Milam County Pioneers - Frontier Times

Frontier Times

Volume 9 - No. 1

October, 1931

Published by J. Marvin Hunter

Milam County Pioneers

Frontier Times appreciated a visit a few weeks ago from Mr. C. F. Locklin, of San

Antonio. Mr. Locklin was a pioneer citizen of Milam County, Texas, and brought us some

very interesting historical data concerning the early days of that section of the Lone

Star State. His people settled there in 1835. His father, Alteman L. Locklin, who died

at his home on the San Gabriel River, six miles north of Thorndale, in November, 1901,

was born in Walton County, Georgia, January 11, 1829, and settled in the San Gabriel

valley in 1845, near the old Mercer fort, where he resided until his death. A. L.

Locklin was a survivor of the Mexican War, a State Ranger and an Indian fighter in

early times, and also a Confederate veteran, serving in the Civil War as a member of

the company of Captain L. S. Ross, Texas Mounted Volunteers. The trials and

vicissitudes he encountered in his early days when this was a wild and uncivilized

country, was met with that indomitable courage known only to the heroes of his time.

On October 25, 1852, he was married to Mrs. Mary Fulcher, surviving wife of James

Fulcher, deceased. Mrs Mary Locklin died at the family home, six miles north of

Thorndale, December 1, 1902, at the age of 83 years. A biographical sketch of this

pioneer mother was published in the Cameron Herald in 1896, and was reprinted in the

Thorndale Thorn, December 26, 1902. It was related to H. N. Roberts and is as follows:

"Sometime in the month of December, 1834, a three-mast schooner sailed from Pensacola,

Fla., bound for Texas with emigrants, some of whom were destined to figure more or less

conspicuously in the early history of that region of country which afterwards became

Milam and other counties of Texas. This schooner, the 'Caledonia', was owned in large

part and commanded by Aaron C. Dodd, who eventually settled on the San Gabriel, a short

distance below the site of the present village of San Gabriel. He was one of the early

judges of this county, and died in Cameron. The Caledonia's passengers, all emigrants

who came to settle in this then wilderness, were Daniel Robinson, Sr., Neil, John, and

Laughlin McLennan and their families; Abigail Fokes, a widow, and her three sons and

three daughters. March 1, 1835, the Caledonia entered the mouth of the Brazos river,

and sailing up the stream ended her voyage at Columbia.

"After a needed rest, for the voyage had been a long one, tedious and rough, these

emigrants procured teams, and moving westward, came to a final halt at the "Sugar

Loaf," since called McLennans' Bluff, not far from old Nashville, on the Brazos, near

the mouth of Little River. They did not all immediately reach that stopping place, but

their journey thither was devoid of interest. The heads of families lost no time in

locating land and the beginning of improvements. Dan Robinson and Abigail Fokes

located their headright certificates side by side on the San Gabriel, some six miles

north of where Thorndale now stands, Neil and Laughlin McLennan settling on Pond Creek,

northeast of the present site of Cameron. They built houses and went to work improving

their lands. Neil McLennan afterwards moved further up on the Brazos and gave his name

to McLennan county. Of his children, John will be remembered by citizens of Cameron as

the father of Mrs. Pinkney S. Ford. He was one of the pioneers of Cameron, helping to

make the first survey of the townsite and adjacent lands.

"From one of the daughters of Abigail Fokes the writer received data for this bit of

history. She was about fourteen years old when her mother moved to Texas, and although

now well advanced in years, her memory is remarkably good, retaining in detail the

occurrences of those early days. She is now the wife of Alteman L. Locklin, well known

throughout the country, and still lives upon her portion of the Abigail Fokes league,

one mile south of San Gabriel village. Of the other children of Mrs. Fokes, the two

daughters are living - Catherine Anderson, with Mrs. Locklin, and Mrs. George W.

Guthrie, near Lexington in Lee county. The sons are dead. John and Daniel were never

married, while Charles, who died in the Confederate army, was the father of W. F.

Fokes, now county judge of Irion county, and Charles H. Fokes, still living in Milam

county and well known.

'Present citizens of this now well settled and civilized region can scarcely realize

conditions as there existed sixty years ago. Where beautiful farms, thriving cities and

towns abound; where railroads and telegraph lines now stretch away in every direction,

and all the luxuriant beauties of a high state of civilization meets the eye, was a

vast wilderness over which roamed the wild Indian, and herds of buffalo, elk and deer

ranged virtually unmolested.

"At the time of which I write - the summer and fall of 1835 - the Indians were,

ostensibly, at peace with the few white settlers, though this peace was deceptive and

not to be depended upon, and a block house and other defences were provided at

Nashville, to which the prople could flee from their farms when danger threatened.

"While our emigrants were pursuing their works of improvement the Indians were hatching

their deviltry and came down upon them without warning, burning their houses, killing

stock, destroying property and murdering defenseless women and children.

"At a time when Dan Robinson, Mrs. Fokes and sons and others were away, looking after

the location of land, a raid was made upon the Pond Creek settlement. The daughters of

Mrs. Fokes were with the family of Neil McLennan, while their aged and Blind

grandmother, Catharine McLennan, the mother of Mrs. Fokes and the McLennans was with

the family of Laughlin about a mile away on the north side of Pond Creek. The first

intimation the women and children at Neil's had of trouble, was seeing a volume of

smoke in the direction of Laughlin McLennan's house. In absence of the men they were

unable to learn the truth, but too soon it was known; the dwelling house had been fired

by Indians. The red fiends first came upon Laughlin where he was at work making rails

in the bottom, and shot him to death with arrows, twenty-five of which were sticking

into and through his body when found. They then advanced on the house where Aunt

Peggy, Laughlin's wife, her three boys and aged mother were awaiting the return of the

son, husband and father to dinner, and killed the old lady by a blow on the head with

an axe and cast her body into the house which they set on fire. After wantonly

destroying everything they could, killing cows, calves and chickens, they left, taking

the distracted mother and her boys with them. When the men folks returned to Niel's

house they knew that the war had begun, but knowing not the force with which they would

have to contend, they could do nothing but provide for the safety of those yet

unharmed, and reconnoiter the strength of the enemy. The women and children were

hidden out in the bushes, only creeping back to the house and cowpen at night for food.

During this time these men scouted the country for the purpose of ascertaining the

extent of the calamity that had befallen the settlement. For some reason the Indians

did not molest any other place in the settlement at that time, and left with their

prisoners.

"The McLennan boys captured were John, aged 8; Neil, about 6, and Daniel, about 4

years. The mother was never recovered, but after several years died in captivity. The

boys were traded from tribe to tribe and the oldest, John, was returned to his

relatives after being with the Indians ten years. Old citizens of Milam, Burleson and

McLennan counties will remember "Bosque John" as he was called. He had become well

Indianized by his long residence among the redskins, and for some time pined for his

dusky 'mamma' and 'brothers' as he had been taught to call them, and for a time he

strongly objected to the restraints of life among the whites, trying sometimes to run

away to the tribe that had adopted him. But he finally became reconciled and his

memory reclaimed. He was later employed as an interpreter for the Indians. When about

thirty years of age he was killed presumably by a fall from the window of the court

house in Waco, but there were many who believed that he was murdered for the pay for

his services that he had drawn a short while before. The second son, Neil, was not

returned to his relatives, or to this vicinity at least, while the younger, Daniel,

died with the Indians.

"About the time of these raids John McLennan, with his family and others, settled on

the Fokes and Robinson leagues on the San Gabriel. The Indians raided their camp,

while the men were absent. They captured his wife, another Aunt Peggy, and binding her

with a bridle rein, fell to work pillaging and destroying the camp. Among their

effects, in boxes they had brought from Flordia, there was a quantity of whiskey and

strong medicines. They fell to guzzling down the spirits, and after a short season of

wild orgies and demoniac yelling and capering, they were overcome by their potations

and were drunk. Aunt Peggy then released herself and taking the children, who were so

small the Indians had not bound them, she went across the river and found a hiding

place in the top of a cottonwood tree surrounded by a luxuriant growth of weeds. Here

they remained for several days and nights, afraid to return from their hiding, except

at night, when they would creep out to the ruined camp and gather corn that the Indians

had scattered over the ground, for food. When the men returned and found the camp

dismantled and abandoned they thought the women and children had been carried away

captives, and they went to the other settlements. for help. Aunt Peggy saw the

rescuing party when it arrived but was so crazed by the suffering and fright she had

undergone that she did not know them, but thought them enemies. They called her by

name, but she ran and had to be run down and captured before she could be convinced

that they were her friends.

"The dangers of such raids was so great that the settlement on the San Gabriel had to

be abandoned for some years, the settlers keeping near together at Nashville and other

places.

"In 1844 Jesse and Peter Mercer moved on the Abigail Fokes league, mistaking that land

for the Mercer location, which, in fact, was further west in Williamson county, a

location that was afterwards the subject of prolonged litigation, which came to an end

but a few years ago. They built what was then known as the Mercer Fort, on the bluff

above the San Gabriel, near the line between the Abigail Fokes and Dan Robinson

leagues, and now the line between the farms of L. L. Lee and J. H. Fulcher. Here the

Indians came down upon the settlement. Peter Mercer saw them approaching and hurried

his wife, with Jesse's three children and some negro children, into hiding in the

bushes across the river. From their place of concealment Mrs Mercer could hear much of

what occurred at the fort, including the shots which killed her husband. As soon as

Peter became certain that the Indians' intentions were hostile he fled, and as he went

over the river bluff he was shot and killed. A young man named Orr was killed while

running through the river, and a negro boy about 16 years old met his death a short

distance south of the fort. When darkness came Mrs. Mercer took her flock of children,

she and the older ones carrying those too small to travel with the speed desirable, and

made their way to the settlement at Nashville.

Abigail Fokes and her family moved to Burleson county, stopping on Davidson's Creek,

some five miles from Caldwell, where they lived until it was safe to settle on her San

Gabriel lands. There her daughter, Mary, from whom this history is mainly obtained,

was married to James Fulcher. Three children resulted from this union only the eldest,

J. H. Fulcer, better known as 'Bud,' is living, and the site of the old Mercer Fort is

upon his farm and very near his residence. A daughter married Alf B. Lovelace, now

living on the Fokes league, while the third child, a daughter died at the age of 18,

unmarried. After the death of James Fulcher, Aunt Mary, as she is affectionately known

by a large circle of friends, married her second husband, A. L. Locklin.

"This is but an outline of the history that Mrs Locklin could furnish - history that

she helped to make. There is much more and many details that I cannot at this time

undertake to relate.

"Many who know naught of this country save its present comfortable civilization, will

find it difficult to realize the dangers, hardships and privations endured by the

pioneers while making this civilization possible. Leaving their homes in the older

states they came hundreds of miles to this wilderness, wrenched it from the murderous

savage and scarcely less crues Mexicans, and paved the way to development and

subjugation of the broad land that is now the Empire State of the Union. These early

settlers are now few in number, and very soon they will all be gone, and as we enjoy

the blessings their bravery, toil and suffering made possible, we should not forget the

debt of gratitude due them, or fail to accord their mead of respect and appreciation."

All credit for this article goes to
J. Marvin Hunter and 'Frontier Times'