Hello Everyone, I visited this site this morning and only one word for it, WOW. It has so many items on every name I typed in. Go take a look. The second web site is from the first one, but deals with a Hunt family in Texas. Great reading. Jean http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amhome.html http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query Lubbock [County?] Lubbock, Texas {Begin handwritten} [?] {End handwritten} pg. 1 [EXPERIENCES OF A PIONEER WOMAN "My father Dr. William Hunt , was a physician employed by the government in the Indian Territory, for 10 years," Mrs, George B. Bean said. "I was born 25 miles south of Arkansas City in the northern part of Oklahoma, but my parents moved to the south Plains when I was quite small and located at Estacado in 1881." "The land around Estacado used to belong to the State of Texas,but Paris Cox acquired part of it and started a little settlement there. This settlement was generally known as "The Quaker Colony" and was the only Quaker settlement ever established in the state of Texas. In 1884 the population was estimated at 100 inhabitants, numbers of new families moving in each year, so that at times it seemed that [Estacado?] would grow into a nice little town." "There was one church in the colony, the "Friend's Church," they had a frame building where they conducted their services. Also we had a school there, this was the first school on the Plains, and is often spoken of as the first school in Lubbock County, but it was really not in Lubbock County it was in Crosby County,however Crosby County had not as this time been organized. My sister "Emily"/ {Begin inserted text} Hunt {End inserted text} was the teacher in this first school on the Plains. She taught in a dugout and had only six pupils and I was one of the six. I am afraid I did not apply myself very diligently to my books thought I was only about 5 years old and as my sister was the teacher I felt [privileged?] to do as I pleased." "There was only one water well in Estacado at this time." Mrs, Bean continued. It was called "The Public Well," and was dug by Paris Cox, who hauled the rock from Blanco Canyon to wall the well." "The Plains suffered a drouth in "84" and the people had to buy almost everything they needed," Mrs. Bean explained, {Begin handwritten} [??] {End handwritten} ------------------------------------------------------------------------ {Page image} {Begin page no. 2} "The stores had to have their supplies hauled from Amarillo and Colorado City on that they sometimes ran short on provisions. Rice corn was the principal grain crop raised, and when the colony [?] to face a shortage on flour, rice corn was ground into meal and this was used to make [hoe?] cakes. We had [plenty?] of rain the next year and raised abundant crops. There was one thing that was a great help to the little settlement during the lean years though and that was, that there was nearly always plenty of meat for the tables, for wild hogs were still to be found in the country and thousands of antelope and buffalo roamed the plains. There were a good many deer here then too, and these provided food for a good many of the [people?]. A number of the colonists raised small crops, some of these were [cultivated?] with wild horses which they captured between Estacado and Amarillo, these animals soon became domisticated and learned to do the work of the ordinary work horse on the farms." "Estacado enjoyed a year or two of prosperity and [?] on a building boom, when the county was organized. The county seat was located at Estacado and they built a jail and a two-story court house there. A number of new residenceswere erected, we already had a boarding house "The Llano House" which was owned and operated by my / {Begin inserted text} father's cousin {End inserted text} "George M. Hunt. Cousin George also had a store. There was another store which was owned by Charlie [Hokins?]. The Central Plains Academy was established in Estacado by the Quakers during this time. J. M. Moore of North Carolina was one of the teachers at the Academy. However, Estacado was not to continue her forward march into a [prosperous?] town, for the county seat was moved to [?]. Later it was located at Crosbyton. The Central Plains [Academy?] closed after about two years, as so many of the Quakers left Estacado that the enrollment was not sufficient to keep the school open, so it was discontinued." "We left Estacado and came to Lubbock to make our home in 1893." Mrs. Bean went on. "We already had friends and relatives in the new town and though it had at this time just a few houses set out here on the [big?] wide prairie, we found it a ------------------------------------------------------------------------ {Page image} {Begin page no. 3} wonderful [place?] to live, and in all these years I have never changed my mind, I have watched Lubbock grow, I have done what I could to help it grow. [We?] have had drouths and sandstorms, and in 1893 we had a [grasshopper?] plague, the [grasshoppers?] even ate the grass in the [pastures?] that year, but all the way around I think the Plains is the best place in the world to live." "I am often [ammused?] at some of the fictitious tales that [??] our early days here" Mrs Bean said suddenly. "I [presume?] that [imaginative?] minds, lacking the real facts upon which to base their stories, simply [elaborate?] to fill in and make up a yarn. The result has been in most [instances?] merely ludicrous, however there have been some misrepresentation made which have been deeply resented by the [pioneers?], because they were utterly untrue. There has been one [report?] circulated to the [effect?] that the [Quakers?] at [Estacado?] used to give dances for the Indians. I am sure that this is not true. I [grew up at [Estacado?], the [people?] there were relatives and friends of ours, and I most certainly never had known or heard of anything of this kind to have happened. In the first place the [Quakers?] did not dance themselves, neither did they give [dances?], besides that, the Indians had been vanquished from the Plains [before?] the [Quaker Colony?] was established at [Estacado?]. I remember [hearing?] of two groups of Indians [passing?] through the settlement, but they only camped over night and went on their way, so that with the exception of a few who [straggled?] through the country now [and?] then, we did not have them in our [midst?] and the colonists would not have associated with them had they been there. [?] did not dislike the Indians, but it is [preposterous?] to assume that the [Quakers?] would have had any entertainments for them whatsoever, had they been in the settlement. The Quakers, it must be remember, where a very religious [sort?], and their socials were always conducted in a strictly dignified manner." "I recall my two sisters' wedding ceremonies [back?] in 1884 while we were living at [Estacado?]. The Quakers marriage ceremony was indeed a very [solemn?] ritual. My ------------------------------------------------------------------------ {Page image} {Begin page no. 4} sister "Emily" was wedded to A. A. [Anson?] and my sister Susie to C. L. Swarts. The Quaker preacher, Anson Cox, performed their ceremonies. My sisters have both lived in the state of Kansas for a umber of years and about three years ago they went on a trip together, way up into Idaho, there they unexpectedly met up with Anson Cox. They wrote me that he was getting to be a very old man now. Anson Cox was a cousin of Paris, Cox, the founder of Estacado." "I think that the young people enjoyed themselves much better in the days when I was young then they do now. We did not think it was necessary to debase our morals in order to have a good time either," Mrs. Bean said in her quiet serious way. "The old folk took Part in things in those days. We had singings, debates and community suppers,socials of that kind in which my father was always a leader. He enjoyed life and we had a [happy?] home, though we had some hardships and had no conveniences or comforts in those days such as we have in the present time, yet we had the things that are really worth while. We had love and happiness in our home and we had good friends, we always had some books and magazines to read which were exchanged with neighbors. People used to share their pleasures and their sorrows together in those early days on the Plains. BIBLIOGRAPHY Mrs. George R. Bean,................. Lubbock, Texas