By: Eva Heard Cassling
(gggranddaughter of John Robin Heard)

I have been dreaming of and loving this area in northern Cass County approximately three miles south of State Highway 77 on the Cusseta to Linden county road since I was a very small gir. I was born and grew up in the Cornett area and on driving along the road to Hughes Springs over the high hills, we would look into the beauth of the Cusseta Mountains with my father telling the family the mountains were named by his grandfather John Robin Heard.

Cusseta and the Cusseta Mountains were named after Cusseta in Chambers Co., Ala., near the Ga. state line in the east central part of the state, from which John Robin Heard had moved to settle in Cass County, Tx. He was born in Wilkes County, Ga., in the norhteastern part of that county almost bordering on the Soutn Carolina state line.

His grandfather, Lt. Charles Heard served in the American Revolutionaly War from South Carolina under Captains John Calhous and Armstrong Heard 1779-1783. John Robin was a great-grandson of the immigrant ancestor Charles C. Heard who came from county Tyronet, Northern Ireland and settled in Hanover County, Va. in 1720.

There were seven grandsons by his son Josepth and consequently many Heards in the area particularly Georgia. Col. Stephen Heard, the Paul Revere of the Southern Colonies, would alert the colonists with "The British Are Coming" and they would madly load into the vehicles and wildly set out for reguge north to as far away as Virginia. The cattle would swim the streams with children holding on to their tails.

Elizabeth Dardon, a cousin of George Washington, was one of those children. She later became the wife of Stephen Heard. He was Governor of Georgia in 1780-1781. Heard County, Ga. midway on west side of the state bordering on Alabama is also a lasting mark the family made on that state; but back to John Robin.

I researched Cusseta with a dear old cousin, Mrs. Mollie Floyd Bohannon, whose home is still standing on the old Cusseta Road approximately one mile south of Highway 77, almost fifteen years ago together with her older sister, Carrie Floyd Taylor of Denton, who was living in her home at that time.

From the notes I made there and later the same afternoon at the home of Mrs. Irene Curtwright Baker in Texarkana, I give you the following facts:

Mrs. Baker was born August 10, 1860 near Greensboro, Ga. in Green County. Her aunt Miss Jennie Sledge, born in Stuart Co., Ga. in 1851, became Jennie Sledge Cuningham, taught school in Woodland Academy situated about two miles south of Cusseta on the right side of the Linden road.

These young women attended school there and at the time Cusseta was a bustling, thriving community. There were several general merchandise stores one operated by a Y. Fulcher. The Saloon was operated by a Mr. Bob Floyd. A bachelor by the name of Sanders ran a store.

There were two doctors, one of whom was Dr. Henderson the husband of Carolina Heard who where the parents of Quitman Henderson. I remember Quitman very well. He provided in his will funds for placing the chain link fence surrounding the John Robin Heard historical Cemetery located on the side of the most southern of the Cusseta Mountains.

He was buried there in 1934 and to my knowledge this was the last grave there. This cemetery is on land only about 100 yeards from the John Robin Heard homes. This site was set aside as the family burial ground. Mrs. Carrie Kathleen Henderson Farmer, a niece of AQuitman Henderson and great grand-daughter of John Robin Heard, now living in Linden, was greatly responsible in helping carry out her uncles wishes of fencing the cemetery.

Gen. Sam Houston passed through this area enroute to Nacogdoches, Texas in 1832 and David Crockett came through about 1835 on his way to join Col. Travis at the Alamo in San Antonio.

John Allen Heard, son of John Robin and father of the late milton N. Heard of Naples, was the first postmaster of Cusseta, June 18, 1856. There were six postmasters including Henry C. Fulcher, Oct. 23, 1874. There was never a railroad through Cusseta so it died in time almost like Jefferson.

The Heard families naturally are excited about honoring John Robin Heard, who no doubt suffered great hardships in making the long trek to Northeast Texas, with the dedication of the Historical Marker to be placed on the side of the State Highway 77 at Cusseta County Road, Sunday May 30, 1979 at 2 O'Clock.

As published (expect where formatting was web prohibitive) in This information was taken from the Cass County Connections, Vo. 24, Dec. 1998, pg 95-96

This is a reprint from Vol. 6, #1, 1979
Cass County Connections is a quarterly publication put out by the Cass County Genealogical Society of Cass County, Texas. Permission granted by Cass County Genealogical Society to Dana Thomas for publishing on The Cass County, TXGenWeb Project Pages.