Six Shooter Junction
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, a little east Texas town earned the label "Six-Shooter Junction". Only thirty years previous, Texas had been inhabited by Indians and wildlife and it had won its independence from Mexico shortly after.
Texas began to be populated in 1821, it won its independence from Mexico 15 years later in 1836 and was admitted to the United States in 1845. Austin's Colony
These pages reflect on-going research about 19th century Waller county, Texas and its county seat, Hempstead, Texas and the multiple killings that occurred there during that period.
The small east Texas town of Hempstead was organized in 1856 in anticipation of the arrival of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad 1 2 from Houston and it almost immediately earned the dubious title of "Six-Shooter Junction". In 1880 it had grown to 1,651 residents.
(The research here focuses on the Cloud & McDade families and secondarily, the Farr & Newnam families — though all known killings are recorded.)
The McDade and Cloud families emigrated from Mount Meigs, Alabama beginning in 1836, settling in Stephen F. Austin's Colony, where Bellville was the county seat. The Brazos river ran down the middle of Austin's Colony, and the river often became impassable, making doing business at the county seat difficult for residents living east of the river. In 1873, the eastern portion was separated from Austin county and became Waller county with Hempstead as its county seat.
Featured Articles:
Allchin-McDade Feud.
Lynch Family Murders.
— View the Clues
Marriage of Irene Farr & N.A. Cuny.
Additional Research Material:
List of Deaths & other Disturbances.
The People.
Cloud-Farr Articles.
-(received from Waller County Historical Museum & modified)
Newspapers:
Chronological Order.
With Thumbnails (Very large file).
Bibliography.
19th Century Hempstead Newspapers.
—
The Timeline.
The Environment & Places.
Folders
- Genealogy - CloudSpecific - Cloud-Farr
- Genealogy - CloudSpecific - Cloud-Farr - web
- Genealogy - CloudSpecific - Cloud,Jeremiah
- My Publications
- MILANO, TEXAS: A History 1873-1965
Other Pages:
- Allchin-McDade Feud — allchin_mcdade.php
- Six-Shooter Junction - 1 — article-work-1.php
- Six-Shooter Junction - 2 — article-work-2.php
- Six-Shooter Junction - 3 — article-work-3.php
- Six-Shooter Junction - 0 — article-work.php
- Boulware family research notes — Boulware.php
- Cloud-Farr Articles — Cloud-Farr_articles.php
- Waller county Killings. — deaths.php
- Deaths & Disturbances. — disturbances.php
- Eberly family research notes — Eberly.php
- The Environment & Places — environment.php
- Marriage of Irene Farr & N. A. Cuny — farr-cuny.php
- Hargrave family research notes — Hargrave.php
- Newspapers of 19th century Hempstead Texas — hempstead-newspapers.php
- B.B. Lee News Articles — lee-articles.php
- Resource Links — links.php
- Timeline of Lynch Family Events — lynch-timeline.php
- Lynch family research notes — Lynch.php
- Lynch Murder News Articles — lyncharticles - Copy.php
- Lynch Murder News Articles — lyncharticles.php
- The Lynch Family Murder - 2023-10-07 — lynchfamilymurder-2023-10-07.php
- Lynch Family Murder — lynchfamilymurder-old.php
- The Lynch Family Murder — lynchfamilymurder.php
- Clues — Newspaper Articles — lynch_articles.php
- Clues Regarding the Lynch Family Murder — lynch_clues.php
- Resources — resources.php
- Ten Texas Feuds — tentexasfeuds-167-182.php
- Timeline — timeline.php
- TO DO — todo.php
- News Accounts — transcriptions-.php
Resources:
- MyKindred.com Home Page of Jeremiah & Elizabeth M. Cloud
- Youngblood-Armstrong & Allied Families
- Ten Texas Feuds
- Milam County Historical Commission
- Republic of Texas Claims
- Texas General Land Office Land Grant Search
- 'New' - Land, Tax & Claim records for selected surnames
- Texas Convict and Conduct Registers, 1875-1945 ($$)
- FamilySearch
- Ancestry.com ($$)
- Texas State Historical Association
- Newspaper resources:
- Portal to Texas History 1813-2022
- Library of Congress: Texas newspapers & Waller County papers.
- Brenham Weekly Banner 1877-1907
- The Daily Ledger 1886-1???
- Hempstead Courier 1859-1???
- Hempstead Ledger 1884-1???
- Hempstead Messenger 1872-18??
- The Hempstead News 189?-19??
- The Hempstead Reporter 1870-1871
- The Hempstead Weekly Countryman 1879-1???
- The Hempstead Weekly News 1891-1???
- The Peoples Paper 18??-1???
- The Tri-Weekly Ledger 1886-1???
- Waller County Courier 187?-18??
- The Waller County Courier 1884-18??
- Newspapers.com ($$)
- NewspaperArchive.com ($$)
- Genealogy Bank ($$)
- Google News Archive
Additional Resources:
resource | topic | image | transcription |
Stirpes, Vol. 6, No. 3, Sept. 1966, p 104 | letters from Mrs. Woodson Francis Tottenham | ![]() |
![]() |
Stirpes, Vol. 6, No. 3, Sept. 1966, p 105 | (letters cont.) Sarah Pier's diary |
![]() |
![]() |
Stirpes, Vol. 6, No. 3, Sept. 1966, p 106 | Sarah Pier's diary | ![]() |
![]() |
Stirpes, Vol. 6, No. 3, Sept. 1966, p 107 | Sarah Pier's diary cont. | ![]() |
![]() |
Stirpes, Vol. 6, No. 3, Sept. 1966, p 108 | Sarah Pier's diary cont. | ![]() |
![]() |
Stirpes, Vol. 6, No. 3, Sept. 1966, p 109 | Mrs. Lucy Pier's diary McDade notes from Sarah Pier's diary |
![]() |
![]() |
Stirpes, Vol. 6, No. 3, Sept. 1966, p 110 | McDade notes from Sarah Pier's diary cont. | ![]() |
![]() |
Footnotes
- The New Town Of Hempstead. The Weekly Telegraph, (Houston, TX), Wednesday, February 4, 1857, p. 1, col. 4. University Of North Texas Libraries, The Portal To Texas History transcription
- Hempstead - For The Civilian. Civilian and Gazette. Weekly, (Galveston, TX), Tuesday, May 19, 1857, p. 1, col. 5. University Of North Texas Libraries, The Portal To Texas History transcription
Newspaper articles may be read at Timeline of News Reports.