Streeter, Texas

The year was 1917 when Samuel Joseph (Joe) McWilliams and wife Minnie (Gamel) McWilliams loaded up a covered wagon and headed for Oklahoma. They would leave behind in Streeter, Texas, in Mason County, much family and many friends. The trio, or should I say trek, was a long one since about twenty miles was the distance they would travel in one day.

The oldest living daughter, Lydia, born in 1895 was married to Walter Glen Smith and she stayed in Texas. Amos was the oldest son, born 1896, and he was deaf after contracting scarlet fever at age three. Many of the older citizens in Madill, OK new Amos quite well. He was a painter by trade and love by everyone who knew him.

In addition to Amos, the other children making the trip were Laura (McWilliams) McCuan, Leila (McWilliams) Bernard, Mollie (McWilliams) Williamson, Maggie (McWilliams) Lanning, Arch, Jim, and George. It didn't matter if every star in the sky was shining brightly; a tent was pitched each night. Grandpa always said, "It might rain before morning."

After traveling north for a few days, they pretty much took the route of the old Butterfield Stage Line. The old stage line had entered Texas from the west at the present town of El Paso. It made its exit north of Denison at the Colbert Crossing on the Red River. The route across Texas was somewhat serpentine in fashion. The teams of horses and mules that pulled the stagecoaches had to have water on a regular basis. Therefore, the stations, which were ideally placed 15 to 20 miles apart, had to have a source of water.

The route taken by the McWilliams family from Jacksboro to Denison was through Bridgeport, Decatur, Denton, Celina, Van Alstyne, and Sherman. The original route of the stage line had gone from Jacksonboro 16 miles to Earhart's Station; 16 miles to Connally's, near Alvord; 24 miles to Davidson's near Rosston and 17 miles to Gainesville. From Gainesville it was 24 miles to Diamond's, which was near Sadler and then 15 miles to Sherman.

An old cattle trail was pretty much parallel with the original stage route, but was five to ten miles to the north of it. Instead of going to Denison and then North, it turned north near Sadler. This cattle trail had one crossing a few miles up-river from the Colbert crossing. It crossed Red River just below the mouth of the Washita River. If the influx of the Washita made the Red too hazardous to cross, then another crossing farther upstream around the Preston Bend was used. This would enter Indian Territory near the site of Woodville.

When the covered wagon clan got to Denison, they heard about a farmer near Preston needing cotton pickers. Well, Grandpa Joe had a wagon load of them from 6 to 24 years of age. When the cotton was all picked, they lived in that area until sometime in 1920 when they crossed the Red River on the Thompson Ferry south of Woodville. They then went north up what is now the Washita Point Rd and crossed Alberta Creek and settled in Dark Corner near the McCuan family. With the money from picking cotton, the family was able to rent a house near Preston for a time. When the money ran out, they just moved back into the tent. The family appeared on the 1920 census as living in Grayson County, TX.

Grandpa Joe was quite a musician and singer. The kids said that at night he would have all of them gathered around an old pump organ that he had hauled in that wagon. They would sing "When the Evening Shadows Fall". It somewhat amazed me that I was about to go online and find the words to that old song that my grandfather loved so dearly.

The late Charlie Blevins was a dear friend of mine. In his declining years he would mention my grandpa every time I visited him. He said, "Your grandpa was a high tenor, and you could hear him singing for a mile away." Charlie said he would attend the Dark Corner "Brush Arbor" meeting just to hear Joe McWilliams sing. The Brush Arbor meetings were held on the corner to the east of where the Dark Corner General Store now sits. Joe McWilliams also sang with three of his brothers in a gospel quartet before leaving Texas.

As the family worked at any available jobs in the community they were able to rent a house in Dark Corner. The house burned and the old organ was lost. Now, all the kids in the wagon are gone too.