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KATEMCY,
TEXAS
Mason County, Texas
Hill Country
FM 1222 a mile east of Highway 87
12 miles N of Mason
Population:
90 (2000)
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The
church in Katemcy
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, June 2004 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
According to legend, early settler Andy Coots had a community named
Cootsville in his honor. Anything had to be better - even if it was
named after a Comanche chief.
John O. Meusebach, famed German negotiator with the Comanches is said
to have signed a treaty with Ketemoczy, a Comanche chief sometime
around 1847. Anglo-Americans built close to the Germans by the mid
1870s and by 1880 the town was thriving.
John, Elias, and Alfred Cowan built a sawmill, gristmill, and cotton
gin. The post office was opened in 1884 in the store of Alfred Cowan.
Cowan had jokingly applied for the name Hammerville because of the
constant sound of construction - but this was rejected and the name
Katemcy submitted and accepted.
In 1883 Picket School was opened when Baptist minister Lawson Jones
donated the land. The name was later changed to Friendship School.
When the building was no longer needed - it became the Friendship
Baptist Church.
Inexpensive land and abundant water drew people from other communities
and the population was estimated around 150 between 1900 and 1904.
Katemcy's decline began in the mid 1920s. The population fell to 100
and rural schools consolidated with those of Mason in 1945.
From the late 60s through the mid 80s the population estimate was
162 which has further declined to less than 100. |
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Old
store in Katemcy
Photo courtesy Erik Whetstone, August 2005 |
Katemcy
Chronicles
Lehmann
Show by Mike Cox ("Texas Tales" Column)
When
Fred Gipson's family went to an old-settlers reunion and fair at
Katemcy to see the aging Herman Lehmann put on a one-man exhibition,
the Mason County youngster got a taste of the old west far more
realistic than anything he ever saw in a Tom Mix movie...more
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Katemcy Texas
Forum
Subject:
Katemcy Texas
The information you have listed for this Texas town is erroneous
on two points. The "early settler" was Andrew (Andy) Jackson Coots,
not "Coot"--hence the name "Cootsville". He did not deplore the
name of the settlement as you opine. Mr. Meusebach and other German
settlers made unilateral decision to change the name of the town.
Andrew (Andy) Coots was my mother's (Charlotte Laverne Coots) great-grandfather
and he and his brothers are listed among the first landowners in
the Republic of Texas -- having first owned land in counties in
Northeast Texas and then moved south and west to Katemcy. Andy's
wife, a woman not 5 foot tall, often sat by the door of their small
wood cabin with a hatchet to protect the family from Chief Katemoczy's
warriors. Andy's son Charles Coots married a member from Chief Katemoczy's
tribe -- her name was Lara Bell Watts. Charles and Lara were my
mother's grandparents. Several of our relatives are buried in the
cemetary at Katemcy and at the cemetary in Brady, Texas. The treaty
with Comanche Chief Ketemoczy was signed around "1847"-- not "1947"
as you list. Thank you. - Kim LaRocca, February 03, 2006
Anyone wishing to share history or photos of Katemcy, Texas, please
contact
us.
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