This information was taken from the book: Our Kin by Patsy Rich Fuchs. 2003. page 17-19
Catherine Cerilda “Cass” McCarty, (Thomas J. McCarty) born on 10 February 1848 in Marion County, Arkansas. She died 9 April 1900 near Fort Griffin, Shackelford County, Texas and was buried in Fort Griffin cemetery. She married John William Newcomb on 8 May 1868 near Fort Griffin, Shackelford County, Texas. He was born in September 1833 in Missouri. He died on 3 July 1909 in Fort Griffin, Shackelford County, Texas and is buried in 1909 at Fort Griffin Cemetery.
Catherine was born in Marion County, Arkansas on the White river or one of the branches. She was about 5 or 6 years old when her family moved to McDonald County, Missouri. They were living in Webster County, Missouri when the family moved to Texas. They settled in Johnson County and Catherine was listed with Thomas on the 1860 census. She was 12 years old. There isn’t much known about Catherine’s early years. The Newcomb diaries mention her moving to Fort Davis in 1866. She was a petite woman with very dark hair.
In May 1868 she married John William Newcomb (no known relationship to Samuel Newcomb of the Fort Davis Diaries). John was born in 1833. We have no record of where he was born, but some family members say it was in Platte County, Missouri. The only record found on Newcomb in that county is a land record showing Wm. Newcomb owning 40 acres in section 14 dated 14 March 1857. This is about the time the Indians were driven out of Platte County, and those who participated in this effort were given 40 acres of land. We don’t know that John William was an Indian fighter. Some say he was.
John was in Texas by 1858. It is said he drove the Butterfield Stage coach between Gainesville and Ft. Chadbourne during the years 1858 and 1859. He and a friend Jeff Limley enlisted in the Palo Pinto County Confederate Texas Cavalry joining Alexander’s Regiment, Co. “F” on 1 February 1862. The two stayed together throughout the war. At some time John received a gunshot wound to his hand, the only injury we know about. They were discharged in 1863 at Van Buren, Arkansas.
After his discharge he returned to Palo Pinto County. He probably worked as a cowboy and deputy sheriff. It was five years after the war that John and Catherine McCarty were married. Their marriage is recorded at the courthouse in Palo Pinto County, Texas. They settled in Throckmorton County, probably at old Camp Cooper. Catherine and John’s first child, Daniel Artimus was born in 1869 and he is said to be the first white child born there. The Newcomb’s moved to Shackelford County in 1872. They paid taxes for the next 12 years.
The seventies were terrible years for the pioneers living on the frontier. Sonnechsen wrote in his book, I’ll Die before I Run, “The thing that brought the trouble on was an organized ring of stock thieves who ran off both cows and horses to the Indian Territory, defying pursuit and killing anybody who tried to interfere with them. As usual they had confederates among the settlers. By 1876 things were so bad they could hardly have been any worse.” The Frontier Echo, over at Jacksboro remarked that “the stealing of horses has become so frequent that the losers could not purchase fresh stock fast enough to satisfy the demand of the horse thief” and suggested that “no medicine will reach the case but blue whistlers or hemp.”
The state of affairs was so bad that John Larn was the man they chose to help set things right. He was about 21 years old at the time. On one occasion, Larn, while riding at top speed was closely pursued by 11 to 15 savage Indians yelling and shooting. The followed him almost home turning to go through Matthews field taking his horses and crossing the river getting G. R. Carter’s, John Newcomb’s and John Selman’s, getting about 20 head in all. Citizens followed them to near Browning’s ranch. In 1878 Larn was accused of cattle rustling and was arrested. He was killed by a mob July 5, 1878.
In 1874 Catherine and John settled on vacant land along the Clear Fork of the Brazos River, about 18 miles from present day Albany. This land was much closer to old Fort Griffin. The Flat, as people called it in those days, had become a trading point for the upper Clear fork settlers, mostly ranchers. Carl Coke Rister wrote in his book, Fort Griffin on the Texas Frontier, “A short time later drifters – bullwhackers, cowpunchers, gamblers, toughs, and prostitutes came to the Flat to fleece the unsuspecting and to ply their unholy trades. There were personal privileges aplenty and no legal restraints. Saloons thrived and gambling was lucrative. In front of every store, saloon, and business hourse was a long hitching rack, which was generally lined with saddled horses, and the street was congested and jammed with ox- or mule-drawn wagons and horse-drawn hack and buggies. To attract the liquor-buying and adventurous visitors, pianos, fiddles, banjos, and guitars ground out their lilting tunes, and scantily attired Cyprians walked the streets to add their allurements. But the music was marred by a babel of boisterous talk, whoops, curses, and hoarse laughter. It was not uncommon to see Tonkawa Indians, both men and women, in a state of beastly intoxication, rendering it unsafe even for Fort Griffin officers and enlisted men to go down to the Flat unarmed, as the Tonks and white toughs had bowie knives and firearms about them.”
“From 1875 to 1880, the Flat increased in size two-fold, growing to a town of about one thousands persons, with perhaps twice that many transients, including buffalo hunters and cowboys. Here the revolver settled more differences among men than the judge, and straight shoot could promise long life more than fresh air and sunshine.”
The Newcomb’s endured the hardships of Indian raids; the stench of the buffalo hides along with the everyday struggle to live on the frontier. In 1880 they are listed on the Shackelford County Federal census with four sons. John was listed as having partial paralysis. He suffered a stroke in 1879 and was partially paralyzed for the rest of his life.
On July 3, 1883 John and Catherine made an application for 160 acres of vacant land under the homestead law. This is probably the land where they first settled in 1874. On June 14, 1888 they made another application and the state granted them 100 acres on January 7, 1889. The family lived on the land until they sold it to J. A. Matthews in 1897.
The federal census for 1900 in Shackelford County shows John with 4 of his children. Catherine died 9 April 1900. John’s children began to marry, and by 1905 they were all married living in or near Shackelford County except for Alvie, who was in Dickens County.
On February 25, 1907 John applied for a Confederate pension saying he owned nothing and was living with his children. The pension was approved 19 September 1907. He died 3 July 1909. He and Catherine are buried side by side in the old fort Griffin Cemetery.