The area that is today Deanville, Texas was once the home of various Indian tribes dating back some ten thousand years. In the 1800's, the area that became known as Deanville was occupied by roving bands of Tonkawa Indians; a nomadic hunting and gathering people that camped along the rivers and streams of much of Central Texas. Although the Tonkawas were generally regarded as friendly by the Anglo-Americans who began to settle among them during the early nineteenth century, their horse stealing ways were a continual source of annoyance to the anglo settlers.

Hunting parties of Caddo Indians from East Texas, also considered peaceful by the settlers, roved westward through the area as far as the Colorado River in pursuit of buffalo. The territory of the future county also lay within the range of more hostile southern Wichita peoples, such as the Tawakonis and Wacos, and the Comanche Indians. Raids on the white settlements by small parties, typically seeking horses, seemed to become more frequent during the middle and late 1830s. In 1840, President Lamar sent the Texas army to drive out all Indians (many were resettled in Oklahoma; others relocated their camps to Mexico). The federal census of 1850 indicated no Indians were present in Burleson county although the heavily-wooded streams could not be totally checked.

The uncleared areas of Deanville and the areas along the area creeks are covered by hardwood forests with post oak, blackjack oak, hickory, elm, and hackberry trees. The streams are fringed by thick stands of water oak, pecan, and walnut. Much of the Deanville area has many varieties of prairie grasses including bluestem, Indian grass, tall bunchgrass, and buffalo grass. Burleson County is also located along the Luling Fault Zone with vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas and deposits of lignite coal–yet. Deanville is also home to many wild animal species including white-tailed deer, coyotes, skunks, raccoons, fox, bob cat, and opossums.

SETTLEMENT OF THE DEANVILLE AREA (1840's)

In the late 1840's, Horatio Chriesman moved his family from Washington County to what is now Deanville and was soon followed by other pioneer families giving rise to a settlement in the new state of Texas. Chriesman was a colonial statesman, Methodist lay leader, and pioneer in Burleson County who came to Texas in 1822 from Kentucky. Horatio Chriesman was a surveyor in Austin's Colony(1823-1836). He was also a military officer in General Sam Houston's revolutionary army during the Texas War for independence; in 1837 Chriesman served on the commission to choose the site of the Capital for the Texas Republic. Horatio Chriesman married Mary Kincheloe. After Mary's death, he married Augusta Hope. He had eleven children.

However, the town is named for James L. Dean who established a general store in the new settlement in 1872 supplying the area settlers and cattlement driving their herds down the Chisholm Trail (which passed nearby).

During the Civil War, the unattended longhorns proliferated and Confederate Army veterans returning from the war built up herds by claiming unmarked cattle and branding them. At that time a steer was worth about $4. Up north, that same steer sold for about $40 which was the motivation behind the Texas cattle drives.


Tending a Longhorn Herd near Deanville

Deanville Named for Trading Post Owner, James L. Dean

The August 1870 census shows James L. Dean was 28 and a clerk in a store, his wife Josephine age 19, was born in Mississippi and they had a month-old baby named Lula.

The Jun 1880 census lists Dean at 38 and a merchant (having established his general store in 1872), his wife Josephine was 30 years of age, and they had four children: Olivia age 8, Edna age 5, Anna age 2, Jewel age 10 months.

DEANVILLE POST OFFICE ESTABLISHED (1873)

In 1873, a post office was assigned to Deanville which initially operated out of the Dean Trading Post and General Store.


Trail Drivers Shopping at the Deanville Trading Post

By the early 1880's, Deanville was a growing town supporting two churches, a steam engine, a cotton gin, a post office, and a gristmill.

The first Methodist church and school in the area was called Chriesman Chapel named after Horatio Chriesman who had it built. The First Methodist church was also used by the local Methodist congregation.

A public school was established in Deanville in the early 1880s and operated until 1973, when it was merged with the Caldwell Independent School District.

The Houston and Texas Central Railway reached Deanville in 1913 bringing new life to the community.

The O. D. H. Lodge, established in 1916, still stages a Fourth of July celebration each year.

In 1910, the St. John's Lutheran Church was organized and in 1917, the St. John's Lutheran Church and Cemetery was built.

Deanville Lutheran Church


Deanville Lutheran Church Cemetery


Deanville Bank


Deanville Fire Department


Photo of John H. and Elsie Gerdes Homestead (1900) in Deanville



While Deanville initially grew with the support of the cattle drives and ranching, cotton was an important part of the local economy.

Picking Cotton in Early-day Deanville Cotton Fields.



One of two early-day Deanville Cotton Gins.

At one time, Deanville had two cotton gins and a cotton warehouse. Other businesses included two garages, a drugstore, a barbershop, a blacksmith shop, a cafe, and a large general merchandise store, a produce house, a butcher's shop, a lumberyard, an icehouse, a machine welding shop, and a dry-goods store.

One of the natives of Deanville around the turn of the century was Hattie Wysong who died recently at the age of 94. She has two daughters, Wanda Cade of Bayard, Lula Andrews of Dallas, Texas, three sons, Autrey Wysong of Cottage Grove, Oregon, Jesse Wysong and Allen Wysong both of Bayard, ten grandchildren, nineteen great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

John Maresh, Jr. ; Deanville Blacksmith in the 30's

Another prominent settler in early-day Deanville was John Maresh Jr. who was the local blacksmith in Deanville in the early 1930's.

Photo of Deanville Blacksmith, John Maresh Jr. (Center) in training under C. Kaltwasser Blacksmith and Wheelwright




Photo of Deanville Blacksmith, John Maresh Jr. in his Deanville Blacksmith Shop

John was married to Julia Muzny. John also had three brothers that lived in Deanville including:
William John Maresh
Jim Maresh
Adoph Maresh

John and Julia Maresh had two children:
Eldie John
Margaret

John Cameron Maresh, Deanville Farrier

Decendants of John and Julia Maresh still live in Deanville including grandson, John Cameron Maresh, the local farrier in Deanville. As a farrier, John Maresh focuses on equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of a horse's hoof for precise fitting to the shoes and his blacksmith shop is the back of his pickup truck. John has adapted a subset of his grandfather's blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes) with a subset of veterinary medicine (knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb) in his farrier practice.

Gus Brinkman, Another Deanville Businessman in the 30's

Another prominent settler in early-day Deanville was Gus Brinkman, born on June 6, 1893, to Mr. and Mrs. A. F. Brinkman in the Birdsong community of Burleson County. Gus lived and farmed in Birdsong until 1930 when he bought the cotton gin in Deanville. Gus was the oldest of a family of fourteen.

In 1931, he moved his family to Deanville. He acquired the water works and furnished water to the residents of Deanville. As the years went by, he added other businesses such as house moving, grist mill, well drilling, and shipping wood. He employed from four to ten men besides his own sons, depending on the season. Gus became a director of the Deanville First State Bank in later years.


Gus and New Bride. Gus married Emma Fojtik on July 31, 1913 at Galveston, Texas.

Emma's parents, Frank and Rosina (Vaura) Fojtik, came to this country from Czechoslovakia. Emma was born on April 17, 1894, in Burleson County. Emma had two brothers, Emil and Frank Fojtik. The Fojtiks also lived at Birdsong. When Gus bought the gin in 1930, Emma ran the farm and raised the best cotton crop of their married years (made thirty bales of cotton that year). Emma loved working with her hands. She did her own gardening and canning. In her later years she took up quilting and was quite good at it.

Gus and Emma had five sons: Jake, Gussie, Ernest, Stonewall, and Jimmy andn four daughters: Annie, Alma, Roselee, and Mildred.

Jake married Gladys Mahlman and had four daughters, Glenda Gay, Bonnie, Victry, and one daughter died at birth. Jake drove the school bus and worked with his dad for many years. He moved to Caldwell, and then to Bryan where he died in 1976. He is buried in Bryan. Glenda is married and has three children. She lives in California. Victry is married and has two children. She lives in north Texas.

Gussie married Sheila Wallace in England. They have four children: Terry, Kevin, Patricia, and Kathy. Gussie lives in Baytown. He served in the Air Force during WWII. Terry is a Catholic priest in Houston. Kevin is married and has two children and living in Baytown. Patricia is married and has two children and lives in Houston. Kathy is married, has two children, and lives in Brownsfield.

Ernest has two sons: Ronnie and David, and lives in Corpus Christi with his son, David. Ernest's wife Helen died in 1976. Ernest served in the Navy in WWII. Ronnie lives in Freeport with his wife and three children.

Stonewall married Rosemarie Balcar and has three children: Keith, Dawn, and Kyle. Stonewall served in the Navy during the Korean War. Kyle died as an infant. The rest of the family lives in Irving.

Jimmy married Betty Burttschell and has two children: Michelle and Kelly. Jimmy bought the family business in Deanville and still lives there. He now works in Caldwell. Betty works at the bank in Deanville. Michelle lives in Austin and Kelly is married, living in Giddings.

Annie married Eldie Dworsky and had one child, Doris. Eldie died in 1976. Annie lives in Houston. Doris is married, has two children, and resides in Houston.

Alma married Burney Mayer and had one son, Rudy. Rudy is married and has one child. They all live in Giddings, where Alma is a real estate broker and Rudy has an equipment company. Burnie is retired.

Roselee married Charles Weir and has one daughter, Diane. Charles died in 1970. Roselee lives in Lubbock. Diane is married, has two daughters, and all live in Lubbock.

Mildred married Doyle Wiederhold and had two daughters: Sharon and Bette. They all live in Houston. Sharon is married and has one child. Bette is married and has two children.

Gus and Emma lived at Deanville until 1968 when Emma moved to Houston to live with her daughter because of ill health. Gus also moved to Houston in 1969 because of ill health. In 1971, Gus and Emma entered Hennessey Nursing Home in Giddings. Gus died on October 18, 1976 and was buried at St. John's Lutheran Cemetery at Deanville. Three months later on January 16, 1977, Emma died and was also buried at St. John's Cemetery.

Early Day Resident , T.F. Mays, Recalls Civil War Battle of Milliken's Bend

The Deanville and Cauldwell area sent many young men into the Confederate army. The following battlefield account was provided by Deanville resident, T.F. Mays in 1914.

"This is June 6, 1914 and it very vividly calls my mind back to this day 51 years ago, 1863, when we charged over breastwork at Milliken’s Bend on the Mississippi River and engaged in one of the bloodiest fights for about one hour that was ever fought. We marched all the day before the battle and lay on our arms during the night within a mile of the battle ground and just as day began to dawn we received orders to prepare for battle and resumed our march to meet the enemy and within a few hundred yards of the enemy we had to concentrate our men and cut through a Boisdac hedge and the enemy began firing on us before we could deploy columns and about fifty of our men fell, but we were only a few minutes in making our way to the levee behind which the enemy was fortified and they proved to be mostly Negroes. We charged right over on them and within a very short time we completely demolished the entire enemy, killing 750 Negroes while we never lost a man after we got to the levee. Blood was in the trenches several inches deep in places after the battle. I was a member of the 17th Texas Volunteer Infantry, Col. R. T. P. Allen was our colonel and Wash Jones was our lieutenant colonel. Though the battle was led by the illustrious General E. McCullogh who has long since received his reward, not only as a faithful Confederate soldier, but as a faithful Christian soldier of the cross of Christ.

Among the brave Burleson County boys who participated in that famous and hard fought battles were: B. H. Carroll and his two brothers, Will Ike Heslep, C. C. Harvey, Billy Brymer, T. M. Hunt, Beverly A. and John Porter, Tom Ridgeway and Jack Allbright, the two latter being killed in the first charge and many others were there who I can’t call to mind as I am only quoting from memory.

Now I am a citizen of Burleson County and my address is Deanville, Texas and I am writing this synopsis of the battle at the request of some of the old boys who were there and if I have made any misquotations, I stand corrected. I was born and raised in the that little historic town of Bastrop and was the eldest son of Judge Thomas H. Mays and if any of the dear old 17th see this, I would be glad to hear from them".

T. F. Mays
June 6, 1914

Early-Day Deanville Postmasters

In 1873, a post office was assigned to Deanville which initially operated out of the Dean General Store with James L. Dean as postmaster.

Subsequent postmasters of the Deanville Post Office included:
Womble, J. C., 27 Jun 1877
Dean, Jas. L., 3 May 1880
Donath, Adolph F., 2 Jan 1894
Wilkinson, John R., 6 Mar 1901
Donath, Adolph F., 15 Oct 1901 (Declined)
York, Dewitt C., 16 Nov 1901
Donath, Adolph F., 20 Jun 1903
Wolle, Elo F., 2 Sep 1905
Connolly, Jas., 17 Mar 1908
Radtke, Henry L., 4 Mar 1912
Radtke, Lula M., 16 Feb 1915
Griffin, Harry L., 3 Apr 1917
Seibert, John C., 13 Mar 1919



Photo of Deanville Post Office (Jan 2008)



Sons of Herman Hall in Deanville.





Another view of the Sons of Herman Hall in Deanville.

Cemeteries in the Deanville Area

Deanville Lutheran Cemetery. Located on FM 60 S in Deanville at the Lutheran church.
Beaird Cemetery. Located 3 miles SE of Deanville on County Road 126.
Chriesman Chapel Cemetery. Located 2 miles W. of Deanville San Antonio Prairie Cemetery (also known as the SPJST Cemetery). Located 8 miles SW of Caldwell (SE of Deanville).

San Antonio Prarie (also SPJST) Cemetery

BEAIRD CEMETERY LISTING

This is a work in progress. Check back in a few days for the listing.

HISTORY OF BURLESON COUNTY, TEXAS

See History of Burleson County, Texas for a detailed history of the county.

This is a work in progress. Bookmark this page and come back often. If you have old photographs or family history relating to the Deanville area, please email me a copy and I'll include your photos on this webpage.
Thanks

Leonard Kubiak
leonard@forttumbleweed.net



For questions or comments, send me an Emailat leonard@forttumbleweed.net or lenkubiak.geo@yahoo.com