Gideon Smith, born in 1815 in Alabama, moved to Fannin County in 1851 and purchased a 3000-acre tract, then deeded half of the property to his brother John C. Smith, who joined him in 1855. Gideon Smith served one term in the Texas Legislature from 1857 to 1858 and participated in the Civil War as a colonel in the Confederate Army. John Smith became a doctor and practiced medicine in the area. Both men were successful planters, and part of the plantation, one of the earliest in the area, has remained continuously in grain and cattle production since 1851.