Fort Worth: A Frontier Triumph

17. Birth of Tarrant County [Includes Image Plates]

CHAPTER 17 Birth of Tarrant County BEYOND eye-view, east of the military post of Fort Worth in 1850, were two settled communities. One was in the present area of Grapevine where the Missouri colony began building in 1845. For a time the community was known as Leonardville and Dunnville respectively, and after 1854, as Grapevine. The second community was around Birdville, not on the site of old Bird's Fort but to the northwest, where in 1848 and 1849 men began to gather. Settlers assembling in sufficient numbers gave men of political minds a new purpose. Their cups were being filled economically, now they reached for political power which would solidify their community ambition . Early in the year of 1849 Colonel Johnson had begun to work in Austin to organize into a county the Grand Prairie and East Cross Timbers around the forks of the Trinity. The future county, Johnson and others thought, should be named in honor of the Indian fighter, General Edward H. Tarrant, who had cleared the area for settlement. General Tarrant 's heroism in the Village Creek Fight, and his service at Bird's Fort as one of President Houston's representatives in completing the Treaty of 1843 dividing the Texas republic between white and red men, had removed the Indians' headquarters from the little forests about the forks 108 BOOK III and nearby streams of the Trinity to present Palo Pinto and Parker counties. Colonel Johnson's effort was rewarded on December 20, 1849; and he became known as the Father of Tarrant County. On that day, the Texas Legislature authorized the creation of Tarrant County from Navarro County, and provided that an election be held to choose not only the county seat, but county officers as welL On August 5, 1850, men in cheerful spirits rode to the polling places. Those of political bent, no doubt, galloped over the prairies in their eagerness to exercise their American prerogative of voting; this time to vote for the creation of their own political district in this newly chosen homeland. They elected Tarrant County's first officials: Sebum Gilmore, county judge; Benjamin P. Ayers, county clerk; Francis Jordan, sheriff; Henry Suggs, treasurer; John A. Hust, tax assessor and collector; and James P. Hallford (sometimes spelled Halford), Daniel Barcroft, Hamilton Bennett, and a Mr. Wilson as county commissioners. John Hust, county tax assessor, conducted his business by horseback. He rode the county, visited the citizens, assessed the taxes, and collected them at the same time. If a man lacked money with which to pay, he merely promised to bring the money to the courthouse at a certain date. Hust boasted, "A man's word was as good as his bond." When the appointed day came, the taxpayer appeared at the courthouse, not with an excuse, but with the tax money. The ordinance creating Tarrant County stated that the future county seat should be located in or near the center of the county. Birdville claimed to have that location, and also laid claim to having the most numerous population in and around her environs-about thirty families . Thus Birdville won the election in the summer of 1850, becoming the county seat. This displeased the voters in and near Fort Worth, who preferred a location closer to their landholdings. Their polling booth had been set up in front of the Daggett-Leonard store under a giant oak. This gnarled tree still shades the grounds at the foot of Samuels Avenue, preserved for posterity as a small park with a historical marker. Organization of Tarrant County was completed by August 26, 1850, with an area of 877 square miles and a population of 664 people, of which 599 were white, and sixty-five were slaves. The state government, however, before the county election was held, went into action immediately after the legislature authorized the creation of Tarrant out of Navarro . In the department of State Comptroller at Austin, is the record of the first tax bill collected in 1850 by W. B. McCabe, assessor-collector of Navarro County "for Tarrant County on property rendered by citizens thereof and situated therein." There were ninety-five taxpayers in Tar- CHAPTER 17 109 rant County and total sum of state taxes paid was $80.78. The tax levy on slaves was higher than on land and cattle. "Thirty-two slaves were valued for tax purposes at $13,600 while 10,384...