Editing Mills County, Texas (section)

==History==

The [[Clovis culture|Clovis]] are the earliest known people to inhabit the territory before Mills County, though recent discoveries indicate that there were people living in the area as far back as 15,000 to 20,000 years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Howard |first=Steve |date=December 15, 2022 – January 4, 2023 |title=Update on Archeological Excavations in Mills and Surrounding Counties |journal=The Evant Star |volume=17 |issue=17}}</ref> More recently, the [[Tonkawa]] occupied it, and there are numerous vestiges from their campsites that remain across the county, including cooking [[midden]]s.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Blackwell |first=Hartal Langford |title=Mills County: the Way it Was |publisher=Mills County Historical Commission |year=1976 |oclc=731220652}}</ref> Thought to be the first white man to explore pre-Mills County, [[Pedro Vial]] visited in 1786 and 1789 while traveling between San Antonio and Santa Fe.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Raymond Harper |title=Sixty Years of Education in Mills County |year=1957 |oclc=9459794}}</ref> Captain Henry S. Brown, believed to be the first white visitor, led a group to the area in 1825 to recover stolen stock.<ref name=":27" /> Mills County was once a part of two Mexican municipalities, Milam (originally Viesca Municipality) and Bastrop (originally Mina Municipality).<ref name=":29">{{Cite journal |last=Jaynes |first=Stella B |date=1993 |title=Interesting Historical Facts Concerning Mills County |journal=The Goldthwaite Eagle}}</ref>
[[File:Welcome to Mills County, Meat Goat Capital of America roadside sign.jpg|left|thumb|"Welcome to Mills County, Meat Goat Capital of America" roadside sign]]
The [[Comanche]] regularly hunted in pre-Mills County since it was located along the southeastern edge of a large buffalo range.<ref name=":9" /> Native tribes moved through the area via what locals called "The Comanche Trail," which led to southern Texas.<ref name=":1" /> Starting in the 1840s, aggressive groups of [[Comanche]] and [[Apache]] pushed the Tonkawa out and raided the area in an effort to keep control of it as late as 1850, frequently stealing horses and scalping settlers who had started to move there in numbers after 1855.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Mills County Historical Commission |url=https://txmchc.genealogyvillage.com/ |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=txmchc.genealogyvillage.com}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite book |title=A No Man's Land Becomes a County |publisher=Mills County Historical Society |year=1958 |editor-last=Gatlin Bowles |editor-first=Flora |oclc=2666894}}</ref><ref name=":9" /> The earliest settlers arrived when there were no fences and land was free.<ref name=":6" />

Eventually the Apache moved west, leaving the Comanche in control.<ref name=":9" /> Earlier, in 1835, the General Council of Texas sent the first [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]] to aid settlers.<ref name=":6" /> In 1854, the Texas Legislature appropriated land located on the Texas frontier, built a series of reservations, and moved the natives there starting in 1855, yet there continued to be native incursions into white settlements.<ref name=":9" /> By the mid 1870s, native violence began to diminish, yet leading up to the 1880s, Comanche and [[Kiowa]] continued to attack the area.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /> Comanches raided Williams Ranch in the late 1870s, the last recorded assault in the area.<ref name=":6" />

The earliest communities in pre-Mills County were Center City and Hanna Valley, both organized in 1854.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":26">{{Cite web |title=Historical Markers |url=https://txmchc.genealogyvillage.com/markers.html |access-date=2023-01-08 |website=txmchc.genealogyvillage.com}}</ref> One source identifies the David Morris, Sr., and Dick Jenkins families as the first pioneers in the area, who settled south of present-day Center City in 1852.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6" /> Killed by the natives, Dick Jenkins is thought to be the first person buried in what was to become Mills County.<ref name=":6" />

[[Williams Ranch, Texas|Williams Ranch]], established in 1855 in Brown County, was the first community that developed into a large, dynamic town after establishing trade with Mexico and serving as a major center for cattle business, capitalizing on its location near the Western Cattle Trail.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> The town served as the "headquarters" of the West Texas frontier and was expected to serve as the county seat.<ref name=":9" /> "Old Fort Phantom Hill Road," the only military route that crossed Mills County, passed through Williams Ranch, connecting Austin and Fort Phantom Hill, located north of Abilene.<ref name=":1" /> In 1876, a [[Telegraphy|telegraph]] line was built along the road, later to be known as the "Wire Road."<ref name=":1" /> The Florida Hotel (locally referred to as the Hutch Hotel) at Williams Ranch hosted a telegraph office operated by Hallie Hutchinson, the first woman telegraph operator in the U.S.<ref name=":6" /> The telegraph line connected Austin and Fort Concho.<ref name=":1" /> It was eventually replaced by a telephone line that was thought to be the longest in the United States.<ref name=":9" />

A federal military facility, Camp Colorado, was established in 1856 near the community of Ebony.<ref name=":9" /> Numerous wagon and stage coach trails crisscrossed the area during this time.<ref name=":1" /> "Fort Phantom Hill Trail," a military route that connected [[Fort Phantom Hill]] and [[Austin, Texas|Austin]], passed through the territory.<ref name=":1" />

During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] and following [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]], an unprecedented number of people moved west looking for a better life, attracted by plentiful and inexpensive land.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Cox |first=Ross J. |title=The Texas Rangers & the San Saba Mob |publisher=R. Cox |year=2005 |oclc=63148340}}</ref><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":23">{{Cite web |last=Bridges |first=G. Frank |date=1976-03-11 |title=The Goldthwaite Eagle (Goldthwaite, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 11, 1976 |url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1492657/m1/1/zoom/ |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=The Portal to Texas History |language=English}}</ref> Some of them settled in the area before Mills County formed and helped establish the early communities.<ref name=":1" /> Records demonstrate that 1876 marked the largest influx of immigrants into the area.<ref name=":6" />

Most of the early settlers lived according to Christian principles they brought with them that were reinforced by religious leaders in their new communities.<ref name=":6" /> That said, gun altercations to settle differences were common, and legal repercussions were usually immaterial.<ref name=":6" />

This isolated part of Texas, popularly referred to as a "no man's land," also attracted a variety of criminals, and minimal and often corrupt law enforcement allowed crime to surge.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=McSwain |first=Ross |title=See No Evil, Speak No Evil: a History of Mob Violence in the Texas Heartland, 1869-1904 |publisher=Shadetree Enterprises |year=2008 |location=San Angelo, TX |oclc=308648404}}</ref> The first law officer was W.W. Queen, who took his position in 1883 before Mills County formed; there are no reliable records documenting the existence of law enforcement officers before then.<ref name=":6" /> Other sustained problems roiled the area, including native incursions, conflicts related to the cattle business, community feuds, agrarian discontent, and political unrest.<ref name=":2" /> This tumultuous environment was a crucible for violence.<ref name=":2" /> Only a few pioneers joined the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]] during the Civil War because they were needed at home to fight their own "war" against the attacks of natives and outlaws.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |title=TSHA {{!}} Mills County |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/mills-county |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=www.tshaonline.org}}</ref>

Originally organized to protect settlers, [[Frontier justice|vigilante]] "committees" formed with the tacit approval of law officials that degenerated into thieving, vindictive, and murderous groups that terrorized the area, killing an estimated one hundred people during their reign in Central Texas.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6" /> Also known as "The Assembly," they were veiled in secrecy and bound by a strict code of silence, which heightened settlers' fear.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> The earliest one started at Williams Ranch in 1869, called the "Honest Man's Club," that was supposed to rid the town of criminals.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Soon a feud erupted between it and another group, the "Trigger Mountain Mob," which was the salvo that launched the mob's rule.<ref name=":6" /> Groups operating in Mills County were sometimes collectively referred to as "The Mills County Mob."<ref name=":3" /> The mob's control of the area started to subside with the arrival of the railroad in 1887, which helped bring civilized norms.<ref name=":2" /> The Texas Rangers were eventually called to the territory in 1890 to quell the mob's depravities, though its activity continued into the early twentieth century.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />

By 1885, the pre-Mills area had reached a population of 6,493 and had become civilized enough to justify forming a new county.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":23" /> At the time, the only significant communities were Center City, Mullin, Star, and Williams Ranch.<ref name=":6" /> Both Goldthwaite and Mullin were only tent villages.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":23" />[[File:Phil H. Clements.jpg|left|thumb|Phil H. Clements, "Father of Mills County"]]
[[File:1880 County Map of the State of Texas detail.jpg|left|thumb|1880 county map of Texas detail showing existing counties before Mills County was created]][[File:MIls County Overlay Map.png|left|thumb|Map showing which parts of existing counties were used to create Mills County]]
[[File:Mills County, state of Texas. LOC 2012590045.jpg|left|thumb|Mills County map, 1888]]

Known as "The Father of Mills County," district representative and Williams Ranch resident Phil H. Clements (1854–1932) lobbied in Austin for a new county in 1887, though planning for the county had started in 1885.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":23" /> There was opposition to creating the new county—Brown County, in particular, fought against it.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":23" />

In an action of the twentieth [[Texas Legislature]], Governor [[Lawrence Sullivan Ross|L.S. "Sul" Ross]] approved H.S.S.B. No. 85 on March 15, 1887, which carved Mills County out of parts of [[Brown County, Texas|Brown]], [[Comanche County, Texas|Comanche]], [[Hamilton County, Texas|Hamilton]], and [[Lampasas County, Texas|Lampasas]] counties—all of which were created much earlier in the mid-to-late 1850s.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />  It was named after [[John T. Mills]], honoring his service as a [[Republic of Texas]] Supreme Court justice.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Mills County Memories |publisher=Mills County Historical Commission |year=1994 |location=Goldthwaite, Texas |oclc=32618426}}</ref> The bill provided directions for conducting an election to determine government leaders and the location of the county seat.<ref name=":0" />

Brown County Commissioners Court met on July 25, 1887, with Brown County Judge R.P. Conner presiding, to began organizing the government of Mills County.<ref name=":29" /> The court created five justices precincts, four commissioners precincts, and assigned ten residents to carry out the county's first election of its officials.<ref name=":29" /> The ten voting places and election administrators were: no. 1. Mullin, M.C. Kirkpatrick; no. 2. Jon Ward's house, A.N. Perkins; no. 3. Center City, F.M. Ragsdale; no. 4. Parson Priddy's house, A.P. Kelly; no. 5. Goldthwaite, John James; no. 6. Pleasant Grove School house on Sims Creek, Phil McCormick; no. 7. Big Valley, M.V. Nowell; no. 8. Rock Springs, J.E. McGowan; no. 9. Regency, Sam Jones; and no. 10. Buffalo School house, H.G. Ratliff.<ref name=":29" /> The winners of the election met with Judge Conner on Monday, September 12, 1887, in Goldthwaite, to take oaths and began their duties.<ref name=":29" /> September 12, 1887, is recognized as the date the county was organized.<ref name=":0" /> The first elected officials of county were: J.B. Head, county judge; G.H. Dalton, commissioner, precinct no. 1; D.S. Kelly, Commissioner, precinct no. 3; S.M. Moore, commissioner, precinct no. 4; George W. Cunningham, sheriff; and Phil H. Clements, county clerk.<ref name=":29" /> A special election held on October 10, 1889, determined Goldthwaite as the county seat, beating Mullin and Pegtown.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6" /> The first legal actions at the Mills County clerk's office was to issue a marriage license and to file a divorce suit, and both transactions were instigated by Black couples.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bridges |first=G. Frank |date=1976-03-18 |title=The Goldthwaite Eagle (Goldthwaite, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 18, 1976 |url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1492658/m1/1/zoom/ |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=The Portal to Texas History |language=English}}</ref>

An earlier piece of legislation, House Bill No. 421, would have created a county with a similar boundary as Mills called "Key," but the bill was defeated on February 21, 1881.<ref name=":0" /> An early [[Texas General Land Office|General Land Office]] map dated March 10, 1879, references Mills County and names a place in the center of the county, "Winona."<ref name=":0" />