Freestone County, Texas
Communities 


Cotton Gin

Cotton Gin was settled prior to 1848 when Dr. J. S. Mills started a mule-driven 
cotton gin there.  The main street was named Mule Rabbit Street.  The post 
office was founded in 1851, soon after the formation of Freestone County.
Cotton Gin appears in the list of post offices in Texas furnished by the 
postmaster of Galveston in December 1, 1856 to Dr. Braham that published
in "Braman's Information About Texas" printed in Philadelphia in 1857.
Dr. Wills gave a city block to the town for a public square in hopes that
the county courthouse might be built there. Dr. George Ross was the first
to build a frame house with wood hauled from Navasota but lost his original 
log cabin and the new house to a fire.  The town had three churches, a 
Masonic Lodge, a good school, a newspaper, stores, and saloons.  The 1860 
census lists 508 people in Cotton Gin.  In Oct 1864, a soldier home was 
established at Cotton Gin.  By Jan 1865, there were two soldier homes (J. J. 
Robinson and James S. Wills) on the Springfield road.

In the 1870s, the railroad was built through that county a few miles west of 
Cotton Gin and over time the businesses moved to the railroad followed by the 
people.  At one point, Cotton Gin even had a bowling alley.  The 1895 Rand 
McNally atlas shows Cotton Gin with 125 people and a post office, but no express 
office or railroad.  Also in 1895, the nearby Liberty Baptist Church (No 2) 
pastored by W. D. Williamson had 40 members and the Cotton Gin Baptist Church 
headed by D. A. Gaddy had 59 members.

Masonic Lodge:
Cotton Gin Masonic Lodge #154

Newspapers:
"Cotton Gin Herald" - weekly newspaper - Mar 1, 1873 issue (only known copy 
  existing)

Businesses:
M. S. Clark's goods store
J. M. Sim's goods store

Known people in Cotton Gin were:
Allen, Ruthy
Ashe, Grange
Bell, Mrs. S. F.
Blakeley, Willis
Boyd, J.
Boyd, L. Jr.
Brown, Jack
Burkhalter, Floyd
Burkhalter, P. H.
Burkhalter, Miss Zilla
Carroll, T. S. 
Clark, Larry
Clark, M. S.
Coleman, Ned
Colgin, Eugene
Colgin, Irene
Colgin, R. E. (built first smokehouse)
Culberson, Mrs. E. J.
David, J. C.
Davis, Lem
Daviss, Dr. Ed. P.  (moved to Fairfield in 1886)
Demings, Mr. (carpenter/builder)
Drake, M. M.
Drake, T. M.
Douglas, Mrs. C.
Elliott, Mrs. [from Hill County, visiting daughter when died at age 90.]
Evans, J. H.
Ferrell, Nannie
Flyod, James Russell
Freeman, Lee
Freeman, Willie
Glanton, H. W.
Groover, Mrs.
Groves, J. S.
Hail, Miss Flossie
Hardy, J. B.
Harris, Elder J. J.
Henry, D. B.
Hickman, Dan
Hodges, Lem
Horton, James
Ingram, Captain G. W. (Moves to Wortham Oct 1886)
Jackson, Eph
Jeter, J. A.
Johnson, J. R.
Johnson, Robert
Kennedy, Dr.
Key, J. H.
Kimbrough, R. D.
King, Mr. Lulu (moved to North Texas)
Lam, Catherine
Lamb, R. L.
Lands, H. L.
Loader, C. J.
Loader, W. K.
Lynn, Mrs. Bettie
Lynn, Milton
Manning, Col. John J.
Marney, Captain
McCracken, E. A.
McGuire, L. A.
McGuire, W. B.
McMillan, S. F. [moved to Hill County]
Means, Miss Etta
Means, LeRoy
Means, Dr. T. L. C. (his two-story cabin at the Burlington-Rock Island
    Railroad Museum in Teague)    
Newell, John
Olsson, Joe
Patton, Walter
Pool, Ellen
Prinwell, C. H.
Ramsey, T. C.
Roberts, Captain I. H.
Roberts, Ike 
Robinson, C. A.
Robinson, J. J.
Ross, Dr. George
Rowland, W. T.
Rutherford, Mr. "Berry"
Senter, A. R.
Sims, Geroge A.
Sims, Joseph H.
Sparks, Charles
Smith, Joe
Stegall, Lee
Steele, Josephine Williams
Steele, Robert E.
Steele, Warren
Storey, Miss Ella
Storey, Jack 
Storey, John F. (house on north side of the square)
Storey, J. W. (post master)
Storey, W. F. 
Streeter, Emily
Stroud, Mollie
Teague, Bettie
Teague, Mrs. E. M.
Ware, Mrs. Mattie
Washington, Allen
West, Issac Moses
West, Ida Margaret
White, Prof. W. M.
Whitten, J. C.
Wilder, ?
Williford, T. S.
Wills, Dr.
Yeldell, Ed (ran a gin)

Cumberland Presbyterian Church 
 
The first was J.S. Wills, M.D., who moved from Tennessee to Cotton Gin,
Freestone County, Texas, in 1848, and was a ruling elder in the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church at that place until his death, which occurred at his home,
August 6, 1877. He served as President of the Board of Trustees of Trinity
College from its organization to his death.

Judge L.B. Prendergast, second president of the board, was born in what is now
Giles County, Tennessee, November 25, 1808.  His mother was a sister of the
Rev. Samuel King. He moved to Texas in 1839, and was a ruling elder in the
Cotton Gin congregation for many years before and up to the time of his death.
He served as president of the board from the death of Dr. Wills, in 1877, to
his own death, March 23, 1885.