Cumby, AKA Black Jack Grove, Texas, Hopkins County. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

D. W. �Wash� Cole settled here in the early 1840s. Originally called Black Jack Grove, the site had served as a Texas Ranger camp during the Republic. It had a post office granted in 1848.

In the early 1850s, the land was purchased by storekeeper John D. Matthews. Matthews also sold town lots and gave a plot for the building of a Masonic Lodge.

From February of 1857 to May of 1858, the post office was known as Theodocias. It reverted back to Black Jack Grove after that.

Volunteers from Black Jack Grove a company of the 9th Texas Cavalry distinguished itself at the battle of Elkhorn Ridge.

The community became one of those rowdy towns that discouraged the preferred class of settler. The �sporting� group held sway, despite (or because of) a healthy economy. In 1866 a gunfight took the lives of five men over a racing bet.

The railroad arrived in the form of the East Line and Red River Railway in 1880 and with it came �civilization� and a change of name to shed its reputation. Former Confederate Robert H. Cumby became the permanent namesake of the community.

Early population figures are unavailable, but the town grew and prospered. It peaked in the late 1920s with a population just over 900. It survived the Great Depression but not without a population decrease. It hit bottom around 1970 with just over 400 residents. The 1980 census showed nearly 650, but falling again to 571 for the 1990 count. The 2000 census counted 616 residents.

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Subject: Black Jack Grove 1872

On Saturday, July 6, 1872, Judge W. H. Andrews, Presiding Judge of the District Court, and District Attorney Lucas Flattery Smith, of Bonham, Fannin County, Texas, were traveling together on business of the Court. From Smith's personal Diary, I have transcribed his experience, as follows:

Saturday 6
"Judge Andrews and I left for "Black Jack Grove" this morning to try a Habeas Corpus Case for Tom. Beard. We had a mule team and had to whip nearly all the time. The trial was postponed and we returned to Greenville, having traveled 32 miles for nothing. I am very sore &c."

I wonder if you have any record of this Case for Tom Beard, or is the name correct? Lucas Flattery Smith was, according to his 1901 biography, "elected county attorney of Fannin county in 1869 and as appointed district attorney of the Eleventh judicial district, composed of five counties, in 1870. Those Counties, based on his Diary entries were: Fannin, Hunt, Collin, Hopkins, and Grayson.

Thanks for keeping history alive.

- Stanley D. Stevens (Librarian Emeritus, University of California at Santa Cruz),

sstevens@ucsc.edu, July 29, 2020

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