The truth behind Noah Smithwick

The following facts and quotes were taken from “The Evolution of a State” by Noah Smithwick, first published in 1900 and “Interesting History About Smithwick Community,” an article written by Olivia Cox and published in the Burnet Bulletin in 1938 and the Burnet County History Book, Vol. I, published in 1979.

Smithwick arrived in Texas at the age of 19 in 1827. He wrote that he “drifted with the tide of emigration to Texas,” bringing all of his worldly possessions, “consisting of a few dollars in money, a change of clothes, and a gun…to seek my fortune in this lazy man’s paradise.”

He traveled on a schooner from New Orleans, landed at Matagorda Bay and ate his first meal in Texas consisting of “venison sopped in honey.” Later he worked his way up to Bastrop where he met and married a widow named Thurza Blakey Duty. 

Smithwick fought for Texas’ independence from Mexico and served in a rear detachment at the Battle of San Jacinto. His brother-in-law, Lemuel Stockton Blakey, was killed during the battle and his remains are buried on the battle grounds. He was in Austin in 1845 when Texas became the 28th state of the Union and participated in the huge celebration.

Afterward he became a Texas Ranger and fought with Col. John Henry Moore against the Comanche Indians. Three years later in 1849, at the age of 41, he came to Burnet County and served as the first armorer at Fort Croghan. He was a civilian responsible for the maintenance and repair of the small arms at the fort. Several other early settlers of the county joined him; among them were William H. Magill, Christian Dorbant and Logan Vandeveer. All were instrumental in helping establish the new county in 1852, which was the year that Smithwick brought his family to Burnet County. His fifth and last child, Robert, was born here.

He purchased the first mill that had been built west of Georgetown on the Mormon Mill property, but later sold it and moved in 1855, eight miles below “the marble falls” on the Colorado River. He established a new farm and built one of the first frame houses in the region. 

Two years later he built the Smithwick Mills and a post office was established in that name. 

He was a loyal “Texican” and an American, so when the “rise of ominous war clouds arose from the south,” he began to contemplate moving. He wrote, “As the son of a revolutionary soldier, I could not raise my hand against the Union he had fought to establish. I had fought to make Texas a member of the Union, and I would not turn around and fight to undo my work…I was unalterably opposed to secession, both on principle and policy.”

He voted against secession, as did the majority of the people in Burnet County, but Texas still broke away from the United States. Smithwick knew he could not stay and prepared to leave for California. He had been offered $12,000 for his mill, but because of the turbulent times, the sale did not go through. He eventually sold the mill for just $2,000.

He also owned two slaves and sold them, one to Gov. Sam Houston for $800, even though he had “a few months before the election been assessed at $1,500.” He left his farm to his nephew, John Randolph Hubbard, who also was a Union sympathizer. Hubbard decided to stay and try to make it through the war, but in 1863 after threats to his life, he attempted to flee. He was ambushed by bushwhackers and his body was thrown into a water hole on Cow Creek, now known as Hubbard Falls.

Smithwick, his family and several others who shared his views left for California on April 14, 1861, unaware that Fort Sumter had been fired on that day and the War Between the States had begun.

He eventually settled in Santa Ana, Orange County, Calif., where he died in 1899 at the age of 91. His only wife, Thurza, and three of his children preceded him in death.

He left behind the community known as Smithwick and a wonderful book. He was a keen observer and his anecdotes of many of the events are recorded in the memoirs. 

The “Evolution of a State” has been reprinted in numerous formats, and some think it is one of the most interesting and most accurate of all accounts about life in early Texas.

Bryson is a former Highland Lakes reporter who lives in north Burnet County. Her e-mail is oliverplaceranch@wildblue.net.