Caradan, Texas, Mills County. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

Named after early settlers Samuel Losson CARAway and DAN Bush, the community dates from the 1880s.* The name was submitted for a post office which was granted in 1889 when only fifteeen people lived here. By 1930 the population had (nearly) doubled to twenty-nine. It reached its high-water mark in 1950 with seventy-five Caradanians but twenty years later the town had only eighteen people left.

The post office closed its doors in the mid-1970s.

The cemetery is all that is left of Caradan.

Caradan, Texas Namesake

Click on image to enlarge
Photo courtesy Cockrum/Marable Family Collection

"My Great Grandfather Daniel Thornton Bush homesteaded land in what was to become Mills County. Along with a fellow named Caraway he donated land in the 1880s for the community of Caradan that was named in their honor (Caradan).

The attached images are: the first page of the original patented deed for 160 acres of his initial filing still in the records of the Texas General Land Office; the Bush's home; a studio portrait of the family made in Goldthwaite; and an image of his and his wife's tombstone in the Goldthwaite Memorial Cemetery.

All the photographic images are copies of Cockrum family photographs in my possession and you have my permission to consider them for posting on your website." - Dan Cockrum, November 24, 2017

"As mentioned in Texas Escapes, Caradan was named in recognition of early settlers Samuel CARAway and Great Grandfather DAN Bush, as submitted for a post office in 1889. My other Great Grandfather John Wharton Cockrum is buried in the Caradan Cemetery.

Photos are from the Cockrum/Marable family collection. - Dan Cockrum, San Antonio, TX, March 08, 2018

Daniel Thornton Bush and wife Nancy J. Bush Tombstone
in the Goldthwaite Memorial Cemetery
Photo courtesy Dan Cockrum

Daniel Thornton Bush's Homestead 1873 Patent for 160 Acres
Courtesy Cockrum/Marable Family Collection

Jot M Down Store & owner James Richard Wilcox prior to 1959
Photo courtesy John Poulsen
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Caradan Cemetery

Historical Marker (FM 575 N, near Goldthwaite)

Caradan Cemetery

After the Civil War families settled in this area, originally called Lookout. A.F. Smith deeded two acres of land in 1889 for a public school. Arthur Nixon, the infant son of W.J. Nixon and N.E. Nixon, died later that year and was buried on school land. When the school burned in the early 1900s, it was rebuilt in another location, leaving two acres for the cemetery. Among the more than 150 graves here are veterans of the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. The cemetery is one of the few physical remnants of the once thriving town of Caradan and still serves the community.
(1996)

Caradan, Texas Forum

Subject: The church in Caradan

My family, at one time long ago, lived in Caradan and some of my siblings attended school there (I did not). This was a little before my time, probably in the mid to late thirties. I do not know much about Caradan but am seeking information. I am sending the photo [above] of a church building that my dad built there in 1932. I understand that this building was, at some time later on, sold to a farmer and was moved to a location several miles north of Caradan and that was used for storage of feed for cattle. Do you have any information on this or tell me where I may go to find info. My dad's name was Knox E. Reed and my mother's name was Lillie Belle. - Jimmy Reed, Pflugerville, Texas, March 22, 2007

Mills County 1940s Map showing Caradan
From Texas state map #4335
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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