The old Cherokee Trace trail made by the Indians from Arkansas to
Nacogdoches County was one of the first roads made through Upshur
County. It came into the county near Simpsonville and crossed the
southern border near East Mountain and forded the Sabine near where
Longview’s city water plant stands now. Other early roads were the Red
Rock Road which crossed the Sabine at a ferry near Big Sandy, and went
east through what is now Gladewater, Longview, and on into Jefferson.
Another old road went from Newsom, Camp County, through Coffeeville and
on to Jefferson. It was over these roads that the people from North and
West Texas went to Jefferson to trade.
When the United States bought Louisiana from France in 1803, a dispute
arose between the United States and Spain over the boundary line of new
territory north and east of the Sabine River. They made it a “Neutral
Ground,” not to be occupied by either country until satisfactory
settlement could be made. This “Neutral Ground,” having no laws, was
soon overrun by free-booters, desperados, and outlaws. Upshur County was
probably occupied by these characters at that time.
In 1824, the Republic of Mexico made a land grant to Hayden Edwards, and
Upshur County was included in this grant. Edwards never settled very
many people here and the grant was eventually taken from him, but there
is a Hayden Edwards Survey in the county now. About the year 1835, the
first land grants were made to settlers in this county. After the
removal of the Cherokee Indians, in 1839, the country was settled almost
over night, and in a few years all the free land was patented.
According to Thrall’s history of Texas, John Cotton was the first white
man to settle within the boundary of what is now Upshur, Camp, and Gregg
Counties. These three counties were originally united and known as
Upshur County. Isaac Moody was the second settler, and about 1838, O. T.
Boulware opened a store and trading post on John Cotton’s farm. This was
the first business enterprise in the county.