History of Hidden Lake – By: Cheryl Wurtzer Zarillo

Hidden Lake Estates history begins with verbiage in the original DCCR. The last page references “Hidden Lake Estates, an addition to the City of Grapevine, Texas, out of the John L. Whitman Survey, Abstract No. 1593 . . .”

See (Attachment A) below.

John L. Whitman was a soldier from Kentucky who traveled to Texas to become a soldier in the Republic of Texas. Based on a document retrieved from archives, (Attachment B), John L. Whitman came to the Port of Velasco on the Schooner Flora in the latter part of the Spring or early in the Summer of 1836 as a volunteer and joined Captain Snells Company.

Velasco was a town in Texas that was later annexed by the city of Freeport. Founded in 1831, Velasco is situated on the east side of the Brazos River in southeast Texas. It is 16 miles south of Angleton Texas and only 4 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The town’s early history is closely tied with the Battle of Velasco and the Texas Revolution. Velasco was an important entry point for American settlers in Texas. In 1836 following the decisive Battle of San Jacinto, Velasco was named a temporary capital of the Republic of Texas.

Martin Kingsley Snell (1815-1865) was born in Pennsylvania in 1815 and came to Texas in November 1835 as a private in Capt. William Gordon Cooke's company of New Orleans Greys. He fought at San Jacinto as first lieutenant. Snell commanded the honor guard at the funeral of Stephen F. Austin on December 29, 1836. He remained in the Army of the Republic of Texas until May 17, 1839, when he was captain of Company E, First Regiment. From 1843 until 1846 he was captain of the Fannin Artillery, a Houston militia unit. During the Mexican War Snell recruited and commanded Company E of Col. Albert Sidney Johnston's regiment, the First Texas Foot Riflemen, from May 19 through August 24, 1846. After this regiment was discharged, Snell returned to Texas to recruit a second company for Col. John C. Hays's First Regiment, Texas Mounted Volunteers, which was in federal service from May 14 through June 5, 1847. In 1846 Snell was appointed postmaster of Houston; he served until 1850. During the Civil War he was a major in the Confederate Army. He died in Houston in 1865.

Attachment B also states that “it is hereby certified that John L. Whitman, a private in Company E. 1^stInfantry in the Army of the Republic of Texas, is rendered incapable to performing the duties of a soldier, by reason of a rupture. By satisfactory evidence and accurate examination it appears that on the 19^thday of December in the year 1836, near a place called Velasco, in the District of Brazoria, he, John L. Whitman, was found incapable of performing his duty by reason of said rupture and is thereby not only incapacitated for military duty but in the opinion of the undersigned entitled to an honorable discharge from service in the Army of the Republic of Texas.”

John L. Whitman’s Honorable Discharge papers dated December 19, 1836, are included as Attachment C.

Military headrights (land grants) were issued to those volunteer soldiers who arrived in TX after March 2, 1836 and before August 1, 1836 and who received an honorable discharge from service. This program insured that those who arrived and served during this time period received the same amount of land as the original Texas colonists—that is, the same amount of land as allotted by a first-class headright. First class headrights consisted of one league and one labor (4,605.5 acres). However, it appears that John L. Whitman was granted headright one-third league (1,476.133 acres). Reference Attachment D – Laws of the State of Texas of the 7^thlegislature 1858, Chapter 142. “John L. Whitman, headright, one-third league.”

Individuals received a land certificate for a specified amount of land if certain qualifications were met. The grantee (person who was originally awarded the land certificate) would locate available land from the public domain. Using the certificate, a grantee could have the desired land surveyed. The field notes, a written description of the survey, were sent to the TX General Land Office. Land grant certificates were not issued for a specific tract of land. It was the responsibility of the certificate holder to find vacant public land, obtain a survey and apply for the patent. Land did not have to be located in the same county where the certificate was issued. A grantee could sell or “assign” their land certificate to another individual. As a result, many people who received land certificates did not actually settle on the tract of land which bears their name.

Attachment E is the certificate issued February, 1858, to John L. Whitman for 1/3 league.

Survey records (Attachment F) show that Whitman had a survey completed for the area including what is now known as Hidden Lake - 724 acres, Label A-1593. Another survey was completed for Whitman for 139 acres – in an area bordered by Murrell Road/Dove Loop Road in Grapevine. John L. Whitman was also granted 596 acres in Dallas County.

Attachment G, which includes two maps, indicates the two parcels of land in Tarrant County surveyed by Whitman. The parcel titled Whitman, J L (1593) includes Hidden Lake. The other parcel, Whitman, J L (1594) is to the right (area bordered by Murrell Road/Dove Loop).

In November 1861 J. L. Whitman sold the land from A-1593, (the parcel including Hidden Lake) to J. T. Morehead.

Judge James T. Morehead was born in Virginia, March 27, 1809 and came to Texas in 1852. Judge Morehead was a very prominent man in Tarrant county, having settled here at a very early day in the history of the county. In 1854 he was nominated for the office of Judge. He organized Parker county in 1856. He is credited with naming the town of Grapevine, originally known as Dunnville. At the close of the war he lost much of his property and turned the rest over to his children. He is buried at Grapevine Cemetery, North Dooley (Attachment H).

The J. L. Whitman Survey appears to include the following areas:

• Hidden Lake – approximately 37 acres deeded 1991

• Silvercrest – approximately 58 acres – deeded 1988

• Kimberly Estates (Robindale, Cardinal, Red Bird) – 28 acres deeded 11/16/78 and 8/12/1980

• La Paloma (Cimarron, Sierra, Pecos) – approximately 42 acres – deeded 1976 – 1978

• Hyland South Addition – off of Dove by walking trail – 1.6 acres – deeded 1981

• Small section of Southlake off of Shady Lane (which is off of Kimball)

The following areas are located in the Whitman Survey and the W. P. Herring Surveys

• Winding Creek – approximately 104 acres – majority in Whitman – deeded 1990

• The new development on Park, Park Hill Estates (formerly McPherson House) – 4.257 acres

The following areas are located in the Whitman Survey and F. Wood Survey

• Lakeside is in the Whitman Survey and F. Wood Survey – predominately in the F. Wood Survey

• Homes on Silvercrest (by Kimball) – 2.3 acres

J. T. Morehead sold 160 acres to Linsay Edwards by deed dated 2/12/1862. This area seems to include Hidden Lake. It appears that J. T. Morehead did not live in this portion of the Whitman survey – having sold it shortly after buying it in 1861 from J. L. Whitman, original owner.

Tarrant County Assessor’s Abstracts indicate ownership of the entire Whitman tract from the early 1900’s. From the Assessor’s Abstracts, Hidden Lake is a part of Tract 4:

• Tract 4 – 120 acres; Linsay Edwards owned 2/12/1862; sold to M. R. Hurley in 11/2/1903; sold to W. A. Hedrick 9/13/1935 for $1,450; sold to G. U. Pickering 3/14/1942 for $14,950. The abstract indicates that in 1886 the property had a residence (28 x 28) and barn (10 x 12).

• This 120 acres sold by Hurley to Hedrick consisted of 3 tracts: 80 acres of the land sold by Morehead to Edwards, 28 acres by the 160 acre Quayle property, and 12 acres by Edwards property

• Miles Russel (M. R.) Hurley (mentioned above) was born 11/25/1856 in Alabama; he died 1/18/1929 and is buried in Grapevine; married Manda Jane Hurley 9/6/1877 in Alabama. On a 1800-1920 Grapevine Map, the M. R. Hurley home is close to Hood (by Dove School) on border of Hallum and Whitman Surveys – there is also a Hurley Lane. Hurley’s name is also on a map of Grapevine dated 1895.

Miles Russel Hurley is included in the 1910 census – Tarrant – Precinct 3. He and his wife had 4 children included in the census: Joseph, Cora, Robert and Vera (children born in TX). The oldest child, Joseph’s age is indicated as 19; therefore, they had been in Texas for at least 19 years as of 1910.

In the information mentioned above, William Ace Hedrick was born August 10, 1879 in Grapevine. He died December 21, 1964 in Oklahoma. The 1930 census states that William Ace Hedrick and Maud E. Hedrick were living in Dallas prior to their purchase of the Grapevine property in 1935.

Of interest during this time frame:

• In 1850 Tarrant County was divided into three Precincts: Precinct 1 was the Birdville area; Precinct 2 was the area south of the West Fork of the Trinity and Precinct 3 was northeast Tarrant County.

• In the 1850’s there was an influx of people from southern states, perhaps weary of competing with slave labor and perhaps attracted by availability of good cheap land in northeastern Tarrant County. Sections along Denton Creek and Big Bear Creek were at first the most attractive for early settlers needed to locate near a dependable water supply until wells were dug. Tax records indicate that cattle raising was the major enterprise in the Grapevine area prior to the civil war. Farmers hardly prospered because they lived too far away from market centers.

• Highway 114 was completed in 1932.

• The area around Grapevine was known to be a place for outlaws to flee to and hide out; including Bonnie and Clyde and the Barrow gang. Associates of the Barrow Gang spent time in the Grapevine jail, or calaboose, on display by Willhoite’s on Main Street. In 1933, Bonnie and Clyde had murdered Deputy Malcolm Davis in a shoot-out in Dallas. He was engaged to Florence McPherson of Grapevine, whose family had come to this area in 1893 from Alabama; they lived near what's now Park Boulevard and Dove Road. Deputy Davis is buried in Grapevine Cemetery. Miss McPherson, who died at age 99, never married. She is also buried in Grapevine Cemetery. Link to Malcolm Davis. Link to Florence McPherson.