Reagor Springs   Reagor Springs is located five miles southwest of Waxahachie on US Hwy 287. The area was first settled by Sutherland Mayfield. Quoting his son, Robert, on their early arrival in Ellis County, "I was born in Dyer County, Tenn. in the year 1827. My father, Sutherland Mayfield, in the year 1838 started with his family for Texas. There were quite a number of emigrants started with him from Tennessee and accompanied him as far as Natchitoches, in Louisiana, where they scattered out, my father and family continuing the journey till he reached the town of Nacogdoches, Texas. We arrived there in April 1838, and remained until October of the same year, waiting for a train to be made up so as to pursue our journey safely to Washington County." Later they moved on to what is now Brazos County and from there to "the falls of the Brazos", in Robertson County, near a place called Bucksnort, not far from where Marlin is now located. "In February, 1844, my father, with his family, moved to what is now Ellis County and aimed to locate and labor on his league of land on Waxahachie creek, settling at some fine springs, now known as Reagor Springs. He built his cabin, cleared a piece of ground north of the springs of its heavy walnut timber, broke the land and planted a crop. "As soon as we had unloaded our wagon which hauled all our earthly goods, William and myself were started back to Bucksnort to move up a load of corn. This load of corn subsisted our family of fourteen persons for about two months, and from that time until our crop matured we subsisted on meal alone." "At the time we moved to the springs there was a settlement on the Thomas I. Smith league, on Chambers Creek, known as the Howe settlement." The settlement was called Reagors. It served as a postal station from March 18 to September 26, 1878, its name probably derived from that of Capt. John Reagor, another pioneer settler who came to the region in 1850. Captain Reagor was a veteran of the War of 1812 and fought at the Battle of New Orleans. In 1882, the community again received a post office, this time under the name of Ray. In 1906, when the Texas and Brazos Valley Railroad arrived, the community changed its name once more, this time to Reagor Springs. The post office was discontinued in that year. By 1964 the population had reached ninety, but declined to about half that by 1900. The Borens were in Ellis County (then Navarro) by 1847. Michael and Riley Boren donated land for the Boren Cemetery at Reagor Springs. The first burial there was in 1851. This cemetery, which has 154 burials, has now been restored and bears a Texas Historical Marker. One of the Reagor daughters married a Richardson. Several of their family and the Reagor family are buried in this nearby family cemetery where the Davis family is buried. In the 1890s George William and Jane Bell (O'Briant) Davis, moved from Georgia with their ten children and settled here. Within their property was one acre already conveyed to a cemetery in 1891. Both George and Jane Davis and many of the family are buried there. In 1991, after discovering the cemetery had grown up and was badly neglected, descendants placed a marker for George and Jane Davis and another "In Memory of Graves Unmarked." Records show at least twenty others buried there. This cemetery is designated as the Richardson-Reagor Springs Cemetery. Other family names of the Reagor Springs area were Alewine, Bolton, Duvall, Freeman, Jackson, Linville, Reagor, Reed, Robinson, Trice and Wylie. References: A Memorial and Biographical History of Ellis County, Texas, Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago. 1892. Waxahachie Daily Light, Feb. 28, 1993. "Waco Couple find History in Reagor Springs" by Patricia C. Stumb   Copyright © 2002-2016, Ellis County TXGenWeb. All Rights Reserved. This page was last modified: Thursday, 01-Jul-2021 13:17:23 MDT