Crawford TREES b. 31 Dec 1823 Anna, Union County, Illinois d. 31 Jan 1889 Duncanville, Dallas County, Texas

1823 - 1889 (65 years)

Personal Information | Notes | Sources | All | PDF

Name	Crawford TREES
Born	31 Dec 1823	Anna, Union County, Illinois [1, 2]
Gender	Male
Census	11 Nov 1850	Texas, Dallas County, M432 Roll 910 Book 1, page 81a-Genealogy.com
Census	16 Aug 1860	Texas, Dallas County, Series M653, Precinct 8, Cedar Hill P. O., Roll 1292 Book 1, pg., 386a-Genealo
Military	21 Mar 1862	Mustered in Burford's Regiment Texas Cavalry, Captain Allen Beard's Company. Record shows Crawford
Census	11 Jul 1870	Texas, Dallas County, Series M593, Precinct 2, Dallas P. O., Roll 1581 Book 1, pg., 326a-Genealogy.c
Census	16 Jun 1880	Texas, Dallas County, Precinct 6, Roll 1299 Book 1, pg., 315a-Genealogy.com
Military	19th Texas Cavalry, Company B (Burford's Regiment)
_UID	F48702974F84744FB1594CA16271AEF315AD
Died	31 Jan 1889	Duncanville, Dallas County, Texas [1, 2]
Buried	Trees Cemetery, Duncanville, Dallas County, Texas [2]
Person ID	I88675	Branch 061 Neill Stafford b. 1756 Scotland
Last Modified	18 Mar 2008

Father	Jacob TREES, b. Abt 1786, Rowan Co., North Carolina , d. 17 Apr 1852, Jonesboro, Union Co, Illinois (Age ~ 66 years)
Mother	Catherine BUCK
Family ID	F29310	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family Anna Minerva KIMMEL, b. 12 Dec 1831, Union, Illinois , d. 11 Nov 1913, Duncanville, Dallas County, Texas (Age 81 years)

Married 22 Jul 1846 Dallas, Texas [2, 3]

Notes

Married by William Henry Hord, Justice of the Peace in Dallas County, Texas

[Gloria J.Tune1.FTW]
Crawford and Anna Minerva came from Illinois in 1845 by c overed wagon and
settled west of what is now the Santa Fe Railroad near the T rees family
cemetery in the southern edge of Duncanville. They were issued the first
marriage liscense of Dallas County. A copy of it is reported to be on
the cornerstone of the Dallas County Courthouse.
Resource:Ovilla, Texas History Book, Ovilla Historical Society, page
206, The Trees Family, by Mrs. Bobby (Sherry) Waddle

William Henry Hord (1809-1902) was justice of the peace in Dallas andmarried the first couple after the county was organized, a Mr. CrawfordTreese and Miss Annie Kimble.
Source:http://www.hocc.org/pages/about_us/our_history.htm

1919
Added December 11, 2004:
Story of the First Couple
Married in Dallas County
By Mildred Gladney

The cool of the summer twilight lay about them. The dog slept attheir feet. The old man gazed close at the print of his newspaper as thelight waned, and his wife sat quiescent, idle, dreaming, perhaps, of theyears of activity which had been left behind. The fruitful acres, uponwhich decades of labor had been put by the family, surrounded them. And,the story of this man and woman, who were born and who grew to maturity,and, in time, established a home of their own in Dallas County, is thehistory of the county itself, and of many others who have seen Dallasgrow from a ford in the Trinity River, to a prosperous city.
Mrs. Jess Ramsey, nee Trees, is one of the ten children of Mrs. AnnaM. Trees and Crawford Trees, who were the first couple ever married inDallas County. This marriage took place in the days when there was nocourthouse, and the office of Justice of the Peace was a hazardousposition. But, the license was issued to Miss Anna Kimmel, whose fatherhad come pushing across the Texas prairies with his little family and allhis worldly possessions stowed away in a homemade wagon, and CrawfordTrees, whose parents entered Dallas County in the fall following theimmigration of the Kimmel family in the spring, on July 23, 1846.

No Wedding Journey.
The bride was not honored with showers and did not wear a going-awaysuit of blue tricotine. She had made her own dress of homespun.Afterward, they made their way through the undergrowth and the slightwoods between the log cabin, in which their parents lived at Cedar Hill,to that which was to be their home. There was no wedding trip for thefirst couple married in Dallas County, for trips in those days were morestrenuous than the ordinary course of existence. Their furniture wasimprovised from the materials at hand, and several pieces were given themby their parents. The log cabin, the floor of which was made from logssplit in half by the men of the families of the bride and bridegroom, wasnot large, but it housed, comfortably, all of the worldly goods of thetwo young people taking up life within its walls.
They were not within calling distance of their parents, butcommunication was comparatively easy, even in those hard times. In thedays that followed, they took up the life of the pioneer, as they hadknown it from childhood. Instead of helping his father to clear the treesfrom his land, Crawford Trees began on that which he had appropriated forhimself. He was the head of a family, and their welfare depended solelyupon the fruition of the acres about them. Instead of helping her motherto spin and weave for her brothers and sisters, Anna Trees now had herown spinning machine and spun for her husband and kept the house.

Civil War Breaks Out.
The virility of the life that followed, with its goodly portion ofmonotony, and its difficulties, did not daunt the family. It grewsteadily, and at the outbreak of the Civil War, there were ten children.Crawford Trees gathered his old rifle and his knapsack together and wentoff to the war, leaving his wife to look after the ten children and tomanage the farm and the negroes. After a year, he was back, with hishealth so impaired, that Mrs. Trees still continued the work of the farmand cared for the family. And, with the sturdy little boys who weregrowing up, she managed well. The father died in 1889. The boys and girlsgrew to maturity, married and moved to new cabins about her. Eight of thechildren made their homes near Cedar Hill, and their children, and theirgrandchildren, have also made their homes in Dallas County. Mrs. Treesdied about six years ago at the home of her oldest daughter, Catherine,Mrs. Jess Ramsey, after seeing numerous grandchildren ready to take upthe work of cultivating the fruitful acres, which she had taken out inthe days when Dallas was marked by a ford in the Trinity River, andBonham was the only settlement on the Red River.

Still at Cedar Hill.
And now, this daughter of the first couple ever married in DallasCounty has grown old on the land of her parents, within sight of the oldhomestead. But, her declining years are spent in a modern farmhouse,which has water piped to it from a cistern that is never exhausted. Thescreens keep out the flies and other insects, which she remembers hermother kept away with leaf brushes. The woods are gone, and in theirstead, plowed acres and huge haystacks, and a pike road, upon which themodern knowledge of engineering has been expended, are to be seen fromher front porch. Her front lawn is mowed with a lawn mower. Her childrenvisit her in automobiles. And, in the calm of the summer evenings, whenthe work on the farm is done for the day, she sits on the porch of herhome and thinks of the days when her mother ran the farm and her fatherwas at war.
"During the war," she said, "we used to go across the river onhorseback and take our wool to be carded, for we made all of the clotheswe wore at home. There was one little store and several log-houses and ablacksmith shop. The goods we got at the store were brought in ox wagonsfrom Houston or down the Red River from Jefferson. We saw the first brickhouse go up, and we saw the Indians disappear, going farther and fartheraway from the settlements of the whites.

Troubled by Indians.
"I can remember hearing my mother tell about the time when she hidseveral protesting babies away between the feather beds and stood at thedoor with the shotgun as the Indians approached. When I got big enough toremember, there were too few of them for us to have any trouble. The onlything they bothered us about was the horses. We simply couldn't keep any.One of our neighbors tried putting iron hobbles on the feet of his horsesso they couldn't drive them away. But, the Indians just cut off the feetof the horses and went their way, when they found they couldn't get them.

"First Negroes Ever Saw."
"I can remember, too, the first negroes I ever saw. My fatherreturned one night and brought with him some slaves. I was asleep, andthe next morning, when I waked up and crawled out of bed, I saw twolittle negro girls asleep on a pallet at the foot of my bed. They like toscared me to death, and then they got funny to me, and my father couldn'tget me away from them. We kept those negroes, I guess, until the war wasover. They stayed with us for about a year afterward, and then they went.
"Mr. Ramsey and I went to school together at the Bethel Schoolhouse.It was opened in 1853, and Mr. Scott was the first teacher. Jess used tocome home with me after school, and we would take turns about grindingthe meal we used. You know, we would hollow out a stump and put the corndown in that, and then grind it with a pestle. We didn't have any flourat all. Mr. Scott was awful hard on us, and we were all scared to deathhe would lick us. I don't believe Jess ever got a whipping at school inhis life. We studied writing and reading, and geography and figures. Iwent to school at Lancaster, too. Then, when we grew up, we married andstarted out life as my mother did, in a log cabin of one room. We addedto it, later, and had two rooms, and then we got this. We have just threechildren.
"Our children are all grown and married now, and we are worse offthan when we started. Sometimes, I believe ten wasn't any too large afamily.

Old House Still Standing.
"We had 1,200 acres here to start with, but we gave all but 200 ofit to our children as they grew up and married. We have a little grandsonabout 6 years old, who goes to school in Dallas to Miss Edna Washington.She is teaching him how to talk without hearing. My mother died when hewas about a month old. She lived here with us until then. You can see theold home place. It is the first two-story house on the main road towardDallas from here. Our children live up there on the pike, too, but welike it back here where it's quiet. How did you get that gate open whenyou came in? That's a patent lock we got on there."
"No, we haven't any car. Wouldn't know how to drive one, if we hadit, but our daughter has one, and she comes up here in it. Get down; getdown, dog. She'll put her muddy feet on you, if you let her. Come backand see us and spend the day some time. We'd be glad to have you."

July 13, 1919, The Dallas Morning News,
Magazine Section, p. 4.
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~jwheat/miscellany6.html

History of Cedar Hill, Dallas County, Texas
"Early wagon trains brought the families of Hart, Penn, Rape, Anderson,Stewart, Kimmel, Coombs, Billingsby, Baggett, Holveck, Trees, Hamilton,Ramsey, Fuller and White, and many more. On July 22, 1846, CedarMountain settlers, Crawford Trees and Anna Kimmel, received the firstmarriage license issued in the Dallas County area."

http://www.cedarhilltxgov.org/opencms/opencms/CityHall/city_history.html

Children

	1. Catherine E. TREES, b. 11 Apr 1848, Dallas, Dallas Co., Texas , d. 8 Mar 1921, Dallas, Dallas Co., Texas (Age 72 years)
	2. Beatrice Ann TREES, b. 31 Jan 1852, Cedar Hill, Dallas County, Texas , d. 19 Jun 1913, Silverton, Briscoe County, Texas (Age 61 years)
	3. David TREES, b. 15 May 1854, d. Yes, date unknown
	4. Phillip William TREES, b. 28 Mar 1857, Dallas, Dallas Co., Texas , d. 21 May 1933 (Age 76 years)
	5. Samuel Henry TREES, b. 24 Aug 1860, Dallas, Dallas Co., Texas , d. 5 Dec 1911, Dallas, Dallas Co., Texas (Age 51 years)
	6. Crawford Jr. "Dutch" TREES, b. 20 Jan 1862, Dallas, Dallas Co., Texas , d. 9 Dec 1935 (Age 73 years)
	7. Texanna TREES, b. 20 Nov 1864, d. Yes, date unknown
	8. Mary Ellen TREES, b. 4 Jun 1867, d. Yes, date unknown
	9. Robert Edward " Lee" TREES, b. 12 Jun 1870, Texas , d. 1948, Cedar Hill, Dallas County, Texas (Age 77 years)
	10. George S. TREES, b. 6 Feb 1873, d. Yes, date unknown

Last Modified 5 Mar 2022

Family ID F29307 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Notes

Crawford was twenty-two years old when he rode horseback to Texas in
1845 ,settling about fifteen miles south of John Neely Bryan's c amp
(Dallas).
In 1849, Crawford left his family for the gold fields of Calif ornia
returning in the spring of 1851.
He served in the Civil War, Company B , 19th Texas Cavalry, Nat. M.
Burford's Regiment. He returned home again to pursue his farming and
stock raising interests.
He became the tenth largest land owner in Dallas County by 1833,
according to the Texas Gazetteer. Part of the land near his homeplace in
Duncanville was set aside for the Trees Cemetery and is still used for
the interment of Trees family members.
Resource : Ovilla, Texas History Book, page 206, The Trees Family, by Mrs.
Bobby (Sherry) Waddle
[Gloria J.Tune1.FTW]

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS
Duncanville is west of the intersection of Interstate Highway 20 and U.S.Highway 67 in southwestern Dallas County. The land on which the city liesoriginally belonged to the Peters Colony.qv Settlement began whenCRAWFORD TREES arrived from Illinois in 1845 and purchased severalthousand acres south of Camp Dallas. Trees donated land in 1855 for theLittle Bethel Male and Female School, which also served as a churchbuilding until 1881, when citizens constructed the Union Hall House. In1880 the Chicago, Texas and Mexican Central Railway reached the area andbuilt Duncan Switch, named for a line foreman. Charles P. Nance, thecommunity's first postmaster, renamed the settlement Duncanville in 1882.The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe acquired the railroad in 1883 and erectedtelegraph poles and lines. Though a fire in 1884 destroyed most of thecommunity's commercial buildings, by the late 1800s dry goods stores, apharmacy, a domino parlor, and a school existed in Duncanville. TheFarmers Gin and the Farmers Bank opened there in the early 1900s. Between1904 and 1933 the population of Duncanville increased from 113 to morethan 300. Fearing annexation by neighboring Dallas, Duncanville residentsincorporated a 225-acre city on August 2, 1947. When the town'spopulation reached 5,000 in 1962, citizens adopted a home-rule charterwith council-manager city government.qv Duncanville has developed as aDallas suburb. Its population increased from about 13,000 in 1970 to morethan 31,000 in 1988. Local commerce, which formerly centered on MainStreet, had by that time expanded to other sites in the town, mostnotably to shopping centers on the city's west side and along U.S.Highway 67 between Duncanville and Cedar Hill. Duncanville had apopulation of 35,748 in 1990 and reported 773 rated businesses in theearly 1990s. In 2000 the population was 36,081 with 1,307 businesses.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Duncanville Historical Commission, The History ofDuncanville, Texas (Dallas: Taylor, 1976). Kathleen E. and Clifton R. St.Clair, eds., Little Towns of Texas (Jacksonville, Texas: Jayroe GraphicArts, 1982).

Paula Stewart
Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. ","http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/DD/hed7.html(accessed August 15, 2007).
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/DD/hed7.html

"Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County,"
Published: Dallas;
Walsworth Publishing Company, 1892.

CRAWFORD TREES, deceased, was born in Union county, Illinois, December
26, 1823, a son of Jacob and Catherine Trees, natives of Germany. The
parents came to the United States in an early day, being among the first
settlers of the State of Illinois. Crawford, the youngest of their six
children, lived with his parents until he came to Texa s in 1845. He
settled on the farm where his widow now lives, in what was the n known as
Peters’ Colony. In 1846 Dallas county was organized, and Mr.Trees was
the first to obtain license to marry in the county. In 1849 he left his
family for the gold fields of California, where he spent the greater part
of two years, and as a reward for his adventure he returned in the spring
of 1851 with several thousand dollars in gold. With the exception of the
two ye ars spent in California his life was devoted to farming and
stock-raising, an d by hard work and conservative dealings he amassed
quite a fortune. Before his death, January 31, 1889, he deeded to each
one of his children a farm of 160 acres, and at his death he left all his
possessions to his widow, which a mounted to about $40,000, consisting of
3,858 acres of land, stock and cash. He lived to see what was a wild
prairie, inhabited mostly by wild animals, c onverted into one of the
finest farming sections in the State.
In 1846 Mr. T rees was married to Miss Annie Kimmel, a daughter of Daniel
and Catherine Kim mel, who were of German descent. Mrs. Trees was born
December 12, 1831, and when only fourteen years of age she came with her
mother to Texas, her father having died in 1842. She is one of three
children that came with her mother from Illinois in 1845, and settled on
the farm where she now lives. Mr. and Mrs. Trees had ten children,
viz.: Catherine, Beatrice, David, Philip W., S amuel H.,Crawford,
Texanie, Mary E., Lee and George W., all of whom Mrs. Tree s has lived to
see married except Lee, who still resides with her.
Submitted by: L. Pingel

http://www.rockvillemama.com/crawfordtrees.txt

PENN SPRINGS, TEXAS. Penn Springs was at the intersection of Penn SpringsRoad and Danieldale Road, at a site that is now in the center ofDuncanville, eleven miles southwest of Dallas in southwest Dallas County.It was on the original land grant of J. Anderson in an area where twosprings flowed into a small reservoir. During a drought people camethirty miles for water. Penn Springs was originally known as IndianSprings for the Native Americans who frequently camped there. Thecommunity was named after Maj. John Penn of Illinois, who first saw thearea in 1848 when he visited CRAWFORD TREES, a friend of his fromIllinois. The two friends then traveled to California as part of the goldrush. After discovering gold, Penn returned to the springs area andpurchased a section of land owned by Phillip Kimmel. Penn traveled toIllinois, gathered his wife Nancy and their seven children, and returnedto Texas in 1854. Upon their arrival the Penn family constructed a logcabin on what became known as Penn Springs Place. Penn later formed asheep business with Samuel Uhl. Their sheep herds sometimes numbered asmany as 1,000. Penn Springs became a watering stop for pioneers,wagontrains, and cattle drives on the Shawnee Trail.qv In 1882 thecommunity hosted a reunion of Parsons's Brigadeqv and a celebration ofthe American Declaration of Independence. By 1900 the community was nolonger listed on Sam Street's Map of Dallas County, Texas. In 1982 ahistorical marker at the site of Penn Springs was dedicated in a ceremonywhich included a commemoration of the Parsons's Brigade reunion and thededication of the site as a city park.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Duncanville Historical Commission, The History ofDuncanville, Texas (Dallas: Taylor, 1976).

Matthew Hayes Nall
Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. ","http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/PP/hrp92.html(accessed August 15, 2007).
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/PP/hrp92.html

Notes for Crawford B. Trees:
Trees Crawford B 19 Texas Cavalry . Private Private 833 833 833
Confederate
Photocopy on file

Crawford Trees (First_Last)
Regiment Name 19 Texas Cavalry
Side Confederate
Company B
Soldier's Rank_In Private
Soldier's Rank_Out Private
Number M227 roll 37
http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm

American Civil War Soldiers
about Crawford Trees
Name: Crawford Trees ,
Side Served: Confederacy
State Served: Texas
Service Record: Enlisted as a Private.
Enlisted in Company B, 19th Cavalry Regiment Texas.
Sources: 425

Source Information:
Historical Data Systems, comp.. American Civil War Soldiers [databaseon-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 1999. Originaldata: Data compiled by Historical Data Systems of Kingston, MA form thefollowing list of works.
Copyright 1997-2000
Historical Data Systems, Inc.
PO Box 35
Duxbury.
Source Citation: Side served: Confederacy; State served: Texas

U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865
about Crawford Trees
Name: Crawford Trees
Side: Confederate
Regiment State/Origin: Texas
Regiment Name: 19 Texas Cavalry
Regiment Name Expanded: 19th Regiment, Texas Cavalry (Burford's)
Company: B
Rank In: Private
Rank In Expanded: Private
Rank Out: Private
Rank Out Expanded: Private
Film Number: M227 roll 37

Source Information:
National Park Service. U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 [databaseon-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007. Originaldata: National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System,online <http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/>, acquired 2007.

******************************************

Trees Cemetery 12378
Crawford Trees (1823-1889) came to Texas in 1845. He and fellow Illinoisnative Anna Kimmel (1831-1913) were married in 1846. Crawford went toCalifornia during the Gold Rush in 1849, returning to Texas two yearslater with enough money to purchase 5,458 acres of land. In 1855, he andAnna, eventually the parents of ten children, donated land for acommunity school and church. They established this cemetery when Anna'sbrother, Philip Kimmel, and a friend, William Stiles, were killed in ashooting on August 21, 1856. Primarily a family burial ground, thecemetery also contains the graves of a number of family friends.Maintained by a family association, the cemetery remains in use by Treesdescendants. (2001)
Location: 1500 Santa Fe Trail Duncanville Dallas County, Texas
http://www.historicmarkers.com/Texas/Dallas_County_Texas/Trees_Cemetery_12378/

Dallas County Cemeteries
(contributed by A. C. Morgan)

217* 72J TREES CEM 1856 1500 Santa Fe, Duncanville 75137. 1.5 acres.
From Danieldale Road West, go 0.15 mile South on Sante Fe Trail. Thecemetery is on the East side of the road between Villa Creek & AtheniaWay.

Crawford TREES (1823-1889) came to Texas in 1845. He & Anna KIMMEL(1831-1913) a fellow Illinois native were married in 1846. He & Annabecame the parents of ten children & donated the land for a communityschool & church. They established this cemetery when Anna's brother,Philip KIMMEL & a friend were killed in a shooting, 21 Aug 1856. Thecemetery remains in use by TREES descendants (2001).

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~jwheat/dalcocems.html

Index to Obituaries and Death Notices in the Jonesboro Gazette
1889-1892
Jonesboro, Union County, Illinois
Transcribed by: Darrel Dexter
[email protected]

9 Mar 1889:
Crawford Trees died in Dallas County, Texas. He was born in Union Countyand went to Texas when a boy. He and Anna Kimmel, also born in UnionCounty, and a sister of George W. Kimmel, were the first couple marriedin Dallas County. He left a wife, six sons and four daughters.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilgssi/obit_1889-1892.htm

*********************************

Article from the Dallas Morning News Archives
February 12, 1889

"Crawford Trees Will"

"The First Couple that were Married in Dallas County"

"Mrs. Anna Minerva Trees, the surviving widow of Crawford Trees, filedher application yesterday in the county court for probate of the will ofher husband, who died at Cedar Hill on the 31st of last January. Thedeceased and Mrs. Trees were natives of Illinois and were married inDallas in 1846, the first couple, it is said, that were married in Dallascounty. In 1849 Mr. Trees was seized with the gold fever, under theinfluence of which he went to California, where he secured considerablegold dust, with which he returned to his family. His estate was valuedat $50,000. There survive him ten living children and twenty livinggrandchildren."

www.genealogybank.com

Sources
[S7499] FAMILY TREE MAKER-GLORIA.FTW.

[S7498] Gloria J.Tune1.FTW.

[S7500] Gloria Tune.FTW.