CHAPTER I.

The work here presented is the result of much research work, undertaken and compiled in fulfilment of promises made to many requests. One such request, by our fine Chamber of Commerce, for a brief history of Clarksville and Red River County, was the real incentive for the immediate preparation and publication of this volume -- a long-felt want.

I have heretofore claimed for Red River County, and still so claim, that she is the mother county of Texas. I would call your attention to the fact that the first Anglo-Saxon settlement in Texas was begun in 1814 in Red River County on what is now the western border of Bowie and the east border of Red River County. Here let us note that the truly Anglo-Saxon settlement of Texas was begun by Stephen F. Austin in 1824, or ten years later than in Red River County.

Red River County was referred to in the early history of Texas as the Red River Valley Section; and truly, Red River County, for a number of years, included what is now Bowie, Cass, Titus and Franklin Counties, a portion of Hopkins and Marion Counties, all of Delta, Lamar and Fannin