Dallas, TX
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Author: Mike Magers

Dallas’ First Historic Tree Recognition

Historic trees have been recognized in Texas for many years. The City of Dallas recently joined the movement by recognizing a 175 year old pecan tree known as the West Dallas Gateway Pecan. It stands at the west end of the Commerce Street Bridge opposite the Trinity River from downtown Dallas, on the south side…
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J. B. and Nancy Wilmeth

In 1845 J. B. Wilmeth having learned – mainly from an advertising pamphlet of a colony agent – of the fertility and other attractions of the broad prairies in the region of “The Three Forks of Trinity” and also of the grant of title free to one mile square to every head of a family…
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The Francois Santerre Family

From Proud Heritage, Volume I by DCPA, currently out of print. Francois Santerre was born near Blois, France, in 1809, an only son and a descendant of an old French family. Scholarly in nature, he was well educated and mostly interested in scientific agri­culture. As a young man he served in the French Army and after his…
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Routh Cemetery

By Frances James Routh Cemetery, also known as Spring Creek Cemetery The two cemeteries known as the Routh Cemeteries are located about fifteen miles northeast of the Dallas County Court House. Situated east of Central Expressway (US Highway 75), south of Renner Road, and north of Glenville Avenue, they are located a short distance east…
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25th Annual Legacies Dallas History Conference

Dallas County Pioneer Association is pleased to announce our co-sponsorship of the 25th Annual Legacies Dallas History Conference. Please note additional details below. Date: Saturday, January 27, 2024 Times: Registration    8:00 A.M; Conference     9:00 A.M. – 12:30 P.M. Place: Dallas History & Archives Division – Dallas Public Library, 7th Floor, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX…
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The Musical Riek Family

Constance Riek was 49 years of age in 1875 when he moved his family from Hermann, Missouri to Dallas, Texas. He had many accomplishments to his credit and was respected and loved by those who knew and worked with him. He had been a member of the Missouri Legislature and served as Judge in Gasconade…
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The John Stephen Motley Family

From Proud Heritage, Volume I by DCPA, currently out of print. John Motley, the oldest son of Robert Page Motley and Emma Sarah Lawrence Motley, who brought their family from Warren County, Kentucky in 1856 to settle on their farm four miles east of Reinhardt, was born September 29, 1877. He was the grandson of Thomas Zachariah…
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Anderson Bonner

By Mike Judd Born into slavery in 1839 in rural Alabama, Anderson Bonner died in North Dallas in 1920 a well-to-do entrepreneur and landowner. Married in Northern Alabama in 1822, Willis and Mahulda Bonner farmed outside Elkmont where Mahulda gave birth to seven (7) children between 1825 and 1835 – including a son named Anderson…
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Crawford Cemetery

By Frances James The Crawford Cemetery has an address of 700 Cedar Hill in Cedar Hill, Texas. This site is in the southwest corner of Dallas County. Ever since histories have been written about Dallas County mention has been made of “the tornado that wiped out the village of Cedar Hill in 1856.” The death…
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The Cedar Hill Tornado of 1856

The above image is a portion of an article in 1976 discussing the congregation of the First United Methodist Church of Cedar Hill, which traces its membership back to the congregation that met in the Methodist church destroyed by the tornado. The article below is transcribed from The Dallas Daily Herald issue of May 10, 1856. Warning: Some…
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