During the Mexican invasions of 1842, volunteers from the county joined the Texas forces and families living along the rivers, and many from the town joined in what is sometimes called the Second Runaway Scrape. By 1850 the county population had reached 1,492, including 601 slaves. The port of Indianola was used not only for trade, but as a port of debarkation for immigrants. The arrival of immigrant settlers in the 1850’s stimulated enough growth to establish in 1853 the first newspaper in the county (the Gonzales Inquirer), as well as post offices in several communities. Gonzales College, founded in 1851 by slave-owning planters, was the first institution in Texas to confer A.B. degrees on women before the Civil War. By 1855 the number of slaves in the county had reached 2,140. Before the Civil War only a single free black was reported in Gonzales County.
In 1860, Gonzales County had a total population of 8,059, more than a fivefold increase since 1850; the 1860 population included 384 slaveholders and 3,168 slaves.
At the end of the Civil War, plantation owners wanted their former slaves to vacate the plantation lands. The ex-slaves didn’t want to leave because they had nowhere to go, so, the plantation owners got together and gave the now freed slaves a five acre long stretch of land and evicted them from the plantations to this five acre stretch which included the ‘burying ground’ for slaves dying on the plantations over the years. Those five acres became the center of what was known as the “Terryville Community”. The Terryville Community was a thriving self contained Black community. There was a church, school and a general store. The school only went to the elementary level. The surrounding Black owned farms used the central hub of the community to socialize, express their religious freedom and trade communities among themselves.
In 1876, schools were operating in the communities of Lone Oak and Milam Terry. Milam Terry was named for a black man of the same name. The Gonzales Inquirer in 1879 reported that Milam Terry who owned thirty acres of land, had brought in a bale of cotton and that his last crop was shipped to New York. The name Terryville evolved from Milam Terry. By 1894 the schools had become one district along with the Black Jack School. It was the only school district in the county that had no white schools.
The deed records indicated there was a Terryville Baptist Church in 1888. On October 26 of that year Marilla Lucas deeded one acre of land in the Joseph Dillard League to Fred King, deacon of the Terryville Baptist Church.
The below are the names of 28 families that lived around the Terryville Community and there history:
(“Free man of color, F.M.C.” and “free woman of color, F.G.C. ” were legal terms used to describe ex-slaves in the Southern United States. It distinguished them from their white counterparts, who often had the same name.)
Adams
Bates
Carroll
Clark
Evans
Goodson
Hampton –Tobe Hampton F.M.C. (b. 1847 in Virginia) married Easter Nobles F.G.C. (b. July 6, 1852 in Virginia) on January 11, 1871 in Gonzales, Texas and 13 children were born to this union. Later in life, Toby and Easter were divorced. Toby lived off and on with sons Toby (Buck) and Whit. Easter lived with her daughter Maggie. When they got older and the wounds had healed, they went back to their home in Terryville and took up dwelling again in the same “Home Place”. The “Home Place” was well worn with age at the time. Their daughter, Addie bell and family were then living on the “Dock Hinton Place” which was about four miles away. She would walk from her house to her parents daily to care for them. Finally, their health became so impaired, they needed constant care; Addie Bell and her family moved in with her parents and cared for them until death.
Rev James M. Smith, Easter’s grandson gave her Eulogy, because there were no other preachers available. He eulogized her as a Christian woman, a hard worker and a devoted mother and Grandmother.
Tobe died 15 months after Easter. The Rev George Edwards gave the eulogy. They are buried in the Terryville Community Cemetery.
Henderson
Hopkins – Elizabeth Hopkins F.G.C. (b. abt 1844 in Virginia). Elizabeth had a daughter Lucy Williams (b. October 18, 1858 in the Terryville Community). She is buried in the Terryville Community Cemetery.
Jackson
Jones
King –
Fred King F.M.C. (b. Feb 4, 1851 in Texas) was a logger. He married Caroline Terry Smith F.G.C. (b. Jan 1850 in Mississippi). He was one of the deacons at the Terryville Baptist Church. Both are buried in the Terryville Community Cemetery.
Luke
Morris
Nobles –
Ned Nobles F.M.C. (b. 1817) and his wife Martha Burton F.G.C. (b.1825) were born in Africa; they were brought over by boat to Jamestown, Virginia. They were married on January 10, 1871.
Ned, his wife, children Richard Nobles F.M.C., Agnes Nobles F.G.C., Easter Nobles F.G.C., Eliza Nobles F.G.C. and his mother Patty Nobles F.G.C (b.1805 in Africa) were sold to slave owner John D. Dubose and brought to Gonzales abt 1859/1860. John D Dubose owned and operated a grocery store in Gonzales, Texas; and he also had a survey which was part of the Byrd Lockhart League No. 5 located west of the Guadalupe River and eight (8) miles southwest of Gonzales, Texas where his son David Dubose and wife, Elizabeth farmed. Six more children Rebecca Nobles F.G.C. (b. abt 1859, Sally Nobles F.G.C. (b. Aug 6, 1861), King Nobles F.M.C. (b. abt 1863), William Nobles F.M.C. (b. abt 1865), Anderson David Nobles (b. Apr 1, 1867), Ned Nobles Jr. (b abt 1871) were born in the Terryville Community.
Ned and his family worked on the Dubose farm for many years. In 1871, David Dubose and his wife, Elizabeth sold Ned a sixty (60) acre parcel of land west of the Guadalupe River and about eight (8) miles southwest of Gonzales, Texas known as Terryville Community. It is spoke of as “The Old Home Place”. They are buried in the Terryville Community Cemetery.
Sallie Nobles was born in Gonzales County August 6, 1861 to Ned Nobles, father and Martha Nobles, mother. She had five children; Addie Bell, Ollie, Rosie, Luella and Moses, sr. She is remembered as an independent, caring woman who was a good cook. Sally took care of her father, Ned, till he died. She lived on the land and in the house that Ned built until she died in October 15, 1932.
Parker
Polk –Elias Polk was born June 10, 1885 to Jesse Polk, his father and Elsie Jackson Polk, his mother. It was thought that the family name was “Weathers” in Mississippi. He had a son, Ernest Polk (Jones) with Patsy Bates. Elias united in marriage with Addie Bell Nobles on February 23, 1907. To this union was born 12 children; Carlton, Jasper, Leonard, Leslie, Algiva, Joe Sidney, Jesse B, Alfra, Elsie, Elias, Jr, Roysteen and Beatrice. He was a deacon at the Terryville Baptist Church. He was a sharecropper who raised horses, cows, hogs and chickens. He was very good at butchering hogs. He was known to love his wife, his kids and his mother and father. He died August 18, 1943 and is buried in the Terryville Community Cemetery.
Elsie Jackson Polk was born in 1858 in Mississippi. She had a son, Isom Jackson. She married Jesse Polk and to that union were born eight children; Clara, Lena, Kinny, John, Will, Robert (Bob), Elias and Dovie. She and Jesse also raised several of their grandchildren. She is buried in the Terryville Community Cemetery.
Prince
Roberts
Scruggs
Stevens
Smith-Egbert Smith F.M.C. (b. bet June 23, 1825-1831 in Africa) came to this country and was sold to a slave owner by the name of “Nation. He was a farmer. He married Margaret Smith F.G.C. in 1850. Margaret died bet. 1865-1870. He died in 1903 and he and Margaret are buried in the Terryville Community Cemetery.
Elizabeth Smith F.G.C. (b. 1857 in Mississippi) was the daughter of Egbert Smith. She is buried in the Terryville Community Cemetery.
Terry –Patty Terry F.G.C (b.1830 – 1841 in Mississippi) was married to Egbert Smith F.M.C. in 1860. She is buried in the Terryville Community Cemetery.
Tealer
Tern
Washington
Williams
Woods
Over time, the various families moved on and their land was bought back by the local rancher. A number of the black families still own land around Terryville Community. All that is left of that original five acre stretch is a two acre tract that is the Terryville Community Cemetery. The cemetery is located in Gonzales County on the Ploeger Ranch.
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