NOTES AND FRAGMENTS

Mrs. Anna Maria Ireland, the widow of former Governor Ireland, died at the residence of her grandson, Ireland Graves, at Austin, Texas, on May 28, 1911. She was born in Henry county, Virginia, July 7, 1833.

Mrs. Mary E. Hardeman, widow of General William P. Hardeman, died at her home in Austin, March 13, 1911, aged 69 years. In her will Mrs. Hardeman bequeathed to the State Library the portrait of her husband painted by Huddle.

Mrs. Sue Randolph died at her home in Austin, September 12, 1911. She was born August 9, 1830, and, coming to Texas when she was eighteen years old, had been a resident of Austin since 1848. In 1853 she was married to C. H. Randolph, who was State Treasurer, 1858 to 1865.

Roger Quarles Mills, former United States Senator, died at his hom in Corsicana, September 2, 1911, aged seventy-nine years. The story of his eventful life is recorded in the annals of the State's history; want of space forbids its recital here. He rose to the rank of colonel during the Civil War. In 1872 he was elected to the Forty-third Congress and re-elected nine times in succession, but resigned March 29, 1892, to succeed Horace Chilton as United States Senator, serving from March 30, 1892, until March 3, 1899.

Hal H. Neill, Associate Justice of the Court of Civil Appeals for the Fourth Supreme Judicial District of Texas, died of apoplexy at Cloudcroft, New Mexico, Thursday night, August 31, 1911. A native of Carroll county, Mississippi, where he was born January 29, 1848, he was reared in the old colonial home of his father, Colonel G. F. Neill, four miles from Carrollton. Both his father and mother, Caroline Hart, were of Robinson county, Tennessee. For many years Colonel Neill's home was the second largest in the State. In the last year of the Civil War, Hal H. Neill, then 16 years old, joined the Confederate Army. Although his father was colonel of the Thirteenth Mississippi, he became one of Captain Ike S. Harvey's scouts, and saw service in Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi under Generals Forrest and Hood. After the war, with a number of comrades, he entered the University of Mississippi. At Oxford, L. Q. C. Lamar was one of his professors. He was graduated in 1870 and studied law under Senator Walthal and Senator. J. Z. George, names that are reverenced in Mississippi. In 1872 he moved to Stephenville, Erath county, Texas, and formed a law partnership with T. L. Nugent. When the firm was dissolved he formed a connection with Lee Young, of Stephenville. In 1877 he was married to Dora Fagan, of Stephenville, who survives him. There were five children, two of whom are living—Robert T. Neill and Mrs. Dora Raymond, of Raymondville, Texas. He moved to El Paso in 1882, where he made his home until Governor Hogg appointed him to the bench, when he made San Antonio his home.—From The San Antonia Express, September 2, 1911.

Alphonso Steele, the last survivor of the battle of San Jacinto, died, aged 94 years, at the home of his grandson, Alvin Steele, one mile north of Kosse, some time during the night of July 7/8, 1911. His remains were buried at Mexia.

Alphonso Steele was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, April 9, 1817, and he lived there until he was seventeen years old. In September, 1834, he went down the Mississippi River by boat to Lake Providence, Louisiana, where he remained until November, 1835, when he joined a company of volunteers led by Captain Daggett and marched to Washington, Texas. The company disbanded at Washington and some of the men returned home, but Steele remained in Texas, and in March, 1836, joined General Houston's army on the retreat from Gonzales. He was a member of Captain James Gillespie's company, in Colonel Sherman's regiment. Early in the battle of San Jacinto he was severely wounded, but this did not prevent him from seeing most of the battle, an account of which, obtained from him, is published in the Houston Chronicle for July 9, 1911. After the war Mr. Steele settled near Montgomery in Montgomery county, and engaged in farming. On September 28, 1838, he was married to Miss Mary Ann Powell, daughter of Archibald Powell. ²²⁰ In the fall of 1844 he removed to Limestone county, and made his home there continuously until his death. Biography of Private Alonso Steele, only survivor of the campaign and fight, and the official report of Gen. Sam Houston with complete roster of the commands composing the little army, is the title of a pamphlet of thirty-one pages published (without date) by N. P. Houx of Mexia for Mr. Steele.

W.

David A. Nunn ²²¹ was born October 1, 1836, in Summerville, Noxubee county, Mississippi. He died at his home in Crockett, Texas, August 13, 1911.

After completing a course in the schools of Summerville, he attended college at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and studied law at New Orleans. Soon after being admitted to the bar, he was married on June 8, 1858, to Miss Helen Williams, daughter of Bryan T. Williams, of Macon, Mississippi, and sister of Judge F. A. Williams, of Austin. The young couple set out for Texas on their wedding day, intending to locate at Waco; circumstances changed their destination, and they settled at Crockett, where Mr. Nunn began the practice of law. In 1859 he was elected mayor of Crockett, and successfully maintained respect for the law among numerous lawless characters. At the outbreak of the Civil War he entered the service of the Confederacy. His first service was rendered as Captain of Company I, Fourth Texas Mounted Volunteers, Sibley's Brigade, in the New Mexico-Arizona campaign. Returning home from the West, he raised another company of cavalry, was elected captain, joined Walker's Division, and served in this command till the surrender. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1875, and as chairman of a special committee of seven did much to influence the present free school system of the State. After the government was restored to the hands of the people by the Constitution of 1876, Colonel Nunn devoted himself to the practice of his profession, attaining to eminence as a lawyer.

Miss Ethel Zivley Rather, M. A. (The University of Texas), Ph. D. (Yale University), whose historical work is well known to readers of The Quarterly, has been appointed director of women's religious work at Columbia University.

Mr. William Edward Dunn, whose “Apache Relations in Texas, 1718-1750,” appeared in the January number of The Quarterly, has been awarded a fellowship in history at Columbia University, and will continue his study of Spanish-American History under Professor Shepherd.

Mr. Charles W. Hackett, whose paper appears in this issue of The Quarterly, was awarded a fellowship in history at the University of California, and will continue there his work with Professor Bolton. Both Mr. Dunn and Mr. Hackett are graduates of the University of Texas.

Miss Eleanor Claire Buckley, whose paper on the Aguayo Expedition appeared in the July Quarterly, has been appointed by the Regents of the University of Texas to classify and calendar the Bexar archives and other manuscript collections of the University. Miss Buckley will be a member of the School of History, with the title of Archivist. She took the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Texas in 1909.

At a meeting of the Texas Library and Historical Commission, held September 19th, the resignation of Mr. John B. Kaiser, as assistant librarian in charge of legislative reference work, was accepted. Mr. Kaiser left Texas to take charge of similar work in the Library of the University of Illinois. Miss Octavia F. Rogan was elected assistant librarian and cataloguer. Miss Rogan comes from the Rosenberg Library, Galveston, but her home is in Austin. She is a graduate of the University of Texas. Miss Elizabeth H. West was elected archivist, a position created at the Called Session of the Thirty-second Legislature. Miss West comes from the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress. She is a graduate of the University of Texas, and has contributed some important articles to The Quarterly. The Legislature allowed the Library Commission an appropriation with which to print a volume of the Texas Archives.

On July 6 last a bronze statue of Judge John H. Reagan was unveiled in Reagan Park at Palestine, Texas. The ceremony was conducted by the John H. Reagan Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.—(Austin Statesman, July 7, 1911.)

The general appropriation bill passed at the Called Session of the Thirty-second Legislature carries an item appropriating $2000 “to erect [a monument] at the grave of Governor George T. Wood, near Point Blank, San Jacinto county.” The words in brackets do not appear in the bill, which may invalidate the appropriation intended.