Seeking information about the ancestors, family, and descendants of David Harrison SAPP. > !SOURCE: Wright, Silas Brown. "Our Family Record," Fort Worth, TX, > 1954. "David Harrison Sapp moved from Shelby Co., TX to Marysville, > Cooke Co., TX on 18 Sept 1867." > > !SOURCE: Smith, A. Morton. "The First 100 Years in Cooke County," The > Naylor Company, San Antonio, Texas, 1955. > "First settlers in the Marysville community, fifteen miles northwest of > Gainesville, were Mr. and Mrs. Richard Corn, who were originally from > California and had settled in the Sivells Bend area in 1859. > D. H. [David Harrison] Sapp arrived in the Marysville vicinity with his > parents and two sisters from Shelby County on September 18, 1867. At > that time, Corn was engaged in erection of a mill in the valley of South > Fish Creek in an open post oak wood area, where the loose sandy soil was > not particularly adapted to farming. > The mill, as Mr. Sapp recalled in later years, covered 3,000 square > feet of space, with a forty-foot tread wheel using six to ten oxen as > motive power. Since there was no mill to the west for years afterward, > people came from Montague and Clay Counties and the Indian Territory to > have their wheat and corn ground. > When the Sapps arrived, William DeWees was the mechanic superintending > building of Corn's mill, and S. H. Sapp [Stratford Henry Sapp, the > father of David Harrison Sapp] and M. W. Ross assisted in its completion > in 1868. > That spring, Mrs. Corn's brother, R. A. Fitch, arrived from Marysville, > California to live with his sister and brother-in-law; and in December, > while on a visit to the Sapps, Fitch said he was thinking of starting a > town and putting in a stock of merchandise near the mill > When the Sapps built a home south of Marysvile's future location, Fitch > moved their cabin near the mill and opened a store in it early in 1869. > The town was designed by Corn and Fitch as "Marysville" in honor of Mrs. > Corn, whose first name was Mary, as well as recognizing Marysville, > California. > F. M. Savage, later a resident of Gainesville, arrived in Marysville on > March 21, 1871. At that time, the only other residents Mr. Savage > recalls besides the Corns and his brother-in-law and partner, whom Mr. > Savage remembered as W. H. Smith (instead of R. A. Fitch, as designated > by Mr. Sapp), were John Puryear, Joe Mann and Mrs. Lizzie Whaley. > Mr. Savage's father, William Savage, arrived a month later, and they > built a steam sawmill and a store. William Savage was a surveyor, and > Corn and Fitch had him make a plat of the townsite. During 1871, > additional citizens arrived, including Mr. and Mrs. Harry Landers, Capt. > W. C. Twitty, Lemuel Morris and others. > To encourage the establishment of stores, Corn gave a building lot with > each residence lot sold. > The Savages erected the first building of lumber in Marysville, a 24 x > 30-foot general merchandise store. Their sawmill, converting adjacent > timber into lumber, provided the materials for most of the buildings > erected in Marysville and the surrounding country. > At the close of the Civil War, many rought characters from the states > took refuge in the Chickasaw Nation, later Oklahoma, and Marysville > being near the border, had her share of visitations. > Mr. Savage recalled an incident involving two thieves who stole horses > from a farmer near Marysville and made a run for the Arbuckle Mountains, > then a refuge for outlaws. Zack Calloway and the owner of the horses > pursued the thieves and overtook one 100 miles north of Marysville. > Reaching home too late to go to Gainesville to turn the culprit over to > authorities, the men placed the accused in a store overnight; but he was > taken from the guard at midnight and his body found hanging to a tree > limb by the side of the road half a mile west of town next morning. > Six months later, Mr. Savage wrote in his memoirs, the second thief was > located near Fort Sill, and Calloway and the horse owner went for him. > Again he was kept in Marysville overnight, en route to Gainesville, and > the next morning he was found hanging from the same limb. > 'Marysville was free of thieves for five years afterward,' Mr. Savage > wrote." > > !SOURCE: Ann (Butts) Woods, Gainesville, TX > "Stratford's son, David Harrison, grew up in Marysville, and on > September 14, 1882, married Millie Wright. Millie Wright was born in > Tonti, Illinois on February 20, 1862. She was the daughter of John Silas > Wright and Hannah Margaret Chance, who were married in Salem, Illinois > on October 3, 1845. After the death of her father, Millie Wright's > family came to Texas by train and then on to Marysville. > David Harrison and Millie Sappo were the parents of thirteen children: > an infant girl, Thomas, Hubert, and Murray all died in infancy; Clyde, > born in 1887, and Ray, born in 1895, both died while young men; > Florence, born in 1884, married William L. Young; Nellie, born in 1886, > married Bev. G. Lyons; Rudolph, born in 1889, married Lucille Winger > Pulliam; Mary, born in 1892, married Walter Holcombe; Queenie, born in > 1894, married Lucien F. Bone; Aubrey, born in 1897, married Janie > Binford; and Sibyl, born in 1905, married William Wyatt (Jack) Butts. At > the time of this writing, only two children of David and Millie > survive--Aubrey, who is ninety-four years, and Sibyl, who is > eighty-seven years old. > Stratford Henry Sapp died on March 12, 1884 and his wife, Elizabeth, on > November 4, 1889. Both are buried in the Marysville Cemetery. Their son, > David Harrison, lived all of his remaining years in Marysville until his > death on September 9, 1939 at the age of eighty three. He resided in > Cooke County for seventy two years and was considered one of the > county's most respected pioneer citizens and was often relied upon for > historical information concerning the early history of Cooke County, > particularly of the Marysville community. David Sapp was buried in the > Marysville Cemetery, as was his wife, Millie, who died on January 11, > 1948."