the yard in one morning...if a buffalo was wanted it could always be kiled [sic] and delivered at the camp or house the same day and if we wanted fat meat all that we had to do was to [call] Capt. Burkhams dogs and could kill a fine bear at any thime [sic] to season the lean meats[;?] with the skins off the game that gave meat furnished an abundant supply of Coffee and we could go to the woods and find and cut a bea [sic] tree and get enough honey to answer for sweetening for the family."

Several trading posts were established to conduct business with the Indians and trappers.  The settlement at Pecan Point--called by the Caddo Indians "Nanat-scho"--was founded in June of 1815 when George and Alex Wetmore established a trading post on the south bank of the Red River.  They were soon joined by another trader, William Mabbit, who had previously resided at Walnut Hills on Long Prairie.   The traders received merchandise from New Orleans, which they traded to the hunters and Indians for pelts and meat.  The trading post of the Wetmores and Mabbit at Pecan Point was under government orders not to trade with the Caddo Indians, but ignored this directive and conducted considerable dealings with them.

Almost immediately, the trappers came in conflict with the Native tribes of the area -- particularly the Osage Indian -- as well as with the United States government's policies in relation to those tribes.  The first record of conflict in the area is in October, 1815--the year before Henry Jones arrived--when three hunters were attacked by Osage Indians on the Kiamichi River.

According to surviving records, Osage Indian attacks on the settlers on the Kiamichi River area were occurring at frequent intervals during this period.  An Osage Indian band attacked Jacob Barkman, Andrew Robinson, and Abraham Anthony in October, 1815 as the hunters were traveling to rendezvous with another group of hunters on the Kiamichi River about 40 miles from the mouth.  Anthony was killed and scalped.  In June, 1816, John Smith Archils was killed and beheaded while returning to his hunting camp on the Kiamichi River about 15 miles from the mouth.

Mary P. Fletcher in "Arkansas Territorial Pioneers and Their Descendants" appearing in the April 1914 issue of Arkansas Pioneers, says: "as early as 1810 Jacob and John and Asa Barkman lived by trapping and hunting in Ouachita Parish (Louisiana) . . . later they moved to the district now known as Clark County (Arkansas) where they spent eventful lives . . . Jacob Barkman was a member of our first legislature, and the first post office and county court (of Clark) used his house until suitable buildings were erected. This house was built of bricks molded and burnt by his servants who also built grist and cotton mills and boats."

John Barkman was born on July 30, 1786 in Kentucky: another source says Indiana. He married Hannah Davis about 1808 the daughter of Zachariah Davis and Prudence Roberts. The account of his coming to Clark County, Arkansas with his brother Jacob Barkman and his wife's family, the Davises, and the Hemphills in 1811 has been previously given. In October 1815 his brother Jacob Barkman, Andrew Robinson, and Abraham Anthony, hunting and en route to visit another hunting party camped on the Kiamichi about forty miles above its mouth, were attacked by Osage Indians. They attempted to outride their attackers, but Abraham Anthony was overtaken, killed, and scalped. "Later his skeleton was found . . . his hat hanging on a bush nearby."

Prior to 1826 John Barkman moved his family to Lost Prairie in Miller County, Arkansas. This was in the jurisdiction of Lafayette County, Arkansas when it was created in 1827. John Barkman was numbered among the new county's first grand jurors. About 1833 he moved to Texas and settled in Bowie County. He and his wife had a large family of fifteen children:

Mary Ann Barkman born July 31, 1810 in Rapides Parish, Louisiana married Seth Morris.
Rebecca Barkman born March 9, 1812 in Clark County, Arkansas died July 2, 1826 in Miller, now Lafayette County, Arkansas.
Jacob Davis Barkman born December 15, 1813 married Salina Looney in 1841 and died February 15, 1860.
Susanah Barkman born April 8, 1816 in Clark County, Arkansas died March 26, 1837 in Texas.
John J. Barkman born June 4, 1818 in Clark County, Arkansas died February 1, 1837 in Texas.
Isabel Barkman born February 24, 1820 in Arkansas married Joseph A. Looney in 1846.
Mahala Barkman born January 18, 1822 in Arkansas married William Lansdale in 1842.
Hannah Barkman born April 12, 1823 in Arkansas married first William Lansdale in 1842; married second R. H. B. Lansdale.
James Wesley Barkman born February 18, 1826 at Lost Prairie, within the original Miller County, Arkansas, married first Rebecca A. Peake on July 7, 1852 at Arkadelphia, Clark County, Arkansas; married second Hattie C. Martin; died April 23, 1906 near Leary, Bowie County, Texas.
Annie Barkman born December 1827 in Lafayette County, Arkansas married first William McCloskey on June 27, 1849; married second William Cain.
Leanah Barkman born October 21, 1830 in Lafayette County, Arkansas married Robert J. Looney.
Enoch Barkman born October 16, 1832 in Lafayette County, Arkansas married Emily Holmes and died July 15, 1860.
Caroline Barkman born March 2, 1834 in Texas married B. H. Bobo and died March 28, 1864.
Elizabeth Jane Barkman born February 8, 1836 in Texas married first Joseph Tyson; married second a Threadgill; died January 1, 1862.
Jerome Bonaparte Barkman born September 2, 1839 in Texas married Mary Elizabeth Carpenter on December 14, 1865; died November 9, 1892.

The original of this information is in the possession of Jean Barkman Ware Denes, South Lake Tahoe, California. Mrs. Denes obtained the original from Rossie Lee Mercer Hosier, Shreveport, Louisiana. Mrs. Hosier obtained the original from her aunt, Mae Barkman Willis, daughter of Jerome B. Barkman, son of John Barkman and Hannah Davis Barkman.

Births:

Maryann Barkman was born July 31, 1810.
Rebeca B. born March 9, 1812.
Jacob D. Barkman born December 15, 1813.
Susanah Barkman born April 8, 1816.
John J. Barkman born June 4, 1818.
Isabel J. Barkman born February 24, 1818.
Mahala Barkman born January 18, 1822.
Hannah Barkman born April 12, 1823.
James W. Barkman born February 18, 1826.
Annis Barkman born December 15, 1827.
Leanner Barkman born October 21, 1830.
Enoch Barkman born October 16, 1832.
Caroline Barkman born March 2, 1834.
Elizabeth Jane Barkman born February 8, 1836.
Jerome B. Barkman born Sept. 2, 1839.
John Barkman born July 30, 1786.
Hanah Davis Barkman born October 14, 1792.
Wm. L. McCloskey born February 11, 1828.
John Hannah McCloskey born May 25, 1850.
Frances Edgar McCloskey born Nov. 1, 1851.
Isabella Jane McCloskey born November 18, 1853.

J. B. Barkman and Mary E. Barkman Family:
John David Barkman was born December 11, 1866.
Joseph Johnson Barkman was born October 24, 1869.
Franklin Marco Barkman was born December 31, 1871.
Archie Allen Barkman was born April 6, 1874.
Martha May Barkman born May 13, 1876.
Mary Maud Barkman born December 27, 1878.

Joe Barkman Children:

Maud Barkman born February 8, 1892.
Madaline Barkman was born August 2, 1896.
Little Rosie Barkman, July 1, 1881
Franklin Barkman born July 20, 1897.

Marriages:

Wm. L. McCloskey and Annis Barkman was married June 27th, 1849.
Mary Barkman and Mark Willis was married September 22, 1898.
(Their Infant son was born July 12, 1899 and died July 15, 1899.)

J. B. Barkman and Mary E. Carpenter was married December 14, 1865.
Joe J. Barkman and Mattie Anderson was married March 19, 1891.
Frank Barkman and Jessie Answorth was married July 2, 1896.

Deaths:

Wm. McCloskey died April 3, 1855.
Isabel Jane McCloskey died March 17, 1864.
John Barkman died October 8, 1870.
Hanah Barkman died April 26, 1874.
Rebecca Decest, July 2, 1826.
Susanah Decest, March 26, 1837.
John Jr. Decest, Fenruary 1, 1837.
Jacob D. Barkman died February 15,
Enoch L. Barkman died July 15, 1860.
Elisabeth J. Threadgill died January 1, 1862.
Caroline B. Bobo died March 28, 1864.
J. B. and Mary E. Barkman, infant son born June 18, 1868, and died the same day.
John David Barkman died March 13, 1873.
Archie Allen Barkman died March 22, 1875.
Mary Maud Barkman died July 5, 1880.
J. B. Barkman died November 9, 1892.
Mary E. Barkman died July 3, 1898.

Jacob's daughter, Susan Barkman Craven's Family Bible Record shows his date of death to be January 25, 1860.

NOTE: This Bible record was published in Volume XVI, Numbers 2 and 3 (Summer and Fall, 1989) Quarterly of the Texarkana USA Genealogical Society.

On June 26, 1822, Austin granted Wavell his power of attorney to form a company in England for the development of his Texas colony. Austin's land grant and such capital as Wavell might raise were to be the joint stock. On July 4 the partners agreed that all profits from land sales, mining, or commerce in the colony were to be divided between them. Wavell sailed from Vera Cruz on the French brig L'Azema, bound for Bordeaux. On September 3, however, the ship was attacked and captured by Spanish pirates, and Wavell was robbed of $1,700 and all of his property including copies of Austin's grant and his map of Texas. The French ship then returned to Charleston, where Wavell transferred to the British ship London to complete his voyage. He arrived in Liverpool on November 11 and began his attempts to raise capital for his and Austin's enterprise. In May 1823 he informed Austin of the proposal of a London firm to furnish £20,000 in exchange for a half interest in the company. Austin did not respond to Wavell's letter. Wavell returned to Mexico, therefore, with no arrangement for English capital to support Austin's efforts, and the company that the two men had planned was never formed. Although the terms of the agreement for raising funds for Austin's colony had never been put into effect, Wavell still had claims against Austin for loans made to him in 1822, and in 1826 he appointed Benjamin Rush Milam as his agent to recoup his investment. No money, however, was ever recovered.

In 1824 Wavell wrote to Austin for advice on his own colonization efforts. Austin responded in wholly negative terms. "I am heartily sick of the whole business," he informed his former partner, and advised him that if he wished "to keep out of trouble let Colonization matters alone, either here or anywhere else." Nevertheless, on July 30, 1825, Wavell applied for a grant between Sulphur Fork and Kiamicha River on the Red River-an area recommended by Milam that Wavell himself had never seen. On March 9, 1826, the vice governor of Coahuila and Texas, Ignacio de Arispe, granted Wavell's request, giving him a six year time limit to complete the colonization of what is now Lamar, Red River, and Bowie counties as well as portions of Fannin and Hunt counties and Miller County, Arkansas. Wavell's efforts to promote the colony in England were fruitless, however, and Milam's attempts to draw colonists from the United States were hampered to a large degree by Mexico's hostility to slavery, without which the production of cotton was next to impossible. Too, the great Red River Raft, a log jam stretching 165 miles from Loggy Bayou to Carolina Bluffs, prevented river transport to and from the colony. The United States disputed the eastern border of the Wavell grant, correctly claiming that it was actually within the southwest boundary of Arkansas, and finally, on April 6, 1830, Mexico banned further immigration from the United States and refused to issue land titles to any of the colonists that Milam had recruited.

In 1826 Wavell attempted to visit his colony but was prevented by flood waters. In 1828 he returned to Mexico, but did not visit Texas, and in 1831 an attack of rheumatism stopped him from viewing his grant. With Milam's death at the siege of Bexar in 1835, colonization efforts came to a virtual standstill. In 1837 Wavell divided his share in the grant with Milam's heirs, and only in 1841 was the survey of the grant completed. In August 1843 and again in February 1844 Wavell approached the British chargé d'affaires seeking compensation for the loss of his claim, but was informed on both occasions that Her Majesty's Government would not support his claim. Accordingly, he petitioned the congress of the Republic of Texas for compensation, but as the laws of June 12, 1837, had voided all Mexican empresario grants, making them the property of the government, and forbidden any alien to file suit against the republic, his petition was never acknowledged, and Sterling C. Robertson was awarded part of Wavell's lands. At last Wavell attempted to petition the state of Texas for compensation for the $10,000 that he claimed to have expended toward the colonization of the state, and on March 18, 1853, retained Ashbel Smith as his attorney. Not until fall of 1856 was Smith able to see legislation passed that would allow Wavell to file suit for his claims in a Texas court. Under its terms he could request one league of land for every twenty families settled on his grant. This land would be equally divided with the heirs of Ben Milam. As Wavell and Milam had introduced only 140 families onto the colony, however, the value of the 15,498 acres to which Wavell would be entitled would not equal the cost of the suit. Wavell, therefore, dropped his Texas claims to pursue the study of the gunrafts then being developed by the Prussian navy, and he never again made mention of Texas in any of his correspondence. On May 27, 1827, Wavell was named a fellow of the Royal Society. He claimed to have recommended Gail Borden's meat biscuit to the admiralty as rations for the Royal Navy. He died in London on July 10, 1860. He was the father of ten children and the grandfather of Field Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Robert W. Amsler, "General Arthur G. Wavell: A Soldier of Fortune in Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 69 (July 1965). Eugene C. Barker, "General Arthur Goodall Wavell and Wavell's Colony in Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 47 (January 1944). Thomas W. Cutrer, The English Texans (San Antonio: University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures, 1985). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.

Thomas W. Cutrer

County of Bowie

Know all men by these present that for a valuable consideration to us in hand paid by C. D. Barkman of Bowie County, Texas, one, J. W. Barkman of Bowie County, Texas, son and heir of John Barkman deceased and Joe Barkman and Frank Barkman and Rossie Barkman and Mary Barkman , children and heirs at law of J. B. Barkman, deceased, who was a son and heir of John Barkman deceased and Frances M. Taylor, a feme sole and Leomi Scaife and her husband C. A. Scaife daughters and heirs of Enoch Barkman, deceased, who was a son and heir of John Barkman deceased, and Mahala Looney and her husband J. A. Looney of Ellis County, Texas, said Mahala Looney being a daughter and heir of John Barkman, deceased and Isabella McClosky of Kaufman County, Texas, a widow and a daughter and heir of John Barkman, deceased and Leanah A. Looney, a widow, of Ellis County, Texas, and a daughter and heir of John Barkman, deceased and Pet Lansdell, a widow, of Little River County, Arkansas, and a daughter and heir of John Barkman deceased, and Mary Morris, a widow, of the Indian Territory and a daughter and heir of John Barkman, deceased, and Ann Cain of Bowie County, Texas, and her husband William Cain, said Ann Cain being a daughter and heir of John Barkman, deceased and J. B. Bobo, H. B. Bobo and Lem. P. Bobo and Hanah Marley and her husband John Marley and M. C. Jordan and her husband U. C. Jordan children and heirs of Caroline Bobo, who was a daughter and heir of John Barkman, deceased, and Joe C. Tyson, son and heir of Jane Tyson a daughter and heir of John Barkman deceased, said Joe C. Tyson being of Bowie County, Texas have and by these presents do quit claim, release and relinquish to said C. D. Barkman all right title claim and interest we have in and to the following described tract of land: a survey made for Mary Morris by virtue of Certificate number 232 issued to her for 1280 acres of land by the board of land commissioners for Red River County, Texas, on the 7th day of September 1838, and situated in Bowie County, Texas, and commencing at a stake on the South boundary line of the Wm. McKinney Survey, the North East corner of John Barkman Head Right Survey, a stake from which bears a Red oak S. 53 W. 11 vrs, a Hickory brs. S. 55 W. 164 vrs, both marked J. B.; thence East 445 vrs. to a stake, the South E. corner of Wm. McKinney Survey on the West boundary line of Collin McKinney survey, from which a Black jack brs. S. 33 W. 13 8/10 vrs marked J. B.; thence South with Collin McKinney survey 3242 vrs to a stake from which a Black oak brs. N. 33 E. 9 vrs. marked J. D. B.; thence West 1625 vrs to a stake on the East boundary line of said John Barkman survey from which a Gum brs. N. 76 E. 11 vrs., marked J. D. B. a Black oak brs. S. 89 E. 8 vrs. marked E. F.; thence north with John Barkman survey 1797 1/10 vrs. to a stake from which a Red oak brs. S. 61 W. 23 4/10 vrs, a Hickory bears South 47 W. 22 4/10 vrs, both marked J. B.; thence East 1180 vrs, to a stake from whence a willow oak brs. N. 50 W. 10 vrs, a sweet gum brs. N. 41 W. 11 4/10 vrs. both marked J. B. Thence north 1500 vrs. to the beginning containing 637 3/5 acres . To have and to hold unto said C. D. Barkman, his heirs and assigns forever free from us, our heirs and assigns. Given under our hands this the 15th day of September 1893

Hannah Marley
J. A. Looney
John Marley
Mahala Looney
Isabella McCloskey
Leanah A. Looney
Frances M. Taylor
Pet Lansdell
M. C. Jordan
U. C. Jordan
Ann Cain {mark}
William Cain {mark}
Frank Barkman
Mary E. Barkman
May Barkman
Rossie Barkman
Joe Barkman
Joe Tyson
J. W. Barkman
Lem. P. Bobo
H. B. Bobo {mark}
J. B. Bobo {mark}

PARAGON FIRE ONE OF WORST TRAGEDIES HERE

believed to have been published in the Texarkana Gazette (date missing from article)

Death rode with the bolt of lightening that stabbed down through the furious wind and rain which buffeted a youthful Texarkana on the night of July 12, 1882. An estimated 30 men died that night in the Paragon disaster. The tragedy of the Paragon, a saloon and gambling house, was one of the worst in the history of the 75 year old city. An estimated 36 men, some of whom had gone into the saloon for shelter from the rain, were trapped in the Paragon when lightening struck the adjoining brick building and toppled it over on the saloon. A few of them came out alive. Most of them were carried out dead, and some were burned to ashes in the fiery holocaust . . . . in part Our people went to work to rescue the ones whose cries could be heard . . . . They reached James Lawrence whose leg was broken and J. W. Windsor, whose ankle was injured, and brought them out. A. W. Manning, known as "Will" who kept the lunch stand, was taken out dead. Manning had come to Texarkana only three weeks before from Little Rock. The storm had hit the city around 6:30 p.m. The lightning struck the Ghio Building about 20 minutes later. At 11 p.m. the rescue workers were still bringing out the dead. Fire broke out in the adjoining building about this time and though it was almost impossible to endure the heat, the band of men kept at their sad and difficult task of removing the dead. They tried to remove the body of Mike Mayfield with a rope but failed, so they covered it with blankets, zinc and brick. The body of W. B. (Billy) Russell, the bartender and also the mayor of Texarkana Texas, could not be removed until long after it was discovered. Midnight came and went and still the rescue workers were bringing out the dead, some of them burnt beyond recognition. When it was all over 29 bodies had been removed from the Paragon. Among the dead were Russell Mayfield, Manning, John Morefield, Col. Mercer, Tom Hull a locomotive engineer, John Poland of Shreveport, John Mayfield, Robert Henderson, Nat Vice, Milton Strange, H. B. Spencer, Tony King, Dan Staples of Richmond Ark., Professor A Rosswindor, and a negro. No stores opened their doors on the day following the tragedy. (The article goes on to say nine more bodies were removed, burned beyond recognition.) (Lige Vaughn, a negro laborer, was on the roof of the new Ghio building checking the drain pipe. When lightning hit the building Vaughn went down with it, breaking a leg.)

From Mr. Frank McFerrin: The following comes from a newspaper article in The Weekly Texarkanian, 24 July 1924. The article is entitled "Anniversary of Texarkana's Great Disaster, The Paragon Horror," written by W. B. Weeks, an older gentleman who came to Texarkana in 1876 and who witnessed the aftermath of the tragedy. He writes that the Paragon was a 145 foot long box house that extended the entire length of the lot. It stood one building from the corner of Broad and State Streets. The building being constructed next to it was a three storied brick structure called the Ghio Building. During a storm the incomplete brick wall of the Ghio structure collapsed onto the Paragon, crushing the frail frame structure and all those who had retreated into it or who were patronizing the saloon during the storm. He writes, "Many persons lost their lives in the holocaust, but the exact number will never be known. Estimates made at the time varied; the lowest placed the number at 35 and the highest at 80. Persons best in position to know, however, generally agreed that 52 was about the total number killed." The problem with arriving at an exact number of dead apparently became insurmountable due to three circumstances: (1) The fact that Texarkana was a railroad town and on any given day there may be approximately 200-300 people staying over for a day or several days. The transients would be hard for citizens to account for. (2) The resulting fire was so complete and thorough that the remains of those burned were nothing more than bones. (3) Undertakers would have been in the best position to know the closest approximate number of victims and it was possibly this group of people to whom Weeks refers to in his statement above. Weeks states that only one man escaped as the collapse was occurring. That was J. B. Gregory. He mentions the names of 12 of the most prominent victims: Milton Strange, W. B. Russel, a former mayor of Texarkana, Texas, Mike Mayfield, John Morefield, Colonel Mercer, a gentleman gambler, John Poland, Tom Hall, railroad engineer, Jimmy Lawrence, polar dealer, Uncle Nat Vice, Professor A. Roost, teacher of the Texarkana Brass Band, A. W. Manning, lunch stand keeper, and Charles Spencer, musician. So horrible was the ensuing fire that W. B. Russel, one of the victims, shot himself with his revolver, when the flames began to take him. Weeks mentions members of the rescuers as being James McMahon, Dr. Beidler, Captain Rosborough, A.L. Ghio, Charles S. Todd, Homer Yandes, J. H. Draughon, Walter Driscoll, C.E. Dixon, Zack Few, W. H. Sweeney, Pat Lonergan,Bob Cannon, Hank McCartney, John H. Trigg, J. F. Smith, John Taylor, Pat Hardin, W. G. Cook, John E. Blake, M. V. Flippin, Ben F. James, Walter E. Buron, and Tom Dailey.

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