Wood County, 1850-1900 Page: 19
201 p. : ill., ports. ; 29 cm.View a full description of this book.
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Dr. W. E. H. Wright provided most of the gristmill
and cotton gin service for the Quitman area and adjoin-
ing Smith County. His daughter recalled that at times
there were as many as 100 wagons waiting in line at the
mill and gin. The mill was located east of Quitman.
Marshall Kay built two sawmills; one on Boggy
Creek and the other on White Oak. Ed Shamburger Sr.
operated a steam mill on Mill Creek in 1871. It burned
in 1884 and was rebuilt. It was later sold and destroyed
by fire a second time. Misfortune did not deter Sham-
burger, however. He returned to Mill Creek to build a
gristmill and shingle mill which he operated for several
years.
Carroll's Mill was in operation in the present
Hawkins area ca 1870. Carroll's son-in-law, W. N.
Burns, ran a shingle mill prior to 1900 east of the Pine
Mills-Redland road.
E. Q. Sham burger owned and operated a shingle
mill nine miles east of Quitman. This mill did an ex-
tensive business. Shamburger is said to have operated
a mill on Little Sandy Creek at one time.
Lee White ran a large sawmill in present Hawkins,
and after the railroad came through, he shipped
lumber to Dallas. He later set up a mill in the Redland
Community and finished the lumber for the St. John
Baptist Church. His next sawmill operation was just
across the Sabine River in Smith County.
R. B. Kuteman was another early day sawmill
operator in Redland. It was said of Kuteman that he
came into the community penniless and barefoot,
worked at a sawmill until he was able to buy it, then
took advantage of every opportunity to acquire land
cheaply in different sections of the county. Long before
he died in 1904, he was called Wood County's first
millionaire. His brother-in-law, W. W. (Will) Myers
assisted Kuteman in later mill operations.
Kitchens & Ray owned a large sawmill near
Redland for a number of years. R. C. (Bob) Minick's
sawmill was located on the Redland to Pine Mills road.
According to his son, Ernest Minick, oxen were mainly
used for hauling logs. The big Missouri mule did not
reach Wood County until shortly before 1900.
Hoard's Mill located east of Mineola on the T & P
Railway was in operation for a time, but the business
failed before Hoard was able to persuade the railway
company to build a switch to the mill. By 1872, there
were two gins near Mineola; Gaines Greer ran one
Stephen Kelly the other. A Mr. Hamilton built the first
steam gin in Mineola. William Hart operated a horse-powered gin four miles south of Quitman. Rucker's Saw-
mill near present Crow employed a Mr. Burrell Cannon
who spent his spare time trying to build an airplane. It
was said that he actually succeeded in inventing a
plane that would remain in the air for a short time.
In 1900, J. W. Ogburn operated a tramway which
ran through the northeastern part of the county. He
called his mill site Jim Hogg, but later it became
Ogburn. Peach and Merrimac were located on this
tramway which had also served as the Texas Southern
Railway in 1897. As early as 1870, J. H. Saxon ran a
sawmill and gristmill at Peach.
A carding factory was built east of Belzora Road on
Boggy Creek in 1848. It was called the Hat Factory.
The builders cut a ditch on a hillside and built a dam
on the creek allowing the ditch to serve as a raceway to
the water wheel.
In the 1850's a Mr. Teel operated a jug factory
north of Big Sandy Creek. A few years later another jug
factory was built near Holly Creek. At least two brick
kilns were located in the present Winnsboro area. The
earliest is thought to have been the Berry brickyard
just south of the townsite. Berry made the bricks used
in most of the early brick buildings. A condensed milk
plant was established in Winnsboro in the 1890's, but
there was insufficient milk to supply the plant and it
was forced to close.
The Wigley Furniture Company, specializing in
handmade furniture, began its operation in Mineola
1874. A factory manufacturing cane and raw-hide bot-
tom chairs was built in 1886 by R. J. Smith. The plant
was acquired by C. E. Revelle and Sam J. Smith in
1895 and converted into a box factory. There was also a
canning plant in Mineola in the 1890's.
The coming of the railroads in the early 1870's
created the tie-cutting industry. This brought hun-
dreds of workmen into the county and tripled the pop-
ulation of the villages along the railroad right-of-way.
Many of the farmers also supplemented their income
by cutting ties.
Among other old time industries located in the
Winnsboro area was a pottery known as the Cranston
Pottery. It was south of the Sulphur Springs road and
east of the Quitman-Mt. Pleasant road. A pottery in
what became the new town of Winnsboro was called
the Donaldson and Hodges Pottery. Another pottery
was located at Cornersville a short distance from
Winnsboro. These potteries were well known and did
extensive business.19
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Wood County, 1850-1900 (Book)
This text gives an overview of Wood County, Texas from roughly 1850 to 1900. It includes historical sketches of various aspects of life in the county as well as anecdotes. Genealogical information and documentation are also included for pioneer families in the area.
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Wood County Historical Society. Wood County, 1850-1900, book, 1976; Quitman, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth91051/m1/27/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .