Texas Historical Marker #00508
Bridges Cemetery. Bridges settlement, named for the W. A. Bridges family and reportedly the oldest in Denton county, began in 1843 and was a center of activity of the Peters Colony. This cemetery, on land granted to Bridges in 1850, dates to 1855, although illegible stones may be slightly older. Site of the burials of the Bridges and other early immigrant families, stones here document graves of many children and Civil War soldiers. Deeded to the county by F. M. and Sallie Bridges in 1889, the cemetery contains over one hundred sandstone and granite markers. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986 #508
?, The Colony, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #05351
The Hedgcoxe War. Distribution of land in the Peters Colony of North Texas triggered a dispute known as the Hedgcoxe War. The Texas Emigration and Land Co. organized the colony under an 1841 Republic of Texas law which allowed it to keep one-half of a settler's grant. After protests, this right was repealed, but in Feb. 1852 the company was compensated with 1,088,000 acres of vacant land within the colony. This action angered settlers and speculators with land certificates, who feared that the large grant would lower land values. At that time, the company's unpopular agent, English-born Henry O. Hedgcoxe, operated a land office on nearby Office Creek. On July 12 and 13, 1852, a group of Dallas men broke in and examined the land records. They reported to a meeting in Dallas on July 15 that the company was defrauding the colonists. John J. Good (1827-82), later mayor of Dallas, then led a band of armed men to Hedgcoxe's office. Hedgcoxe escaped, but most of his files were seized and the office burned. After the raid, tensions quickly cooled. The law was amended so that settlers obtained their grants from the state rather than from the company agent. The company kept its land grant, however, and Hedgcoxe returned to help survey the tract. (1975) #5351
?, The Colony, TX, United States