NOTES AND FRAGMENTS.

Mr. W. F. McCaleb of Carrizo Springs, who has held a junior fellowship in History at the University of Chicago during the past year, has just been reappointed. This time, however, he has received a substantial promotion in that he is awarded a senior fellowship and will be allowed to travel in Mexico. He will thus be able to carry on his investigations in the Mexican archives, which must be thoroughly exploited before the real pre-Revolutionary history of Texas can ever be written.

Mr. W. Roy Smith, who will take the degree of Master of Arts, from the University of Texas, next June, has just received notice of his nomination to a fellowship in American History in Columbia University, New York City. Competition for these places is open to graduates of the colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the award is usually made to the applicant who presents the best evidence of his ability to do original investigation. Two of twenty-four fellowships are, as a rule, conferred upon students of history. Mr. Smith's nomination was made on the merits of a paper entitled “The Quarrel Between Governor Smith and the Council of the Provisional Government of Texas, 1835-6.”

Judge Fulmore's History of the Geography of Texas, consisting of a series of maps, accompanied by explanatory notes and two tables of statistics, all comprised in a large chart, has appeared. It is intended especially for the public schools, and it will be found a useful aid in teaching the History of Texas. The outlines of the subject, and especially of the historical geography of the State, are presented by it in brief compass, and in a systematic way, so that they can easily be mastered. Probably the most valuable, as well as the most original, part of the chart is that which shows, by a graphic arrangement, how the existing counties of Texas have grown by subdivision from the few that represented the municipalities of the Republic. The table in which this growth is shown is likely to prove itself quite helpful in the investigation of the history of local government in the State.

The Gammel Book Company has undertaken the publication of the Laws of Texas, 1822-1897. This will be, when finished, an extensive work, comprising ten large volumes. It makes accessible to the general reader a great deal of important matter that has been, up to this time, in reach of but few, and to lawyer and historian alike it is most welcome.

Another recent publication, which deserves special commendation for the intelligent way in which it exhibits the evolution of the Texas system of organic and statutory law, is Batts' Annotated Revised Civil Statutes. Further notice of it will be made in a review, which is to appear in the next issue of the Quarterly.

The completest repository of Texas history that has hitherto appeared in a single publication is “A Comprehensive History of Texas,” edited by Dudley G. Wooten and published by William G. Scarff, Dallas. It has been received too late for an extended notice in this issue, but a suitable review may be expected in the Quarterly for July.

Those who like to study history from the sources have reason to congratulate themselves upon the additions that have lately been made to the list in the State library. Among these are the Pacheco and Cárdenas collection, Margry's “Découvertes et établissements, etc.,” the Thwaites edition of the Jesuit Relations, as far as hitherto published, and the Goldsmid edition of the Voyages of the English Nation to America, from the Hakluyt collection. Unfortunately, the appropriations by recent Legislatures for the purchase of books have been extremely small, but the little that has been given has been judiciously spent. In time, if the money needed to buy books be provided somewhat more liberally, the library may become in some degree worthy of the State to which it belongs.

Louis Juchereau de Saint Denis.—“One of the most striking figures on the stage of Texas history undoubtedly is Sieur Louis de Saint Denis, called Huchereau for the first time by Yoakum in his History of Texas.”

Concerning the latter clause of the above quotation from an interesting article in a late issue of the Texas Historical Quarterly, I desire to say that Henri Martin (Hist. of La.) and Charles Gayarré (Hist. of La.) both of whom preceded Yoakum, as well as several earlier writers, certainly referred to the Saint Denis sent to Mexico by Cadillac as Juchereau de Saint Denis.

Juchereau would seem indeed to have been a family name, common to all belonging to a certain branch of the Saint Denis family; as Barbe Juchereau de Saint Denis, Louis Juchereau de Saint Denis, etc., all of which names are found in the early chronicles.

The following note from Justin Winson, vol. V, p. 25, may throw some light on the subject:

“Charlevoix speaks of Saint-Denys, who made the trip to Mexico, as Juchereau de Saint-Denys. Dr. Shea, in the note, p. 12, vol. VI, of his Charlevoix, identifies Saint-Denys as Louis Juchereau de Saint-Denys. The founder of the settlement on the `Ouabache' signed the same name to the Memorial in Margry, v. 350. The author of Nos Gloires Nationales asserts (vol. I, p. 207, of his work) that it was Barbe Juchereau who was sent to Mexico. Spanish accounts speak of the one in Mexico as Louis. Charlevoix says he was the uncle of Iberville's wife. Iberville married Marie-Thérèse Pollet, grand-daughter of Nicholas Juchereau, Siegneur of Beuport and St. Denis (see Tanguay). This Nicolas had one son who was born September 18, 1676. Martin says the two Juchereaus were relatives.”

Documents, hitherto unknown, are being added from time to time to the Howard Library here. It is not improbable that some paper—one might even dare to hope for a letter! signed by the hand of Saint Denis himself, may yet be brought to light to settle the question of his name and to thrill the hearts of all lovers of romance!

M. E. M. Davis.