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After heartbreaking failures, James D. Donnell; his wife, Julia; and sons, Will and Tom, finished the dam and mill here in 1876. The mill withstood floods and began turning out meal and flour for a vast region. It operated almost half a century. The Donnells had migrated from Missouri to Texas, and Young County. Their mill yard was the community gathering place. Crossing river here was San Antonio to Austin to Fort Belknap Military Road of 1850s, used by famed 2nd U.S. Cavalry, under Albert S. Johnston and Robert E. Lee. Also nearby was site of 1850s community of Clear Fork, settled by George, William, and Jonathan Lee Dobbs, Rev. Pleasant Tackitt, and others. Indian marauders drove away most settlers. But in 1876 J. L Dobbs returned to claim his land. Also in 1876 Elias De Long opened a store that became the post office. (To his name the Post Office Department added "ville", titling the place Eliasville.) In 1893 a bridge was built here; the present bridge in 1957. Among other settlers were Captain Joseph Benedict and wife Adele, granddaughter of the colonizer W. S. Peters. Their son, Harry Yandell Benedict, became 10th president of the University of Texas. A successor in that office, Homer Price Rainey, also grew up here. |
