NOTES AND FRAGMENTS.

Governor Hogg's Service in the cause of Texas History.— Governor Hogg was a real lover of Texas history and an indefatigable collector of books and documents relating to Texas. He was one of the few lawyers that succeeded in getting up for his library a complete set of the original edition of the Laws of the Republic and of the early State in the Union. The State Library was burned with the Capitol in 1881, and practically nothing had been done for its rehabilitation up to 1891, when Hogg was inaugurated as Governor. Governor Roberts, indeed, had in his message of January, 1881, recommended a salary for a competent history and statistical clerk to be State Librarian and to devote himself to history and statistics, and also the creation of a contingent fund to be used in defraying the expenses of procuring records, documents, and other papers relating to the history of Texas. But nothing came of his recommendations, and nothing was done on these lines till ten years later when Hogg came in as Governor. The Library at that time had next to nothing outside of the public documents, that is, publications of the several States and of the Federal Government; the miscellaneous books did not exceed seventy-five and the Texas books numbered less than forty, with but one newspaper of the early Union, purchased by special appropriation. One of the first acts of the Hogg administration was the creation, not by enactment, but by the appropriation bill, of a historical clerk who was de facto State Librarian, and who was charged specially with looking after the things pertaining to the history of the State. Governor Hogg manifested quite an interest in the Library, visiting it often while I was in charge. He suggested the policy, which was at once adopted, of making the Library outside of the public documents a collection of Texas books primarily, and secondarily a collection of reference works on history and literature. Later his influence put in the appropriation bill an item of $500.00 per annum for necessary expenses in collecting historical data relating to Texas. On this fund the Historical Clerk or State Librarian traveled over the State, carrying out the purpose of the appropriation. In Hogg's administration more than nine-tenths of the newspapers of the Republic and of early Texas in the Union now in the State Library were acquired and brought in by the State Librarian as a result of his personal researches for data amid the historic spots of the Republic. Besides these, many exceedingly rare and valuable Texas books and documents were added to the Library in this way. It may be added, in this connection, that all the old newspapers of the Republic and State in the Library, with one exception, noted above, have been acquired under this fund, which has been used since then exclusively for purchasing historical data and as a supplementary book-purchasing fund. The appropriation for buying books for the State Library was increased under Hogg's influence from $300.00 per annum to $1000.00 per annum. It is a matter for keen regret that subsequent administrations have not seen fit to continue this liberal policy.

C. W. Raines.

The Old Stone Fort at Nacogdoches.—The question as to who built the historic landmark known as the “Old Stone Fort,” which till recently stood at Nacogdoches, though of little importance, has a popular interest of the antiquarian sort, and it will not down until satisfactorily answered. The erection of the building has usually been attributed by tradition to Gil Ybarbo, who occupied the site of old mission Nacogdoches after it had been deserted by the Spaniards about six years. But some persons have supposed that the building was standing there when Ybarbo occupied the place, the most extraordinary conjecture of this sort being that the “Fort” was the work of De Soto's men who went through northeast Texas in 1542. I cannot say whether Gil Ybarbo erected it or not, but the evidence given below establishes a very strong presumption that it was not built before he settled there, and thus helps to narrow by some centuries the range of the unknown in the matter.

In 1768 Father Gaspar José de Solis, of the Franciscan College of Zacatecas, inspected the missions supported by that College in Texas. The entry in his diary for June 1 tells us that the most substantial building at the Nacogdoches mission at that time was the adobe church, the other buldings all being of wood. He says: “The location of the mission of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Albuquerque de los Nacogdoches is in a moderate-sized plain, which is surrounded by a permanent arroyo having an abundance of water, but no ditch to irrigate the crops. . . . The church, although small, is of adobe, roofed with taxamanil (some kind of shingles), and is entirely surrounded on the outside by a palisade of stakes. The living-place of the ministers is of wood, very regularly put together, and has a roof of taxamanil which affords good protection. It is surrounded on all four sides by a palisade of stakes, and has a kitchen, granary, and rooms for the soldiers. Besides this house there are other separate ones of the same material [wood], well made, capacious, and decent.”

The “Fort” was made of good-sized stones. This material could not conceivably have been called “adobe” by a Mexican. The building was too large and too substantial to escape mention by Solis in so minute a description as the above, had it been one of the mission buildings when he wrote. And since the mission was the only authorized establishment there at the time, we can not suppose that such a building as the “Fort” existed on the site unconnected with the mission.

The mission had long languished near the point of extinction, and now, soon after Solis's visit, it was abandoned, hence the “Fort” could not have been erected between Solis's visit and Ybarbo's settlement at Nacogdoches in 1779. The only buildings mentioned by Ybarbo in telling of his entry into the place were the same church and priests' house described above. He writes that he and his people journeyed “until there were seen the site of the Téxas Indians, and, three leagues beyond, the old mission of Nacogdoches, where there was a small chapel in which the reverend father may perform the holy sacraments and a house where he may live.”

Solis's description of these buildings sets aside the conjecture made in the Quarterly (IX, 129) that one of those mentioned by Ybarbo might possibly have been the “Fort”; and the mention of the church and the priests' house by both Solis and Ybarbo as the only buildings worthy of note make it improbable that any structure corresponding to the “Fort” existed.

Herbert E. Bolton.

Immigration to Texas and the Domestic Slave Trade.—The following letter, the original of which has been presented to the Association by Mr. R. A. Hanrick, of Waco, is especially interesting for the illustration it gives of the movement of immigration towards Texas and the working of the domestic slave trade in the United States:

Montgomery Decr 2d 1832  Robt M Williamson Esqr

Dr Sir Your esteemed favour of Novr 1st has come to hand. It gives me great pleasure to find that you are so faithful to your promise of detailing the various affairs of our adopted Country—Such is the difficulty in winding up a ten years unsettled business that it will be impossible for me to leave the United States before September next I allso will have to make a trip to Virginia for the purpose of adding to my Stock of Slaves which will take up so much of my time that I cannot start sooner than the period mentioned You may look with a great deal of certainty for many of your old acquaintances in Texas next Spring the Spirit for emigration to that country is very great and thousands would go but for the terrors of a Mexican government these idle fears I have endeavored as much as possible to allay and I believe with much success except with some of the more timid. You mentioned in your last letter that you beleved Mexican grants of Eleven leagues could be procured for a reasonable sum if so you will perceve by the enclosed proposition that Mr Edward Hanrick George Whitman and myself are disposed to procure some of them the selections of which will be left entirely to your own discretion and should you be disposed to take up with the proposition I fell satisfied that we will be well pleased with your selections In consequence of the disturbances in Texas the Messrs Prichards have declined their journey untill another year Mr. Beard &Thompson have started to Texas and no doubt will arrive ere this

The Political news of the United States is that Jackson has been reelected President by an overwhelming majority—South Carolina has nullified the Tariff acts; which is to take place in February next, provided congress does not abandon the protective system by that time and in case of any interference on the part of the united States to enforce the laws she has declared her determination to secede we expect stormy times in the United States. perhaps civil war which God avert

Your brother Micheal Williamson died a few weeks ago and Col Peacock has taken home his widow &children

With great respect I remain  your friend  Asa Hoxey

Thomas J. Pilgrim.—A letter recently received from Judge W. S. Fly, of San Antonio, contains some valuable items concerning the life of Thomas J. Pilgrim, a well-known pioneer of Texas. Since they are of general interest, and for the purpose of recording them, permission to publish these facts has been secured from Judge Fly. They are printed here as excerpts from the letter:—

“Thomas J. Pilgrim was born in Connecticut in 1807, and in the fall of 1828, he left New York on a vessel, which was tempesttossed, and which, after the passengers had suffered greatly from lack of food and water, landed at Matagorda, Texas. He made his way from that place to the headquarters of Stephen F. Austin's Colony at San Felipe, on the Brazos river. There it was that he organized the Sunday School of which he writes in the article referred to [in A Texas Scrap Book, 69-76]. He learned the Spanish language, and for a long time acted as interpreter and translator for Austin's colony. He was very frail and delicate and was not a participant in the battles of 1836. After that war he settled at Gonzales, where he married Sarah J. Bennet, the daughter of Major Valentine Bannet, who was in Houston's army at San Jacinto and who was a member of the Santa Fé expedition. He is mentioned a number of times in Kendall's account of that expedition.

“In 1846 or 1847, Mr. Pilgrim organized a union Sunday school at Gonzales, of which he was superintendent until his death on October 29, 1877, with the exception of the time he spent in Austin, from 1871 to 1874. He was buried in the old cemetery at Gonzales, and although feeble efforts, at times, have been made to erect a monument to his memory nothing has been done.

“He was highly educated, and had in the day schools that he taught boys who afterwards became prominent men in Texas, among the number being Judge James H. Bell, and perhaps Judge McCormick, now a Circuit Judge of the United States. Of the latter I am not positive. He was a warm friend of Stephen F. Austin, and the Bryans of Matagorda and Brazoria Counties.

“Mr. Pilgrim was a prominent and useful citizen of Gonzales, and all of the old settlers there remember him with the highest regard and respect. He has two grand-daughters, Mrs. Hildebrand and Mrs. Hoskins, residing in that historic little city at this time, and has one daughter, Mrs. Eastland, residing in Dallas, and another, Mrs. W. S. Fly, residing in San Antonio.”

Proceedings of the Permanent Council.—In the Quarterly for April, 1904 (Vol. VII, No. 4), there was published the Journal of the Permanent Council of Texas, which was in session, October 11 to 31, 1835, with a number of accompanying documents. Not all of the resolutions and communications referred to in the Journal could be found, but to those published should be added the two which follow. They are taken from the Telegraph and Texas Register, October 26, 1835:

[October 18, 1835]. The council received a resolution from General Samuel Houston, presented by Mr. Garrett, and adopted the same so far as the words “null and void.”

Whereas, certain extensive grants of land have been made by the Congress of Coahuila and Texas since 1833, and the same has been purchased by certain individuals under the most suspicious circumstances, therefore be it

Resolved, that we recommend to the Consultation, at their meeting, the consideration of this matter, and that they declare all the said grants null and void; which

On motion of Mr. Perry, was adopted, and one thousand copies ordered to be printed, with the report of the committee to day.

R. R. Royal, President.  J. G. W. Pierson, Secretary.

The committee to whom were referred the resolution of A. Houston, and the amendment to those resolutions by Daniel Parker, on the subject of the Cherokee, Shawnee, and other tribes of Indians, beg leave to report.

That whereas several of the Indian chiefs were invited by the Consultation of Texas to convene with them for the purpose of having their claims to their land properly adjusted by that body.

And whereas it has become necessary for that body to adjourn their session until the 1st day of November next, and as all the power of transacting business is vested in the hands of the general council of Texas, the committee are of opinion that it is the duty of this council to appoint three commissioners, whose duty it shall be to repair immediately to the villages of the said Indians, with full power to hold a consultation with them, for the purpose of ascertaining their grievances, and for giving them full assurances that their case will be properly attended to, as soon as the consultation meets.

This committee are of the opinion that there have been unwarrantable encroachments made upon the lands occupied by the said Indians; therefore be it resolved by the permanent council of Texas now in session, that Peter J. Menard, Jacob Garrett, and Joseph L. Hood be appointed commissioners for the purpose of holding consultations with the different tribes of Indians, and giving them such assurances as may be necessary for the advancement of their rights and privileges as citizens of Texas, and for the purpose of transacting such other business as may be necessary to promote the cause of the people of Texas.

It shall be the duty of the commissioners to cooperate with the committees of vigilance and safety in the different municipalities of Texas, in carrying the above resolution into effect.

A. Houston,  A. G. Perry,  Peter J. Menard,  J. L. Hood,  Daniel Parker,  Committee.  The first resolution should be inserted on page 265 (Vol. VII.), after line 17; and the second on the same page, after line 22.  Eugene C. Barker.