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Previous articles have laid the groundwork for a clearer understanding of an historical event that occurred in downtown Llano in June, 1882, known as the Carter-Coggin Feud. As already indicated, most of what has been written and said about this event is riddled with many unanswered questions and a lot of highly disputable innuendos and contradictions about not only what happened on that day, but also who was involved and why problems arose in the first place. Some answers may never be fully known, as reliable documented evidence is sparse, and much of what has come forward stems from second-hand reporting or very biased opinions.

This issue begins by setting the stage for where problems between the two factions began and concludes with a closer look at who the people were in one of the factions. Information has come from many years of research involving census records, archival records, personal family history postings, and some personal interviews. It was only recently that information finally emerged to clarify who one of participants on the Coggin side was, as his name was too common to determine exactly which person by that name was the one involved. As usual, once the information came to light, the reasoning behind his involvement was very logical and easily identifiable to be the correct person.

For the most part, all of the players on both sides of the feud had a vested interest in families that lived in the greater Little Llano Creek area of Llano County. The men involved in the feud were closely associated with each other if for no other reason than they were neighbors or near neighbors. Regardless of what was the basic cause for the feud in the first place, whether it involved conflicts over cattle or livestock, personality issues, or both, much of the bitterness behind the feud had its beginnings in this particular area of Llano County.

White settlers had been slow to settle around Little Llano Creek in the earlier days of the county, so the concept of the area as a community had just started to materialize around 1875. Prior to 1870, only a few families settled along the Little Llano. The 1870 Census for Llano County was the first document in our county’s history that made reference to communities, and there were not enough people living in that area by that time to classify it as a community. Instead, the few families who had taken up land around the creek were enumerated with those citizens who lived on the outskirts of the town of Llano. These families included the Isaiah Clarks, James E. Hughes, the widow Jane Trent and the families of her adult children, the recently widowed Mary Perry and her children, Peter Bantea, who had married Sarah Lockhart, widow of Llano’s first sheriff, and a few other young Lockhart relatives.

Beginning in the early 1870’s, however, new settlers began to pour into Llano County, populating the area fairly quickly. The Carter family states they arrived in the Bluffton-Tow area by 1872, before settling on the north Little Llano. One of the Coggin brothers, and the Herridge family, had been in Llano County prior to 1870, but they had first lived on the Colorado River near Bluffton. By 1876, the oldest Coggin brother had joined other family members in the county and both had taken up land near what would become Lone Grove. The first area along the Little Llano to develop characteristics of a community was on land taken up by the McNutt family, which was located slightly closer to the town of Llano than where the later community of Lone Grove developed. Lone Grove, as we know it today, is on RR2241 where Dreary Hollow enters Little Llano Creek. What was known only as the “McNutt Precinct” was located further down Dreary Hollow at the current intersection of RR2241 and CR215.

The area’s first store and post office developed on McNutt land, which also later included a school. Although not a public burial ground, a small McNutt family cemetery is also found nearby, on private land today. Deeds show John R. Coggin’s property was on the Starnater survey, on the south side of CR215 and 2241, with McNutt property on the north side of the road. In fact, John R. Coggin was named the area’s first postmaster in May, 1876. (Note: It wasn’t until after members of the Templeton family became involved that the post office/store moved to what is now known as Lone Grove). The younger Coggin brother, Andrew Jackson (called Jack), who at one time operated a store at Old Bluffton, moved ENE of the Little Llano on land fronting the north side of CR271, land today owned by Eddie Holland. The northwest back side of Jack’s property was in proximity of land owned by the Perry and Carter families.

Another Llano County community had its beginning about the same time—Baby Head, which was northwest of the Little Llano. The land between Baby Head and present day Lone Grove is where the Carter family settled. Today it is accessible off CR216, which turns north by the school house, now used as a Community Center. After going north on this road a few miles, the road cuts back to the west. At the end of this almost 90 degree turn, there is an historical marker designating the location of a one-time rural school beginning in early 1890’s, taught by Will P. Miller. The marker specifically names the families whose children attended this school, which included Carter, Herridge, and Connor, among others. The marker is significant as it helps reinforce the close proximity of the families in the feud. Of course, by the time the school was opened, some of the families involved in the feud had left the county, including the Coggins, Hatleys, and McNutts. Regardless, the central location of this marker, which is very close to CR216, stands centrally located to the various properties where the feudist lived. John R. Coggin’s land on CR215 would have been at the extreme southwestern end of the properties, and his brother’s land on CR217 would have been at the extreme eastern end of the properties, with the land of everyone else located in between.

THE CARTER FACTION: Benjamin Franklin Carter and his younger brother, Parish Sims (Dock) Carter, were sons of Jesse and Mary Sims Carter. The family had moved from Jackson County Tennessee to the Kansas Territory before settling in Cooke County Texas pre 1860. After the Civil War, they moved to Bell County, then on to the Tow-Bluffton area of Llano County before permanently taking up land north of Lone Grove. Jesse served many years as the elected County Surveyor for Llano County, beginning in 1880. He and his wife are buried in the Baby Head Cemetery. Ben and Dock served as Texas Rangers prior to coming to Llano County. In fact, Ben was with Captain James B. Gillett when he confronted the Dick Dublin gang, during which Gillett shot and killed the outlaw. After moving to Llano County, Dock married Rebecca Havens, daughter of another area settler, in 1881. By the time of the shoot-out, Ben F. Carter was still an unmarried man, although several years later, he did marry Louise Parilee Perry, a sister to the two Perry brothers involved in the feud. Ben and Louise raised four children on their land north of Lone Grove. Dock remained in the county a while, raising a large family, but in 1907, he moved to Gorman, Texas. Benjamin F. Carter’s grave in the Board Branch Cemetery at Lone Grove has recently been honored with a Texas Ranger marker.

William Perry and his wife, Mary Kuykendall, were in Travis County Texas pre 1850. By 1857, they are found on Llano County tax rolls, having first lived in the vicinity of Tow before moving slightly west. Coming with them was Ruth Wyatt Kuykendall, the widowed mother of Mary, who died suddenly in 1858, becoming one of the earliest persons to be buried in the Tow Valley Cemetery. William Perry, a skilled millwright and mechanic, died in 1869. William and Mary’s oldest daughter, Amanda D. Perry, married William Carter Miller, after arriving in Llano County, and they were the parents of the already mentioned Will P. Miller. Amanda’s two brothers were James Wyatt, who married Martha Marena (Renie) Norman and William D. Perry, who never married. Both Wyatt and William were actively involved in the Carter-Coggin feud. Wyatt ended up residing in Cherokee, but he is buried in the Llano City Cemetery. William remained in the county as an active rancher until his death in 1897. The Perry family had two other daughters who also played prominent roles behind the scenes in the Carter-Coggin feud. The youngest Perry girl, Mary A. Perry, became the wife of John Herridge, about a year after the shoot-out occurred in the town of Llano. They also continued to live north of Lone Grove and are buried at Board Branch. Louise Parilee Perry and her husband, Ben F. Carter, married in 1884, and continued to live in the same area the rest of their lives.

Benjamin Franklin Carter and Parish Sims (Dock) Carter were both participants in the Carter-Coggin feud that took place in downtown Llano in June, 1882. Likewise, the Perry brothers, Wyatt and William, were also involved. The only other two participants on the Carter side were Jackson J. (Jack) Herridge and his son, John Herridge. Space does not permit a closer look into the lives of the Herridge men at this writing, which is partially fitting considering the unusual nature of that family’s involvement in the feud anyway. It’s hard to see how the Herridges, who appear to have been extremely agitated with the men in the Coggin crowd, especially the father, could not have had mixed emotions regarding the events that went down during the feud, especially since one of those killed in the shoot-out was a blood relative. Although aligned with the Carters, it will be less confusing to look at the Herridges in connection to the Coggin faction, which will be discussed in detail next week.

SOURCES: LLANO COUNTY FAMILY ALBUM (pp. 84-85; 235-6); GEM OF THE HILL COUNTRY (Oatman, p. 35); SIX YEARS WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS (James B. Gillett, pp. 96-99); Llano County Census Records, especially 1870, 1880; LLANO COUNTY HISTORICAL MARKERS (Llano County Historical Commission).