name of Isaac Smathers and his family came, moving over the old "Choctaw Trail." James Clark prevailed upon Mr. Smathers to stop and settle here. He gave Mr. Smathers a block of land and helped him to erect a log house, which was raised one day, and the next day one was built for James Clark himself, with all the available neighbors coming to assist in the "log raising". The James Clark old home was burned in 1909, but the house erected for Isaac Smathers is still standing, having been erected in 1833. This afterwards became the home of that great Texas journalist, Col. Chas. DeMorse, who published the second regular newspaper in Texas and erected the first publishing house in Texas, the old Clarksville Standard. The first issue of this paper came out in 1842. This publishing house, erected on this block of ground referred to as the Smathers place, was built in 1841.

Col. Chas. DeMorse came to Texas in 1832 purposely to join Col. Travis in his effort for Texas independence. He was a major in the Texas army and remained with the army until Texas gained her independence in 1836. He went down and stayed at Galveston for a few years, then came on up to Clarksville, Red River County, making the acquaintance of a very prominent citizen of this section and a man of some means for that time, Russell Latimer, who helped him very materially in a financial way in the beginning and subsequent publishing of the Clarksville Standard.