GOD & TEXAS: Feuds

In 1905, Joe and Carrie met at the church altar to exchange their marriage vows. For years their extended families had been engaged in a heated quarrel that some call the longest running family feud in Texas.

Following the Civil War, disputes between various communities were commonplace. Political squabbles, land boundaries, and water and grazing rights often led to fistfights and worse! The Hoodoo War in Mason County, and the Jaybird-Woodpecker War in Fort Bend County remain well known to this day for their dastardly conflict.

Some local family feuds were just as alarming. From 1867 to 1871, the Peacock-Lee feud spanned four counties near the town of Sherman. Members of the two families allegedly committed murder, theft, and even held opposing family members hostage for ransom. Their open hatred for each other remains an embarrassment in local history.

The Taylor-Sutton feud is thought to have begun before the two families immigrated to Texas and settled in De Witt County. Their quarreling during the late 1880s included deadly pranks and vicious ambushes that often ended in shootouts and assassinations.

But many historians believe that the longest running family feud in Texas involved the Stafford and Townsend families who resided near Columbus. The Staffords built a large cattle business while the Townsends established themselves in key political offices.

While the advent of the nearly 40-year feud is somewhat cloudy, researchers point to a church split in 1849. Sarah E. Stafford donated land for another church not far from their previous church where the Townsend family held governance. Others blame it on a shootout in 1871 where A. Stapleton Townsend was supposedly caught stealing horses and was killed by a posse. At trial, the posse was defended by Robert E. Stafford.

By 1905, the Stafford-Townsend family feud raged on. But then, something incredible happened. Carrie Estelle Townsend and Joe W. Stafford, Sr. fell in love. While the initial response of the two families is not known, it is known that after the two married, hostilities ended and the families found a new unity. Love destroyed the dividing wall that hatred had built. As the bride and groom stood at the altar, resentments waned and peace began to grow.

Sometimes called dynastic marriages, the union between Henry VII and Elizabeth of York finally ended the War of the Roses in England. And the marriage of Romeo and Juliet in the Shakespearean play would hopefully resolve the conflict between the Montague and Capulet families.

Throughout the Bible, the altar is known as a place where mankind can find peace with God. Our sin has built a wall between us and God. But that wall can be destroyed through our faith in Jesus Christ. As we read in Ephesians 2:14 NIV, “For Christ Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.”

Come to the altar today and find peace with God through Christ.

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