Robertson County" is a collection of interesting facts concerning the
earliest settlements in Robertson County. Although all traces
of these early towns no longer exist, their memory is honored and
preserved with Texas Historical Markers. This booklet is
published as a special edition for the 1975 Robertson County Springtime
Pilgrimage and in celebration of the bicentennial year.
01 18 N / -96 36 02 W
site where Mount Vernon once was is 6 miles east of Calvert)
While Sterling and
Sullivan were growing on the western border of Robertson County, other
settlements developed east of the present Calvert. On the
upland, between the tributaries of Walnut and Mud Creek, the Mount
Vernon community was a settled area as early as 1840. Little
Mississippi, six miles to the east, was its neighboring community.
The first settlers
the area were from Mississippi. The economic panic of the
1830s drove them from the Old South and they moved westward in
wagons. The journeys were harrowing experiences that drew
them closer together. As they moved across the country, they
examined land and settled in areas that reminded them of their homeland.
farmers who depended little on slave labor. Entire families
worked in the fields and became hardened by frontier life.
They were a religious people, taking great pride in church
life. The land they selected in Robertson's Colony was like
that from which they came, upland with creek tributaries, and they made
it provide all their needs.
Their first homes
of rough lumber and their barns were of logs. They were
farmers and depended entirely on cotton for revenue. They
raised hogs and cows, grew grain and sweet sorghum. Families
were fed well with milk, ham, molasses, and corn.
In 1848, the
Mount Vernon listed among its pupils: Thomas Webb, Joseph Webb, James
Harrell, J. J. Hodge, E. Campbell, W. Blackburn, J. L. Parish, C. E.
Gray, E. Bennett, George STrong, and B. Wheelis.
Mount Vernon was
road that ran from Sterling to Owensville. There was a trail
into the community from Old Franklin that made communication in the
center of the county convenient. The people over the one
hundred square mile area became friends and traders, and the children
of the first families became residents of other towns in the county.
the county seat in 1856, a number of Mount Vernon families moved to the
new town. When railroad work was available in 1869, more
moved away. When it became evident that the hills and valleys
were to be missed by major highways and rails, the population of Mount
Vernon was reduced to only a few families.
At the turn of the
century, the community was practically gone. In 1920, only
four old homes remained. The contribution of Mount Vernon to
the story of the county was the fact that early families produced
teachers, ministers, public officials, and business leaders over the
state. Some became prominent; one was President of
The area between
Franklin and Calvert is now given over to cattle raising.
Small farms that once grew cotton are combined into ranches.
Walking over its prairie, it is not uncommon to see the remains of log
barns or a "broad ax" in the ground. A few rail fences remain
in the woodlands and a native stone chimney is still there.