Capulets and Montagues?/Hatfields and McCoys? How about the Shaddens and the Phillips?

Each of these "Concords" was named in the hope of peace and tranquility, but according to my guide Camille, that's not the way it worked out for the early settlers in this corner of Rusk County, Texas.  In 1828, The King of Spain granted  William and Polly Elliot of Delaware a massive land grant, and they settled in what is now Rusk County.    The Elliots had eight children, but this story focuses on the oldest boy,  John Fields Elliot and the two husbands of the two youngest daughters.  Eliza Jane Elliot married Matthew Shadden.   The Shaddens were, shall we say, from the wrong side of town.  There were five brothers, but Matthew seemed to be the best of the lot.
The youngest daughter,  Parmella  Elliott married Elijah "Lige" Phillips.   The Phillips owned a nearby farm, and Lige and John Elliot were close friends.

During the hard times after the Civil War,   Northerners occupied the area, and between 1867-1868 old William Elliot and his wife, Polly, both died, and Matt Shadden's wife,  Eliza, died in childbirth.   Shadden was left with three daughters, and while John Elliot and Matthew Shadden had long been friends, a fierce dispute arose between these brother-in-laws concerning the Elliot inheritance.   Matthew Shadden felt that his daughters were being squeezed out, so he rode over to the Elliot ranch to confront John Elliot.  According to Camille, Matthew Shadden said: "I'm going to kill you unless you make it right for my children."  John Elliot's reply was "If you get off your horse, I'm going to kill you.  Matthew got down from his horse and opened the gate, and was promptly shot dead.

Word of their brother's death soon reached the four Shadden brothers. Hans, Bill, Dolph, and Joe came looking for revenge. These brothers were all notorious outlaws; they had a history of death and mayhem in the county, and they brought a gang of 20 others with them.   They figured that John Elliot might be hiding at his brother-in-law's Elijah Phillip's house.   The Elliots and Phillips had the prime water rights in the area, so under the leadership of a mysterious carpetbagger from the north, Dr. Squire March, a plot was hatched to not only gain revenge for Matthew Shadden's death, but also to murder all the male line of the Elliot and Phillips families.  The Shaddens rode in and found Elijah's father, Hayden Phillips, in the front yard. When Hayden Phillips didn't tell them where John Elliott was, they shot him and left him bleeding in the yard.  His son, Ben Thomas Phillips was also in the yard, so they killed him.  Out back, they found  Hayden Phillip's 21 year old son-in-law,  Asa Irwin, picking cotton.  They dragged him to the front of the house, and in front of the women of the Elliot and Phillips family, they shot him too.  After a thorough and frustrating search of the homes in the area, the Shaddens returned to The Phillips front yard where Hayden Phillips lay wounded.  They asked him again where John Elliot was and then shot him dead.

The Shaddens rode off.   Three boys survived.  One had been hidden upstairs.  The Shadden had dragged a trunk over to an access panel to the attic and searched with their lanterns, but little did they know that young Joel Abner Phillips was hiding in the trunk.  The two other boys had hidden inside a chimney at a neighbor's house.

Eight years latter, Elijah and Joel Abner Phillips rode to Squire March's place to get revenge on the Shaddens.   When they found they were vastly outnumbered, they turned and fled, but they were gunned down - shot in the back.  A case was brought against the Shaddens and Dr. March, and they were convicted, but they Texas Supreme Court, still under Reconstruction jurisdiction, overturned the conviction and ruled in favor of the carpetbagger, Dr. March, and the Shaddens boys.  Dr. March had said that they were defending themselves against night riders from the KKK.

Eventually, justice was served for the Shaddens of Concord.  Two were shot in their beds after a drunken poker dispute.  One was killed in a shoot out in West Texas, and the eldest, Hans Shadden, killed himself with a knife that he smuggled into jail after being convicted of shooting his friend in the back for no apparent reason.

To read more about Hans Shadden, click here
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To hear about the posse that went after the Shaddens after they killed some fishing buddies, click here.

The house where the posse gathered to ride after the Shaddens.

To hear more tales of Concord in Rusk County, please click here.
​For more images of Concord in Rusk County, please click here.