Pioneer History of Wise County, Texas >From Redmen to Railroads –Twenty Years of Intrepid History By Rev. Cliff D. Cates, 1907 471 pages, searchable Requires Adobe Reader 5.0 or higher to View $11.99 + $1.99 shipping and handling http://cgi.ebay.com/Wise-County-TEXAS-Pioneer-History-TX-Genealogy_W0QQitemZ200317289027QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2ea3d74243 The history of white settlement in Wise County began with Sam Woody, who moved to Deep Creek (then in Cooke County) in 1854. His original log cabin remains as a historic site. Many other settlers, eager to take advantage of the state preemption grants of 160 acres of land, followed Woody into the area. District surveyors from Cooke County in the north and Denton County to the east mapped out the area, most of which was drawn from Cooke County. Wise County was officially established by legislative act on January 23, 1856, and was named in honor of Henry A. Wise, a United States Congressman from Virginia, who, during the 1840s, supported the annexation of Texas. The county seat, Decatur (originally named Taylorsville), was selected by a countywide election and, though challenged after the courthouse burned in 1895, has remained the seat of government to the present. The majority of Wise County settlers were immigrants from southern states, though only fifty-three of the county's 3,160 white residents owned slaves in 1860. Wise County was one of the Texas counties that voted against secession from the United States. In 1862, with most of the male population fighting in the Civil War, Wise County became a refugee camp. “In most of the so-called histories of Texas counties examined in connection with the present labors, emphasis has been found, too often, to have been placed on the ephemeral or ludicrous phases of the lives of the people represented, a temptation that has not been yielded to in the present instance. The admixture of anecdote with fact tends, as presently viewed, to weaken the latter, which admittedly is the most important; further, could the issue be left to posterity, there would unquestionably be a decision in favor of fact. It will not be here assumed that the lighter sides of life have no relative value; on the contrary they have, and the instances of this character gathered in connection with other matter, but eliminated for certain just reasons, will doubtless be presented in a second volume at a later date.” Follow link to see Table of Contents