Local historian Gary B. Davis recently presented a program on ‘The History of Swartwout’ for the Livingston Lions Club. He said a guided visit to the Lake Livingston Dam led by Project Manager Chad Holton sparked the idea to research the former river town’s history.
“When we visited the dam that day, I looked around and thought, ‘This is a history-rich spot,’” Davis said.
The river town was named for Samuel Swartwout, a port collector for New York who was an investor in the town even though he never came to Texas. He was later called a swindler after scamming $1 million from the New York Port Authority.
“Swartwout was situated on 150 acres that fronted the river. It contained 86 blocks, each one over an acre. With a population of 100 in 1840, it had two public squares, a church, a Masonic lodge/school, two hotels, a tailor’s shop, a shoe shop, and a cotton gin. District court was held there as late as 1845. It was on the mail route from Huntsville to Nacogdoches.
“In 1846 when Polk County was formed from the northern part of the Liberty Division, Swartwout was considered as a place for the county seat, but it lost out to the more centrally located Springfield.
“Moses Choate donated 100 acres for the location of our county seat. It is widely accepted that Choate’s offer came with the condition that the town be named Livingston.
“Swartwout was situated at a spot known as Garner’s Ferry which is passable at all times when other ferries overflow and are impassable or require a ferriage of miles through the bottoms. The town fronts six hundred yards on the river and is near Long King’s village,” according to an article from the Houston Telegraph that Davis found.
“In 1841, Moses Choate was appointed by the Liberty District as overseer to build a road from Swartwout to the Tyler County line near Chester, where it would intersect with the Coushatta Trace which led from Louisiana through Chester, Moscow, Colita and Patrick’s Ferry, at the mouth of the Kickapoo Creek. This route followed Long King’s trace.
“The Swartwout road was built 30 feet wide and had mileposts at the end of each mile. The banks of the river were graded as the law required and a good and substantial ferry, 55 feet long, provided a safe crossing for persons, wagons, horses, cattle, etc.
The Steamboats
“From the beginning of Anglo settlement, Swartwout was a major shipping point. Untold tons of lumber, cotton, corn, syrup, honey and hides were sent to the port of Galveston from here. These boats delivered staples such as coffee, flour, sugar, liquor, and tobacco in addition to passengers and were responsible for much of the mail delivery. The other major landings were Drew’s, Patrick’s and Johnson’s Bluff. Each river farm had its own landing.
“Captain John F. Carr was a commissioner when Polk County was formed in 1846. He was a captain in the Confederate States Navy. He owned a farm at Smithfield in what is now Ace. He built steamboats, even building a boat that assisted in the Battle of Galveston on Jan. 1, 1863. Polk County could have had a Confederate naval base.
“Captain Junius Poitevent was the riverboat captain of ‘The Early Bird’ from Ocean Springs, Miss. and he owned a farm at Tigerville. He accumulated massive land holdings statewide for clearing debris and ‘snags’ from the Trinity River. The state offered a program where they gave 647 acres for every mile of river cleaned.
“Sarah Burks Cayton Riley was the daughter of Granville Burks and she married John Marion Cayton. The Cayton family migrated to Swartwout in the 1850s and opened one of the two hotels there. She is the second great-grandmother of Enterprise Editor Emily Banks Wooten who is a sixth-generation Polk Countian.
“The there was M.S. and Lela Cayton. M.S. was the son of John Marion Cayton and Sarah Burks Cayton Riley. M.S. was a jeweler and partner with C.F. Fain in Livingston’s theater, ‘The Happy Hour.’ He is the great-grandfather of Emily.
“Harden ‘Hardy’ Burks was the son of Granville Burks. He served in the 20th Regiment of Elmore’s Texas Infantry. His daughter married a Moore and is the matriarch of the Polk County Moore family. He is buried in Mt. Rose Cemetery
“George A. Custer and his army of 3,000 marched through Livingston in August 1865 on their way to Austin. They crossed the Swartwout Ferry and camped on the west bank. They killed many rattlesnakes and dubbed the spot Camp Rattlesnake.
First Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867
“The U.S. Congress divided the south into five military districts. Texas constituted the 5th Military District. Livingston became headquarters for the Federal Army of Occupation, with Company A of the 15th Infantry and Company B of the 6th Calvary stationed there. The post of Livingston embraced Polk, Hardin, Liberty, Jefferson, Orange, Tyler, Jasper, Newton, Trinity, Walker, Angelina and Montgomery. Stationed there were three companies of infantry and one company of cavalry. One of the first acts was to replace all elected officials that were unable to take the ‘Ironclad Oath’ and swear upon entry of office that they had never supported the Confederacy.
“John F. McGowen bought Garner Ferry from Arthur Garner’s heirs in 1897. His family ran it until approximately 1930. He accumulated over 600 acres at the site of Lake Livingston Dam. Col. Howard Daniel Jr. was his grandson.
Livingston gets a good road
“In October 1910, the first mile of improved road in Livingston was built from the courthouse down the Swartwout Road (South Washington) to the new Forest Hill Cemetery (1906). The steep hill was nearly impassible in wet weather. The Commercial Club, the forerunner of the Chamber of Commerce, led by W.L. West of the Polk County Enterprise, was largely responsible.
“In August 1913 a ‘traction engine’ with a pull behind grading implement was demonstrated on the Swartwout Road, due to it being considered the worst road in the county. Afterwards, the county invested in the machinery at the cost of $3,000. It was estimated that a mile of road could be graded for $30.
Highway 35 begins
“In October 1921, the Houston Post sent a party to check out the new paved roads in Polk County. The Post party was met at Swartwout by a group of Livingston business and civic leaders, including Judge E.T. Murphy, Mayor Carl Sory, Commissioner M.S. Cayton, Enterprise Editor W.L. West, J.W. Cochran, Chamber President A.E. Gerlach and others. After a lunch at the Oleander Hotel, the group traveled on the newly completed section of Highway 35 to Moscow to visit the birth home of Texas Governor William P. Hobby, who, ironically, later became the owner of The Post. They were very impressed with the progress coming out of Polk County.
“In 1927, Yellow Pine Lumber Co., the predecessor of Temple Inland, built a bridge across the Trinity at Swartwout for a logging operation.”
