David Robert CRISWELL

October 18, 1858, Texas - January 2, 1944, Texas

D. R. CRISWELL FUNERAL ON TUESDAY

PIONEER DIES AT HOME BUCKHOLTS LATE SUNDAY

D. R. Criswell, 85, trail driver and Texas pioneer, died at 7 p. m. Sunday, January 2, 1944, at his home in Buckholts.
He had been a resident of Milam county sine 1883, fist settling on a farm and ranch land on Lapan Creek north of the city of Buckholts which had been established only a few years prior when the Santa Fe rails were laid west through Milam county.
Mr. Criswell had been a resident of that community for 61 years and had served continuously as Justice of Peace for Precinct 6 at Buckholts for a half century.
While he had been in declining health for a number of years and during the early months of 1943, was critically ill, he regained his strength and was able to keep appointments at his office in Buckholts and was active in the discharge of his duties until a day or two before his death.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon, January 4, 1944, from the First Methodist church in Buckholts, with interment in the cemetery at Corinth. Rev. C. W. Sanders, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Cameron, will conduct the service with the Green Funeral Home in Cameron, directing arrangements.
The body of the pioneer will be at the home of his son, Cecil Criswell in Buckholts until the funeral hour. The Buckholts Masonic Lodge will conduct a Masonic Lodge will conduct a Masonic Funeral, the pall bearers being named from members. Mr. Criswell had been a Mason for more than 50 years, first becoming a Mason at Yarrellton and later a charter member of the Buckholts Lodge.
The story of his life, colorful and vigorous, is so closely interwoven with the history of Texas that he earned a place among the stalwart men who rode the trails, extended the frontiers and built civilization from the wilderness out of which General Sam Houston carved a nation to change the face of the continent.
Mr. Criswell was born in Fayette County, Texas, on October 18, 1858. He was the son of LeRoy V. Criswell and Elizabeth McMickens Criswell, pioneers who moved with early settlers to that region of Texas in 1829 before the revolution and San Jacinto. His parents were natives of Kentucky. A brother of LeRoy V. Criswell and uncle of the late D. R. Criswell fought under Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto. His body was disintered some years ago and burried again in the state cemetery at Austin along with other Heroes of Texas. LeRoy V. Criswell, a soldier under Sam Houston, was discharged from the Revolutionary Army in 1835, went back to Fayette county to rear a family of 14 children, 11 sons and 3 daughters.
In the early days of Texas' cattle empire, all save one of the sons, followed the trails and the cattle ranges and little is known about their subsequent life. One son, Henry Criswell, brother of D. R. Criswell, was a pioneer city marshal at Yoakum where he died many years ago.
The sons of the Criswell family were: D. R. Criswell, the pioneer who died on yeasterday at Buskholts; John Criswell, Waymond Criswell, William Criswell, Henry Criswell, Harve Criswell, Thomas Criswell, Larkin Criswell, Lee Crisweel, Milam Criswell and James Criswell. Three daughters were Mary Criswell, Ruth Criswell and Joe Ann Criswell.
Before the Civil War cattle in Texas were on the ranges by the millions. At 17 Mr. Criswell was a tail boss, making the first of three trips up with herds of Texas cattle gathered from the mesquite ranges of Southwest Texas. They were large herds. The cattle were rounded up and driven to Padre Island not far from old Indianola and off the Texas Coast long before Corpus Christi was established. When ten thousand head were put in herd on the island they were driven out and headed up the trail. Old Indianola was destroyed by storm. The town served as the main port from which freight and supplies were brought inland. Mr. Criswell drove his first herd to Pikes Peak, Colorado. The late Charles Goodnight was the first Texas cattle pioneer to open up the beef and range markets in Colorado.
Mr. Criswell, who told many interesting stories about the trail, said when he returned to Austin after his first trip up he weighed pounds and that with a bottle of chill tonic in his pocket. On the trail that year the drivers had all suffered from chills and fever. The herd that year off Padre were sold at Hugo, Colorado, delivered to Cheatham. Riding & Ragsdale whose properties were in the Lake Station Area near Hugo. In all the years of his cattle trail experience Mr. Criswell was with the Driskill range properties. The Driskill fortunes were built up from Texas soil and one of the landmarks is the Driskill Hotel in Austin.
Mr. Criswell was the trail boss on the three trips up. Not long ago he gave to his son, Cecil Criswell an old bill of sale for the cattle he delivered to Colorado, and also named the following pioneers who were in his outfir up the trails; West Lampkins, Charles Moore, Emil Oberwetter, Tom Hawkes, L. A. Brown, Bill Wells, Jess Driskill, Sam Waits, Nap Adkins, John Gill, F. M. Estes, W. A. Bates, John Savage, Evans, Frank Love, Al Andrews and Dan Cookley.
Mr. Criswell was first married to Miss Isabell Secrest in Fayett county years later. Mrs. J. B. Taylor a daughter, of Wichita Falls, now deceased was born in Fayette county. Mrs. Criswell died in 1895 and is buried at North Elm. He was married again in 1897 to Miss Stella Pollock, the widow now surviving. She was a native of Mississippi and lived at Buckholts at the time of the marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Criswell had lived for 55 years in their present home on the hilltop cast of the city of Buckholts.
Mr. Crisweel, a man of splendid education, taught school in Milam county for a number of years, among his first schools at North Elm to which he rode 6 miles horseback each day. There were no fences then in this area, and no roads. He was admitted to the Bar of Texas in 1902 and practiced law at Buckholts.
In religious faith Mr. Criswell was a Baptist, first uniting with a country church that stood for years in the Corinth neighborhood. Dr. Lee R. Scarbrough, world famous Baptist leader and President of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, was pastor at the little church. Dr. Scarbrough's first pastorate was Cameron First Baptist Church.
Surviving besides the widow, Mrs. Stella Pollock Criswe,,, are the following children: Mrs. C. B. Lassiter, El Paso; Mrs. F. M. Craven, Lubbock; Mrs. George W. Goree, Lubbock; Mrs. W. L. English, Moran; Delmar Criswell, United Sates army; Cecil Criswell of Buckholts and T. F. Criswell of Calvert.
Mrs. J. B. Taylor, born in Fayette county, died some years ago and is buried at Corinth. Zoris Criswell, a son, twin brother of Floris Criswell of Calvert, died several years ago from injuries sustained in a car wreck near Buckholts.
The family dead are buried in two cemeteries, at Corinth and North Elm. The body of Mr. Criswell will be buried in Corinth Cemetery.

The Cameron Herald(Cameron, Texas), 06 Jan 1944, Thu, Pages 1 & 5

Family Members
Parents
Leroy Vannoy Criswell
1813–1865

Elizabeth A McMicken Criswell
1825–1866

Spouses
Isabelle Saphronia Secrest Criswell
1862–1895 (m. 1881)

Stella Pollock Criswell
1867–1952 (m. 1897)

Siblings
Leander Vannoy Criswell
unknown–1927

Elizabeth Jane Criswell Boykin
1843–1933

Mary Elender Criswell Garey
1844–1889

James Harvey Criswell
1850–1952 (m. 1872)

Henry Elias Criswell
1851–1922

Thomas Menefee Criswell
1856–1886

Children
Zorus B Criswell
1895–1923

Naomi C. English
1898–1985

Cecil Robert Criswell
1902–1978

Delmar Ray Criswell
1904–1993

Wayman Denzil Criswell
1909–1915

Photo courtesy of: Novembermoon

Contributed on 8/8/20 by lynst.peters62
Email This Contributor

Suggest a Correction

Record #: 341757

Don't Follow