North to County/Line/Eliasville

Even though most of the town of Eliasville is across the line into Young County, I must consider the input into Stephens County history by the settlers, who had their land in both counties or lived in Stephens County and had a business in the town of Eliasville.

Historic records indicate the earliest settlement in the northern part of Stephens County, near the later-to-be-established town of Eliasville, was Elijah Skidmore, in 1855. Unfortunately, he was killed by Comanche Indians, who rode in that area, killed and scalped him.

In 1857, William Kennedy purchased several tracts of land on the Clear Fork of the Brazos, north of the later site of Eliasville, clearly in Young County. He had hopes of developing a Salt Wells, but the prolific Comanche and Kiowa Indian raids discouraged that idea. However, Kennedy did stay in the area and subsequently sold those tracts of land to the Dobbs brothers and then drifted further south into Stephens County and bought other tracts of land south of Eliasville and north of Ivan.

Some of the landsthat he had sold to the Dobbs brothers formed the townsite for Eliasville. The Dobbs brothers included George B., William M. and Jonathan Lee Dobbs, who located his cabin along the Clear Fork, in Stephens County.

William Dobbs secured the first marriage license ever issued in Young County, on Oct. 3, 1856. Two days later, he married Elizabeth Johnson at Fort Belknap. The three brothers attempted to raise cattle and farm on the rich soil in the valley along the Clear Fork. The brothers subsequently brought their mother to live with them from Missouri. They often ‘forted up” together when the Comanche or Kiowa Indians raided the area. Unfortunately, the civil unrest leading up to the Civil War and the Comanche and Kiowa Indian raids forced them to move east to Parker County for a few years, until 1876. Then, Jonathan Dobbs and his new bride returned to the original survey of land along the Clear Fork, where he had the land surveyed and cut up into plots for the town of Eliasville. Dobbs sold to businessmen and homesteaders and was known as the “Father of Eliasville.”

Another early settler was the Rev. Pleasant Tackett who had settled on Fish Creek, a few miles north of Eliasville, in Young County. He was a Methodist circuit rider who had helped organize the First Methodist Church in Weatherford, in 1857. He had come to this area of Young County with the Indian Agent, S.P. Ross. Tackett had made a claim of land on Fish Creek in 1857, which included the pastures on the slopes above it for his cows. He had three grown sons to help in this endeavor: James, age 22, Lycousus, age 20 and John, age 18. One day the Comanche Indians attacked and put one arrow in a cow, one in Pleasants’ leg and one in James’ arm. Despite their injuries, the men pursued the tribe and killed their Chief, Pine-O-Chana. They had the arrows removed by a doctor and went on about their business. Rev. Tackett went on to help organize the First Methodist Church of Graham in 1874.

The Peveler family came to the area in 1853, as ranchers. Due to the Comanche and Kiowa Indian unrest, they became Rangers and Indian fighters along the Clear Fork. The Peveler family also furnished beef to men stationed at Fort Belknap, located in Young County. Due to the Indian problem, the Peveler family left the area for a few years and then returned in 1875, ahead of the large influx of settlers that came in 1876. They also had claimed land on the Clear Fork and one of the brothers, Grenville Peveler, had built a cabin along the Clear Fork. He actually was settled on Peveler Branch, named after their family. This tract of land was located two miles east of Eliasville.

Elias DeLong arrived from Hunt County, with his large family in tow. They had originated in Alabama.

He established the first store on the riverbank in Eliasville. He lived in a cabin up from the store along the Clear Fork. The town was named after him, Elias DeLong because he had a tremendous impact on the town, along with the Dobbs brothers and one other family, the Donnell family.

The Donnell family also came from Alabama in the caravan of settlers who arrived in 1876. Brothers, William L. and Thomas Franklin Donnell, along with their father, James D. Donnell, all arrived and prepared to settle on the new land. Both brothers had fought in the Civil War and wanted to establish a mill on the banks of the Clear Fork, which was built on the Stephens County side of the Clear Fork. The Donnell men were farmers and stock raisers and had operated a cotton gin and a mill in a small town in Hunt County named after them, Donnellton.

The Donnell brothers immediately went to work on building the dam that would operate the grist mill on the Clear Fork. There was a natural, rock falls and rapids to build on. Unfortunately, the construction was wiped out twice by floods, destroying months of back-breaking work. Finally, the Donnell men hired a government engineer to help design a stronger dam and sold their stock in the company to help finance the third attempt to build the dam. At last, in 1879, they were successful and the grist mill was ready to be put to use. Farmers from miles around brought their wheat and corn to be ground into flour and cornmeal which saved them several days of a round-trip by wagon. The Donnell Mill also furnished flour and cornmeal to Fort Griffin, in Shackelford County.

The Donnell Mill, DeLong’s General Store and Post Office became the center of the community of Eliasville in those early years.

Next week, more on the contributions of the Donnell family and other early settlers to the area.