Timeline for North Texas Settlement and Merrell Homestead
1836 - 1954
Before 1836
Prairie land and Indian tribes
1836
Republic of Texas created
February 1841
Texas legislature passed bill granting impresario rights to men of Texas Land and Emigration Company
August 10, 1841
Texas Land and Emigration had 20 organizers, 11 from London and 9 from the US led by W. S. Peters of Louisville, KY. 'Peters Colony' promised to settle 600 families within 3 years in the area granted to them in N. Texas. Each family was promised 640 acres (1/2 given back to T.L.& E.)
November 1841
Second contract signed extending boundaries 40 miles south.
July 1842
Third contract signed extending deadline for settlement.
January 20, 1843
Fourth contract signed extending settlement date 5 years and 10million more acres added west.
1844 to 1845
First wave of settlers came, 822 colonists, but only 197 families and 184 single men stayed due to confusion over ownership and leadership struggles.
Some time before July 1844
Benjamin Merrell Survey from T. L & E. gave 320 acres to the Merrell Family.
Eli (born 1787) and Mary McKay Merrell, his 3rd wife, came to then Nacadoches County (later became Dallas County) and settled 150 yards north of Merrell Cemetery on Joe's Creek. (now Royal Springs) Eli was the patriarch of the Merrell clan.
Benjamin was the son of David Merrell, Eli's younger brother. David had 8 children. Benjamin was the oldest. Other sons of David Merrell included Samuel Robert and Eli.
Eli and Mary Merrell had 5 children: Olivia, who married I. B. Webb, founder of Farmers Branch and Webbs Chapel, George Cornelius, Margaret, and John (Joe) of Joe's Creek namesake. Joe married Susan and lived on the original homestead until 1929, the last Merrell to live there. (One child of Eli and Mary Merrell died in infancy.)
Milford Fortner was a Peter's Colinist not related to the Merrells whose grant was from Inwood to Midway and Walnut Hill to Royal. The northwest corner belonged to the Pullian family.)
December 29, 1845
Texas admitted to the union.
July 1846
Dallas County was newly organized.
1846 to 1848
Second wave of settlers (1,286) came to the area.
1848
Elder Eli Merrell, minister in the Church of Christ, performed the 4th marriage on record in Dallas County.
July 1, 1848
The land grant contract expired unfulfilled. No one made a profit.
May 21, 1849
Continuing confusion over titles of land. Ownership was opened to anyone outside of the land company. A protest led by John H. Reagan and James W. Throckmorton, neither were colonists. They did not like the fact that the land company was still getting half of 640 acres while new settlers were getting all 640 acres.
1849
Eli Merrell died and was buried in the first grave in Merrell Cemetery located on the north side of the Benjamin Merrell Survey.
1849 to 1853
Compromises were negotiated and a deadline was set to file claims to the land.
Benjamin Merrell became the first tax assessor collector of Dallas County.
Midway Road east of Merrell Road (originally a lane leading off Midway Rd. to the cemetery gate) was used by early settlers. It was called Midway because it was halfway between Preston Rd. to the east and Alston Rd. (now called Denton Dr.) to the west.
West of Preston and North of N. W, Highway was all Farmers Branch until the 20th Century.
Walnut Hill Ln. was called Six Mile Road because it was on a section line 6 miles north of the Dallas County Courthouse.
A Walnut grove stood South East of Merrell Cemetery on the Survey. Later it became the property of Aaron Latham, and his farmhouse stood at the corner of Walnut Hill and Midway.
1853 to 1873
There were 10 more legislatives enactments until claims of property ownership were finally settled.
1853
William Logan Strait (born 1806) and Mourning Fortner Strait (born 1806) came to Dallas County. Their homestead was slightly north of the intersection of Walnut Hill Ln. and Strait Ln. They bought 50 acres from Mourning's younger brother, Milford Fortner in 1854.
The Straits had 8 children: The ones we know about are James Logan (1832 to1853) buried in Merrell Cemetery, Enoch (1834 to1917) who married Hattie Holcomb (1849 to 1924) and is also buried in Merrell Cemetery, had 2 children buried in Merrell Cemetery (Frankie and Marnie [1876 to 1890]. There is an angel on the tombstone.). Other Strait children buried there were Jesse and Walter (Watt).
1868
Milford Fortner sold the remaining Fortner Survey and moved to Arkansas.
1877
Mourning Fortner Strait, wife of William Logan Strait, died and was buried in Merrell Cemetery.
1886
William Logan Strait, husband to Mourning died and was buried in Merrell Cemetery. The gravestone is a granite shaft with all the names on it.
1890
Marnie Strait, daughter of Enoch and Hattie Holcomb Strait died. She was the granddaughter of William Logan and Mourning Strait.
1890 to 1920
Walnut Hill Elementary School was established in 1912 as Smith Hall School near the same site as it is today. Walnut Hill Lane was known then as Six Mile Road.
About 1916, the school districts of Smith Hall and nearby Elms Springs merged, after which local landowner Albert Latham--whose property included a farm and walnut grove on the northwest corner of Midway and Six Mile Road--offered the new district 10 acres of land in exchange for naming the new school Walnut Hill School. Thomas E. Henry, previously Dallas County Superintendent of Public Schools, served as an early principal for the new grade school.
1917
Enoch Strait died. He lived in a 2 story farmhouse at what is now 10640 Lennox Ln. His wife was Hattie. He was County Commissioner when Old Red was planned and his name is on the cornerstone. Jesse, their son and grandson of James Logan and Mourning Strait, was born at the Lennox Ln. address and he took over the William T. farm when William moved to Farmers Branch. Watt or Walter, another son and grandson, married Luranah and lived at the Old Enoch Strait homestead. They had 6 daughters, a son, then 2 sons, and a 7th daughter (10 children).
1922
Elmo Strait (1876 to 1922) son of William T. died. He married Julia Merrell Strait (1877 to 1968). Their 3 week old child was buried at Merrell Cemetery. He was Chief of Police in Dallas.
1923
William T. Strait 'Uncle Billy' (1836 to 1923) was the brother of Enoch Strait. He and his wife Addie (died 1891) lived at 5000 Royal Ln. His second wife was Alice Holcomb (1861 to 1925) niece of Hattie Strait.
1930's
Missing history except for October 11, 1934.
Document showing the division of land in a survey with ownership divided between T. C. Merrell, W. D. Merrell, Julia Strait, Maggie Merrell, J. E. Merrell, Walter E. Merrell, Ada Frank, Johnson Frank, Ethel Cochran, W. M. Cochran, Lucy Howell, and J. T. Howell.
1937
Walnut Hill Elementary School was newly constructed on the sight where it stands now at a cost of $30,000, with some assistance from the Texas division of the Public Works Administration. The school was a county school by 1946 when the town of Preston Hollow was annexed to the city of Dallas and Walnut Hill became part of the DISD. An addition to the building was constructed in 1950.
1940's
Nancy Jane Coyle died (almost 88 years old) and buried in Merrell Cemetery. She is written about in a Dallas Morning News article dated June 14, 1940 as an Unreconstructed Confederate. She was born in Scottsboro, Alabama. Her husband was Walker J. Coyle. They moved to Dallas in 1880. Their second farm was near Walnut Hill Elementary School at the corner of Midway and Ridge Rd.
1950's
After World War II the GI bill and post-war prosperity influenced the development of North Dallas. Tracts of single story Ranch and Modern style homes were created. Our neighborhood grew from the September 1954 Parade of Homes, an event sponsored by the Dallas Home Builders Association. Over 200,000 people from all over the US came to view 38 up-to-date homes. The 2 developments were called Midway Hills and Walnut Hills.