"Once upon a time" our story begins, "an ambitious young Englishman dreamed a way to improve his lot in life. He sold himself as an indentured servant. He booked passage, ventured to America, and landed in a place called Virginia. There Humphrey Belt planted himself.

Generations later, from a certain branch of that original Belt tree, another young man, Morris Arthur, walked for dusty weeks behind his parents' wagon, leading the two family cows, to a new place. At last, his father braked the wagon. Along with his wife Josephine, Charles Tillman Belt set roots down under the tall pines deep into the red clay of southeast Texas.