DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some feuds start clean and end dirty. The Love-Anderson feud started complicated and never really ended at all.
This is Navarro County, Texas — and long before the feud had a name, this land was already soaked in conflict. During the Republic of Texas period, the region saw clashes with native peoples — the Battle Creek Fight, also called the Surveyors' Fight, in 1838, and the Battle of Pecan Creek in 1841. The ground here had a memory for trouble.
In January of 1844, President Sam Houston granted an empresario contract to Charles Fenton Mercer, trying to bring some stability to settlement in the region. Into that uneasy situation came Dr. William Nicks Anderson, an agent for the Mercer Colony.
By January of 1847, Anderson was already writing to Mercer himself, saying — and I'm reading straight off the marker here — "I have had many vary difficulties to encounter with — the old Texians have given me much trouble." And he named names. The Love family. The Curry family.
Now the Loves were no newcomers. William M. Love, his brothers Gilbert and David, and their cousin Robert were in Texas by 1836.
All four of them fought at the Battle of San Jacinto. These were men who had paid their dues in blood and believed that meant something about whose land was whose. So there it is — earlier settlers on one side, later arrivals on the other.
Once Love and Anderson became rivals, it didn't stay between just the two of them. Their friends, their extended families — all pulled in, all taking sides, the way a slow fire spreads across dry grass. For years, the animosity built.
And then, on February 9th, 1855, it detonated. On a stretch of the Old Springfield Road called Nubbin Lane — and I want you to hear that name, Nubbin Lane, because that unremarkable little road is the hinge this whole story swings on — Love shot and killed Anderson on his way home. Before Anderson died the next day, he gave an affidavit.
In it, he stated that he too had drawn his gun. That statement cleared Love of first-degree murder. A dying man's honesty, protecting the man who shot him.
History is strange that way. But Anderson left behind a pregnant wife. Susanna.
And Susanna made a vow — she vowed revenge. Time passed. Eighteen years of it.
And then, on May 19, 1873, William M. Love was shot and killed — near the same place on that same road. Nubbin Lane collecting another debt.
Susanna's son, Ham Anderson, and her cousin Alec Barekman were charged with the crime. It didn't stop there. Members of the extended families continued to fall to violence across Texas — including five young men killed in Comanche in 1874.
The marker notes that the feud remains a common topic of conversation in the area to this day, where numerous descendants still reside. And I believe it. Some stories don't stay in the past — they stay in the family.
They stay in the road.
What the marker says
An early Navarro County conflict, rooted in land disputes and complex family ties, still resonates in the region. During the Republic of Texas period, this area was subject to clashes with native peoples, as with the Battle Creek Fight or Surveyors’ Fight (1838) and Battle of Pecan Creek (1841). In Jan. 1844, President Sam Houston granted an empresario contract to Charles Fenton Mercer in an effort to stabilize settlement. Dr. William Nicks Anderson, an agent for the Mercer Colony, wrote Mercer in Jan. 1847 that “I have had many vary difficulties to encounter with – the old Texians have given me much trouble,” going on to name members of the Love and Curry families. William M. Love, his brothers, Gilbert and David, and cousin, Robert, were in Texas by 1836 and were all at the Battle of San Jacinto. Conflict arose between earlier settlers, including the Loves, and later arrivals, such as Dr. Anderson. Once Love and Anderson became rivals, so did their friends and extended families by association. On Feb. 9, 1855, years of animosities between the two men exploded into violence. On a portion of the Old Springfield Road known as Nubbin Lane, Love shot and killed Anderson on his way home. Before dying the next day, Anderson stated in an affidavit that he too had drawn his gun, thus clearing Love of first degree murder. But Anderson’s pregnant wife, Susanna, vowed revenge. On May 19, 1873, Love was shot and killed near the same place in the road; Susanna’s son Ham Anderson and cousin Alec Barekman were charged with the crime. Members of the extended family later succumbed to violence across Texas, including five young men killed in Comanche in 1874. The feud remains a common topic of conversation in the area, where numerous descendants still reside. 175 Years of Texas Independence 1836 - 2011