Upshur County, Texas was organized by an act of the Texas legislature on 13 Jul 1846. At the time of the organization it was composed of all of what is now Upshur, Camp and part of Gregg counties, north of the Sabine River. Upshur County was originally part of Nacogdoches County, but later when Harrison County was organized, it was included in that county, therefore all of Upshur County was detached from Harrison.

Abel Parker UPSHUR, born 17 Jul 1791 in Virginia, served several terms in the Virginia Legislature and in 1826, was appointed to the Virginia Supreme Court. He was appointed in 1841, to the post of Secretary of the Navy, but President John TYLER and in 1843, he succeeded Daniel WEBSTER as Secretary of State. He laid the groundwork for the annexation of Texas to the Union. When the Texas Legislature organized Upshur County, it said the new county should be named in honor of the late cabinet member, who was killed in 1844, in an explosion of the "Peacemaker" which was a large cannon, on the Navy war cruiser, "Princeton".

On the whole Upshur County people were law-abiding citizens, from 1846-1855 every Grand Jury indicted several people for playing cards where money was bet. In 1853, there were several incidents where the defendants were fined 25 cents. In April 1855 there were 17 indictments for "Not Repairing Public Roads". Some of the persons were very prominent citizens. In the early days everybody was supposed to give from 5 to 7 days per year free labor on the roads or hire somebody to work in their place. Every community had "Road Overseers" who saw to it that you were warned.

The county had very little money in those days. For example - In 1855 men were paid $2.04 in cash and $5.46 in scrip for 5 days jury service. A year later they were paid $1.55 cash and $5.95 in scrip.

Some Court Cases of District Court 1854-1871

• 1880-1910 about half of indictments were for carrying a pistol, there were many cases of selling whiskey on Sunday.

• 1856 a man was sent to prison for 2 years for enticing a slave.

• 1858 a man was fined one cent for assault to murder on a slave.

• Another man was given a small fine for whipping a Negro boy slave without provocation.

• 1858, State of Texas vs. George, a Negro boy slave for assault. He was tried & convicted & ordered to be branded with the letter C on his left cheek.

• 1859, James COURTNEY was indicted for murdering John, a Negro slave, belonging to Martha MONTGOMERY. Many prominent people went on his bond & in 1861 he was tried and found not guilty.

• 1862 State of Texas vs. Horace the slave for burglary and assault to rape. He was convicted his punishment was 250 lashes with 50 given each day for 5 days by the sheriff on the courthouse steps, the whipping was not to endanger his life.

• Another case against another Slave, Dennis for intent to kill. He was to receive 300 lashes given 100 per day.

• 1862 a man was indicted for harboring a runaway slave.

• 1867, they called many men for jury service but none could serve on the jury because they would not take the oath that they had not served nor taken part in the Civil War.

• 1871 there was a case against a Longview man (Longview was in Upshur County then) for "Keeping disorderly house known as the 'Lady Gay Saloon'."

• 1880, the Commissioners Court gave permission for the Cotton Belt Railway to come thru Gilmer with the understanding it must stay 1 mile from the courthouse.

• 1881 there were 5 indictments for killing unmarked hogs.

• 1883, the Upshur County jury returned a verdict of death by hanging against a man. The county paid W.A. ROBERTS $64 to build a gallows and everything was set up and ready for the hanging. Later the man went completely crazy, was tried for insanity and sent to Terrell.

• 1886, there were 74 indictments 44 for "Betting on Chuckluck", a game played with dice, 16 cases for selling whiskey on Sunday.

• 1890 - 1912 when a person was put in jail or was fined and could not pay it, they put him on a chain gang, where he was allowed 50 cents a day to work off his fine.

• In 1895, convicts could work off their fines on streets, roads, bridges and cutting wood. The county hired a guard and paid him $1 a day to work the convicts. In 1912 the chain gang system ended.

• 1901, J.F. CROLEY was granted permission to build telephone lines along the streets in Upshur County.

• 1916, the entire town of Graceton was burned to the ground and all businesses were lost.

• 1919, the 19th Amendment to allow women to vote was voted against in Upshur County with 565 for and 867 against.

• 1919, a young Negro was accused of raping a white woman. He was captured and placed in jail. Soon after a large crowd gathered, people lost all reason, went to the jail, broke down the door and tied a rope around his neck and led him to an elm tree on the southside of the courthouse and hanged him.

• The Grand Jury indicted several of the leaders. Later one received a suspended sentence and the others were freed.

• A Negro boy burned a house belonging to Jasper SCARBOROUGH. He was tried, convicted and hanged from a large hickory tree.

The first sheriff of Upshur County was G.C. Patillo in 1846.

There was no jail in Upshur County until 1848, so criminals were either guarded by an officer or taken to the Marshall, Texas jail. One hot summer day a man was tried for murder, out at Old Gilmer, and the jury did not bring in the verdict until about dark, so the sheriff chained him to a small tree. During the night the prisoner climbed the tree and escaped.

In the days before the stock law, a hog died and had to be moved from the square. The Town Mayor told a cowboy friend of his that he would give him $1.00 to remove the dead hog. The cowboy tied his rope around the hog's feet and dragged it down to Sugar Creek and returned for his dollar. Since the Mayor did not have a dollar of "city money" with him the cowboy was unhappy so he rode back down to Sugar Creek and dragged the hog back upon the square.

There were stories circulated over the county that during the Civil War there was a lead mine in Upshur county which was operated by the Confederate Government. When the war was over it was closed to prevent the Yankees from finding it - where it was, nobody seems to know. One of the stories is as follows: A Mr. Nash had started a foundry before the war for working up the iron ore among the small mountains nearby, probably 5 to 6 miles east of Murry League (now Ore City) and also pottery works, baking all kinds of earthenware, and was prospering highly in this works when the war came along . The Confederated Government either bought this plant or took it over for its use during the war. There were many hundreds of men employed by the Government working in the plant with their families living there. It was a great sight for anybody to see, especially the young boys. This plant could have been just across Big Cypress or it could have been on this side of Upshur County.

The people in Upshur County have always taken their politics seriously. It was an established custom for nearly everybody in the county to gather on the courthouse square on election night to get the election returns, and in the early 1900's there was almost always a fight or two on these night.

There was a time that a candidate must go see all of the voters in the county or he would not get elected. There was a time when candidates were badly mistreated by the public by being made to help clean cemeteries, attend box suppers and picnics, buy drinks for hundreds of people and make donations to all worthy causes and some not so worthy then end up making speeches in ever schoolhouse in the county.

Before the day of the automobile a candidate would start out on Monday morning on horseback and get back home Friday night spending the nights with friends over the county, sometimes walking miles across plowed fields in order to see all of the voters. Then on Saturday the streets of Gilmer would be so crowded that it was nearly impossible to walk down the streets.

Upshur County voted overwhelmingly for Jim and "Ma" FERGUSON every time they ran for office, and the first time W. Lee O'DANIEL came to Gilmer there were probably 15,000 people turned out for the speech. Back in the days of Joe BAILEY, "Cyclone" DAVIS, Morris SHEPPERD and Charles CULBERTSON people by the thousands came to town to hear them & all of them were "Silver Tongued Orators. This was well before radio and TV.

The Gilmer street names reflect the politics of 1848. Four streets reflect the name of Presidents: Madison to the north, Monroe to the south and Jefferson & Tyler leading off the Square.

Several streets have names of the military leaders of the Texans at the Battle of Buena Vista in Monterey.

• BUTLER Street was named for Major General Wm O BUTLER, Colonel WOOD's superior officer in the Battle of Buena Vista.

• CASS Street was named after Lewis CASS, a senator from Michigan, who participated in the annexation of Texas.

• HARRISON Street was named after a lawyer, Jonas HARRISON.

• HENDERSON Street was named for the first Governor J. Pickney HENDERSON and the next street over is Wood, Governor at the time of the sale of Texas and who helped defeat the Mexicans.

• KAUFMAN Street was named after David S KAUFMAN, who represented the residents of Upshur County in the first Congressional District.

• MARSHALL Street was named rightly because it leads to Marshall, Harrison County, Texas.

• MONTGOMERY Street may have been named after a Lieutenant MONTGOMERY who fought and died in the Battle of Buena Vista.

• SCOTT Street, on the northern edge of town, was named for General Winfield SCOTT led all the American forces.

• TAYLOR Street was named for Zachary TAYLOR, a hero of the war with Mexico 1846.  He marched his troops through San Antonio to Mexico City and became the Whig candidate for the Presidency.

Thomas Walker GILMER, born 1802 Virginia, was elected Governor of Virginia in 1840. He was appointed as Secretary of the Navy in 1844, by President John TYLER. He was killed, along with Abel Parker UPSHUR in the explosion of the "Peacemaker". He was a strong advocate of the annexation of Texas to the Union. He visited Texas in 1837, probably for the purpose of participating in the revolution against Mexico, but arrived too late, and returned to Virginia. The Texas Legislature requested that the Upshur County seat be named GILMER in honor of this great statesman.

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Saloons, such as the Stella-Vite and The Lady Gay, were an integral part of Gilmer's economy. The county was voted "dry" in 1907, by a very narrow margin. Prohibition was a question that agitated the county for years. This, however, did not deter the moonshiners up in the "Big Woods" of Grice who were still firing up their stills, long after prohibition. In fact, as late as the 1950's, the "Big Woods" were a source of "home brew".

In May, 1890, Gilmer voted 225 to 174 for the prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors and medicated bitters capable of producing intoxication. After much bitterness another election was called and in Aug 1890, Gilmer again went wet 291 to 250. The wet and dry question split the people of the county into two parties and county officials were elected or defeated on this question many times.

The 1930's were a busy time for Gilmer, there was always a crowd to be found on Saturday's downtown sidewalks and Model T's filled every parking space. Some shops on the West side of the square were J.B. Walls, The Kurtz Store, Vernon Stephens' Staple & Fancy Groceries, Schullers, Gilmer Drug Co. Perry Bro's, a Cafe and a Chiropractor.

In 1884, Smallpox broke out in the county. Many cases were quarantined. Tents, hospitals, and pest houses wee set up. Excitement ran high and everybody would stay home for fear of catching it. It was a deadly disease to them and almost incurable. W.M. PARISH was paid $16.00 for 8 days service as quarantine guard of Big Sandy. Dr. GA Taylor of Bettie took smallpox while waiting on the sick but he finally recovered. If a family took smallpox they had to take care of each other and buy their own dead as nobody else would go near them except those who had, had the disease and had gotten well.

From 1895 to 1910 there was the question of the "stock law" elections that caused very much strife in the county. Cattle and hogs had run out on the open range until them, but the county was being settle up rapidly, leaving very little open range, so they started voting stock law, requiring people to keep their livestock up.

September 1, 1906, Postmaster F.L. Bradley was ordered by the court to put five electric lights in the post office, which was a little brick building situated on the southwest corner of the courthouse lawn.

The first Gilmer bank was a small private institution know as the Sassar Bank. It was located near the northeast corner of the square.

In 1900 the First National Bank of Gilmer was organized.

In 1901 the Farmers & Merchants National Bank was organized.

Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, in the Grice Community, was a small, white wood-frame church, as were most country churches of the day. The interior was simple. Solid wood pews, alter table and pulpit. An old piano that was played with all the spirit the keys could afford stood to the right of the pulpit and the congregation's voice rang loudly on Sunday mornings in the "Lord's House". Fresh flowers were provided from the community's women. On the wall hung a wooden sign, in which, numbers could be inserted representing the number of members that attended last Sunday's service, the Sunday school attendance, and the amount of the last offering.

In the summer, paper fans on wooden sticks were provided by the local funeral homes. The fans had some of the loveliest religious paintings that I can remember on the front and on the back was an advertisement stating "compliments of" the two funeral homes (Croley's & Loyd's). It was at these small country churches that souls were saved and baptisms were held in residents' ponds. Mr. BRANON's pond was used to cleanse many of believers. For those that are too young to have experienced those days it was a part of life that was pure and simple.

The preacher waded out in the water; the newly committed soul would follow. Holding a handkerchief over the nose and mouth of the parishioner, the preacher would baptize the subject in the "Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost". Then the parishioner would be bowed backwards into the water, then raised symbolically cleansed.

Church Memories as a youth by Beverly Bryan Tabor