Love-Anderson Feud

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.