The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1875-05-12
IN MEAiORIAM.


A strange Coincidcucc- Death Oi
Mar. Thomas Farmer.
10 the Editor OF the Dallas Herald
On tho fourth day Of this month
(MOy, 1879, as announced in lHE
HERALD of tho fifth, Mr., Thomas
Farmer, aged sixty five years, died
at his residence in Dallas, The
writer of this was requested to pre-.
pare n notice Of his early migration
to Texas and long residence in the
country. Just before undertaking
tho task, my eye fell upon the fol.
lowing paragraph, copied into the
81 Louis Republican from the Rich
mond (Mo) Conservation, of May
fourth
THE FIRST SETTLEMENT IN CLAY
CouNNY,
Among the many "reminiscences
of the past, related by Captain
Hubbcll, who was clerk on the first
steamboat that ever assembled the
Missouri, is the account OF the settle
ment Of Clay county by Captain
Martin and n number Of followers,
when it was n part OF old Howard,
and the present generation Of men
unborn, Martin and his company,
accompanied by several Of their
wives, proceeded to make n clearing,
build u hut, and start in for perma-
nent improvements, A short time
after they had sQuatted in the will
dcrncss, all the men went out TO
work, leaving the women at ho;ae,
when seven Usage braves walked
up to the house, and demanded
something to eat. The women be-
came frightened, and fled to the men
at work, who gathered up their
guns and hurried to the house,
when they found the Indians sitting
on the ground, devouring what food
they could find. Martin was very
impetuous, and the Indians, seeing
the men heavily armed, sprung to
their guns, but before they could use
them, all seven were shot down, six
instantly killed and the other NOR
tally wounded. Thus the first set
Element of Clay county was sealed
with the life-blood Of the original
owners of the soil, and was the scene
of many slirmshes and much bit
terness of feeling between the white
men and the dcnizens Of the forest.
The matter was investigated at
Fort Usage, now Sibley landing, by
Il commission of United States Off
GERS, but nothing was done in the
premises. Martin and his friends
extended their claims, settling up
the country, and the descendants OF
these parties now reside in that
section, and are among its worthiest
citizens, having made Clay one OF
the hest of the tier of counties
washed by the turbid waters OF the
Missouri.
The reader will discover no con-
nection between the extract and the
subject of this article, but there is
one, nevertheless. The Missouri
editor is mistaken in the name of
his Clay county hero. 1t should be
(instead of Captain Martini Cap
tain MARTIN FARMER, who was the
father of our deceased fellow citizen.
And is it not remarkable coincl'
dence that on the identical day a
paper in north Missouri should
chronicle the ancient facts related,
the lost son of Captain Farmer
should die in Texas, eight hundred
miles away?
In 1924, Captain Martin Farmer
was q member of the senate OF Mis-
souri,, and served with Colonel
James Kerr, a senator from Ste. Gen
evieve, and warm friend of Stephen
f. Austin, then cOlonizing Texas.
Kerr at once migrated to this coun-
try and settled in the southwest:
Farmer followed year later, and
arrived with his family in east Texas
early in 1926. He settled in what
is now Shelby county. These two
ex- Missouri senator's next met as
colleagues in the first revolutionary
assembly of 1896. Farmer died
in 1915, Kerr in 1850.
Mr.. Thomas Farmer, the de-
ceased, came to Texas with his
father in 1926. At an early day he
married Miss .TeeI, of San Angus
tine, who still survives him. lie
has resided for forty-nine years on
and east of the Trinity-has al
ways borne the character OF a good
oitizen and warm-hearted friend,