Boats at Roland

There was a steamboat landing at Roland, on Red River, eight or ten miles from our place. Boats could come there only during high water, but the cotton from the prairie around Clarksville was hauled to Jefferson by teamsters. Until the railroad came, Jefferson was the port of nearly all North Texas. The cotton produced on the river was held until a rise would enable boats to ascend and take it to New Orleans. In ascending, the boats would bring sugar, molasses, and farm supplies in general.

These boats also took passengers. I remember that when Belle Gordon and Mr. Buck Morrison were married they took boat at Roland for New Orleans. Dr. [Pat Benjamin Clark] and I accompanied them to Roland where the boat was anchored.

At that time there were two stores at Roland, one owned by Rowland Bryarly, for whom the town was named, and the other by John Monkhouse, Sr., who came many years earlier from London, England. He is the ancestor of all the Monkhouse family in this country.

The Move to Texas

Our place, four miles from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, was partly on the high land, and partly in the swamp, which was known as the old bed of the Mississippi River. It must have been an