Johnny Bibles

In 1855, Johnny Bibles settled on the Middle Bosque. He had four Indian wives. All of these wives but the last one died. His last wife secured a divorce from old man Bibles in his old age. Bibles was also the owner of several negro slaves. He became the father of many children, mixed Indian and negro, and the Bibles negroes of the Middle Bosque are his descendants. They are a fiery set, with prominent characteristics of white, Indian and negro races. They are defiant and zealous of their rights. Johnny Bibles had very little to do with any one besides his little tribe. He would talk very little to white men. He was a master woodsman, and plainsman. When Jess Kirby was a boy he hunted wild bees with the old man a few times. Johnny Bibles seemed to think enough of Jess while on the hunt but after the hunt was over, Johnny Bibles treated Jess Kirby like he had never known him. There was, at one time, a crossing on the Bosque known as the Bibles crossing. The Bibles negroes have scattered of late years. Some of them live near Valley Mills, and others live near Meridian. And some of them still live on the old Bibles lands opposite Crawford. Johnny Bibles had three slave sons, Nat , Ike and Mun Bibles . These three negroes raised families about half way between Valley Mills and Crawford. Nat Bibles was a Baptist preacher. Mun and Nat were the only ones who raised children to be grown. Some of their children went to the pen for stealing in various ways. Two or three of the girls married and live in negro town in Valley Mills. One of the girls is Mittie McLelland , but she does not know much of her grandparents. Giblert Bibles lives in Valley Mills. He is the son of Mun Bibles and the grandson of Johnny Bibles . He is a rock mason like his father. They built many of the brick and rock houses in Bosque County, he is very intelligent and highly honored by every one in Valley Mills. Ike Bibles lived on a farm adjoining L. H. Anderson . His father Johnny Bibles owned a saw mill, run by water power, and also a mill to grind meal. The little colony lived to themselves and provided for themselves through their own efforts, either by making what they needed, or by getting it from the woods. They raised sheep and cotton from which they made their clothing; and corn for feed and for bread. They had just as little as possible to do with their white neighbors. Old Johnny Bibles was very eccentric in dress as well as in conduct. One time, a group of white settlers were hunting on the Middle Bosque and heard some man singing loudly. As they went up the creek, the singer drew nearer. Finally a huge man who looked to be almost a full blooded Indian came in sight. He was riding horse back and had his trousers full of grapes and his shirt across the back of his saddle while he was entirely nude. It was said, in later years, as the country settled up, that the settlers wives were afraid to ride to each others farms because of old man Bibles ' habit of using his clothing to carry whatever he found in the woods and wanted. If he would sing all the time, they would at least be warned, but he said that he had settled in that country first, and the others could look after themselves. This habit of his, and the fact that he treated his slaves as equals with himself, made him somewhat of an outlaw. In return, his ideas of property rights were much like those of the Indians. This attitude in his home, perhaps, led his grandchildren to get into trouble and to be accused of stealing.