Freestone County, Texas Alabama Colony/Bonner/Woodland Community "Alabama Colony" The Carter family respresented the pioneers of the Alabama Colony in Freestone County. David Livingston and Julia (Watts) Carter (both of Butler Co., Alabama) came by wagon caravan to Freestone County, Texas between 1845 and 1850. The Carters settled 3 miles east of what was later Woodland community near "sweet" water and a salt lick. His cabin was moved and can still be seen at the Freestone County Museum. In 1851 Colonel Oliver Carter and his brother William Carter left Butler Co., Alabama for Texas. Each bought a league of land (4,428 acres) and established a house near Grindstone Creek in Freestone County. The colonel's was on the creek while William's was west on higher ground. The following year both brothers' families and servants joined them. The Alabama Colony grew with addition of the many more families. The Alabama families that joined were Kirven, Livingston, Session, Jefferson, Womack, May, Parker, Everette, and Sneed; The Wortham and Harris families from Kentucky; The Bonner family from South Carolina; The Johnson and Hines families from Georgia; and the Milner, Bradley, and Robinson families. William Carter's place became known as the Carter Place. After his daughter Martha inherited the plantation and merged with her husband's thousand acre holdings, the place became the Session Place. ---------------------------------------------------------- "Woodland Community" As more families joined, the common buildings started. Colonel Luther Rice "Dick" Wortham (1820-74) built the first general store in 1848 followed by Mr. Miniard Harris. The post office began in one corner of the Wortham general store then later moved to Harris Merchantile. The citizens built a log school house and hired Mr. Womack to be the schoolmaster (before 1857). The Reverend Peter Edward Kirven (William Alexander Kirven's brother) was the Baptist Church's first pastor. Woodland cemetery began in 1862 behind the rear of the Baptist Church/Woodland Academy building when Confederate Captain John L. Wortham died in Galveston in the Civil War. Shiloh Church was built for the Africian Americans and later Lebanon. People knew Woodland for its boys school. Reverend Hilery Mosley was the administrator for Woodland Academy for Boys that started in 1863 and shared the building with the church. In 1866, the Texas Legislature authorized the academy. The school flurished growing to two smaller buildings in addition to the main building and a number of single room cabins for boarders. Eventually over 300 pupils from throughout the area were enrolled Woodland Academy. Woodland Academy became a grade school after the Civil War until it was closed in 1905 and its students sent to Kirven. Known students of Woodland Academy were: Oliver Carter Kirvin, George David May, Ida Elizabeth Hines, Fannie Sessions, Zora Sessions, and Elizabeth Browning Sessions. Woodland became a focal place of the nearby plantations. Joseph Burton Johnson moved to the area in 1854 and built the "Rock House" (a twelve room mansion) for his 10,550 acre plantation. William M. Hines had a cotton plantation known as the "Hines Place". People known to be residents of Woodland were: Bonner, Walter Bonner, William Edward Burleson, B. F. Burleson, Mrs. John Campbell, Clarence Campbell, E. B. Carter, Alfred Payne Carter, David Livingston Carter, Colonel Oliver Carter, William and Elizabeth H. (McGinnis) Chancellor, Walker Harris, Dr. J. T. Harriss, M. H. (merchant) Hines, Major William M. Johnson, General Joseph Burton Kirven, Thomas Livingston and Mary Walker (May) Kirven, William Alexander May, Mr. Carey and Ella Amanda (Jefferson) May, William Browning and Sarah (Carter) Melton, John Parker, Thomas Jacob Sessions, Augustus Adolphus Sessions, Carter Sessions, James "Jim" Rogers Smith, Captain William Wortham, Luther Rice Wortham, John Lee Wortham, Captain John Lee Wingfield, Harvey ---------------------------------------------------------- Bonner The community was known as Woodland just prior to the American Civil War. When the community became large enough to require a post office, the first postmaster was William Edward Bonner who sent in the name of the community as "Bonner" on Apr 6, 1880. The Bonner post office remained until Oct 14, 1905 (with exception of 1899) when mail routed to Wortham post office. People still referred to it as Woodland. The 1895 Rand McNally atlas shows Bonner with a post office and no express office or railroad. Also in 1895, the Caney Baptist Church in Bonner pastored by I. H. Willingham had 57 members. In 1906, Woodland/Bonner had almost ceased to exist. The school and post office had closed. The railroad passed them by. Many people in Woodland became founders of the nearby community of Kirvin (originally spelled Kirven) when the T. & B. V. Railroad was built through the area from Teague to Waxahachie in 1906. Kirvin grew to a size to warrant a post office on Nov 30, 1907. Kirvin was only 3/4 miles to the east. ---------------------------------------------------------- Woodland Goes back to