Archive for the 'Education' Category

Samuel Pierce Newcomb

abilenet November 25th, 2008

Samuel Pierce Newcomb, pioneer West Texas settler, was born at Mansfield, Connecticut, on November 10, 1839. He moved to Missouri with his family in 1855 and went to Texas a year later. His father had opposed his leaving and had given him no money, so he subsisted for a time on odd jobs and a job in the printing office of the Birdwell Union. In 1859 he went to the frontier for his health. He was among those who helped in 1860 to organize Stephens County, where he served as the first county clerk and in 1861 surveyed Breckenridge town lots. Continue Reading »

An Early History of Pioneer Settlers – H. A. Tillett

abilenet August 20th, 2008

“I came here in 1883 as a black haired boy, and now I’m a white haired man,” said H. A. Tillett, prefacing his account of the forty years he has spent in Abilene.

“I arrived with $400 borrowed money and $2,000 debts, sick with rheumatism caused by being flood bound while teaching school in Arkansas. I surely was not as good a prospect for a citizen as Abilene was a prospect for a city.
Continue Reading »