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Pierce Log Cabin Goat Neck on the Brazos Cleburne Johnson County Tx
click on the smaller photos to view the larger photos Lamoine Peterson sent me these photos after
I went to the last Goat neck Old Timers Reunion in 2002. He writes:
This is the old Jack Pierce Log Cabin in Goatneck. This is where Taz and
Ellen Stanford Lived with their Families. At that time there was no stucco
covering the walls of the cabin. Jessie Peterson is in one photo and
Lamoine Peterson is in the other Photo. I seem to recall Lamoine telling
me that he was born in this house!!
The Pierce Log Cabin at GoatNeck Cleburne, Johnson Co. TX the Peabody's bought the property from the Pierces or Bertha Force--and Mrs. Peabody of Ft Worth TX gave me this photo. (the black and white one where the house has the white picket fence) She was born on the Pierce ranch and live there many years. The Pierce Homestead was called the Peabody Place in the 1920-60's. I have some photos she gave me on the GoatNeck TX Page. Now its still called " The Old Pierce Place"
Herbert E Blackstock Writes: After the War Between the States, a few settlers began to settle in the area that is part of Hill County. Some of the former plantation owners from the eastern southern states were the first to settle the area. LD Pierce came with his former slaves, settled on a tract of land near a big bend on the Brazos in the western part of the area. On this tract of land was a big bluff. There were overhanging rocks that made a shelter. LD Pierce's former slaves lived in the shelter of that bluff. LD Pierce built a log house on a hill overlooking his farm. The log house had a large auger drilled through the walls, and the holes were used as a window for firing rifles. The Log house is still standing , although it has had more rooms made of lumber added to it. (editor’s note: this log cabin was torn down in 1996) It has also been plastered over the logs. Clem Pierce established a large cattle ranch in the eastern part of the area, Beginning at Barnard's Mill and over to Ham Creek running in a northerly direction in a fan shape. It included several hundred acres of land. The ranch has been cut up into smaller ranches including the Klondike and Gatewood (owned by Floyd Ormsby) and some still owned by the Pierce Heirs. After the area called Goatneck because part of Johnson County, Frank Long, then sheriff, found a dead man on the Clem Pierce Ranch under a stack of hay. There is an old ranch house still standing on the old Pierce Ranch. It may be the second house built by Clem Pierce. (Editor note: this building has since burned) On the LD Pierce farm is the Pierce family Cemetery
Log House Memorials: by Vilola Block Johnson County History book page 257 "Two old log houses in the Freeland Community in western Johnson County are memorials to the sturdy pioneers who build them. Although both have been covered over in recent years it proves that this type of house was built to last. Southeast on the Brazos River is the old Jack "Uncle Jackie" Pierce log cabin, which was overlaid with stucco in 1933 or 1934 (by the Peabody's who bought the ranch. Editor, LD Pierce) The bottomland between the house and the river was cleared for crops by Negro Slaves. A huge bluff on the river was walled up by the Negroes for their abode. (editors note: this bluff was bulldozed in 1996) Albert Crook’’s fathers once worked for Jack Pierce and the Crook Family lived here in this old house. He said the Negroes continued to live under the bluff long after the Civil War, and that it was no trouble to see where their cooking fires were built. Floods on the river finally undermined the bluff so completely that it caved off, and now there is no evidence left of the early home of the Negroes. Many of them are buried along with the Pierce family in the Cemetery north of the house. There is only one large rock tombstone in this Cemetery, which contains about 20 graves." Johnson Co. History Book
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