Wood County, 1850-1900 Page: 42
201 p. : ill., ports. ; 29 cm.View a full description of this book.
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Pine Mills. was settled prior to 1860. By 1870, the
population centered about a sawmill operated by R. B.
Kuteman. The settlement was originally called
Reedsville in honor of Richard G. (Dick) Reed, one of
the first settlers. Reed was among the first sawmill
operators in this area. He became first postmaster
when the postoffice was established in 1875. Willia E.
Burkett was appointed in 1878. By 1885, Pine Mills had
a population of 130, there were two churches, a school,
two gins, and several stores. W. E. Burkett who had
run a blacksmith shop since 1876, established a
merchandise business in 1886. A merchandise store
known as Davis & Maberry was established by Joe
Connell and Park Davis. Dr. R. O. Connell ran a drug
store in the late 1880's. Pine Mills was a trading center
for the adjoining communities for a period of years.
Some of the early settlers were Dick Reed, Dr. Hays,
Dr. R. O. Connell, J. R. Connell, Quince Shamburger,
Belia Churchill, J. B. Mansell, Will Jordan, Tom
Maberry, Isham Burnett, D. V. Wagoner, Jim Moore,
Sanford Mezzles, Frank Carrington, the Dobbs and
Morrison families, and a Mrs. Lucy Kollcrease, who
lived to be 132 years of age.
Hainesville's first family known to have settled
in the present Hainesville vicinity was Joseph and
Martha Varner Moody, who built a log cabin less than
two miles southeast of the village site in 1845. By the
1860's there were several families in the area. Dr. W. J.
DuPree built a southern-type house east of the present
Hainesville site and practiced medicine in the adjoin-
ing communities. Mrs. Thursa Puckett, widow of Civil
War veteran John Puckett, lived west of the DuPree
home. A postoffice was first established under the
name of DuPree in 1892. T. J. Billings was the first
postmaster. In 1893 the postoffice was named
Hainesville for C. H. Haines, a prominent early settler
who married Martin Varner's youngest daughter.
William J. Bankston was the first postmaster of the
Hainesville postoffice.
G. F. English operated a cotton gin in the 1890's.
Years before, C. H. Haines built the first industry in
the area, a grist mill powered by water on a stream
called Mill Race.
The first two business establishments in
Hainesville were the general merchandise store belong-
ing to the Haines family and Dr. James Puckett's of-
fice. These were connected with a covered walk-way.
Dr. Puckett began his practice in Hainesville in 1894.
Later, Ellis Burkett built a store, and Fletcher English
established a drug store. During the early years of
Hainesville several other business houses were es-
tablished, but the main industry was farming. Cotton
was the major crop, and the Lindley gin often hadSome of the early settlers in Hainesville and the
surrounding area were Chris Haines, Calvin Blackwell,
Tim Good, G. F. English, Dr. J. M. Puckett, Dr. W. J.
DuPree, Joseph Moody, Owen Wood, Sr., the Penix,
Williams, Carson, Vickery, Anders, Carlisle, Billings,
Flournoy, Welsh, Veitch, Shaw, Stewart, Lamineck,
Whitehurst, Mansell, Burkett, Henderson and
Bankston families.
Crow was called Graham when a railway station
was built in 1876. It was renamed Crow when a postof-
fice was established, for Wilson Crow, an employee of a
local sawmill. The Jaco family lived in the area at an
early date. The Dunahoe family came ca 1874. In its
early days, Crow had two or more stores. Jack Giles
owned one; Ed Dobbs and Henry Dunahoe operated
another. Later a Mr. Meazles ran a store in the village,
and B. H. Greer operated a large store for a number of
years. There was also a saloon in Crow which is said to
have been the last saloon in operation in Wood County.
It was owned by Kitchens and Canfield.
For a time Crow showed promise of being a real
town; three streets were opened and lots were platted,
but nothing materialized. When the timber in the sur-
rounding area was cut, the sawmills moved away tak-
ing a large part of the population with them.
John K. Rucker, a sawmill operator, was the first
postmaster; Henry M. Dunahoe was the second. The
Crow postoffice was the last small postoffice to be
closed in the county.
Golden originated when C. W. Tucker built a saw-
mill near the site in the late 1870's. It became a village
when the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad built a
line from Greenville to Mineola in 1882, and was
named for John G. Golden, a railway construction
engineer. The postoffice was established in 1885; Julius
C. Lamberton was appointed postmaster. The popula-
tion of Golden was 50 at that time but by 1890 it had
increased to 100. There were two sawmills, a shingle
mill, cotton gin, three churches and a school. Although
primarily a farming area, the railroad tie-cutting in-
dustry played an important part in the small town's
economy. Golden continued to prosper for several years
and at one time supported a bank. Postmasters from
1886 through 1900, were James U. Searcy, William A.
Bellomy, Ira R. Smith, Samuel A. Lair, Mary E. Hardy
and William A. Bellomy, who was reappointed in 1900.
Source: A History of Postoffices and Com-
munities, by Wright Patman
History of Golden paper prepared
by Jayne Benisheftwenty to twenty-five bales of cotton waiting to be
ginned. In 1893, Thomas Blackwell wrote his family in
Georgia that the land was producing one and one-half
bales per acre.42
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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/m1/50/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .