CHAPTER III

"Listen to the Echoes"

TRAMMELL'S TRACE - HISTORIC GATEWAY TO THE SOUTH

John Trammell was a native of Tennessee who came to Texas in the early part of the 19th century, and eventually made his way to the Mexican border where, as tradition has it, he engaged in the practice of running wild horses out of Mexico and driving them to Arkansas and other states. A ready market awaited him in those sections of the country. His route came through Nacogdoches, thence to Pine Hill, passing about a quarter of a mile east of John Kinard's home in the Dirgin community, crossing Martin's Creek near the Santa Fe Railroad bridge, passing through Tatum where the present water tower stands. Crossing the Marshall Henderson highway, thence to Hendrick's Lake, and crossing the Sabine at Rocky Ford to Camden. Leaving Camden, it went through Grange Hall, Marshall, Woodlawn, and Jefferson or near it, and on north to Texarkana.

It was for a many years the regular route from South to North Texas, and was much traveled. The signs of the old trace were clearly visible a decade ago, but is fast becoming obliterated.

GRAVES ON THE TRAMMELL--TRACE

By J. N. Thornton, Henderson Times, 11/24/1938

There is a grave with a simple stone head mark in a thicket of tall pines and weeds on the old Ware place in northeast Rusk county, with the inscription, "Sacred to the memory of Eli Ware, a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina. Died August 8, 1858". Nothing is left of the old home save a few foundation rocks.

Eli Ware came to Texas in the late 1830's. This much is known definitely, he bought his first tract of land in 1842 according to the index of destroyed Rusk County records. He finally acquired some 8,000 acres at prices ranging from 25 to 50 cents per acre. Ware was a schoolteacher for some years after he settled in these parts, settling in northeast Rusk county (before it was known as Rusk county). He taught school in a log house about twenty feet square, with hard clay floor. The pupils sat on split log seats-there were no benches or desks. A six-foot fireplace furnished heat in cold weather; and all that is left of this building is a few flat rocks that were part of the chimney.

Ware's salary ran around Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) per month, and his school lasted about four months out of

the year. Those pioneer had little time for schooling, as forest trees had to be cleared away if there was to be

farming; and farming was the only profitable employment. The children of school age were "Hands" in those days.

The schoolhouse was located some two miles south of Hendrick's Lake, and one mile and a half north of Tatum, the site having been donated by S. J. Hendrick, father of Judge S. J. Hendrick. The site is a short distance west of Trammell's Trace. Carter Johnson, colored, lives nearby and owns the land. He gets his supply of water from the old spring that supplied the school more than a century ago.

This young and enterprising Professor Ware married a young lady of property; that is, she owned some Negro slaves. He built a home on part of his large holdings, cleared land for an average-sized plantation and other interests. A horse pulled the great beam that animated the newly invented cotton gin. He had a tannery too, and during the War between the States, his tannery furnished much of the leather from which Major Flanagan and his associates made shoes for Confederate soldiers. Major Flanagan, in fact, married the widow of Eli Ware. Ware died, as before mentioned, in 1858. Eli Ware had two children. A daughter, Sally, who married General Webster Flanagan; and a son John, whose widow now lives in Longview. Most of the Ware land, therefore, went to the Flanagan estate. A remnant of some fourteen hundred (1,400) acres is still in the hands of Ware's descendents.

Returning to Ware, the young schoolteacher, his pupils rarely exceeded twenty in number. The Personnel of the student body is of interest, for it was possibly the first school in Rusk county. Nearly all the pupils are long since dead, but two were known to be alive in 1938: Mrs. John Graham, then living in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and Seburn Graham of Grand Prairie, Texas, who is an uncle of Mrs. Gil Jones, deceased. Other Graham children attending the school were: John and Martha. Others were the children of Dr. S. J. Hendrick: Allen, Emma (afterwards the wife of Dr. A. G. Shaw). Seburn, later County Judge, Albert, Lassiter, Wes, Anne (Mrs. Homer Harris) Fannie, (Mrs. Bill Thompson of Kilgore.

Tatum children who attended this school were: Paul, Wesley, Coon., and Rhonda who was the mother of Tatum Gladney, this included all of the children of pioneer, Albert Tatum. The Mc Murtree children, William, Mattie, and Phoebe; the last named becoming Mrs. Jim Kuykendall, who has many descendents in Rusk county and other parts of Texas. Others were George Greenwood, who donated the cemetery nearby, Homer and Dick Kelly, the sons of Ben Kelly. The Page children were also pupils, but their names are not available. A descendent of one of them is "Coon" Heim of Henderson. The children of Mrs. Eliza Jones, grandmother of Gil S. Jones, were Robert, George, Laura (later Mrs. Peter Chamness), Mattie (Mrs. Jim Grigsby) and Amanda. Then there were the Lawless children, Jim and Zeke. The Henry children, Jim Wilson, one time Sheriff of Harrison county, who was a descendent of the Henry family, another was Joe Perry of Church Hill, Rusk county. The old Henry home stood on the Tatum Marshall road about a mile northeast of Tatum. It was built according to the best information about 1854.

Walter Robinson is buried beside Eli Ware. He was the father of Mrs. Clarence Flanagan. The family still controls 1,400 acres that remain of the old school teacher's vast holdings. A part of the land corners in Hendrick's Lake.

Mrs. J. W. Flanagan, before her marriage to Eli Ware, was Miss Betty Vinson, a cousin of Judge T. J. Watt's mother, who was Miss Fanny Lacy, before her marriage.

Hendrick's Lake is separated from Black Lake by a mere ridge of land along which the Trammell's Trace runs due north and south. The Rocky Ford, some three miles north is no longer used, modern highways having absorbed the travel. If there is anything in tradition of Gold treasures sunk a hundred and fifty (150) years ago in the lake, it is probably covered by several feet of mud at this time.

The old Greenwood cemetery, south of the lake, just east of Trammell Trace in Panola county, is also an interesting spot. Here are the graves of the parents of Gil S. Jones. They bear this inscription:

"Sacred to the memory of George W. Jones

Born in 1844 - Died in 1883

Bettie Jones

Born - Died 1875

Dr. Jim Tatum, who died at the turn of the century, was a student in the Ware school. His descendents now living in Tatum are Denson Tatum, two daughters, Mrs. Ara Matthews and Mrs. Mamie Taylor.

Reverting to the Greenwood cemetery, Dr. Hendrick's mother is buried there close to the grave of Mrs. Eliza Jones. Both are entitled to be buried in the State cemetery in Austin. Their husbands were soldiers in the Texas Revolutionary Armies.