An early Navarro County conflict rooted in land disputes and complex family ties began amid Republic of Texas era clashes with native peoples and tensions over settlement. In January 1844, President Sam Houston granted an empresario contract to Charles Fenton Mercer to help stabilize settlement, and in January 1847 Dr. William Nicks Anderson, an agent for the Mercer Colony, wrote that he had faced many difficulties from old Texians, naming members of the Love and Curry families. William M. Love, his brothers Gilbert and David, and their cousin Robert had been in Texas by 1836 and had all fought at the Battle of San Jacinto. As rivalry grew between earlier settlers such as the Loves and later arrivals such as Anderson, their friends and extended families also became involved. On February 9, 1855, on part of the Old Springfield Road known as Nubbin Lane, Love shot and killed Anderson as he traveled home. Before dying the next day, Anderson said in an affidavit that he too had drawn his gun, clearing Love of first degree murder. Anderson's pregnant wife Susanna then vowed revenge, and on May 19, 1873, Love was shot and killed near the same place; Susanna's son Ham Anderson and cousin Alec Barekman were charged. Violence later claimed additional members of the extended family across Texas, including five young men killed in Comanche in 1874, and the feud remains a common topic in the area, where many descendants still live.