Dallas Morning News 4 Aug 1893 page 8

DALLAS COUNTY PIONEERS

An Interesting Review of the Early History of Farmers Branch

In the course of a lengthy address Hon. JOHN H. COCKRAN referred to the history of Farmers Branch, as follows:

It was here on Farmers' branch, in December 1842, that THOMAS KEENAN and the PULHAM boys built the first two dwelling-houses ever built in Dallas county; the third one was built by WM. M. COCHRAN in the spring of 1843. True, Col. JOHN NEELY BRYAN, the founder of the city of Dallas, built in the same year a block house on the north bank of the Trinity river, near where the courthouse now stands, and the BEEMANS came down from Bird's old fort the same year and made what was known as the Beeman settlement east of where the city of Dallas now stands in all her present beauty and grandeur. It was near here, on Farmers' branch, near where we now stand that WM. M. COCHRAN, my father, fenced in and broke the first farm of fifty-three acres in 1843 that was ever put in cultivation in Dallas county, on which in 1844 was sown the first wheat and planted the first cotton ever sown and planted in Dallas county. It was here on Farmers' branch where the weary, worn traveler and emigrant of 1843, 1844, 1845 and 1846 first found a warm and hearty welcome by those who had preceded them. It was the Farmers Branch settlement that was first know abroad and to which the pioneers of 1843, 1844, 1845 and 1846 directed their march and finally pitched their tents and obtained their supplies and from which they prospected and made their several selections and formed the different settlements, or neighborhoods of the county, familiar only to these of us who survive. It was here on Farmers branch, in 1845 that the first Methodist church ever organized in Dallas county was organized with my mother, NANCY J. COCHRAN, Uncle ISAAC B. WEBB and aunt MARY WEBB and FRANKLIN FORTNER as its organic members. It was here on Farmers' branch, in the spring of 1846, that Elder DAVID MYERS, father of the brothers JOHN M and CLEVE MYERS in connection with Elder WILLIAM BOALES, organized the first Baptist church ever organized in Dallas county, and baptized THOMAS KEENAN and wife in Farmers' branch, who were the first persons ever baptized in Dallas county. It was here, on Farmers' branch, that the first church houses ever erected in Dallas County were built by the Methodist and Baptist denominations. The first was called Webb's chapel and the second Union church. It was here in the spring of 1846 in Webb's chapel, which stood near where A. J.DENNIS now lives, that THOMAS C. WILLIAMS taught the first school ever taught in Dallas county, at which school your humble servant learned his A B C's. It was here, on Farmers' branch in 1846, that the first Sunday school ever organized in Dallas county, was organized. It was here, on Farmers' branch, that WILLIAM BOALES erected the first blacksmith shop ever erected in Dallas county, with an old colored man by the name of JORDAN as blacksmith. It was here, on Farmers' branch that WILLIAM BOALES erected the first corn mill, on stilts, run with a rawhide band, that was ever built in Dallas County. It was here, on Farmers' branch, that R. J. WEST built the first tanyard and tanned the first leather ever tanned in Dallas county. On account of the demand for the leather it was taken from the vats and used before being properly tanned, and when this half-tanned leather was wet and then became dry, it was as hard as a board. From this fact the north prong of Farmers' branch on which this tannery was built, took the name of "Rawhide branch," which it bears to this day. The first shoe shop ever in Dallas County was run by an Englishman by the name of SIMS, on Farmers' branch. The first county clerk and the first representative in the legislature Dallas County ever had was a pioneer citizen on Farmers' branch. The first land office ever established in North Texas was established on Farmers' branch in 1845, near where WHIT WEBB's house stands, by HEDGECOCK, agent for Peters' colony. Last, but not least, it was here on Farmers' Branch that TOM and DAVE MARSH, WILLIAM and WHIT WEBB, JAMES M. KENNEDY, CLEVE MYERS, JOHN R. WEST, G. W. GOOD, A. M. and WILLIAM P. COCHRAN and your humble servant were schoolboys and rabbit and coon hunters together.