DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, if you want to talk about a man who knew how to lay down roots — literally — look no further than Blacksmith Micajah C. Davis.
Born in 1790, died in 1860, and somewhere right in the middle of all that living, he did something that would echo across better than a century and a half. Around 1840, he erected a cabin. Not just any cabin — a hand-hewn oak log cabin, plank floor and all, out at the Iron Ore Creek settlement near what we now call Denison.
And Micajah wasn't just passing through. He was one of the founders of Grayson County itself. The man wasn't building a cabin so much as he was building a county.
That structure stood — because when you hew your own oak logs by hand, you build things to outlast your arguments. Come 1870, the cabin changed hands. Josephus R.
Ansley, born 1826, and his wife Gilley, also born 1826, purchased it. Now Josephus didn't get a terribly long run — he passed in 1873 — but Gilley? Gilley lived until 1915.
And the cabin stayed in the family, later occupied by their son Will, who came into the world in 1861 and — hold on now — didn't leave it until 1952. Ninety-one years of life, and a good stretch of it tied to those same hand-hewn walls his parents bought. The story could've ended there, buried under time and weather.
But in 1953, Mr. and Mrs. John Summers purchased the structure, and then — and this is the part that lands — in 1972 they donated it to the Old Settlers Village. A blacksmith's cabin from 1840, still standing, still telling.
Some things you just can't hew apart.
What the marker says
Blacksmith Micajah C. Davis (1790-1860), one of the founders of Grayson County, erected this cabin about 1840 at Iron Ore Creek settlement near present Denison. The pioneer home was built of hand-hewn oak logs with a plank floor. Sold in 1870 to Josephus R. Ansley (1826-1873) and his wife Gilley (1826-1915), the cabin was later occupied by their son Will (1861-1952). Mr. and Mrs. John Summers purchased the structure in 1953 and donated it in 1972 to the Old Settlers Village. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1976