He was a blacksmith. He was the first chief justice (county judge) of Bell County. And he liked wildflowers.
The old sepia toned photo of Danley from the mid-to-late 1800s presents a pleasing set of contradictions that depicts a likely complex individual. His appearance is rugged, robust, muscular - a common quality among early Texas settlers of the day. Yet the wildflowers show a gracious, tender side to him.
As a blacksmith he had to be a brawny chap of great strength. To serve as county judge Danley had to be educated for his day. And he was likely thoughtful and compassionate.
Something about his nature is born out by Henry Clark who put this photo of Danley on the back of “A Vest Pocket History of Texas” when Clark was a candidate for the Texas Senate in 1940.
Clark wrote of his grand uncle, “He was a lover of flowers. He was a lover of children. A philosopher, a student and one of the finest blacksmiths I ever saw. He lived with us from the time I was three until I was five, and was my boon companion.”
Danley was one of about 30 to 40 settlers who met under an ancient live oak tree near the banks of the Leon River in April of 1850 to elect a temporary county commission and organize Bell County.
He would later be elected the county’s first chief justice in August of that year and a member of Bell County’s first permanent county commission. That election took place in Danley’s blacksmith shop. According to historian George Tyler, it was located at the corner of Penelope Street and Water Street in downtown Belton.
The massive tree, later christened the Charter Oak, is said to be more than 400 years old. It stands just a few yards inside the Temple city limits on the east bank of the Leon River 500 feet south of FM 817 - called Old Waco Road by some. It’s not far from Summer Fun USA - the water park for children on the Belton side of the Leon River.
Its huge limbs reach 50 to 70 feet into the air. Other limbs bowed by their weight touch the ground.
It’s fortunate that the tree is behind locked gates on land owned by the Brazos River Electric Cooperative. In the late 1950s vandals cut down another huge live oak near the highway thinking it was the Charter Oak. They missed their mark, but in the end destroyed another grand tree.
The Texas Legislature approved an incorporation petition for Falls, McLennan and Bell counties in December 1849 that became law in January 1850. It would create the three new counties out of what was then Milam County. In that day Milam ran as far north as Commanche.
Isaac Standefer, Milam’s chief justice, ordered the election on the Leon River at the crossing of the military road that ran from Austin to Fort Gates. This was judged to be near the center of the proposed county, according to Tyler, and most convenient to the scattered pioneer settlers.
Tyler wrote that just below the military crossing in a stand of four live oak trees was the cabin of William F. Hill, the only settler in the area. Hill’s abode and the trees are long since gone, having washed away as the banks of the Leon crumbled over the years. But about 50 to 75 yards east of Hill’s cabin was a lone spreading live oak. Here the settlers met for their first corporate charter act.
Historian E.A. Limmer in his “Story of Bell County” wrote that immediately after the meeting under the oak, Danley returned to the Reed and Fulcher settlement near present day Holland to retrieve his household goods and blacksmith equipment. He moved his family to the site of the new county seat - Nolanville (or Nolandville) - that was still being laid out by surveyors.
The name Nolanville was later dropped when it was discovered another town in Texas had incorporated in that name. In 1852 the little settlement was renamed Belton - a combination of Bell and Town.
Bernita Peeples in her “History of Bell County and Downtown City of Belton” wrote that Danley presided at the sale of parcels carved from a 120-acre grant from Matilda Connell to the city of Belton. Danley bought the first tract of land. The Danley property on Pearl Street from Central Avenue to West First Avenue is the base deed and abstract for all property in Belton, Ms. Peeples wrote.
He deeded a plot to his son Charles Wesley Danley who later built a home at 122 N. Pearl St. It still exists there today.
Danley’s blacksmith shop - a log cabin affair - is believed to be the second building erected in Belton according to his great grandson, John Galure of Temple. Galure said the first was a shed built for the “Widder” Sarah Lawler who moved to Belton from Fort Griffith intent on building the first structure in the new settlement.
Danley conducted the first meetings of the commissioner’s court in his blacksmith’s shop until a new courthouse could be built in 1851. It was a log cabin 18x16 feet that proved to be too small. In 1854 a two-story limestone courthouse 50x60 feet was built with a courtroom and fireplaces. In 1884 the current Bell County Court House was constructed.
The place and time of the election beneath the Charter Oak were nearly lost to history. The documents filed after the election were destroyed when a fire burned down the Milam County Courthouse in 1874.
George Tyler in his “History of Bell County” said as a result the exact date is not known, but due to the timelines required by law for elections it would have to have been no later than April 22.
The anniversary is celebrated today on April 21 - the same as San Jacinto Day.
Tyler wrote that an accidental encounter with Capt. Samuel W. Bishop of Killeen at a picnic in the summer of 1916 led him to the Charter Oak. Bishop told Tyler he was 18 years old when his father, James Bishop, was one of the settlers who voted to incorporate and he was present under the tree.
On Nov. 5, 1917, Bishop came to Belton and led Tyler along with a delegation of local officials to the tree and identified it as the one under which the election was held. They measured its trunk at 14 feet around and estimated its height at 50 feet, then photographed it.
Bishop said he recalled 30-40 men voting and three acting as election judges. The votes were cast by oral ballot.
Today a pink granite state marker commemorates the Charter Oak at the corner of FM 817 and Parkside Drive just before the old iron bridge between Temple and Belton.
John Galure, Danley’s great grandson, has spent years compiling a ream of research on his ancestor. For many years the minutes of the first meeting of the Bell County Commissioner’s Court were thought lost forever, Galure wrote.
On Dec. 8, 1966, former Bell County Clerk Vada Sutton accidentally found them while searching for other historical documents.
The first meeting of the commissioner’s court took place Oct. 8, 1850. Present were Danley, John Taylor, James M. Cross, Peter Banta, James Blair, William Reed, sheriff, and John C. Reed, clerk.
Boundaries were ordered for four beats (precincts) and elections ordered for Oct. 21, 1850.
